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0aurelion-sol0 · 3 years

Text

"There's no place like gnome."

Stranger Things 3: The Game.

Gnomes 1-10. 🧙‍♂️

IT'S FINALLY HERE!

It's no secret that the Duffers take a lot of inspirations from Pop Culture. From the most well known movies to the more obscure comics, they are always able to sneak a reference somewhere everytime. And they are also able to make it connected to the story.

I've bragged about how the Stranger Things expanded universe in media is one of the best out there compared to many others. I think that the Duffers, the writers or people in the highest places of the marketing are really paying attention to what comes out of the ST franchise because there is no way to have such content with so many details without someone looking into them.

And ST3: The Game is a very good example of that.

So let's start! The first 10 Gnomes out of 50 that you have to find in the game.

BE AWARE THAT THERE ARE SPOILERS BELOW!

"There's elements that could please those who makes metas/analyzes or theories. Especially things related to possible future plot points, easter eggs, references in previous seasons mainly season 3 like unsolved mysteries or unanswered questions and for future seasons such as season 4 like foreshadowing or teasers, trailers or as of lately the sneak peek."

If you have anything you'd like to add, might think I have missed or think it might be referencing something else don't hesitate to share it by commenting or reblogging.

(Say thanks to @hawkinsschoolcounselor for having helped me with some of them. )

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Gnome #1: Johnny

"He's here... with an axe."

Overall plot:

"The film's central character is Jack Torrance, an aspiring writer and recovering alcoholic who accepts a position as the off-season caretaker of the isolated historic Overlook Hotel in the Colorado Rockies. Wintering over with Jack are his wife, Wendy Torrance, and young son, Danny Torrance. Danny is gifted with "the shining", psychic abilities that enable him to see into the hotel's horrific past. The hotel cook, Dick Hallorann, also has this ability and is able to communicate with Danny telepathically. The hotel had a previous winter caretaker who went insane and killed his family and himself. After a winter storm leaves the Torrances snowbound, Jack's sanity deteriorates due to the influence of the supernatural forces that inhabit the hotel, placing his wife and son in danger."

So I assume a lot of you know The Shining by Stanley Kubrick. A movie which was adapted from the novel of the same name by Stephen King in 1977.

There's a lot of things that could have served as an inspiration for ST.

A boy/child who has psychic abilities = Eleven has psychic abilities such as telekinesis. Will has his True Sight which consist in seeing what the MF was seeing and feeling.

Now there's also the theme of family and parenthood that is also a big theme in Stranger Things. Especially abusive parenthood such as Brenner, Lonnie and even Hopper to a smaller degree.

In Shining, Jack tries to kill his family with an axe due to supernatural forces that are in the hotel but there's a difference between King and Kubrick. While King specifically said that Jack was heavily influenced by the Hotel, Kubrick shows that Jack always had that sinister violence in him even before they arrived at the hotel.

It's interesting to draw a parallel to Billy and Will, both characters called William who tried to kill their families and other people while being possessed. But Billy compared to Will was shown to have been abusive even before that. Dacre Montgomery also said that he was inspired by Jack Nicholson's performance in the Shining for his character Billy.

Joyce and Jonathan were shown to get ready to fight the monsters by taking an axe.

It's also interesting to note that Jack dies in the snow while a blizzard is happening outside the hotel. Much like the storm of the Mindflayer who is in the Upside Down, the same Mindflayer who "likes it cold". While in the book, the Overlook explodes and burn.

(Cold vs Fire much like everything Upside Down related not liking Fire.)

Also "Johnny" = "Jonathan", it's kind of similar and Jonathan did wield an axe before. Maybe this is teasing parts of Jonathan storyline next seasons ?

The gnome was also found in Mike's basement, Mike who wants to be a writer when he's older just like Jack.

Let's just hope that Jonathan and Mike don't get the same fate as Jack.

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Gnome #2: Christine

"Two bright, beaming lights for eyes."

Overall plot:

"Written by Bill Phillips and based on Stephen King's 1983 novel of the same title, the movie follows the changes in the lives of Arnie Cunningham, an awkward and unpopular teenager, his friends, his family, and his teenage enemies in Rockbridge, California after Arnie buys a classic red and white 1958 Plymouth Fury named Christine, licence number CQB 241, a car that seems to have a jealous, possessive personality – and a mind of its own, which has a bad influence on Arnie. After working on a car in a junkyard owned by Will Darnell, Arnie drops his glasses, starts dressing like a 1950's greaser and develops an arrogant and paranoid personality. He than decides to invite and date the most beautiful girl in highschool, Leigh, who will soon become the next victim of Christine."

I was actually quite surprised by how this story parallels Stranger Things a lot.

First off, Christine is very much like The Mindflayer, a dangerous supernatural being set out to destroy anyone who is in her way, the people who tries to take the things that she thinks belongs to her or threatens her. This is very much relevant to The Mindflayer who after being hurt by the Fire created by the Hawkins Lab was upset and attacked everyone he could. Or as Will putted "Not me, everyone else."

This is very much like Christine who tried to kill Leigh because she was taking her place in the life of Arnie. Christine also tried to kill the bullies of Arnie who after a conflit with him, tried to destroy the car which angered Christine heavily.

The Mindflayer has been described someone who views himself as superior to other species and wants to conquer them, even if it's not his real "goal", the description fits anyone who is possessive and paranoid.

Both the MF and Christine are associated with the color red. Red storm = red color of the car.

Arnie ressembles Will and Billy alot. Will is an awkward and unpopular teenager who after being possessed by the Mindflayer became very different and more violent. Billy was shown to be paranoid, jealous, violent and his look even ressembles the one Arnie takes after repairing Christine.

Both of these boys have the same name as Will Darnell, the owner of a junkyard. Just like the boys in Season 1 who takes shelter in a junkyard, or in season 2 where they fight the Demodogs.

Billy dies, killed by the Mindflayer just like Arnie who was completely possessed by Christine who tried to kill Leigh and Dennis, his best friend after they tried to destroy the car when they realised the supernatural nature of it.

Billy's car ressembles a lot Christine with those lights on. Especially with shots like in the Void or at Starcourt during the night.

Chrissy, a new character that will be in season 4, the most popular girl in Hawkins High like Leigh, has a name that is the diminutive of Christine. It is said that under the perfect surface lies a dark secret. Much like the car Christine, while a beauty is actually a dangerous supernatural being. We'll see if the both of them actually connects in the show.

Also it is set in California where Billy and Max come from and has been rumored by many people due to set leaks (The Surfer Boy Pizza Van.) that it is where the Byers went. I won't get into it in this post but this could be a tease or hint of that IF the set leaks ARE true and not fake to mess with people and the fandom.

Arnie also dies in a car crash having been completely possessed by the evil powers of Christine which is something we see in the sneak peek of ST4. It also reminds of Carrie who has a bully named Chris who she kills in a car crash with her boyfriend Billy aka William.

So will someone die from that car crash ? Who is it ? Chrissy, Joyce, Lonnie ? We can only speculate.

The gnome is also found outside the Wheeler's house where Karen lives near the community pool where Billy works and where the car of Billy is located during the first few chapters of the game. Again, a "bad boy" hitting on the beautiful girl in town. (with a lot of creepy subtext all over it.)

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Gnome #3: Doc

"Always mumbling something about being late."

Overall plot:

"Set in 1985, in the town of Hill Valley, California, the story follows Marty McFly, a teenager accidentally sent back to 1955 in a time-traveling DeLorean automobile built by his eccentric scientist friend Doctor Emmett "Doc" Brown. Trapped in the past, Marty inadvertently prevents his future parents' meeting—threatening his very existence—and is forced to reconcile the pair and somehow get back to the future."

So I don't think I need to explain why this is here given how much it has been shown and mentioned in season 3. But few things are interesting here, the fact that California is mentioned is a big deal for me again. I know you are aware of the set leaks just as I am aware, if we can trust them than this could be a hint of that location.

Next, we have the theme of Time. Now ever since ST4 was announced, clocks and times have been a key feature in the promotion. Who know what this might mean but again, we're not going to develop that in the post.

There is also the whole funny scenes of Robin realising that indeed Marty's mother had tried to "bang" her own son. Now given the nature of the shown, certain images in the show during certain events and certain stories, you know to what it connects and to which theories it connects. Won't develop further on it but it can be used as an element that can go into those theories.

The gnome is also found outside of Starcourt Mall where Robin and Steve talk about "Back to the Future". It is also where Billy has his "Back to te Future" moment with his car going extremely fast just like the DeLorean.

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Gnome #4: Indiana

"Master of Adventure."

Overall plot:

"After arriving in India, Indiana Jones is asked by desperate villagers to find a mystical stone and rescue their children from a Thuggee cult practicing child slavery, black magic, and ritualistic human sacrifice in honor of the goddess, Kali."

Fun fact, on Twitter for ST3 promo, a parody poster of this same movie has been posted here of the official ST account.

Jim is obviously Indiana Jones, the look speaks for itself and when he is in the Tunnels in season 2, there's a lot of Indiana Jones imagery.

And of course Kali as 008, a Hindu goddess but as we will see here, it parallels more the Mindflayer.

In 1935, Indiana Jones survives a murder attempt by Lao Che, a crime boss in Shanghai who has hired him to retrieve the remains of Emperor Nurhaci. With his young orphaned Chinese sidekick, Short Round, and the nightclub singer, Willie Scott, in tow, Indy flees Shanghai on a cargo aircraft. While the three of them are asleep, the pilots (employed by Lao Che) dump the fuel and escape via parachute, leaving the plane to crash over the Himalayas. The three narrowly manage to survive by jumping out of the plane on an inflatable raft.

(I wonder if this could be something we see in season 4 with Hopper where he tries to escape on a plane and ends up crashing somewhere or is betrayed by someone who he asked the help of. Now it's a trio and in season 3, Jim, Joyce, Alexei and Murray are the main group that fits this trio. Jim for all the fighting and crazy shit, Joyce and Alexei are kind of like Short Round, they are the sidekicks of Hopper. Murray the role of Willie Scott since she speaks Chinese and him Russian and that Jim just like Indy finds annoying sometimes. Alexei is also kind of like Willie since he kinda goes along with them.

But if we also look at season 2, El is alot like Short Round since she is kind of an orphan too and has a father figure later on. It could also be Will since Hopper is with him a lot of times through season 2. Also Willie did felt out of her element like Alexei because of course he is Russian. Willie in itself doesn't have a lot in common with Joyce but still it's another connection to Will since she has a name close to the one of her sons. Something that does fit a bit more is Jim and Hopper both escaping death, of course Hopper at the end of season 3 but also during season 3 at the farm where he's being shot at by Gregori and than the car doesn't work and explodes and they have to make their way through the forest.

Willie Scott could also be referenced when El disguise herself as this pretty blonde girl in season 1.

Now however, Scoop Troops does fit certain parts of these trio. All the fighting with Steve like Indiana Jones but Robin got his brain because she cracked the code. Dustin and Erica are kinda like short round (especially Dustin who has kind of the same hat as short round.) and are referenced with all the others as children by Robin. Steve doesn't feel in his element like Willie with the three of them who are nerds just like Erica who also doesn't want to accept it. And Robin just like Willie speaks some languages.)

They ride down the mountain slopes and fall into a raging river, eventually arriving at the village of Mayapore in northern India. The villagers plead for their aid in retrieving the sacred stone (shivalinga) stolen from their shrine, along with their missing children, by evil forces in the nearby Pankot Palace. Indy agrees to do so, hypothesizing that the stone is one of the five Sankara stones given by the gods to help humanity fight evil. (It's kinda like Alexei who turns his back on the Russians, for his life of course and agrees to help Hopper close the gate to save Hawkins and their kids before monsters start to appear or may attack one of their kids. Now the stone could be something similar to the promethium or the two keys who opens the gate and is a highly valuable ressource. It also may be the Flayed who are needed to create the monster for the Mindflayer.)

The trio receive a warm welcome at Pankot Palace and are allowed to stay for the night as guests, attending a lavish, but revolting, banquet hosted by the young Maharajah. The officials rebuff Indy's theory that the Thuggee cult is responsible for their troubles. Later that night, Indy is attacked by an assassin. After Indy kills him, he discovers a series of tunnels hidden behind a statue and sets out to explore them, overcoming a number of booby-traps.

(This could be like when Hopper, Joyce and Murray disguised themselves as Russian soldiers but was than discovered by Grigori who attacks them.

The tunnels could be both groups discovering that there is a secret russian base underground and a gate which explains why there are monsters again in Hawkins but it also be the Source, Brimborn Steel Works, where the Mindflayer is lurking underground where he has cult-like followers who makes sacrifices for him to grow bigger and bigger.

It's also like the Tunnels in season 2 who explains why the soil of Hawkins seemed to literally rot. )

The trio reach an underground temple where the Thuggees worship Kali with human sacrifice. They discover that the Thuggees now possess three of the Sankara stones and have enslaved the children to search for the last two, hidden in the palace catacombs. As Indy tries to retrieve the stones, he, Willie, and Shorty are captured. Thuggee high priest Mola Ram forces Indy to drink a potion that puts him into a trance-like state in which he mindlessly serves the cult. (It's very much like Robin and Steve who after discovering the gate are catched by the Russians and than drugged to answer their questions. But also like the Flayed who drinks the chemicals and serves the Mindflayer like a mindless cult.)

Willie is prepared for sacrifice, while Shorty is put to work in the mines with the other children. Shorty escapes and returns to the temple, where he first frees Indy and, later, the Maharajah from the effects of the potion. Indy saves Willie and retrieves the stones. After freeing the children, Indy fights a hulking overseer and leaves him to be killed by a rock crusher. (Basically Dustin saves Steve and Robin. Willie being prepared for sacrifice is kind of like El prepared for sacrifice by Billy in 3x08 but also frees Billy from the effects of the Mindflayer by making him remember his mother, a pretty blonde woman like Willie and sacrifices himself. And Hopper fights Gregori, a "hulking overseer" and kills him.)

The trio escape from the temple, pursued by Thuggees, and barely escape Mola Ram's attempt to flood them out. They are again ambushed by Mola Ram and his henchmen on a rope bridge above a crocodile-infested river. Indy cuts the bridge, causing several of the henchmen to fall to the crocodiles and leaving the survivors to hang on for their lives. As Mola Ram and Indy struggle, Indy invokes the name of Shiva, causing the stones to glow red-hot and burn through Indy's satchel. Two of them fall out; Mola Ram tries to catch the third, but burns his hand and falls from the bridge and into the river, where he, too, is eaten by the crocodiles. (This can be connected to all the kids fighting in Hawkins with the Spider Monster. But the bridge could also fit for the key in the secret base where Hopper and Gregori fights. The gruesome death of Mola Ram is similar to the gruesome death that Gregori has.)

Indy catches the stone safely and climbs up just as a company of British Indian Army riflemen, sent by the Maharajah, arrive and open fire against the Thuggees to drive them away; the surviving Thuggees are soon cornered and arrested by more soldiers. Indy, Willie, and Shorty return safely to Mayapore with the stone and the missing children. (While it may end well in the movie, we know Billy and multiple people die, the Thuggees unlike the Russians have been captured while the Russians where all able to flee before the US Army arrives and Hopper is presumed dead. Only the children in both stories are alive but are probably traumatized for life.)

All in all we can see that this movie might have had a big influence on the plot of season 3 through many characters and more. It may have some hints about possible events for Hopper in season 4 or even beyond but that's about it for. It's a nice package of comparaisons and references though.

The gnome is found in the Hawkins Community Pool where Billy is. The same Billy who obeys mindlessly the Mindflayer and sacrifices people to it. Just like the Thuggees with Kali.

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Gnome #5: Chunk

"Posed in some odd dance maneuver."

Overall plot:

"In the film, a band of kids who live in the "Goon Docks" neighborhood of Astoria, Oregon, attempt to save their homes from foreclosure and, in doing so, they discover an old treasure map that takes them on an adventure to unearth the long-lost fortune of One-Eyed Willy, a legendary 17th-century pirate. During the adventure, they are chased by a family of criminals who want the treasure for themselves."

So first, let's get this out of the way, Sean Astin who play Bob Newby, our beloved who plays a character named Mikey.

The Goonies is a 1985 American adventure comedy film co-produced and directed by Richard Donner from a screenplay by Chris Columbus, based on a story by executive producer Steven Spielberg. In the film, kids who live in the "Goon Docks" neighborhood of Astoria, Oregon, attempt to save their homes from foreclosure and, in doing so, they discover an old treasure map that takes them on an adventure to unearth the long-lost fortune of One-Eyed Willy, a legendary 17th-century pirate. During the adventure, they are chased by a family of criminals who want the treasure for themselves.

I wonder if this might hint at some Season 4 plot right here. The Hawkins gang faces the threat of Hawkins becoming a literal ghost down and might need to find something to save it. Also Willy like William, again Will is still there.

The Goonies include optimist lead Goonie Mikey Walsh, his older brother Brandon, the inventive Data, the talkative Mouth, and the overweight klutz Chunk.

Rummaging through the Walshes' attic, they come across a 1632 doubloon and an old treasure map purporting to lead to the treasure of legendary pirate "One-Eyed Willy", believed to be located somewhere nearby. Mikey considers One-Eyed Willy to be the original Goonie. (It kinda reminds me of Mike who got mad at Max in season 2 and told her they didn't need another party member. And he mentionned Will first right after him.)

The kids overpower and bind Brandon and make their way to an abandoned restaurant on the coast that coincides with the map; Brandon soon follows alongside Andy, a cheerleader with a crush on him ( there has been cheerleaders that have been reported in season 4 such as Chrissy.); and Stef, Andy's friend. The group quickly discovers the derelict restaurant is a hideout of the Fratelli crime family: Francis, Jake, and their mother. (Maybe it is both a reference to the Russians in season 3 who have a hideout under the mall who have many restaurants. Or the Lab who OBVIOUSLY does a lot of illegal activities. )

The Goonies find a tunnel in the basement and follow it (like the tunnels made by the Mindflayer in season 2), but when Chunk flags down a motorist to go to the sheriff’s station, he gets abducted by the assailants and imprisoned with their hulking, deformed, younger brother Sloth. (This is obviously like Dustin who befriends Dart in season 2, a literal Demogorgon in the making.)

The Fratellis interrogate Chunk until he reveals where the Goonies have gone, and begin pursuit. Chunk is left behind with Sloth, but befriends him. After Sloth frees both of them, Chunk calls the sheriff, and both follow the trail of the Fratellis. (This is very reminiscent of Hopper in season 1 who gets interrogated by Lab agents or Steve and Robin by the Russians.)

The Goonies evade several deadly booby traps along the tunnels, while staying ahead of the Fratellis. Finally, they reach the grotto where Willy's pirate ship, the Inferno, is anchored. (Will also has a ship, the rainbow ship he drew for Joyce, also Inferno literally means Hell just like what Hawkins has been called.)

The group discovers the ship is filled with treasure, and they start filling their pockets, but Mikey warns them not to take any on a set of scales in front of Willy, considering that to be their tribute to him. As they leave the ship, the assailants appear and strip them of their loot. They start to bind the Goonies and make them walk the plank, until Chunk arrives with Sloth and distracts the assailants long enough for the Goonies to jump overboard and swim to safety. (It's the opposite of the season 2 finale, where Dustin has to distract Dart so that the other could pass through the tunnels.)

The Fratellis proceed to grab all the treasure they can, including those on Willy's scales; this triggers another booby trap that causes the grotto to cave in. With Sloth's help, the Goonies and Fratellis barely escape.

The two groups emerge on Astoria's beach, where they reunite with the Goonies' families and the police. The Fratellis are arrested, but Chunk prevents Sloth from also being taken; he invites Sloth to live with him, which Sloth accepts. ("Unfortunately", Dart compared to Sloth probably died.)

As the kids describe their adventure to their parents, the Walshes' housekeeper, Rosalita, discovers that Mikey's marble bag is filled with gems he took from the ship and had not been seized by the Fratellis. Mikey's father triumphantly rips up the foreclosure papers, declaring they have enough money to negate the foreclosure. As the Goonies celebrate, they see the Inferno, having broken free of the grotto, sailing off on its own in the distance. (Could it be hinting at a possible happy ending for Stranger Things ?)

So Fratellis, is similar to fratello which means "brother, fellow, neighbor" which perhaps could be a reference to the Mindflayer who is kind of our neighbor since he is basically in the same places but in the Upside Down. The Mindflayer also has been paralleled to Billy and other abusive father figures. Billy who is the brother of Max. He has also been paralleled to Kali through his anger and him attacking people who hurted him or might hurt him. Could in itself The Mindflayer should be taken or seen as some sort of family figure ? Maybe him being always associated with Will The Wise especially in 2x04 or someone who has the name Will like Billy is a connection. The same Billy who also parallels Russians who just like the Fratellis have secret hideouts.

Though the Fratellis are more motivated by greed which fits Brenner, Lonnie (who tried to use his son's death to gain money.) or Russians most.

Now Willy, Willy is a captain. Maybe it could be hinting at the fact that Will has more importance to the story than we think. There's also Inferno, "Hell" which is Hawkins but also the name of the ship. And Will has a rainbow ship... Could Hawkins be the ship of Will where his adventures are taking place ?

As for the dance... well as you've seen upper in the post: it's the "Truffle Shuffle Dance". It's something that Chunk has to do before entering Mikey's house. It's similar to what Dustin do at the beginning of season 1 to the bullies when he makes his bones crack due to his medical condition, cleidocranial dysplasia.

As for where this gnome is located, it's in Weathertop where Cerebro is located which is fitting since Dustin has a lot of Goonies as inspiration for his character.

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Gnome #6: Elvis

"He's not dead!"

"Elvis Aaron Presley (January 8, 1935 – August 16, 1977), also known simply as Elvis, was an American singer and actor. Dubbed the "King of Rock and Roll", he is regarded as one of the most significant cultural icons of the 20th century. His energized interpretations of songs and sexually provocative performance style, combined with a singularly potent mix of influences across color lines during a transformative era in race relations, led him to both great success and initial controversy." - Wikipedia.

It is a lot known that people in the 80's thought that Elvis Presley was still alive due to his status and the aura he had as a celebrity. However, no matter how appealing this myth may be, he died of an excessive usage of prescription drugs which reminds me of Nancy who said she thought Tom was on drugs when he fired her and Jonathan while he an the Flayed were drinking chemicals. He also died in 1977, the same year "Heroes" by David Bowie came out which is a song that was used two times when we thought a character died when he was actually alive which are Will and Hopper. Will and Hopper both have a lot of rock in their Spotify playlist.

Also, I personally think that Steve has kind of an Elvis Presley aura to him especially in season 1. After all, Steve has a nickname "King Steve" and Elvis Presley is often nicknamed "The King" and both were popular with girls.

Fun fact: Dacre Montgomery who plays Billy who literally becomes the new "King" of Hawkins will play in the biographical music drama "Elvis" about Elvis Presley where he will play a character called "Steve Binder".

Also actor David Harbour also got married with singer Lily Allen by Elvis in Las Vegas.

It's also found hidden behind bushes near the Public Library. Maybe indicating that Elvis is still out there in the world and hiding.

Which also may be a reference to Brenner who has a similar haircut but also about the novel "Suspicious Minds", a prequel of ST taking place in the Lab when Brenner was doing his sinister experiments which is the same title as one of the songs of Elvis. Like Elvis, Brenner is still out there, hiding in Hawkins.

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Gnome #7: Jack

"All work and no play makes Jack a dull gnome."

Again another reference to Shining. So what you are seeing here is a proverb, it means: "It means that without time off from work, a person becomes both bored and boring."

In Shining, it represents Jack's slow descent into madness. But it could be a reference to Joyce, Jonathan and Nancy who all work their asses off and don't take a lot of time for themselves and so don't have the time to explore anything else than work which also cause for them not to be there when Will got kidnapped. It may also represent Jonathan's words to Nancy in season 1 where he "called out" the boring life she will have and that she will live like her parents so in this case the proverb becomes about societal norms.

Mike just like Jack is an aspiring writer, Mike just like other members of his family falls into these societal norms that are expected like work and overworking in this instance which makes them boring in the eyes of people like Jonathan. "No play" may also reference D&D which Mike started to ignore in season 3 and worried more pointless and superficial things.

Again, hope it doesn't foreshadow anything for these two characters.

This gnome is found in the Library which is fitting considering Jack wants to be a writer.

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Gnome #8: Flynn (Flynn Rider from "Tangled" (2010))

"Looks like he rides well."

Overall plot of Tangled (2010):

"The film tells the story of Rapunzel, a lost, young princess with magical long blonde hair who yearns to leave her secluded tower. Against her abusive foster mother's wishes who kidnappee her when she was young, she accepts the aid of an intruder to take her out into the world which she has never seen."

This story is literally what the boys was arguing about at the end of season 1.

1)The lost knight...

Flynn Rider is actually the son of a king and queen that were from a kingdom that got destroyed by a powerful opal. He was evacuated and placed in an orphanage. He made his reputation as thief.

So Mike and El both parallels this guy, well Mike is a palladin in D&D and he is the son of a wealthy family so he is basically a night. El however also lost her parents like him and has more attributes of a knight in season 1 than Mike.

Flynn is arrogant, which Mike can be a bit sometimes but the both of them can be extremely courageous and care a lot about the people they care about though they are not very strong, nor athletic. Maybe Flynn a bit more.

Also fun coincidence Flynn = Finn, the name of the actor who plays Mike. (almost the same name).

Both him and El run into each other in the woods. Just like Flynn who discover Rapunzel while trying to enter Rapunzel's tower but is knocked out by her who is none other than the...

2)The proud princess...

Well first Rapunzel = Eleven. Both of these girls have magical powers and are used by an abusive and evil parental figure who needs them for their own interest, Mother Gothel used the powers of Rapunzel to stay young forever (like an addiction, a drug) and Martin Brenner aka "Papa". They are both locked away somewhere. El in the lab and Rapunzel in the tower which they both seeked to escape out of. Both believed that these parental figures loved them while it was not true. El also has long blond hair in season 1 like Rapunzel. And both quickly form a relationship with a boy they just met. Both don't know who their real parents are and wants to find them. While Rapunzel has long blonde hair, El had a shaved head.

Also in season 2, El is locked in a cabin in the woods because of Hopper because he believe it is not safe out there which is exactly what Mother Gothel tells Rapunzel. Just like her El disobeys and seeks to discover who her true parents are.

Rapunzel seeks to know what are those floating lights that always appear on her birthday, it is actually her parents who are the king and queen of a kingdom not so far away that do that every year hoping one day she will come back to her. She is a "lost princess". It is very similar to Terry Ives who was communicating through the lights to El.

Rapunzel's power comes out of something that is also connected to something famous in ST.

3) Weird flowers in the cave...

Rapunzel's power come from a flower called "Sundrop flower". = Sunflower which is said by Terry Ives.

This flower can pretty much heal anything including mortal wounds. The Queen got pregnant with Rapunzel but was also terribly sick so she took this flower to heal herself and while doing so, Rapunzel got this ability.

This is very reminiscent of Terry Ives who was pregnant with El and took part in the MKUltra experiences that gave her these powers including certain drugs. She is also "ill" in a way as she is now stuck in a loop. At least from what we saw.

But Rapunzel also parallels another character.

Will Byers. Will could communicate through lights to his mother, just like the parents of Rapunzel and Terry Ives.

The weird flowers could be referencing the sort of vines that entered inside of him in the Upside Down which gave him his "now-memories".

Both had abusive parental figure that would lock them somewhere for whatever reason. (Lonnie with Will in his trunk.)

(Also Hopper may have tried to separate Mike and El but he wasn't like what a Lonnie or Brenner would have been. This is why yes, the situation in season 2 parallels but Hopper truly wished good for El while Brenner and Mother Gothel didn't care for any of these two.)

Same is for Lonnie, he doesn't care about Will.

Since Will is a cleric, both him and Rapunzel have the same time of power. Powers that El doesn't have:

To heal the sick and injured

To revive the dead

To work as a shield

Given this story, it may hint at the fact that Brenner and Lonnie may try to take El and Will for their own greed and purposes.

Since Rapunzel parallels both Will and El, you know what that means for Flynn who parallels Mike.

Flynn in the movie is stabbed by Mother Gothel and dies before cutting the hair of Rapunzel killing Mother Gothel in the process. Rapunzel mourns him and one of his tears heal him.

If Flynn parallels Mike, than something bad could happen to him. If Will does have powers and has feelings for Mike, a supposed death may reveal his powers.

And if he has the same powers as his cleric role, than he could heal those who get hurt or even bring the dead back to life.

If Lonnie sees Mike around Will, given he is homophobic. He may try to hurt him so that he doesn't go near Will again which could lead to him being in grave danger.

Of course all of that is just speculation.

This gnome was found on the parking lot of Starcourt where El decided to break up with Mike and we saw Will smiling in the background.

Also I don't know but... "Looks like he rides well", I mean there's certain undertones to that which are... I don't know how to process that but from what you've just read, Mike apparently rides well. I mean I have nothing against gay sex jokes but still...

Even if it's unintentional, it's how it'll sound on the internet.

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Gnome #9: David

"At 399, he's the oldest gnome around."

So this gnome was already in the first ST official mobile game. And this reminds me a lot of The Lord Of The Rings and The Hobbit but also and of course; Dungeons & Dragons.

The World of David the Gnome, originally titled David, el Gnomo (also known as David, the Gnome), is a Spanish animated television series based on the children's book The Secret Book of Gnomes, by the Dutch author Wil Huygen and illustrator Rien Poortvliet. The series was originally created in Spain by BRB Internacional (who were also responsible for the Dogtanian and the Three Muskehounds franchise (Like Dart in season 2 and Mike, Lucas and Dustin where very much like the Three Musketeers in season 1.) and other cartoons such as Bobobobs and Around the World with Willy Fog)

The series presents the gnomes as a kind species, of 15 centimetres (6 inches) of height, and between 250 and 300 grams (8 and 10 ounces) of weight depending on gnome body mass. According to their habitat, different types of gnomes are distinguished: the ones of the forest, the ones of the garden, the ones of the farm, the ones of the house, the ones of the dunes, those of Siberia (David = David Harbour = Hopper = Hopper is in Russia), and nomadic "gypsy" gnomes (commonly looked down upon by other gnomes). A gnome's lifespan is usually 400 years, though there is one example of a couple in the Balkans living 550 years.

Gnomes such as the main characters live in pairs in comfortable caves or holes under trees [kinda like Hobbits] (in their case in the company of a pair of mice and a cricket). Their diet is mostly vegetarian. They are helped by the animals of the forest (kinda like Radagast who is the password to Castle Byers who is located in the woods) when travelling long distances or when they need to arrive quickly at a specific location. Gnomes work in various ways to repair the damage inevitably caused by humans. They also have the power of telepathy and mind control. (kinda like El or the Mindflayer, or even Galadriel in The Lord Of The Rings.)

Their main enemies are the trolls, malevolent and clumsy creatures who always make trouble for the other inhabitants of the forest, as well as gnome poachers. They have supernatural powers that are really strong but they have a weakness, if the sunlight gets on them, they turn to stone.(could be referencing all the Upside Down creatures who don't like sunlight and everything hot.) [Also very much like the Hobbit.] Also one of the trolls was voiced by someone who had the name Henderson, like Dustin Henderson. I also think it references a comic where some bullies attack Will and Mike calls them trolls.

Here are the most important characters:

David is a gnome of the forest. David is 399 years old, making him the oldest gnome around (since gnomes live no more than 400 years exactly, except Franklin, the gnome from the west, who lived 550 years), although he possesses exceptional constitution. David is a doctor, and he uses his knowledge of many fields, such as hypnosis and acupuncture, to heal his patients, usually animals, such as his faithful friend Swift the fox, or other gnomes. David also befriends a bird that, when he whistles, immediately arrives to quickly transport him to wherever necessary. For longer trips, he sometimes travels in a basket attached to the neck of the bird. (It may be a reference to clerics who are known to heal their allies and travelling with birds reminds me of Gandald who sometimes has the help of Eagles in some stories.)

Paul is David's twin brother. Not only does Paul have a normal moustache in contrast to David's handlebar moustache but his jumper is a darker shade of blue, he has a bigger nose, his gnome hat is dark blue whereas David's is red, and his trousers and boots are an inverse of David's: David's trousers are brown and his boots are beige, while Paul wears beige trousers and dark boots. (Of course this is a reference to Will and El who have been compared a lot of times throughout the show and who a lot of people in the fandom consider them siblings and twins, Will has a lot of Red in his wardrobe while El has a lot of blue.)

This gnome was found in a secret Russian base underground in Weathertop where Dustin discovers the Russian transmission coming from their main base located under the mall like a cave (like where gnome lives.). There are also gnomes in Siberia and having the name David, the name of Hopper's actor creates a connection since right now Hopper is in Russia. It may also be a nod to the group of kids who are all little gnomes running around the forest with their magical powers.

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Gnome #10: Baskin

"Robin's favorite gnome."

Now this is a funny one.

This is a reference to the famous Baskin-Robbins which is a chain of ice cream restaurants that did special ice creams for Season 3 because of Scoops Ahoy. It is Robin's favorite gnome because they literally share the same name.

Baskin could also be a reference to the film of the same name where Five police officers, Remzi, Arda, Yavuz, Apo, and Seyfi, are dining at a restaurant, during which they have a discussion. Their meal is interrupted when they receive a distress call from Inceagac, a town known for being the focus of strange rumors. During the trip Seyfi has a terrifying vision of a bloody figure and accidentally drives their van into the water. Stranded, the officers eventually make their way to Inceagac, where they find themselves in an abandoned building (back in the Ottoman days, this used to be a police station), captured by cult members and are subjected to a number of increasingly bizarre and surreal scenarios. In the end, they realize they have all inadvertently wandered into Hell.

It has alot of similiraties with stories like Silent Hills or Hellraiser, two stories that inspired Stranger Things especially Hellraiser for Stranger Things 4. And it fully embraces the satanic imagery and themes which is something we are going to see with the satanic panic and also has the theme of time, dreams and visions.

We'll see how much season 4 decides to use those sort of elements in the show.

Well this gnome is easy to find. It's in the Scoops Ahoy parlor next to Robin. USS Butterscotch seems to be very popular there

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Gnomes 11 - 20 coming soon.

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baconpal · 4 years

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talkin bout fuckig manga

hey it’s me, haven’t had internet for over a week and i’ve been sick and uni and blah blah blah time for a rant about manga

this time its about "Soredemo Machi wa Mawatteiru", tl;dr, good manga read it idk

lots of bullshit below the cut

Before anything I say gets too confusing or I go off on an insane tangent, just know my recommendation is that you read "Soredemo Machi wa Mawatteiru". It's not very easy to find online since it has an official English release (which my recommendation extends far enough to suggest I might pick up in the future, just to have it, but I am very stingy), but there's an alright torrent of all the volumes on your local anime torrenting website, and is at the very least worth the trouble of reading as such. There is also an anime that gets better as it goes, but the manga is my primary recommendation. Beyond this point I'm not gonna give much regard to what I write, so get ready for anything, read the manga and see if you agree with me, or don't and see if I care:

BOUT THE ANIME: The SoreMachi anime is one of those rare comedy anime you find where the animation and overall production is just really extra the entire time. Hopefully you know what I mean because I won't really be able to explain it any other way, it's simply one of those shows where the jokes are decent and it's a fun time for the most part. Unfortunately, the anime makes a couple of critical missteps that kept me from getting far into it when I first tried watching it about a year ago, and in retrospect seem even less reasonable.

Starting with the good, as an adaptation it does a good job with most chapters it covers, it properly sources where each chapter comes from incase you intend to read the manga and skip around to catch up, and the anime adapts some sections to have additional jokes that fit very naturally in to the story. It also covers up some of those problems only manga can have like having a concert segment without any actual music involved, until they invent mp3-paper it's just something we'll have to live with. Translation work was pretty good (I watched the [WhyNot] release for those who care), which is extra important for something as difficult to translate as jokes from another language. The set of episodes they chose to end on was very good, and was expanded to be a lot more impactful in the anime. If it wasn't for the last episode being as strong as it was I may have given up on finding the manga when I saw it wasn't super easy to read online.

As for what the anime fails in, some episodes feature some really blatant over-acting that doesn't really help make characters believable, and there's this obnoxious gag that continues the whole where through where most scenes have a few seconds long line from what is essentially a forced mascot character, which usually mean nothing and only serve to harm the pacing of many episodes (there isn't even any sort of equivalent bit in the manga so I really don't know why they did it, most of the anime original jokes are pretty good so I just really don't get it). The biggest issue the anime faces is that the source material is about 140 chapters, while the anime is only able to cover 24 chapters. This comes with a LOT of problems, the first being what I'd call the "required reading". SoreMachi is not a 1-note simple comedy where you can skip to any chapter and be completely okay; There are many small but meaningful subplots lying beneath, and characters have a fair bit of development throughout. What this means for the anime is that the first 3-4 episodes are just the first few chapters of the manga, which are a bit rough and not as good as the majority of the work, which is true of a lot of comics (god fuck I promise there will be more than a first chapter of my comic I promise it'll get better fuck). In terms of the anime by itself, I'd say episode 1 is decent, 2 is middling, and by 3/4 their still taking a while to introduce members of the cast, and I didn't immediately want to finish it. I put the show down for a long time until my internet started dying and I wanted to watch something fun. Slapping it back on at episode 5 I immediately had a great time and watched the rest of the show pretty soon after. While I understand the reasoning behind doing this, the anime does not pay off this structure, as beyond the first few episodes, the chapters start being presented out of release order and out of chronological order, kind of destroying any consistent throughline. This decision in and of itself isn't the worst, since the comic isn't always chronological, and the volume ordering is a bit different from the release ordering, but the inconsistency makes the first few episodes feel lessened without reason. The other large failure that comes with only animating about 1/7th of the entire work is that many themes and concepts that are core to the manga are not represented in the anime well at all. One of the biggest is the rare but unnerving supernatural chapters, of which only one is animated, and not a particularly good one. In order to talk about these themes I'll have to transition into talking about the manga itself, since they aren't part of the anime.

DA MANGA: So one last recommendation that you read the manga, the whole damn thing. Cus we're gettin into themes and character moments that take a long time to pay off, and obviously is all part of my interpretations, so if that stuff means anything to you don't let me ruin it for ya.

The title of the manga is, in essence, the entire manga's "punchline" in that every chapter could meaningfully end with simply the text "And yet the town still turns..." (My translation of the title, fuck "And yet, the town revolves" or "But the town moves"); by this I mean most chapters end in an anti-climax where a mystery is left unsolved, or a mystery is solved and undercut by the realization that life simply keeps on going without much change. This is used to essentially force your eyes open to all possibilities when reading, as the main character spends her time acting like a detective, and these mysteries end up as either misunderstandings, secrets, riddles, and sometimes something out of the ordinary happens that makes you unable to pin anything down firmly. Similarly, these endings aren't always read-and-forget scenarios. Several chapters come back in the form of a continued joke, a continued mystery, or contribute to some greater purpose later. Readers are properly rewarded for keeping everything they can in mind, while also tormenting such people with loose ends.

I enjoy Hotori as a protagonist due to her character being defined not in flaws and strengths, but in mindedness. Hotori seems like a simple "haha she's dumb" character to start, but consistently throughout she proves that her strengths are in memory, observation, and deduction, while lacking in some more common sense and abilities. Her brain works in strange ways that some people may or may not understand, such as her need to think through even the most trivial fictional scenarios, which I relate to deeply.

The art and paneling throughout are wonderful. Ishiguro Masakazu is one of those artists who draws very simple characters, but knows how to use details and depth to breath so much life into the artwork. He also clearly uses the occasional supernatural happenings as an excuse to draw what he loved, as all sorts of artistic depictions of the supernatural come out that simply look satisfying. These parts obviously meant a lot to him since he's been working on a primarily mystery-action manga that has a lot more of that stuff in it. (Also, as hindsight is 20/20, if you've read any of his new work you'll notice that the main character of it is eerily similar to a character who shows up very late in SoreMachi that the author obviously fell in love with, cus she just keeps coming back and even ends up with a really unsettling end to her character arc despite only being introduced as a component in a harmless mystery. Feel free to call me out for the same shit 30 years from now when I'll probably do the same shit)

I'd like to get into some of the major themes of this work, as a lot of them hit very close to my mind (which I guess is true of any theme you recognize for yourself, you wouldn't really "get it" if it didn't mean something to you...).

The simplest theme, again, comes from the title. The main character, Hotori, expresses a desire that the town she lives in continues going on, unchanged forever. This is obviously a fear of change, which ya know, same, but also an exploration of what it means to fear change. Hotori actively tries to keep businesses from closing down, keep friends from leaving, and keep relationships from changing, while simultaneously making all sorts of new relationships and solving mysteries. Hotori even comes to realize that simply learning the truth about something changes the world through your own perspective, and that such changes can't be undone. In spite of this, Hotori mostly gets her wish, any time she fears that a large change will impact the town, its resolved about the same as any other issue. Whether its a message that even time can't keep you from your loved ones and that change isn't worth fearing, or a concession that large changes to the setting would be a bad idea in terms of humor, I can't really decide. This theme reaches it's conclusion in what is one in a series of "ending" kinda chapters at the end of the series. Hotori is faced with a supernatural ethical situation, save her town from destruction at the cost of her existence, or live through the disaster, knowing her town and the people in it will forever be changed. While the actual result is that nobody disappears and nothing is lost, and the event may have simply been a strange dream, Hotori confidently decides that sparing the people in her town from a life altering event is worth giving up her memories with them. A kind of bold spit-in-the-face to the idea that change is okay, where we find that Hotori didn't fear change for herself, but rather for the people around her.

There's another major idea in this manga, which takes a very long time to pay off, and completes its arc at the very very very actual end of the series, the idea of "leading someone to be something". A character that rides that line between main and side character, Shizuka, is a writer of detective novels, who feels the best person to judge her works would be a version of herself without the bias of being the author. She tries to achieve this by leading Hotori to be interested in detective works (including her own) and generally be just like her, starting from a young age. The end result is a young girl dead set on being a detective herself (or at least another novelist), while Shizuka keeps her identity as an author secret. She then uses Hotori as a scapegoat for herself, attempting to see how she would solve various mysteries and use that as inspiration, and this is depicted as though Shizuka were some sort of villain, which she may feel like she is. The end result of it all, though, is that Hotori was likely already a detective-minded person, and that even if Shizuka pushed her down that path, it was Hotori's decision to continue down it, and the very end of the manga is a scene revealing that Hotori figured out Shizuka's secret at some point, and even still respected Shizuka and aspired to reach her, and the two accept each other for who they are. I enjoy this ending a lot, since as an artist I've worried that some of my love or aspirations for and from other artists came with an ulterior motive of wanting a better community for art to exist in, but people are people and will make their own decisions, and some day everyone may be able to become equals in a truly meaningful sense, where everyone is inspired by and guiding each other together.

So that probably didn't mean shit to nobody and I didn't even really talk about anything in the comic like most of the main characters or any of the shit goin on but ya know fuck you go read it, and thanks for reading this.

#long ass post #also gonna have finals on my birthday this week so awesome #im having a good time this year h-haha

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hashtagartistlife · 4 years

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this is a state of grace

; –this is a worthwhile fight. Fate pulls them apart, and fate brings them back together. If there is one thing Ichigo and Rukia know about their separations, it is that their reunions are always worth the wait.

the poems at the start of each chapter are not mine, but are from this post here. This has 4 chapters planned, one for each stanza, but I really don't know if I'll get around to finishing it since I have other fics that are higher on my priority list. Nevertheless, I've been holding onto this one chapter for so long that I figure it's time to send it off into the wild.

_________________________________________________________

“I missed you.”

you toss it to him,

unexpected,

but knowing he has the animal reflexes to

catch it. It’s half a joke,

half something else

and the way he looks at

you, means you both aren’t

ready to talk about it.

Ichigo doesn’t return to his human body immediately after the battle ends. Instead, he sits outside on the rooftop, his fingers lingering along his newfound black cladding like an afterthought; he watches the stars as he traces the armour snaking around his wrists and neck. There are a lot of people who want to see him, to speak to him—but he’s shunned them all for the moment, in favour of sitting outside in his shinigami form just a little longer. As though he is afraid that should he change back, the events of tonight will dissolve into a dream and he’ll wake up powerless once again.

Rukia doesn’t blame him. She knows exactly how he feels, the warmth of her reiryoku returned to her after months of its absence still clear as day in her mind. She remembers what it is like to feel hopeless and helpless, trapped in a body that was not meant for her, going through the motions of everyday life while constantly yearning for something beyond her reach. Shinigami are not complete without their zanpakutou by their side— are not much of anything at all without their power ringing through their veins and soaking through their souls.

Her power had trickled back to her in small streams, gradually and softly like a dam filling with rain, but even then her first brush against Sode no Shirayuki after her incarceration in Urahara’s gigai and the Senzaikyuu had been one of the most profound and relieving moments of her life. For Ichigo, she knows it will be that much more powerful, his reiryoku having been returned to him all at once (and in a distinctly ungentle manner). So it’s no surprise to her, really, that he has chosen to stay just a little longer in his Shinigami form, has chosen to sit outside where it’s quiet, all the better to feel his reiatsu swirl around him in a cloak so thick and heavy that she’s certain no Hollows will dare bother Karakura tonight.

She’s just three buildings away from him now, and already she can feel the pull of his reiatsu against hers, vital and alive. She hadn’t meant to seek him out when she and Renji had volunteered to scout the perimeters after Ginjou’s fall, to keep the area clear of Hollow complications while the rest of the party searched for stray Fullbringers, but somehow—like the first time, like every other time after that—she has ended up here anyway.

Some things are not like the first time, though. He’s taller, even when he’s sitting down. He’s broader. And though his back is to her, she knows his eyes will be older. A soldier’s eyes, a warrior’s eyes; not eyes you should see in the face of a seventeen-year-old.

She thinks, he’s grown up too soon.

She lands beside him like a star falling; beautiful and devastating all at once, graceful and assured. He doesn’t make any signs of acknowledgement, but his reiatsu shifts, warms and moves aside to create space for her next to him. She joins him in sitting, and his power envelops hers, settles around her like stardust. She closes her eyes and revels in the sensation.

“How are you?” he asks after a short silence, and she opens her eyes slowly; he is still looking at the sky, but his voice is warm and low.

“That should be my line,” she replies, because it should have been; he’s only seventeen, and he’s just killed a man. You always remember your first kill; you fold it away in the recesses of your heart and let it make or break you. Rukia will take the feeling of Kaien on the end of her sword to her grave. She knows Ichigo will see Ginjou’s last leer in his dreams till he dies.

“I’m fine,” he says lightly, “I’m fine,” repeats it for emphasis when her expression becomes skeptical. He turns to her with a hint of a smile in his eyes. “I’m fine.” The unspoken ‘now’ at the end isn’t lost on either of them. She studies him a moment, and decides he is telling the truth; he really is fine. Better. Whole.

And if that doesn’t speak volumes about how much he’s grown since the skinny, angry fifteen-year-old boy she stabbed with her sword two years prior, she doesn’t know what does. She takes back what she’d yelled at him in the heat of their reunion; he’s become resilient. Strong enough, and sure enough, to take on the world without her shouting directions into his ear. Which is both relieving, and a bit of a shame. She quite enjoyed the shouting at him part.

(Of course, just because the boy’s grown up a bit doesn’t mean he won’t still be an idiot on occasion. Just look at Renji. Perhaps her shouting days weren’t entirely past her after all.)

He must read some of her thoughts in the expression she turns to him, then, because he allows the mirth in his eyes to manifest into a smile—a half-smile, with a tinge of something bordering on sadness still, but a smile nonetheless. Rukia breathes.

“Your hair’s shorter,” he notes out of the blue, and his hand twitches, like he wants to bring it up and tug at her shorter strands.

“Yours is longer,” she counters, and unlike him she has no compunction about bringing her hand up and messing his windblown strands into a veritable disaster. Ichigo laughs as he tries to stop her, and she laughs too as she tries to continue, and somehow in between the reaching and the restraining and the hands around wrists, they topple over into a half-sprawled position, stargazing forgotten in favour of charting the small constellations of change scattered across the other’s person. Sideburns. Lieutenant’s badge. Black cladding. Gloves.

A melancholy that wasn’t there before in his steady gaze, and a loneliness that is different to the one she has always carried in hers.

“Does it hurt?” she blurts out, before her thought processes can quite catch up to the ache in her heart that causes her to ask this. “Does it hurt? Where I stabbed you?” Does it hurt, she wants to ask, the sadness in your eyes?

He stills beneath her, and without his larger frame supporting her precarious leaning, she has to abandon her attempts to reach his hair so she can prevent herself from collapsing on top of him. Her hands fall, and somehow both land on his chest; one off to the side, the other one directly over his sternum, where she had pierced him to transfer his powers back to him.

“No,” he says quietly, “not anymore.” Not anymore, he wants to reply, not now that you’re here.

They stare at each other for a heartbeat, the moment stretching into eternity; ah, but the things that stretch are always as fragile as the gap they bridge. A gust of wind chases a late autumn leaf into Rukia’s mouth, and the moment is broken. She splutters comically, sitting bolt upright to spit the offending plant out of her mouth, and Ichigo doubles up with laughter, rolling out from under her in helpless spasms across the cold concrete.

Ah, Rukia thinks, even as she scrunches her face up in mock outrage, this was better. This was something familiar in unfamiliar territory, and it gladdens her that no matter how many things change between them they will always have this. This easy dynamic that neither of them can find with anyone else, and this emboldens her just enough to throw out the words that have been on the tip of her tongue all evening.

“I missed you, you fool.”

The moment the words are out of her mouth, she wants to take them back; the tone is all wrong, too heavy, too full of an emotion she hadn’t meant to put into them (hadn’t realized she’d put into them). Ichigo’s eyes widen a fraction, the grin dying on his lips, and Rukia feels a detached sort of panic climbing up her throat; she was wrong, she was wrong, she had misjudged everything completely and there was nothing there to stop her plummeting headlong into the abyss—

Only, he sits up. His lips close and part soundlessly a few times, and a hand reaches out for her almost involuntarily. She offers him her wrist, and he curls his fingers around it, clamps down on it like a lifeline. He’s looking at her with the strangest expression on his face, somewhere between anguish and yearning, and her heart jolts.

“I—“ the word chokes in his throat, half-strangled, barely articulated. Very suddenly, he looks much younger than his seventeen years. “Rukia, you—“

Her other hand reaches up to rest against his temple, brushing back the soft, spiky hair there. He tenses for a split second, all his muscles locking in a soldier’s reaction to proximity, before his bones are liquid and he melts into her touch. He exhales shakily, turning his face into her palm; she feels the warm tip of his nose brush her hand. “Rukia, I—“

“Shh,” she croons, “It’s alright, Ichigo. It’s ok.” And it is, because she understands—they’ve always been good at this, this unspoken communication. And as much as things haven’t changed between them, she understands in that moment that something significant has. But she barely knows what it is and he—well. If the way he is shaking is anything to go by, he’s not ready for it either. So for now, this is enough. His shaky breaths against her, his fingers around her wrists, her hand on his hair; the two of them, under the stars.

Gradually, his breathing slows, evens; she makes to draw back, but his grip on her tightens. His other hand fetters her other wrist, keeping it against him. She can feel his warm exhalations on her skin and the tiny hairs on her arm stand on end.

“Wait,” he rasps, and the breath tickles on its way past, sends a shiver down her spine. His voice is calm, but there is an edge of a question to it, the tight, anticipatory tension before a reply.

“I know,” she says, heart in her throat. She’s not quite sure what it is that she knows, only that she does. “Ichigo, I know.”

He relaxes fractionally; he doesn’t let go of her wrists and neither does she attempt to take them away. There is something calmer in the air now, a feeling of something resolved, if only half-resolved. They will come back to it later.

They breathe together.

#bleach #ichiruki #kurosaki ichigo #kuchiki rukia #bleach fic #writer life

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davidmann95 · 4 years

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Superman’s 10 Best of the ‘10s

Good Miracle Monday, folks! The first third Monday of May of a new decade for that matter, and while that means that today in the DC Universe Superman just revealed his secret identity to the world on the latest anniversary of that time he defeated the devil, in ours it puts a capstone on a solid 10 years of his adventures now in the rear view mirror, ripe for reevaluation. And given there’s a nice solid ‘10′ right there I’ll go ahead with the obvious and list my own top ten for Superman comics of the past decade, with links in the titles to those I’ve spoken on in depth before - maybe you’ll find something you overlooked, or at least be reminded of good times.

A plethora of honorable mentions: I’m disqualifying team-ups or analogue character stories, but no list of the great Superman material of the last decade would be complete without bringing up Cave Carson Has A Cybernetic Eye #7, Avengers 34.1, Irredeemable, Sideways Annual #1, Supreme: Blue Rose, Justice League: Sixth Dimension, usage of him in Wonder Twins, (somewhat in spite of itself) Superior, from all I’ve heard New Super-Man, DCeased #5, and Batman: Super Friends. And while they couldn’t quite squeeze in, all due praise to the largely entertaining Superman: Unchained, the decades’ great Luthor epic in Superman: The Black Ring, a brilliant accompaniment to Scott Snyder’s work with Lex in��Lex Luthor: Year of the Villain, the bonkers joy of the Superman/Luthor feature in Walmart’s Crisis On Infinite Earths tie-in comics, Geoff Johns and John Romita’s last-minute win in their Superman run with their final story 24 Hours, Tom Taylor’s quiet criticism of the very premise he was working with on Injustice and bitter reflection on the changing tides for the character in The Man of Yesterday, the decades’ most consistent Superman ongoing in Bryan Miller and company’s Smallville Season 11, and Superman: American Alien, which probably would have made the top ten but has been dropped like a hot potato by one and all for Reasons. In addition are several stories from Adventures of Superman, a book with enough winners to merit a class of its own: Rob Williams and Chris Weston’s thoughtful Savior, Kyle Killen and Pia Guerra’s haunting The Way These Things Begin, Marc Guggenheim and Joe Bennett’s heart-wrenching Tears For Krypton, Christos Gage and Eduardo Francisco’s melancholy Flowers For Bizarro, Josh Elder and Victor Ibanez’s deeply sappy but deeply effective Dear Superman, Ron Marz and Doc Shaner’s crowdpleasing Only Child, and Kelly Sue DeConnick and Valentine DeLandro’s super-sweet Mystery Box.

10. Greg Pak/Aaron Kuder’s Action Comics

Oh, what might’ve been. In spite of an all-timer creative team I can’t justify listing this run any higher given how profoundly and comprehensively compromised it is, from the status quo it was working with to the litany of ill-conceived crossovers to regular filler artists to its ignominious non-ending. But with the most visceral, dynamic, and truly humane take on Clark Kent perhaps of all time that still lives up to all Superman entails, and an indisputably iconic instant-classic moment to its name, I can’t justify excluding it either.

9. Action Comics #1000

Arguably the climax to the decade for the character as his original title became the first superhero comic to reach a 1000th issue. While any anthology of this sort is a crapshoot by nature, everyone involved here seemed to understand the enormity of the occasion and stepped up as best they could; while the lack of a Lois Lane story is indefensible, some are inevitably bland, and one or two are more than a bit bizarre, by and large this was a thoroughly charming tribute to the character and his history with a handful of legitimate all-timer short stories.

8. Faster Than A Bullet

Much as Adventures of Superman was rightfully considered an oasis amidst the New 52′s worst excesses post-Morrison and in part pre-Pak, few stories from it seem well-remembered now, and even at the time this third issue inexplicably seemed to draw little attention. Regardless, Matt Kindt and Stephen Segovia’s depiction of an hour in the life of Superman as he saves four planets first thing in the morning without anyone noticing - while clumsy in its efforts at paralleling the main events with a literal subplot of a conversation between Lois and Lex - is one of the best takes I can recall on the scope on which he operates, and ultimately the purpose of Clark Kent.

7. Man and Superman

Seemingly geared on every front against me, built as it was on several ideas of how to handle Superman’s origin I legitimately hate, and by a writer whose work over the years has rarely been to my liking, Marv Wolfman and Claudio Castellini’s Man and Superman somehow came out of nowhere to be one of my favorite takes on Clark Kent’s early days. With a Metropolis and characters within it that feel not only alive but lived-in, it’s shocking that a story written and drawn over ten years before it was actually published prefigured so many future approaches to its subject, and felt so of-the-moment in its depiction of a 20-something scrambling to figure out how to squeeze into his niche in the world when it actually reached stores.

6. Brian Bendis’s run

Controversial in the extreme, and indeed heir to several of Brian Bendis’s longstanding weaknesses as a writer, his work on The Man of Steel, Superman, and Action Comics has nevertheless been defined at least as much by its ambition and intuitive grasp of its lead, as well as fistfuls of some of the best artistic accompaniment in the industry. At turns bombastic space action, disaster flick, spy-fi, oddball crime serial, and family drama, its assorted diversions and legitimate attempts at shaking up the formula - or driving it into new territory altogether, as in the latest, apparently more longterm-minded unmasking of Clark Kent in Truth - have remained anchored and made palatable by an understanding of Superman’s voice, insecurities, and convictions that go virtually unmatched.

5. Strange Visitor

The boldest, most out-of-left-field Superman comic of the past 10 years, Joe Keatinge took the logline of Adventures of Superman to do whatever creators wanted with the character and, rather than getting back to a classic take absent from the mainline titles at the time as most others did, used the opportunity for a wildly expansive exploration of the hero from his second year in action to his far-distant final adventure. Alongside a murderer’s row of artists, Keatinge pulled off one of the few comics purely about how great Superman is that rather than falling prey to hollow self-indulgence actually managed to capture the wonder of its subject.

4. Superman: Up In The Sky

And here’s the other big “Superman’s just the best” comic the decade had to offer that actually pulled it off. Sadly if reasonably best-known for its one true misfire of a chapter, with the increasing antipathy towards Tom King among fans in general likely not helping, what ended up overlooked is that this is a stone-cold classic on moment of arrival. Andy Kubert turns in work that stands alongside the best of his career, Tom King’s style is honed to its cleanest edge by the 12-pager format and subject matter, and the quest they set their lead out on ends up a perfect vehicle to explore Superman’s drive to save others from a multitude of angles. I don’t know what its reputation will end up being in the long-term - I was struck how prosaic and subdued the back cover description was when I got this in hardcover, without any of the fanfare or critic quotes you’d expect from the writer of Mister Miracle and Vision tackling Superman - but while its one big problem prevents me from ranking it higher, this is going to remain an all-timer for me.

3. Jeff Loveness’s stories Help and Glasses

Cheating shamelessly here, but Jeff Loveness’s Help with David Williams and Glasses with Tom Grummett are absolutely two halves of the same coin, a pair of theses on Superman’s enduring relevance as a figure of hope and the core of Lois and Clark’s relationship that end up covering both sides of Superman the icon and Superman the guy. While basically illustrated essays, any sense of detached lecturing is utterly forbidden by the raw emotion on display here that instantly made them some of the most acclaimed Superman stories of the last several years; they’re basically guaranteed to remain in ‘best-of’ collections from now until the end of time.

2. Superman Smashes The Klan

A bitter race for the top spot, but #2 is no shame here; while not quite my favorite Superman story of the past ten years, it’s probably the most perfectly executed. While I don’t think anyone could have quite expected just *how* relevant this would be at the top of the decade, Gene Yang and Gurihiru put together an adventure in the best tradition of the Fleischer shorts and the occasional bystander-centered episodes of Batman: The Animated Series to explore racism’s both overt and subtle infections of society’s norms and institutions, the immigrant experience, and both of its leads’ senses of alienation and justice. Exciting, stirring, and insightful, it’s debuted to largely universal acknowledgement as being the best Superman story in years, and hopefully it’ll be continued to be marketed as such long-term.

1. Grant Morrison’s Action Comics

When it came time to make the hard choice, it came in no small part down to that I don’t think we would have ever seen a major Golden Age Superman revival project like Smashes The Klan in the first place if not for this. Even hampering by that godawful Jim Lee armor, inconsistent (if still generally very good) art, and a fandom that largely misunderstood it on arrival can’t detract from that this is Grant Morrison’s run on a Superman ongoing, a journey through Superman’s development as a character reframed as a coherent arc that takes him from Metropolis’s most beaten-down neighborhoods to the edge of the fifth dimension and the monstrous outermost limits of ‘Superman’ as a concept. It launched discussions of Superman as a corporate icon and his place relative to authority structures that have never entirely vanished, introduced multiple all-time great new villains, and made ‘t-shirt Superman’ a distinct era and mode of operation for the character that I’m skeptical will ever entirely go away. No other work on the character this decade had the bombast, scope, complexity, or ambition of this run, with few able to match its charm or heart. And once again, it was, cannot stress this enough, Grant Morrison on an ongoing Superman book.

#Superman #Miracle Monday #Opinion

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goingoverthegardenwall · 5 years

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Chapter 8: Babes in the Wood

In this last hurrah of explicit homages to animation of the past, the most obvious discussion point is Merrie Melodies and its ilk: Babes in the Wood is essentially a full-episode reference to the bouncing musical shorts of yore, where everything can sing’n’dance and the villain is a blustery bozo who’s defeated with a sight gag. If we expand to children’s entertainment in general, as we did with Greg’s Beatrix Potter episode, then The Wizard of Oz is our logical next step: the song welcoming him to Cloud City owes everything to Dorothy’s introduction to Munchkinland, complete with the fact that our hero has just entered a dream.

And look, there’s nothing wrong with talking about the obvious. But as we near the end, I think it’s a little more interesting to instead explore the very beginning. So let’s go back to a newspaper cartoonist in New York—the one who inspired fellow New York newspaper cartoonist John Randolph Bray to become an animator, which in turn led fellow New York newspaper cartoonist Max Fleischer to become an animator, because it turns out that just like the birth of superhero comics a few decades later, the birth of American animation hinged on print artists who dreamed big in the city that never sleeps.

A boy named Zenas was born in Michigan on September 26, 1871. Or maybe he was born there in 1869. Or maybe he was born in Canada in 1867. He said one thing, and a biographer said another, and census data says another, and I wasn’t there. It’s similarly unclear when or why he started going by his middle name, but by the time he took his first job at age 21 (or 19 or 17) as a billboard and poster artist in Chicago, he was calling himself Winsor McCay. They sure did know how to name ‘em in the 19th century.

McCay began his newspaper career as a freelancer, but moved to New York in 1903 to work for the New York Herald, where he wrote a variety of comics before hitting it big with Little Sammy Sneeze. McCay’s art was always brilliant, but his gag work was formulaic to a fault: the joke for Sammy Sneeze was always the same, he would sneeze and ruin everything right before the last panel. That devotion to formula would continue in his second big comic Dream of the Rarebit Fiend, where a fantastical events would occur for ever-changing characters before the lead woke up in the last panel, revealing it was a dream.

That second formula was the basis of McCay’s masterpiece. Already a successful cartoonist in the two short years since he’d moved to New York, his fame skyrocketed with Little Nemo in Slumberland, which used the same “wake up at the end” formula but with recurring characters and a running story. He toyed with the medium like none had before, playing with panel arrangement and innovating the portrayal of motion in comics, and his art skills only improved with this full-color strip. His success led to the vaudeville circuit, where he turned the act of drawing into a performance, and this combination of stage entertainment and his continuing comic work led him to seek new ways to dazzle the crowds.

By 1910, the earliest animated shorts had already started to emerge, and McCay was inspired by pioneers like James Stuart Blackton and Émile Cohl to try animating the characters of Little Nemo. Under Blackton’s direction, McCay singlehandedly drew around four thousand fully colored frames to produce his first animated cartoon, presented at the tail end of a filmed short about said cartoon in 1911. As mentioned, animated shorts were already a thing. But none of them looked anything like this. (If you’re concerned that there might be racist caricatures in it, don’t worry, there definitely are, McCay had a lot of strengths but overcoming garbage prejudices was not one of them).

The sheer quality of his work, continuing with the legendary Gertie the Dinosaur, directly led to the invention of the rotoscope as a means to mass-produce cartoons of similar finesse. The influence of Winsor McCay over animation as we know it is hard to overstate (and let’s stress again that this was his side gig, and he was just as influential over comic art): as crazy as it sounds, it’s safe to say that Over the Garden Wall would not exist if not for a story about the whimsical adventures of a little boy who traveled across a land of dreams from his bed.

“Where’s Greg, Wirt?”

Babes in the Wood is delightful and goofy and lighthearted exactly once.

In the same way our fourth-to-last episode mirrored our fourth, this third-to-last episode mirrors our third: Chapters 4 and 7 focus on Wirt, but 3 and 8 are Greg’s. It’s not simply a matter of who the main character is, but what these episodes are about: Greg’s love of fun clashing with his drive to help others. Both times he's spurred by the desire to help others to go off on his own, both times he gets distracted by whimsical wonders involving funny animals and physical humor, and both times he ends up deciding to help out anyway. But despite switching his goal from making the whole world a better place to just helping his brother, the stakes are actually far higher now, so the fun has to be that much more fun if we want the full horror of the ending to sink in.

There’s no tonal shift in the series that’s more devastating than Greg falling prey to the Beast after nearly ten minutes of goofiness in Cloud City. It turns a moment of welcome relief from the growing tension of Wirt’s despair into a dagger in the heart, and the knife is twisted when we learn in our next episode what the Unknown truly is.

That despair is evident well before Wirt explicitly gives up. We get our second opening in a row featuring Beatrice in a hopeless search, and things aren’t much better for the boys. All sense of progression from the first episode feels lost, with Wirt reverting to mumbling poetry and Greg reverting to Rock Facts. Their boat is an outhouse and Greg uses a guitar as an oar, because (if you’ll pardon my French) they’re up shit creek without a paddle. When they land, Greg’s victorious bugle is a ridiculous sign of hope, but he soon drops it in the same way he abandons the guitar: in Schooltown Follies he takes instruments to help others, but this time he loses them.

Wirt’s frustration with Greg threatened to boil over in The Ringing of the Bell, only to be cooled when the Woodsman interrupts them. This time there’s no such interruption, so after Greg’s total failure to read the room gets to be too much, his brother finally snaps. It crucially isn’t entirely unjustified, as Greg’s antics might be funny to us but have not been appreciated by Wirt, and despite Greg’s age excusing his lack of emotional intelligence, it’s still gotta be frustrating for a teen to deal with that behavior nonstop. And Wirt’s “tirade” reflects his depression, because he doesn’t even seem that angry: he doesn’t shout or rave, he’s just openly irritated as he argues that they’ll be lost forever. This is apathy and fatigue, because he’s lost the energy to be furious.

But the most chilling part of the exchange isn’t Wirt cruelly blaming Greg for their mess, or abandoning their search. It’s when, after Wirt asks if they can give up, Greg responds with a chipper “You can do anything if you set your mind to it!”, a sentiment that the Beast will fiendishly repeat verbatim while tricking Greg. It’s such a generic positive expression that Greg hangs a lampshade on it, but it shows the darker side of the power our minds have over our well-being. Sure, it’s a great lesson that focus and dedication can help us achieve our dreams, but if we use that focus and dedication towards self-destructive behavior, there’s no limit to how badly we can hurt ourselves.

After a goofy sort of prayer (incorporating lines from the classic Trick or Treat poem, which will become super relevant an episode from now), Greg is whisked away by so-creepy-it’s-funny cherubim to the score of a so-overwrought-it’s-funny song. His flight aboard the bed/cart pulled by a donkey across the sky feels legitimately magical, but we soon switch to the surreal world of 1930′s songs and physics.

Cloud City is such a stark contrast to the tone of the episode so far that it instantly feels delightful, and such a stark contrast to the tone of the entire series that it lends a special sort of wonder to Greg’s dreamland. References to old cartoons are everywhere in Over the Garden Wall, and before we delve into the tension of our last two episodes, we get one last gigantic celebration of the past with a sequence straight from the golden age of animation.

The transition alone is enough to make this scene hilarious, but the actual jokes help quite a bit: Greg’s growing impatience with the numerous Wizard of Oz reception committees is my favorite gag of the night. Everything is cute to the point of being cloying, including our three angels that look and sound an awful lot like Greg, and the parade that he leads seems like such a fun and peaceful affair after so much time wandering alone. It’s easy to get as roped into it as Greg when we first watch it. But considering the events of our next episode, the scene destroys me every time I rewatch it, because there’s a very specific place Greg is being welcomed to.

Babes in the Wood gets a lot less cute when it becomes clear that it’s a welcoming committee for a dying child. Greg and Wirt are drowning, and this is the episode where the shock wears off and the cold sets in and the younger and weaker of the two looks into a bright light. Greg’s near-death experience is hammered in when we get to The Unknown, but for now it’s being rationalized in a way that brings him comfort.

The cold is Greg’s enemy, and the same childish tone is used to show that he’s willing to fight for his life: thus, the North Wind segment is ironically more hopeful to me than the parade’s warm welcome of death. This third song sounds enough like a Randy Newman number that I’m honestly still convinced it’s an uncredited Randy Newman performance, and it jolts us back to reality for a moment as we see the effect this bitter wind has on our babes in the woods. The boys are starting to freeze, and we again see Beatrice searching for them, getting so close before an owl that looks remarkably like the one we saw in our first episode scares her off. The episode doesn’t want to lose us completely to the sky, and this grounding helps keep the stakes clear as we complete Greg’s dream.

The Popeye-esque battle between Greg and Ol’ Windbag is a hoot, between the latter’s grumbling anger and the former rolling up his sleeve to get back into the brawl. Its conclusion is hidden from us, so we have no idea how Greg gets him in a bottle, but that fits right in with the weird logic of this throwback and allows us to meet the Queen of the Clouds.

I ought to bring up the theory that everything we see here is an illusion created by the Beast, even though I don’t really subscribe to it myself. The most obvious “hint” is that this sequence directly leads to Greg deciding to join the Beast with an off-screen promise, but we also have the old man in the welcoming march wearing an outfit just like Wirt’s and holding a lantern, perhaps a reference to the Beast’s intended fate for Greg’s brother. Plus there’s lines in the songs that seem like they’re luring Greg in, especially the assurance that the wonders of Cloud City “ain’t gonna lie,” which sounds a lot like what a liar would say. Both the Queen of the Clouds and the Beast pointedly call him Gregory instead of Greg, but so does Old Lady Mrs. Daniels (and Wirt when introducing him in Songs of the Dark Lantern).

While it’s a neat enough idea, I think the Queen of Clouds is pretty clearly on Greg’s side for real: she seems upset at his fate in a way that doesn’t make much sense for an ally of the Beast. I also think it’s more meaningful for Greg to truly have the choice between happiness and responsibility, between the possible peace of rest and the definite struggle of life, and for him to choose the latter right as his brother is giving in. But I’ve got no beef with folks whose interpretation of the show is enhanced by this theory, so believe what you want to believe about this ambiguous situation.

Either way, we cut back to Wirt instead of Greg when the dream ends, and he’s still annoyed as he’s trying to sleep. Greg’s strange new seriousness is already cause for concern, and asking Wirt to take care of the frog is even more alarming, but even that doesn’t compare the horror of realizing where he’s actually going. Or rather, with whom.

This is another reason why I think the Queen is an ally: while it’s obviously dangerous for Greg to go with the Beast, that’s what it takes for Wirt to snap out of his funk. It’s a hell of a gambit, but as soon as he starts to awaken, he’s immediately concerned for Greg’s safety despite whatever anger or resentment he had, sparing no time or thought to the branches creeping over him as he runs after his brother.

The quiet distortion as we follow his frantic search is soon met by the Beast’s song, but even as he blames himself for Greg’s plight, Wirt is no longer content to wallow in despair. Because it turns out that these brothers are more similar than they seem, and neither is truly capable of letting the other suffer. In the folk tale for which this episode is named, two children abandoned in the woods eventually die and are covered in leaves by small birds (with some versions seeing them enter heaven), but as we’ll see in our next episode, this isn’t a folk tale.

The thrumming noise intensifies as Wirt slips on the ice, then we add visual distortion as he plummets into the freezing water. He’s saved, but this isn’t water that sees him reborn: the distortion finally breaks as Beatrice asks the episode’s terrible question, and we’re left in the cold.

Every even-numbered episode of Over the Garden Wall, perhaps by virtue of airing twice per night, ends in a mood-setting cliffhanger that grows tenser and tenser with every iteration (or at least it does until the end). First we got a leaf symbolically caught in a fence, then the Beast’s introduction, then the fallout of Adelaide, and now the capture of Greg. Getting trapped has always been a threat for these roving heroes, but the greatest threat of all, that of Wirt trapping himself, has been handled. Things look bleaker than they ever have, but despite the glee of Greg’s dream contrasting with the harshness of reality, Wirt’s ability to climb out of the pit of despair keeps hope alive: even in absence, Greg’s influence looms large.

Rock Factsheet

Dinosaurs had big ears, but everyone forgot because dinosaur ears don’t have bones.

Where have we come, and where shall we end?

Most of these were mentioned in the main analysis, but it’s great that we hear Wirt’s description of Into the Unknown right before the episode itself shows us what happened.

#babes in the wood #over the garden wall #otgw #steven universally #winsor mccay #little nemo in slumberland

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cr-scribbles · 4 years

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🔪Children:Rekindled Review Chapter 4🔪

Wow, it’s surely been a while since I’ve posted one of these, right? Well welcome back to my Children: Rekindled Review! I went away from this for a bit due to losing motivation to keep on going with these, but due to Children: Rekindled taking up most of my life again and I can’t escape from it, I’m back!

This time, we are going over chapter 4 which is definitely one of my favorites! I love most of the chapters for many reasons and I hope those are went over well during this. This review is going to be much more of me rambling on about the certain situation they are in now since I just spent an entire day writing this at some point and forgot to post it here. The second part is coming soon as well, although it might take a bit.

Here’s the link to the comic itself if you want to read it!! I highly suggest doing so -> http://children-rekindled.top/?c=1&p=1 <-

And also the three other reviews I did which I suggest checking out if you haven’t already!

https://cr-scribbles.tumblr.com/post/190279246139/cr-incorrect-quotes-hello-welcome-to-my-first

https://cr-scribbles.tumblr.com/post/190281892974/cr-incorrect-quotes-oh-no-whats-this-its

https://cr-scribbles.tumblr.com/post/190287963009/cr-incorrect-quotes-i-need-to-go-to-school Let’s begin again, shall we?

Starting right off, Sammy is already being a heckie! Well sort of. While I understand how he wants Michael to come along to listen, he should also realize that pushing it a bit more would just make things worse! Either way though, surely an interesting way to start a chapter. As someone who has read the original, I already knew what this was going to be about when I read the first line since of course that plan is murder. I just didn't expect it to immediately start off with some interaction between Sammy and Michael? I have been loving their interactions recently and especially the one in Chapter 5.

WONDERFUL THING TO DROP ONTO MICHAEL SO QUICKLY HUH?? It would have been funny to be if it wasn't. Like Sammy just says that and Michael is like 'nah I'm just feeling sad because I blame myself for this' and then it's just awkward. What a turn of events that would be! Either way though, Sammy knows something is up and honestly it makes me wonder how much he really knows. He already knows the fact that they don't care about them so would there be anything else? I wonder if that is gonna be expanded on later, but who knows! Sammy probably does. Thinking about Sammy finding that out and only being six years old is heartbreaking to me as well. If he was alone during the time he was able to see that/wrap his head around it, that must have been a really hard time for him. At this point, I just wanna know more about what Sammy went through in the past, but is my babey heart ready? No.

For one, Sammy yet again shows the fact that he knows a lot more going on than he probably should and honestly that has me quite interested. I wonder if he just listens in to conversations that the others have quite often, although with the more recent chapters, he can't really do that at the moment huh- What Sammy says in the middle panel really makes a strong point! It's sad just knowing that this company will hide the fact that multiple murders have happened there, just to save themselves. It's so understandable as to why Michael doesn't want to believe any of this. Once you realize the fact that the company is really this bad, everything just falls apart. I'm sure he's feeling absolutely awful now! Oh no!

Sammy saying that Michael isn't the only one has me curious. Is he referring to himself not wanting to believe it either in the past or something else like the others? I wonder if he believes it's just a common feeling that someone shouldn't believe this is all going on and that's why he says that Michael isn't the only one. I really just hope Michael is going to be ok since being alone with your own thoughts already isn't that great on it's own, but being alone with all of those thoughts about the fact that you brought your friends to their deaths and also yours on your own birthday? That must be awful. I just wonder how Michael is doing even after this chapter, but after it ends, when we actually see him again, it's a week after.

For the first panel, of course he gIVES EVERYONE THE CREEPS, HIS FIRST INTRODUCTION WAS SO STRANGE?? Like he got out of a puppet and was laughing like a crazy person before going to his friendly little self. Being alone in this place for who knows how long really does something to your head and I'm sure of that. I really wonder how long they even think he had been there before he tells them? Also I find it interesting and even a bit funny how no one even seems happy in the slightest when he comes. I mean of course being dead surely does something, but everyone just seems upset that this isn't going to be as important as he's saying or just nervous. Poor Daniel can't even see what's going on even still which already has me sobbing!

OH GOD OH FUC WHY IS THERE THREE SAMMYS OH NO THEY'RE MULTIPLYING all jokes aside, I really do like the little detail of drawing Sammy three times in the first panel. I know it's most likely supposed to show his emotions throughout each of the lines he says and it surely does it well! A personal favorite of mine has always been the one in the middle. I don't know what it is about it, but it has that expression that just draws me in! Sammy all straightened up an with open eyes,, me and the boys love him! I also adore that smile of his a lot!! He looks so smug when he's saying that, just poking fun at his own wounded heart like it's nothing. We do get some more for Sammy which is nice! I really want to see one day how he was even like when he first came there, but that is for another day! I wonder if the way Sammy is not getting to the point right away is causing the others to get somewhat worried about what he's going to say. I would surely be impatient if someone made me wait all day and then just doesn't get to the point, but then again, maybe him just going over it slowly was good to settle them into the fact that they're going to murder soon. Saying it right away would have been much more of a chaotic time because they would have thought he was joking or something.

We finally find out that Sammy can actually take out his knife! What a wonderful thing, but I wonder how painful it is! It's basically taking apart some wound you had gotten, but I would if the pain that was already there increases any bit when he takes it out. If he has to put it back in later, would that hurt as well? It would surely be painful if anything changed with the position, but then again, his appearance and how he was before he died never really changes so I'm sure it just goes back into place. Either way, the feeling must be surely painful! It's like dying all over again by placing the knife right back into the wound that had killed you before. Everyone also lOOKS SO SCARED AND I WANT TO HUG THEM ALL SFDJGFDS Yet again, poor Daniel can't even see what's happening, but I'm sure from his expression that he knows something is definitely off. Sammy laughing and Bianca putting her arm around Daniel to make sure he's safe could have obviously made him realize that something is definitely not right here. Francis also protects Charlie and honestly I love that so much! Francis is a caring boy to Charlie and my poor babey heart just goes sfjdhgfsd

UHH MR SAMMY??? THIS IS DEFINITELY NOT WHAT THEY WANTED!! PLEASE RECONSIDER YOUR OPTION- I adore how his page looks though! The stab wound detail where his knife would be and also his eyes is just such cool details to add! The white and red also shows the intensity of this page, obviously being like 'this is something that is very important', since that is often what the white pages have been. First it was the deaths, not it was Sammy telling them that they have to kill the guard! Sammy convinces you to start killing guards ASMR I also like how this is how it's introduced that Sammy is insane! It's not like the original where he just ends up talking to himself and we all know immediately that trusting him is not a good idea, but in this, a new reader wouldn't really know fully till this scene which is a great place to reveal it! The hints were there, but this is where it's fully confirmed.

Francis being the first to react is so reasonable to me especially considering his personality already. He is so protective, yet can also be aggressive and not really up for taking what people say. When Sammy is just telling them to murder, I'm sure Francis is showing his shock through absolute anger. Sammy basically just told them that what they need to do is be just like their murderer and go and murder innocent people! That's not good at all! Poor kids need someone to get them out of there, but of course no one is there for them. Also I love how Sammy still has those spiral eyes! I love that detail a lot and adore how it stays throughout his insanity since it really makes him terrifying. I always just imagined that it's either constantly swirling or even pulsating. Either one is terrifying to imagine, but it's also great because it fits him and his evil self so much.

"Until we find the right one" So basically they just plan on killing innocent people for the sake of being free? I really wonder if there is a better way to do that than doing this. If the murderer is even smart, he would see the deaths of the night guards and begin to realize that something is going on. He would avoid taking the night guard shift because he wouldn't want to take that same fate. Even if they're hiding bodies, that is still so many people that they are going to end up murdering and stuffing all because they are attempting to find someone so they can be free. It's so sad to think about all the lives that are destroyed due to these murders, but then again, all of them had to go through the same, merciless fate. It's really sad to think about. Also I still adore how the puppet and even Sammy looks. The puppet has such a eerie and terrifying energy to it, especially with the cracks along the mask that are near it's eyes. The teeth in the mouth are also terrifying as though there is something inside of there. It makes me curious as to how it's moving. Could Sammy just possess it while talking about this conversation? If so then he's fast. I also love how the pictures in the background even changed! They look absolutely terrifying back there, just the puppet's face with those teeth and the eyes. It stares into the soul if you look long enough. Also can't Sammy just possess one of the other animatronics? If he wanted to use something stronger than the puppet, he could have just done that, but who knows.

Something I really quickly wanted to point out is how much denial Charlie has been in so far. First it was her thinking that when Sammy said they were dead, it was all a dream. Now it's her not wanting to believe any of this is real. Honestly I really just want her and the others to be ok. This isn't a good situation at all and seeing them all just completely freak out is so sad to me. Like Bianca looks absolutely in shock that she had really waited all day, only to be given the option that they were going to become murderers to find their own murderer. Before, they thought they would only be there for a week or so, but this is much worse. All it is is chance. They could possibly get the murderer in a week, or they could get the murderer in a couple years. Or never depending on if the murderer ever even becomes a guard in the end. They could just be stuck there, having killed so many people, and never actually find the one that had killed them. While Sammy is reasonable to think that the world is unfair cause yes they did die and they were all innocent, but that does not mean that murder is ok. They should be more open for a choice that isn't just going around and killing innocent people till they find the right one, but in the end, from how the fnaf story goes, that is what they end up doing and it's really sad to me.

oHOHO FRANCIS HAS SNAPPED!! BABEY BOY STARTED SWEARING, LET'S GOOOO Bianca is really not wrong with her statement either. I'm sure it is really horrible to be waiting for something all day and in the end, it's just someone trying to convince you that murdering innocent people to find your murderer is ok. I'm sure especially upon hearing that he has been doing this for around 10 years, everyone is terrified because they thought they would be getting out of this quickly. Back in Chapter 3, it was shown how absolutely exhausted everyone was and how impatient they were with waiting till the night. They're going to have to wait much longer than just one day and that is probably scary. Having to stay with this constant pain for years on end. I wonder how alone Sammy was. Was he really alone for 10 years? I thought at least by then, he would have entirely snapped to no return, but apparently he still has a good hold of himself if he wants to be kind. Also it's even more going along the fact that Sammy is insane cause while they are all yelling at him, he's just trying to balance the knife on his finger! His poor finger that is being stabbed by the point of the knife. I wonder if he's numb to stabbing at this point. Throughout the years, I'm sure he would be by now. aLSO OH NO THIS IS THE SADDEST PART OF THIS ENTIRE CHAPTER IM GONNA SOBBB Daniel just beginning to realize that they might be here for a while and Sammy just proceeding to make it worse has my heart. Daniel doesn't deserve any of this! None of them do! But they are still here and the fact that they will probably not leave for so long really is something scary, especially for Daniel. I'm sure for all of them, it's bad, but him being someone who can't see and will have to stay along with that for years to come must really be terrifying. Poor boy needs a hug right now.

This is the second time Daniel has genuinely broke down and it really is a sad sight to see. This time though, it was much worse because he actually fell to the ground since in the last panel, him and Bianca are sitting and he's leaning into her, with his hands covering his face. I wonder exactly why he places his hands in front of his face. Was it a habit he used to do when he was alive where whenever he was about to cry, he would try hiding his face so that no one would see? It would surely be sad since I'm sure putting his hands along his empty eye sockets already hurts enough and is just a constant reminder that he really has nothing in there apart from the blood and flesh that is exposed. Daniel went from doing alright before back in Chapter 3, although he did have some emotional content when thinking about Mina, to him just entirely breaking down over the fact that he is going to have to stay there for so long and he really doesn't want to. Also the others have to understand that if Sammy has been there for 10 years, killing people would definitely just become a normal thing for him which is why it's not 'such a big deal'. Everyone is about to break down into tears and it's so sad to see here. Bianca is the only one that has not shown any sign of being about to break down and honestly I congratulate her for that. Probably one of the reasons for why she is one of my favorite characters is because she is always there for the others when they can't handle the situations going on. I relate to her character or at least my past self does because helping others instead of caring about my own mental health was a habit. I really wonder if we are ever going to get a scene where Bianca genuinely breaks down after she had been there for everyone else in the past and she just gets some comfort from Daniel that time since she had been helping him the most. I really want to either write, draw, or end up seeing that in the comic because that sort of content always has my heart.

Wait a moment- Was Francis actually about to beat up Sammy just then before Bianca stopped him? That would have been really funny if he did, I do want to see someone put some sense into that insane boy. I wonder if Sammy is actually wrong when saying that they don't have a choice. Is there another way they could do this that isn't just going and killing innocent people until they find the right person? They could always try waiting till the murderer comes back to kill and then going after him then, but if that was possible, why wouldn't Sammy have just done that in the first place when the others were dying? I'm sure they were loud enough for him to hear, yet he didn't come to the rescue at all to get them and instead, only appeared when they came out of it. He would want to leave as much as them so of course he would take any opportunity he got to go kill their killer, but he didn't do a thing in the end and now they're all stuck here. I really wonder what happened. I really wonder how Bianca and Daniel are both feeling when hearing them yelling at each other. I'm sure Daniel is not having a nice time at all, especially once hearing what they were saying in the first panel about being stuck there forever. His trembling is just getting worse, poor babey. I'm so glad Bianca is being there for him to give him a protective hug, but apparently it really has done something to her too due to her comforting energy collapsing as she begins to cry. Poor girl also needs a big hug and it makes me so sad that they both just have to sit there and hear this while everyone else is about to beat one another up. Her offering to do it is what Sammy wanted, but I'm sure it's not how he expected this entire thing to go. I don't know what else he expected though, to be completely honest.

Oh the first panel always hurts because you can just see the disbelief for a moment of Charlie's face as she proceeded what she just heard. Sammy also seems pretty surprised which is funny to me because he was the one who wanted to do all of this in the first place. I wonder when that eye effect stopped going over him too since by the time his eyes are shown again, they are gone. Did they leave just now or were they gone by the time he was arguing with Charlie and Francis about everything. I'm so curious as to when it even will show up again, but I love those eyes a lot. What an interesting ghost he is. The blood on Daniel's face looks like it's so much more than before and honestly that hurts a lot. Either it's just more detail on the blood or it's there to show he had been crying before and that made the blood just flow a lot more than it usually did. Either way though, the way he reacts to how Bianca is going to go kill the guard has me so sad. She was the one that was protecting and holding onto him and all she wants is for all of them to be ok, but now she is going and doing exactly what Sammy wanted her to do. Poor Bianca doesn't even realize that it's not going to be ok, especially from what she ends up saying later on in Chapter 5 about this night. It really saddens me how Daniel is just seeing his own best friend go and kill all to make them feel better. I wonder if he feels so helpless at the moment since there isn't much he can do to change Bianca's mind.

I am afraid no one would be joking about the fact that they are going to go murder some possibly innocent person for the sake of their friends being free. I feel so bad for them all since just reading through this page makes me realize how terrified they are of Bianca doing this. Of course no one would believe being murdered on a special day and then coming back as a ghost, only to be told that they need to murder people to actually leave, but what could have prepared them for that either way? Bianca just looks so serious and done with what Sammy had to say. I'm so surprised she is just able to get away those tears so quickly to stand in front of her friends and tell them what she wants to do. She's doing it so that they can have a chance at being free and if it doesn't work, they don't need to worry about it anymore and can just move on to something else that could let them be free. I still don't know exactly what they would try to get that, but either way, it would be a lot better than killing people hopefully. Daniel's small "What if the guy is innocent" is honestly a line I really want to draw because that is most likely something that is on all of their minds. Anyone they harm could be entirely innocent and they are just taking someone else away just like how they were taken. It's so sad knowing how these kids end up getting later on in the story and how they no longer act like this later. I just want to hug all of them and tell them that there is going to be a happy ending..or at least Daniel, Bianca, Sammy, and Francis. I don't think Charlie and Michael could really be hugged anymore.

Oh I absolutely adore this page since we get to see how Sammy goes from being this crazy murderer who is trying to convince everyone to this small child that is afraid Bianca might actually hurt him. Something else I really wanna draw one day is Bianca just looming over Sammy since she is obviously MUCH taller than him, especially in the first panel. If Sammy takes another bad move, he would definitely be hurt by her and that would surely be something interesting to watch. Could ghosts even get hurt? If they have the form they had before they died and it stays like that, I wonder if any of them can actually feel pain or get any more bruises. Is double death real? Honestly I would doubt it since that wouldn't make any sense. You can't just kill something that is already dead. I love how done Bianca is so much. She has been through enough with Sammy and at this point is just not wanting to deal with it anymore and Sammy knows that for sure. Even with the last panel, he looks sO NERVOUS AND IT HAS ME DYING

With the first panel, I love how everyone looks shocked or just sad. Like Francis looks as though he can't believe any of it and the two others just look so distraught that their good friend is going to go kill someone. If I was in this sort of situation, I would probably be either both or just breaking down in tears in the corner of the room because I'm dead and my friends are going insane. I'm still really interested in how there is still those drawings up of the puppet. What causes them to change to be like that? That is obviously too ominous and eerie for it to actually be something around there so do they just change depending on the time? Like if Sammy is going crazy, does the other items around him begin to alter to show that craziness? Either way, both drawings are pretty creepy. Sammy's joyful self surely came back quickly and honestly I love what he says here. He sounds much more happier and less all psycho? Bianca surely isn't having any of it and I'm sure she just wants him to shut up at this point since they both know this person isn't going to be the one. It would be so rare to get it first try, especially after the murder and all, but they are still hoping, I assume. I also wonder how hard it would be if one of the animatronics ended up actually tripping and they needed to get them back up? Like would the one possessing them need to push themselves back up or actually get on the ground as well to do it. I don't really know how possession logic works anymore.

This really makes me curious about if there is a way Bianca can just not possess Bonnie for the time being. Like does she have to be paying attention to be able to possess him? Could she ever do something like what Sammy does where he just gets entirely inside the animatronic, only really coming out when it's necessary? I don't really think that will happen to any of the main five or Sammy anymore due to the story being focused more on them, although it would still be them if they were just possessing the animatronics. Either way though, I wonder how hard it was for Bianca to get rid of those cables attached to the robots and how difficult it's going to be to get those back into place. Do they even put them back into place afterwards or do they let the employees that come around go ahead and do that? That's a question that might never be solved, but hey I'm still curious! Bianca just slamming the guitar on the floor is also pretty funny to me because Sammy seemed to get so upset at first about it just suddenly being dropped, but then he was like 'wait nah i don't even care for this company.' I just want them to mess up with all of the animatronics' stuff, but if that happens, the place would close and they don't want that cause they need more guards!

Not much to say here apart from how I love how they added the shaking to Bonnie. Since Bianca was electrocuted, she would be constantly shaking. It's almost like Bonnie is just a part of her now so her shaking is just transferring over to Bonnie in that way. While it might also just be because it's hard to control such a huge robot with powerful strength, I just love how it's done here. That small detail is really great! Also Sammy still wanting to be on Bianca's good side is really funny to me. He's just trying his best and it's not good due to what he is doing.

Bianca talking about how conflicted she is about this entire situation really pulls at my heartstrings and I entirely believe that it's supposed to be like that. With what she says in the middle panel, she knows well that what she is doing is going to completely harm her relationship with the others, but she also just wants them to be happy. She is conflicted and doesn't know what to do so she's taking the only option she has at the moment which is just follow what Sammy says and get it over with. I feel like through this, she slowly begins to doubt her plan on killing this person because they could be entirely innocent. There is so many difficulties with this risk, but it's the only risk they can really take at the moment because there is nothing else they can really do.

It is really sad to just see Bianca realizing that she doesn't even know what to think anymore. She acted so serious around the others and especially around Sammy, but right when she's actually alone, she just talks to herself about what she should do and what she wants or not. With how she was talking about how she hoped everyone forgave her, I really wanted to see her say 'I hope I can forgive myself' because honestly I feel like that is how she's feeling right now. She knows what she's doing is bad, but is taking the risk for everyone. If it is not the murderer than of course they'll just have to forgive her for what she did, but she would also need to take some time to forgive herself too because that probably stays on her chest for a long while. The fact that she could possibly kill an innocent person and she was really just hoping it was him. Watching these kids slowly fall into what Sammy wants them to do surely scares me for the future because obviously they are going to eventually do it, but it's just going to be so sad to see them go down that path. It's like the path of no return.

~~ fINALLY I GOT THIS DONE!! this took much longer than expected. The next part shall be out soon since I finished it up last night. For now, you have this! Remember to always scream. See y'all next time when I bring the other post!

#fnaf #fnaf au #fnaf comic #children rekindled #children rekindled review #gore warning #Daniel #Bianca #Charlie #francis #Michael #Sammy #bon's art

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dyker-farmer · 5 years

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Ok this was supposed to be a quick draw and a description to go with, that blew into a full chapter and now it's also on Ao3 SO happy reading ig idk

I never see Shane works that don't go all in for romance nor explore the more realistic ugly parts of recovery, and I kind of crave That TM. So let me have at it too with the self-insert whump mumbo jumbo; no romo version.

Set post-8 hearts event, Farmer Uidelsib is two years or so in, full house built and married to Emily. They/them pronouns, same as me.

Diverges from then on, Shane-centric from an outside POV for the most part.

[[MORE]]

Take that can away if you can.

Gulp it down. Chapter 1/2/3/4

There's a few to-know to survive life in society, in the valley; there's no good way to comment on the age nor weight of both resident housewives, you can't say no to Evelyn's homemade cookies- and why would you, you fool-, you do not fight at the Saloon or you'll get no cheese anymore on your pizza and only sparkling water for drinks, and-

And you don't mess with Shane's alcohol related ritual.

Except I did, that night, because you do that, when your two-years long friendship with the guy taught you better than letting his impulses overcome yours, when your buddy is trying to recover from teenage long-lasting into early adulthood, trauma-enhanced heavy addiction, and you know, you know tomorrow he'll feel like absolute shit and question his right to therapy the moment he'll stop his pounding skull from splitting. Wonders what a three-dosage paracetamol can do.

At least he doesn't drink it out anymore.

So yeah, when you're in my shoes, you get that Joja store-bought crap out of Shane's hand, and you brace yourself for the incoming lash out.

The first fractions of seconds are always those to look closely into most. It's only a glimpse, but before the scowl slips on like a well-worn boxing glove ready to strike, there is always this open page I learned I needed to decipher as quick as I could.

Tonight, it's heartbreaking. When I peck his forehead- doting big sibling habits die hard, even when you're actually the youngest of the pair- the eyes I catch looking at me are so confused and bare of any emotion, except for the sorrow that goes beer-soaked tears, it pangs. I get used to the breakdowns, working in the fields I do when I'm off the farm's, but it's not the same when it's a friend.

When I straighten back, offensive beverage in hand, it's already gone in a flinch, away from the empty space behind the chair and onto the table, as he snarls.

"Wha- giv'me back- 's mine!" I don't know how much he drunk before he met up with me, but from the slurring, it's a Lot. A season and a half into sobriety. That's harsh.

I ignore him and walk behind him, pondering where to put the beer for now.

"Y-you can't just do that! It's my booze I got with m'money, not some- who d'you think you are?-" He sputters indignantly, angry tears fewer than the sad ones but still there. He tries to turn around and grab behind his back, but the wild movement is way off and only gets the chair to nearly topples down. I rush in time to stabilize it, and profit off the moment to set a strong hand on his shoulder.

"I can just do that, 'cus it's my house I got with my money, and I think I'm your pal who knows when you've had enough. Dude, I trust you to be an adult, but minutes before, you were already so torched I had to keep your neck upright so you didn't faceplant into the table, and you nearly just kissed my floor good evening. Not to mention you clung to my arms the whole way from the little entry stairs to the kitchen because, quoting, 'If I don't I'll fall in the hole and won't get up'."

I turn to the fridge again, going to open it, before I think better of it. Likely enough, we'll both forget it was there in the first place, it'll stink up my fridge- it's Joja's- and it'll be money out of Shane's pocket for nothing. I set it on the counter, with the rest of the pack. He'll put it to cool down when he's back to Marnie's. Or he won't, probably.

That's not a worry for now.

When I caught up with him, it was a few feet below my doorstep; he'd probably slipped up trying to climb the three steps up to it, and settled for it. He was nursing that same can, muttering to himself, head down, curled up on himself. Except for that leg sticked out, he probably hurt it when he fell, I'll have to look at that and work on it if it's too swollen. Hopefully that'll spare us from a visit to Harvey's.

Bad memories. Not mine, and it's warm and not raining outside, but. Déjà-vu.

Anyways, he looked the picture of "help I've fallen and I can't get up- and even if I can I won't because Fuck You", and it's been a hassle to have him cooperate. But when I asked if he wanted to leave, he shook his head with a fervor no somnolent drunk should have. That resulted in a lovely streak of vomit down the wall right next to the door. That's also for later. If Eryza doesn't lap it up. Ew. This cat's never predictable.

Now, he's staring at his hands, sitting at my table, contemplating something too far down for me to see- or maybe just zoning out with a sleeping brain. Then he mumbles. "Sorry."

I get back to the table and sit at arm's length across of him. "Nah, 's okay. I don't mind being a helping hand or touchy-feely, must be the frog-eater in me. Not for the helping part." I'd chuckle but my quip falls on deaf ears.

I go to put my hand over his. When he doesn't blink at it, I try and shake a reply out of him, gently. He startles and hawkeyes our joined fingers. When he's finally looking at me, I raise a single eyebrow. He doesn't say anything, but when he pulls back his arm, I let him. We both straighten up, and it's hard to keep up the eye contact.

"So…" There's a heavy air on us. Suddenly, like the last year didn't happen, we're sitting a stride away of each other, and yet it feels like he's all the way back to the forest, looking down at waves.

"Do you want me to do something?" I bend myself a little closer to him, not moving otherwise.

He puts his head in his hands, shivering. Can't tell if it's the AC or his system kicking the alcohol out, or itself, in stress. I think I hear something, but it might as just be his shuddering breath.

"Shane" I insist, voice level, not pressing. "I need words. I want to help, I truly don't mind, but I need words to know what to do." He's never shown signs of going nonverbal before. If he does, I'll improvise. Until then… I need words.

Time ticks slowly as we wait. Then, with great effort and deep fatigue, he drags his palms up from under his nose to his temple, spreading some snot and wet tears across his face from his scrunched shut eyes. Lips trembling but finally showing, that attempt to let out a sound that's not too garbled. He coughs, sniffles a bit, breathe in again, sounding like a sick dog, and blows through gritted teeth before his jaws go slack. Eyes still closed, he whispers, and I have to lower myself some more toward his crouched form to catch it.

"Can I get something to drink…?" His voice is hoarse.

The demand could be comical, if we were into sour humor. And we usually are. But right now, we're not finding the joke in the lines. I stand silently, and as I walk to the fridge again, I let my hand brush his shoulder- same spot as before.

I take a minute to choose, look into the pantry. When I'm back at the table with my items of choice, he's still sitting there, his cheek is cushioned on his arms, face hidden from view. His shoulder, except for the occasional tremor, rise and fall in rythm with his snores. Breaks my heart to interrupt that, but not really. Hangovers are mean bitches with the sharpest nail art on the blackest of boards.

"Psst, dude. C'mon." I rustle his hair backward. He hates when I do that, says it tickles, and it makes him sneeze. So I obligatory do it once a day if I can. Let's say today's my late quota for the last four days I haven't seen him.

He gruffly tells me to kindly refrain from such pleasantries, and raise bleary eyes back up at the table. I can also guess he tried to bat a hand at me, but his coordination is off and he slaps himself lightly on the ear. Then he glares bewildered at his hand for a few seconds, obviously insulted. I profit of this moment to grab a small basin from under the sink, on second thought.

When he brings his attention back to me, I'm sitting again. Between us, a jug of fresh milk from this morning, a small sack of peppers, and a juice carafe sit aside a green glass bottle. There's also some bread, mostly for me to munch on. Because, hmmm dough. He squints at it all, especially at the bottle. Probably trying to read the label.

"Yeah no, didn't get you one of my best wine, not sorry."

"Hot pepper… juice?" He looks at the actual peppers next to it. "With actual peppers?" And then I get the squint too.

"Hmph, I know you like your elongated hell tomatoes, man, what can i say."

At that, a feeble snort.

I decide that it is the highlight victory of my soirée.

"Welp, have at it." I gesture to the half-liter liquor glass right by his left.

He fumbles with the drinks and some splashes around, but I lay back on my chair, arms crossed, letting him do his thing. While I don't hold back from growing downright doting on him when I got to- or even when I don't- I don't see how more devotion right now would be not smothering. He can break my fancy glass cups if he wants and spill my milk, so long he doesn't cut himself or cry over it.

Now, you could be thinking that plain water would have done the trick just fine, if not better, in rehydrating him. Here's the thing, though; going from booze to tasteless liquid, for Shane, that's a sure way to puking his heart out. And I'd rather not have us deal with an acid bile throat burn on top of near alcohol poisoning. Sorry to not spare you the squeamish details, but his oesophagus is pretty sensitive ever since that stomach pumping back at the clinic. Hot fiery hell fruits he can do just fine, with relative moderation and hydratation- hence the milk and juice- but liquor bursting its way back from his guts? Nuh uh.

It had taken lots of coaxing, but he'd explained the plain tastes, or lackthereof, were very hard for him to deal with, especially when contrasting with strong ones like beers and whiskeys. I'd shackle it to gustative hypostimulation, but I don't know enough about him that way to say. He'd said sparkling water was a good compromise.

But I don't have sparkling water, because I do not like suffering.

I might buy a pack for when he visits though.

And I do know a handful about him already. Shackle that to perceptiveness and a stubborn streak on top of a year and so long camaraderie.

And having a certain uncontrollable fear of failing to act quick the next time coped with by accumulating information and patterns compulsively.

I shake my head to focus on the present again. He's switched from juices to soaking bread in milk to eat it small portion after small portion. He pauses in mid-bite when he catches me staring. He's still hunched on himself and red-faced and a tad bloated. His cheeks are drying and he's blown his nose. I smile calmly. Worst of the storm passed, unless I screw up and blow it.

"Ywou wan' chom'?" He offers a dripping piece of bread. In moments like this, when he's sobering but not quite, the resemblance with Jas are unmistakable. The glint in his reddened eyes that open wide, and his blank-but-not-quite wondering expression, it's all here to paint a scrutinizing but vulnerable picture of tired but bright minds.

"Nah thanks. You done with that milk?"

"...Sure." He eyes it, wary. He knows where this is going, and he doesn't like it. I take the drink off the table, and his gaze follows my movement until I bring it to my lips.

He frowns. A silent warning.

And as I lock onto him with a dead stare, not blinking a millisecond, I down the rest of the 2 liters jug in three, five gulps. I even take the time to lick my new mustache away, and close my mouth with a click of my tongue.

His expression is the macabre marriage of beffudled horror and pure affliction, disgust if you will. The face of someone who doesn't hate milk, but has grown out of it enough to not be able to live off the stuff like the brave souls I'm apart of. And probably with reason, as I actually can't, like most 20+ years old, digest the liquid in large amount. But I smile like a smug cat, perfectly content.

Cats really can't digest milk once adults, it's all social mythos.

We silently judge and fuck with each other like that for a while more, as more time passes, until the room's elephant gets it all humid with its prancing around. Enough that tears and nervous sweats start again, for no apparent reasons but the residual anxiety from the whole chain of events that led to this.

"I think we should talk about this."

--- to be continued.

#alcohol cw #emetophobia cw #self hatred cw #stardew valley shane #sdv shane #stardew valley #stardew valley farmer #sdv farmer #1!Dow Farm #Farmer Uidelsib #☆my art☆#♧Shane #*watch me push my autistic headcanons onto chicken boi*#*just you wait for the trans and hispanic ones*#*i'm about to destroy this man whole career of self depreciation*#*highly functionning dumbass energy vs immovable but movable force of sadness*#food cw #*fuck tumblr for not letting me put a read more on mobile rip ur dash y'all*#☆writing☆

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the-desolated-quill · 5 years

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Watchmaker - Watchmen blog

(SPOILER WARNING: The following is an in-depth critical analysis. if you haven’t read this comic yet, you may want to before reading this review)

‘Groundbreaking’ is often a term associated with Watchmen, and rightly so. Its writing, composition and complex themes helped redefine what a comic book could be and allowed the medium to breakthrough into the mainstream and be treated as legitimate literature. But if I were to pinpoint an exact moment when Watchmen went from being a great comic to a groundbreaking one, it would be this very issue. Chapter 4: Watchmaker.

Doctor Manhattan looks at a photograph of himself and his ex girlfriend Jenny Slater before discarding it and constructing a glass palace for himself out of the Martian sands. Whilst this is happening, we get flashbacks explaining Manhattan’s origins. Doesn’t sound like much, but what makes this issue so groundbreaking is how it plays around with the idea of non-linear time and uses the unique structure of comic book panels to express that. Honestly it’s so good, you don’t even need to have read the issues before to get it. It’s a perfect standalone issue that explores a superhuman slowly losing his humanity.

A big theme of this issue in particular, as well as Watchmen as a whole, is that of predeterminism. The idea that free will is an illusion and that the future cannot be changed. Manhattan posits that because of certain actions and events, the present moment was always inevitable. The minute his father threw the cogs of his watch out of the window and forced him to drop his career as a watchmaker in favour of being a physicist, his path was laid out for him. This is illustrated beautifully by Dave Gibbons, using recurring images like the falling cogs and meteorites to draw thematic parallels between events in the life of Jon Osterman. While a lot of the reasons for this issue’s success I think is down to Gibbon’s artwork and composition, Alan Moore deserves praise as well for Manhattan’s narration. Watchmaker is ostensibly one big internal monologue, and even though Manhattan seems to deliver this in a deadpan manner, it’s extremely emotionally charged as we discover just how he came to be.

The story of Jon Osterman’s transformation into Doctor Manhattan is nothing short of tragic. For a superhuman that can control atomic forces, it’s ironic that he had absolutely no control over his life whatsoever. He wanted to be a watchmaker until his father forced him to become a physicist after hearing about the atomic bomb. His superpowers were the result of an accident that was beyond his control. He never wanted to be a superhero, but felt obliged to when the US government came a-calling. He’s heavily implied to be liberal, as demonstrated by his friendly and light-hearted interactions with President Kennedy compared to his interactions with Nixon, and yet it’s because of Manhattan’s intervention in Vietnam that Nixon was able to run for a third term as President. Even his relationship with Janey Slater wasn’t entirely his choice. They were visiting a funfair and a photographer referred to them as a couple, planting the idea in their heads. If that hadn’t happened, things could very well have turned out differently. Maybe her watch wouldn’t have been broken, he wouldn’t have offered to fix it, which meant he would never have stumbled into the intrinsic field generator in the first place. Jon has been at the mercy of the effects of causation his entire life, which speaks to his current apathy. Yes it’s partly because of the fact that he’s now operating on a different plain of reality to us, being able to experience time all at once and seeing everything around him by their atomic structures, but it’s also in some ways because he feels bitter about how his life has never really been his own. He’s existed solely for the needs of others. The most powerful man in the world is also paradoxically powerless to control his own fate. Even his knowledge of the future contributes to this because if it has been predetermined that Kennedy will be assassinated, then how can Manhattan interfere?

Over the course of his origins, we see him turn from being a nice, well meaning man, to an emotionless deity who couldn’t care less about morality or the lives of the people around him. This is illustrated through his clothes. At the beginning, we see Manhattan in a full superhero costume, but as the story goes on, we see more and more bare flesh showing until we get to the present where Manhattan is now starkers. Clothes are a human invention and Manhattan sees no need for them. He feels no shame or embarrassment because he is essentially a God. It’s a great visual way of demonstrating his loss of humanity. By the end of the issue, it’s hard to really fault the guy for his lack of empathy. Even when you know his emigration to Mars could in fact spell doom for America, I was still on Manhattan’s side for the most part. His move to Mars is probably the only proactive thing he’s done in his entire life. The only action he’s had any kind of control over.

In the extra material for Watchmaker, we get a report written by Jon’s friend Wally Weaver that explores the implications of Manhattan’s existence. One key phrase stands out for me and it’s this:

“I never said ‘The superman exists and he’s American.’ What I said was ‘God exists and he’s American.’“

This relates to what I’ve been saying about how Manhattan’s very existence has altered the global balance of power. They have the powers of a God on their side. The Vietcong even ask to surrender to Manhattan in person, bowing to him as though he were a God. The world is practically at the mercy of the United States. But Weaver also raises an interesting point. That the use of Manhattan as a deterrent to stop Russia from developing more nukes is misguided. Rather than roll over and accept America’s dominance, Russia would instead be spurred on by Manhattan’s existence to attack America in an act of mutually assured destruction. What have they got to lose? Russia may be destroyed, but so will America. Not even Doctor Manhattan can stop all the nukes. He may be a superman, but he’s still a man.

Which brings me to arguably the scariest thing about Doctor Manhattan. While he may have the powers and omniscience of a God, he’s still first and foremost a man. A deeply flawed man. He leaves Janey to be with Laurie for the simple reason that Laurie is younger and more attractive. Manhattan may be ageless, but Janey isn’t. Would a God break the heart of an older woman so he could have his wicked way with a teenage girl? No, but Manhattan would.

There’s also a great scene between him and Hollis Mason as they discuss what Hollis will do now that he’s retired. Hollis says he’s going to become a car mechanic, at which point Manhattan drops the bombshell that due to his powers, motor cars will now be obsolete, replaced with electric cars powered by lithium batteries that Manhattan can produce at will. Would a God make such a drastic change to an entire industry without considering the impact it would have on millions of people’s jobs? No, but Manhattan would.

Even Manhattan’s current image as America’s Strongest Man is in some ways down to Jon’s vanity. When he reconstructs his body after the accident, instead of creating something akin to what he was before, he appears as this giant, muscular hunk with a massive dick and a fantastic arse (I should know. I’ve been scrutinising it intently. LOL). He has all the powers of a God, but not the responsibility or the morality that goes with it. He’s a cautionary tale of what happens when a normal person is granted unimaginable power without considering the implications.

This review took me longer to write than I intended, and I apologise for that. I still don’t think I’ve covered everything, but I hope you can appreciate the complexities and intricacies of Watchmaker regardless. This is a phenomenally good comic and I think is the prime reason why Watchmen is as groundbreaking as it is.

#watchmaker #watchmen #alan moore #dave gibbons #dc comics #review #spoilers

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youseissi · 5 years

Text

𝚂𝚞𝚒𝚌𝚒𝚍𝚎 𝚂𝚚𝚞𝚊𝚍 현실판에

Chapter 1 - Dazzlingly Light

Word Count: 7832

𝘚𝘶𝘮𝘮𝘢𝘳𝘺:

A villain one day appears almost as if from a comic book with a ridiculous overpowered ability and Hongjoong just can’t stand losing to him, while Seonghwa finds it cute that he’s even trying to fight back. Yunho wants nothing to do with his villainous childhood friend no matter how soft he is for him, while all Yeosang wants is to find his own. Wooyoung is over his childhood already and San wishes he could be over it when he see the same pain he went through on Jongho’s face.

Pairings: Kim Hongjoong/Park Seonghwa, Jeong Yunho/Song MingiChoi, San/Jung Wooyoung/Kang Yeosang

Tags: Alternate Universe - Superheroes/Superpowers, Friends to Lovers, Secret Identity, Slow Build, Eventual Romance, Angst, Polyamory

Warnings: Violence, Blood and Injuries

Chapter 1 ✧ Chapter 2 ✧ Chapter 3 ✧ Chapter 4 ✧ Chapter 5 ✧ Chapter 6 ✧ Chapter 7 ✧ Chapter 8 ✧ TBC ✧ AO3 ✧ Masterlist

Yunho knew from a very young age he had powers. He was never sure what exactly they were. The best way to label him was maybe as a psych, but he couldn’t predict the future or read your palm, a psych in the sense that he could see what other people couldn’t.

As a kid he would always draw people with a swirl of color surrounding them and the adults would every time act like it was a work of art until someone asked him what were those representing and his younger self was astounded when no one seemed to really understand his response.

He got more vocal about the lights surrounding people when he realised it something that everybody else was seeing. Although worrying the kindergarten teachers the little boy only wanted some validation, maybe he was just explaining it wrong or maybe he was special. The adults would play along, but he could feel the underlying falseness of their words and the worry surrounding him, overwhelming his senses as if he was doing something wrong to them.

Eventually he stopped saying anything and they shrugged it off as kids play. The dazzlingly lights never disappeared, constantly surrounding each and every person sparkling in his vision like sequins in the sunlight popping their rainbow colors everywhere, but the odd bitter taste in his mouth and the concerned looks did go away and that was enough for the child to not let out a single word on the matter again.

✧

Flash forward a few years on, in elementary school. He sees a boy on the corner of the playground by himself and he didn’t even need to check his aura to feel his sadness radiating from a mile away. Being the energetic social butterfly he always was, he approached the kid to play with him and they quickly became friends.

They kept playing together everyday, the other kid didn’t seem to have any other friends nor did he seemed interested to, just happy to play with little Yunho. One day, before they were leaving to go home together a teacher asked him, “Yunho, did you have a fight with the other kids?”

“No, why?” He was confused, he would feel it if the other kids had bad feelings about him, wouldn’t he?

“We were just wondering why have you been playing alone this week, is everything okay? Is there a reason why you’re not playing with everyone?” the lady asked concerned.

“I wasn’t alone I was just playing with my new friend.” Wasn’t it obvious?

“Ah, maybe he’s in that phase where kids start having imaginary friends?” The teacher’s assistant whispered to the older lady that now looked confused. Yunho heard all she said and was getting impatient with them. How could they not see his friend when he was standing right beside him.

“Yunho, sweetie, what is the name of your new friend?” she asked, crouching down to be on eye level with her young student.

“Mingi.” Yunho answered looking at the other boy besides him. The other kept quiet.

He felt like he said something wrong, because the sudden cold and heavy feeling that surround his every sense knocked the air out of him. His teachers’ faces fell in shock, his pressure dropping with it and he just ran from there pulling his new friend with him not knowing what was the problem.

The more he ran the more frustrated he got, he didn’t do anything wrong so why did they reacted like this. Why were they acting like his friend didn’t exist and why were they so scared at his answered. They were meanies that didn’t wanna play with his new friend like everyone else, he thought. Why everyone avoided him? Didn’t they see how fun he was like Yunho did?

“Yunho! Yunho, wait.” His friend that was getting pulled by him called out, trying to get him to slow down.

The two came to a halt in a park, by the side of a river, and he could feel in his bones how Mingi was upset.

“I’m sorry” his friend kept repeating looking like he wanted to cry.

“Why?” It just frustrated Yunho even more that the other felt he had done something wrong, because he didn’t. It didn’t make sense.

“The teachers don’t like me, because they can’t find me.” And as Mingi said that he pointed towards the river and then it made sense. Because at that moment he too did not see Mingi. The only one he saw reflected on the water was himself.

Yunho took that fact in as any young kid would and immediately just ran from there. The next day at school he tried not to look at Mingi. Recess would come up and for a few days he did not want to go outside. He went back to playing with everyone and avoid his former friend like the plague.

He hated how sad the other felt. He hated how he could feel it all around the room and he hated how it was his fault. No one seemed to notice any difference and he hated that too. The year ended, they switched classes and then he didn’t feel it anymore. He could pretend that it never happened like everyone else seemed to.

✧

He learned to keep his mouth shut about whatever he saw and felt, that’s why he would always surprise himself with new aspects to his powers whenever he would say something that suddenly was met with confusion. Many things that he considered normal growing up where not and he often pondered how different other people saw the world compared to him.

Feelings were one of those things that surprised him. He was already ending middle school when he found out maybe people didn’t perceive them like he did as he expressed his concern for the school’s cheerleader captain that one day came into their classroom.

She was only there a few minutes for an announcement of a event of some sorts and was much older than them, she wasn’t anyone that Yunho ever interacted with, but he felt such overwhelming sadness about her. He could feel it cold and thick in the air and it suffocated him, his eyes watering as as he put on a coat in the middle of the summer.

He leaned down to comment about it with one his friends sitting besides him, but the only response he got was “What do you mean? She looks fine to me, too happy even. Isn’t her smile kinda creepy? I don’t think I ever saw her not smiling actually.” Yunho let it go after that, confused at what was that he was feeling. Her aura didn’t look great, with dark mute tones to it, but he knew better than to argue that.

The girl killed herself a week later. Yunho didn’t know how to feel about it when he heard the news. After a few more mismatched situations he connected the dots that being an empath was part of his powers.

He could see in himself how that affected him, now that he was self aware. Could see how his need to please and cheer people up was developed as a form of immediate self gratification, feeling good as they felt happy and his avoidance of serious atmospheres were all in self preservation, hating the bad feeling everyone gave when the mood soured and he felt helpless to it. It was hard not to be shaped by other people’s emotions when they were so strong, he supposed.

✧

At the start of high school he thought he had cleared up all he could do. He tried his best to center himself and not be swayed by the things he saw and felt. He became a pro in pretending he was seeing the world the same as everyone else. He just wanted to be normal. That was what every teenager seemed to want anyway, so he went along trying to not get singled out.

One day he was eating with his friends at the cafeteria when a guy almost as tall as him passed by and grabbed an apple from the tray the girl besides him had in front of her.

“Hey! That has an owner, you know.” He let out annoyed at the blatant disregard from the guy, making him stop in his tracks looking back genuinely surprised.

“Wha-, you scared me! Who are you yelling at?” The girl besides him exclaimed as surprised, looking up from her phone.

“Didn’t you see him just grab your apple?” Yunho asked confused.

“Ah, someone grabbed it? Oh my God, did you see who? That’s so rude, I paid for it!” The girl besides him start going on a rant to him, turning her head to look around but ignoring the perpetrator that was right in front of her somehow. He didn’t understand how she didn’t see the boy when he towered over their table like a giant tree in front of them.

“What do you mean who, he’s right h-” Yunho stopped himself as he saw the cocky smile on his face and combined with the overwhelming confusion from his friend he finally got that this was one of those things that he couldn’t just explain.

The boy took a bit of the apple right there in front of him, looking down on them as if it was a challenge and that for whatever reason that made Yunho blood boil. He doesn’t even remember it that well anymore. He might have been having a bad day or he just never dealt well with cocky people from the beginning.

The feeling that arrogance itself passed to Yunho always felt like such an intense personal provocation, to feel it from someone else even when he had nothing to do with the situation, he regularly had trouble staying away from the emotion although he knew he should ignore and move on. The cockiness frustrated him, how it was like he was getting taunted into a game that in the end he could only lose. People that thought they had the upper hand usually were right, that was just how life worked and that pissed him off.

He thought he was past that childish indignation by then but either way, Yunho just gave in to the impulse, got up and pulled on the boy’s forearm holding it as he tried to grab the apple from his other hand quick enough that he didn’t need to explain any of this to his distracted friends.

“Hey! Is that the guy that got my apple?” The girl suddenly could see him, as well as all their friends apparently, as they stood up to help Yunho that were still struggling to hold the other’s arms while he standed awkwardly in-between the table and the bench.

That surprised Yunho into letting him go and he could hear a bunch of surprised gasps and exclamations asking where did the boy disappear to. They couldn’t see him anymore even though he was still there just a few steps back then before, looking around shocked. Yunho was equally shocked. The boy in question took the chance to run off.

So the boy did exist. He wasn’t a ghost that only Yunho could see. His mind raced as the bell rang with his group pulling him away to class, commenting on how weird that all just was.

Yunho had always concluded he could see ghosts. That was the conclusion he got from his ‘imaginary friend’ incident years ago. And until then he had never thought back on it again. He made that conclusion but never tested it, afraid of what he could find. He also remembered about seeing ghosts as part of his repertoire, but he never really gave the kid that brought him to such misguided conclusion a second thought.

In the years between kindergarten and high school he never saw anything like it again. Although You’d expect him to be especially sensitive to the supernatural from his powers, everything he saw and felt was very humane and alive.

People die everyday with unfinished businesses, surely if he saw actual ghosts it would be more frequent than this. His friends had see him, even if for only a brief moment, so it wasn’t like he didn’t exist. He had to be alive. Why Yunho’s touch made him visible?

The only two incidents like this were about two boys around his age. What were the chances that it was the same boy? What were the chances that it were different boys? Both made equal sense, which was none at all, and it left him wondering for years until he got an answer.

✧

Yunho discovered the possible answer to his years of doubt as he finally understood the last characteristic of his power. It wasn’t an instant epiphany, but a whole process. Up until then he was working under the assumption that he was the only one with powers. He was the one that was different, the odd one out of the bunch.

He knew about people that claimed they could read the future or see your past life from the media and sometimes he wondered if he was someone like that, since auras and empathic feelings were occasionally mentioned. However he didn’t have any cool party trick up his sleeve to show for it, he couldn’t tell you anything beyond of what people were feeling right at that moment and people tend to already figure that out on their own.

He felt alone in his struggle. He moved to Seoul for college and living in a bigger city was making things way harder than ever before. It wasn’t sufficient that he had to live choking among the crowd of other people’s emotions assaulting his every sense, he also had to act like it didn’t affect him at all.

A few months into his first semester the first big “villain” incident happened though. It wasn’t the first time they attacked, but it was the first time that the media and government acknowledged it and Yunho had been there to witness it happen.

He was on the train making his way back to his tiny apartment in the outskirts of town. The rent was cheap and he got the privacy he needed, but it was far, really really far and the several long train rides he went through to get there from classes or his part time job was quick to take a toll on him.

Being trapped with so many people for so long was exhausting for him. In the morning people felt for the news they saw before going out and at night everyone was adding up to his end of the day exhaustion with their own. Most of his classes were in the very early morning or a little into the early evening, like the one he had been coming back from that night. When the train stopped in its tracks with a halt Yunho barely reacted, sighing with the sudden worry from everyone around dawning over him.

It wasn’t completely crowded, every seat was taken but only a few people were standing. He pulled his backpack to his chest in case they needed to come out and closed his eyes in hope that next time he opened them again they would be moving again. Suddenly a huge metallic impact noise was heard though, and he was sure they wouldn’t.

He felt the rush of fear before he heard the screams. He was in the very end of the train and the situation took its time to reach the passengers there, but once it did it only escalated as he saw people panic and he made his escape towards the tiny bathroom there at the very end of the wagon with a few others lucky enough to fit in with him.

At first everyone thought it was a simple robbery, and maybe if they waited it out no one would notice the hiding spot. Yunho soon noticed it wasn’t the case as he saw something he had never seen before approaching.

Even through the wall separating him from the rest of the boxed space he could see a strong golden aura that shone so strong it hurt his eyes and he felt like he had to be wearing sunglasses to see it properly.

He then heard that voice. It told everyone to stop and the people around him suddenly weren’t trembling in fear anymore, their eyes frozen in place and Yunho held his breath knowing something bad was coming from this.

“Everyone inside the bathroom come out.” It commanded. And they did it in a calm and orderly fashion that felt ridiculous compared to moments before when they were all scrambling to fit in there.

Yunho didn’t come out. He later would say it was a strategically thought out move to stay hidden, but honestly he was just scared. Something was wrong with everyone, and it was obvious it wasn’t affecting him. He didn’t wanna find out what would happen if he got caught.

He heard the footsteps as the aura he saw started distancing itself from his hiding spot and he finally let out the breath he was holding. The door was wide open and he could see everyone with their backs turned to him, a lot more people there than before everything happened. He grabbed the door to make a shield as he peeked from there, they didn’t move an inch staring at the path the golden person had come from.

He had the luck to notice someone he knew. Well, he didn’t know the man, but he saw him before. Kim Hongjoong was in at least three of his classes and always seemed to take the lead in most heated debates in them so it was hard not to notice him.

The short man was staring zombie like as everyone else, but his aura was weakly swaying. Yunho took that as a chance and tried holding his wrist to pull him his way. The moment their skin touched though it seemed like Hongjoong immediately woke up from whatever spell was cast on him. He looked around confused and Yunho silently pulled him forward with a finger lifted to his lips.

They stayed there until everything was over which took roughly an hour but felt like an eternity. They kept silent waiting for something, monitoring the noises, but the man didn’t come back their way. After a while their door was forced open and the two of them almost had a heart attack, Yunho falling downwards cowering behind his tiny companion, but it was only the police informing them to evacuate the train.

They were separated to take statements. Yunho didn’t have much to say. That didn’t stop him from getting held up till dawn in the midst of the whole thing though. He sent his request to live in the college dorm as soon as he got home.

✧

The other day Hongjoong sought him out, still looking pretty shook from the events, a bit jumpy and fidgeting, a stark comparison to his usual confident exterior.

“What did you do yesterday?” he asked Yunho with a serious look on his face, foregoing any greeting.

“What?”

“You made it stop.” He said as if it that would make Yunho understand, but it didn’t.

The older man seemed displeased with the confusion he got as an answer walking away before Yunho could say anything. The feeling he gave off was one Yunho didn’t like feeling. It was frustration, but the type that came off insecurity. The feeling of helplessness left a bad taste in his mouth. He hoped it wouldn’t become a trauma for the other.

Yunho couldn’t imagine the type of person that would have that type of aura until he saw them on tv later that day. There was footage of the inside of the train when it all happened. The golden person was a man not much older than himself, wearing a long black coat with red detailing and a red mask, he was followed by a tall man dressed in a similar fashion. The second guy in contrast had no aura whatsoever and Yunho gawked at that.

They showed how everyone went towards the end of the train in a synchronised way reminding him of a more casual version of marching soldiers and how the two invaders kept walking around the front wagons going through people’s purses.

The footage had no audio and was cut in small pieces as it didn’t show the part the golden person went through to the end of the train. It felt like important pieces were missing as they didn’t seem to be finding what they wanted, not seeming to take anything, but what really took his attention was the news anchor words when he reported about the perpetrators. ‘he appeared to be working alone...’

That second guy’s presence was painfully obvious for him. No aura, not being seen… It kept happening to Yunho. He again wondered if there was any chance that it was the same person.

✧

It took a few more incidents with that same person piled up for Yunho to start to understand the full implications of his powers since the information was never very accurate, lots of he says she says and probably some form of censor considering how serious the police was taking it. They tried to downplay everything but it was obvious it was a huge issue.

One day the golden person came onto the news himself. He appeared in a bright red suit, a bright red mask matching and Yunho couldn’t help laugh at the flashy tackiness of it. The man ordered the anchor off his seat and replaced him, his companion there as well sitting on the counter by the side of the screen.

“Every adult that is watching this right now in *** area will head to the park in front of *** station immediately. If you have kids at home put them to bed before you leave.” The man finished with a smirk.

He couldn’t be serious, Yunho thought. Yet the memories of the train came to him, how he ordered people like that as well. The tone of his voice, it made Yunho feel light.

Yunho lived in the area he mentioned and couldn’t stop himself from think maybe going to the park right now sounded good. Even though it was way too late to be in a park in such a shady area, he felt compelled to do it. He didn’t though. He wondered if people were indeed being brainwashed to do it. Yunho felt glad for being different for the first time in his life.

He thought back to Hongjoong in the train. He wasn’t different, he didn’t have a way to escape it, if this guy really was controlling people. Which should be impossible, but technically his own powers should be impossible as well.

Hongjoong was in the same train as his that time. It was the last train he took, which maybe meant he lived around the same area? It was a longshot, but there wasn’t much else to do around there. Would he be going to the park right now? There were a lot of people that would be going if this man’s power worked over the screen, could he even find Hongjoong in the crowd if that was the case?

He wasn’t gonna go out there just because he was worried about this random guy he doesn’t even know that well, would he?

✧

Turns out he would. Hongjoong’s aura and emotional the day following the first incident was enough to push Yunho over the edge with worry. And luck must be part of his powers because he found Hongjoong ridiculously easy. Lots of people were indeed going to the park and when Yunho got to the entrance he spot the person he was looking for right away only a few meters away, walking that weird march everyone else seemed to be doing.

Yunho remembered Hongjoong as the poster boy for fashion majors, his hair a show stopper and always well dressed, but now he only wore sweatpants and a oversized shirt making Yunho think that he really was forced come here rather than planned to go out. When he touched his shoulder he had a reaction similar to the last time, looking around frantically and confused as if he just woke up from a dream.

“You!” he exclaimed seeing Yunho holding onto him.

“Yeah, me, I can’t explain right now, but we gotta get out here.” The taller answered hoping they could leave the eerie zombie crowd before he had to answer any questions. He really didn’t think through the aftermatch of his actions, his intended plan only going up to that action of waking him up.

“Why? What is happening? How aren’t you affected by him?” The questions spilled from the other’s lips a bit too fast for Yunho to keep up, laced with suspicion.

“Look, I know as much as you do okay and I don’t really wanna stay to see what happens, so how about we get out of here first and talk later.” He hoped that was enough to convince him, a bad presentiment at the back of his head.

The other seemed reluctant, but they went back towards the entrance again. Yunho stopped dead in his tracks when he saw the bright red suit standing directly in their way, Hongjoong bumping into his back.

“What?” The shorter asked.

“Nothing, let’s just leave through the other side.” Yunho tried sounding nonchalant about it, in contrast to the panic he truly was feeling. He didn’t have time to explain this now when they were in immediate danger. All he could do was pull the other another way and hope he followed, but of course Hongjoong didn’t make things easy.

“Why, the entrance is right there.” He had now stopped. “What did you see there?” Hongjoong tried looking back and going the opposite way Yunho was pushing them towards.

Honestly saving this tiny man’s stubborn ass was presenting much more trouble than he originally expected, and he wasn’t sure it was worth the effort. The last thing he wanted was to stop and catch up with his supposed childhood imaginary friend right now.

“Ugh, just… Trust me okay, I’ll tell everything after I swear.” Yunho tried to express how desperate he was with his eyes.

“You better tell me everything later.” The other reluctantly agreed and stopped resisting to being pulled forward again. Yunho looked over his shoulder. The tall man seemed to have noticed them and was walking their way. He did look a bit familiar, but Yunho doubt that would save them if they were caught, even if they really did meet before.

“We gotta get out of here now. ” Yunho started full on sprinting, Hongjoong following his pace without protest this time.

✧

They ran for what felt like ages that night until they got to the other side. It managed to exhaust Hongjoong enough for him to let Yunho off the hook till the next day. They both worried overnight about what was happening in that park, but it turns out it wasn’t anything as serious as they expected.

It was a demonstration of power. Everyone there was ordered to take a picture of the golden person and post it online with the caption “You can’t escape the Cardinal”. The Cardinal, seemed to be name the public enemy was going by right now, like a villain out of a comic book. Yunho wondered what was the story with the name, but he guessed he would find out soon enough if the guy was campaigning his evil deeds on the internet.

His musings were interrupted as Hongjoong entered the coffee shop they arranged to meet at, being introduced by the little bell at the door ringing. He made a beeline toward his table, not stopping to order anything and Yunho already felt tired just by feeling his determination. He was hoping this didn’t turn into a full on interrogation, but his situation wasn’t looking good.

“Start speaking.” He said sitting down.

“Not even a hello or anything?” The younger tried.

“Oh where are my manners, hello, how are you, I’m fine thank you. Now talk.” He had the nerve to roll his eyes just to frustrate him more.

A waitress came by to see if Hongjoong wanted anything to drink and Yunho took the chance to gather his thoughts. He was preparing his excuses all morning training answers to any questions he could come up with, but being put on the spot to explain himself like this wasn’t what he was expecting.

The other must have noticed his sour expression because once they were left alone he started apologizing with a sigh.

“Sorry, I’ve just been having a bad day.” And didn’t Yunho know that, he again had that heavy insecure feeling around him in every class they met and sometimes Yunho swore he could feel it from several classrooms away. “Just tell me what you know about the Cardinal, please.” His eyes and tone now pleading rather than demanding.

“I don’t know anything about that dude, only what I see on the news, in fact I’m sure you must know more than me since you saw him in person and I didn’t.” And that was true. The only new information he had was about his little sidekick help, that wasn’t really little at all, but Yunho decided to leave that out. “What happened that time anyway?”

“I thought I was the one getting answers here.” Hongjoong pouted at that, but continued to answer anyway. “He just barged in and we got told to move to the end of the train, I think he was looking for something, but my mind went blank when spoke. Like blank as if I got a full body anesthesia blank. I only came to when you pulled me to hide with you. I heard other people didn’t till the cops showed up. Like a full hour got robbed of them, how can you not notice that. And then last night again.” He finished looking down.

Yunho could tell what type of person Hongjoong was from those few times they meet alone. He brimmed with fire and determination, that was usually his default mode and when something negative happened that he had no control over, he would get frustrated at his own helplessness as if he himself was in the wrong for not stopping it from happening.

There was more depth to a human being than this, but he felt those two recurring emotions already spoke great deals of who Kim Hongjoong was.

“I don’t really know anything, I was just a guy that was hiding in the bathroom.” Yunho started trying to clear his side. “I went to the park thinking maybe you’d be in trouble. Cuz, you know, we were in the same train and stuff… So like, I assumed… maybe you lived around there?” It sounded dumb and he wished he’d thought before he spoke, now it sounded like he either had a crush or was a creepy stalker when he honestly didn’t even really know the guy. Yay. Go Yunho. “Look, I just felt bad not doing anything when I saw the news and thought of the people in the train, so I went there to help in any tiny safe way I could.”

“There’s not many convenient trains at that hour that would get there fast enough, you must live close, right?” He kept his interrogation going, thankfully ignoring Yunho’s embarrassing words, but Yunho knew what he was implying.

“Yeah, I live a few blocks away from the station.” He didn’t know how to avoid this train of thought. It was impossible to ignore it.

“You came there out of your own free will.” It wasn’t a question.

“Yes” Yunho answered anyway. He already had made his mind the former night while he couldn’t sleep. If he couldn’t think of an excuse he might as well own up to it.

“How?” Hongjoong eyes squinted at him in suspicion, as if that made Yunho a threat like the golden guy. The Cardinal. Yunho was still having trouble with the lame new name.

The defensive stare piercing through him hurt, but it wasn’t wrong of Hongjoong to be careful, he told himself. In fact the best thing you could be with everything unexplainable in life was to be cautious, right. He was the weird one, he couldn’t complain. He just wanted to get this over with and go back to his normal life, where all this serious heavy feelings had no place to weight down on him and he wasn’t reminded that he was an abnormality.

“Just I’m not really what you’d call normal and it paid off against this guy, I guess.” He started saying, but didn’t know how to continue to describe his situation to other people without seeming crazy. He never had to put anything related to his power into words before.

“What do you mean not normal?” Hongjoong pressed and Yunho’s face scrunched in thought.

The words that came to his mind felt wrong. He didn’t get affected because he saw his aura? That didn’t feel right. Why didn’t he get affected? Because he was different. Then why his touch also made Hongjoong wake up from it? He wasn’t different. Yunho didn’t do anything.

The incident with the invisible boy in high school came to his mind suddenly. His touch made him visible. His touch made The Cardinal’s command stop working. He always felt alone in his struggles with his powers, so he never considered other people having them. Now it made sense, he could stop other powers. That’s why he saw that boy, because his power didn’t work on him.

So it should be the same boy, right? How many invisible boys were there running around in the world? He moved to a different and bigger city now though, so maybe there were many that he wasn’t aware of.

“Yunho?” the man in front of him called him back to earth, before he got too lost in his own head.

“You saw The Cardinal, right? How he commanded people with his voice, you felt that.” Yunho started again, finally settling on an approach to explain himself.

“Yes.” The other responded him seriously.

“So you believe me when I say he has some type of power. I mean, you know, like a superpower from a comic book, something that a superhero would have.” His thoughts left his mouth like scrambled words as soon as he said the word ‘power’ out loud. It just felt silly to say that, much more to elaborate on it even after the notion lived in his head for so long.

“More like a villain, but yes, I believe it.”

“I have one too. Something I can do is neutralize other powers. That’s why his doesn’t affect me.” Yunho finally said with his eyes cast down, scared of the reaction he would get. He was half ready to turn it into a joke if the other didn’t believe him, a recurring coping mechanism for him already at the tip of his tongue, but deep inside he knew it’d hurt even he saved himself the embarrassment.

“Something you can do? Is there more to it?” Hongjoong asked. Was that really the part the other wanted to focused on? Yunho cringed just thinking on what to answer, he wasn’t expecting to be believed so easy to start with.

“Yes, but that’s the only important part.” He said hoping the other wouldn’t push it.

To his surprise Hongjoong really didn’t push it. He hummed at his answer and grew quiet deep in thought sipping on his coffee that was already cold by then. It felt surreal to talk about this with someone else like this, specially the way the older was taking it.

“I get it. Then do you think you have the power to stop that guy?”

“What?” That question caught Yunho completely by surprise.

“You said you can neutralize powers, can’t you just touch that guy and make his powers stop working?” Hongjoong explained his thoughts as if that was the simplest possible answer to the problem that was The Cardinal.

“It’s not that simple, first of all I don’t think I can do it permanently, so I’d need to be touching him forever if you want him to never give out an order again. Also, how would I even approach him? Not to mention the people already under his control to start with.” Yunho started babbling the innumerable flaws with that thinking, really eager for a chance to steer away from the topic and not wanting to give the impression that he was powerful like that in any way.

“You don’t think?” the other raised an eyebrow at his choice of words, not impressed by his excuses.

“It’s not like there’s many powerful people around volunteering themselves for me to try to erase their powers. I’m not even sure how I really do it, it’s more of a passive skill.”

Hongjoong also didn’t seem impressed with the simplified explanation.

“I also don’t think he’s hard to approach, he works alone and acts all cocky. I’m sure we can surprise hi-” the older started, but Yunho quickly cut him off.

“We? Dude, I don’t know about you, but I want nothing to do with this.” He was the one scaring Yunho now.

“Look, right now you’re the only one that has any known form of counter to his power, don’t you feel like you need to do something? Controlling innocent people like puppets, doesn’t that disgust you even a little bit?” Hongjoong stared at him exasperated, but the fear in his words shone through by the end of his sentence.

And Yunho hadn’t thought about it like that yet. Wording it like that he understood the other’s fear and his latest mood swings. The fact that you could be controlled without any consent like this at any time on someone’s whim could really make anyone feel helpless.

Still he wouldn’t budge, not only he was scared as hell and adamant on maintaining the normal power-free life he worked so hard to upkeep till now, he was also sure they couldn’t get past the big guy to start with. Yunho wasn’t a fighter at all. He was at best a support character. And as a game expert he could say for sure the stupidest thing you could do was to go headfirst against the boss alone while playing support.

“It doesn’t matter anyway, I know for a fact that we can’t reach him.” he started, already expecting Hongjoong to start questioning him.

“And what makes you say that?” the vexed expression on Hongjoong’s face upset him the slightest bit, as if Yunho was the one being difficult.

“He has a second person working with him.” he let out finally.

“What? How do you even know that?” the other asked suspicion coming back to his tone.

“It’s obvious, but no one sees it. He has this invisible giant bodyguard working with him. Only I can see him because, like The Cardinal, his power doesn’t affect me.” he answered knowing how ridiculous it sounded, but a bit too tired to word it more convincingly.

Hongjoong looked at him for the first time like he was crazy. It almost felt satisfying to finally receive the reaction Yunho had been expecting the whole conversation. Almost, but not really. Just a way to cope with the pent up hurt of seeing things no one else saw.

But then Hongjoong’s eyes sparked with realisation.

“Yesterday, that was what you were seeing when you kept looking back? This guy was there?”

“Yeah, he noticed that we stopped and was coming to check. Seriously he’s as tall as I am and kinda intimidating, he scares me more than the Cardinal does for sure.” Yunho answered letting out a relieved sigh that the older was smart enough to connect the dots by himself.

“I kept seeing an empty space where you were looking behind us, I would never imagine we were being chased.”

“Yeah, can’t relate. So, can you just let go of this vigilante fantasy you’re thinking about and just try to stay out of this like any normal citizen? Cuz that’s what I’m gonna do.” he just wanted to escape this whole conversation at that point. The other’s aura that flaid with determination, the bright tones of red not only shone too brightly, they indicated that Hongjoong had no intent of backing down and he didn’t want to get caught up in it.

“Even if you say that is not like I have a choice whether I get controlled on not. And it can’t just keep happening. I don’t know what I can do, but it just leaves a bad taste in my mouth.”

“Yeah, tell me about it.” Yunho didn’t need to understand the feeling of being controlled to be able to literally taste the bitter feeling of utter defeat in his mouth from Hongjoong’s feelings. He pulled a napkin from the side and a pen out of his pocket and start writing something down.

“Here’s my number. If you get caught in something like this again try to call me before anything happens. I’d feel bad if you weren’t there anymore to yell about how my side of the debate team was wrong in every damn philosophy class we have. I gotta go already or else I’ll be late.” he joked, handing the paper ready to finally get out of the suffocating atmosphere.

“Okay.” Yunho was already getting up when Hongjoong grabbed his wrist for a second. "Thank you really.”

“Don’t mention it.” The grateful look he was receiving was not something he knew how to deal with. Not when he spent the whole time expecting to be shunned away. The whole proactive heroic streak on the other caught him by surprise, but he’d be lying if he wasn’t a least touched at how his power wasn’t meet with disgust.

✧

After that the two of them unexpectedly became really good friends. It was obvious to Hongjoong that Yunho was a pretty great guy, offering his help when he really didn’t have to. And Hongjoong himself was pretty outgoing and popular among students, he was already on his second year and was always pretty vocal in and outside of class, so he knew most people in his own major at the very least compared to Yunho that was still getting a feel for the college life.

Soon one was inviting the other to parties, doing their class projects together and taking coffee breaks and library overnights alone was unthinkable now. Hongjoong followed suit on requesting for a place at the school dorms and entered the waiting list as Yunho had earlier.

They didn't get any updates till the next semester, but it gave them time to enjoy frequent train rides together and bonding over the problems they had with such a long commute and shady neighborhood. To their surprise, and Yunho’s recurring luck, they became roommates when they got accepted into the college dorms, and helped each other move during the break.

Since he started his first year he was having a hard time. Yunho was a very social guy, loved to party and hang out with friends as often as he could. He thrived when surrounded by good emotions, so he always did his best to incite the best of feelings on whoever he was around and avoided awkward and serious situation meticulously.

When he moved it got tough. Everything started piling up almost immediately, the school work, the part time job he got, the long commutes and the fact that he didn't know anyone nor felt like he had the time to try and have a social life. It was all suffocating his extroverted self that suddenly only had the negativity surrounding him to focus on.

However the events that lead to them getting closer, while borderline traumatic, started a chain of overall positive events for both them. Yunho mused if luck really was part of his power, something he considered often.

It was hard to prove luck though, so he could only wonder. It seemed that every time his life was starting to dip down into a low phase it suddenly did a one eighty with a seemingly random event causing everything to magically work out in his favor.

If it wasn't a superpower then at the very least fate had taken a liking to him and for that he was grateful.

✧

The Cardinal's attack didn't stop, if anything they got even more frequent. The news was mostly filled with his big displays of power. It was very clear that his first focus was to affect public moral and he was succeeding.

His second order of business seemed to be to punish criminals that escaped their trials unscathed. He had the power to make them confess and their crimes were usually enough to make the people completely unsympathetic.

With that he started gaining a small following online, again planting the discourse of morality into modern society as they know. Was he a solution to the inefficient system that left those monsters free? Can you even consider a forced confession as a fact? Yunho was sure that it was as unconstitutional as it could get, but in his worse cases he could see the merit in his actions.

Hongjoong couldn't. The whole attitude of the vigilante sparked anger in him, so much that Yunho avoided watching the news with him in the room and stored painkillers for the headache he'd get from the intense emotional push.

The villain was building an reign based on fear and he hated everyone's attention on that. But Yunho could see past it most of the time. He had the feeling the news were censoring a big part of what he must be doing, with lots of cuts and edits over any footage. What was posted online was biased towards The Cardinal's grandiose acts, usually promoted by the man himself.

However you can't edit out what you don't even know is there. Yunho's eyes always followed the big guy running around these incidents. The camera never followed him so the focus always sucked, and most of the time he was mainly orbiting around The Cardinal himself and exits like a bodyguard watching over for any trouble.

So it stood out the times he was moving. He was always looking for something. Yunho never got a glimpse of what it was, but they had an end goal and it worried him how he was the only one seeing it.

#ateez #ateez fanfic #ateez fanfiction #ateez au #superhero au #kpop superhero au #my writing #SleepyFairyAO3 #long #long post #youseissi

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comicteaparty · 4 years

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March 21st-March 27th, 2020 Creator Babble Archive

The archive for the Creator Babble chat that occurred from March 21st, 2020 to March 27th, 2020. The chat focused on the following question:

What are some background details you know about your story that won’t ever actually come up in the main narrative?

Cronaj (Whispers of the Past)

Oh boy... So many in Whispers of the Past... The first—which I believe I've mentioned before—is that some of the characters' sexualities never really get brought up outside of some subtle subtext. For example, Ryukou is asexual aromantic, but he is married, and he honestly doesn't even know that being aroace is a thing. His wife, Maya, is bisexual, and her attraction to women is hinted at, but not explicitly said. The second background detail that will likely never make it into the main narrative is Kelan's grief after SPOILER the death of his wife. END SPOILER The story takes place years after this event, and yet he still hasn't completely recovered. That being said, it just never really comes up in the narrative, again, outside of subtext. Thirdly, Izrekiel actually has a dependency on physical contact and skinship, because of the lack of affection he was given as a child. This, once again, only really comes up in subtext and is hinted at through his actions, but it is never explained. Aaaaand finally, there is a lot of magical lore that is never explained even remotely. In the story, it is treated very much like a soft magic system, but there are some "harder" elements that go into explaining why certain things have happened, but... they are not actually explained in the story. More like... I know about them, and I can explain these things to anyone who cares to ask (edited)

Capitania do Azar

Oh I suppose that in https://www.sarilho.net/en/ I'm never gonna go in detail about the geopolitics, the different power structures or even how the main empire is structured. We may get hints at it, but it's not necessary for the story so I don't think I'm gonna include much. Details about characters' sexualities are prolly just gonna be hinted at mainly because they don't have the words to express them the same way we do Also I really care about the differences between the different languages and particularly between the spoken and written versions of these, but I can't find a way to have a character explain those just because so you'll have to figure it out through background information like posters and graffiti

sagaholmgaard

Ohh this prompt came at the right time because it's been on my mind lately!! In Reclaim, https://tapas.io/series/_Reclaim_ My two main characters, Albus and Styrka, are in a queerplatonic relationship, which they don't have the word for and it doesn't ever come up except in subtext. I'm trying to write them so that it really shows that they love each other, and everyone knows this, but there won't be a point were they "get together" so to speak because they already have everything they want between each other! And I'm very Soft for this but also nervous that when the story is finished people might feel let down that it doesn't end up in straight up romance? if that makes sense And there's a lot of history research I did that is contextually there but not mentioned in words. That's just one of those things where my knowledge is deeper than what shows in the comic, but I think the story is better for it :D (It's not historic fiction because I'm taking a lot of liberties, but the research is helpful all the same)

chalcara [Nyx+Nyssa]

One of the paladin/church knight's gay, but it never comes up, because, you know, marriage in their world's decided by the parents, because it's a matter of inheritance and heirs not love. He's married, and actually decent friends with his wife and children, but he's taking his oaths seriously. So he never even mentions the people's he's attracted too.

There are openly gay couples in the story, it just didn't work out for him; his family needed that alliance.

LadyLazuli (Phantomarine)

In Phantomarine (http://www.phantomarine.com/) I have two gods that drive the entire story. But seven other gods existed at one point in time. I will be delving into at least two other gods’ stories - as a good background for why the remaining two are in such a tumultuous relationship - but there are five others that I don’t really plan on writing about in great detail. Their symbols and names may pop up in various texts/decorations/etc, but there’s not enough time for a super detailed character study of each. Perfect for side stories, though

mariah (rainy day dreams)

Rainy Day Dreams (http://rainydaydreams.mariahcurrey.com/) takes place in an alternate dimension and the plot deals mostly with interdimensional travelers, but the world is post first interstellar contact also. Only the story isn't a sci-fi so there's no real reason to talk about how robust their space program is and there are already monsters so there's no easy way to tell who's a native and who's and alien.

eli [a winged tale]

Whoa Mariah that sounds fun! I love how everyone’s worlds are complex and in depth and there are clues within the story

Would these details be part of another project/side stories/lorebook? What’s everyone’s plans for these secrets

Cronaj (Whispers of the Past)

My secrets are basically just stewing in my brain I mean, I guess if a reader ever asked, I'd spill all the secrets, but so far, that hasn't happened.

Tuyetnhi (OIYD!)

same lmao

I guess a background detail the comic won't get into is how the imagery in Cara's dream became promiment before her dream boyfriend came to the picture. I did wrote a prequel where she was having dreams of her late grandma who's stories got super visual in her head. Most of the events she told to Cara were from late 70's Vietnam.(edited)

some of those dreams and nightmares were partly inspired from my parent's part growing up in the time, such as my dad encountering a ghoulish corpse with his grandpa and my mom actually building things from a hut in the jungle

so yeah lmao. ghost story dreams

eli [a winged tale]

Mariah I’m curious about non-scifi parallel universe space program alien monsters are they more the reasoning for how the story exists but you won’t be going into depth with them? (Ie not a plot twisty thing?)

Ghost story dreams and parallel places in real life sound like a good atmosphere/mood element in your story!

Tuyetnhi (OIYD!)

yeah lmao. I wasn't sure how to add it but Cara does mention about her grandma's story in future chapters (if my hands let me draw faster lolol). but as a small tibit. Maybe I'll sit down and write more as a side story lol

eli [a winged tale]

Side stories sound like a great way to showcase more of the world

Tuyetnhi (OIYD!)

I'll consider it lolol

mariah (rainy day dreams)

They're just kind of an additional details that I came up with while thinking about the world. The planet itself I decided a long time ago is Eart but like 100,000 years in the future so the tectonic plates have shifted and the continents are different. The setting is kind of a mix of old-timey and futuristic, but also mixed with magic so the lines between what is technology and what's just supernatural are already pretty blurred. So since it's already sort of a futuristic society I thought it would just be a neat addition to also have had aliens either have shown up or been discovered. I also figured that since the world is super used to inter-dimensional travelers they probably wouldn't be super freaked out to life from off-planet since they already know they aren't alone in the multi-verse? X'D but this stuff really doesn't have any baring on the main story. Like it might be something Mara tells Tristin as some point to blow her human mind. I just like to dig into little setting corners and make tunnels readers probably won't ever see X)

eli [a winged tale]

Ooh that sounds really neat! A big world to discover for the attentive readers

DanitheCarutor

Oh I got some stuff! 1. Part of this can be spoilers for future scenes, so I'm putting it behind a thing. SPOILER Apollo's origin. He was adopted and while at some point him and Julian discuss his parents briefly, it never really comes up in the main narrative. Apollo himself doesn't really care much since he was adopted as a baby and doesn't even know who they are outside of a picture that was given to him as a kid. Essentially they were an Irish couple who moved to the states, the father died at some point and the mother followed close behind during childbirth. There weren't any known relatives, at least ones that wanted to him, so Apollo went into the system and was lucky enough to be adopted almost immediately. END SPOILER 2. Julian's origin. This is kind of brought up briefly later on, but Julian doesn't really know where they're from so nothing much comes of it outside of remembering small bits of how their life was before being found. Although it is eluded to what the situation possibly could have been. 3. Julian's real age and date of birth. Since they didn't have any kind of ID the doctors had to guess their age, which isn't an important detail for the story so I don't see a point in adding it. 4. The details of what happened at Hopeful Hands. This place is discussed a lot, but the talk is more about the trauma that was inflicted and how to move on, rather than lingering on the details. Although enough of what happened is brought up to get a good picture of what kind of place it is/was. I figured laying it all out would be a little too much, and would take away from the main point of the story. 5. The lives of Apollo's friends. There are a couple side character who get fleshed out a bit later on, but since the story isn't about them I didn't see a need in showing more than what is necessary.

snuffysam (Super Galaxy Knights)

Hmm... there's certainly quite a few things that don't show up in the main narrative. Like Super Galaxy Knights Deluxe R is very much the Mizuki show, very few other characters get deep explorations into their backstories. But, like, that's what the short stories are for. As for things that never show up in the series at all... the only ones I can think of are the history of the world (because, like, it's pretty boring) and the specifics of how certain technology works. Like, I have a list of people & companies that various locations in the series were named after, and a list of the dynasties in the Giduli Kingdom. There's... not really any interesting stories there, it's just a dry list, so it's not something really worth caring about. And, like, saying "FTL travel in this world works by traveling to a parallel universe where everything is exactly the same except half as big" is kinda interesting I guess... but there's no reason for any character to mention it, and that specific detail really isn't relevant to the story besides "there is FTL travel in this world".

Feather J. Fern

Oh man, for Teasday, any detail about what the actual background of the story is. It's mostly character driven, if the characters don't care, or don't know, they don't talk about it. For Go Figure, I think no one is going to be told anything about the other battles in the past but they did happen.

sssfrs (JOE IS DEAD)

There are so many stories I have built into the backstories of various characters that probably won't come up in the main work but have thought about making other adjacent comics about. For example I could imagine doing a prequel type thing about Joe's life & exploits

Since he is a cool character but unfortunately dead for this entire story

AntiBunny

In AntiBunny, http://AntiBunny.net/ I can't think of any reason to bring up the fact that Runo is asexual. Juju is also bisexual, and that also never comes up.

Desnik

Right now it's the warlock's magic system. I got it all worked out and then it suddenly had nothing to do with my plot.

Erin Ptah (BICP | Leif & Thorn)

I think sexuality details are easier to work in than a lot of people expect. You don't need a character to stand up and announce Have I Mentioned That I Am Asexual Today -- it can be an offhand mention that not all your readers will even pick up on. (But the ones who are looking for it will notice.) https://leifandthorn.com/comic/family-deserts-4-33/

What I've teased but never been able to work into Leif & Thorn canon (yet?) are the details of the World's Largest Cheese Sculpture.

There's also a lot of country names and flags in the bank that haven't shown up yet...but I'm about to draw scenes from a big international song competition, so I'm probably gonna need even more than I already have.

keii’ii (Heart of Keol)

TBH as an ace person, I don't really pick up on these things. It has to be more concrete for me. Kudos for those who do pick up on them and find them validating, though.

The cheese sculpture sounds epic.

Erin Ptah (BICP | Leif & Thorn)

Ahhh, that's what "reading the comments section to check out other people's theories" is for!

keii’ii (Heart of Keol)

I do that, but I don't consider that canon until the actual comic convinces me

It's also not something we creators can rely on, especially those of us who don't get many comments...

I'm not saying this is bad. Offhand mentions are great, just not concrete proof for everybody (and nothing is for everybody, sooooo).

Erin Ptah (BICP | Leif & Thorn)

Yeah, as a reader I like a lot of comics that don't get many comments...but it's cool when they do and there are people coming up with things.

keii’ii (Heart of Keol)

So I get it if a fellow creator finds it difficult to show that a character is ace -- like, maybe they're like me and they want Concrete Proof rather than an indication.

Erin Ptah (BICP | Leif & Thorn)

But the creator would already have concrete proof, right? Since it's their character. And the idea is that, even if it won't reach all readers, the indications are still better than nothing.

keii’ii (Heart of Keol)

Yeah, like I said, they're not bad to have.

Erin Ptah (BICP | Leif & Thorn)

(for reference, the comic I linked above isn't the first offhand-mention related to that character, it's just the point when readers started putting it together)

keii’ii (Heart of Keol)

I'm not trying to dissuade anyone from slipping in those indications. Just saying different strokes for different folks.

DanitheCarutor

Reminds me of a comic I read called 'WANDERING' (https://tapas.io/series/wandern), the main male character in it is ace, although this is never stated out right in the story. At some point readers were speculating about his sexuality due to some hints, although I was totally oblivious. Didn't have any idea where the discussion came from. I do agree that a reader is more likely to pick up on something if they're looking for it though, as someone who doesn't care too much about a character's sexuality and gender (when those subjects aren't important to the story) I don't pick up on then unless the author holds my hand a little. Although when it comes to one of my character's genders it's never stated in my comic either, someone just asks about pronouns and attire later on and that's it. Kind of ironic. Lol

keii’ii (Heart of Keol)

I'm in a similar boat. Most of my characters' orientations are left ambiguous. I may need to drop an additional hint or two for some of them...

DanitheCarutor

Pfff right? I don't think my comic even had the word 'gay' in it until a few pages ago and I'm already into chapter 5. (to be fair, Apollo's sexuality is pretty obvious. The hits are really unsubtle.) I've thought about making my character's gender more easy to read for oblivious people like me, but that part of the comic is more about what makes them feel good in their own skin rather than putting a title to it. So people who miss my Twitter posts and author's comments can just speculate for themselves, I guess.

keii’ii (Heart of Keol)

I can respect that. For me, a big part of the reason I'm wanting to put more hints is because I don't want people to accuse me of.... what people accused Legend of Korra about (I didn't watch it, but I did see some of those complaints)

Cronaj (Whispers of the Past)

Ah... The good ol' "why is she randomly bi?"

They didn't do a good job of showing it throughout the series up until that point at the end

But, big but, the creators mentioned that she was always intended to be bi, but they were afraid that Nickelodeon wouldn't let them represent a bi character on TV.(edited)

keii’ii (Heart of Keol)

Again, coming from someone who hasn't watched it, I feel like the complaint should be "why is she suddenly in love" rather than "why is she suddenly bi" -- same issue with shoehorned in straight romance

Cronaj (Whispers of the Past)

That too

These characters were fighting over the same man at some point

keii’ii (Heart of Keol)

big shrug indeed, it sounds like

DanitheCarutor

Oooh! I thought it was the "stop the show to announce my gender/sexuality" thing. I never saw the show either and didn't see many of the complaints since I don't hang out on social media very often. Lol @keii’ii (Heart of Keol) That's understandable! With how stuff like that is nowadays it's better to be safe and make sure readers know, rather than not make it known till the last possible minute. It does kind of suck if putting in bigger hints doesn't mesh with will your story though.

Gosh, about the Korra thing, they could have dropped some subtle pick up lines in while fighting over the dude. But not wanting your show to get pulled or not wanting to be denied stuff is understandable.

Tuyetnhi (OIYD!)

oh yeah, the LoK convos about Korra and Asami. I watched the show during that time and it's just rip

Nick said to the creators they will pull the show if there's an explict statement that Kora and Asami being BI

so they had to be lowkey as hell in the end, which at the time of 2013-2014? idk the year

it was a steping stone for american cartoons I guess rip

keii’ii (Heart of Keol)

Yeah, and even though LoK aired back when things were a little different.... honestly I still feel that kinda pressure from EVERY angle, just a different flavor of it.

Tuyetnhi (OIYD!)

yea

DanitheCarutor

Well, last minute LGBT+ is better than none. Now there are a few shows like that, right? SU is super into it? (I don't watch this show either so I'm guessing based on fan discussion) and the MLP final dropped in some last minute stuff.

keii’ii (Heart of Keol)

I have at least one character with cross orientation, and that's really awkward to show when I don't wanna put any... sex in the comic. (It's got lots of juvenile "tee hee butts" kinda stuff, but nothing steamy)

AntiBunny

Other tidbits I've thought of that I couldn't really address without just dropping a big exposition bomb are bits of lagosapien biology. They for instance have a shorter adolescence than humans, so they're shorter, but reach adulthood sooner. Their eyes are a bit wider than a human's, giving them a wider field of view, but less depth perception, and that they have higher muscular density, but being about half the size are on average human, are a little weaker than an adult human.

eli [a winged tale]

I know some webcomics have world lores and character notes at the end of each chapter

mathtans

Oh, things that don't show up? Randomly I'll toss in here that Expona is left handed. (Mostly consistently, I may have slipped up in the art once or twice.) Never something that makes sense for characters to talk about though, and not plot relevant, so... does that qualify? I dunno.

Joichi / Sarah

@Erin Ptah (BICP | Leif & Thorn) sorry I'm late but I like the way you point out about asexuality. I was thinking of how to show concrete proof one's ace. But most of the time, I can pick up 'emotional signs' if it has inner monologue about romance.

The hard part of it, is being one myself, and it's always 'been like this' but in comic, it has to be said somewhere

Erin Ptah (BICP | Leif & Thorn)

Ah, good to hear!

Erin Ptah (BICP | Leif & Thorn)

And yeah, that was my intention, encouraging people who feel stuck between "explicit announcement" or "nothing at all" to remember that you have in-between options. And if you take that approach, there's all kinds of creative/offbeat/fun things you can do with it.

(Applies to everything else, too, sexual orientation just happens to be the thing people were talking about when it came up.)

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