#punch line comes home to roost | Explore Tumblr posts and blogs

davidmann95 · 4 years ago

Note

now that it's over, thoughts on Bendis' Superman as a whole?

pretenderoftheeast said: So, thoughts on Bendis' Superman and Action Comics' tenure altogether and separately now that it's over?

Anonymous said: Best and Worst things about Bendis' Superman run

Anonymous said: Now that it is over, what are your thoughts on Bendis' runs on Superman and Action Comics as a whole?

Anonymous said: Retrospective thoughts on Bendis' Superman as a whole now that it's, I guess, done?

Anonymous said: Hey so since Bendis’ Superman stuff seems to be done, what did you think of the run as a whole?

I decided to hold off a bit on writing on this one, if only so that I could reread the Action Comics side of it since Superman stood out in my memory a lot more. But now I have, and as we’re heading into a bold new era of Superman (and it’s coming in fast - just since I made my Superman in 2021 predictions we’ve gotten Ed Pinsent finally reprinting his legendary bootleg Silver Age Superman, Steve Orlando announcing his Superman analogue book Project Patron, an official shonen Superman redesign for RWBY/Justice League, PKJ’s Super-debut turning out far better than I ever expected, Superman & Lois’s first proper trailer largely taking people pleasantly by surprise, and my learning that there’s a Sylvester Stallone Old Man Superman analogue movie titled Samaritan coming out this summer) we’re ready to take a look back with at least a touch of perspective. I’ll lead with complaints, so everybody who’s been waiting for me to say that Bendis on Superman was Bad, Actually, savor this because it’s as close as you’ll get.

The Bad

* I hate to say it, but rereading that side of the run there’s no two ways about it: the structure of Action Comics as a whole is a mess. It baffled me from day one that it was the more acclaimed of the two books for so long - I guess people are hardwired at this point to think of ‘street’ stuff as where Bendis is supposed to be - because it was immediately clear that Superman had a well-defined story he wanted to tell, while Action was the usual Bendis off-the-cuff improvisation. It’s barely even a story in the same way, and it’s certainly not the ‘Metropolis crime book’ people took it as: it’s 28 issues of Superman and his supporting cast stuffed a pinball machine with the Red Cloud pinging off of each other as we wait to see who falls in the hole at the bottom, and partway through Leviathan and the Legion of Doom and 90s Superboy are tossed into the mix to keep it going a little longer. On an issue-to-issue basis it’s frequently really good, but the core plot of the book is *maybe* six issues stretched out over two and a half years.

* I’ve gone into this some before, but structure-wise Unity Saga also has problems: Phantom Planet rules but either it needed to be cut or the back half needed to be a year all its own in order to accommodate the scale of what it’s attempting. It’s got an interstellar civil war leading into the formation of the United Planets, family drama, Rogol Zaar’s whole deal, and Jon’s coming of age, and I’d say only that last one is really properly served. Even Jon forming the United Planets, while contextually somewhat justified in terms of 1. The situation being so far gone he’s the only one who’d even think in those terms, 2. Things being bad enough that these assorted galactic powers would be willing to try it, and 3. Him having the S on his chest to sell it, isn’t at all built up to within the run itself.

* Rogol Zaar sucks. He’s made up of nothing but interesting ideas - he’s an ersatz warrior ‘superman’ of a bygone age of empires up against the new model, he’s the sins of Krypton as a conservative superpower come home to roost, he’s while not outright said to be definitely Superman’s tragic half-brother and the culmination of everything this run does with Jor-El - but none of them manifest on the page, he’s just a big punchy dude with a dumb design who screams about how you should take him seriously because he’s totally the one who blew up Krypton. Even a killer redesign by Ryan Sook for Legion of Superheroes can’t fix that. There are lots of bad villains with good ideas who are redeemed with time and further effort, but I can’t imagine Zaar getting that TLC to become a fraction of whatever Bendis envisioned him as.

* The second year of Action Comics, after establishing itself in its first as one of the most consistently gorgeous books on the stands, leads with Szymon Kudranski’s weak output and then concludes with John Romita Jr. turning in some career-worst work. The latter is particularly egregious because for that first year Bendis writes a really collected, gentle Superman so him getting pushed into being more aggressive should have an impact, but Romita draws such a craggy rough-looking Superman in the first place that it mutes any sort of shock value.

* WE NEVER LEARN WHAT’S UP WITH LEONE’S CAR, WHAT THE HELL. You don’t just DROP THAT IN THERE and then NEVER FOLLOW UP.

The Good

* Superman got his real clothes back after 7 truly ridiculous years.

* Bendis fundamentally gets Clark’s voice in a way unlike almost any other writer - even all-around better writers of the character almost never approach how spot-on he is with having Superman speak and act exactly how Superman should.

* Supporting cast front and center! He writes a dynamite Lois, Perry, and Jimmy (even if many of Lois’s more out-there decisions in the run don’t end up retroactively justified the way you’d hope), Ma and Pa are more fun than they’ve been in decades in their brief appearances, he manages to turn having Jor-El in the mix into a positive, and the Daily Planet as a whole has an incredibly distinctive vibe to it like never before that I hope is taken as a baseline going forward.

* The non-Rogol Zaar baddies? All ruled. Invisible Mafia and Red Cloud are both brilliant ideas executed solidly if overextended. Zod as Kryptonian Vegeta, Mongul as a generational perpetual bastard engine primed to be incapable of self-reflection, and Ultraman as “what if Irredeemable but he’d never been a good guy and also he was a Jersey mobster” are the best versions of those characters by numberless light-eons. Lex is on-point in his sparse appearances. Xanadoth as a mystical cosmic monster older than time who still talks like a Bendis character is however unintentionally a hoot. The alt-universe Parasite is a more intimidating Doomsday than Doomsday ever was. And Synmar as an alien culture’s attempt at creating their own Superman and messing up the formula when they make him a soldier can and should be a legitimate major ongoing villain coming out of this run.

* Pretty much all the art other than what I mentioned already. Fabok does a good job bookending The Man of Steel and Ivan Reis does the work of his career anchoring Superman (special props to Reis as well for drawing the first ever non-Steve Rude interesting-looking take on Metropolis), and meanwhile you’ve got Jim Lee, Jose Luis Garcia Lopez, Doc Shaner, Steve Rude, Kevin Maguire, Adam Hughes, Patrick Gleason, Yanick Paquette, Ryan Sook, Brandon Peterson, and David Lafuente doing their own parts.

* Closely related to the art, all the little flourishes with the powers. Super-speed having a consistent visual with the background coloring changing, Clark internally putting numbers to the degrees of force behind his punches and what situations which numbers are appropriate for, ‘skidding to a halt’ mid-flight before crashing through a window, the shonen-ass major throwdowns as portrayed by Reis, how his super-hearing is handled as a prevalent element. Lots of clever bits that added flavor to what he does.

* While Unity Saga has problems, the whole of what Bendis does in Superman as a means of forward momentum for Clark and his world is excellent. The sort of three-act structure of:

** Clark is led to question his place in things over the course of a few adventures

** Involvement in the larger cosmos and the impact it has had through and on his family makes him realize the answer to his questions is that he needs to step up in a bigger way because there’s no benevolent larger universe to welcome Earth with open arms, nor a cosmic precedent for everything turning out for the best without some help

** As a consequence of the lessons learned by this change in the status quo Clark is inspired to make his own personal change in revealing his identity (with Mythological basically being an epilogue showcasing a ‘standard’ standalone Superman adventure while simultaneously highlighting his new status quo and how it fits in as a summing-up of Bendis’s take)

…does a great job of shepherding through ideas that lend a lot of forward momentum to Superman of the kind he hasn’t seen in a long time. Not perfect, but far lesser stories with far lesser ambitions have made huge impacts, so I’d certainly hope at least some of this sticks around even if, say, regardless of any retcons to the main line there are always going to be stories with Clark as a disguise and Jon as a kid. Oh, speaking of whom,

* KISS MY ASS, EVERYTHING WITH JON KENT RULED

Ahem. Probably a less confrontational way of putting that.

Do I think there was more gas in the tank for Jon as a kid? Totally, making him likeable and viable was the one really good thing the Rebirth era accomplished for Superman and I expect we’ll continue seeing more of it in the future one way or another. But whether or not him being aged up was Bendis’s decision, or working with marching orders to set up the eventually-(kinda-)discarded 5G, the coming of age narrative here is fire. He keeps the essential Clark Kent kindness and bit of Lois Lane cheekiness that reminds you he’s still their kid, which is a combination Bendis is basically precision-crafted to write, but his trials by fire give him a background entirely unlike the by-the-numbers “and here’s how Superman’s great kid grew up to be a great superhero too” narrative you’d expect while still arriving at that endpoint. If superheroes live and die by metaphors then Jon in here is what it means to grow up written as large as possible: leaving home for the first time (and seeming to shoot up overnight!), getting into the muck of how the real world works, being beaten down by authority wearing faces you’ve been taught to trust, scrambling to get through with the whole world against you, and in the end getting through by learning to rely on your own strength while keeping your soul intact and your head held high, and even managing to speak some truth to power. It gives him a well-defined life story with room to go back to and explore the intricacies of each leg of for decades to come in a way Superman hasn’t had since the original Crisis - someone someday is going to write a The Life & Times Of The Son Of Superman miniseries and it’s going to be one of the greats - and negates any question that he’s earned his stature as the heir apparent.

* Coming out of this, Superman’s world is fascinating. He’s out but rather than giving up his day-to-day life he’s openly spending part of his life as CLARK KENT: SUPER-REPORTER and part of his job on the cape-and-tights side of things is now KAL-EL: SUPER-SPACE-DIPLOMAT, Lois Lane coruns a foundation helping people whose personal continuities have been fucked over by Crisis shenanigans, Jimmy Olsen owns the Daily Planet but is still doing Jimmy Olsen stuff because that’s how he gets his kicks, and Jon Kent is going to college in the future. I’m not anywhere near naïve enough to think that’s how things are going to be forever, or shortsighted enough to think there’s no value left in the traditional setups, but god I hope these developments stick around for a long, long time to come and potentially become the new ‘normal’ as far as the ongoing shared universe stuff goes, because it all feels like the right and promising next steps to take for the lives of these characters. However it got here, for all the pluses and minuses along the way even if I maintain the former very much outweighed the latter as a reading experience, Bendis has a lot to be proud of if that’s the legacy he leaves on these titles.

* The recap pages at the desks!

#Superman #Brian Bendis #Jon Kent #Opinion

47 notes · View notes

fire-the-headcanons · 4 years ago

Text

Follow the Beacon Summer—Special Request

[Link to Masterpost]

[Apparently I didn’t post the last few chapters on Tumblr? Use the masterpost to make sure you don’t miss anything]

"Years ago, an unprecedented era of peace began on Remnant. Never before had the kingdoms of the world been so united. The Vytal Festival was created with two goals in mind: first, as a celebration of our peace and unity, sharing in one another's cultures. Second, as a time to contemplate the ongoing struggle to continue that peace.

"Students— …Future protectors of Remnant. As you head out into the world this week to work as Huntsmen-and-Huntresses-in-training, I implore you to remember that peace is in your hands."

"All right, guys, it's go time," Summer said, whirling to face her team. "What kind of mission are we doing?"

"I vote search and destroy," Tai said. "It'll get us out of the Kingdom, at least."

The twins chorused their agreement, and Summer nodded. "All right. Out of the Kingdom it is." She turned toward the mission boards, and stopped short.

Ozpin smiled. "Good morning, Team STRQ."

"…Good morning, Professor," Summer squeaked, painfully aware that the last time she had been this close to the headmaster was the night she broke into his office. The others repeated her greeting just as warily.

"I'm happy to inform you that a Huntsman working just outside of Vale has heard of your prodigious tracking abilities and requested to work with your team specifically." He beamed down at them.

"It's not Professor Mesánychta, is—ow."

Ozpin chuckled. "No, he doesn't teach at this Academy. Would you like to meet with him?"

"Um, yeah!" Summer said. A Huntsman had requested them? A team of first years? Had that ever happened before?!

They followed Ozpin to the small door right of the stage, and Summer spared the twins a quick glance. Qrow looked as excited as she felt, but Raven's eyes burned nervous holes in Ozpin's shoes. After a moment she seemed to sense Summer's gaze and met her eye. Summer returned what she hoped was a reassuring smile.

"Dad? What are you doing here?!"

Tai's cry of dismay instantly drew her attention back to the door, and the Huntsman standing on the other side of it.

Huang smiled brightly as the rest of them filed into the hall. "Well, your friends were busy over break, so we thought this would be a nice time to meet them." He offered his hand to Qrow. "It's good to finally meet you! Huang Xiao Long."

"Uh, you too," Qrow took it, slightly awed. "I'm Qrow."

"And you must be Raven," he continued, offering his hand again.

Stiffly, she shook it, avoiding eye contact. "Yes, sir."

"No need for sir, just call me Huang." He stepped back again, resting his hands on his hips. "What do you say, kids? Want to come to Patch for the week?"

"Come on, Dad, we've already trained on Patch for years," Tai pleaded. "We wanted to… y'know… try a challenge…"

"It would mean a lot to us, Tai. Particularly if they'll be staying over for the summer! Don't you think it would make everyone more comfortable?"

The unspoken words were easy to hear. The twins need time to get used to us. And he was right, as much as Summer hated to abandon the idea of training in the wilds this week. It had to be why they refused to commit to staying.

Tai sighed, glancing at her, and they both looked at Qrow, who looked at Raven.

"Okay," she squeaked, clearly petrified.

"Great!" Huang said with genuine warmth. "If you're ready to go, Balt's waiting for us at the docks."

Summer bit back a sigh, falling in line behind him. Back to Patch? This wasn't a mission—this was a vacation.

For Qrow and Raven. They need it, we'll make it work.

***

Balt wasn't the only one at the docks.

"…Mom?" Summer faltered. "What are you doing here?"

"Accompanying my partner to pick up our students," she replied, all business for about two seconds before dragging her into a hug, made slightly awkward by the duffel bag. "I'm not putting my feet up all week just because you two are coming home." Releasing Summer, she turned to the twins and offered her hand with exaggerated formality. "Claret Rose."

"Qrow Taupe." He stepped forward to take it, and the smile froze on her face, hesitating a moment. He didn't seem to notice, but then, Summer knew her better.

"You're in luck, kids, because this is the only nonstop flight to Patch," Balt said with an overly elaborate gesture at the airship doors. Raven shrank back, glad for the excuse to avoid getting too close to the strangers.

"It's the only flight to Patch," Tai elaborated. "Balt is the island's only pilot. There's a sea ferry too but it takes more than an hour."

"I'm more than just a ferry pilot." Balt pretended to be hurt as they filed aboard. "I help with high-altitude landing classes at the school. And the odd flying Grimm." The door closed with a hiss and he dropped into his seat.

"He's the best." Summer gave Raven a reassuring smile—she perched next to her brother in the back of the airship, tension coiled in her posture until Balt eased them into the air with barely a wobble. It was hard not to smile as glared at the back of his head with something like begrudging respect.

"So… what are we going to be working on this week?" Tai asked.

"The North cliffs need clearing." Huang ignored their groans of protest, focusing on the twins. "Not all Huntsman work is high-profile targets and glamorous fights. Summer said you got interested because of comics?" Qrow turned scarlet and nodded silently, earning a laugh. "You're not the first, and you won't be the last—but they show an… er… idealized version of the job."

Their bewildered expressions asked everything for them, and he continued. "Most of our time is spent wiping out smaller Grimm before they get big enough to be a problem. It may not be exciting, but routine extermination keeps smaller settlements like Patch habitable." He glanced at Summer and her mother. "…Anything to add, Claret?"

"Uh—" she shook herself slightly. "Small Nevermores roost on the northern cliffs near the school. The terrain is a bit treacherous, so clearing them out generally falls on the teachers and local Huntresses."

"But… you've done it before?" Qrow asked, shifting his gaze to Summer.

"Well, I've always been pretty good at cliffs," Summer said, patting the rifle clipped to her belt. "And we'd usually clear them when it's warm and there's no ice. What gives?"

Her mother didn't respond, and Huang quickly jumped back in. "We won't be doing a deep clean until spring, but they've been getting a bit agitated lately. We'll pick off the largest ones, and anything else within easy reach, and then there's plenty of patrolling to do."

This'll be okay. The twins hung on to every word, Qrow with nervous excitement and Raven with pure, unfiltered anxiety. Summer bit her lip, trying to push down the disappointment. This is how I can help them. The new mission can wait for next year. The feeling wouldn't go away, like a weight glued to her heart. Not too heavy but impossible to budge.

She glanced at her mother—her gaze fixed on the floor, scowling. …Huang had been doing an unusual amount of the talking, too.

"Mom?"

She glanced up, coming back down to Remnant again. "Hmm?"

"What's wrong?"

"Noth—" the lie died halfway out of her mouth, and she sighed. "…I'm just worrying and being overprotective."

"What do you—" Summer nearly missed her mother's half-glance at Huang and the twins. The island lay below now, and he pointed down at the village and the school on the northeast side as he spoke about the natural barriers presented by the island's geography.

She turned back, lowering her voice. Hopefully they'd be distracted enough by Huang's lesson to not notice. "Mom, you said yourself. They're not spies."

"I—I know," she whispered, pained. "Just… promise me you'll be careful."

"They're not bad people, either." Raven and Qrow had done plenty of strange and… maybe a bit threatening things, but… "They're just scared."

Her mother's eyes squeezed shut. "I know, I know. I'm sorry."

"Just be normal," she teased, elbowing her in the ribs.

"—but Azraq had to leave for a mission in a hurry," Huang said. The others were staring. "It was a bit of a rush to get him going before meeting you. We had a long morning."

"Aw, Uncle Az won't get to meet Qrow and Raven?" Tai complained.

"This summer, for sure," Balt said, almost unnoticeably beginning the descent. Raven didn't even flinch. "And he said to tell you he's very sorry."

"Not his fault," Summer mumbled.

The lighthouse swept silently past the window and the bullhead touched down on the landing pad with a small bump.

"Thanks for the lift, Balt." Huang punched him lightly on the arm on his way to open the door.

"Hey, I wanted to meet 'em too." He winked at the twins with a grin. "See you all at dinner."

The rest of them said their goodbyes and gathered up their bags before climbing down to the platform. Everyone's auras glowed faintly for a moment as the chill hit, shielding them from the sea air.

"This is where you went to school?" Qrow asked, staring around at the fort before settling on the clump of little first years huddled in the courtyard. Most of them clutched bits of pipe—gods, learning to handle metal in the cold was the worst—and stared up at the bullhead. A little boy in the middle pointed up at them and screamed, "I WANT A CAPE!"

Summer's hands flew to her mouth, but as soon as she glanced at Raven the laughter was too much to hold back. It only took a second for the boys to join in.

"This is your fault," she complained half-heartedly, glaring at her brother.

Her mother brushed past without stopping. "Come on, kids, if you want to see the island before it gets dark we need to get moving." Summer frowned at her back.

"So why's the school pointy?" Qrow asked, staring at the next arm of the star. Facing out to sea, it had a large gun instead of a landing pad fixed to it.

"It was a fort, before the Great War," Huang said. "This is the only spot where it's deep enough for ships or big Grimm to get into the harbor. Patch has been an important strategic location for hundreds of years. Back when the earthworks were solid, the shape helped deflect cannonballs. They had more than Grimm to worry about in those days."

Tai rolled his eyes. "It's also pretty much the only thing here." His voice echoed off the stone arch of the front gate. "Still too shallow near the island for anything bigger than a fishing boat."

"There's the King of Vale's house," Summer said.

Raven didn't bother to hide her incredulity, eyes darting between the little village buildings. "A king lived here?"

"Not while he was king, after he retired. …And then retired as Beacon Headmaster."

The streets of bustled, the first day of the Vytal Festival well underway. Nothing compared to the fanfare at Beacon or Vale, but it was still the biggest celebration of the year. "The fort was mostly destroyed during the Great War, and was half-rebuilt before the treaty was signed," Huang continued, leading them down the hill away from it. "They dug out the remaining earthworks, added windows, and converted it into a school."

"Then when the communication towers were finished, they just slapped the island's relay onto the lighthouse," Summer added, pointing up at the large communications dishes bolted just below the light.

Claret turned and called over her shoulder. "Let's start at the docks, you should see the defenses there."

"Okay." She returned a small smile, took a deep breath, and raised her voice back to normal. " It shouldn't take more than a day to clear the cliff near the school. We'll stay in the house tonight, and then tomorrow we'll head out to the cabin for the rest of the week. …I suppose we better figure out where everyone's going to sleep. We only have one guest room… Summer could stay with me, Tai and Huang could double up, and the twins could take Summer's room. If that's okay with ev—"

"What? No!" Summer blurted, and everyone turned to stare. Oh. "Uh… I mean, you can use my room if you want. But I'm not sleeping in my mom's room on the first night of my first mission!"

"Oh?" Her mom raised an eyebrow, this time with significantly more sass.

"…I love you. Just, no."

"What she said," Tai agreed.

"All right," Claret said, amused now, "the twins can sleep where they want, and you two can have a slumber party in the living room "

"Mooooooommmm!"

"Would you two like to join them or sleep in her room?"

"…What is a slumber party?" Raven asked.

"Hmm. Mostly staying up too late and eating too many cookies, if I remember correctly."

Summer sighed as the twins' faces lit up with cautious greed. Too normal, Mom.

Next Chapter: Raven—Quiet

#rwby #rwby fanfiction #strq #team strq #summer rose #taiyang xiao long #qrow branwen #raven branwen #ozpin #huang xiao long #claret rose #follow the beacon balt #dang i still don't have a last name for balt gotta fix that #follow the beacon

5 notes · View notes

detroitbydark · 5 years ago

Text

Crossed Connections: Part II

Characters: Tech x Togruta!Reader

Warnings: None

Summary: Everyone experiences exhaustion. Some handle it differently than others.

You can read the first part here

Tech swore he’d seen something as the transport had skimmed the tree line in an attempt to cruise under Separatist radar. A dark shape, springing from through the deep red treetops, attempting to keep up with the Havoc Marauder.

That’s how Hunter found himself an unwilling student to Tech’s lecture on Anaxes’ native fauna.

“Did you know fyrnocks typically roost in tree canopies? They’re almost entirely nocturnal and are incredibly light sensitive but they don’t sleep underground.”

Hunter nods vacantly, knowing that once Tech started on a topic it was best to let it run its course. Wrecker and Crosshair were both asleep in the cargo bay. It was upto one of them to keep their brain occupied while his battery wore down.

Even exhausted, Tech’s mind never seemed to slow, jumping from one topic to the next. Exhaustion only seemed to bring to surface the more obscure things he fixated on. At least he wasn’t focusing on languages this go around.

Last mission Wrecker sat with him for over two hours as he’d slipped in and out of Shyriiwook. Wrecker, never to be confused with an intellectual, had smiled and nodded to his young vod before he’d finally burned through enough energy to pass out over the ships console.

“It’s thought that the species as a whole springs from a single mother entity.” Tech looks up to see if Hunter was still listening “it’s all very fascinating.”

Tech types away at the small datapad secured to his vambrace. “There’s even some chatter about them being linked to the dark side of the Force. Can you imagine? I mean, from what I understand of the Force-“

“Tech” Hunter interrupts gruffly “save it until after debrief with Commander Cody?”

With a flip of the wrist, the younger clone closes the pad. “Of course Sarge, just thought it was interesting”

“It is but we’re all running on fumes at this point. Not sure any of it is sinking in.” He taps at his temple and Tech nods.

“Understood.”

“Plus, we’re only a few klicks away from base and I need you to organize your part of the debrief.”

Tech nods before flipping the datapad back open and beginning to splice together the data he’d collected during recon.

------

You’ve been on Anaxes for two weeks. It still felt foreign, sleeping in the depths of the caverns the base had been built in and around was seriously beginning to mess with your internal clock. No windows to show you night or day, no warming from the sun or cooling as twin moons rose into the sky. You’d never been so thankful for your chronometer. It was hard to sleep as you adjusted to the new environment. While it left you exhausted you also had yet to be late for your shifts already up before you chrono had to wake you. You’d consider it a win.

You were weary of seeing clones on the edge of death, mangled and passed off to you like they were no more than broken droids, only their brothers and a few of the generals seeming to worry about their well being. It wasn’t right. You’re heart hurt and while the other staff had either their clone brothers or other civilians to cling to you seemed to be left to your own devices, as if everyone else could just sense that you weren’t like them. Like on Kiros.

Your people believed only the strong survived. If you couldn’t keep up the Togruta left you behind. Your belief in the value of life made you an outsider within your own tribe. You believed life needn’t validate itself to matter. Simply existing in the first place gave it meaning.

It was a highly unpopular opinion.

The sheer number of casualties you saw roll in daily was another change from your post on Coruscant. Generally, by the time you’d seen the troopers there they’d been stabilized and needed supportive care. Anaxes brought you the worst of the worst straight from the front lines. The GAR was taking mass losses, entire squads destroyed in the blink of an eye without warning. You’d lost count of the number of Clones who’d taken their last breath in your presence. You’d never experienced anything like it on Coruscant and your training had done nothing to truly prepare you for the crushing feeling each loss brought to you and the rest of the medical staff.

You swish your mug around before bring it to your lips taking another swallow of caf. It had gone cold long ago, forgotten when the last emergency had rolled through the doors. You fantasized about a hot mug of it to soothe your throat. You kept up a steady stream of talk when you worked. Your patients always knew exactly what you were doing and your colleagues knew exactly what you were seeing. You’d heard some other medics comment on how annoying it was but you were never going to be accused of not communicating effectively, not when troopers lives could depend on it.

A side effect of hours of talking were often a scratchy, dry throat and a hoarseness that silenced you for the rest of the day. It was ok. Outside of the medbay you were never really sure what to say. Your confidence in your professional skill did not cross over to personal affairs.

“Y/N?” It was one of the clone medics, Kix, from the 501st. He was amiable enough and seemed easy to get along with the few times you’d worked together.

The empty mug was set aside, to be forgotten till a later time when desperation drove you to more of the swamp water that sat bubbling bitterly in the break room.

“I’ve got a squad coming in off a recon run. They’re due for a once over so the powers that be are going to send them down after debrief.” Kix looked on edge as he spoke and you cocked your head trying to figure out what he was saying between the lines.

“You want me to do it?” You knew how to do what he was asking, you just weren’t sure why he was asking you of all people.

“Uh, the boys in 99 don’t much care for other clones.”

That was a new one.

“I can do it Kix” you nod reassuringly. “Don’t worry, ok?” A knot was beginning to tangle in your stomach. You brush off the feeling and try to give the clone your most reassuring smile.

Clones that didn’t like other clones? You hadn’t heard of such a thing outside of the Coruscant Guard.

Those guys were dicks.

Kix seems relieved, running a hand over his face roughly “I owe you. I’ll have them sent over to Exam 3 when they’re done?”

“Make it 5” you correct “they’re still getting blood off the floor in 3 and 4”

-----

Crosshair is spitting mad by the time The Bad Batch is dismissed from Cody’s debrief and Tech can’t figure out why. He just had to acknowledge that pissed off was simply the sniper’s default setting. Tech figures he’s mad no one was willing to take the bait and give him the fight he was looking for.

To his left Hunter seemed as relaxed as Hunter could be, ever vigilant eyes scanning the halls as they traveled.

Per usual, Wrecker was all smiles (if maybe slightly menacing ones) as they entered the lift down to medical.

Tech was pleased. He’d been told the intel would be useful. No one had insulted anyone. No punches had been thrown. It all seemed pretty good as far as he was concerned. All they had to do now was do a quick medical check and they were good to go for at least a solid day of rest before their next assignment. he falls in behind the others while they queued into a single file in front of him, each dipping into the room in turn for their scan. Hunter is in and out before Tech can blink, same for Crosshair.

Wrecker was never the best behaved for the medical staff. He just didn't like medical. Tech couldn't blame him. Hunter and Crosshair wait for a few minutes, making sure they weren’t needed to calm the big man down, before the excuse themselves to the small barracks the four of them called home.

Tech uses the wait to browse the holonet for anything that might pique his curiosity and bookmarks a couple things to look into once he could crawl into his rack.

When Wrecker pops out of the exam room with a sucker tucked into his cheek some twenty minutes later without any shouting following him, Tech takes notice.

“It’s stormfruit, man” Wrecker hums around the sucker “I like this one” He tips his head back toward the exam room as one big mitt cuffs Tech on the shoulder, knocking him back a step as he passes by.

Tech doesn’t bother to take his helmet off when a bright voice calls “Next!”

He’s greeted by the sight of a dimpled Togruta smiling up at him from her spot on a stool.

“Hey you must be…” she glances quickly at her datapad resting on her crossed knee “Tech?”

The voice is exceedingly familiar but he doesn’t know the face as she motions to the table. His feet stutter step as he moves further in the exam room, taking a seat on the table the composite of his armor clanks loudly.

“Long day?” The medic asks and he nods, eyes narrowed as he rifles though his mental files. He knew that voice.

“You're not gonna give me trouble like the last one, right?” She starts, “it took me half a dozen lollys to convince him to let me scan him. I’m starting to think he played me, ya know?”

He nods again.

“You don’t talk much do you? Nexu got your tongue?”

Tech huffs quietly, flipping his visor up to view her without the incandescent screen in the way.

“I think you're the only person that’s ever said that.” He chuckles.

She beams at him, squinting and searching his face.

“Yeah? I won’t complain about being your first.” She teases before her cheeks, already a rich color, flush brightly. When she smiles nervously he sees the quick pearly flash of her incisors. He liked the way she smiled at him. It makes his stomach flip in a vaguely familiar way.

That’s when the data points come together. The realization hits him.

He’d often wondered what Grutababy looked like, curiosity only reaching a fever pitch after their conversation on the comms. He’d lay awake at night, while his brothers slept and try to piece together what she might look like, cursing himself for never once asking for a picture.

His mind would run through the many sentient species he was familiar with as he’d try to place the voice from their lone conversation to it it had become a game. Twi’lek, Mirialan, human… Togruta?

It makes sense now, her profile name. Grutababy. Really it shouldn’t have taken a genius level IQ to figure that out.

He watches her lekku sway gently as she moves through the room. Her skin, somewhere between red and pink, reminds him of a sunset he’d once seen on an outer rim planet, the name of which he’s since forgotten.

The white markings of her people cross from one temple to the other, circling her eye like a mask. Others travel in soft swooping lines from the outer corners of her eyes down, crossing at plump lips and fading out at her chin. A small diamond shaped mark rests above each brow.

Her eyes are a pale, icy blue. The overall effect is… stunning.

She was more beautiful than he could have ever imagined (and he’d tried).

“This may sound weird-” she hums” her fingers fumble for her scanner, nearly dropping it off the counter. Frowning, she taps it against the heel of her palm when it refuses to turn on.

Once.

Twice.

Three times.

Tech winces, wants to tell her that there was no evidence that treating a device like that would make it work. On the contrary it would often-

The scanner buzzes to life and a triumphant smile lights her features.

“Like, I was saying, it may sound weird. I just get the feeling….”

Tech swallows hard.

She lets out a nervous laugh and waves it off, “Nevermind, ignore me. Not enough sleep or caf and I’m imagining things”

Something akin to disappointment filters through his chest as she rubs the back of a montrail nervously. He wonders if he should tell her? She interrupts his train of thought with a deep breath and the moment has passed. She's all business now as she adjusts the scanner in her grip.

“So Trooper, how about we get your scan done and you can go get the sleep that I’m not.”

#tech x reader #clone trooper tech #tcw #tech #crosshair #wrecker #hinterested #the clone wars

88 notes · View notes

waiting-among-the-stars · 4 years ago

Text

Like Brothers in Arms | Among the Stars :: Drabble

“You ever thought about fixin’ that?”

“Fixing what?” Rusty barely spared a glance toward Buck, but it was enough of one that it prompted the brown-clad crewmate to move a bit closer to his captain, as they currently worked together repairing a bit of damage to the outside of the ship, while River was monitoring their tethers, and Buck’s hat for the moment apparently.

“Your visor, Captain.” He offered. “Dunno how much more it’ll hold for goin’ out here if it’s cracked the way it is.” Oh, right. Rusty briefly tapped a finger to the thin, spidering crack in his helmet’s visor. Polycarbonate plastic that it was, reinforced and coated with just a bit of gold, Buck was right, he supposed. He probably should replace it, but.. how was he supposed to do that, without any current prospects of making a return trip to Earth any time in the near future? Well.. he couldn’t bring up that part. His crew still had the optimism and hope that they’d get to go back home. Buck in particular had talked at length about what he’d do first thing when he got home to his dogs, and his ranch. When he got home.. not if.. And it was a captain’s job to keep a brave face for the sake of his crew, not to worry them or.. bring down their hopes. He knew the truth, but.. he had to keep it from them. For as long as he could. So instead, he put on a sort of half-smile, giving a short, sardonic laugh for a moment as he shook his head.

“Thought about it, sure.” He acknowledged, taking a moment to tighten a few screws and tape up the cut wires as best he could. “But it’s become a sort of badge of honor, I think. Been through this three times already, after all, and each time I’ve gone for another round with those things, they’ve always left a mark. So I figure, why not just leave those marks just as they are. Show the bastards that I’ve survived their shit before, and they’re not dragging me down so easy.” Buck chuckled, bolting the new plating over the repaired wires, and the deep gouge that had been torn into the side of the ship.

“Them’s fair, Captain. Show ‘em which cock crows louder this fight, an’ you’ll keep on rulin’ the roost.” He clapped a hand against Rusty’s back, laughing a bit. While most of the crew had a bit of trouble puzzling out Buck’s unique analogies and colloquialisms, Rusty actually didn’t mind them. They reminded him of home in some ways, just some good old American familiarity.

“Yeah, leave it to me, Buck. I’m the more experienced bird in the cock fight, right?” He laughed, gently punching Buck’s arm. “Follow my lead, and I’ll either get you guys through this safe and sound, or I’ll die trying.” A small shhff of static in their comms, and River’s voice called to them.

“Alright, knuckleheads, if you’re all done out there, it’s time to come on back. I think Skylar’s having a panic attack, and Silver’s not helping.”

“Alright, alright. We’re coming back, Riv, just hold the lines.”

“Can do, Captain. Can do.”

#not a full update #just a little extra bit for fun #gotta give you guys something as an apology #for how long it’s taken me to update #among us #among us crewmates #among us ocs #among the stars #drabbles #bonus stuff

1 note · View note

orlha · 5 years ago

Text

Title: Haru no Tani (A Valley of Haruno) Fandom: Naruto Genre: Family Characters: Haruno Sakura Triggers(s): – Rating: G Additional Tags: AU Summary: Where the Haruno Clan does have a kekkei genkai, except it's a useless one and everyone forgets it exists, until it becomes relevant.

AO3

Sakura had grown up with lessons that she was a Haruno, Harunos are the trees and the earth and that Harunos never married out.

Contrary to Konoha’s belief, the Harunos did have a kekkai genkai. It just wasn’t useful in battle and in the days of the old, the Harunos were revered. They fertilized the earth when they died, blooming into pastures and trees, orchards heavy with fruits. Vegetation that would continue to bloom and grow decades even after their deaths.

Now with the event of chakra and jutsu, the need and reverence for a person’s death had been significantly diminished. Why feed and wait for a person to age and die when you could pay a shinobi to do the same regularly?

So the Harunos adapted.

Instead, they bought a large plot of land and when they died, they would plant their bodies there, fertilizing the land and selling fruits and vegetables from it.

The Harunos became simple merchants.

The day Sakura insisted on becoming a shinobi, was the day she had a tattoo inked onto the small of her back.

History had largely forgotten them and the Harunos wanted it to stay it that way. As long as no one released her seal, she would not turn into earth when she died. That was their own requirement.

Of course, all that changed when the Chuunin Exams happened.

It was assumed that the Harunos had been forgotten. The Suna clearly did not.

✥.✥.✥

“Let go off the boy,” Sakura growls at the strange kabuki painted boy.

“Ha— Haruno?!” the boy splutters.

“I apologise on my brother’s behalf if the kid was one of yours Haruno-sama,” the blonde girl with twin pigtails says nervously. “Kankuro!” she hisses at her brother and he quickly sets Konohamaru onto the floor.

“So— so sorry for this!” Kankuro stammers, bowing as his sister drags him away.

“I didn’t know you were a big shot,” Sasuke says when the two siblings vanish from sight.

“Ah—”

I didn’t know either, was what Sakura really wanted to say. Also, she would definitely need to report this to the clan elders.

✥.✥.✥

In retrospect, as a shinobi, Sakura should have planned for eventualities where she would be interesting to other shinobis.

Sakura’s a Haruno. Harunos are considered civilian in the fire country region. There is literally no one who would kidnap them for any reason — maybe except for that merchant clan in Iron.

So when she found herself on the back of a Suna shinobi, Sakura is completely embarrassed by her first reactions. She did not act like a genin or even as shinobi in training.

She had, instead, screamed “Pervert!”

Sakura states several times in her report later, that it had been a reaction to someone grabbing her butt and legs. Kakashi-sensei later ups her evasion training.

Kakashi-sensei is also confused why a Suna-nin would attempt to kidnap his civilian student. Neither Kakashi nor Sakura realises until much later when Gaara becomes the Kazekage that Harunos are a legend there, thought to have died out in the warring era.

The Harunos are worshipped in Suna.

✥.✥.✥

“Why are you worshipped?” Shikamaru asks Sakura months after Temari had revealed the Haruno religion in Suna. ‘You’re civilians,’ he doesn’t say. He can’t figure out why and neither Temari nor Kankuro would say why.

“Would you like to see why?” Sakura says as she moves her gold general across the board.

He nods and counters her move. “Tsumi.”

Sakura had been lasting longer against him. With more practice, she might even become as good as a Nara.

“Next week, Thursday. Wear something formal and come over at four pm. Don’t be late.”

The requirement of wearing something formal is ominous enough to rope Ino into joining him. Shikamaru knows with the right buttons, Ino would be curious enough and he is right.

“What kind of situation would we even need formalwear anyway?” Ino grumbles the entire way to the Haruno compound.

They arrive precisely at four on Thursday. Both dressed in their formal black kimonos. Sakura definitely not wearing formal black kimono, instead she, her aunt and probably nephew are all wearing bright red qipao.

Sakura rises from her seiza, giving them a formal bow as the little boy ushers them in, fetching their geta and offering guest slippers.

“Nara Shikamaru, heir to the Nara Clan, Yamanaka Ino, heir to the Yamanaka Clan, Haruno Sakura, heir to the Haruno Clan greets you. You are welcomed here,” Sakura greets.

They stiffen. Shikamaru had never known Sakura was a clan heir. It’s likely because the Harunos were… are… civilians?

Shikamaru is actually not sure anymore. There has to be a reason why a whole village would worship them and attempt to negotiate the Harunos setting up a branch in Suna during the diplomatic meetings.

“What is going on?” Ino hisses to Sakura when they are alone in the hallway.

“Shikamaru asked to see why we’re worshipped. It so happens that there’s a funeral today.”

What has a funeral have to do with being worshipped?

“A funeral? I didn’t ask to go to a funeral.” Ino eyes Sakura’s bright red qipao then glances at the other Haruno’s funeral red qiapo.

Ino is tactful enough to not ask why anyone would wear red to a funeral, instead follows Sakura silently down the hallways.

“Please do not make a sound and fidget during the service,” Sakura whispers when they reach the door to the courtyard.

Ino scoffs. “We’re clan heirs. Of course, we know not to.”

Motioning to another little boy, Sakura pushes the boy forward. “This is Hibino. If you need anything, you can ask him. These two are Nara Shikamaru, heir to the Nara Clan, Yamanaka Ino, heir to the Yamanaka Clan. Take care of them, Hibino-kun.”

The pink haired boy grumbles under his breath but plasters a service smile. “Haruno Hibino, second in line at your service.”

Sakura’s words are oddly specific that Shikamaru wonders if he’s overthinking it.

Hibino shows them to seats on the engawa. “When the procession starts, you can follow behind me. Please remain silent.”

“We’re clan heirs too,” Ino mutters indignantly.

Shikamaru can’t help but feel a shudder. Likely because the sun is setting. Not because of the shadows in the forest, or how wild the Haruno forest looks.

The Nara forest has all these too.

Sakura is upfront next to a woman wearing white at the end of the pathway. The Harunos stand along the path, holding up tiny lamps. A man wearing white carries an old woman, with blanket folded around her, in his arms steps onto the path.

There is no sound. Not even the sound of the birds roosting as the sun sets. Not even the sound of the leaves.

The man takes the lead, followed the Sakura and the woman in white, Shikamaru and Ino are near the last to follow.

The forest is dim enough that Shikamaru has to circulate chakra in his eyes to see the path before him and he wonders how the other Harunos don’t seem to have a problem. They walk far into the forest, until they hit a clearing when the man places the old woman in the middle. Sakura bites her forefinger and crouches next to the old woman, drawing symbols on the woman’s face.

“Bloom,” the woman in white says.

“Bloom,” the Harunos chorus.

“Into the Spring coursing through our veins.”

Sakura stands next to the woman in white, just over the old woman.

“Grow,” the woman in white says.

“Grow!” the Haruno chorus, this time louder.

“Into the fruits and trees that we partake.” The woman in white holds her arms up and the Harunos roar as Sakura presses her hands into a tiger seal. The blood on the old woman glows briefly.

“FLY!” They scream.

There’s a heavy silence, a pause that Shikamaru idly muses if he had just witnessed a sacrificial rite. Then a shuddering, an explosion of branches and leaves, trees and earth exploding from the old woman around them.

Ino claps her hands over her mouth, muffling her shriek.

The clearing turns into an overgrown forest, the dirt becomes grass, the sprouts become the trees, the trees grow fruits and dip their branches.

All in a span of minutes.

Almost like watching Yamato using mokuton, except these are civilians, people that shouldn’t have a kekkai genkai. What is a civilian clan with a kekkai genkai called? Is a civilian with kekkai genkai even a civilian?

Shikamaru watches all these and realises with horrifying clarity that even in the shinobi world, a clan with the ability to sprout fruits and trees in a matter of minutes is irreplaceable.

How has no one wondered how the Haruno sells fruits even in the dead of winter?

Shikamaru goes home with more questions than answers.

✥.✥.✥

Sakura punches the clones into submission. How dare this Pein person attack Konoha. She punches the puppet through the wall but it still gets up.

It’s likely that she will die today, Sakura realises. Thank the sage for the seal her clan head had forced onto her when she insisted on becoming a shinobi. At least she won’t accidentally turn land into a forest when she dies, or at least not without another Haruno’s chakra.

Then a meteor crashes into Konoha.

Sakura holds onto her conscious long enough to see the broken buildings transform into a valley of Sakura trees and thinks that soon she’ll join them.

Except she doesn’t die. Not permanently that is.

Sakura wakes up to a crater of what was once Konoha but now trees and to the knowledge that Pein had resurrected all the people who died in his attack, except the Harunos. Not the Harunos, because they had a kekkai genkai that activated when they die, converting them bodies into earth.

If there was no body, there is no way Pein could have converted them back.

Sakura becomes the last Haruno, the only person in a village full of people that day, to shed tears of sorrow instead of tears of relief and joy.

#fanfiction #haruno sakura #I apparently write weird stuff when I'm half asleep

37 notes · View notes

alternate-pokemon-next-gen · 4 years ago

Text

Alternate Next Gen (Main Cast): Angelique “A” Gabena

Angelique is the daughter of X and Y. When she was little she was always amazed by how her father and mother were Mega Evolution Successors and she wanted to get a Mega Ring as well. After putting a good word in with Gurkinn, he had given Angelique and her cousin Ariel a Mega Ring and had them both take part in the ceremony to become successors. While Ariel was more focused on being a Performer like her moms, Angelique didn’t know what she wanted to do at first and mostly spent her time just battling. It wasn’t until she approached by someone who suggested that she could take over the Coumarine city gym after Ramos had passed away, seeing as she didn’t have much else to do and no one else had taken over the gym, Angelique agreed. However she changed the gym from Grass types to Dark types because her starter was her Houndoom and made some changes to it after she got approved for the gym leader position and for going through the paperwork for changing the gym, the badge and type she would be battling with and she’s pleased with the changes she made. Angelique is a big introvert, she would rather spend her time by herself in her house or with her cousin when she’s home. Angelique doesn’t have a lot of friends but she does get along with Lazarus, Jewel, Danica, Golda, Lapis, Arvin and Chand and she admires them for all of their goals and wishes that she could find a goal for herself, for now she’s happy being the new gym leader of Coumarine city. Despite Angelique being an introvert, she can be rather sassy when something annoys her enough or if her patience runs out enough.

Angelique has a Key Stone that fits into a black Mega Ring like the one her parents have.

Her Pokemon:

Houndoom- Angelique caught her Houndoom after she had found him injured and sick as a Houndour, while he was being stubborn and distrustful at first he soon warmed up to her after she had helped him recover. Houndour then decided that he wanted to stay with Angelique and she let him stay with her as her starter Pokemon. Houndour had started training with Angelique as soon as he recovered and he was doing great as he trained with his new trainer. After he had evolved while battling in a competition, he had sensed a Houndoominite and lead Angelique to it where it was cut and fitted into a collar for Houndoom to wear. Houndoom acts as the leader of Angelique’s team and is the one who trains with everyone and makes sure each of them are ready for a battle. Houndoom is obedient and loyal to Angelique to the point he’ll only listen to her orders, anyone else he’ll ignore. This is because of the fact that she saved him when he was on the verge of death and he got stronger because of her help, he’ll also drive off anyone who bothers her by growling or sending fire in their direction as a warning shot. He’s mostly seen out of his Pokeball.

Caught in a Pokeball.

Ability is Flash Fire, changes to Solar Power when Mega Evolved.

Held Item is Houndoominite.

Moves are Inferno, Beat Up, Flamethrower, Crunch, Thunder Fang, Dark Pulse, Iron Tail, Swift, Throat Chop and Sunny Day.

Greninja- After catching her Houndour, Angelique was given a Froakie by Professor Sycamore for her to raise as her own. With a lot of training, she managed to get her Froakie to evolve into a Frogadier and later Greninja. As a Froakie, Greninja was carefree and laid back, however he would still train and battle the best he could and when he could thanks to Angelique’s training regimens and it all paid off when he evolved into Frogadier. As a Frogadier, he had lost his carefree nature and would always train himself to get stronger and faster as a result of his training with Angelique and her Houndour, he also would start taking a leadership role along with Houndour and would try to keep new members in line. His leadership role increased more when he evolved into a Greninja and would only get stronger the more he trained with Angelique. Greninja is a calm and serious Pokemon that would always focus on training with his teammates and even leading his teammates when it came to training with them to get stronger. Greninja is very loyal and protective over Angelique to the point he’ll quickly rush to protect her when she’s close to being in danger. Greninja enjoys meditating when he isn’t battling and he takes advantage of how much he meditates and is able to pinpoint anyone trying to sneak up on him inside and out of battle with ease. Greninja is used for trainers with seven badges.

Given in a Pokeball.

Ability is Torrent.

Moves are Water Shuriken, Night Slash, Quick Attack, Smokescreen, Double Team, Hydro Pump, Dark Pulse, Surf, Aerial Ace and Scald.

Shiny Liepard- Angelique’s Liepard was caught after one of her previous trainers abandoned her. As a Purrloin was caught by multiple trainers but all of them eventually would release her after a while. Getting released by new trainers made her hate humans and she hated her shiny fur because that’s the only reason they wanted her in the first place, she had evolved after her last trainer had used her in a battle before she released her because she wasn’t cute anymore. Angelique was nearby and offered Liepard a place on her team, Liepard was slightly reluctant but she agreed as she felt she should try at least one more human before she decided to find somewhere else to live. After getting used to being with Angelique for a few weeks, Liepard had gotten used to being with Angelique and slowly started to come out of her shell but when she heard that she would be with a gym leader she thought that she could prove herself to any trainer that had abandoned her in the past that they made a mistake in releasing her instead of keeping her. Liepard is a bit of a needy Pokemon who really wants to be petted or given affection by her trainer, she can be very picky about who pets her as she had a lot of trainers before Angelique. She felt really close to her latest trainer but after she was released for evolving she fell into a deep depression that lasted for a long time before she had enjoyed being with Angelique and her other Pokemon. After getting to know Angelique and her Pokemon, she started to open up more and started to get into battling and she was given some emotional support Pokemon, notably a normal Purrloin that later was evaluated to be part of Angelique’s no badge team. She’s a very motherly Pokemon to that Purrloin and is always happy to care for her when she isn’t battling or training, Liepard also enjoys getting groomed or pet by Angelique. Despite her looks, she’s also a strong and capable battler when she knows what’s she’s going up against and she knows how to use her speed to her advantage, as well as various tricks to hinder her opponent such as using Fake Out or Attract. Liepard is used for trainers with seven badges.

Caught in a Luxury Ball.

Ability is Prankster.

Moves are Hone Claws, Fake Out, Sand Attack, Night Slash, Play Rough, Attract, Iron Tail, Lash Out, Burning Jealousy and Fake Tears.

Zoroark- Zoroark was caught by Angelique while she was in the Pokemon Village. Zoroark was one of the Pokemon who was mistreated by a previous trainer, he didn’t trust Angelique at first but when he saw that she had a strong bond with her Pokemon he opened up to her and soon joined her team. Zoroark is a very strong Pokemon, but he’s also not sure if he would trust just any other human unless he can tell they have a strong bond with their Pokemon, otherwise he’ll just growl at another human and will only be calmed by Angelique or Liepard. Zoroark is very close to Liepard as both of them have dealt with trainers who mistreated them, the two of them would often talk with each other in their down time and soon they became mates. Zoroark, like most Dark types, enjoys playing some pranks on others but he’ll mostly use his illusions to make someone think they’re somewhere else which Angelique incorporated into her gym puzzle which is something Zoroark takes pride in. Zoroark also has a soft spot for kids and will often make himself look like a smaller Pokemon so they can play with him without getting afraid, he also will let younger Pokemon into his mane and he doesn’t mind having them in his mane. Zoroark often uses his illusions during battle as well but only for skilled trainers mostly so he can test to see if they are worthy of getting a gym badge from his trainer. Zoroark is used for trainers with seven gym badges.

Caught in a Ultra Ball.

Ability is Illusion.

Moves are Night Slash, Night Daze, Double Team, Flamethrower, Extrasensory, Sucker Punch, Mega Punch, Foul Play, Calm Mind and Dark Pulse.

Honchkrow- Before being caught by Angelique, Honchkrow was a big bad boss Pokemon who would get his Murkrow cronies to steal food or anything that seemed valuable by his standards. He soon became a problem that some trainers had to take care of and Angelique managed to figure that if she could take out the leader, the Murkrow wouldn’t know what to do. She had taken charge of all kinds of trainers and had them battle to keep the Murkrow busy while she would fight against their boss and when she weakened him enough she managed to catch him, putting an end to the Murkrow gang. Honchkrow was very rebellious when he first joined Angelique’s team and he would mostly spend his time roosting instead of training with his new trainer and teammates, it took a long while but he did eventually open up to his trainer and ended up following her commands, though he mostly follows her because he realized that she was a strong leader despite her looks and he came to respect that part of her even if he refuses to admit it. He still hasn’t opened up to anyone in the team, still preferring to just roost on his own instead of talking with anyone. Honchkrow’s battle style involves him sometimes playing dirty and not giving his opponents any room to breathe or fight back, he’ll also use intimidation at times and will occasionally use moves like Pursuit so his opponent will let their guard down. He’s used for trainers with seven badges.

Caught in a Ultra Ball.

Ability is Super Luck.

Moves are Night Slash, Sucker Punch, Pursuit, Foul Play, Sky Attack, Air Cutter, Steel Wing, Confuse Ray, Double Team and Shadow Ball.

Pangoro- Angelique caught Pangoro as a Pancham, Pancham had seen Angelique’s team and wanted to be part of it as he thought her team had a lot of cool Pokemon. Angelique had no problem with having him join and caught him. As a Pancham, Pangoro was very easy to please, he always did his best when he was training and would constantly continue to improve himself any time he lost so he could get stronger. When he evolved after being with his teammates and trainer, he grew a bit more aggressive but he was still the same Pokemon that loved to please his trainer. He would often blush when he got complimented by Angelique or any challenger back when he was a Pancham, but after evolving he would puff up with pride anytime he won against someone and they would compliment his strength. Pangoro cares a lot about his teammates and his trainer and will always glare and growl at anyone who makes fun of them, especially anyone who does that to Liepard like her previous trainers, he also doesn’t like it when his teammates will fight among each other, especially the Pokemon part of their trainer’s lower badge team and he will often act as the peacekeeper between them and give them bonding exercises so they can learn to get along better and work together. Pangoro doesn’t have a set battle style like his other teammates, he just battles them as they come.

Caught in a Ultra Ball.

Ability is Iron Fist.

Moves are Bullet Punch, Storm Throw, Crunch, Darkest Lariat, Mega Punch, Thunder Punch, Fire Punch, Dark Pulse, Reversal and Focus Punch.

#Pokemon #Next Gen #Pokemon Next Gen #LaverreShipping #Angelique Gabena #Main Cast #Fan Kids #Pokemon Fan Kids

4 notes · View notes

e8luhs · 5 years ago

Text

ARIES.

LISTEN ON SPOTIFY.

tracklist/annotations under the cut! the beginning of an astrology playlist series

I. WEREWOLF GIMMICK / THE MOUNTAIN GOATS

half the city sound asleep and safe inside their beds get lost inside my thoughts and nearly tear his face to shreds blood pooling on the canvas as the atmosphere gets hushed bring your heroes to the wolf’s den, watch them all get crushed get told to maybe dial it back backstage later on everyone still in this building right now: dead before the dawn

II. REVEL IN CONTEMPT / BUKE & GASE

this fire breathes significance on this whole existence with running eyes and burning feet to the cold distance they'll never try, they'll never see from your point of reference

III. MONSTER HOSPITAL / METRIC

i fought the war, i fought the war i fought the war but the war won't stop for the love of god i fought the war, i fought the war but the war won!

IV. WRECKING BALL / MOTHER MOTHER

it takes a dedicated hand to put it through the wall you got to want to break the hearts of all those pretty porcelain dolls you got to want to be the drummer in the band you got to want to be a battering ram you got to see the artistry in tearing the place apart with me, baby

V. I’LL MAKE YOU SORRY / SCREAMING FEMALES

am i losing faith in my own anger? i forgot to punch my tab on my own you dropped my sin, this blue bullet hit me hard wasting your last days, i can't feel you, you're too far

VI. NECKBRACE / RATATAT

[instrumental]

VII. ANGRY PEOPLE / LEMON DEMON

hey, look out! we're angry people! exploding in love we're completely normal! throwing bottles at god you did this to us! why did you do this to us?

VIII. EASY TIGER / PORTUGAL. THE MAN

but it's hard to see clouds when you're 6 feet underground keep building a house then tearing it down

IX. ASPIRING FIRES / MOTHER MOTHER

a little advice for aspiring fires: you'll get put out if you don't get a little wild try again, try again, get it right you don't got the due diligence to lose your mind i'm losing my mind!

X. BURN YOUR LIFE DOWN / TEGAN AND SARA

you lay awake in the night just staring at the ceiling above pulling pieces of it out is such a waste of time you keep on fighting to remember that nothing is lost in the end then you burn, burn, burn your life down

XI. YEAR OF THE TIGER / ST VINCENT

when i was young coach called me the tiger i always had a knack with the danger

XII. RISK / METRIC

started slow, started late started strong, then we lost faith started slow started to lose control the more we accelerate

XIII. ANSWERING THE PHONE / THE MOUNTAIN GOATS

i'm gonna tell you once, you gotta listen you came here for comfort, you came to the wrong place i got a strong stomach and a murmur in my heart i got a tremor in my hand, muscle twitches in my face and i think something's wrong with me i think something's snapped on wrong, maybe permanently

XIV. BLOODFLOOD / ALT J

a wave, an awesome wave, that rushes skin and widens in blooded veins breathe in, exhale, i've poked a nerve he'll slap me like a whale

XV. WOLF LIKE ME / TV ON THE RADIO

we could jet in a stolen car but i bet we wouldn't get too far before the transformation takes and blood lust tanks and crave gets slaked

XVI. I WANT TO BE WELL / SUFJAN STEVENS

did i go at it wrong? did i go intentionally to destroy me? I'm suffering in noise, i'm suffering in (touching ordinary body) the burning from within the burning from with (ordinary hysteria) i could not be at rest, i could not be at peace (extraordinary hysteria)

XVII. DILAUDID / THE MOUNTAIN GOATS

all the chickens come on home to roost plump bodies blotting out the sky you know it breaks my heart in half, in half when i see them trying them fly cause you just can't do things your body wasn't meant to hike up your fishnets, i know you

XVIII. SPEED THE COLLAPSE / METRIC

pushed away, i'm pulled toward a comedown of revolving doors every warning we ignored drifting in from distant shores

XIX. LOST IT TO TRYING / SON LUX

give in and get out we rise in the dying what will we do now? we've lost it to trying, we've lost it to trying

XX. MARS / SLEEPING AT LAST

we were full of life, we could barely hold it in! we were amateurs at war, strangers to suffering we made our families proud, but scared at the same time we promised we'd be safe, another lie from the front lines

#astro #plylsts #YEAAAAA im pretty much done with these ive just gotta finish up my scorp + sag ones and make a moodboard for my aqua one #so i finished up the aries - virgo tracklists and ive got these queued up for 1 per day #so hopefully i get those sorted in six days. lets have fun

18 notes · View notes

everbrilliantheartbreaker · 5 years ago

Text

Fanfiction Reader Tag

Tagged by @eyeliner-vampire ♡ ♡

Fanfiction Reader Tag!

1. When did you start reading Fanfic (How old you were or how long ago)?

When I was probably...11 ish? so like 13 years ago

2. Do you have an AO3 account?

Yeh (LadyWisteria)

3. Do you read WIP (work in progress)? Why or why not?

All the time. I’m not picky about this at all. I’m a simple person. I see fic I think I’ll like? I read. doesn’t matter if it’s finished or not. I’ll make up my own ending til it is lol. also authors need that encouragement. finishing stuff is hard

4. What time of day is your ‘fic reading time’?

Usually late at night (like 1 a.m. and later..much later) but sometimes I’ll waste an afternoon instead (2 p.m. ish til I either have to go to work or I finish the fic)

5. How much time do you spend reading fic per week?

Not remotely as much time as I used, that’s for sure. Anywhere from an hour (if I’m rereading That favorite fic) to 2-4 hours if my friend has sent me a longfic again.

6. Do you listen to podfic (fanfic recorded like an audiobook)?

I...didn’t even know this was a thing tbh, so no. Sounds very neat but also I don’t listen to audio books anymore bcus my attention span re: audio input has gotten so bad over the years I can’t focus for more than a few minutes.

7. What’s your favorite fic genre to read?

AUs AUs AUs. and fantasy. and fantasy AUs (although good long AU fics are harder to find). I am a very simple person. I see magic mentioned, I read. I also read a lot of romance fic (proving once again that fanfic writing is often better than mainstream original writing, bcus romance is one of my least favorite YA/movie genres). I don’t read as much of them but I also love mystery and paranormal fics

8. Are there any genres that you tend to avoid?

Super angsty no happy ending type stuff. “Major Character Death” is an automatic nope lmao (unless the summary looks reaallyyy interesting or it was recc’d to me). Tragedy is definitely Not my thing

9. What tag(s) do you track?

I don’t track any fic tags (I stopped tracking tags at all since Tumblr changed it from “keeping track of new posts in said tag” to “dropping random posts from that tag into the middle of your dash, and usually the same three”)

10. How do you find new fic?

Nowadays I mostly just read what friends send me or the new stuff a very few writers I follow post, but sometimes I also come across stuff through Twitter or Tumblr and curiosity wins out

11. How do you organize your fic bookmarks?

I..don’t? Is this a thing people do?? If I wanna reread something I either search through my bookmarks by title/author or just. filter by fandom.

12. Do you subscribe to authors or stories?

Yeh. I only keep up with a very select few of them though. altho part of that is due to several of them being people I followed on fanfic.net years and years ago and never unfollowed, even though our interests may no longer be the same. (the other part is me going “oh I’ll read that later” and then just. never doing it.)

13. What is your favorite fanfic trope?

fake dating and bed sharing are always good

everyone is gay. also Good

14. What kind of plot line are you always here for?

“everything’s the same but they’re soulmates” (oh my god they were soulmates)

mafia AU

MAGIC

I really like in-between scene fics too. the events and character interactions that happen off-screen. I like writing those

15. What can an author do to make you love them?

write about my faves frequently

cool AUs

write about minor characters

good sense of humor

16. What can an author do to make you avoid them?

not into mpreg fics

a/b/o fics make me super wary I usually pass on those, even if the summary looks mildly interesting. they’re rarely if ever done in a way that isn’t rapey and gross

don’t care for fics period that have rapey scenes but you’re supposed to find them romantic

adult/minor ships

characterization is a big deal to me so if I don’t like how they handle the characters, especially faves I probably won’t be back

17. What do kudos mean to you?

when I get one I have a few seconds of “oh someone kinda liked this thing I wrote” and then I carry on about my day >.>;;; (I do appreciate them tho)

18. What kind of commenter are you (No comment, short comment, keyboard smash)?

I don’t comment as often as I mean to or wish I did, but when I do they’re loong comments (I’ve passed the AO3 character limit at least once kshg)

I tend to quote favorite parts and then react to them, and I like to theorize and ask questions about character’s thoughts at a certain part or what author imagines happens before/after the fic

19. Have you ever stopped reading a fic? Why or why not?

Yes. Once because I stumbled into a very sexually explicit fic when that was. Not at all what I was expecting (I was also very young lol), I think there was a very few I quit because they were boring or very poorly written, but most often I “quit” a fic for the same reason I don’t do audio books anymore lmao: because my attention span is sht and my motivation and commitment are extremely fickle things. I either forget or just wander away for a bit and then forget. Often I mean to come back and finish it; it’s just a matter of how long it takes. (I also second hand embarrassed out of a fic so hardcore that it’s been a whole 9 months since I’ve touched it khdfgd)

20. Have you ever read a fic more than once? What is it about that fic that makes you want to read it again?

YES. This requires like a minimum 4 separate posts to really answer but:

Behind Bricks and The Penance of a Killer by Deathbelle

this person is my fricking favorite author ever and these are two of my fricking favorite fics ever, I must’ve reread Behind Bricks 6 or 8 times now and Penance is the BokuAka-centric companion piece to my favorite fic of all time that I always wanted

Mending Bonds and If the Heart Breaks, Does That Mean There’s No Home? by RussianSunflower3

Mending Bonds is soft found family fluff centering on a very minor fave of mine and If the Heart Breaks is very angsty found family fluff that also focuses on some minor characters and it always hurts my heart but the ending and the soft middle always heal it right back up (“[Hanamaki] has a heart big enough for everyone in the world, and then some.” ohhhh my godd)

Boiled Frogs by ReginaGalaxia

this one is. a really hard read centered around emotional abuse and manipulation and hoooo boy it is a rough read especially if you’ve experienced any of that personally but it’s so well written and the character dynamics are great and in its lighter moments it’s fricking hilarious.

(bits and pieces of) The Roost by Ugglabarn

bits and pieces only bcus Roost has a lot of very heavy dark content that I’d have to be in a specific mood to reread the whole thing because it hurts my heart way too much but also it’s one of the best Fukurodani-centric longfics I’ve ever read (PLUS AN AU..!!) and I love love how they write the characters and how much focus there is on the minor members and ships and in its lighter moments Roost is also really funny the most recent chapter was hilarious

Expensive Hotel by Crown_of_Winterthorne

smut. explicit smut. excellent explicit smut with loving polyamorous boyfriends and plenty of consent discussion and kissing. my entire jam right there

Class 1-A Whomst? by Ya_Boi_Hal

this is the funniest chatfic I’ve ever read in my life and the first good chatfic I ever read. absolutely hysterical. also has some really good serious content in the middle and some Aizawa dialogue that punched me right in the feels. 12/10 will read again. sometimes I just randomly say “Mineta whomst??” and cackle to myself

and back in the day it was:

The Flame of Betrayal by DataIntegrationThoughtEntity

I guess traitor! Tahu was a popular trope back when Bionicle fandom was at its peak?? and not everyone liked it apparently but I enjoyed this fic greatly every time I read it it was well written and had interesting OCs and I am actually highly tempted to go reread it again

and Asleep Beneath a Wheat Field by Feline Freak

this was a very peculiar little OC-centric one shot that was also very sad and I don’t know why it grabbed me like it did but I remember rereading it 3 or 4 times at least

21. Do you like sequels?

The fics I like don’t usually come with sequels but The Penance of a Killer is one so Yes

22. Do you like dabbles?

I guess? I haven’t read too many I don’t think but hey, more fic is more fic. Who’s gonna complain about that?

23. What do you wish more fic authors would do?

Write about minor characters more

24. What do you wish more authors would stop doing?

that thing where they latch onto one facet of a character’s personality - or worse, one that fandom made up - and write them as if that’s the only trait they have

25. Do you like one-shots or multi-chapter?

Multi-chapter. I mean both are great obviously but the majority of my faves are multi-chapter and obviously if I like a fic I’m gonna wanna spend as much time in that universe as possible

26. How long do you like chapters to be?

Usually I feel the longer the better. once in a while I’ll hit one that’s so long it’s kind of distracting but extremely rarely

27. What’s your favorite POV (point of view) to read (first, second, third)?

Third

28. What do you think of OC’s?

I didn’t use to care for them very much but as I started reading fic by more advanced writers I found several I really liked. have a very small list of OCs from recent fics I’ve read I would actually kill a man for I love them so much

29. Do you download fic?

No, but seeing as my absolute favorite Bionicle fic vanished off the face of the earth several years ago and I cannot find anything about it an y wh ere sometimes I think about saving my faves. I never got to finish reading that fic and I am absolutely devastated every time I think about it.

30. Tell me something else about your fic reading! Anything else!

best thing is when my friend and I buddy read a fic and send each other our favorite parts

Tag!

@yaelathewordsmith and @samantha-girlscout ♡ ♡ ♡

#Toa does a meme #long post #i didn't forget about this i've just been picking at it ever since u tagged me

4 notes · View notes

keywestlou · 3 years ago

Text

WhatsApp NEW SOCIAL MEDIA MESSAGING DANGER

There’s a relatively new lets get together “social” site. A “messaging” one. Called WhatsApp. Simple to use.

Generally directed at strangers who have similar interests as the one initiating the message. Like lets get together and kill some Jews tonight! Or, Palestinians!

Within hours, groups agree to meet at a designated place and time to wreak havoc. Most of the groups in the first instance unknown to each other.

An example occurred last week. An Israeli group placed a message on WhatsApp that 6 pm was the starting time for a clash. Time and where to meet, etc. spelled out.

This particular event involved a planned clash in Bat Yam. Bat Yam a community on the coast of Israel. The town has many long time Palestinian residents who have lived peacefully for years in the nation of Israel.

There was a theme to the message: “Together we organize and together react…..here we know how to defend Jewish honor.”

Extremists on both sides in the Israeli/Hamas problem have discovered and are using WhatsApp.

WhatsApp is owned by Facebook.

Things move fast. Especially something like WhatsApp. Could be popular on U.S. soil within a week. A quick way for insurrectionists to get together for example. Even BLM groups. Any group. Run the message, plan and execute within a matter of hours.

Last year, Trump worked hard for an Israeli/Palestine solution. One problem, however. He only had Netanyahu to the White House to discuss the matter. Communication with the Palestinian representatives was limited.

An “agreement” was reached. Jared Kushner took the point for Trump. The agreement: “Peace to Prosperity: Vision to Improve the Lives of the Palestinian and Israeli People.” Trumped called it the “deal of the century.”

As recently as two months ago, Kushner crowed: “We are witnessing the last vestiges of what has been known as the Arab-Israeli conflict.”

A typical Trump success story. It blew up. Today’s news says it all.

Poor Donald. The chickens are coming home to roost. The New York Attorney General advised her civil inquiry into the Trump organization was now also a criminal one.

A step at a time. The walls are coming down.

Cracks are appearing in the Republican dike. The most recent the Maricopa audit.

An Arizona State Senate move. Their baby alone.

The GOP Maricopa County Board of Supervisors is sick of the whole thing. The line was drawn in the sand.

Both the Senate and Board of Supervisors are Republican controlled.

The Supervisors sent a 13 page letter to the Senate advising the audit was a “sham.” They generally condemned it advising the Board would cease all cooperation with the Senate’s audit efforts. The Board further stated the Senate audit had made Arizona a “laughingstock.”

Virginia Senator Tim Kane, a Catholic, has jumped into the Bishops/Biden Communion fray. He said, “Just as I don’t believe Catholic clergy should dictate how I do my job representing a pluralistic society, I don’t presume to suggest what Church doctrine should be.”

The Bishops have forgotten government is none of their business as the Church is none of government’s business.

What happened to separation of Church and State?

Chicago had another bad shooting weekend. Forty eight shootings, 5 killed. Two police officers among the 48 shot.

Insurance companies and banks are birds of a feather. Both whores.

The hurricane season begins in less that 2 weeks on June 1. Hurricanes an annual problem in the lower Keys. Insurance companies were aware of this fact when they sold the policies.

It was announced that 3 insurers are cancelling or not renewing Florida coverage provided to 50,000 customers. The 3 companies also said why: The hurricane season is approaching.

Whores? You better believe it. The companies had no problem selling the policies during the “safe” season and pocketing the premiums for such time.

There should be a law!

The 3 companies are Universal Insurance of North America, Gulfstream Property and Casualty, and Southern Fidelity.

It is anticipated that some of the policies will be rewritten at a higher cost and with less options available.

A tragedy of sorts last night.

Preparation for Tuesday Talk with Key West Lou takes up most of the afternoon and part of the early evening. I am generally done and ready to go by 8.

Last night was no different.

I laid down at 8 to watch TV till 8:50 when I need to start punching the buttons to get the show ready for the 9 o’clock opening.

I fell asleep!

Woke at 9:07. Foggy. Knew there was something I had to do. The show!

I rushed to get going. Was on about 9:10. I moved!

One minor problem. I was still half asleep. Mumbled through the first 5 minutes. Advised my audience I had fallen asleep.

Shame on me! My show was limited to 20 minutes and I do not know at the moment how many listeners I lost.

I have been doing the show about 8 years. The sleep thing happened once before. Same fact pattern.

The game plan is for me to go out tonight. Terri White is singing from 5-8 at Marylin’s. Hope I make it.

Enjoy your day!

WhatsApp NEW SOCIAL MEDIA MESSAGING DANGER was originally published on Key West Lou

0 notes

barinacraft · 10 months ago

Text

NFL Football Team Cocktails - Drinks For Every Roster

Game Day Drinks And Cocktails For All 32 NFL Football Teams

Football season means great tailgate parties away at the stadium for home games and at your in home bar for away games when your team is on road. These NFL football team inspired cocktails* will give you lots of game day party ideas for themed drinks for all 32 NFL teams out on the gridiron.

The cocktails were chosen based on a number of factors including team names, colors, mascots, player and squad nicknames as well as city, regional and state monikers, landmarks, festivals and more. A few were created as signature drinks for specific football teams, but most were added to the roster because they were a good fit for that club.

Whether its pre-season scrimmages, regular season games or the playoffs; Wild Card, Divisional, Conference and the Superbowl, there's a drink listed here that's perfect for your pigskin party. Some of the squads have several symbolic sips which lets you substitute your drink line-up based on the schedule.

So, with one hand waving your favorite team's foam finger shouting you're #1 and the other hand free for a refreshment, the only question is:

Are You Ready For Some NFL Football Team Cocktails?

American Football Conference Team Themed Drinks

AFC East

Buffalo Bills:

Buffalo Bill - equal parts apple cider or juice and bourbon or rye whiskey.

Niagara Falls - a fancy drink named after the natural attraction nearby the city along the Canadian border.

Miami Dolphins:

Mojito - the national drink of Cuba is a favorite in Little Havana as well as one of the most popular cocktails in Florida and throughout the rest of the states.

New England Patriots:

New England Highball - when it comes to cocktails, what's better than a highball while watching football?

Red, White and Blue - a pousse-cafe drink layered in patriotic colors.

New York Jets:

Manhattan - along with Brooklyn has the highest concentration of fans according to a 2013 Facebook study.

Bronx - followed by Queens borough, the former home of Shea stadium, also love the J-E-T-S. This drink is basically an Income Tax cocktail minus the bitters.

AFC North

Baltimore Ravens:

Purple Hooter - black raspberry liqueur colors these tailgate party potations plum perfect.

Cincinnati Bengals:

Bengal Tiger - the namesake is a tawny, red brandy drink while an original recipe adds black licorice stripes to an orange vodka cocktail that could be a spooky sip on Halloween too.

Cincinnati Cocktail - fill your favorite beer glass half full with a bold brew and top off with soda water.

Cleveland Browns:

Brown Cocktail - equal parts gin, light or dark rum and dry vermouth.

Brown Derby Drink - legendary football coach Paul Brown who the NFL team is named after was known for wearing his iconic hat on the gridiron sidelines. It was a fedora, but the (brown) derby is de rigueur.

Brown University Cocktail - their namesake college football team drink would love to be drafted by pros for game day. The “Brunonian” is equal parts bourbon and dry vermouth with a couple dashes of orange bitters.

Pittsburgh Steelers:

Black & Gold - refining iron ore put this steel town on the grid. Their NFL football team inspired gridiron drink adds a precious metal to the mix. Combine black vodka with gold flaked cinnamon schnapps two to one.

Monongahela Cobbler - named for one of the waterways which flows past Heinz Field (formerly Three Rivers Stadium) that's known for its rye whiskey.

AFC South

Houston Texans:

Black Gold - a nod to the city's former franchise, the Houston Oilers.

Longhorn - another college sports team themed cocktail that would like to be drafted by the NFL, especially from the same great state and mascot. The burnt orange color of the University of Texas at Austin inspired this recipe with lemon rum, orange rum, vodka, orange vodka, orange soda, ice and oranges.

Indianapolis Colts:

Horse's Neck - this drink is named after its garnish.

Jacksonville Jaguars:

Jaguar - a Barina Craft original drink recipe that is spotted with southern sipping favorites.

Tennessee Titans:

Lynchburg Lemonade - Tennessee whiskey, sweet & sour mix, orange liqueur and lemon-lime soda makes a southern sip worth suing the distillery over.

Tennessee Tea - same as above, just substitute cola for lemon-lime soda.

AFC West

Denver Broncos:

Orange Crush - this NFL football team inspired drink celebrates the nickname given to Denver's opponent crushing 3-4 defense and the Broncos bright colored home uniform jerseys in the 1970s.

Kansas City Chiefs:

Arrowhead Cocktails - the Chiefs' logo is carved in stone and one of these drinks is cherry.

Kansas City Ice Water - flows thru the fountains at Arrowhead stadium and in the veins of the players and fans who as of this writing boast the loudest sports crowd roar.

Las Vegas Raiders:

Casino Cocktails - now that the team is located in the Entertainment Capital of the World, famous for gambling and other activities throughout all the city's mega casino-hotels, these drinks are a sure bet for Raiders fans.

Oakland Raider Cocktail - a black rum and cola mixed with a shot of silver tequila over ice. This silver and black drink symbolizes Raider Nation whether they're playing in Oakland, Los Angeles or Las Vegas.

Los Angeles Chargers:

Charger Cocktail - toast the team's moniker to 'charge' when the bugle call sounds with this cherry brandy and rum sour.

San Diego Seabreeze - this legacy drink preserves team history. 1 oz vodka, ½ oz each blackberry brandy and blueberry & raspberry schnapps, plus 2 oz each orange and pineapple juice in a tall collins glass over ice.

National Football Conference Team Themed Drinks

NFC East

Dallas Cowboys:

Cowboy Cocktail - throw the cream away and drink the shot of whiskey straight up.

Fedora Cocktail - in honor of their legendary head coach Tom Landry who wore his heralded headgear on the sidelines for 29 seasons.

Thanksgiving Cocktails - dubbed America's team, they always play football on this holiday.

New York Giants:

The New York Cocktail - the entire state loves the NY Football Giants, except for parts of the city per Facebook 2013. This is an interesting whiskey sour style drink with rye, lime juice, grenadine and an old fashioned sugar cube.

Philadelphia Eagles:

Eagle Cocktail - Philly is the perfect roosting place for this classic drink.

Eagle's Dream - sugar and egg whites substitute for maraschino liqueur in this variation of the Aviation drink recipe.

Washington Commanders:

Cherry Blossom - this national flowering festival held locally is closely associated with the area as is a rumored story of a namesake founding father chopping down a certain tree.

Gin Rickey - “air conditioning in a glass” is the unofficial official drink of D.C.

Political Cocktails - any number of these drinks could be served at a game day party in this city if you want to mix politics with religion, er, football that is.

NFC North (Black and Blue Division)

Chicago Bears:

The Chicago Cocktail - pretty fancy for football but it is the city's namesake drink.

Detroit Lions:

Lion's Tail - Detroit is one of two NFL teams along with Dallas to always play a game on Thanksgiving to start the Xmas holidays so the use of an allspice liqueur, dubbed “Christmas in a glass” by Murray Stenson, in combination with the drink's name make this cocktail a perfect match. 2 oz bourbon, ½ oz each pimento dram and lime juice, ½ tsp simple syrup and 1 dash aromatic bitters.

Green Bay Packers:

Blood and Sand - Johnny ‘Blood’ McNally, who took his nickname from the movie and loved to sing Galway Bay while standing up on bar table tops, was a star player for four championship Packer teams in Green Bay and one of the original members inducted into the Pro Football Hall Of Fame.

Brandy Old Fashioned - to wet your whistle in Wisconsin, just replace the bourbon or rye you normally use in the recipe.

Minnesota Vikings:

Purple People Eater Elixir - raise your Viking drinking horn and toast possibly the best defensive line of any football team in NFL history.

Scandinavian Glogg - this Nordic mulled wine really packs a punch.

NFC South

Atlanta Falcons:

Georgia Peach Cocktails - did you know some suggested the Falcons be christened after the official state fruit?

Scarlett O'Hara & Rhett Butler - these two drinks are both named after characters in Gone With The Wind which was set in and around Atlanta.

Carolina Panthers:

Carolina Iced Tea - spiced rum, vodka and both peach liqueur & schnapps along with some southern style sweet tea in a tall glass or mason jar.

New Orleans Saints:

Sazerac - the official drink of New Orleans often referred to as America's oldest cocktail.

Vieux Carré - the signature drink of the French Quarter named after the “old square” at the center of the Crescent City.

Tampa Bay Buccaneers:

Bumbo - a pirate's poison.

Filibuster - although its more closely associated with politics these days, the word originally derives from the Dutch term vrijbuiter for pirate, which means "to plunder," where vrij means "free" and buiter means "booty."

NFC West

Arizona Cardinals:

Cardinal Cocktail - a Kir drink variation also known as Communard which substitutes red wine for white.

Los Angeles Rams:

Greatest Show On Turf - a nickname for the team's record breaking offense during the 1999 through 2001 National Football League seasons when they were the Saint Louis Rams.

Ram Cocktail - seems appropriate that the helmet battering Rams namesake drink is a variation of a Harvey Wallbanger.

San Francisco 49ers:

Barbary Coast Cocktails - a pair of pigskin party picks named after the city's seedy, crime ridden, red-light district during the California gold rush and beyond. One drink has equal parts gin, scotch whisky, white chocolate creme de cacao and light cream or half and half. The other is mixed with dry gin, cherry brandy, lemon juice and grenadine.

Frisco Sour - the tasteless moniker given to this gold drink garnished with a red cherry which matches the football team colors.

Seattle Seahawks:

Emerald City - a signature drink for this city with the blue green nickname whose major league football, baseball and soccer teams all sport these colors.

Share & Compare This List Of NFL Team Drinks For More Ideas

This list of libations is a work in progress. Be sure to check back for updated ideas, more NFL football team inspired cocktails and links to additional information.

Have a suggestion for a game day drink recipe for your favorite NFL team? Contact us or post on our Facebook wall.

Want a generic gridiron geared gulp instead? Check out these pigskin potations penned for plays, points and positions like the Block & Fall, Quarterback and Touchdown.

Please, always drink responsibly.

* - DISCLAIMER: NFL related images, logos, etc. are shown only as a point of reference / commentary for names, mascots, colors and so on as potential drink inspirations and do not represent an affiliation, sponsorship or endorsement by the league, any individual team or associated person or group.

#Cocktails #Drinks #Football #Sports #Party #Themes #Tailgating

0 notes

606-not-found · 7 years ago

Text

Two Years Later: A V Route Story

Two Years Later: A V Route “After” Story

What happens when the woman you’ve fallen for, failed to wait the two years you’ve spent away while you’ve discovered yourself.

Author’s note: This it totally un-beta’d. I’m also very tired. It’s 1:00 am and I fully intend on fixing my tenses. I think I shuffled between present and past as I worked and especially reordered things in my head while working. My intention for this story line is to cover two years. From when V leaves to when he returns. He has a lot to answer to, and all those lies have come to roost.

(part 2 here)

MC was finishing up a great event with the RFA. “You’d think they’d change the name.” Saeran’s sarcastic voice sounds in her ear. A quick peck on the side of MC’s head and the direction of his voice changes. “Thank you all for coming. Now go home.”

Seven’s excited voice chimes in. “You don’t have to go home, but you can’t stay here.” Twin laughter follows as they walk away, arm in arm. MC watches Saeran pull away and punch Saeyoung in the shoulder. She sighs, and rests the binder in her lap. It was a long party, and her feet hurt. She was glad she stopped wearing heels midway through and was glad she thought to also pack a pair of flats in the car. Only 4 months pregnant and she was supposed to glow, but instead she felt fatigue, nausea, and a strange craving for chocolate covered potato chips dipped into orange soda.

It’s a surprise to see V stand in front of her. He was monologue-ing, and it was a bit of a long speech for someone who was so silent most of the time she had known him.

“… I want to love you. I will love you. I love you, MC, just as I love myself.”

MC blushed heavily. “Ummm… thank you?”

Jihyun laughed, and his intention was to pull MC in for a hug or kiss, but MC puts one hand out and pushed his torso away but his grip is too strong and she exaggeratedly leans back quite far from him. Jihyun stopped himself, and let her go. “Ah, I’m just so happy to see everyone, but especially you MC.”

MC smiled thinly, and tucked her event binder under her arm. “Thank you. We’ve all worked really hard on getting this event together. I wish you would have kept more in touch. A lot has happened since you’ve left. I know Seven was following your movements for a bit, but it looked like you fell off the map where even Jumin didn’t know how to contact you.” MC tucked her hair behind her ear, the messy chignon showcasing an elegant neck, and on her left hand, a simple gold band on her ring finger. Jihyun’s stomach fell through the floor towards his feet and he smiled, though it was a bit less warmly.

“You know, it was an interesting journey, just to travel, see beautiful things and places, experience more than I have before. I spent time just working on myself.” Jihyun continued speaking, while following MC. The rest of the RFA, were standing and talking. Jihyun was surprised to see Seven reach next to him, to place an arm around MC’s waist so possessive and casual, like it was meant to be there.

And Jihyun paused and sighed, gathering mental fortitude before finally re-enterring back to this world he left behind. His eyes are closed and he’s counting to twenty when a familiar voice breaths in his ear. “I’m very surprised you’ve decided to show your face tonight V. We have a lot to catch up on.” Seven’s voice is hard, but his grip is harder. He’s pulling and leading Jihyun to the side and away from the group ahead when Zen’s voice called out.

“Hey V! How was your trip?” V opened his eyes and sees the rest of the RFA looking at him. Some faces have changed, some have not. What has changed is that now MC and … not Seven are staring back at him. Saeran had changed since he’s last seen him. He’s not sure if this is a good or a bad thing. His mind quickly filtered through all the emotions associated with Rika. XxHe was always Rika’s, Rika was sick. She made Ray sick too.' He now realized that it’s MC that Ray has his arm wrapped around. His pulse quickens.

“MC! Get away from him!” MC doesn’t move, or even smile. Seven’s grip became even harder.

“We need to talk.” And V allowed himself to be led away from his friends.

“I’ll give Seven a few moments with Jihyun but then I’m also going to go talk with him. Jaehee make sure to tell Driver Kim that I expect him to be ready in 10 minutes. ” Jumin adjusts his cuffs.

“Better than what I’d do to him.” Saeran spits out. He’s standing tall next to MC, but his shoulders are slightly raised, and she’s also wrapped one arm around him. She can feel him trembling next to her.

“We’re a team.” MC squeezed and leans more into him. Body heat a grounding sensation. Ray's hand gently stroking the side of a slowly swelling belly.

It’s silent, before Zen apologizes. There’s still lots of things that the RFA had gone through, but all of the lies had still been a tough and large pill to swallow for some. Two years later and more details from Rika and V's betrayal still popped up from time to time.

Jaehee breaks the awkward silence that had befallen the group. “I’d still say that tonight was an overall success. I’ll finish and gather the final financial documents, but I expect that we’ll break our old records, which is something considering that the old records were previously based off of selling V’s photography.”

“It’s because I’m better.” Ray's boasting wasn't undue. His horticultural holy grail was widely sought out.

And MC laughed, “It was never a contest.”

Seven finally finished pulling V into a catering tent. Workers rushed in the background, gathering chafing trays and packing up linens. It’s only a moment before the two of them are alone and Seven can talk.

“WHAT THE FUCK WERE YOU DOING WITH MY BROTHER.” Luciel hissed. “I trusted you.”

“I’m sorry.”

“Sorry doesn’t cut it. You lied to us. To lied to me. And all to cover Rika. Did you really think that you can disappear for two years and not expect us to piece things together? Do you know what MC went through after you entered surgery? She cried. She cried and then she went home and found my brother at death’s door on the floor of her entryway.” Seven huffed. “I had to peel my burnt and broken brother off of the floor and take him to emergency services.”

“I’m so sorry. If I could take it all back I…”

“You can’t. You lied. And then as soon as surgery ended you fled to some health spa in the south of France, then to Tibet, and then to South Africa, Peru, and Alaska before I finally lost track of you. You either destroyed or turned off the phone I gave you.”

Jihyun closed his eyes again. “I meant to fix everything, but Rika was too powerful.”

Seven laughed bitterly. “What a fucking lie. You didn’t think to tell us that she was sick, or to ask me for help? You’ve had me keep secrets for you from the rest of the group. And do you know what I discovered, or rather, what sweet little MC discovered?

Rika was skimming off the top of all the donations, and by all financial records, it indicates that you were also in on it. Is that why you had me bug and rig her apartment to blow?

No donations require that much security. Mint Eye’s land was in your name. Checks from you to her were written and cashed out. You play as big a role in this sick game as Rika.”

Jihyun closed his eyes and sat in a chair left behind. “I thought I could fix her. It was all my fault.”

“Shut it.” Jihyun looked up just in time to see a fist fly towards his face.

MC spent a full two days at the hospital while V recovered from his stabs. There was an overwhelming sense of blame and fatigue. Jaehee finally managed to convince MC to return to her home since everything was wrapping up. The cult compound had exploded, and they were still searching the rubble for any survivors, even though it would not look good. MC finally agreed to return home if only Seven could drive her in his fastest car. It was a rather fun ride. Sharp turns and jokes all sort of jumbled together in a haze that immediately broke when MC pushed open the door and screamed.

Ray lay bloody on the floor of her apartment. His back burnt and swollen. His eyes fluttered as she kneeled next to him. Seven followed, immediately on alert as he was walking her to her door. Seven felt his pulse. “He’s still alive, but it’s weak.”

“Ray, Ray baby, look at me.” MC has tears rolling down her cheeks as she tried petting him awake.

“Help me get him up.” Seven pulls Ray’s arms to roll him to the side when like a gut punch he realized what face he was looking at. “Saeran.” Seven lifts Saeran into a fireman’s carry and runs to his car, MC on his heels. She opens the door and then holds Saeran as Seven drives faster than he’s ever driven in his life to the closest hospital, the one they just left.

It was the hardest thing to watch. Saeran was wheeled away on a gurney while MC sobbed harder than she sobbed for V. Seven stayed in the waiting room, just praying. It was finally a relief to get good news. He was severely dehydrated. He was malnourished. He was unconscious now, but there was high hopes that he would wake up once the antibiotics started working on the infection that had set into his back.

While this was happening, V was discharged and left the hospital. Neither MC nor Seven noticed.

(part 2 here)

#v route #mystic messenger #please save saeran #save saeran #two years later mystic fanfiction #mm v #mm seven #mm 707 #mm unknown #mm saeran #mm ray #saeran x mc #mc x saeran

39 notes · View notes

i-d-k-man · 7 years ago

Text

If I’m Being Honest

[Tododeku, BNHA]

A03 Link

2. No, you hang up~!

It took two flights of stairs for Todoroki’s own post-workout stench to pierce through the cloud of mild panic surrounding his brain.

It took the next flight of stairs for Todoroki to decide that he didn't give a single shit, and that his one and only goal at this point was to retreat to safety of his room so he could think.

On the fourth flight of stairs, Todoroki finished the last of his water, throat clogged like a BP pipeline as embarrassment over his incident with Midoriya resurfaced. He screwed the cap of his bottle back on clumsily. Just focus on getting back.

Only the fifth flight of stairs remained between Todoroki and victory when it was cruelly yanked out from under him, in the form of three chattering figures entering the stairwell.

“- only has a shelf life of like a week, but he still ate the whole bottle! Oh, hey, Todoroki!” Ashido greeted enthusiastically.

Right behind Ashido, Uraraka waved with a friendly smile. Tokoyami, somewhat unexpectedly, rounded out the trio, nodding cooly at Todoroki.

“What incident has befallen your face, Todoroki?”

“...Hello, Tokoyami. And I got punched during training today. Nothing exciting.” The girls oooo’ed sympathetically. Please just let me go, Todoroki prayed, eyes flickering nervously over the trio.

“So, Uraraka and I were having a debate, and we need your opinion.”

Todoroki’s eyebrow twitched, ever so slightly.

If Ashido noticed, she didn’t care. “ Uraraka here thinks - very sadly, in my opinion - that a Frosty is better than a McFlurry, and I need you to be the voice of reason here.”

“Alright, let’s not get ahead of ourselves here…” Uraraka countered, before Todoroki could even respond. “I don’t appreciate the way that you just assumed Todoroki would choose the McFlurry, and how you insinuated that it was the ‘reasonable’ answer.” Her voice raised with genuine conviction. “Need I remind you that a Frosty is only 99 yen?! Hell, you couldn’t find a better deal than that if you -”

The doorway to the fifth floor taunted Todoroki as he tuned the conversation out; just mere meters away. He even tried inching towards it, until Ashido grasped his forearm with surprising strength.

“Please, Todoroki,” her eyes blazed. “You’re like, one of the smartest dudes in class. Set the record straight, once and for all.”

Ashido’s grip tightened. Todoroki frowned slightly. “Why can’t you just ask Tokoyami?”

Both girls scoffed in unison. “As if! That weirdo gets salads at fast food restaurants.”

“I don’t enjoy grease,” Tokoyami stated, arms folded primly.

“See what we’re dealing with! You gotta help us, Todoroki. Which is better, the McFlurry or Frosty?”

Todoroki opened his mouth, fully intent on just picking one at random and retreating upstairs, but what came out instead was: “I have never had either.”

Twin gasps echoed up the stairs. Even Tokoyami appeared shocked. “Todoroki, what kind of depraved life have you been leading?”

“A lonely one,” he blurted truthfully, yet again. What is wrong with me? Todoroki really needed time to think, not -

“Todoroki, I vow to save you from your tragic depravity!” Ashido declared passionately, clasping his hand.

- not this, this chicanery . Todoroki shook off Ashido’s grip. “I’m afraid that I must decline. “I’m…”

‘busy’. Nope, the word refused to exit his mouth. ‘tired’ and ‘sick’ met a similar fate. Todoroki startled as his left temple throbbed.

“...sweaty,” he finished quickly, lamely. “I, um, still need to shower.”

“We just learned that you’ve never had a McFlurry or Frosty, and your mind is on showering?” Uraraka looked affronted.

“Yes?”

“Well, then, that’s just too bad.” Uraraka crossed her arms resolutely. “Because you’re gonna come join us on our fast food run, right now, and there’s nothing you can do about it.”

“Besides instantly freeze all of us in place,” Tokoyami muttered. Uraraka glared at him.

“No,” Todoroki added more firmness to his voice. “I’d really rather not, right now. Besides, if I don't shower I'll gross people out.”

Ashido scoffed. “As if you could gross people out. Besides, body odor is practically celebrated at fast food restaurants.” She put her hands on her hips. “Have you even had lunch today?”

“...No.”

“Aren’t you hungry, then?”

Of course, Todoroki’s stomach took that precise moment to grumble loudly. Todoroki sighed. “Yes, I am.” Damn traitorous organs.

“Betrayal often comes from those closest to us, perhaps even from ourselves.” Tokoyami noted, sagely.

Ashido blinked. “What?”

“If we’re going to go, then let’s get on with it,” Todoroki interjected. Seeing no way out, he had no choice but to embrace his plight and adapt. Now, his goal was expediency.

Uraraka and Ashido cheered, grabbing Todoroki’s hands and dragging him down the stairs. Tokoyami followed, murmuring something to himself about knives and backs.

Just stay calm, Shouto. It’ll all turn out fine.

Blessedly, their destination was a mere five minute walk from campus, no trains required. Todoroki felt relieved, especially considering the obnoxious passengers that morning. The sun warmed his back pleasantly as he walked, and he inhaled deeply.

It was still a beautiful day, if nothing else.

Uraraka traced his line of vision, landing on the feathery clouds. She smiled. “Do you like the summertime, Todoroki?”

“I do.” The sun broke from behind its cloudy gate, and Todoroki had to redirect his gaze to the road. “A lot of people complain about the heat, but I can just keep myself comfortable with my quirk.”

“That’s so awesome! And so unfair!” Ashido pouted.

Todoroki shrugged.

“The only thing that makes life unfair is the delusion that it should be fair.”

Ashido rolled her eyes. “Shut up, Tokoyami, you have a freaking invincible shadow bird living inside of you.”

Despite himself, Todoroki found a smile pushing at the corner of his lips.

Golden arches cast an imposing shadow on the foursome, shimmering in the sunlight.

“Oh, I understand now,” Todoroki muttered, mostly to himself. “The ‘Mc’ in McFlurry is a reference to McDonalds.”

Uraraka eyed him warily. “I mean, yeah... How has someone as smart as you never put that together?”

Todoroki hummed. “Probably because I’ve never been to McDonald’s.”

“WHAT?!”

The synchronized shriek literally scared birds from their roosts on a telephone wire, wings flapping wildly. A flight-type quirk suddenly seemed very appealing to Todoroki.

“I said, I’ve never been to McDona-”

“Yeah, yeah, we got that.” Uraraka threw her hands up. “How not, though?! Were you raised under a rock?”

“No. I was raised in my home.”

Uraraka simply gaped at him.

“What a mad banquet of darkness,” Tokoyami supplied.

“Hey, now, we need to look at this as an opportunity!” Ashido threw her arms over Uraraka’s and Todoroki’s shoulders convivially. “We get to be the ones to see Mr. Blue Blood here pop his fast food cherry.” Todoroki cringed at the comparison, shaking off Ashido’s embrace. “Uraraka, Tokoyami, we have truly been blessed on this day."

“You’re right!” Uraraka smiled. “Let’s go, then! We should make Todoroki eat a McRib.”

Blessed, huh? Todoroki braced himself as they approached the restaurant, the vast unknown lying just behind smudged glass doors.

The first thing to hit Todoroki was the smell, a pungent mix of delight and horror. He could practically taste the grease in the air.

“So, Todoroki,” Ashido nudged his side. “First impressions?”

Mismatched eyes scanned the spectacle before him. “The space is somewhat… cluttered, yet also efficient. The smell is also quite thick.”

“Ahh, that’s the golden aroma of their ‘World Famous Fries’.” Uraraka clasped her chest. “They’re heavenly.”

A bold claim, certainly. Todoroki turned his attention to the menu boards. And was promptly stunned. “Holy hell, everything is so cheap!"

“Wow, Todoroki, that might be the most emotion I’ve heard in your voice, like, ever,” Ashido joked.

Uraraka was delighted. “I know, right, Todoroki? It’s perfect for a broke high school student like me.”

Todoroki made a tactical decision to not mention his vast checking account.

“So, what do you think you’ll get?”

Todoroki scanned the menu once more. “I’m still deciding.”

“Take your time,” Ashido nodded reassuringly. “Nobody’s first time should be rushed.”

“Mine was,” Tokoyami said, and was met with complete silence.

“I think I’m ready to order,” Todoroki declared, strategically.

Uraraka ordered a Big Mac, a ‘splurge’ in her words, which made Todoroki even more secure in his decision to not draw attention to his finances. Ashido took the road less travelled by ordering McNuggets, and Tokoyami stuck true to his values by ordering a salad.

Todoroki stepped up to the counter, inexplicably nervous. He had faced countless villains, defeated the infamous Hero Killer, even taken two freaking knives to the arm, yet here he was, stumbling over the order he had rehearsed 7 times in his head.

“A, um, quarter pounder with cheese. Except, can I take off the onions, mustard, and onions? Fuck, I meant - ah shit, sorry, I didn’t mean to cuss. And a small fountain frink - drink - please.”

Todoroki wanted to die. The cashier, a girl about his age with bright green eyes, smiled benevolently. “Don’t worry about it. So, no onion or mustard?”

“Yes, please. And no pickle. Please.” The girl’s nametag read ‘Suzuki’, decorated with little squiggles.

“So demanding,” she joked, eyeing Todoroki. “But I can make it happen. Has anybody ever told you that you have incredible eyes?”

Behind him, Uraraka stopped munching on her fries. “Yes,” Todoroki replied. “One of my doctors said heterochromia affects less than .67% of the population, so I was an ‘incredible’ case.”

Suzuki giggled, much to Todoroki’s confusion. He’d been serious. “So, you’re quite a standout, huh?” She leaned onto her cash register.

“Statistically, yes.”

“Mmm,” her own green eyes flashed, and Todoroki found himself enjoying their color. Old habits. “What’re the stats on me getting your number, then?”

Todoroki stared down at his order ticket, #73. “I’d say 100%. Don’t I need to give it to you to get my food?”

Ashido choked on her drink.

“Well, yes,” Suzuki soldiered on. “But I was more talking about your phone number.”

“Oh.” Green eyes occupied Todoroki’s attention again, but this time they didn’t belong to Suzuki. “I’d, um, prefer not to.”

“Aw, damn,” Suzuki sighed, but good-naturedly. “I can’t say I'm surprised, though. Already got a special somebody?”

A spotlight may as well have been shone on Todoroki. No signs of movement were evident behind Todoroki, and he could practically feel Uraraka, Ashido, and Tokoyami’s eyes on the back of his head.

Todoroki may not have any idea what the hell was going on, but he knew questions initiated what the kids called a Bad Time. Sure enough, a godforsaken throbbing emerged in Todoroki’s temples, and he stiffened.

“I, um.” Todoroki unconsciously crumbled his order ticket in his fist. “That depends on what you mean by ‘already got’.”

“Ahh.” Suzuki winced sympathetically. “You stuck in the friend zone?”

Crap, another question. And a painful one, at that. “It...seems that way,” Todoroki forced.

“Well, I think they’re missing the hell out, whoever they are. They must be crazy to pass up on a .67 in a hundred guy like you.”

Suzuki was smiling, and the sincere kindness in her green eyes made Todoroki sigh - a little close to home . “‘Crazy’ isn't too far off, actually.” Midoriya’s mad grin at their first sports festival flashed through Todoroki’s head, and fondness traced the fairest hint of a smile on his lips. “Thanks.”

“No problem.” Suzuki winked, and handed him a bag that was practically dripping with grease. “Try not to get diabetes too quickly, now.”

Unexpectedly, Todoroki made it a solid four bites into his burger before the interrogation began.

The first introduced Todoroki to the surprisingly delicious taste of the famed Big Mac, and he give himself a split second to surrender himself to the lovely flavor of grease before switching gears to more pressing matters.

Bite two was marked by the illumination of a mental lightbulb. His inability to make excuses, his adverse reaction to avoiding questions...there was no way it was just coincidence, it couldn't be.

By bite three, Todoroki was convinced - as crazy as it sounded - that he was unable to lie. He didn't know how, or why, or even if his theory was correct, but the puzzle pieces seemed to point to that, if not a very similar, picture.

A picture where Todoroki was trapped with two talkative classmates and a shadow demon’s host in a fast food chain, unable to dodge questions or rely on trusty old Awkward Silence.

Bite four was quite hard to swallow.

Now - cue the interrogation.

“Sooo, Todoroki…” Ashido grinned, dangerously, and Todoroki could already hear his funeral bells. “You like someone, huh?”

He forced his bite of burger down. “Yes. And wasn’t the whole point of this trip to make fun of my reaction to a cheap burger or something?”

Yes, change the subject. Easy. He could do this.

“Originally, yeah.” Ashido leaned forward. “But now, more pressing matters have arisen.”

Damn, he couldn't do this.

“You mean you haven’t noticed before?” Uraraka rolled her eyes. “You just saw a perfect example of Todoroki’s social prowess, and you think he’d be able to hide a crush?”

Ashido burst out laughing, spewing bits of chicken nuggets. “Oh my god, your little eye statistics. My abs were aching .”

“I, too, felt I underwent a satisfactory abdominal workout.” Tokoyami - that traitor - pitched in.

Todoroki frowned. “I’m right here, you know.”

“...No offense.” Uraraka patted his arm.

“Uraraka makes a good point.” Tokoyami dapped at the ranch on his beak with a napkin. “Todoroki does not interact naturally with people, like oil suspended in a sea of water.”

The burger in Todoroki’s hands sagged.

“The both of you are right,” Ashido nodded. “Which is why we need to help him! Todoroki, who do you like?”

Todoroki panicked, dropping his burger with a wet flop. Like hell he was going to tell this peanut gallery. Knowing Ashido, she'd probably take it upon herself to lock Todoroki and Midoriya in a closet until they made out, or something. A definite no-go.

“Someone in our class.” Alright, no pain jumpkicked Todoroki’s skull - vague answers seemed to check out.

“Well, duh.” Ashido flapped her hand. “Do you even keep up with anybody our age outside of U.A.?”

“No.”

Wow, this quirk was kind of -

“Any friends from childhood?”

“...No.”

-depressing.

“Oh, ok!” Ashido tried to recover with awkwardly forced enthusiasm. “I'm glad that we get to be your first friends, then! You've had fun, I hope?”

“Once I got past the initial awkwardness, yes, I have made many fond memories,” Todoroki babbled, then inwardly groaned. He was oversharing. It must be part of the condition.

Uraraka raised an eyebrow. “What initial awkwardness?”

“During first year, I had absolutely no idea how to interact. Once, I accidentally called Kouda ‘Gouda’, like the cheese, and I was too embarrassed to talk to him again for 4 months. That's just one example.”

“Oh my god,” Uraraka whispered. “He always asked us if we thought that you were trying to intimidate him.”

Todoroki groaned - outwardly, this time. “I'm the worst. How am I ever supposed to become close with M- er, my crush if I can't even flirt with a random cashier?”

He didn't know why he was actively slapping his heart on his sleeve like this - maybe it had to do with his current predisposition towards honesty - but he allowed himself to continue.

“I'm just, I never have any idea what the hell I’m doing, and they're so, so incredible , so far out of my league that it’s laughable. I don't even know how to begin.”

Uraraka patted his shoulder. “I can't be sure who you're talking about, Todoroki, but that cashier was right. You can't sell yourself short. And I don't just mean appearance-wise,” she teased.

“You'll always have good ole Twitter as a confidence booster,” Ashido added, sagely.

“Inner beauty is great, but a little mascara never hurt.”

Todoroki blinked. “But I don't even wear make-up?”

“I think,” Uraraka chimed in, “what Tokoyami was trying to say is that you're the whole package, Todoroki! Whoever it is that you're interested in, you should tell them how you feel!”

“Yes!” Ashido balled a fist in conviction. “Love is the spice of life! What have you got to lose?”

“A meaningful friendship, a large chunk of self-confidence, the relative ease of interaction between my crush and I, and a huge amount of sleep.”

“Well, alright, it sounds pretty dismal when you put it that way. But between you and me, Todoroki,” Uraraka leaned over to whisper to Todoroki. “If it’s a certain green-eyed dude with no sense of self-preservation like I think it is, then I wouldn't worry about it at all. If I were you.”

Todoroki’s heart bungee jumped into his gut, springing back up into his throat. “What?” he choked.

“You heard me,” Uraraka smirked.

“And I didn't!” Ashido protested loudly. “Secrets are no fair. Right, Tokoyami?” She grabbed his shoulders and started whispering obvious gibberish into the side of his head. “Wait, do you even have ears?”

Todoroki took in the scene absently, mind still hooked on the fact that Uraraka, one of Midoriya’s closest friends, felt confident that Midoriya, well...Todoroki wasn’t quite sure, actually, but it was definitely good news, no matter how vague. Right?

“So, Todoroki, how are you gonna confess?” Ashido asked, yanking Todoroki’s attention back before he could delve too deep into fantasy over Uraraka’s words. “Are you gonna go for a classic approach like a rooftop or just suddenly dip her into a kiss one day?”

And just like that, Todoroki plunged neck deep into fantasy again. “I, I.” His ears burned. “No, I'm not planning to do either.” ‘Her’ , Ashido had said, and Todoroki deemed it in his best strategic interest to not correct her.

“Aww, boo.” Ashido gave a thumbs down. “And you haven’t even told me who it is, which is a double boo.”

“Let’s not boo Todoroki too harshly now,” Uraraka - his beautiful, shining guardian angel - intervened. “Not everybody likes to share like Kirishima.”

“Bakuuu~” Ashido crooned, and Tokoyami smiled into his salad.

“Exactly. So, for the sake of privacy, let’s call Todoroki’s mystery crush by a codename. Like Toyota!”

And just like that, the guardian angel lost her wings.

“Please, I’d rather not talk at all about...Toyota.”

“They have excellent crash safety ratings,” Tokoyami said.

“The same can’t be said for Todoroki’s Toyota,” Uraraka mumbled, and Todoroki glared at her.

“I think this Toyota talk has been a long time coming, Todoroki.” Ashido rested her chin in her hands. “I mean, what was your plan? Were you just gonna live your life infatuated with someone from the sidelines, staring at them longingly like some really cute outfit in a shop window that you know you’ll never be able to afford so you just cry in bed at night thinking about how great it would have looked on you?”

“What a concise simile,” Tokoyami sniped.

Todoroki sighed. “Yes.” Because that was the truth, wasn't it? If he kept going as he was, he and Midoriya’s fates were sealed as parallel rather than intertwined. Somehow, admitting it out loud made Todoroki feel rather…

“Wimpy.” Ashido tutted. “That’s kinda wimpy, dude. No offense.”

“None taken,” Todoroki attempted, but the words wouldn’t come out.

“I’m always happy to help! If you want, I can lock you and Toyota in a storage room closet or something until you inevitably start making out.”

Aaand there it was.

“In my opinion, you should scribe this Toyota a heartfelt letter, spill your very soul onto the ink, and deliver it personally with care so that you may await their response with bated breath.”

Todoroki relaxed a bit. That scenario actually sounded quite pleasant, really. “I’m grateful for the advice, Tokoyami.”

Tokoyami nodded. “Of course, after receiving your joyous response, you shall then proceed to make out, passionately.”

“Why is everyone so adamant that I make out with T...Toyota?!” A nearby customer shot Todoroki a concerned look, and he debating sinking under the table.

Uraraka laughed as Ashido grinned. “Aww, Todoroki, you're blushing! Thinking about sucking face with Toyota?”

“Yes!” Todoroki croaked, and fuck his voice for cracking, honestly. “And holding hands, and cuddling, and sparring until we fall on top of each other like always, but this time I’ll actually move forward and, um. Nevermind.”

“So you have thought about it, after all?” Ashido looked triumphant.

“Of course I've thought about it.” Todoroki’s voice softened. “I've thought about it every night for nearly two years.”

For a few moments, Todoroki’s only response was the beeping of cash registers and whir of industrial air conditioning.

“Two years?”

And if Uraraka had sounded incredulous, Todoroki couldn't find it in him to blame her, because it was kind of shocking, really. Admitting aloud just how long he'd had feelings for Midoriya made it seem all the longer, all the more real. “Yeah. Pretty long, huh.”

The cash registers kept on beeping. Todoroki sighed.

Then jumped out of his own skin when Ashido slammed her fist onto her plastic tray, voice raised in conviction. “Then that's all the more reason to make a move! You’re gonna go back to school, and you're gonna ask Toyota out! Now, who are you?”

“Todoroki Shouto,” he whispered, still a little alarmed.

“Nope, you gotta say it like you mean it. Now, who are you?!”

“...Todoroki Shouto!” Another customer glared at Todoroki, and he shrunk into his seat.

“Damn straight you are! And now that that's settled, the three of us are gonna help you make all your dreams come true. Right?”

“Right!” Uraraka giggled. Tokoyami inclined his head.

Todoroki felt embarrassed, helpless, and a tap on his shoulder as a girl with navy blue hair suddenly appeared at their table, with impressive stealth. “Did you say that you're Todoroki Shouto?”

“Hell yeah!” Ashido exclaimed, still in motivation-mode as Todoroki confirmed his identity with a sinking feeling.

“Oh my god!” Navy Hair squealed, and retreated to another table, chock-full of prepubescent girls. She pointed in their direction, and a dissonant chorus of shrieks followed.

“It’s time to go.”

Uraraka pouted. “But we didn’t even get you a McFlurry-”

"Now .”

When the gaggle of girls arrived at Todoroki’s table, their only greeting was three unused ketchup packets.

The walk home was marked by a tempest in Todoroki’s gut, and he wasn't sure how much he could blame on the Big Mac.

Ashido and Tokoyami occupied themselves arguing over the fine line between goth and scene, and Uraraka turned to face Todoroki, brown hair swaying.

“Is it nice to constantly have to outrun hordes of fans?”

“No. In fact, their ever-increasing presence has put me on edge in public lately, and I get nervous.”

“...Oh.”

Silence reigned after that, excepting Ashido and Tokoyami’s heated debate, and Todoroki sighed into the warm air. Christ, what a mess this whole impromptu affair had been, from the cashier, to customers likely thinking that Todoroki had a hard-on for his car, to Uraraka telling Todoroki not to worry about liking Midoriya.

Wait . Todoroki stopped in his tracks, then zeroed in on the messenger herself, walking with her hands in her pockets.

“Uraraka,” he called, jogging slightly to catch up. “You remember what you said earlier about me not needing to worry about Midoriya?”

She twirled her hair with her pointer finger. “Ah, yeah, I do.”

“Is there any way you could explain what you meant?” he asked, failing to tamp out an excited edge as his stupid, smitten brain began anticipating her response, jumping to conclusions.

“Yes, of course, Todoroki!” Dream Uraraka beamed. “I was just saying that Midoriya is deeply in love with you and wants to date immediately and kiss in the locker room and let you play with his hair!”

Real Uraraka opened her mouth. Todoroki felt his chest flutter. “Nope,” she stated - simply, devastatingly.

Todoroki could practically hear his hopes shattering.

Uraraka must have heard it, too, because she smiled sympathetically. “I'm sorry, Todoroki, but I made a promise that I fully intend to keep. I’ve already run my mouth too much. You’re a smart guy, though. I’m 100% sure you’ll be able to work things out on your own.” Her smile shifted into an encouraging one.

“But-” A buzz in Todoroki’s pocket cut him off, and he pulled out his phone.

Midoriya Izuku:

>>> how’s the face???

Todoroki kept his phone close to his chest, inexplicably nervous. It buzzed again.

>>> hopefully not too bruised to keep random hordes of girls from attacking

>>> or maybe thats a good thing ?

“What’s got you all smiley, Todor- oh my god.” Ashido peered at the phone cradled against his chest and broke out into a dangerous grin. Suddenly, his nerves didn’t seem so inexplicable anymore. “You’re texting Toyota, aren’t you?”

Shit. Todoroki may just end up shoved into a closet with Midoriya, yet. “..Yeah.”

Before Todoroki could even react, Tokoyami appeared out of genuine fucking nowhere beside Todoroki. “It’s Midoriya Izuku,” he reported, straightlaced, straightforward, straight to the point.

The common syllable, of course, being in direct opposition to a certain Todoroki Tidbit that had just been exposed to an incredulous Ashido, her black eyes popping.

“No fucking way…” She abandoned Uraraka to join Tokoyami beside Todoroki. “Holy shit,” she whispered, eyes glued to the phone. “I’ve been such a fool - I don’t know how I didn’t see it. The gym fire makes so much sense now!”

“The important thing is that nobody got hurt!” Uraraka piped up, across from the three of them.

“Let’s really not talk about that, please.”

“You’re right, Todoroki, there are more important things to attend to. Like the fact that the Twitter heartthrob himself bats for the other team. I think we should take a moment of silence for all the broken hearts of Todoroki’s fangirls,” Ashido stated solemnly.

Tokoyami bowed his head in respect. Uraraka missed the entire point by laughing.

And Todoroki just stood helplessly, the conversation completely out of his control.

Then lept out of his skin when his phone was swiftly swiped from his hand, Ashido whooping victoriously.

“I’m gonna text him~” she sang, and fear drenched Todoroki’s very core.

“Don’t.” He pled, desperately.

“Do.” She retorted, mercilessly. “Now which pickup line should I send him: the appendix one or the bandaid one?”

“I enjoy the appendix one,” Tokoyami voted, and Todoroki knew it was only a matter of seconds before his most valued friendship lay in shambles.

It was pure adrenaline, then, that made him lunge. Pure survival instinct that made him grab for the phone, right as Ashido was typing.

Ashido - damn her - dodged, holding the phone behind her back and cackling. Todoroki lunged again, seemingly to the right, but then changing to the left at the last moment. With a loud smack, he took hold of the top of the phone.

“That was a well-executed feint,” Tokoyami praised.

The perpetrator squawked, but maintained her grip. Todoroki yanked at the device - Christ, was Uraraka literally on the ground laughing in the background? - yanked with all his might.

“I’m trying to help you!” Ashido gasped, eyes twinkling a bit too much for her intentions to be merely altruistic.

“And I don’t want to be helped by talking like Kaminari!”

Ashido snorted at that, losing focus just enough for Todoroki to concentrate all his strength into one final tug.

The phone - he’d gotten it back! Todoroki released a huge sigh of relief and stuffed it into his pocket.

Then stiffened as a muffled, disembodied voice trickled from his pocket. “Hello?”

Swearing under his breath, Todoroki pulled out the godforsaken device. A full-screen photo of a smiling Midoriya affronted him, along with the knowledge that he must have accidentally dialed Midoriya up during his struggle with Ashido.

Fucking hell, couldn’t the universe cut him a single break?!

“Shouto? Are you there?”

“Yep!” His voice squeaked out on the wrong side of puberty, and Uraraka fell back down onto the street.

“Shouto?” Ashido mouthed, waggling her eyebrows suggestively. Todoroki’s cheeks glew red. Of course they’d be able to hear Midoriya talking.

“Oh alright! It seemed like you may have called on accident.”

“Oh yeah. That’s because I did.”

“Oh, haha.”

“Ha, yeah.”

Todoroki stood there awkwardly, toeing at the road.

“What inspiring dialogue,” Tokoyami deadpanned.

“For real, dude, this is horrible,” Ashido whispered fiercely. “Say something funny. Flirt!”

As if he could ever pull that off. Todoroki consulted the asphalt, mind coming up blank. “So, uh, do you prefer a Frosty or McFlurry?”

Oh god, he instantly regretted that one. Uraraka, who had only just stood back up, collapsed against a (rightfully) unimpressed Ashido, shaking violently.

“Probably a Frosty. They’re cheaper.” From her slump on top of Ashido, Uraraka fist pumped. “What about you?”

“I’ve actually never had either.”

“Oh! Haha, that’s too bad. To be honest though, I can’t really remember the last time I had either.”

“Ask him on a date!!” Ashido whisper-yelled.

Tokoyami nodded. “A perfect tactical opening.”

But instead of doing just that, of following perhaps the only sound advice he’d been offered all day, Todoroki glared and covered his free ear. He’d had it to hell and back with making a fool of himself publicly.

“I know, I know, the tragedy must have shocked you into silence,” Midoriya joked, and Todoroki felt fuzzy.

“Ah, not quite.”

Midoriya laughed. The fuzziness increased. “That’s cold.”

Forgetting his audience, Todoroki hummed. “Hopefully, sometimes cold is a good thing.”

A muffled cough echoed through the receiver. “Of course I like - I mean, cold things are awesome. And hot things too! Like, uh, I enjoy the winter and summer a lot separately, so if they came together or something it would be amazing. Yep.”

“You’re so in there,” Ashido giggled.

“Very much so,” Tokoyami agreed, and Uraraka flashed the ok gesture with a huge grin.

Todoroki’s face blazed even brighter. It was high time to end this call before he slipped again.

“Alright, well I think I’m going to go now. Sorry for bothering you.”

“You never bother me, Shouto,” Midoriya’s voice crackled cheerfully, and Ashido awww’ed. “Seeya later!”

“Bye, love you.” Todoroki hung up calmly.

...

Then promptly dropped his phone, swaying violently on his feet.

Dark Shadow instantly darted out to catch the phone, and Todoroki would’ve been grateful if it wasn’t for the tiny little fact that his entire world had just ended.

“Oh my god,” he whispered distantly.

Nearly instantly, his phone buzzed again, and when Todoroki made no move to take it, to react in any way, to continue living, Uraraka grabbed it herself.

“Oh my god,” he repeated. Even Dark Shadow seemed to be cringing in secondhand embarrassment.

“Midoriya wants to, uh,” Uraraka spoke softly, like a paramedic to a victim in shock. “He wants to know if you said that by accident.” Then, more to herself. “He’s probably halfway to actual physical combustion.”

“Oh my god.” Todoroki swayed again, still a little hung up on the most mortifying blunder in his entire life. This made the gym fire look like a barrel of fun. “I just, I just told Midoriya that I’m in love with him. Then hung up.”

“The instant hang up was a little cruel. Although I guess I have to respect just going for it like that. Even if it wasn’t romantic at all. Like, at all.”

Todoroki faced Ashido with panicked eyes. “I didn’t mean to say it! It, it was just on my mind and it slipped out on its own and…”

Wait . A predilection to say what he was thinking…

“Fuck ,” he groaned, with real feeling.

Meanwhile, Uraraka’s own phone began buzzing up a storm, and she raised her eyebrows as she scanned the messages. “You really should explain yourself, Todoroki. Before cardiac arrest comes into play.”

Shit, she was right. Numbly, he took back his phone and opened his text window with Midoriya.

>>> hey did i hear u wrong or did u just say ‘love u’ hahahahahah

>>> thats pretty funny dude, A+ joke, 10/10, top of the line there buddy

>>> it was just like by habit right?? Right?????

>>> once i called all might Dad ahahahancxknvkvnxd can u believe it?? hes not actually my dad !!1! crazy!

Then, curiously, a message of all blank spaces.

>>> I’m sorry about those prior messages, Shouto! I’d appreciate it greatly if you disregarded them :) Thank you!

“I need to change schools,” Todoroki croaked, shriveling inside. Why, oh why hadn’t he just stuck with the appendix pickup line?

“Before you do that, though, could you please text Midoriya back?” Uraraka glanced at her phone. “Thank god I paid for unlimited messages...”

“What should I say?! ‘Oh hey Midoriya, it’s Todoroki. I know I just accidentally admitted that I’m in love with you but have you done the homework for Monday?’”

“Is an unfortunate Freudian slip really the manner in which you want to reveal your feelings?” Tokoyami raised a respective eyebrow.

“Of course not!” Todoroki scrambled to find the words. “Midoriya - he deserves the world. Or at least a goddamn bouquet. Anything but this.”

“Then brush this off as an accident - as it genuinely was - move on, and focus on crafting a confession you deem worthy of Midoriya.”

“And my closet offer still stands, by the way,” Ashido added, effectively squelching the composure Todoroki had gained from Tokoyami’s words.

Drawing a deep breath, he unlocked his phone. There was no need in prolonging the inevitable.

<<< I’m sorry for not replying until now

<<< I didn’t intend to say... what I said

<<< like you guessed, it was an accident, and quite an embarrassing one

<<< I apologize for any confusion.

“Goddamn, Todoroki, you’re texting a friend, not drafting a business email.”

Todoroki ignored Ashido and opened Midoriya’s near-instant reply.

>>> oh haha thats what i thought!

>>> dont worry about it dude, no big deal :D

Todoroki shoved his phone back into his pocket, and began making his unsteady way back towards campus.

Uraraka’s phone buzzed the entire way.

Twenty minutes later, Todoroki sped through his long-awaited shower, that disastrous “ love you” looping endlessly through his mind. He shampooed with much more vigor than necessary.

Twenty five minutes later, Todoroki received a text from Uraraka.

>>> your ass is lucky that i also upgraded to unlimited minutes

Thirty minutes later, Kouda was surprised to discover the men’s bathing facility practically dripping with steam, and a thick slush of ice coating the bottom of one of the showers.

Thanks for reading! :D

#ayo #bnha fanfiction #tododeku fanfiction #todoroki shouto/midoriya izuku #my writing #poor todoroki lmao

26 notes · View notes

shardclan · 7 years ago

Note

1, 2, 3, 4, 13, 17 (cough), 18, 42, 43, 44, 45, 74, 77, 78 :>

1. (Answered Here)

2. What kind of combatdoes your clan specialize in? Physical? Magical? Bit of both? Or are they morefond of subterfuge?

Magical combat is very much the order of the day, but justabout every dragon in the clan is more than capable of throwing a good punch.If they can fight in any capacity, you should be worried about them punchingyou in the throat once all their other options are exhausted.

Subterfuge is the domain of two dragons: Bestealcian, theUmbra Wolf and Actias, the Smoke Gyre. The fore only serves the Queen and thelatter has served the clan and its allies since the days of the old dynasty.Sometimes they are directly at odds in their goals, so it is very difficult forenemies or outsiders to keep up with whether the Smoke Gyre is even a real partof Clan Aphaster. Most of his clan mates don’t even know his real name.

3. What kinds of weaponsdo your dragons use? If your dragons use actual physical weapons how do theyhold them (assuming they don’t use claws/teeth)? If they use magic do they havesome sort of focus like a staff?

It varies from dragon to dragon and by their expertise.Aphaster dragons spend a significant amount of their time in humanoid shapesdue to an agreement with the local beastclans (in short: don’t trample theSummerlands; the Centaurs grow grain there and the Serthis hunt small game thatwould otherwise be pests).

Most physical fighters favor swords of some kind, whether it’sQueen Telos’ elegant saber, Arcanus’ unadorned broadsword, or Opalite’s saw-toothedcleaver. But there’s also a pretty lively sect of hand-to-hand fighters thateither use their fists or specialize in claw weapons. (Note: Queen Telostrained with Perilous, the best pugilist in the clan, and while she’s good atwielding her saber, she’s a demon at hook punches). Bestealcian and Actias arealmost never seen in humanoid form. The latter is a tooth and claw fighter whospecializes in quick death and incapacitation. The fore is a proper fighter andutilizes a variety of weapons, from an ice pick to arrows to a bladed alloy fanfrom the Blacksand Annex that also doubles as a shield.

Magic among my clan members is mostly for mundane purposes. Amongcombat magic users there’s Lutia, the aforementioned nuke, and she’s anArchmage so she doesn’t need anything but her will to cast magic. There’s Tawnywho isn’t an Archmage but is a high level pyrokinetic who can burn just aboutanything so long as it’s in his line of vision. Arcanus is a magic knight, hemostly uses enchantments and quick spells with his sword as a focus.

Then there are the witches, who are an entirely differentmatter but are next to harmless given they only use their powers for the spirittheir coven is serving at the time.

4. What or who would bemost likely to attack your clan at this point in time? Is your clan aware ofthis potential threat?

From above: An additional team exists solely to deal withThings trying to come through the place the Chalcedony Seat almost crackedthrough the veils, but they’re not strictly military.

Outsiders are the problem right now. Beings that don’t comefrom Sornieth being attracted to the rift . They don’t know about it yet, butit’s going to be factoring in veeery soon.

13. How “fairly” doesyour clan fight? Are they honorable even when things look grim? Are theywilling to get their hands a little dirty?

The clan is very multi-elemental and the members are allvery different. There’s no one who would say…use a meat shield in a fight. Butthey might throw some pocket sand at you and some of them firmly believe thatblackmail is a useful and perfectly reasonable tool against anyone who has madeit clear they intend to be a problem.

On the macro and in governmental affairs, the clan fightsfairly—very much lawful alignment—but they’re not above finding loopholes orabusing plausible deniability. Example: In the old clan, Actias prevented a warbetween the clan and oncoming harpies by snatching two males from their homeroost and threatening to kill them. This was framed as an independent action todefend his son, Iblis, but really it was so the clan could avoid war, scareaway the harpies, and not damage their reputation with other beastclans theywere friendly with.

Though it helps somewhat more now that unlike then, Telosreally doesn’t know what Actias is doing half the time and has been advised byActias himself to have Bestealcian hunt and kill him if it becomes politicallynecessary.

17. What sort of thingsdoes your clan look for in potential allies? In this case I mean generalattitude and moral code.

They prefer clans that don’t harbor shade creatures,emperors, demons, or more sinister forms of Outsider, but if enough trust isbuilt up it’s easy for them to overlook those things (see: Clan Feldspar).Really so long as your clan isn’t clearly evil or just more trouble than they’reworth, there’s not much in the way of central dogma that will see youautomatically turned away.

The only real dealbreaker is a clan whose overall philosophyinherently involves disharmony with the beastclans. Aphaster has greatrelations with most of the main beastclans save the corven and the harpies, andthey’re trying to keep it that way. A harpy runs the creamery, and she’s one ofthe most beloved members of the clan, local dragons won’t even let people lookat her funny. (This may or may not be because she’s the best friend of possibly the most overtly powerful witch in the Starwood coven)

18. What sort of services or exports does your clan need thatallies can/do provide? Why are they unable to do it/secure these items bythemselves?

Building materials are always going to be a big thing forthe clan. They’re Arcanites who previously lived as dragons with big FocalPoint lairs 100% of the time, they literally don’t trust enclosed structuresthat aren’t massive and made of familiar materials. But Crystalspine graniteonly comes from the Starfall Isles, and despite them having a literal portal tothe Isles they are very much on thin ice with the Arcanist right now. So theywill always need a supply chain from clans who live closer than they do.

For the same reason, they are also always willing to pay topdollar for any items from the Isles, especially Starfall Blossoms and variousfauna (bees from the Starwood Strand in particular are very important for HouseBetelgeuse)

Until previously they also needed quite a lot of Celestine tobe imported, but after the Celestial Vault was built and the Chalcedony Seatwas housed in it, they basically have the only self-replenishing source of highquality Celestine in the entire eastern half of Sornieth, and that’s become abig export.

42. What would most of your dragons say the biggest threat tothem is right now?

The Chalcedony Seat itself. It was basically meant to be theArcanist’s attempt at an artificial pillar piece, and the Shard Dynasty wasmeant to be its keepers. Only he never told any of them that, so when Lutiaactivated it and drove the old clan out of the territory, it was just out theregrowing increasingly radioactive and unstable. It became a huge problem andturned some non-beastclan creatures into dragons, it quite possibly led to theopal gene since the magical run off from it seeped into local leylines (they’renot hype to tell anyone about that hypothesis), and in the end, they had tobring it to the Sunbeam Ruins.

Despite Light element being highly susceptible to Arcane energy.

So, you know. They’re just…kind of waiting for it toexplode.

43. How competent wouldyour clan say your leader(s) is/are? How competent are they really?

“Extremely” and “she does her best”.

What makes Telos competent isn’t that she inherently knowswhat to do, it’s that she’s good at listening to people who have specializedexperience. Her choosing a council of Five Tribunes when she crowned herself is100% the best thing she could have done. Without them, Aphaster wouldn’t havemade it half so far and she knows it. Like, it’s fine she has about 85% of her ancestor’smemories for the past 5-6 generations of her family, but none of them wererulers. They were all scientists and alchemists from House Xanna. She knewenough to know that their memories wouldn’t help her with ruling a kingdom.

44. When dragons wish tobecome mates, how does that happen? Is there a ceremony? Do they just mutuallyagree to it? Is their mate already chosen for them?

Mate choosing is completely free form, and Clan Aphaster’sgovernment does not require a ceremony of any kind, or even any officialrecord. It used to be there was a Genealogist who handled that once, but shewent to the Arcanist’s service and no one has replaced her. It’s an entirelypersonal decision how or if any celebration or officiation will occur.

As a result, actual wedding ceremonies are major news in theclan and they tend to turn into massive to-dos that even some of the moreelusive members of the clan will turn up for. Without anything else in the wayof officiation or celebration, usually any pairs that have declared themselvesmarried will be mentioned in the local newspaper, the Sunbeam Sentinel.

45. Do the members ofyour clan more or less get along with each other? What would cause them toquarrel if so? Why do they if not?

More or less, yes. There’s a lot of little interconnectingcliques and it’s not necessarily that dragons that don’t hang out might hateeach other, they usually just don’t gravitate toward one another.

Personal beef can be normal, in the old clan Carnelianregular beat the shit out of a paparazzi coatl who caused him to lose the trailon a hatchling kidnapping.

Right now Estevao is largely considered a fool by any clanmember with good sense.

74. Is breeding done onlybetween mates? Freely? For the good of the clan?

All three.

Camellia is big into having kids but has never had a realmate a day in her life (literally her words after a male she had her mostrecent nest with also mated with another dragon from the clan and somebody gotnervous about it: “You know I’ve never kept the males as my own. I just likethe children.”; Haematica had her children because at the time she was the onlyplague dragon in the clan and they needed more; and there are several matedpairs who are exclusive.

77. How religious is thebulk of your clan?

They respect the gods, especially Lightweaver and theArcanist given the circumstances, but there are only a few who are genuinely religious.

Camellia was always very devout to the Arcanist, and afterthe events that destroyed their old dynasty, she was god-touched. She can’treally avoid being religious even if she wanted to.

Fletch is a forge priestess—meaning she’s a devout of theFlamecaller.This served quite well during the clan’s journey to the Sunbeam Ruins, when she pretty much called a lava-spewing fissure into the Carrion Canyon via prayer to escape a local bad news beastclan.

Turan is the Light Liaison, she has to be religious becauseif she isn’t Lightweaver will take it out of all their asses.

Azricai is surprisingly religious, but in a sort of…upsidedown tarot kind of way. She calls on the Windsinger in his capacity for stormsand destruction, protecting her clan by keeping them in the calm eye of thestorm she does her best to embody. It’s part of the reason dragons who know her well call her The Gale Wolf.

Penitence is religious, but it’s to the Icewarden, so. Heconsiders being the clan’s jailer and primary law enforcer a daily act ofworship.

Then there’s Lamium who will soon be in a very complicatedposition where he becomes the devout of the Veiled Moon (meaning the moon that isonly visible in Hewn City) basically under duress.

78. If your clan isreligious, how is worship done? Privately? Is there a large ceremony?

The devouts pray on their own. Ceremonies for the elementsusually only exist during elemental holidays.

#Aphaster Culture #C: Camellia #C: Fletch #C: Azricai #C: Lamium #C: Penitence

4 notes · View notes

thursdayplaid · 8 years ago

Text

The Narrow Line 13

One more chapter to go! Almost done!

Molly likes for Romantic poets and cutting down on nonsense. And all the Watsons like Molly.

David had called her up and filled the screen of Molly’s tablet, looking like, like something romantic and epic. Something written by a Bronte, or by Lord Byron. Death on the eve of battle, vengeance not to be refused. Someone who had wrestled their way back from the pit, heavy with blood and leaving ruin behind them. Something like a nuclear warhead: probably fine if you whacked him with a wrench, neatly packaged, threat understood. This was the sort of David that the boys hyped but she’d never seen before. She had always assumed it was just little brothers deifying their boss older brother. She bookmarked her copy of Percy and pushed it aside.

He also looked awful. She pushed down her alarm with some mild medical consideration. Too early for influenza, maybe a cold?

“What’s wrong?” she asked. Her heavy stomach bumped against the counter as she leaned in. “You should be in bed.”

He all but pulled a forelock to her, looking regal even with that tick down of his chin. As she watched him, he seemed to fold his temper up and tuck it away again. “Don’t worry, I plan on sleeping this off. It’s just Roost, he’s not feeling so good. He’s all…” He made a vague waving motion that could mean anything. “Johnny would normally see to him, but he has something going on.”

“David, do I need to come over?”

“No!” He jolted on the screen.

“Now you’re worrying me.”

“Nothing’s wrong.”

She gave him a look. “If you think it’ll upset me, I’ll come over with Greg once he gets back with the girls.”

“No, no, that’s not what I meant.” He turned his head and she could see the slash of purple-blue-green under his eyes right before he half-covered his face with his hands.

“Just, nothing’s going on physically. Not really, it’s psychological, just stress and exhaustion. I need to sleep and drink lots of fluids, and I can’t do that with you watching me. You should be resting anyway. Eating chocolate-covered strawberries and reading books by old dead poets who cried about roses and stuff.”

She tried not to laugh, she was being firm and in charge. She was Jane Eyre. Triple Boss. “Sure, why are you calling me then?”

“Speaking of that other thing that John is busy with, some weird stuff happened.”

“Weird stuff like how? Like with stealing dead bodies from my morgue again?”

“That was once,” David said, but without his usual vim. “It was once and it was for a good cause.”

“You never told me what it was for, what you were trying to hide.”

“Hide?” Davey said, shifting his head back and forth like a cobra. “Why would I try to hide anything?”

“Because you stole it from me right after your father was killed.”

“You’ve always said that,” David said, voice gone a little stiff. “You’ve always said killed, like he was murdered, like someone else did it.” He pressed his lips together, looking at her intently. “I’ve always appreciated that. I’ve always trusted you for doing that, you know. There’s another weird Sherlock from another weird universe. We’re not sure what’s happening, but we’re going to fix it. That’s our job now sans W. We just need a place to put weird Sherlock while Johnny goes and runs an errand.”

“You’re joking.” He had to be joking.

“Me? Ha. Ha, ha.” He looked even worse fake laughing.

“You’re not joking.”

“You were always smart, you were always the smartest.”

“Don’t lie,” Molly told him, but she couldn’t help being a little flattered. David just had a way of saying things that just made a person believe him.

“I’m not. You’ve floated on the edges of us for ages and while the elder Holmeses were so busy being excited at the prospect grandchildren they put bags over their heads or so the brothers Holmes who were convinced they’re the pinnacle of everything that they overthink every little strand of hair. You’ve come the closest to figuring out the truth of us.”

“That you talk a lot of nonsense because you don’t have adult supervision?” Molly asked.

“I am adult supervision!” he declared, all but banging his chest.

“You’re something.”

He laughed, the sound raspy with exhaustion and soft with affection. The boys treated her with so much affection she felt crowned, felt true like an arrow, felt Triple Boss. Wondered that no one else had noticed how absolutely spectacular she had always been, she had always been pretty spectacular.

“You were serious. About alternate universe Sherlock.”

“The worst kind of serious.”

“What kind is that?” she asked.

“Actually serious. You know how much I hate to be actually serious.”

“You’re terrible.”

“I’m terrible,” he agreed. “You love me.”

“I love you, but only because Greg needs an adopted son that’s not an unholy terror.”

“I don’t know,” Davey said, resting his chin on his fist. “I can be pretty terrifying. He’s better than the Grandparent Holmes anyway. He reminds me of my real dad. He’s steady.”

“I don’t think we should talk about this anymore,” Molly told him. “I feel like you’re sharing stuff you wouldn’t usually share with me because you’re tired and feeling vulnerable. You’re welcome to talk about it with me if you want, I just don’t think you should right now.”

“Look at you,” David smiled. “No wonder Johnny loves you so much. Always looking out for us. I think Johnny would have liked to live with you, except he was worried about keeping you safe and that he wouldn’t have been able to drag you into half the nonsense he got Sherlock to do. You would have made him work smart. I’ve said too much, haven’t I? I never wanted to make you uncomfortable.”

There was a knock, sharp and patterned, from the front of the house.

“Who’s that rapping at my chamber door?” Molly said, feeling flustered. It took a second for her to roll her center of gravity back up again to waddle toward the entryway.

“I gotta go sleep.”

“Go sleep,” she said agreeably. “Rest.”

On the other side of the glass panel on the door was a tall shape and shorter stockier person with a distinctive posture and characteristic sticking out ears.

“Outies!” David said, and her screen went dark.

She sighed, folding her tablet up to slide into her pocket.

There on the other side of the door was Johnny, looking apologetic, and a Sherlock that looked like he was still in his early thirties.

“You’re pregnant,” Young Sherlock said.

“Sorry about this,” Johnny said, holding a bulk bag of cat treats. Organic! Real fish! the bag said in about size twenty font. Where had he found a bag so large?

“You better get in here,” she told him stepping inside. “This isn’t another weird clone thing, or aliens or something?”

“No,” Johnny said, leading the way in. “No Doctor Who stuff. Well, some Doctor Who stuff. We’re not sure, we’re figuring it out.��

Young Sherlock took a step into the entryway and went stiff when she gently pushed him out of the way of the door.

“Why are you figuring things out here?” she asked.

“Because I’ve got something I need to do and Tim and Davey both need time to themselves. He has to go somewhere safe, and there’s no one else I trust more to make sure he doesn’t get into trouble than with you and Greg. If anyone could keep Sherlock from performing general mayhem it’s the two of you.”

“You and Greg?” Sherlock said at a pitch Molly usually associated with baby birds.

“If he’s too much trouble, I’ll find someone else. I’ll think of something,” Johnny said with his usual Very Serious face. She tried not to show how Very Cute it was.

She turned to Young Sherlock, giving him a quick look over and put her hands on her hips. “You’ve been using.”

“No,” he tried.

Johnny hauled back and punched Sherlock so hard he stumbled.

“Johnny,” she scolded him. “No hitting in the house.”

“Yes, Molly,” he nodded, looking cherubic. Like he wouldn’t do it again as soon as he and his brothers were all sitting on her sofa. He turned to Sherlock and held up a finger. “No lying to Molly ever. Molly asks a question and you answer honestly. It’s A Rule.” As if he hadn’t spent the first months of their acquaintance blatantly lying to her.

“What is your muscle development?” Sherlock asked Johnny, rubbing his arm and looking that familiar mixed of shocked and fascinated Molly associated with new parent Sherlock. “I hope you aren’t planning on doing that again.”

Johnny actually looked guilty. “I am sorry about that. I’m used to punching my brothers. Roost is built like a tank and Davey always wears a vest so it always hurts me more than it hurts them. I didn’t actually hurt you, did I? I really didn’t mean to.”

“I’d hate to see how you’d hit if you did.”

“We’ll get you home by then,” Johnny told him, patting him consolingly on the arm. “I have an ice pack in my bag if you need it?”

Sherlock pulled up to full height. “Of course I don’t need an ice pack.”

“Oh. Okay then.” Johnny looked awkwardly between the Molly and Sherlock for a moment until she sighed and opened her arms.

“Come on then. Give me a hug and go beat the Daleks.”

His arms wrapped around her from the side, his body trying to tuck against hers, going soft for a moment with a relief that made him seem very young. Poor thing, only fifteen. She smoothed a thumb against his cowlick and gave him a little squeeze. He made a soft happy sound and then darted away like he was afraid even all these years later he might get in trouble for love freely given. “Okay good,” he said quickly and darted out her door.

“Well,” Molly said, looking at Sherlock.

“Well,” Sherlock said, looking back.

“So,” Molly said. “Alternate universe Sherlock. How have things been for you?”

Maybe Johnny shouldn’t have made such a point about Sherlock being honest.

Half an hour later she had her feet up on an ottoman while Sherlock pacing back and forth telling her his life story from meeting Greg at the Yard to his return from his very short plane ride. It was a long story. She felt for him, for his suffering, his anguish had been sharpened by his confusion at why things couldn’t go the way that had before. What had he done wrong? In the past she may have cooed at him and given his hand a pat, now she saw how little good it did either of them. He wasn’t a child, if he asked for advice he was going to get it.

“Have you ever considered involving John in your decision?” Molly asked. She remembered her old crush the way one might remember an A-level, how important it had seemed at the time and how distant it had seemed now. But comparing that to the warm, bubbling, adoration she had for Greg, the way she felt like she begun to glow internally whenever she saw Greg’s lovely face, it seemed adolescent. No offence to herself, but what had she been thinking? It was clear they simply wouldn’t suit. People changed she supposed. She certainly had. Love made one blind and all that. Byron was certainly proof enough: great poet, hot mess.

“I did!” Young Sherlock paced across her living room. “My decision was entirely based on him! Could I keep him safe? How long? How good of an actor was he? How reliably could I fake his death?”

“No, you considered how he could be convenient for you because you were used to thinking of him as convenient.”

“I- No, I’m not.”

“If your John is anything like our Johnny, then the reason he’s so angry with you is because he believed in you. He let himself be of use to you because he trusted you.”

Sherlock’s eyes were big and pale in his face.

“Maybe you should try to listen to him,” she told him. “If you wanted to maybe change things.”

“That’s not what I wanted to hear,” he told her.

“The truth is often hard to hear. You can fix things, things like this are easy to fix if you’re willing to make the first move, willing to show that you’re prepared to make yourself vulnerable.”

Before Sherlock could answer there was a frantic series of knocks at the front door getting louder and louder.

“Help me up,” Molly told him, lifting a hand. “Somebody’s at the door.”

Somebody turned out to be Roost with huge panicked eyes and Johnny carried in his arms. Johnny looked awful, and by awful Molly meant specifically he looked unconscious. She darted into action, taking his pulse and checking his eyes.

“Bring him into the living room, what happened?”

“I got scared,” Roost said, eyes darting away, cagey as anything. “I checked him over. I didn’t forget. I just got scared.” Molly pressed her lips together to keep in the immediate response and moved out of the young man’s way. Hormones made things feel strange. Sometimes things were hyperreal, ultra-sensory, so it seemed she could taste her own mouth, feel her own skin, so everything but Greg’s steady hands on her shoulders made her feel overstimulated and frustrated. Sometimes they made her feel disconnected and floating. She wasn’t sure what she was feeling now, like there was some kind of symphony floating through her, reedy panic, the low hum of muscle memory, the percussive patter of her mental list taking form. She felt a bit like she’d been floating from conversation to conversation since Davey had called her and the shock of the whole thing snapped her into movement.

In the living room, Roost had arranged himself in the corner of her sofa, with Johnny’s head supported in his lap. On further inspection Johnny looked less unconscious that in deep sleep from exhaustion. Roost’s pale hand curled over Johnny’s crumpled brow and held him close as his body gave fitful shivers. When Sherlock tried to come near them he almost crawled backward up the wall.

“It’s okay, Roost,” Molly used in the same voice she used with the parents and spouses who came in to identify their loved ones. Eyes cloudy with distress drifted back toward her. He let her approach, let her smooth down his hair, let her take Johnny’s pulse. Too fast, thin and fluttery. She didn’t have anything to check his blood pressure, but she could bet it was low. Johnny’s skin felt tacky from drying sweat and was passing into clammy. “He’s going into shock.”

“Body heat,” Roost said. “Touching. It will fix him if I stay here and be his big brother.”

“Roost,” she said again, this time involuntary. “He needs to go to hospital. Did he eat anything weird? Take anything strange? Medication, something like that?”

“It’s not an allergic reaction, its hypovolemic. His body is really strong, but there are limits to what it can take.”

“What happened, I need to tell emergency services.”

Roost looked between the two of them and made an observable decision not to care. “Grendel, the man who wanted to change us, had this idea. This machine. John calls it a gun, but it is only as much as you point it at someone and it does something to them. The same could be said for words or bright lights and those things aren’t guns.”

“This wasn’t a word,” Sherlock said.

“I understand what you mean,” Roost told him, eyes and voice drifting over an invisible landscape. “That doesn’t mean you’re not wrong. Grendel wanted to go back, he wanted Before, and when he couldn’t get that he decided he’d settle for different. Johnny could tell it better, I don’t remember much about what I was like before.” His eyes darted away for a second and then back to his brother’s face.

“Roost,” Molly said. “Time.”

“Yes, Johnny could tell it better, but it makes Johnny sad. It makes him the most sad because he was closest to what he wanted when Grendel had him and then didn’t have him and then had him again, and probably always had him. Some people are like that. They always have you until you can get someone bigger to have you. Like Daddy, Daddy was the biggest, he was so big The Thing choked and then it broked and then stuff happened.”

It felt like Roost was telling them exactly what happened in the truest sense, but also that without the context behind that truth it was practically meaningless. “What did your dad do with the gun, Roost?” Molly asked, the back of her hand pressed against Johnny’s forehead.

“He did something to it, he made his mind go inside and it moved him around, but he loved us, he was our dad.” Roost swallowed, pressed his cheek to Johnny’s forehead. “It tried to change him, but instead he loved us and broke it apart inside. John has done this twice. Someone had to do it, and he’s just like Dad almost exactly and so we thought it would be okay. He did it twice and even though he won both times I think it hurt him real bad.”

“Has he had a seizure?” Molly asked, already pulling out her phone.

“No,” Roost told them. “He just came out of it and looked real sad threw up and fainted and then I brought him here. I got real scared, but Johnny left me a list of things to do in case it went wrong, even seizures, but he hasn’t had any. Even bleeding ears, but he hasn’t had any.”

“Why would he be worried about his spine?” Molly asked.

“It’s okay if you call the hospital,” Roost told her. “Johnny wouldn’t like it, but he’s real sick and I’m scared and want him to be healthy and safe. Sometimes Johnny thinks it’s okay for him to be hurt, but I don’t think so, and what I want is important too, isn’t it? Ormond wouldn’t want me to be scared.”

“Who’s Ormond?”

Roost froze, eyes going even more unfocused. “Did I say that? I didn’t mean to say that.”

“Just stay here,” Molly told him, kissed him on the forehead as she stood, her phone at her ear. She’d made this sort of call for her father enough times she knew how to do it. It was second nature. She stood at the doorway to watch young Sherlock seated on the coffee table, bent toward Roost. She forgot sometimes that Roost was in his twenties now. In this moment he looked it, face serious.

“We don’t have a fifth anymore,” Roost told Sherlock. “Dad died and now there’s only four of us. We just hoped nothing bad would happen.”

“Where’s the last piece?” Sherlock asked him.

“Dad didn’t tell me, I didn’t want to know,” Roost blinked up at him. “Dad hid it somewhere. I mean he didn’t, but he told one of the others where to hide it.”

“You don’t know wh-”

“You figure it out,” Roost snapped. “My brother’s sick. I’ve just had the third worst day of my life. You don’t matter to me right now.”

“Sorry,” Sherlock said, pulling back. “I’m sorry.”

“Is everything alright?” Molly asked.

“Yes,” Sherlock told her, standing up. “If you don’t mind I’m going to get out of the way. It looks like the three of you have enough to worry about.”

“Aren’t you staying here?” Molly raised her eyebrows.

“I don’t think that’s wise,” Sherlock stood up with his hands in his pockets, looking pale and tightly strung, looking young and lost.

Maybe she shouldn’t have asked. “Just do what you need to do. Greg will be back in the evening if you want to come back here. I have to go take care of the kids now, so do what you have to do.”

#Molly Hooper #Roost #John Watson #Wee Doctor #the narrow line

31 notes · View notes

eddycurrents · 6 years ago

Photo

For the week of 8 April 2019

Quick Bits:

Asgardians of the Galaxy #8 throws the team into the chaos of The War of the Realms on Earth as they join the rest of Earth’s forces trying to fight back against Malekith’s army. It’s interesting as their own earthbound connections pull them apart.

| Published by Marvel

Avengers: No Road Home #9 seems to be taking a different turn as this penultimate chapter goes off in an entirely new direction with Nyx. The snuffing of the light might be something we don’t expect, making for a very interesting conclusion to this issue. Also, again Mark Waid, Jim Zub, and Al Ewing give us some amazing character introspection.

| Published by Marvel

Batman #68 continues “Knightmares” with Tom King, Amanda Conner, Dan Panosian, John Timms, Mikel Janín, Paul Mounts, Jordie Bellaire, and Clayton Cowles giving us a look at Selina and Bruce’s respective bachelorette and bachelor parties (at least as interpreted through whatever Bruce is currently going through). It has some moments of humour, especially as Selina and Lois continue to bond, but we’re still no closer to finding out what’s really going on and being a “simulation” (or at least seeming to be) kind of robs the story of any character development.

| Published by DC Comics

Bettie Page #3 sees Bettie and Queen Elizabeth II attempt to unravel the plot of the flying saucers. Great art from Julius Ohta and Sheelagh D as the intrigue is ratcheted up.

| Published by Dynamite

Captain Marvel #4 gives us a rematch between Carol and Rogue and it’s bloody brilliant. Wonderful action and twists as we head towards a finale from Kelly Thompson, Carmen Carnero, Tamra Bonvillain, and Clayton Cowles.

| Published by Marvel

Detective Comics #1001 brings Arkham Knight (he’s probably not Jason Todd this time around) to the DCU amid mysterious deaths of entire bat colonies and an explosion causing a miniature sun to appear in the sky. Incredible artwork from Brad Walker, Andrew Hennessy, and Nathan Fairbairn.

| Published by DC Comics

The Empty Man #6 unleashes the chaos of the virus fully on the world as society begins to tear itself apart. There’s some interesting bits as the old face of the virus is fed to its new form and the body horror art of Jesús Hervás and Niko Guardia is just amazing.

| Published by BOOM! Studios

Fairlady #1 is an impressive debut from Brian Schirmer, Claudia Balboni, Marissa Louise, and David Bowman. It’s a kind of detective tale set across the backdrop of a fantasy world that just went through a devastating war and this opening case delves into some of the aftereffects on people as we’re introduced to our lead of Jenner Faulds.

| Published by Image

Faithless #1 is...something. I’m not really sure what. This first issue from Brian Azzarello, Maria Llovet, and AndWorld Design introduces us to Faith and her very odd encounter with Poppy, who may or may not be a pile of maggots. It’s more strange than sexy.

| Published by BOOM! Studios

The Flash #68 continues the Trickster’s reign of “happy” terror across Central City, giving a bit more insight into what he’s doing, and delivering a nasty blow to the Flash. Scott Kolins and Luis Guerrero again make this look stunning.

| Published by DC Comics

Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man #5 is a gut punch rollercoaster from Tom Taylor, Yildiray Cinar, Nolan Woodard, and Travis Lanham. Taylor is doing his damnedest with this series to knock Chip Zdarsky off his roost for funniest and most heartfelt run.

| Published by Marvel

Hawkman #11 unleashes an army of Hawkmen on the Deathbringers as it feels like Robert Venditti, Bryan Hitch, Andrew Currie, Jeremiah Skipper, and Richard Starkings & Comicraft are bringing “Cataclysm” in for a landing. Just some all out chaos this issue with some brilliant fight sequences and surprising revelations.

| Published by DC Comics

Infinite Dark #5 returns from its trade break with new terror, and new problems, as Deva awakens to find herself in the chaos after she saved the station in the first arc. Ryan Cady, Andrea Mutti, K. Michael Russell, and Troy Peteri are building some great horror here, with some existential terror and interesting science.

| Published by Image / Top Cow

Justice League Odyssey #8 lays bare all of Darkseid’s plans for the Ghost Sector in the wake of the breaking of the Source Wall and it feels suitably epic. It feels like Dan Abnett is building something big here, with gorgeous artwork from Daniel Sampere, Juan Albarran, and Ivan Plascencia.

| Published by DC Comics

The Life & Death of Toyo Harada #2 might well be even better than the first issue as we get more development from Harada’s past and a deeper look into Angela, her plans of betrayal, and how much of a monster she really is. Great work from Joshua Dysart, CAFU, Butch Guice, Andrew Dalhouse, Dan Brown, and Dave Sharpe.

| Published by Valiant

Livewire #5 starts off a new arc as Kano takes over the art duties, joining Vita Ayala and Saida Temofonte. This first part introduces a new player to the game in the form of the Psiot Safety & Education Program, which looks like a government-sanctioned shackling program.

| Published by Valiant

Low #21 reveals what happened to Stel and Zem, caught by the Neo Sapiens, and essentially kept as lab rats. Gorgeous artwork from Greg Tocchini and Dave McCaig.

| Published by Image / Giant Generator

Murder Falcon #7 cues up for the end as Jake battles Magnum Khaos as an existential threat, and the remaining members of Brooticus attempt to defend reality alongside the Tokyo Musical Defense Force. Daniel Warren Johnson, Mike Spicer, and Rus Wooton are really giving this their all and it shines through in a highly captivating, entertaining story.

| Published by Image / Skybound

Oblivion Song #14 continues to explore the new status quo of Nathan’s life after prison and the Oblivion colony having a team of gatherers attacked by the Faceless Men. Robert Kirkman, Lorenzo De Felici, Annalisa Leoni, and Rus Wooton never waste a moment in this series. Some very great moments in the art as De Felici and Leoni nicely convey how Nathan’s feeling alone, even amongst a crowd.

| Published by Image / Skybound

Orphan Age #1 has a premise similar to Jeremiah and the “Miri” episode of Star Trek, wherein all of the adults have died for some reason and the children have inherited the Earth. It’s not a bad start from Ted Anderson, Nuno Plati, João Lemos, and Marshall Dillon, introducing us to our three leads as they come together in a town besieged by the “New Church”.

| Published by AfterShock

Outer Darkness #6 concludes the first arc from John Layman, Afu Chan, and Pat Brosseau as the planetbound crew hunt the demons stalking them. Also a cat scaring the crap out of them.

| Published by Image / Skybound

Rat Queens Special: Swamp Romp #1 gives us a taste of the new creative team of Ryan Ferrier, Priscilla Petraites, and Marco Lesko as the Queens take on a quest from a creepy dude with a severed unicorn’s head to hunt and kill the Slog Chimp. It’s a funny adventure, with things not being as they seem, and the revelation that unicorns are assholes. Definitely a good start for this new team.

| Published by Image / Shadowline

Ronin Island #2 throws the islanders at the demons, while demonstrating further class division as Sato and his soldiers basically subjugate all of the farmers, imprisoning their leaders. Highly entertaining story here from Greg Pak, Giannis Milonogiannis, Irma Kniivila, and Simon Bowland, while still leaving us wondering what’s really been happening on the main Japanese islands.

| Published by BOOM! Studios

Savage Sword of Conan #4 sets up for the finale of Gerry Duggan, Ron Garney, Richard Isanove, and Travis Lanham’s tale, “The Cult of Koga Thun”, as Conan, Menes, and Suty inch closer to the treasure. Nice bits of humour and a sad note as Suty’s wounds turn sour.

| Published by Marvel

She Could Fly: The Lost Pilot #1 begins to follow-up to one of the best, most unique series last year, from Christopher Cantwell, Martín Morazzo, Miroslav Mrva, and Clem Robins. It picks up shortly after when the first series left off, but there’s a text piece giving a recap that should help new readers coming in. This continues on the various forces trying to learn about the device that allowed the pilot to fly, but the real draw again is Luna’s struggles with her mental illness and the oddities around her. Beautiful, inventive artwork abounds from Morazzo and Mrva.

| Published by Dark Horse / Berger Books

Star Wars: Age of Rebellion - Grand Moff Tarkin #1 is the first of two in this series of one-shots focusing on the prominent characters of the Rebellion-era. Greg Pak, Marc Laming, Jordan Boyd, Neeraj Menon, and Travis Lanham tell a tale displaying just how disturbing Tarkin’s cold calculus can be.

| Published by Marvel

Star Wars: Age of Rebellion - Princess Leia #1 is the second of these one-shots this week, with a story bridging Han Solo’s capture in Cloud City and his rescue, from Greg Pak, Chris Sprouse, Will Sliney, Karl Story, Marc Deering, Tamra Bonvillain, and Travis Lanham. It’s interesting in that this is really the first of these stories to serve up plot points relevant to the larger Star Wars story instead of just being a character piece. It still works well as the latter, though, giving us an insight into Leia’s capabilities pretending to be a bounty hunter.

| Published by Marvel

Supergirl #29 answers a lot of questions about the Circle and their actions to “protect” the universe. Kara’s quest has gone in some interesting directions but it feels like Marc Andreyko, Eduardo Pansica, Julio Ferreira, FCO Plascencia, and Tom Napolitano are guiding us to at least some kind of conclusion. Plus, hints of more to come from Rogol Zaar.

| Published by DC Comics

Superman #10, I think, almost brings this series in line with the current time period in Action Comics as Jon finishes his tale of escaping Earth-3 and the crazy battle that Jor-El seems to have embroiled himself in.

| Published by DC Comics

Symbiote Spider-Man #1 begins a limited series set after Secret Wars while Peter was still wearing the pre-Venom symbiote suit, not knowing it was a living entity, from Peter David, Greg Land, Jay Leisten, Frank D’Armata, and Joe Sabino, with a flashback section with line art from Iban Coello. It’s interesting to look back at this time, especially with what’s going on with Black Cat as well in the current comics.

| Published by Marvel

Titans #36 concludes “Into the Bleed” by Dan Abnett, Bruno Redondo, Marcelo Maiolo, and Dave Sharpe, and with it the series. There a very nice last hurrah between the team and Mother Blood as the multiverse hangs in the balance.

| Published by DC Comics

Vampirella vs. Reanimator #4 concludes what has been an excellent series from Cullen Bunn, Blacky Shepherd, and Taylor Esposito. The art continues to be a highlight, with an excellent use of black and white with spot colours.

| Published by Dynamite

The War of the Realms: Journey into Mystery #1 kicks off the first tie-in mini-series to the event with the weirdest gathering of the team for the weirdest road trip as this motley crew of heroes come together to protect Thor’s baby sister. It’s an interesting set-up from The McElroys, with some excellent artwork from André Lima Araújo and Chris O’Halloran that is worth the price of admission alone.

| Published by Marvel

Web of Venom: Cult of Carnage #1 is a one shot from Frank Tieri, Danilo S. Beyruth, Andres Mossa, and Clayton Cowles building upon the ongoing Carnage thread as he’s become a harbinger for Knull. There’s some very nice expansion on existing history and it’s great to see Misty Knight and John Jameson being used again.

| Published by Marvel

Wonder Twins #3 is another entertaining issue from Mark Russell, Stephen Byrne, and Dave Sharpe. I’m really quite liking how this series is structured, with a satisfying feature story that is concluded with each issue, while still building a broader narrative across each issue.

| Published by DC Comics / Wonder Comics

Wonder Woman #68 brings “Giants War” to an end with some interesting developments leading to more questions. There’s some nice interpersonal character building between Wonder Woman and Giganta from G. Willow Wilson that looks like it’s going to possibly explode in the future.

| Published by DC Comics

Other Highlights: Age of Conan: Bêlit #2, Amazing Spider-Man #19, By Night #10, Catwoman #10, Clyde, Doctor Who: The Thirteenth Doctor #6, DuckTales #20, Ghostbusters 35th Anniversary Special: The Real Ghostbusters, Go Go Power Rangers #19, Gunning for Hits #4, Hit-Girl Season Two #3, House of Whispers #8, Invaders #4, James Bond: Origin #8, KISS: The End #1, The Long Con #8, Marvel Tales: Thanos #1, Noble #17, Prodigy #5, Spider-Man/Deadpool #49, The Unbeatable Squirrel Girl #43, The Unstoppable Wasp #6, Winter Soldier #5

Recommended Collections: Absolute Scarlet, Catwoman - Volume 1: Copycats, Hot Lunch Special - Volume 1, Justice League/Aquaman: Drowned Earth, Kick-Ass: The New Girl - Book Two, Mech Cadet Yu - Volume 3, Patience! Conviction! Revenge! - Volume 1, Rose - Volume 3, Runaways - Volume 3: That Was Yesterday, Star Wars - Volume 10: Escape, Strangers in Paradise XXV Omnibus, Unnatural - Volume 2

d. emerson eddy might be a sleepytime gorilla.

#This Week in Comics

1 note · View note