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comicbookhyperfixationtime · 3 months

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I gotta big question for you: what would be your pitch an animated series based on the Mighty Thor? Spare no details

Oh boy, this is a really tough one. I just have so many different ideas for how this could go!

But let's say we're looking at a typical 21 episode TV series, and lets say we're not 100% sure we'll be getting renewed for a second season. We've got two options.

Safe Option: The series is set entirely in the Nine Realms and based largely off the Journey Into Mystery/Tales of Asgard stories. Think of it as a sort of Journey to the West format, where the whole season is Thor and cast on a grand quest and each episode/two part episodes are one challenge/encounter along the way. This would give us a chance to really do some worldbuilding and show off Thor's Asgardian supporting cast, including more obscure characters. It would probably be more of a fun, lighthearted adventure, I don't mind a bit of violence or dark themes but I'd keep it on the campier sword-and-sorcerer side rather than gritty or dark.

Less Safe Option: We start from Journey into Mystery #83, when Donald Blake first acquires the hammer. The first few episodes are standard faire for superheroes, with Thor's more minor Earth antagonists (like Gargoyle and Zaniac and the like) showing up as villains of the week. All that changes when Loki makes his first appearance. After that the arcs get longer and more complex, climaxing in a battle against Loki and his forces on Asgard. There'd be a more psychological bent to this, maybe even psychological horror, as Thor goes from Dr Blakes' superhero persona to another personality with his own thought patterns dominant personality. We'd really dig into Dr Blake realizing that he doesn't actually remember any of his past before medical school, including his family and origin, and how frightening and discombobulating that is.

Regardless of which idea, there'd be some common elements. Art style would be very colorful, Asgard's aesthetics will be a solid mix of sci-fi, fantasy and a heaping dose of surrealism. There's a direct-to-video animated movie about Thor called "Tales of Asgard" and I actually really adore how clever they were with the trippy geography of Asgard, I'd draw a lot of inspo from there.

Odin will be portrayed as the abusive jackass he is. I'm not going to soften him up whatsoever, especially in his treatment of Thor. I don't think I'll kill him off regardless, but both options will show Thor slowly working towards recognizing the toxic behavior. In Option 1 it will be revealed that Thor's quest was some gambit by Odin that would seriously endanger him and/or his friends. In Option 2 it'll be Thor not only learning that Odin brainwashed him into believing he was Donald Blake, but the reason why he did it (just like in the OG comics it will be extremely petty and more about Thor asserting independence against Odin that actually needing to learn humility or whatever, although he certainly does grow as a person either way).

If the show is renewed for a second season, it will be adapting Roy Thomas' Celestial Arc, expanding worldbuilding with the introduction of the Eternals, the Celestials and the Elder Gods. It will also be the climax of Thor's arc about his relationship with Odin. When it's revealed that A) Odin had him for the express purpose of making an Ubermenschen weapon for him to use, and, B) he had in the past had Thor killed for disobeying him, then resurrected and wiped his memories.

If the show gets a third season, that season will be a loose adaptation of Len Wein's various space epics mixed with the 90s storyline Blood and Thunder (and when I say loose, I mean loose). Basically, Thor cuts himself off from Asgard after finally learning the truth and travels through space having space adventures with various Marvel Cosmic characters. Meanwhile, there'll be B plots with Thor's supporting cast on Asgard and/or Earth working out their own issues in his absence. By the end of this season, Beta Ray Bill will be introduced, and just like in Walt Simonson's run, it will be revealed that the threat to his people he was scientifically modified to face is the rapid approach of Surter and his army. The season will end on a sort of cliffhanger as Thor realizes that Ragnarok is coming for Asgard, and will have to make a choice about going back to save them. After that will be a season with less episodes but longer episodes showing the epic battle and neatly wrapping up any character arcs that haven't been wrapped up yet.

I think the show will end with Thor's "death" at the hands of Jormungand, but how exactly this goes will depend on Option 1 or 2. Option 1 will result in Thor fighting Hela similar to how Walt Simonson's run ends (the plot point about Hela cursing Thor to be easily hurt but unable to die will also be there). Option 2 will result in a death of personality for Thor, he becomes Dr Blake permanently and lives out a happy existence on Earth (depending on whether that feels like a satisfying ending or not, I'll just go with Option 1 then). Either way there's an opportunity for The Adventure Continues but a nice finale and really no need to.

If they force me to make another season I'll adapt the Evil Future Thor story from Dan Jurgens' run, but with some major changes.

#if you need clarification on anything lmk #this was fun #marvel comics #thor #thor odinson

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ghostoftheyear · 1 year

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It occurs to me that I’ve never really talked a lot on here about the Felids despite sporadically posting art of updated designs and mentioning a “series”, so I thought I’d ramble a bit about it for those who might be interested. I’ll keep it under a cut so you can scroll on by if you want.

So, the Felids! This is a project that started way back when I was in my early teens, inspired by -- you might have guessed -- the Thundercats cartoon. The original one, mind: I am very old. Marvel’s junior imprint (Star Comics, I think?) ran a series that expanded on the universe a bit and included some new characters, and I was so enraptured by this that I started creating my own. The first was Siam, with her tragic backstory and twin children; after them came Tigreer, and then I started making more in earnest. Marx and Daman were soon created specifically to be Tigreer’s mates; I remember I was penpals with someone at the time who was also doing the same thing -- I might even have written to her from a letter in the mailbag column of the comic? At any rate, polyamory somehow because established in my head as a natural thing from a far too early age, even if I didn’t have a word for it then. But that’s beside the point.

At some point I realized I had to make these characters their own original thing (aka their own property, though I wasn’t thinking in those terms) if I wanted to ever actually do anything with them, so they became Felids -- Homo felidae, to give them a proper classification -- and for a time I fannishly placed them in the Marvel universe, though they were definitively not mutants but their own thing. I had kept creating new characters to the point where many were just a name and a costume, but I wanted to do something with them, so I decided they lived in a secret compound in the Colorado Rockies named Sanctuary. This came into focus in college, when my RPG group had adventures set in the far flung future of 2003 (I told you I was old; I started as a freshman in 1990). We had a superheroes game and Sanctuary turned into part of that, with my explicit permission. A former friend who is no longer with us did a lot of creative work with various Felids, though it never came to fruition; I still appreciate the stories he came up with.

Many of the roster of Felids are also creations of friends, from that group and later on. The idea of Sanctuary became more fleshed out as a place where Felids lived in peace, safe from the world that mistrusted and hated them. A few safehouses appeared here and there, with missions going out to rescue Felids who had been identified as endangered. Some actually chose to stay where they were, feeling safe in their communities, while others mistrusted Tigreer’s ideal of keeping every Felid safe.

Eventually, I established a history for them. Felids were randomly born to standard humans all over the world, but very rarely -- or at least very rarely known of -- until the 1990s or so. Tigreer, whom I’d decided now was the leader of the community, wanted nothing more than to bring them all together. She’d experienced violence and danger herself and didn’t want any other Felid to have to go through that. Eventually she’d come across first Marx and then Daman -- each one of them taking on a name for their society as it was established, rejecting or at least leaving behind their time in the human world.

That’s pretty much as far as I’ve gotten in terms of story for them. Most Felids at present live in Sanctuary; Tigreer is the leader, but the governmental system is pretty ad hoc (needs work) and she delegates responsibilities to quite a few people who are in charge of departments such as sanitation, child care and education, medicine, weapons and defense training, and so on. Mostly it’s just a place for them all to stay right now. The webcomic I started putting together several years ago has about five pages done and a bit more script written, but I got stuck on an action page and have yet to do more with it. Someday, I hope.

Anyway, that’s basically the rundown. I’ve never really had a clear idea of what I want to do with these characters, but they’re always there in the back of my mind, waiting. Watching. Getting the occasional short story. And getting art, bit by bit.

Oh and when I’m referring to the “Felid series”, what I mean is the collection of drawings/portraits/designs or whatever you want to call them. I did one run-through between like 1997-2001 or so, and then later thought I’d do one more final set. Ahahaha. There’s something wrong with me. I started this new “series” in 2009. 2009. When I started, I was using colored pencils and ink on sketchpad paper. During that time I’ve transitioned to sketches on paper-->scan-->ink and color in Photoshop, then to full digital art, beginning to end. It’s been a journey. One I am never doing again.

#felids #homo felidae

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kalecrimmm · 3 years

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Am I funny yet

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doodlepuffy · 3 years

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Puffy/Flockblr doodles untill Puffy arrives in UK

Day 19, Puffy is losing it ft. Ponk

(Original comic by Safely Endangered)

#captain puffy #look at puffy in the eyes and ask her to calm down #i dare u #(•͈⌔•͈⑅)

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saemi-the-writer · 2 years

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Miraculous Team - Costumes and power change (part 1)

It was mentioned in some previous posts, but I’m going to expand a bit more here. The 5 minutes limit only happens at the very beginning and the holder of any miraculous can unlock more powers as they keep on practicing and bonding with their kwami. You can think of it like any sport or activity: you need to warm up and learn the basics before you can go for harder and more complex moves/trials. When the holder use an especially powerful move or their most powerful one, the human is likely not ready yet to carry on, either physically, emotionally or anything; the magic might hurt them if they push themselves too hard so the kwamis alert them with a sound that they can’t keep the transformation any longer. It is to keep the user safe first and foremost. Later on, the alert happens but only if the holder is exhausting both themself and the kwami, or if they are really too badly hurt; while the kwami takes most of the damages, the kwamis still have their limits and weakpoints too and might need a break.

In Miraculous Team, the Miraculouses holders have more than one power (or attack/defense), the heroes unlock more as they improve, thanks to the grimmoire, other artifacts and using power combination with one - or several - of their partners.

Let’s start with the 2 more powerful Miraculouses and our main couple/duo:

Ladybug and Chat Noir

Ladybug

Going to disgress a bit, but here’s why Marinette picked the name “Ladybug” for her heroine persona: she wished for a simple name, something that wouldn’t give her away since keeping her identity secret is very important. So using Chinese was out of the question, she didn’t want to give any clue to the ennemy nor endanger any other Chinese-origin civilian. After some researches, she settled on “Ladybug” because it was short, simple, sounded nice and reminded her of a cute poem Ms Bustier read to her class in her first year in middle-school “Coccinelle, Demoiselle”. Tikki found Marinette so endearing and appreciated that the latter took her duty so seriously, she sore she’d do everything she could for her new holder. After 200 years of “sleep” and so many holders who had to become adults way too soon, Tikki was ready for it.

For the Ladybug powers, since it’s the Miraculous of creation & luck, her powers are more similar to her conceptual ones where she can create anything with the help of her compact/Yo-yo. As time passes and the more powerful Ladybug becomes, the more complex and powerful her creations become. Power that will be more than useful when Marinette will try her hand in crafting artifacts, then new Miraculouses.

The “Lucky Charm” can sometimes be some random object that Ladybug use to achieve victory thanks to her creativity and ingeniosity, a clue or - as the name itself says it - a real lucky charm she can give anyone she wants to that will help. Either “Lucky Charm” or “Stroke of Luck”, in which Ladybug can do anyting for a short time and luck will always be on her side; or she offers that luck to one of her ally, brings good fortune to the people she wants to help and protect around. Power that will also leak out even as her civilian self, something Marinette will realize in “Forain” (”Showman”). You can think of it as a bit similar to the potion “Felix Felicis” in Harry Potter for example.

Costume: inspired by this concept art; instead of a whole onesie/suit, MT Ladybug wears a red, black-spotted gym leotard, 3/4 sleeves and a very small “cape” that looks like ladybug wings. Black leggings and long gloves with one single red spot and red shoes. Pigtails with the red ribbons like canon. However, only Ladybug have blue-eyes and blue highlights in her hair; MT Marinette’s eyes are greenish brown (like her Dad’s, but a darker shade) and her hair is jet black, it’s part of the glamour Tikki spreads on her when she transforms.

Chat Noir

About the name: Adrien was SO ready for this, he had a whole 3 feet long list of names (puns, name derived from his favourite comics/anime/shows, etc.). However, MT Plagg wasn’t as mischevious as his canon counterpart at first: he had been used and abused for longer than a century, so he was litterally acting like an abuse survivor cat. Even if Adrien was chosen by the Guardian, Plagg was bitter, he wished he had spent more time with Tikki or that he could have rested longer. Adrien, wishing to gain his trust, tried to ask his opinion but Plagg was still wary. Adrien ended up picking “Chat Noir” to prove his kwami that he would never impose him anything, that he was “back to his roots” so: Black Cat miraculous = Black Cat, as simple as that. Plagg kinda appreciated that and Adrien’s efforts to be nice to him.

Like Ladybug’s powers, I took a lot of inspiration from the concept art. Cataclysm is still his most powerful move, but it’s quite hard to control at first (either too powerful or if CN doesn’t touch what he aimed for, it’s still destroyed). Then, comes “Black Storm”, which is kinda like a Kamehameha (c’mon, Adrien is quite nerdy, OF COURSE he would use his power like that!!) Miss Tigri used a similar move that she called “Black Hail”, but unlike her, Chat Noir only use it when necessary or against a foe that won’t be harmed too much by it. He’ll be more creative and comes up with the “Black Hole” and “Chat crame” (pun with “Chakram” and “it burns”) later.

Eventually, “Jinx” and “get jinxed” ; which are the opposite of Ladybug’s “Lucky Charm” and “Stroke of Luck”. Like the superstition, Chat Noir’s presence will get his foe (or anyone who wants to harm him, his team mates or family/friends) unlucky. Similar to LB, Adrien will unwillingly become a jinx to some people around (don’t worry, these people will deserve the misfortune!) which sometimes will lead to strange and/or comical outcomes and situations.

Costume: MT Chat Noir’s costume is mostly unchanged, though his claws are longer and there are cat pads visible underneath his boots and in his palms. The most visible change are Adrien’s hair: wilder and full of black strands (a bit like this).

#miraculous ladybug #miraculous team au #miraculous ladybug au #Marinette Dupain-Cheng #adrien agreste #ladybug #chat noir #fan lore #my headcanons #my stories #My writing

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lovelivingmydreams · 3 years

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A might have been part 2

Okay listen. If you really believed for even a moment that I was going to make an alternative past for @kingcreativityau where King got to be friends with baby instinct/fear and write all the way up to the split and then not include everything that happened after... Do you guys know me at all? My brain will not be sattisfied with this narative until i have written at least up until the return. And if there ever comes a time where the og comic comes to a conclusion, you better believe I’ll write how all of those events transpired in this alternate version of the timeline. So like it or not, at least two more parts are coming. So there. Enjoy!

part 1 here

A friendship for the ages

Creativity blinked in confusion. What… What was he doing? He looked up and saw… Himself? “Wow, you are just like me!” they chorused. They looked at each other stunned for a moment before they burst out laughing. They got up and shook hands. “Creativity,” they introduced themselves, laughing once more. “Wow, no kidding,” they snorted. “King?” a broken voice wondered. Both looked up. Curious about who spoke. Someone about their height took a step closer, pushing away from a smaller boy. Wait they knew this guy right? The name was at the tip of their tongue. “Not me. Is he talking to you?” they both wondered, looking at each other. “Guess not,” they shrugged. But King did sound familiar, though it didn’t quite feel like them. “I call Prince!” the one in the red cape declared. “Why?” The green caped one pouted. “Because I was first to call prince!” the prince reasoned. “Oh… That makes sense. Then I’m duke!” duke grinned. They turned to the boy, both grinning widely. Seemingly unaware of the atmosphere surrounding their appearance. Prince stepped forward proudly. “I am Prince!” he announced with a bow. “Nice to officially make your acquaintance.” Because they did know him didn’t they? Why was it such a mess in their heads? “Duke!” the other cackled. “Duke, dukey!” he giggled then. “I’m dukey,” he exclaimed with glee. “This… Is quite the unexpected turn,” a taller boy with glasses said. “Unexpected? You killed king! And all you can say about it is that it was unexpected?” The familiar boy cried, making the tall boy flinch. “Fear, kiddo…” the shorter boy soothed. Fear! “Oh! Fear! You are Fear!” Duke shouted, jumping up and down as he pointed at Fear. “You are our friend right?” Prince added. Fear looked up at them, tears still in their eyes. “Why are you sad? Whom must I slay?” Prince asked. “Yeah! We’ll make them poop their pants!” Duke added. Fear took a step back and shook his head. “You stay away,” he sobbed and took of. “Fear!” the little boy with glasses pleaded. The twins looked at each other. “What did we say?” “Fear simply needs time to ‘mourn’ your previous form. He’s highly emotional, it was to be expected that he would not respond well to such a big change with no time to mentally prepare. Let him have his tantrum. He’ll be back soon,” the tall boy stated firmly, adjusting his glasses. The boys wanted to believe him but both he and the little guy who introduced himself as Morality and the other as Logic cast worried glances in the direction Fear had ran of to. Sometimes they’d disappear in that direction and come back looking sad. Prince and Duke got to know the mindscape and, more importantly, the imagination fairly quickly and both agreed that Thomas was the most amazing person in the world and deserved everything he wanted. Sure Duke could be a bit gross sometimes and Prince could get a bit egocentric and too caught up with his own thoughts. But they were doing well. Logic was frustrated though that neither had interest in homework. And Morality seemed upset that they didn’t care much for playing with the other kids. Not even Thomas’ brothers. Well that was their problem really. The twins had each other. There was one side they were interested in though. Fear. The ‘tantrum' as Logic called it had still not blown over and everyone seemed worried. So, deciding to investigate to satisfy their curiosity they went looking for him. They knew what direction to go in. The others had gone to talk to Fear a bunch of times since he left. All they had to do was walk in the direction they went until they found him right? The walk was long, but eventually they saw a big willow. No Fear though. Was he in the shadowy part of the mind? “Stop!” The twins froze and looked at the willow. Had the tree just shouted at them? “Hello?” Prince called. “Leave me alone!” They knew that voice! The twins ran up to the tree and pushed the branches out of their way and froze. Fear was sitting up in the higher branches, hood pulled over his face and four spider legs springing from underneath his clothes. He looked down and six purple eyes lit up in the dark. “I said go!” he growled. A yellow snake slithered up from a hole in the tree wrapping itself protectively/comfortingly around his figure. “That is so cool!” Duke grinned getting himself a jab into the ribs from his brother. “Fear. We… We just wanted to know why you don’t want to be our friend. Did we do something?” Prince asked gently. “No! I’m keeping everyone safe. People who are nice to me get hurt.” “That isn’t true fear…” the snake hissed gently, surprising the twins. Fear glared at the snake. “Isn’t it Deceit?” he growled, making the snake recoil. “Thought so. Just… Go with them. I’ll be fine,” he muttered as he curled in on himself and wrapped his legs around himself like a cage. “That’s a lie. You aren’t fine,” Deceit objected. “Is he… Is this because we aren’t king?” Prince wondered nervously. For all his grandness he was terrified of falling short. He didn’t want to be less wonderful than this King person. If he wasn’t as good or better than the original, what was the point of him existing? “This has nothing you do with that! Just leave me alone!” Fear growled hiding in his hoodie. The snake sighed and came down, turning into a teen boy. Duke whistled impressed, while Prince looked away. Something about the scaled half of the boy's face made something in his gut twist. It felt like guilt. But he’d never met this side. What could he have done to feel this way? “Maybe you two have more luck,” Deceit muttered as he left the shelter of the Willow. “Finally,” Fear huffed. “Now if you two would kindly go back to the central consciousness and get back to work. Thomas needs you two too much for you to waste time on me.” Prince rolled his eyes. “As if. Logic is making homework and if we try to have fun now we’ll get yelled at.” That caught Fear’s attention. “You aren’t helping?” he asked confused. “Why would we? Homework is boring,” Prince scoffed as he put a hand on his hip and made a gesture with his other as if to indicate how obvious his statement was. “Yeah, we only ‘get in the way’,” Duke chipped in. Sounding like he was quoting Logic. Fear rolled his eyes. Honestly. “Have you not been listening to anything Morality’s been teaching you?” he asked. “I am a prince! I know good from bad!” Prince objected, sounding rather insulted. “Not about being moral… Has Logic been showing you around then?” Fear wondered. He had assumed Morality would take up the role of care taker. But maybe Logic had taken up the task of instructing the new sides in the ways of the mindscape? “Showing us around?” Duke wondered as he and his brother exchanged glances. “Wait… so they just… Expected you two to know what to do?” Fear asked shocked. “What is there to know? We are creativity. We found the imagination and that is that,” Prince huffed. Though he was intrigued by the idea of more, he wasn't going to admit to being I’ll informed. Fear jumped out of the tree and took them both in. “You’re not lying to get me to come back are you?” The confusion on the twin’s faces must’ve been enough. “Fine,” Fear surrendered grumpily as he started walking to the central conscience. “I’ll show you the basics, but then I’m kicking Logic’s behind in gear and heading back home.” The twins protested, but were secretly excited. They’d needed someone to actually break their ties when they disagreed. To actually listen to their stories and give input other than almost blind praise or cold analysis. Not to mention the fact that they had known him as a friend when they woke up while the others had been mostly strangers in their eyes. That had to mean something. Surely he was a fun playmate. When they saw the stress bunnies for the first time they were absolutely delighted to have something to hunt. And surely enough, Fear was enjoying himself too. Fear showed them how to make learning fun for Thomas and he even showed them that playing was more fun with others. And though he insisted he’d leave again soon, and avoided the others for a good while, he stuck around. Prince and Duke soon discovered just how far Fear was willing to go to keep them safe. During the first nightmare Fear encountered with them he defended them fiercely. Actually almost injuring himself. The twins were shocked by this and took better care to make sure Fear didn’t endanger himself for their sake again. “You aren’t really going back to the willow are you?” Prince asked one day, almost timidly, though he tried his best to sound casual. Fear shifted. The twins knew how to work with the others, they understood what to do with stress and worries and fears, they knew who to turn to when trouble arose… But he could find a million reasons not to leave them and he knew why. He had grown attached to them. He’d tried not to. It felt like a betrayal to King and he still worried he’d loose them right when he got comfortable with the new situation. But he couldn’t leave their side now. “Nah. I don’t trust you two not to burn down the mindscape without me keeping an eye on you,” he teased. Prince scoffed and gave him a push. Duke just shrugged, because honestly? He would definitely cause chaos and destruction if Fear didn’t redirect him every once in a while. Fear knew that if he was staying he should talk with Logic and Morality. “Padre! Teach! We got someone here who wants to talk to you,” Prince announced. The two sides turned and the twins made way to show Fear was with them greeting both sides with an awkward wave. Morality gasped and clasped his hands in front of his face. “Kiddo! Are… Are you back to stay?” he asked carefully. “I mean… I’ll stay out of the way if you want. I just… Yeah, I’m back. Those two need babysitting and neither of you are up to that it seems so…” He felt two fists push at his shoulders and chuckled. “You know I’m right,” he grinned. Then he looked up at the two sides he’d been rather rude to. “Listen, I’m still not happy about you guys not including everyone in the decision. But Princey and Duke don’t seem to be upset with you two. Not really, so I can’t be either. You tried to do what was best for Thomas. I can’t be mad about that. I just… I was afraid to let you guys back in I guess.” Fear couldn't meet their eyes. He was sure they hated him by now. He'd been pushing them away and…

Suddenly he was tackled in a hug by Morality.

“Oh kiddo. Of course you're welcome back!”

“Indeed. Though you might not have been talking to us, we have noticed your efforts. Or was I to believe that the twins suddenly got interested in assisting with schoolwork on their own?”

Fear shrugged as best as he could while still being embraced by the heart.

“From what I heard, yeah? I mean you guys seem to expect them to just know how things work.”

Logic nodded. “I see. Well we did attempt to explain at first, but we failed to communicate with the twins properly.” It had been puzzling to him why the twins couldn’t just follow his instructions. He would have to ask Fear what he’d done to get them suddenly interested in helping out. But almost overnight Logic had gone from overseeing the homework by himself to having two eager assistants making Thomas excited to learn again.

Morality finally let go and grinned up at him. “Guess a dad can sometimes learn a thing or two from his son,” he teased. Recalling how Prince had suddenly started to include his family and classmates in the stories he and Thomas made again. How Duke’s unfiltered curiosity started branching out to other people as well. How had Fear done that? Fear rolled his eyes. “Whatever short…” the teasing remark was cut off as Fear looked Morality up and down a few times. “Did you get taller?” he asked perplexed.

He was sure Morality used to be a head shorter than him. But now the difference was less than an inch.

“Um yeah. I guess…” Morality mused waving his hand above their heads in fascination. “I didn't really notice. Gosh. Maybe I’ll end up taller than you. Wouldn't that be something?” he chuckled.

Fear just shrugged dismissively.

“Nuh uh! We'll be the tallest!” Prince declared. “Just you wait!”

“Fear is going to be a midget forever though!” Duke chuckled.

“What is that supposed to mean?” Fear frowned.

In answer the twins flanked him and he could see they were both taller than him. Not by much, but enough that he couldn't deny it once he paid attention to it. Of course. Even when he was no longer the youngest he was destined to be the baby of the group. Well better remind the twins why he's called Fear then.

“You have five seconds,” he smirked.

“Huh?” Duke wondered.

“Four seconds, “ Fear grinned as his eyes lit up with a violet shine.

“Duke run!” Prince urged and the two took of. Fear chuckled for a few seconds before he let his spider voice echo through the mindscape. “One, Here I come.” And then he took off after the twins.

“He’s a little different isn't he?” Morality mused worriedly as he listened for the sounds in the mindscape, relieved to hear nothing but laughter fill the metaphysical air. Fear was just playing.

“As was to be expected. Fear held a strong attachment to king. More so than either of us. I don't think that I would've been able to convince him to help me stage a coup so to speak if it had come to that.

That loyalty and attachment has now transferred to the twins in some measure, but that does not replace what he had with King. The roles seem to have switched though. He is the caretaker now, though the twins seemed ready to fight on his behalf when they first formed…” Logic summarized looking into his notes. He’d been cataloguing the changes in the Thomasphere after the split and how they correlated to changes in Thomas’ over all wellbeing for future reference.

“They are more equal now,” Morality noted. “Fear wouldn't have dreamed to initiate such a game with King, or to say anything suggesting he needed help. I think… “ Morality frowned. There was no way to say this without sounding terrible. “They might both be happier like this. King… he would want this for Fear,” he decided. King cared for Fear almost as much as he cared for Thomas. It was out of concern for them that he’d asked them to do this. He might not have expected this outcome, but he would understand right?

“So long as the progress of the past week keeps up, Thomas will greatly benefit of the situation.” Logic supplied.

Morality let out a sigh. Thomas would be fine and Fear would fully forgive them with time. And then they could build on this new foundation. He would make sure his family stayed happy. That was his job. He was the dad after all.

It was only a matter of time before the twins would run into Deceit. Especially since the Dukes ideas were unpleasant to Thomas more often than not. Fear usually managed to get Duke to use his ‘inside voice’. Sometimes Prince would notice Fear was getting uncomfortable and reign his brother in. But that couldn’t last forever.

“What is going on here?” Deceit wondered as he walked in on the trio. Duke paused in his rambling and Prince looked up from where he and Fear were sitting on the ground, his arm around the nervous side’s shoulder while Fear had been curled up in a ball trying to block out the images Duke was planting in his head. Once he saw who it was though Prince looked down, he still didn’t like looking at that scaled face.

Fear looked up and went from comforted to comforting. He didn't know what happened, but he did know that for some reason king had changed Deceit and Prince had inherited some sort of phantom guilt.

“Snake-face hi!” Duke on the other hand found it amazing.

“You’re clearly the charmer of the two,” Deceit drawled. Fear was pretty sure that some of his change in attitude had to do with him spending so much time with Dee right after what everyone just called ‘the split’.

He had simply rubbed off on him. “Hi Dee,” Fear smiled tensely. “Fear, good to see you out and about,” Deceit smiled warmly. It was odd. When King first discovered Instinct, he’d been sure he wouldn’t like the new side. He didn’t like how excited King already was for a new friend. And by all accounts he should’ve stayed away from him, but he just couldn’t help but feel a bond with him. They both had a job that wasn’t particularly fun to do, both had parts of them the others disliked. And they both took King’s split hard. Not that he had told Fear of the latter. What was the point? And King hadn’t wanted Fear to know anyway.

“Yeah, I guess you were right. I couldn’t hide away forever,” Fear smiled tensely. “What seems to be the problem here?” Deceit wondered. Something had called him here after all. He knew he couldn’t avoid talking to the twins forever, but he had pretended he could. And now he had to make a stellar first impression. Great. “Oh… Did I do the thing again?” Duke wondered. He didn’t get why the others got upset over is suggestions so much, but they did and he tried to not be too much. But now he really was just having some fun. He wasn't saying Thomas should do anything. He was just making pictures.

Still, Fear was clearly upset. “It’s… It’s fine. You can’t always help it,” Fear assured him. Duke looked around and noticed an abundance of stress bunnies and kittens and puppies, most of them slightly more grotesque than Fear’s usual were. He liked it. But why hadn’t Fear gotten rid of them yet? It wasn’t like him to let them roam free for long.

“Want some help with those?” Deceit wondered as he gestured around. Fear looked at the dozens of creatures and let out a tired sigh. “I’ll get it. Just… I need a moment,” he muttered. “Very well. Duke was it?” Deceit asked. Duke nodded. “I need some help maintaining the Willow. Would you be so kind?” Fear frowned. What? Duke just jumped up with a big smile. “Of course double D!” he grinned. “Wonderful. Fear, Prince, you don’t mind if I borrow him for a couple of hours right?” he asked. Fear looked at Prince who just shrugged. “If he’s okay with it. But he will come back after right?” The prince asked tensely. “Of course. I’ll send him straight to the imagination even,” Deceit bowed before leaving, the Duke following right by his side, ranting about one thing or another. Fear looked at Prince. “You sure you are okay with this? You two haven’t been apart since… Well. Ever.” Prince shrugged again. “I… I think so. We don’t have to be together all the time right?” Fear shrugged. “I guess not,” he allowed. They weren’t one person anymore after all. Fear tried to remember that, but it was still strange sometimes. “I’m going to round up those guys,” he announced as he got up. Prince followed his example. “Want some help with that?” Fear hesitated, he didn’t usually ask anyone for help. The point was that he’d deal with them alone right? He'd just told Dee he could handle it… “Morality says that friends should be able to count on us to help them. So… I want to help,” Prince insisted. Fear smiled at that. “Yeah, sounds fun,” he allowed. As Deceit promised, Duke returned to the imagination after a few hours. All the shadow creatures had been dealt with and Duke was back to a level of crazy Fear could handle. Thomas had not been negatively affected by Dukes mood after he went to the back of the mind it seemed. The twins started going off on their own more often after that. Duke tended to venture to the willow to chat with Deceit for a while, while Prince remained on the front of the mind at all times. Fear wandered between the two. He couldn’t really handle not seeing either for too long. Still things started to get to a new sort of normal and Morality and Logic became more and more convinced every day that they’d done the right thing. Everyone was happier now. That’s what Morality thought, until he found Fear, sitting in a corner of the mind by himself. Which was unusual. “Heya kiddo. Where are the twins?” he wondered gently as he knelt down. He was a good inch taller than Fear by now. Which made Fear officially the shortest of the group, a fact the twins loved to tease him about. “Duke is at the willow and Prince is fighting a dragon or a witch, I don’t know,” Fear shrugged, his eyes shimmering. Had he been crying? “Ok… And why are you here all by yourself?” If Prince was fighting something, Fear would usually stick close by just in case. And sometimes that was indeed needed, though Morality and Logic both wondered if Prince occasionally just liked having Fear save him and fuss over him afterwards.

“I… It just hurt too much today,” he whispered, a sob breaking free. Morality felt a sharp pain in his chest. He knew what Fear meant and he couldn’t believe he never picked up on this. Of course spending time with the twins was hard on Fear. “Oh Kiddo… Do you want a hug?” Fear didn’t always allow physical affection. This time however he seemed to be really in need of some, because he almost immediately latched onto the fatherly side and started sobbing. “I care about them, I really do! But I miss him so much!” he tried to explain. “Of course. Loving them doesn’t take away how you felt about him. I think those feelings actually make each other stronger. Remember what he said? That it didn’t matter what name you used, you’d always be his friend? This is sort of like that,” Morality assured him. “I… I know… Most of the time. But sometimes I feel so bad for liking them, and then I feel bad about feeling bad… What if that never stops? I don’t want to hurt them!” he pleaded “It’ll get better. There will be bad days, but it’ll get better. I miss him too. I know it wasn’t the same as it was for you. But he was important to me too.” “Sorry, I… I didn’t mean-” “No kiddo, that’s not what I meant. I was just trying to say that I understand. And I’m here to listen. Okay? Just come to your dear old dad whenever you need to okay? I’ve got you.” Fear let himself relax into the embrace and cry the tears he’d been holding back for months. He didn’t notice someone was watching them. Morality did though, and he tried not to let the accusatory glare get to him. Deceit could think of this what he wanted. Morality was just trying to look out for his kids. Things got a little better after that. Fear was more relaxed when hanging out in the back of the mind, the vague memories of being an incorporeal instinct not as haunting as they once had been. He got even bolder in his banter with the twins. He was also a bit more comfortable with letting them be without him from time to time. And he got a bit braver when it came to confronting the uglier parts of the past. “I’m just saying. If you ask them they’ll probably change you back,” he insisted as he laid down in the patch of grass underneath the willow. The twins were doing a school project with Logic and he had chosen to catch up with Deceit who still didn’t come up to the central consciousness except to retrieve Duke when needed.

“I don’t want them to change me back Fear, drop it.” “Then why are you hiding away all of the time?” Fear countered. “I know Princey is kinda awkward around you, but that won't get better if he never gets to know you. And the others will warm up to you. I'll have your back remember? No matter what happened between you and him, the twins deserve a chance don't they?” Fear pointed out. Deceit sighed. “I suppose you have a point… And Duke isn’t horrible company,” he allowed. Fear smiled and they both started debating over something Thomas' teacher did that week. The subject laid at rest. Deceit never did ask the twins to return his face to normal. He felt it was fitting honestly. A permanent warning to everyone of what he was. Princey slowly relaxed around Deceit as the later visited the central consciousness more often. And once again things in the mindscape improved.

#kingau #sanders sides #tssides #creativitytwins #virgil sanders #patton sanders #logan sanders #janus sanders #this au lives rent free in my head #but i need the space #please send help

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teabooksandsweets · 3 years

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Pandorian Problems

It’s time for my occasional, that is sporadic, what I mean is unregularly-but-now-and-then-happening post about SSO, and also SsL, and even OSS, which you can interpret as meaning Old Star Stable or Original Star Stable, depending on whether you consider those games the old games, or the original games.

As not-exactly-usual, but certainly as often, my current concern is Pandoria. You might have guessed so from the title. And it’s about some problems, which you might have gathered as well.

I really wonder just how pink Pandoria is supposed to be in Star Stable Online. And I also wonder how much it’s supposed to be the “pink hell” (which it really isn’t, but I’m not sure of SSE understand that) as commonly called on here.

The “pink hell”

Is Pandoria pink in SSO? I wonder. We see it as a rather muted purple, with some pink sky and details, but not nearly as pink as it is in SsL. But then again, it is described as extremely pink in the Soul Riders books.

Now there’s three possibilities:

Pandoria looks the way it looks in SSO and that is meant by the pink description in the books, because that’s clearly pink enough.

Pandoria used to be extremely brightly pink but somehow got darker and more purple.

The part of Pandoria described in the books is also the part that appears in SsL and therefore bright pinkt, whereas the darker, purpler part of Pandoria we see in SSO is an entirely different part altogether.

We know for sure that it is a different part in SSO. The part with the Fripp statue, and the old temple-ish building, etc. is obviously in a different area of Pandoria. Why shouldn’t it look different in different places? It’s a whole planet (we’ll get to that later) and one might expect a planet to have different landscapes. But is it like that for sure? And if it’s the second possibility, then what turned it so dark? (The first would be easy to explain—just as the nights are rather light in SSO compared to OSS, for instance, it’s just made to be better for the players’ eyes.)

The “pink hell”

This is a fact: Pandoria is not Star Stable hell.

It definitely isn’t in Starshine Legacy, and it couldn’t logically be in Star Stable Online. Not only does hell imply something at least loosely based on the concept of hell, which it clearly isn’t, Pandoria is not even, as usually claimed, an evil place.

Pandoria is different. Pandoria is not some sort of underworld, or just a magic dimension, it is actually a planet that could be physically reached, if one had the necessary technology. Even though SSO strayed far from the canon of the old games, and even though the UFO has been ignored by SSE for years, the references to aliens on Jorvik have never really ceased, they were even mentioned in the most recent quests.

Pandoria can also be reached on a magical or spiritual sphere, it is “a place within all of use” (and of course, that could be a sort of internal heaven or hell of mind or soul, or whatever intended here) and its connection to the Soul Riders is on a different level than just some other planet in space.

But Pandoria is not evil. It is, essentially, a different place. It has a different atmosphere (literally, not meaning a different mood, but an actually different atmosphere) and its different sense of scale and realness, etc. is not due to being evil but being simply and plainly a planet that works differently than Earth.

The only definitely Pandorian creatures we ever met in the game (aside from the rays) are Fripp and Ydris. Ydris is a definite example of a being that isn’t intentionally evil, but in every sense alien to our world, and unable to really function in accordance with another world’s nature and physical (as well as, yes, moral) laws.

I know there’s many theories about Fripp actually being evil, maybe because his entire demeanor is so different from his portrayal in the old games and comics, but even those don’t make sense with an “officially” evil Pandoria. If Fripp were evil, then why should he and his followers claim that his home was basically hell? No, no matter if Fripp is good or bad (or different, as he clearly is!) it’s clear that Fripp loves Pandoria, that he longs for Pandoria and that he would never consider it a place of an evil nature.

(In fact, I am quite convinced that Fripp needs Pandoria, and that his exile has a terrible effect on his physical and mental state, and that in order to recover him he might actually need to go there, but that is a different matter.)

The evil in SSO—or supposed evil, for those who love the “the baddies are good and the goodies are bad” theories—came to Pandoria and to Earth/Jorvik from a different planet altogether. Garnok and his Generals are not Pandorian, and they have a terrible influence on Pandoria as well as on Jorvik.

And I have to say, a real problem for me is the effect Pandoria supposedly had on Anne. If it was actually Pandoria. For Evergray, it makes sense, as he is a normal man from Earth, and therefore in a place so physically against his nature, that he simply couldn’t endure in the atmosphere of another planet without long-term damage. (This, again, is why I honestly think that Fripp needs Pandoria, and that Ydris might not be too well of on Jorvik either.)

But Anne is the Sun of Pandoria. All Soulriders are connected to Pandoria, in some ways, deep down, from Pandoria, and so are their horses. But Anne belongs to Pandoria in a whole different way, she is essential to it, Pandoria needs Anne, and Anne naturally belongs there. Of course, she does have a human body, and maybe it was damaged by the atmosphere over a long time (although not nearly as badly as one might expect) and I personally think that DarkCore did much worse to her than the place itself.

But Anne is practically a goddess to Pandorian people. If Pandoria were a “pink hell” then Anne (and Lisa, and Linda, and Alex, and we—and the horses) were evil. Anne would be the Sun of Hell. Which she isn’t—obviously.

But Anne can be negatively effected by the harm done to Pandoria. And of course, physically she is a human of our Earth. That’s absolutely clear. She isn’t a Pandorian, in that sense. But she isn’t unconnected to it either.

Pandorian Problemsolving

I know that SSE have strayed fundamentally from the storyline of Starshine Legacy. But they still use some old pictures, reference old places and plots, and even mention the extraterrestial parts of the game. The observatories still play an important part (they even brought an astronomer and an alien together) and they never really made a clear cut from the old stories.

I don’t see why it should be difficult to put it all together. I mean—I made up all sorts of plausible, interwoven storylines to fill plotholes in the gap between SsL and OSS for an imaginary MMO set on Jorvik before SSO even existed, and before I knew what an MMO is, and I continued to do so after starting to play SSO and could still logically put a lot together with all the new storylines and inconsistancies brought into the game.

It is still perfectly possible for SSE to make sense of it all, to show Pandoria as it truly is—not good or bad, but different, and deeply connected to the Soul Riders—and fit in the old aspects of the stories with the new.

As for Fripp, I know many dislike him—but he, too, is a being of Pandoria, and his concern is to fight a very specific evil (that is, Garnok, and his followers) and to protect Jorvik as well as his actual home, without having much understanding for every personal sensitivity of every single human being he works with, and who belong to a species he simply cannot really understand.

Pandoria is dangerous, but it is also endangered, and the Soul Riders are partly beings of Pandoria, their souls are connected to Pandoria, and the common enemy is of an entirely different nature altogether. Pandoria really shouldn’t be portrayed as safe or cute, but also not as a sort of evil otherworld, but as a connected, but different place of great importance, and with deep connection to the story and its actors, including the good and the bad.

Ideas / Theories / Suggestions / Whatever

maybe Pandoria got darker because its sun was darkened

Garnok and his Generals are also from a different planet and also of a different nature than Earth and Pandoria and maybe that could be important for future storylines, except I don’t know how

Mario is an astronomer and Ydris is an alien and I want to see how that plays out in the future

does it make difference to travel to Pandoria by actual space travel rather than through portals/rifts, and if yes, how?

really, what about Fripp’s physical state, and what could bringing him to Pandoria (I know he’s in exile) or bringing him something from Pandoria do to him (e.g. food, medicine, whatever)

what about Pandorian people, more Pandorian people, especially horse people

I still wonder if those Pandorian horsepeople work like Egyptian gods—maybe they don’t have human bodies with horse heads, but can actually appear as humans or horses—who would be seperated into a human and a horse on Earth

#sso #star stable online #starshine legacy #ssl #original star stable #oss #thoughts

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smugbugunderarug · 3 years

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Smug Bug Reads: Fleetway’s Sonic the Comic #13

Double Trouble introduces yet another villainous look-alike for Sonic... however, instead of originating from an opposite yet parallel dimension or from the lab of Dr. Robotnik, he comes from a power up most would expect to aid you instead of have a grudge against you...

Script: Mark Millar Art: Mike Hadley Lettering: Ellie de Ville

The first panel shows Tails losing his football (or his soccer ball, Americans) in a cluster of bushes whilst playing around in Emerald Hill. While rummaging about the foliage, he comes across what most fans that have played Sonic the Hedgehog can easily recognize -

- one of these things. You’ve seen this before, right? An extra life tv box, a one-up, whatever you wanna call it. These are good things. Grab them when you can. They come in handy. Now what Tails found doesn’t look quite as harmless.

Granted, compared to Shadow or Metal Sonic, this “Sonic” does look a bit like the real deal (at this first glance close-up, anyways). He gives this story to Tails about how Robotnik trapped him in the T.V. box (later we find that that’s not entirely false) and that he had to press the button in order to get him out. Tails, completely falling for it, does as he says. The button is pressed, and “Extra Life” is free.

I’m going to be honest, when I first saw this dude’s design, I thought of the werehog mixed with Classic Sonic. I still see it! The shredded looking ears, particularly prickly spikes, harshly angled nose, sharp gaze, and spiked teeth are the details that separate this fake from the hero (at first, I thought he looked greyer than Sonic did, but later on when the two share a panel, both share the same blue). Tails is knocked out, and Extra Life is free to cause havoc.

Close by, critters from the resistance are building a hideout in Emerald Hill that could hopefully keep them safe from Robotnik. It’s good to see them finally take some action in a sense; they havent done much except follow Sonic around, be saved by him, or be held captive by Robotnik and his creations. Now (or in this issue anyway) they’re actively helping out the... well, I guess you could call it the war effort. It’s good to see that! But anyways, guess who’s headed their way... Extra Life sees the group with their unfinished hideout and doesn’t hesitate to undo almost all their labor (while hurting and endangering a lot of them in the process).

I really gotta wonder how fast one has to go in order to set fire to the forest. Like... dang. Well, it’s clear now that Extra Life can rival Sonic’s speed, so it wouldn’t be too far of a stretch to say that they’re equal in ability. The critters believe that Sonic was the one who torched their hard work, and frankly, that wouldn’t be a bad assumption for them to make based off of appearances alone (however, by now they should know that although Sonic can be a jerk, he’s not villainous in behavior). Since Extra Life was practically speeding through the destruction, chances are none of them got a good look at him. A blue blur alone must have been enough to pin the blame on the hedgehog... but not the one they originally assumed.

Although much damage is done, the real Sonic steps in to combat the fake. Since Sonic had the element of surprise, he found himself with the upper hand against Extra Life, and managed to send him flying out of sight... but then, the critters arrive.

Sonic tries to explain that he wasn’t the one who trashed their efforts, but they deem him too dangerous and want him banished. I think maybe that was perhaps a bit too much and a bit too fast to do, especially after knowing what Sonic is really like (even with the more often than not sour attitude). Anyways, unintentionally proving Sonic’s claim, Extra Life jumps back into their fight. The critters now realize he was telling the truth after narrowly dodging the storming fake.

In the distance, Tails finally wakes up from being knocked out by Extra Life, and sees the terror going on further off. Picking up the T.V., he makes his way towards the scene... Meanwhile, Extra Life seems to be winning against his brawl with Sonic,,,

If Extra Life doesn’t fair well with a surprise attack, it would make sense that Sonic wouldn’t either. We do have an origin story for Extra Life, anyway, so that’s neat. It really makes me wonder how long ago the doc turned evil if Extra Life was stuck there for years... So he was probably created some time after Sonic got his super speed, but before the incident happened with Kintobor, but that’s not really a time span that’s been explained in detail just yet. So yeah, really gotta wonder how long he was stuck in there for... Another thing... how would the box work? Or rather, how was it intended to work? Was he really supposed to be just a “helping hand”? Not something that could revive Sonic if he died or was on the brink of death? Or maybe a more morbid idea; a replacement if the real Sonic truly died??? How does he know about all these things that happened anyways? He knew about Tails towards the beginning of the issue, and he knew about Kintobor going bad... he couldn’t escape his confines, and assuming they’re following game cannon at the time he should have been created before Sonic 1, so how’d he know about these things? Well, it doesn’t really matter anyway since Tails comes in to set things right and save Sonic... wait... did I read that right? Yes! It’s time for Tails to save the day (woot woot)! He doesn’t do much, but not much needs to be done. All he needs to do is point the telly to the fake, press the button, and presto! The doppelganger is back in his digital cage.

is this a jojo reference? Well, that’s the end of that. I doubt we will see Extra Life again since he was booted to the cosmos, but after all the trouble he caused, I don’t think they much care. After that, the critters apologize to Sonic for accusing him so quickly, and then the issue ends right there with all of them staring into the sky above.

I can’t help but feel just a bit bad for Extra Life. The dude was created and (appears to be) sentient, but was kept trapped in a box against his will for years. He probably grew bitter over all that time. It’s not entirely explained why he turned bad since he was created with good intentions, but being abandoned for so long... probably was a main reason why. While this serves as an explanation for all the ruckus he caused, it’s still not an excuse. I guess banishment a la space is what was in store for him, but still... can’t help but feel bad...

TL;DR: don’t do 1-ups, kids.

#smugbugreviewsathing #localbugreads #sonic the hedgehog #fleetway sonic #sonic the comic #sonic the comic issue 13 #tails the fox #miles tails prower #extra life #johnny lightfoot #porker lewis #sonic #dr robotnik #dr ovi kintobor #1/25/2021

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the-last-cuddlebender · 3 years

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Sokka and Revenge

(me thinking, again, about why Sokka wanted to borrow Momo for a week)

Sokka—someone who is not necessarily afraid of the Spirits but acknowledges their existence. A very logical guy.

One day, he’s talking with Aang about Yue and saying that sometimes it’s hard to shake the feeling that the Spirits stole her (not that he believes it, but it’s a thought that his mind wants to pin blame on something/someone that just lingers in the back of his head).

Aang, going with the conversation, mentions Avatar Kuruk’s love and how Koh the Face Stealer actually took her, unlike Yue’s decision.

Sokka gets angry that Koh is still alive (unconsciously just letting out his anger that another Spirit stole someone else’s love, too). He knows for a fact that Spirits can be found and killed. He gets mad that the Avatar (Aang or his past lives) hasn’t successfully taken Koh out yet (and that Aang was right in front of Koh before and did nothing to serve justice—Sokka’s so enraged that he can’t bring himself to care that Koh told Aang where the Moon and Ocean were. Koh probably stalled because he wanted the Moon to be killed and wanted Yue to die, too). He and Aang fight a bit. Sokka storms away from the Gaang.

Sokka calls in a favor from an old friend who resembles a panda and can, for a fact, “take” people into the Spirit World even if they aren’t spiritual. Hei Bai is reluctant because Aang taught him the value of learning to grow again. Sokka says/does something to convince/trick him to bring him to the Spirit World anyway.

Sokka has his meteor sword. Spirits in the Spirit World can’t be killed with earthly means, but the blade isn’t from earth. (Maybe the meteor was sent by Yue, after all, he thinks...so of course he’s making the right decision).

Sokka fights Koh. He’s a warrior. He can be stoic for as long as he needs.

He’s winning, for a bit.

But he didn’t notice who followed him to Hei Bai and came into the Spirit World with him. A certain someone who watched his best friend go into the Spirit World once before and who sat in the grass by the Spirit Oasis while he waited for Aang to return to him.

Sokka sees Momo, panics, and just barely hides his expression.

He sprints to Momo and covers him with his body. Koh sees the advantage and takes it. Sokka stuffs Momo, who is scared of the strange place and strange creatures and scary monster with a lot of legs, into his shirt. Momo shakes and curls up, holding on, because he is terrified.

Flying lemurs are actually sacred creatures, similar to how the skybison and dragons are sacred for being the original masters, in the eyes of the Spirits. That’s partly why the Air Nomads raised them. Koh doesn’t give a damn, though. He’s too ancient to care.

Sokka is sprinting to where he hopes the exit is, but Koh pins him down. He’s about to roll Sokka over when the Monkey spirit (who once chastised Aang) kicks Koh in his Bitch face. Sokka sees the opportunity but freezes for a second. Koh would have taken Sokka’s face in his moment of hesitation if Monkey hadn’t picked Sokka up (cradling him like Sokka was cradling Momo) and sprinted with him to the exit.

Monkey sprints on three legs and shouts, without looking back at Koh, insults about how the bastard took one of his curly-tailed-blue-nosed children’s faces. He yells at Sokka, too, for endangering the last surviving member of the Wing Dynasty.

Hei Bai runs to help them. His monster form has no proper face, so Koh has no power over him. He blasts Koh away, who swears revenge on Sokka and the Dynasty’s last heir. Koh also yells at Sokka that he is now, essentially, on his hit list, and that he’d better keep that warrior of Kyoshi close to him.

Monkey screams at Sokka for a bit and comforts Momo before Sokka snatches Momo back and tells Monkey hands off. Monkey spits that humans mean nothing, but that the Heir must be protected and that Sokka is a moron for bringing him here. Sokka tells him to piss off and tries to keep stoic even as he is losing his shit over Koh’s threat (a promise, he knows, because Koh managed to take the Avatar’s love, and, if he could do that, then how could Sokka possibly protect Suki from Koh’s revenge?).

Hei Bai brings them back to the mortal world and hugs Sokka as much as a giant panda can. Sokka thanks him and, surprised, hugs him back.

Sokka and Momo return to the Gaang, and Sokka doesn’t say a word.

He pours all his love out for Suki even though Katara yells at him the next day about how he didn’t love their mother like she did. Was it true? Did he truly not love her enough if he wasn’t willing to avenge her?

Sokka loved—loves—Yue.

Aang says that revenge isn’t the answer.

...Sokka says Aang’s pretty wise for a kid.

Sokka asks to borrow Momo for a week.

Aang lets him.

Momo is Sokka’s passport for safe travel and safe haven in the Spirit World, and Sokka never tells a soul about the Wing Dynasty or what happens (and, more importantly, what and who he sees) in the Spirit World in that week.

Sokka, Momo, and the third person who sneaks herself with them in their next trip into the Spirit World, never tell a soul about Koh’s revenge.

(...or maybe they just can’t remember.)

I was thinking for the millionth time about why Sokka needed Momo for a week. He has an unresolved, or at the very least a rocky relationship, with revenge. His confrontation with Azula during the invasion was never concluded. He has quite a few things that need closure. Plus, he was pretty resolute about justice and what it meant to him when we see him in the finale. Maybe it was just his personality, sure, but I’d like to think that he went on his own trip, like Katara, to come to his own conclusions about it. Probably clashes with the comics but it was a fun idea. Like maybe avenging Kuruk’s love being taken would, in Sokka’s mind, give him closure/justice about Yue being “taken”.

Also thought that Sokka isn’t in tlok because he lost to Koh, but that’s too depressing for even Tearbending Tuesday, so I’m gonna ignore the thought:)

Also also, I love Momo of the Momo Dynasty lmao

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allegra-writes · 5 years

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Peter Parker cute Alphabet:

Hi! Could I please please please get a cute and a NSFW alphabet with Peter? Thanks! 💕

Ok, I actually had to do a little research for this one, I haven’t seen one in so long that I couldn’t remember exactly how they worked. (Update, I want to thank @padfootagain because this genius prompts come from her amazing mind, like, seriously THANK YOU 💓)And I never wrote smut before so you’ll probably gonna have to give me some time to do the NSFW one. Anyway, here’s our Cute Alphabet with the cutest Avenger:

Affection: What are those little things they do to show you that they love you?

He never let’s you forget that he loves you. He’s so excited that you are his girlfriend that he’s the most caring boyfriend in the planet, always holding your hand, always kissing your cheeks or your hands, always texting you random facts and memes he thinks you’ll find interesting or funny. He’s always making sure you’re safe too, and has the most care with his secret identity because now he has too much to loose if an enemy finds out who he really is. He simply can’t afford someone tracing you back to him and endangering you. Especially after what Mysterio did. Luckily everyone wrote it off as fake news but he takes extra measures now anyway.

Birthday: What do they do to celebrate your birthday? What is the thing you need to do to make them happy on their birthday? Are they good at giving gifts?

He’s the very first to wish you a happy birthday, knocking on your bedroom window shortly after midnight, rainbow cupcake with a single candle on his hands. He also gives you a very personal, special gift, like that hard to get book he knows you been looking everywhere for, or a very rare pigment for your art, or an original vintage Polaroid camera. He shows he truly knows you and listens to you with his gifts, he’s not one for generic gifts like perfume or jewelry (thought he did gave you a letter P pendant one Christmas that he got on Etsy, and you wear it all the time).

To make him happy on his birthday you don’t really have to do a lot, but you do anyway. You call Pepper Stark to let her know it’s Peter’s birthday and the both of you organize the best surprise party ever, with all of the remaining Avengers and of course his new “siblings” Harley and Morgan. Even Nebula shows up, because she wants to get to know the kid Tony Stark told her so much about when they were stranded on that ship (she actually thinks Peter is Tony’s biological son and Pepper doesn’t seem inclined on correcting that assumption any time soon)

Cuddles: Do they like to cuddle? Big spoon? Little spoon?

He loves to cuddle, he absolutely loves it. Whether it be while watching a movie on his couch, or lying together in your bed, he loves to wrap his arms around you. He likes to toy with the idea to keep you there forever, safe in his arms, away from the world and all its dangers.

Dating: What are they like on their first date? And those after that?

The first date was a terrible. It was a complete disaster. He had tried so hard to impress you: He had borrowed money and made reservation at some trendy french restaurant, picked you up in one of the cars Tony Stark had left him and showed up in a tux. Not that he looked bad in that tux, but you were definitely underdressed in your sundress and leather jacket. None of you even knew what any item in the menu was, and things were painfully akward.

In the end you both had ditch the restaurant and gone to a vintage Arcade to play 80’s videogames and eat burgers.

From that day on, he relaxed and you guys only go on dates that you really enjoy: Picnics at the park, stargazing trips, visits to the planetarium, and you even have plans for the San Diego Comic-Con next year.

Evolution: How fast does your relationship evolves? Weeks, months, years?

You are both young and, let’s face it, a little reckless, so things get very intense very fast. But there’s no going back now, he wants you in his life forever, you both are all in.

Flirting: Do they flirt a lot?

He’s not the smoothest of flirts but he doesn’t need to, he already owns your heart. And to be honest, you love the way you can still get him all flustered when you send a flirtatious smile and a wink his way.

Generosity: When they’re with you, is it about you or about them?

You are his princess, his Queen, his love, his everything. He is absolutely amazed by the fact that you love him back, he can’t believe his luck, can’t believe you’re his. So of course it’s all about you: He loves opening doors for you, carrying things for you, wrapping you up in his jacket when you’re cold… And when you both are alone, well, everything is still about you. More than ever.

Honey: Do they use pet names? What’s their favourite for you and for themselves?

He mostly calls you babe, sometimes princess, but he secretly loves when someone at the Avengers Tower calls you “Spider-girl” the most.

Isolation: How do they react when they are away from you?

He loathes it. Absolutely hates it. He misses you like crazy when he’s away in missions or when you are and he’s not with you. He hates not knowing if you’re safe, he hates not being able to hear your voice.

But the angst of the separation makes the reunion all the sweetest. To finally have you in his arms feels like coming home, like being where he really belongs.

Jealousy: Are they jealous? How do they react if you are jealous?

He tries not to be, but sometimes he can’t help it. It was worse when you weren’t together, because he knew you had a bit of a crush on Dr. Strange, and it used to kill him. He still doesn’t really likes when he is around. That’s actually how he told you that he liked you: He had gotten so mad with jealousy that you guys had fought. Badly. Things had gotten out of control and he ended up confessing his feelings for you in the middle of a yelling match.

You hate it but he actually loves when you get jealous, you looked hot as hell when you get mad and he loves that fire within you. Loves that he is the reason it ignites and burns.

Kisses: Lots of them? Peppering ones? Languid ones?… What about your first kiss?

He’s always peppering you with kisses, but he always asks for permission before deepening them. Sometimes vocally, asking you if he can kiss you, and sometimes in more subtle ways, nibbling or licking on your bottom lip. You love that about him, the way he never takes you for granted, not even in the smallest of ways.

Light up: What do they do to make you feel better after a rough day? How can you lighten their mood?

There’s nothing Peter Parker wouldn’t do for you. And if that means doing back flips, or some silly dance or even singing something to put a smile on your face after a long day, so be it.

You don’t really have to do a lot to make him smile, just giving him a hug, a kiss or simply being you usually makes things a lot better

Nurse: How do they take care of you when you’re sick? How do they behave when they are sick?

If you have a cold, he shows up at your door with soup, if you have a sore throat, he gets you ice cream. And if you are on your period, he gets you obscene amounts of chocolate, heating pads, Aleve or anything you need. He was raised by May, after all, so he doesn’t get spooked or grossed out by periods.

He doesn’t really get sick himself, thanks to his special metabolism. But he does get hurt sometimes. Or his senses get overload. At those times he holds you tight and buries his face in your chest cause your smell soothes him, the feeling of you in his arms grounds him to something solid and real, and the sound of your heart beating helps him focus and drown out the pandemonium of noise of such a big city like New York.

Objects: Are there any object, song, place that have a particular meaning for them or for the two of you as a couple?

Sometimes the weight of the world, of being the next Tony Stark, of being an Avenger gets to be a little too much. He gets so insecure, so full of doubt and self deprecation…

On those such times you sing to him, often to sleep. And it’s always the same tune: “Something just like this” by Coldplay. Not because you don’t think him worthy of being a hero or anything like that, but to remind him that you didn’t fall in love with Spider-Man or the next Tony Stark, but with Peter Parker, and that’s all you need him to be. In time, that becomes your song.

Partners: Are they looking for flings, one-night stands, partners to be with until their last breath? What makes them fall for you?

He wasn’t expecting to fall for you. He wasn’t expecting to fall for anyone, really. Things with MJ had just fallen apart because of what Quentin Beck tried to do to him, and he couldn’t endanger her. And to be honest, he was still mourning Tony. In conclusion, he was in a very dark place and wasn’t really thinking about girls. Like, at all. But one day, you showed up. A pretty girl in a pretty dress, but with combat boots on your feet. Fitting for a walking contradiction like you, so kind but with a smart mouth on you, to use effortlessly on the people that annoyed you. You countered all of his quick remarks readily with one of your own. So out of his league, but somehow you had like him back.

No, he definitely wasn’t looking for somebody. But now he’s got you, and he’s never letting you go. He’s going to marry you one day, he knows that in his bones.

Quarrels: How is it to have a fight with them? What do they do to make you forgive them? What do you need to do to make them forgive you?

It’s not often that you fight, which makes it all the worse when it happens. Usually it has something to do with his whole self-sacrificing-brooding-hero-“you’d-be-safer-without-me” thing. The first time you didn’t understand what was going on so you had let him leave you, without putting up a fight, cause you had thought he simply didn’t love you anymore. That one didn’t last because when you tracked his suit (your very own messed up version of social media stalking), you realized he had been following you around to make sure you were safe. You realized then two things: First, he still loved you and second, you both needed to learn a thing or two about healthy boundaries.

Ever since then, every time he tried to pull something like that again, you weren’t afraid to call him out on his BS, even if you could never really stay mad at him. Not when he looks at you with those big brown puppy dog eyes. And if those eyes happen to be red rimmed, you are done for.

But who could blame you? You are only human after all. And even while he does have super powers, you know your tears are his kryptonite.

Rings: How do they propose? The wedding? The honeymoon?

The first time the thought hits him, it leaves him breathless. You guys were just lying on his couch, watching some silly Syfy channel movie about sharks on space, when he looked up at you from his position with his head resting on your lap. You looked so beautiful in the blue light from the TV, so domestic dressed up in one of his old hoodies, and the two little words came to his mind, unbridled: “Marry me”.

The next few weeks, it just won’t leave him alone. At random moments, having lunch or studying together, walking down the street or making love, it would just play on repeat inside his head, like a prayer: “Marry me. Marry me. Marry me”, and it would take all of his will power to not blurt the words out loud.

He knows May would just freak out so he goes to Pepper, who instead of lecturing him about being too young to get married like he expected, smiles, takes off her own engagement ring and places it on his hand, telling him, “Tony had this ring for years before giving it to me. Don’t make the same mistake”. She helps him plan the perfect proposal, that of course goes to hell when the green goblin attacks the city and almost gets the better of him. Luckily you were able to sneak up on the bastard from behind and managed to knock him unconscious with a Shield issued taser.

You were so brave, so perfect, this time he can’t contain himself.

“Marry me”

You blinked, “I might have to asked my boyfriend what he has to say about that”

“Don’t. Let’s run away together tonight.” He pulled the bottom half of his mask up and then pulled you into a kiss that had the little crowd of onlookers watching the fight cheering and whistling.

And that’s the story of how you and Peter eloped to Las Vegas.

Secrets: Do they keep secrets from you and how do they react when they learn that you’ve been hiding something from them?

Well, the begining of your relationship wasn’t exactly… Forthright.

Of course he hadn’t told you he was Spider-Man, even if he was shit at keeping it secret, always disappearing, always hanging out with Pepper Stark and Happy Hogan, always getting so jumpy anytime you mentioned Spider-Man. Between that and the new bruises you found almost every night littering his body - That were gone the next morning- it wasn’t really that hard to make the connection.

You hadn’t even need to confront him about it, you just had kissed him and bid him goodbye with a “Go get them, Spider-Man” the next time he had tried to use some half baked excuse to stood you up in the middle of a movie date at your place.

“Wha- that’s not… I’m not- I’m not Spider-Man!” He had tried to scoff dismissively, what of course was completely ruined by him tripping out of your second floor window and landing on the sidewalk without a scratch.

So yeah, he wouldn’t really hold it against you if you were to keep something from him, besides, he trusts you anyway.

Tease: Do they like to tease you? How much humour is there in your relationship?

There is a lot of fun and laughs in your relationship, but he’s not much of a tease, if anything, you are the teaser of the two. However, you need to be careful because he is after all the sassiest avenger and his quick wit can outmatch your own if the need arises.

Voicing: How hard is it for them to talk about their feelings? How do they tell you that they love you for the first time?

He’s not exactly a closed off person, but he’s not the best communicator either. The things that are really important, that really affect him or make him vulnerable, he often bottles up until they get to be too much and and then get blurted out.

That’s how he told you that he loved you for the first time: He had gotten jealous, and though he didn’t mean to, he ended up making a scene. And if there is one thing that you hate with a passion, that’s jealous and controlling people. So, of course you had fought back. The discussion quickly got out of control and he ended up yelling “Because I’m in love with you, that’s why!” at you in the middle of the fight.

U-turns: What can transform your relationship in a good or bad way (what makes them confess their feelings or scares them off)?

That’s it basically: Strong emotions. Strong jealousy had cause him to confess his feelings and strong fear for your safety was the thing that almost drove him away from you. He was always very emotional when making decisions, and that’s probably the reason why they often blow up on his face.

Luckily you are a little more logical, a little more cool headed to balance his more impassionate personality. Waking up: What is it like to wake up by their side? He usually wakes up first, so normally you are arisen by strong arms tightening around you, soft, reverent caresses on your naked back or arms, or sweet nothings whispered at your hair when he thinks you’re still deeply asleep. Once your eyes flutter open, he would always try to convince you to stay in bed just a little longer. He likes to pretend that there’s no world outside your bed, only you and him. If he could, he would keep you forever there, safe in his arms Yielding: What do you have to do to convince them to do what you want? You are his weakness and you know it. It took you a while, but by now you are perfectly aware that he would do whatever you ask of him. You have him wrapped around your little finger. Zoo: Could they have a pet with you? What kind of pet? Peter Parker might be the only person in the world who is actually a bigger softy than you. Once, your friendly neighborhood Spider-Man busted a pit-bull fighting ring, and after beating every human involved pretty nastily (could anyone really blame him?) He called the dog rescue, to help the poor, terrified, abused animals. The worst part were the puppies these monsters seemed to be already training for battle. He tried to remain strong, he really did, but there was this one puppy, smaller than the others, not aggressive in the slightest, cowering behind the crates. He was tiny, but already covered in scars, because, apparently he was the dog they used so the others would… practice. Very slowly, he was able to approach and grab him, but whenever someone from the rescue tried to take him, it would start crying again, looking at Peter with the saddest eyes. Eyes that were the same color as yours. It simply broke his heart. He couldn’t possibly part with it. So he didn’t. The next morning, you woke up to a still exhausted boyfriend for the first time ever not cuddling up to you, but to the smallest, cutest dog you had ever seen. That morning, you fell in love with Peter all over again, and with your new puppy for the very first time. You named him “Spidey”, in honor of the outstanding man who had saved his life.

#peter parker imagine #peter parker imagines #peter parker x reader #peter parker #peter parker fanfic #peter parker reader fanfiction #cute peter parker #tom Holland x reader #tom holland cute

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britishassistant · 4 years

Text

But I Like One Piece (12)

There’s too many tripwires, tangled and snarled, waiting to ensnare them with every movement.

Uchiha’s clearly had practice navigating this web, stepping sure-footed from one indistinguishable “safe” area to the next.

The rest of them aren’t nearly as experienced.

Kiba hops into the “safe” zone Shikamaru just vacated. He stumbles forward an inch too far.

A wire twangs.

It feels like slow motion, watching the wire pull on another and that tug another, all the way to an abandoned kimono shop filled with piles of abandoned knives, kunai, and shuriken, which Hinata’s frozen in front of.

Pwack.

The last wire drifts harmlessly to the ground from where it snapped under the stress, the detonator left unactivated.

She heaves out a breath she hadn’t known she’d been holding, bracing her hands on her suddenly weak knees.

“Uh...whoops?” Kiba says, scratching the back of his head. He then yelps when Akamaru begins gnawing on his hand with his sharp little teeth as everyone complains at him at once.

“Be more careful, dog breath!!” Ino screeches, shaking a fist. “Don’t you know how bad it could’ve been if—”

Chouji shifts backwards, away from Ino’s yelling.

A wire twangs.

This one doesn’t snap harmlessly.

She doesn’t quite remember moving. She just sees Chouji’s scared face, staring in dismay at the projectiles racing towards him as the boom resonates in her bones.

She grabs him, twists his head down and away, trying to cover as much of him as she can, feels another arm grab her dress—

Pain burns across her shoulder blades.

She can’t quite bite down on her scream.

It hurts, it hurts, oh dear Merry, it hurts!!

She tries to keep herself standing despite how much she wants to collapse into a little ball and sob, telling herself she’s had worse than this, it isn’t that bad, she was shot in her last life for the love of Sunny.

The way her back burns like it’s been set aflame is a pretty good counterargument to that though.

She blinks hazily down at Chouji who, aside from looking like he’s going to cry, seems to be unharmed.

Good. That’s good.

But she seems to have shifted sideways from her original position—?

The grip on her dress loosens.

Ino tilts forwards, whimpering, several needle-like projectiles embedded in her lower back, wet blood beginning to spread across the yellow of her shirt.

Chouji’s face grows even paler as she lands on his shoulder and begins to slant towards the ground.

She grabs the blonde girl by the shoulder and pulls her up to lean against her shoulder, gritting her teeth against the flare of pain the increase in weight brings.

“INO-CHAN!!” Sakura screams, sounding more scared than she’s ever heard her.

“Haruno, don’t move.” Shino barks, the buzz of his insects audible even from their position. “Why? Because another explosion could endanger their lives beyond any hope of rescue.”

Sakura stops short, eyes wide and watery, staring at their little trio like that could somehow transport her to them.

“I-I’m fiii–iiiine!” Ino blubbers against her neck, hands alternately tightening and loosening on her and Chouji’s clothes. “Don’ w-worry, a-a-a Yama-ma-n’ka d-does-doesn’t—”

Her sentence devolves into a pained wail, shoulders hitching with sobs.

She tries rubbing small circles into the crying blonde’s upper back to soothe her, tearing her gaze away from the dripping red shirt to stare up at the ruin of a grocery store that now resembles a structurally unstable pincushion.

“Ino...” Chouji says, voice trembling dangerously. “Mayu-chan...I-I’m so-sorry—”

“S’not your fault, Chouj.” She weakly tries to smile. “Not letting you get hurt.”

“Y-yeah.” Ino sniffles. “We’re go-gonna be Ino-Shika-Cho. ‘S my job t-to keep you-you numbskulls safe.”

Chouji’s eyes take on a watery shine, and he begins hiccuping dangerously.

Oh Chopper, no. A crying Ino, she can manage, but if Chouji joins in there’s no way she’ll be able to hold back the waterworks herself.

With her luck, they’ll end up setting off another tripwire and dying because their vision was impaired by tears.

Shikamaru lets out a huff, posture tense. “Stop being so troublesome. Chouji, are you hurt?”

“I-I’m fine!” He calls back, sniffing loudly and scrubbing at his eyes.

“Think you can carry Ino?” Shikamaru shouts.

Chouji nods, determined. He shuffles around very carefully, eyes fixed on the wires still surrounding them, until she can carefully maneuver Ino off her shoulder and onto his back in a piggyback carry.

Ino whimpers as the position change shifts the needles in her back.

“Do I go forward or back?” Chouji calls.

“Go back!” Kiba yells. “Blondie and Dead-Fish-Eyes need a doctor!!”

She cranes her head to look over her shoulder instead of physically turning.

It’s an awfully long way to the door of the compound.

And, aside from the spot where Lee’s standing, she has no idea where any of the past “safe zones” are.

“How can we?” She shouts. “There’s nothing to mark the path back!”

There’s a slightly horrified silence.

“Well fuck.” Kiba says. Then, “Don’t tell my Ma I said that.”

“M-maybe Sasuke-kun could go back to show the way?” Sakura suggests.

“What, and knock the rest of us into his death-trap?” Shikamaru sneers. “No thanks.”

Uchiha puffs up in indignation. “It’s not my fault!! I told you not to mess around if you didn’t wanna die! This is designed to stop that man, so if you’re too fat and dumb—”

“If Uchiha Itachi was half the ninja everybody said he was, he’ll know how to walk up walls and use roofs to avoid ground obstacles.” Shikamaru cuts in coldly. “So all this is pointless effort.”

Uchiha’s mouth works soundlessly, cheeks flushing a bright red as the other boy mercilessly continues, “Plus the junk on your compound walls are just cheap substitutes for real siege defenses, so any genin who can climb a tree could slip between the gaps.”

Ouch. She almost wants to wince in sympathy.

Uchiha’s face goes a deep, angry crimson, and he bristles like he’s seconds away from launching himself at Shikamaru, death trap between them or no, while the ponytailed boy is glaring holes through him.

“U-um!” Hinata yells, sticking an arm in the air like she’s being called on in class. “I-Ino-san and Mayu-san really need m-medical attention for their injuries! So-so w-we should focus on this first! U-Uchiha-san, you have a first aid kit a-at your house, r-right?”

“Obviously.” Uchiha snaps, not taking his eyes off of Shikamaru.

“O-okay, thank you, Uchiha-san.” Hinata fidgets. “Akimichi-san, d-do you think you can get to the next part of the pa-path towards us?”

Chouji scans the web in front of them. “I–I think I can!” He calls back. “I’ll do my best!”

“Go-good!” Hinata nods. “Ma-Mayu-san, do you need any help with your injuries?”

She rolls a shoulder, wincing at the fresh wave of pain. It hurts, but her vision’s not blacking out anymore, so...“I think I’m good, Hinata!”

“...Are you sure?” Hinata asks, doubt coloring her tone.

“As sure as I can be.” She says, pretending that the aching doesn’t make her want to scream.

The pale-eyed girl gives her a little purse-lipped expression of displeasure which really should not be visible given how far away she is, but is somehow.

“Worry not, Hinata-san!” Lee calls from behind her. “I will ensure Mayu-chan’s safety as we navigate!”

“O-okay then, I leave it to you, Lee-san!” Hinata replies.

She almost feels insulted. What, she can’t be trusted to look after herself now?

“Uchiha-san.” Hinata asks tentatively, “W-would it be alright with you if we use-used your first aid kit to treat Ino-san and Mayu-san’s i-injuries?”

There’s a silence that stretches on about a minute too long for comfort.

“Sure. Whatever.” Uchiha turns his back on them. “No messing around this time, got it?”

They continue to the main house in silence.

The only noises are Ino’s whimpers and gasps of pain when Chouji lands a little too hard in the next spot. He always murmurs a soft apology and tries not to jostle her too much.

They all breathe a sigh of relief when Uchiha finally opens the front door and crosses the threshold, then turns to help Hinata over the last of the wires so she’s inside as well.

He promptly turns and stalks off into the darkness of the house, leaving her to try to help Shino on her own.

She feels tired to her very bones by the time she finally gets to the door from trying to ignore the fire on her shoulder blades, and it’s a struggle not to sway on her feet as she carefully navigates the last few obstacles.

It’s a comfort to know Lee’s behind her, almost comically alert, when her foot buckles and he immediately grabs her to keep her from toppling.

Between him and Shino, she’s somehow manhandled the last few steps through the door, then hustling her down the corridor to the veranda where Hinata’s sitting with a bowl of steaming water, a bottle of antiseptuc, several piles of torn up clothes and gauze, and Ino lying face down on an old, and now blood-stained towel.

Chouji’s pressing wads of gauze to her back as Sakura pulls the needles out with a pair of tweezers and deposits them to the wide, face pale but determined. Hinata then carefully swabs the wound with steaming water and antiseptic, and presses more gauze down on it.

She thinks she remembers something from her past life saying you shouldn’t pull out things you’ve been stabbed with, but she doesn’t have enough confidence in it to interrupt the delicate operation here.

Despite all the small cries she’s emitting, Ino’s lying still as a statue, one of her hands gripping Shikamaru’s, who is also lying face-down on the floor for some reason.

Uchiha’s just standing in the garden, shoulders tense, resolutely not looking back at them.

She’s lead to another old towel, where Kiba’s waiting nervously with another bowl of steaming water.

Akamaru licks her cheek as she lies down on it, so she lifts a careful hand and scratches him behind the ears.

“So, uh.” Kiba says. “Now what?”

Hinata cranes her head as Sakura begins wrestling with the second to last needle. “U-um, it’d be best if you could get the c-cloth out of the way? So you can clean out the wounds?”

There’s spluttering above her. “B-but she’s a girl! I can’t take a girl’s clothes off! Do you know how bad my Ma would kill me?!”

Oh for the love of Chopper—

She rolls the top of the towel down so she has a little cylinder under her mouth that she can lean down and bite. If she tries to bite her lip for this, it’ll likely go through again, and she does not need that on top of everything else.

Then, as quickly as she can, she yanks the straps of her dress down her shoulders, groaning in pain when tentative scabs are ripped open by the material’s movement. She pulls her arms out of it, and pushes the dress down until it‘s scrunched up around the top of her obi.

Then she thunks her head back down the floor and lets herself go limp and just hurt.

“Don’ ma’e me do tha’ ag’n.” She threatens through the towel in her teeth.

There’s a beat and then Kiba squeaks a shaky “Okay.”

She listens as a cloth is dipped into the bowl of water, biting down harder on the towel and silently praying to Chopper for this to be over quickly as it begins swabbing her shoulders.

She drops into a muzzy semi-doze under the burn of the water and the sting of antiseptic and the stiff press of gauze.

Then Uchiha yelps in a mixture of fear and outrage.

She lifts her head.

“...Lee.” She says, letting the tooth-marked and spit-soaked towel drop from her mouth.

“Yes Mayu-chan?”

“Am I hallucinating from blood loss or is there a nudist on Uchiha’s roof?”

There’s the sound of the camera shutter. Then a whir as it spits out a photograph.

“You aren’t hallucinating Mayu-chan. See?” He helpfully holds the photo of the purple-haired woman wearing nothing but a trench coat and mesh tights in front of her face.

“Thanks Lee.”

The nudist snorts. “That’s not a very respectful way to address your seniors, bratlings. You should be honored that you’re in the presence of the great Anko-onee-sama.”

“We will be, if you put some clothes on.” She replies. Then she glances behind her. “Kiba, if your nosebleed gets on my bandages, I’m telling your mom you swore.”

Kiba swears again, turning to the side and grabbing one of the spare clothes to stem the blood flow, accidentally-on-purpose kneeing her in the ribs in the process.

The nudist cackles, leaping down from the roof. “Well, aren’t you a pathetic bunch, huh? Guessing the big boom earlier was thanks to you brats fooling around?”

“You can’t be here!” Uchiha yells, little hands balled into fists. “This is Uchiha land! You’re trespassing!”

The nudist makes a show of gasping theatrically, hands pressed against her cheeks. “No, really? Well gee, guess I’ll have to—but what’s this?”

She pulls a piece of paper from a pocket of her coat with an unnecessary flourish. “Read it and weep, brat.”

Uchiha snatches the paper, eyes darting over it frantically. “A search warrant?!”

“Issued by Hokage-sama himself.” The nudist says smugly. “For disruption of the peace of Konohagakure.”

Then she straightens up. “Holy shit, is that baby Yamanaka?”

Ino makes an unintelligible sound of pain and suffering.

The nudist strides forward, raising an unimpressed eyebrow at Chouji’s attempts to shield Ino from view. To be fair, she doesn’t exactly need to do much to see over him due to her height advantage.

The nudist whistles. “Well, I knew the Uchiha clan would end with you, kiddo, but I didn’t know I’d witness it today.”

“W-what?” Uchiha’s voice has gone very high and soft. All the blood has drained from his face.

“Yeah, Inochin-chin is gonna kill you when he sees what you let happen to his precious wittle baby girl.” The nudist says blithely.

“But it wasn’t Uchiha-san!” Chouji bursts out. “I was the one who triggered the trap— if Inoichi-oji-san is gonna be mad at someone, it should be me!”

“Chouji, no—” She starts to argue.

She’s cut off by Ino making muffled noises of protest and disagreement from where she’s still face down on the towel.

The nudist raises her other eyebrow, then walks around and delivers a sharp kick to Shikamaru’s side.

He yelps, then curls around the attacked area, groaning. Ino finally pushes herself up with a muttered “oh thank Nami,” indents from the towel’s fibers embedded into her face.

“Maintaining a shadow possession jutsu even while asleep, huh?” The nudist says. “Not bad, baby Nara. You’ve probably burned your chakra pathways to shit, but not bad.”

“Daddy’s not gonna kill anyone!” Ino says staunchly. “Sasuke-kun set up those traps to defend against a traitor to Konoha, and me and Mayu-chan protected Chouji when one happened to go off. It was an accident, honest.”

“Oh sweetie.” The nudist coos. “Every accident has someone to blame for it if you look hard enough. Especially when something as important as the safety of clan heirs and the peace of the village is on the line.”

Uchiha’s gone so pale it looks like he might faint.

The nudist places her hands on her hips. “Now, as the official investigating jounin, I need to assess the threat level of this setup to the village.”

She glances around without moving an inch from where she stands. “It’s shit. It’s only a danger to genin who can’t get their heads out of their asses and civilians, and no one cares about them. Pay some chunin to dismantle it and learn how to make better traps.”

Uchiha doesn’t respond.

He’s just staring at the ground, little fists twisting the fabric of his shirt between them so hard it almost looks like it’ll rip.

“Well, not that this isn’t totally boring.” The nudist says, looking a little put out, “But Inochin-chin will have my head if I don’t get baby Yamanaka actual medical attention. Not that you haven’t been doing a good job, Hyuuga.” She gives Hinata a positively feral grin. “I’m tempted to congratulate Hiashi about his daughter’s skill as a medic nin.”

Hinata blanches, pale eyes wide. “A-ah, no, no than-thank you A-An-Anko-sama.”

The nudist snickers to herself. “Yeah, I figured as much.”

The woman bends down and hoists Ino up under one arm none-too-gently if the way she sucks air in through her teeth is any indication.

“Wait!” Sakura says. “What about Mayu-chan?”

The nudist stops and looks down at her. “What, little miss fashion disaster in the obi and leg warmers?”

“Hey!” She protests, cheeks flushing with embarrassment.

“Our leg warmers are most youthful and fashionable!” Lee argues, pulling up the leg of his trousers to show off the matching orange. “They are a valuable aid in our training as well!”

The nudist looks confused. Then her face slowly takes on an expression of fierce, unholy glee.

“Oh.” She crows with a terrifying amount of delight. “You’re Gai’s kids.”

She chokes on her own saliva. Lee goes even pinker than Sakura’s hair.

“What.” They squeak in unison.

The nudist throws back her head and cackles.

Then the woman scoops her up in a bruising grip that drives the air from her lungs and the sight of her friends goes fuzzy and tilted and warped through the film of swirling leaves.

The leaves stop swirling and they’re somehow outside the Uchiha compound.

Her head’s spinning and her body’s thrumming with the sense of wrong wrong wrong.

She promptly throws up on the nudist’s sandals.

The nudist shrieks like a banshee and flings her away to crash into the dirt, screeching about ungrateful bratlings and Gai paying for cleaning.

Her vision whites out from the pain for a few minutes.

When she can see again, a bigger Shikamaru with scars is looking down at her.

“Chakra is evil.” She tells him. “I hate it.”

He blinks. “Chakra is inherently neutral, regardless of who’s using it. Saying it’s evil is like saying your blood is evil—it doesn’t have a consciousness to comprehend things like that.”

“Yes it does.” She argues. “It just pretends not to. So it can eat the energy from our training and studying. ‘S a parasite. It’s not supposed to be there at all.”

The bigger Shikamaru snorts. “All beings need chakra to live. If you drain the chakra from, say, a tree, the tree dies. There’s nothing alive that doesn’t have chakra flowing through it, no matter how weak.”

She’s about to reply that her past life is proof of that being false, and that the tree dying might be like trying to adjust after having a lifetime of poison pumped into your veins cut off, when another man’s voice calls out, “Shikaku! Pick the poor girl up off the ground before you have a philosophical debate with her!”

The bigger Shikamaru rolls his eyes and mutters “Troublesome.” under his breath, before bending down and scooping her up to sit on his hip.

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hellzyeahwebwielingessays · 4 years

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The Not-So-Amazing Mary Jane Part 29: AMJ #4.1

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I don’t have any preamble. Let’s just get on with this.

Thankfully the recap page isn’t as bad as in prior issues.

First of all, we get yet more information not introduced in the earlier issues. Admittedly this is a minor point, but Ken Gullapalli’s last name is first revealed here. Additionally, we get the title of the movie repeated her, even though it has yet to be mentioned in-story.

More significantly, the recap ascribes additional motivations to the Savage Six. It claims that they took umbrage with Mysterio’s life being dramatized at all, whereas prior issues never implied that. Isn’t it great that part of the motivation for the villains is being explained in the recap page.

Another minor point worth noting is that the recap mixes up the sequence of events. It claims Sonny Diperna joined the movie and then the Savage Six attacked. It was actually the other way around. Also, the recap claims the movie lost all but one investor. Depending upon how you wish to interpret that line, it might also be called inaccurate. The investor they found in issue #2 was never one of the original investors. The movie lost all of it’s investors but then found a new one.

Neither of these are that big of a deal. But those are pretty basic thing for a recap to screw up. It’s another example to the shoddy production of this comic (outside the art).

The story proper picks up immediately where the last issue left off. Charlie (the actor playing Spider-Man) quits, claiming the production is cursed. He points out everything has gone wrong, even before the crew were attacked by actual super villains.

MJ counters that things have been looking up since they found a new secure location. Charlie though points out this ‘secure location’ is an abandoned zoo too horrible for anyone to even want to attack them. Charlie accuses MJ of being delusional for believing in the movie.

You know I never had anything to say about Charlie up until now, but in this moment he is the single most relatable character in the whole story.

What’s ambiguous is Williams’ own perception of the character. He’s clearly been framed in an unsympathetic light (and will be again in consequent pages) so the audience isn’t supposed to like him. And yet he is keeping it real, he is pointing out every danger and problem with the production and why it isn’t safe.

I don’t know if he’s intended to be an audience avatar, and author avatar or both. But he’s certainly my avatar right now.

Charlie’s rant continues by claiming people are going to laugh at Sonny Diperna and MJ for participating in this disaster of a movie. ‘McKnight’ then gets up in Charlie’s personal space and grabs him by the shirt. He yells that speaking to MJ the way he did would have gotten him fired anyway. With Mallorie’s prompting, ‘McKnight’ tells Charlie that he’ll be returning the advance he was given for the scene he’s left unfinished.

Charlie though has other ideas.

Charlie wasn’t exactly being rude. The worst thing he said was that MJ was being delusional. Putting aside how she genuinely has been, in context it’s a perfectly valid thing to say. MJ has been pushing and backing an extremely troubled production that has genuinely intimidated Charlie and jeopardised his wellbeing. Last issue alone confirmed several cast and crewmembers had quite the production after the Six’s attack.

Even if it wasn’t fair to call MJ delusional (which it absolutely is), in context Charlie’s outburst is totally sympathetic, it’s something the cast and crew should be able to excuse given the situation. Not to mention, he’s outright warning MJ. He’s informing her she is endangering her career and public image by participating in the film. I’m not saying this is outright concern, but on balance his dialogue to MJ is not exactly rude. He’s justifiably upset and is pointing out the dangers to MJ.

Beck in this scene is problematic. I’m not going to say he assaulted Charlie, but he was way out of line for grabbing him the way he did. That should b the umpteenth warning sign to MJ (who noticeably does nothing) that Beck is bad news and dangerous.

I also detest the framing of Beck in this page. He’s framed as someone defending MJ’s honour, or at the very least a loyal friend. It’s yet more of this messed up sympathetic/friendship portrayal of Beck and his relationship with Mary Jane.

Finally, notice how no one is considering how Charlie’s departure seriously jeopardises the crew. He is now someone constantly off set who knows exactly where the crew are. Do they consider changing location? No. Do they consider that the Six will target Charlie for information no. It’s stupid enough that they aren’t involving the authorities at all. But if you accept that then it’s really stupid for them to not consider Charlie a liability.

On the next page Charlie tries to blackmail ‘McKnight’. He threatens to call his guild rep and report unsafe working conditions; citing the Six’s attack. That is unless he’s allowed to keep his advance. ‘McKnight’ literally tosses cash at Charlie and tells him to leave.

I have nothing really to say about this page. It’s just kind of screwed up that Williams has chosen to make the one character who’s talking some sense unsympathetic.

On the next page MJ proposes that she will play (a fully masked) Spider-Man in the final scene. She suggests Beck use his skills to ‘heavily edit’ the footage to make her look convincing.

Okay, so this is a double-edged sword.

On the plus side we’re finally dealing more with MJ actually acting in a mini-series set up to be about that very premise. Having her pretend to be her lover is also a brilliant set up for character exploration. Have MJ, in an abstract way, see Peter in a new light by pretending to be him. But the potential for interesting commentary goes deeper, because she’s acting out Mysterio’s vision for Spider-Man. It’s an opportunity for Williams to explore MJ and Mysterio’s contrasting views of Spidey. That in turn could say a lot about MJ and Beck, as well as Peter himself.

But on the other hand…isn’t this pretty dumb?

Peter and Mary Jane have completely different body builds. According to official stats, Peter is 2 inches taller than her and weights nearly 50 pounds more than her. Then of course you have the fact that Spider-MAN has a MALE body shape and Mary Jane has a FEMALE body shape. And what about the dialogue? How is MJ supposed to convincingly pull off Charlie’s voice?

Oh, sure Beck’s skills are more than capable of faking the difference. But what is the point?

Why use Mary Jane when you could just use any of the actual men on set?

Master Matrix is in that very scene. His body build might not be identical to Spider-Man’s, but it looks similar enough. Or at the very least it looks far more similar than MJ’s body build does.

In fairness, I don’t know much about Master Matrix, so maybe he’s not capable of the physical movements necessary for the job; he is a robot after all. But there are definitely, other male crewmembers on set. The Kangaroo for example is an actual super villain, he’s literally battled Spider-Man and he also has a far similar body build to Spidey than MJ does.

One might argue that it’s not all about the body type though, they need someone who can act the part, deliver the dialogue. Except if that’s the case, why get MJ? She’s a talented actress but she’ll be wearing a mask, her facial acting will be moot. This means it will just boil down to her ability to voice act, but she is neither trained VA nor would she believably sound like Charlie/Spider-Man. Realistically ‘McKnight’ would have to use technical wizardry to distort MJ’s voice into sounding like Charlie’s. That’s more than likely within his abilities (especially with master Matrix and HERBIE’s help). But you know what would be much easier? Having someone else dub over the footage!

That’d be a lot cheaper, easier and more dramatically effective than altering the vocal performance of the actor in the suit. In fact, given how the mask is realistically going to muffle the voice of the wearer, ADR would likely be employed anyway. If memory serves I think they have done that in every real life Spider-Man film since 2002. Hell, Darth Vader was brought to life with a suit and a voice performance.

The point is Beck wouldn’t need someone in the suit who can deliver dialogue great, so why not get someone with a closer body build?

Shit, if he’s employed so much of his illusionary skills anyway, why not just fake Spider-Man himself? Jesus, Christ he could just make a Spider-Man robot if he wanted or dress up one of the X-Men robots from issue #1.

Or he could play Spider-Man himself. He literally did that in his first ever appearance!

No matter how you slice it, this is yet another interesting idea Williams fails to sufficiently justify.

Moving on, remember how the worst thing Charlie did was call MJ delusional? Remember how Beck took this as an immense insult? Yeah, well he immediately does the same thing on the next page.

Beck explains he’s very uncomfortable with MJ playing that role. MJ retorts that it’s just one scene and since audiences would be none the wiser it wouldn’t affect her character’s arc. She starts to suggest Beck use his illusions to affect the change but Beck interjects that that’d be cheating and would ruin the authenticity of his work. MJ counters that she’s the most ‘authentic connection to Spidey’ Beck will find.

Beck accepts MJ’s offer. He reminisces that MJ was supposed to play his love interest, a version of someone he wanted to exalt. He then acknowledges MJ has become the saving grace of the movie, making her the second woman who had the ‘misfortune’ of believing in him. He further elaborates that they’ve strayed so far from his original vision for the film, he sometimes questions if it’s even the same movie. MJ reassures him that he’s just pivoted.

While this conversation is happening, Mallorie is dealing with another issue. Sonny Diperna has been running late because the paparazzi were tipped off about his inclusion. As a result he can’t get close to the set’s location without revealing it’s location. Mallorie turns to Screwball who launches several remote controlled drones.

A few things to unpack from these pages.

The first is that MJ has it in mind for Beck to use his illusions to finish the scene; something Beck ultimately agrees to. If they were just going to use illusions anyway why do they need MJ specifically to finish the scene? Again they could just get any of the male actors, extras or staff members to fill in.

Shit, they could get Screwball to do it. These pages depict her acrobatic prowess; and weren’t the first to do so. Additionally she’s actually faced off against Spider-Man herself. Between the two of them Screwball is far more qualified than MJ in recreating Spider-Man’s movements and physical prowess. Her on set job also isn’t something necessary to film a scene. If she were in charge of lighting or the cameraperson then that’d be one thing. But she could almost do her job between takes or hand over her responsibilities to someone else temporarily.

MJ’s justification that she is the most authentic connection to Spider-Man is a moot point. Yeah, she has more of a connection to Spider-Man than anyone on set…and? Charlie had 0 connection to the real Spider-Man, and yet he was cast in the role and ideally would be finishing the movie. What on Earth does MJ’s personal connection to Spider-Man have to do with anything?

It can’t be some nonsense about her being able to act well in the scene. Again, realistically she’d be dubbed over and/or her voice would be distorted affecting any vocal performance she’d give. Not to mention her job wouldn’t be to draw upon her personal knowledge of Peter. It’d be to do what Beck would want of her, to bring his vision of Spider-Man to life. At the same time her job would be to synch up as best as she could with Charlie’s performance in all the other scenes. She isn’t creating her take on Spider-Man from the ground up, therefore her ‘authentic connection’ is meaningless.

Also isn’t MJ smart to be hinting to the incredibly clever trickster that she’s got a personal connection to Spider-Man. It’s not like he could research her, learn she’s has (and has had in the past) long-term relationships with Peter Parker.

You know, that guy who famously took Spider-Man’s pictures for the longest time and created Spider-Man’s tech and had Spider-Man as his bodyguard when he ran Parker Industries. If you accept the (BS) post-OMD explanation that everything happened the same way but Pete and MJ just weren’t married then that means Beck could learnt his stuff with Google. This is evidenced by Marvel Knights: Spider-Man #1, wherein literal school children were able to look up Peter and learn about his relationship with Mary Jane.

Mary Jane realistically should already be wary of Beck handpicking her for the movie anyway. She should already suspect that that had something to do with her connection to Spidey. Not only did Williams ignore that, but now she’s just having MJ outright wink to Beck that she has a connection to Spider-Man. That’s not endangering herself, her family, her friends or Spidey’s identity now is it?

Let’s talk about Mysterio. So his dream was to make this biopic about himself. He’s got only a little time to make it before he is literally dragged back to Hell. He envisions it as his magnum opus. A chance to be forgiven by the masses and to make amends to his old flame Betsy. And he’s you know…super egotistical and selfish. His history reveals that to us. His original origin entails him wanting to steal Spider-Man’s limelight by framing him. A revised origin entails him feeling pushed aside in spite of his talent.

So is he really going to compromise this much? Is he really going to so drastically revise the role of the one woman he arguably ever loved to this extent?

The answer is Hell no.

Remember when Beck assaulted someone in the first issue because they insulted his ego?

Remember when he delivered a grand speech about the meaning of art in issue #2?

Is he really going to allow something so important to him be distorted this much? Is he really going to just meekly accept questioning if it’s even his vision anymore?

Again, Hell no, that’s not in character.

And MJ’s rationale is totally nonsensical from Beck’s POV. The whole point of MJ’s character was wrapped up in Beck’s affections for the real life woman she was playing. But now her role is totally unrecognizable from how he began. That’s not a pivot, it’s a wholesale change. Or at least, that’s how Beck would view it.

In the best-case scenario, we could interpret his attitude as evidence of insincerity. As in, he wasn’t actually all that hung up on ‘exalting’ Betsy. At which point MJ should be on her toes and concerned about how genuine he’s been about anything else. Then again she should’ve been at least wary long before now.

As for the other story thread in these pages, we’ll get to that in a little while.

On the next age, Diperna is confused as to who Screwball is. The paparazzi are following his car in several cars. That’s when Screwball’s drones show up and dazzle them with some flashing lights of their own.

Sonny’s confusion over Screwball is itself confusing because he was literally in the same scene as her in the last issue.

Additionally, it’s incredibly dangerous to blind any drivers with flashing lights under any circumstances. Shit, when I was learning to drive it was drilled into me how dangerous it would be to be dazzled by another car and how to avoid accidentally dazzling them myself. Here Screwball is deliberately dazzling three cars. Some of them have open tops and people practically hanging out of them unbuckled.

And on top of that they are clearly moving at speed, around a bend on some kind of upward slope. Accidentally dazzling them with regular car headlights would be a recipe for disaster. Here though, Screwball is using at least six drones to deliberately dazzle them. You can tell from the art and sound effects that one of the cars had to make an abrupt stop. We don’t know if the riders incurred any injuries from that alone but it would’ve been all too easy. Frankly it was really lucky no one was seriously hurt.

I guess you could justify this in a case of self-defence, but the paparazzi were not endangering Sonny’s life. Not unless you argue their cameras were themselves dazzling his driver. But it’s not clear that that was happening and even if it was, that’s not a justification for what Screwball did. Not to mention he could have ended any jeopardy the paparazzi posed by simply stopping the car, getting out and answering their questions. Sure he’d be late, but it’s a lot safer than the alternative. Besides he was already late and it’s publicity for the film.

I’m not suggesting this was out of character for Screwball. But I am saying MJ has just seen a criminal do something extremely dangerous for no justifiable reason. Bu rights her judgement should no longer be reserved about Screwball as it was last issue. Not that it ever should have been. She should be telling Beck to get rid of her or at least try to keep her under control somehow.

Somehow I doubt that will happen.

By the way, the paparazzi are yelling at Diperna during the car chase…why? Neither he nor they could possibly hear one another in that situation.

I am going to leave it there for now as the next few pages are so bad I’ve decided to dedicate a whole post just to them before continuing onto the rest of the issue.

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#Leah Williams #amazing mary jane #mjwatsonedit #Mysterio #mary jane watson #Mary Jane Watson Parker #MJ Watson #Spider-Man #Vulture #the vulture #Quentin Beck #Adrian Toomes #Savage Six #The Savage Six #S.H.I.E.L.D.#Peter Parker #Carlos Gomez

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co-mixed · 4 years

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TROS: Where would Rey-Kylo relationship be in a year? Pt.1

Possible super minor spoilers for TROS

When we’ve heard about the time jump in TROS, the main question we asked was not the “where a certain character ends up”, but “what would follow TLJ immediately, and where would it lead in said year”. And the answer, well… let’s take a look, because we’ve held on to these ideas for two years, and it’s as good time as any to bring it up.

Let’s take Rey, as she was last seen in TLJ.

First and foremost, we know that she’s developed a crush. Now may not be obvious to everyone, but it’s also like putting 2 and 2 together.

We could go back, and review the first encounter, the interrogation, or even the fight. All of them do drop hints, but then there’s one particular TLJ exchange:

“— You’re a monster.

— Yes I am.”

And it brilliantly displays the origins of her crush. Because she stops to think, and that means her defensive reaction to shoot or fight him on sight takes a break. And mind you, she is still very much 19, in SW it’s like our 16, which is the best age for first crushes. There is a physical reaction to this, which is touched upon later for those who didn’t take the first hint (yes, it’s exactly what you think it is). There’s a cognitive reaction too, it just arrives a little later. It was really well described by Rian Johnson, when he said that he intentionally used the most uncomfortable situations. It works, because the resulting chemistry is undeniable.

Yet the last time we see her is not when she’s closing the Falcon door on him, that’s just Rey being upset and hurt, but it’s when she is on the Falcon, probably playing the whole thing over in her head. So we know they aren’t done, even if we don’t take the Force Bond into account. Next few natural steps for Rey would be to soak in those thoughts. She’s spent most of her life alone, on Jakku, and she is probably used to thinking rather than talking. Until the next Force Bond that is.

Now to Kylo/Ben.

This one is a bit more difficult, because for that we have to go all the way back to TFA. Let’s start with the fact that he has not heard that much about her. If we don’t take the novelization into account (let’s base it solely on the movie here), it appears that his initial reaction is fear. He feels threatened by someone with equal potential. And during their first encounter (we usually call it the first date), it’s safe to assume that his reaction is more physical. After that it progresses into the “let’s get to know each other” dimension. We probably can also attribute his interest in her to the dynamics that he’s picked up from Han and Leia. Not the best one, but that’s the only proper relationship model he’s seen. Rey also attacks him right away, and shows zero interest. It plays out a bit like middle school, but since both characters are fairly inexperienced, it does work. When she calls the the saber, that’s when she’s got him. No kidding, because it was either written in there, or just portrayed well enough, but it shows.

TLJ takes his interest further, to the point of belonging. And there is a reason we use this particular word for him, not her. He knows plenty about the Force, so from a mystical point of view “Why is the Force connecting us?” would be more than enough, but also Johnson is not that simple kinda writer (ok maybe some shade here). Ben feels it first, and while Rey is acting in search of that feeling, and because of her teenage crush, he is already sold on the idea of ruling the galaxy together. It’s his attachment to her as much as the fact that she talked to him, and was willing to understand him, and maybe accept him. Yeah pretty harsh.

Then Crait, and it’s not really about the two of them. It’s like a fight when you say things you don’t mean, it’s also very human. And what follows is them both being deeply hurt.

Again, ‘till the next Force Bond.

The only line in the middle of it all, that we get is “She really cared about him, and he disappointed her”. But it wasn’t him who disappointed her really, because seems like she was disappointed because he didn’t offer her exactly what she wanted. Rey is not much around during “Resistance Reborn”, or the road to TROS. And we really don’t know what’s going on with her, just that she has some issues with the Force. But the thing that we can’t ignore here is that If she has problems, so is he. If that happens, maybe one or both of them are subconsciously trying to severe the bond, and it can only be Rey. This is what buys you some time, but not really a year. As soon as she focuses and attunes to the Force, the Bond will be back (because come on, it’s the Force). This will take a month at best and there is another factor to count in. She has a few triggers:

— The books, because they represent the Force, the very thing that connects her and him.

— The saber, because not only the two of them broke it in half, but this is the very saber that he used to kill Snoke and save her.

— Leia, because that mighty Skywalker blood. The more time she spends with Leia, the better they get to know each other, the more chances there are that they will discuss Ben. And Rey is a girl, and what are we best at? Correct, thinking. So she would remember and analyze, do it over and over again and eventually, she will start missing him, and mentally write down all the unanswered questions that she has for him.

So the first Force Bond they get, they will have questions for each other.

His would be exactly the same line we hear in TROS “I offered you my hand, why didn’t you take it?”

Hers would be “Why didn’t you stop firing on the fleet?” But that wouldn’t stop there, she would go on ranting, because she will get emotional. “Your mother was on one of those ships”, and that would strike a chord.

And we know that the only possible reaction here is Ben choking a bit, and his thought would be exactly the same as in TROS, he can’t go back to her. He knows it, but in this case he is not ready to say it out loud. He would need time to think, and the bond would probably fade for now. What do they do?

She made him think, she would understand it, and she would find ways to manipulate. This is kind of a power shift, and as strange as it feels, it makes sense.

As for Ben, that would eat him away. All while Kylo Ren is supposed to carry out his responsibilities, that amongst adding a cool title to his name, include both military duties, and politics (in the sense of dictatorship). Do we think Kylo is a great politician? No we don’t, it’s been said again and again, that his reactions are mostly physical. So he would need someone to deal with the boring parts, let’s assume he has someone who’s scared of him enough.

Then there is Hux, who not in a million years will go from praising the First Order to hating Kylo. No, we see it clearly at the end of TLJ, that he still wants to seize the leadership, and correct me if I’m wrong, but wouldn’t he concoct a plan? Add to that the fact, that he knows the structure of the fleet, the supply management, intelligence etc. He’s been around it all, and basically does for the First Order what Leia does for the Resistance. Kylo’s been in it for how long? Considering that he’d spent his days as Snoke’s apprentice or running around with the Knights of Ren, he’s not exactly a pro. And yes, his mother is a leader and a politician, but he was training as a Jedi. Not the same thing whatsoever.

So what do we have: Kylo is distracted enough, so that Hux has a little space to pretend to be loyal. And don’t forget for a second that Hux knows about “the Girl”, who allegedly murdered Snoke. He would watch Ben closely.

Let’s also mention our favorite band the Knights of Ren. We didn’t get to learn much about them, except for the comic book, but let’s assume that we do know some things. They follow a certain concept, they do Kylo’s bidding, and you can call the ghouls, because it seems like they praise chaos for the sake of… well… chaos. They can’t be stronger than Ben, and there is no point in them feeling him being pulled to the Light, besides that’s something he struggles with either way. Explaining why they weren’t around for TLJ is a bit tricky, but what if they were searching for Jedi/Sith artifacts? We do know from the animated show, that Kylo dispatches a lot of mission to retrieve items. Now that’s perfect for them.

Got a little sidetracked here, trying to explain how Ben’s surroundings work and affect his daily routine.

Rey is endangering any mission she’s on, because “The Girl murdered Snoke”, and the girl needs her training too. The books, after all. And she would spend more time alone, because at this point she’d have this big secret, that she can’t share with anyone but perhaps Leia. And Rey can avoid this for as long as she can, but Leia, again, is a politician. She probably reads faces well enough to read between the lines. So they both know what’s going on (like how Rey even managed to get in the same room with Ben for him to ask her to join him (Resistance Reborn). Also, and this is pretty important, Leia knows that Kylo Ren is the Supreme Leader, she knows that Ben is the only one who likely did this, which brings us to the point that she definitely knows that this is when and why Ben offered Rey his hand. So yeah Leia knows pretty much the whole thing. But we leave it at that, because Leia won’t push, and Rey won’t cave asap.

Now back to Reylo.

The next Force Bond catches them both alone, and as this happens between them, they do move on from the previous chat. We know well that Ben’s trigger is Leia, so he is already on the right track.

If we imagine that she has some of her textbooks in her hands (since the Bond itself is progressing), and he would notice them, that could spark a conversation. She is trying to learn something new, fix the lightsaber, etc. Then it’s fair to assume, that they will have a few of those educational chats along the way (this idea is even more compelling because of “you need a teacher” thing), but guess what… the tension doesn’t go away, so eventually it does take over. We can argue war or opposing sides, but we’ve already established a conflict within the First Order. In other words, if Hux is smart enough, pretty soon Kylo would be out of a job. Besides, combined effect of Leia, Rey and Ben himself is definitely enough to land him in the middle. Not on the Light side, but right in the middle. Also logical to assume that Rey, driven by attachments, is right there with him. Now we can go ahead and skip forward, but the situation will resolve itself within a few months. It won’t even take a year.

Come to think of it, the Force connects them at least 5 times a week. That’s around 260 times a year, or a lot. We don’t have to follow this exact math, the Bond is allowed to be random, and it progresses to a point where they could if not teleport, at least be in the same space, wherever that is. This means that very likely, within a year they would be a thing, they would have talked everything over, and probably come to an understanding regarding Resistance/First Order thing. But it’s the middle of it all, where you insert a political conflict. We’ll get to this later, because let’s face it, this post is already way too long.

#reylo shippers #reylo #tros #star wars #the rise of skywalker #rey #kylo ren #ben solo #knights of ren #long reads #reylo is canon #rey x ben

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