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neriad13 · 3 years

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Favorite Media of 2020!

There was a large swathe of this year during which I was unable to concentrate on reading (as there probably was for a lot of other typically-frequent readers), so, as a result, I ended up listening to way more podcasts and watching way more TV shows. Not a bad thing, but boy did I read way less books than usual.

However, for the first time in a while, the amount of fiction I read was about equal with the amount of nonfiction I read. Last year’s reading resolution was to read more fiction, so...success??

I did read a lot of phenomenal fiction when I had the energy to do so this year.

Books - Fiction

The Martian - Andy Weir

This book is the hardest of the hard sci fi I think I’ve ever read. Every single aspect of it is minutely researched and calculated. The author literally wrote equations to write this book. The science is insanely impressive and yet...it never loses its sense of humor or humanity in the mix. In fact, they’re the thing that drives the entire story.

Warlock Holmes - G. S. Denning

Way early in the year I was strolling down the fantasy aisle at the library, when this cover caught my eye. I took one look at it, went “oh, this looks silly” and...proceeded to devour the entire series in a matter of weeks.

It is very silly. Especially when it’s pointing out something that was silly in the original. There’s something so satisfying about Watson immediately answering Holmes with the correct number of steps in their flat when he’s trying to make his point about how most people don’t pay attention to things like that.

World War Z - Max Brooks

Every single scenario in here could easily support an entire book. A park ranger whose job it is to contain the yearly zombie spring thaw? HECK YES. I’d read tens of thousands of words about that. A Chinese admiral who defaults, steals the government’s premier submarine, loads it up with the families of his underlings and takes to the sea for years to live in the maritime economy that has sprung up in a world where everyone is trying to escape the shore? That could be an entire movie on its own.

Every chapter was more creative than the last and as a huge worldbuilding fan, this book was so, so fun.

An Unkindness of Ghosts - Rivers Solomon

In which a queer, neurodivergent protagonist solves a mystery on a spaceship which is a microcosm of antebellum era politics! This had a beautiful, mysterious, wonder-inducing writing style and it was a joy to peer into the wildly differing minds of every single character.

Books - Nonfiction

Underland - Robert MacFarlane

In every chapter, the author visits a different hole. Basically.

It’s an exploration of caves, catacombs, mines, nuclear waste facilities and the hidden underbelly of every forest. It was fascinating. And fundamentally changed how I look at time.

Rejected Princesses - Jason Porath

After years of having enjoyed the web entries, I finally got my hands on the first book and was not disappointed.

There are the more entertaining entries, of course and the art is as charming as always, but what struck me the most were the more difficult stories. The deeper you go into this book, the more horrific it gets. The author does not hold back on the indignities suffered by the historical figures he writes about. It’s terrible...but also very, very illuminating.

The Gift of Fear - Gavin De Becker

This book - while maintaining all the essential information in it - could be pared down to one sentence in a sea of blank pages and that sentence would be: trust your instincts. End of story.

But in a world where instincts are either customarily suppressed or going haywire, it’s not quite that easy, which is why I’m glad there is more to the book.

I picked it up thinking “ha ha, betcha can’t help a person with anxiety who fears all the time already” and...what it actually ended up doing was giving me the tools to differentiate between real fear and unfounded fear. And did help with the anxiety quite a bit.

Fanfiction

Watch Over Me - cakeisatruth

A Bioshock fic from the point of view of a little sister who is learning how to trust and be an ordinary child again. Dark and sweet. An excellent combo.

All That is Visible - Ultima_Thule

An exploration of a minor character in a well researched historical context? That’s my jam! How did they know?? A Tron fic about what it’s like to be a female programmer in the 70s.

Graphic Novels

The Adventure Zone - McElroys + Carey Pietsch

Yesssssssss! It was a running-to-the-library type event whenever my library got a new volume in. The jokes are so good, the art is so lively and the ways in which they added the details that the podcast couldn’t necessarily get across is *mwah*

Trail of Blood - Shuuzou Oshimi

Hoooooooly shit, the art style of this one!! It’s beautifully detailed and expressive, sure, but the real draw for me was how it changes with the emotional state of the main character. There’s this sequence in which he’s consumed with anxiety at school and all of his classmates become blurry and unfocused, until they can’t be recognized as humans at all, that particularly sticks with me.

It’s a horror story about a kid who witnesses his loving mother push his cousin off a cliff for seemingly no reason and is then obligated by her to keep the secret, which is eating him from the inside out. It’s so good, guys, please read it.

Level Up - Gene Lien Yang/Thien Pham

A story about a kid who is haunted by his late father’s desire for him to become a gastroenterologist. It’s funny and touching and the ending gave me what I can only describe as a feeling of exhilaration. Y’know that feeling when something unexpected but not out of left field, perfectly in tune with the narrative arc and gut bustingly funny happens, all in the same panel? That one.

Film

Searching

This is a fairly standard thriller about a dad trying to find out what happened to his missing daughter. It’s also found footage...but not in the usual way, which was what made it so compelling to me. It’s told through the dad’s phone calls, google searches, social media interactions, news footage, security cameras and webcams. It was such a cool way to tell a story.

Train to Busan

There’s a lot that’s already been said about this movie and I don’t think there’s much more I can meaningfully add to that. Suffice to say that ya gotta take care of each other if you’re going to survive a zombie apocalypse!!

TV Series

My Brother’s Husband

As close to a perfect adaptation as a person can get (barring the entire conversation in English which was...oof). I was so happy when they took it a step further and showed Kana and Yaichi actually getting to meet Mike’s family.

Zumbo’s Just Desserts

I watched a lot of baking shows this year. Like...a lot. They were my much-needed comfort viewing for the year and this one was my favorite, even over The Great British Baking Show (which I LOVE). Why? Because the pastry chef for whom it’s named makes such bizarre and wonderful desserts and fosters an environment in which the competitors do the same. I’ve never seen anything like a lot of the desserts that make an appearance on this show. Every single episode was an awesome surprise and so help me, this show had better get a third season.

She-ra and the Princesses of Power

There’s also a lot that’s been said about this one, so I won’t say much more. Suffice to say: DAMN. That’s how you do an 80s toy tie-in cartoon remake.

Infinity Train

This show’s premise is probably the most unique I’ve seen in recent years. Its balance of comedy, horror and existential dread is also *mwah* I also love how much it trusts the viewer to figure things out on their own.

Primal

A late entry sliding in before the year ends! I finally got to watch the second half of the first season last weekend and it was EXCELLENT. The pacing, the brutal fight scenes, the adorable dinosaur antics, the animation, the quiet moments - *mwah-mwah-mwah-mwah-mwah*

The most emotional moment for me was the part in which the protagonists watch, with sorrow, as the rabid dinosaur who’s been trying to kill them all night dies an excruciating death.

Also it sets up a fascinating new plotline right before ending in a cliffhanger!! Another one for the ‘had better get a next season’ list.

Games

Night in the Woods

This is one that’s been on my to play list for a few years and I was so glad I finally got my hands on it. It’s like...The Millennial Experience (TM), the game. I felt so seen, playing it. The character writing was fantastic.

Prey

I don’t know why I put off finishing this for so long. I guess I wasn’t in the right alien killing headspace for a while?? Anyway, the setting is gorgeous, the alien biology is weird and cool, the ethics are delightfully murky and the interconnectedness of the station was really cool, especially in the OH SHIT moments at the end.

Podcasts

The Adventure Zone

I tried to narrow this down to one favorite arc, but found that I couldn’t do it. I love Balance for its comedy and creative energy. I love Amnesty for its drama and acting. I am loving Graduation for the depth of its world and the way in which the real story behind everything that’s happened is slowly unfurling. It’s a good podcast all around.

The Magnus Archives

Who obsessively listened to every single season while playing Minecraft in about a month? Surely not me, nooooo. Of course not.

There’s also been a lot said on this one, so I’ll keep it brief. I’ve seen things in here that I haven’t really seen elsewhere in horror. My particular favorites were the creepy psychiatric hospital in which the horror comes not from the patients, but from the denial of the doctor to believe them about their mental illnesses and every single thing related to the Anthropocene. The one with the Amazonian village made out of trash - CHILLS.

#tma #taz #prey 2017 #night in the woods #infinity train #warlock holmes #she-ra #zumbo's just desserts #a thought

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oveliagirlhaditright · 5 years

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So... I’m a few days late for this, and I apologize. I was busy making birthday presents for the best friend and lost track of time.

And if people can’t use this because it’s late, they of course don’t have to. But...

This is what KH means to me... My thank you to the KH team...

I would have loved to write something for them, but I don’t know if they’d be big on getting fanfiction for their own work. I also could have done a digital manipulation or gmv for them... But IDK. Maybe them getting their own work back to them in a fan-edited way wouldn’t seem good at all? Because you didn’t do most of the work there. They did. You just edited it. And maybe you even edited in a way they wouldn’t approve of, and they see your work as copyright infringement?

So that leaves drawing, but I’m not the best drawer yet...

So screw it. I’m just going to write an essay about what this series has meant to me, the last seventeen years.

(Warning. This will be long. And probably emotional.)

Where do I even begin... I discovered this series when I was nine-years-old, right after the first game had come out. And seeing the advertisements for it on Disney channel made me want to have it so very badly.

I actually didn’t have a PS2 at the time... And while my sister and I did want other games alongside KH, yes, it was mainly for KH that we wanted a Playstation 2... So we begged our parents for one for Christmas, and they were gracious enough to get us one and quite a few games... and, of course, Kingdom Hearts with them.

We actually didn’t start with that one, though (even though I wanted to). My sister wanted to somewhat save the best for last, I guess... And when we did finally end up playing it, I had actually caught a bit of a cold (and it was only the promise that we’d finally play Kingdom Hearts, that day that got me to game. Even though I had been every day before, and had enjoyed all the other games--don’t get me wrong--but I was feeling that crappy, and it took the incentive of Kingdom Hearts to get me to agree).

And to say that I fell in love with it from the get-go would be an understatement. The opening cinematic pulled me in, it’s true (and already, I could tell this was different from the other games based on movies that I’d played), but it was mainly the Dive to the Heart section that really captured me (and made me forget my illness). That atmosphere still gives me chills and wonder, and calls me back to give it a go again years and years later. And I’m glad something like it has been included in games since, like in KHII, KHIII, Re:Coded, and what have you.

I was nine... So I stumbled my way through a lot of this game--and I mean stumbled--I had no idea what I was doing most of the time. In the fights, a lot of the ways I’d let Donald and Goofy do all of the work... and it took me a whole month to find Maleficent in Hollow Bastion. But I did end up beating the game, and understanding all of it.

I also ended up getting deep thoughts about it--as it is a mystery series that leaves you thinking--and I know I used to annoy people by talking about it. Haha. But this series got me thinking in a way that nothing else had... And that I honestly don’t know if most other kids my age could have... at least without something like this in their lives.

At this point, the series owned my soul. It touched me more than any other piece of media ever had, and ever will--and I’d had plenty pieces of media I really liked back then, such as Sailor Moon and yet they didn’t even come close. And while I’d shipped other couples before, such as Usagi and Mamoru from Sailor Moon, Sora and Kairi was the first one where I really felt like “These two have to be together”--and my life became about waiting for the next game (it still very much is, as sad as that might be to say).

I remember I would go to the store, and often times ask people who worked in the game section if they knew anything about a Kingdom Hearts II (this was before I had the Internet), and I recall being really sad one time when one of the workers told me maybe there never would be. LOL And to be clear, this was the time even before Chain of Memories.

Eventually, I saw Chain of Memories advertised on Cartoon Network and then begged my parents for a Game Boy Advance, so I could play this sequel. And for the Christmas that year, they complied as well (gosh, I have the best parents in the world). But I was saddened when I realized I couldn’t really play it with my sister (and her best friend) who I’d played the first game with. So my sister just told me to play it, and then tell her everything that happened. Which I did... With notes, and everything. Oh, yeah. I kept notes on KHI, CoM, and KHII, I think. I was that level of crazy (in a good way!).

Around this time, I was also subscribed to Disney magazines... And when I eventually got one that had Kingdom Hearts II in it: the one that revealed Sora’s new outfit as Beast’s Castle as a world--the first I’d ever heard of it, and the first I realized that Chain of Memories wasn’t the “true sequel” (as much as I did like Chain of Memories, I was glad to hear this. And even moreso that it was coming back to consoles, so I could experience it with my sister and her best friend again), I legitimately screamed so loud, you don’t even know. It’s a good thing I was home alone that day... And screaming about anything Kingdom Hearts related has pretty much become a trend of mine. Oops.

...So then I ended up pre-ordering Kingdom Hearts II from GameStop, with all of the cool things that came with that (like the special edition strategy guide that had four different covers, based on Sora’s Drive Forms. I have the Valor/Brave Form one), and I asked my mom to pick it up for me while I was at school so I could come home the day it came out and immediately start playing it. It came out near the beginning of that year’s spring break, and I beat the whole game in that time... You couldn’t have pulled me away from my Playstation 2 that break if you had tried.

I also know that I tried out for my school’s show choir the time that Kingdom Hearts II had just come out... Something I really should have cared about, but I didn’t as much as I could’ve... And while my mom had gotten busy talking to someone, waiting for me to come back from my audition, when I got back and she was still talking to them... I sort of wanted her to hurry along, so I could get back to my game... Something I think my mom even admitted to that person (but in as nice a way as possible)... Oh my gosh.

I also know that one day, I was thinking about KHII in class--I’d left off on the half-way mark of the game, with the 1000 Heartless battle and all that--so it was heavy on my mind... Our teacher was asking us about our weekends, and someone else in class started talking about how they started playing Kingdom Hearts II, and I gasped loudly--to which everyone stared--and I said that I had the game, too, and loved it... My teacher then said that was the most emotion they’d ever gotten out of me.

Ahahahahaha. I have many other embarrassing stories that I could admit with this series--particularly with KHII, and I have on past accounts--but you know what? I’m going to save myself some humiliation and keep them to myself.

But KH... It means the world to me. How can it not? It’s been a constant joy in my life for so many years: That’s been with me through just a little before my double-digit years, all of my teens, and into my adulthood.

I’ve made many friends through this series, too, either by convincing my friends to give it a try or making friends with people I know love the saga.

It’s a constant light for me, and always has been, that reminds me of my childhood (for so many reasons. The Disney for sure being one of them) and simpler times: And that there always is a light at the end of the tunnel...

In fact, the KH characters even feel like friends I’ve had for a long time--that I can always count on--and who I’m always happy to see.

And even now, that feeling hasn’t faded away (it probably never will). Since the way I reacted to KHIII, is pretty much the way I did KHII: Even fourteen years later, and as an adult now.

Kingdom Hearts even introduced me to all the things I love. I found YouTube--after I finally got Internet--when a friend told me I could watch the Kingdom Hearts II secret ending there, as I hadn’t unlocked it myself (and since I had doubts in myself as a gamer back then, I wasn’t sure that I could. Even though I had unlocked the one for the first game. And did eventually do so for the second game... and all of them, except for KHIIFM so far). And YouTube, amvs (a lot of them for KH) is how I found my love for video editing.

And moreover, I’m a writer. And it was in Googling stuff about Sora and Kairi that I eventually discovered fanfiction (that I actually, stupidly, thought was official stuff by the actual writers at first, because I found fanfiction on sites that weren’t called that), and through that started it myself and honed my writing skills. My writing style is probably even inspired by KH, in a lot of ways--like how I handle mystery and when I deliver information to the reader, and all.

KH also did simpler things, like getting me into other Square Enix games (Final Fantasy, The World Ends With You, Bravely Default), and gaming in general.

I wouldn’t be the person I am today without Kingdom Hearts, and that’s just the facts.

I’ve even bonded over it with my dad. My dad doesn’t know the series at all, God bless him, but he’s always willing to talk to me about it and ask me questions since he knows I love it so much. He always asks me when the next game’s coming out. Or if he knows one’s coming out, he’s aware of how happy that must have made me... Or if I’m playing it around him, and he hears a long song begin to play, he knows I must have beaten it. He also went to the Kingdom Hearts Orchestra with me:D

My mom also knows the series through me. A bit more than my dad, since she used to come up and watch us play it some (my dad also did a few times). But I felt it’s more fitting to mention my dad here, since he actually knows it less... And still admirably does this stuff, and is still this in the know about how much it means to me.

...I’ve admitted this before (like in an official survey to Square Enix)--even though I don’t like to, for obvious and personal reasons (and this is for sure something my parents don’t know and never should)--that in really rare, dark times of mine... Kingdom Hearts has saved me from suicide: Those times that I struggle with depression, and felt like I really had nothing else to live for... And yet wanting to be alive to finally see the end of Sora's story, drove me to give life another chance.

And I don’t really think I can say much more than that, or go deeper, to express just what this franchise is to me.

So Kingdom Hearts team... from the bottom of my heart, thank you for everything.

#thank you kh team

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directorscutandsomeotherstuff · 7 years

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Jessie, City Of.

(I am vengeance... I am the night... actually, I’m neither of those things. This is Director’s Cut, the segment where we take old fanfictions from way back in the day, descend on them with our parachute capes, and take them out with kung fu and stuff because we’re soooo cool, you guys. And speaking of capes, let’s talk Batman.)

(I have boring tastes in comic book superheroes, in that I gravitate towards the one guy in the super team who has no powers to speak of. And the reason why isn’t really all that complicated: it all sort of boils down to what makes for compelling conflict. When Johnny Nobody finds himself face to face with Captain Burnyourface, and his standard tactic of giving his enemy a quick kick in the nuts fails him, he’s gotta find some other way of coming out on top, possibly by using his big boy superhero brain to solve the problem with problem solving. When Punchguy finds himself face to face with The Iron Septum, who thwarts his usual tack of punching guys in the nose, Punchguy’s usual answer to that problem boils down to “punch him in the nose again, but this time a little more.” Or he’ll use his big boy superhero brain to make it easier, for when he eventually gets around to punching him in the nose again. Either way, if Punchguy goes an issue without punching a guy, the writers go on strike.)

(All this torturous oversimplification of what is surely somebody else’s wheelhouse aside, Batman’s pretty popular. Obviously. Which leads us to tonight’s offering by an author by the name of The Raven Dark Angel. No, I did not just pull four random words off of the Evanescence discography, and I’m insulted you’d think that. Their entry into the venerable Batman series is called Jessie, City Of. I have no idea what that means. Let’s find out together, shall we?)

The usual disclaimer....enjoy this story. (The author disclaims all legal responsibility from you enjoying this story.) Reviews please...

Jessica and her father stood, side by side, on a rooftop, staring down at the glittering city of Gotham, keeping their silent vigil on the city. Father and daughter stood side by side. Vampire and Slayer stood side by side. (Cats and Dogs stood side by side. Tax accountants and Burlesque dancers stood side by side. Never before had Gotham seen such a display of side-standing solidarity.)

Angel cast a sidelong glance at his daughter, the only light of his life since Buffy Summers, the Vampire Slayer. (What?) His lover. (Wait... what?) Vividly, he could remember the scent of her hair, vanilla tinged with a light raspberry. Buffy had always smelt good. (Fuck. Hold on. I could have sworn this was filed under “Batman.” I wasn’t ready to talk about...) But now, she was gone, and Buffy had left him one reason to live on still. His daughter. Jessica Summers. (No, I checked. This is a Batman fanfic. I don’t...) His baby girl. The wind ruffled her silky blonde hair, tinged with the slightest bit of brown. Her duster flapped at her feet, like his had always done. (At least, like it had always done once he finally bought dusters that could be pushed around by the wind?)

Staring out into the horizon, Angel was pleasantly surprised that the city had changed. Drastically. Human technology had developed fast. Tall, modern buildings stood proud in the place of old ones. Hovercars and the like had taken place of normal cars. (Hover... so is this a Batman Beyond fic? Did Batman Beyond ever crossover with Buffy the Vampire...) Computers had taken place instead of books. But evil still lives on. The evil Jessie had to slay. To fight to the death with. And the battle between good and evil would go on, fighting endlessly for

eternity. (And now there’s awkward line breaks in the middle of sentences... what is happening?!) As the evil vampire Angelus, he had known what the evil ones felt, breaking down

the barrier between the Otherworld and the real world. He had reveled in the exquisite

beauty of chaos, the sweetness of pure, living, breathing, evil. His demonic side had sung

with joy as he had unleashed the vile evil to seep into the world. (Specifically, they sang fifties pop hits, the evilest and most demonic of all music.) And Buffy had killed him.

Shoved a sword to his abdomen and sent him straight to Hell to suffer. And suffer he did. He

had suffered in in fiery pits of Hell for five hundred Earth years, then, by some unseen

force, he had been sent back. (From Hell. Which he was sent to. By Buffy. With a sword. That she wielded. Ostensibly with her fingers...) Sent back to the world to be tormented yet again, this time,

in spirit. To have Buffy, and yet not to have her...for the love of Buffy, he would gladly

go to Hell for eternity. What was an eternity of Hell compared to a single precious moment

in her arms? (So, was Buffy a good girlfriend or what? She apparently killed you, so...)

But she had died, and part of his soul had gone with her to Paradise, to live there with

her forever. But his soul lived on. Buffy wasn't gone from his life. No. Not yet. Part of

her lived on in Angel. Her memories. Buffy's undying love for both him and their daughter. (WHY WAS THIS SUBMITTED AS A BATMAN FANFIC OH MY FUCKING GO-)

His undying love for his daughter. For Jessie, he thought, as he looked on at her almost

angelic face. I would kill. I would kill for her. Being a parent was like that. Being the

father of the Slayer was like that. (Particularly if the Slayer decided to bring home that no good neighborhood boy with the leather jacket and the beat up Camaro. Bad news, that one...) And in fact, Angel had killed for her. He had murdered

those who had tried to take her life. He had tortured those who had a part in taking away

her precious life. Now, he realized. Buffy's memories had stayed with him, but she was gone. (Buffy’s memories of grisly sword murder would forever paint Angel’s opinions on fatherhood, somehow. Despite the fact he was a demon who did evil things? Look, I’m sorry guys. I don’t know shit about Buffy, okay?)

But nothing had hurt more than a horrifying thought. The memories would fade. Slowly, but

surely.

A cold tear ran its way down his cheek. Jessie looked over, and saw it. Slipping her arm

into her father's cold one, she tugged at him gently. "Let's go home, dad."

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

Batman had caught sight of two people on a rooftop, not far from where he now stood. (Fuck! There! Good! Batman’s here. For a second, I thought I was going nuts.) One

was a blonde haired girl, and the other was a darkly handsome young man. (In fact, Batman thought, he was actually a bit of a hottie.) His advanced night

vision had told him that they both of them looked no older than twenty. Yet, the male stood

with a quiet confidence, both hands in his duster, gazing out into the city, as if guarding

the city. Although the man looked no older than him, the stance he had stood, the manner in

which he stared out, showed a long time of existence. (As everyone knows, you only learn to stand confidently with your hands in your pockets when you hit the age of thirty five and complete your bachelor’s degree in “Standing Around.”)

The girl, on the other hand, was no older than him, but she was dressed in a tight red

satin tank top and black miniskirt. (Which was unusual. Batman was used to seeing twenty something year old men wearing black miniskirts all the time.) A silver cross hung at her neck in choker style, and she

wore an almost identical black duster to the guy. Maybe they were an item or something, he

thought to himself.

"Gotta go," he said softly as he caught sight of a mugging near an alley. (The two love birds having a brood in his territory were really not all that important, in hindsight. Batman liked wasting time on patrol.)

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

That night, when Terry had finished his "patrol" of the city, (Holy crap, it is a Batman Beyond fanfiction! I guess the “usual disclaimer” includes a clause by default detailing the fact that the fanfic is a crossover Buffy/Batman Beyond situation. That’s the only reason I can think they didn’t bother mentioning that bit.) he entered Wayne Manor, a

house that he had come to know as his second home. Opening the door, he entered, almost

soundlessly. Antiques decorated the place, and yet, the room had seemed, alive or something. (Perhaps it was the spirit of the Necronomicon, Bruce Wayne’s most valuable antique, filling the place with the foreboding air that could only come from the colors out of space. Bruce called it a “conversation piece,” even though he never had guests over for whom conversation pieces would be necessary.)

Shaking his head, he entered the Batcave.

There was no sign of Bruce Wayne anywhere. He wasn't in his usual seat in front of the

Batcomputer. (Ever since Bruce downloaded The Sims on that thing, it’d been hard to get him out of the house.) Even Ace, the bloodhound who had made it perfectly clear that it didn't like

him whatsoever, wasn't there. The place was quiet.

Then, someone stepped out from the shadows. "Looking for Wayne?"

Whirling around, ready to fight, Terry demanded. "Who are you?"

The man had been the one that he had observed in the city earlier that evening, and Terry

was surprised that he had found the man there. At Bruce's place. And Bruce was missing. (Have I labored the point home, enough? I really need to drive the point home that a catastrophic security breach at a superhero’s secret base is serious business.)

"Where is Bruce?" Terry growled, worry and anger flashing in his eyes.

Before the handsome man could say anything, (with his devilishly handsome man lips,) Bruce hobbled down the staircase, flanked by

the girl he had seen. Behind them trailed Ace.

"Let go of my relative, McGinnis." Bruce's tone was sharp. Ace backed up his master's tone with a low growl.

Terry gasped in surprise. "He's your relative?"

The man smiled slightly, his soulful eyes gleaming gently. "Yeah."

The girl had taken off her duster and was now clad in only her top and skirt. Still, she looked fabulous. (Terry tried not to stare at the barefoot woman running around with no underwear.)

The girl shrugged. "And he's my father."

Terry gulped. "Father? But-"

"I'm a vampire." Angel told him. "Meet my daughter. Jessie."

Jessie shot Angel a pointed look, but said nothing.

Terry was stumped. He didn't know what to say. A vampire? A vampire-chick?

"You a vamp too, Jessie?" he asked, careful not to hurt her feelings. (Trust me on this, kids. Calling a young lady a “vamp” is a sure-fire way to not insult women or make unfortunate insinuations in any way whatsoever. Don’t even bother looking it up. Trust your Uncle DC.)

She shook her head. "Nope. Perfect human." She had conveniently left out the part that she was the Slayer. (Primarily because she was certain Terry wouldn’t understand a lick of this Slayer business.)

Bruce waved his hand to the computer and the Batcave. "Angel, I think you'd better stay

down here during the day. And Terry, Jessie's going to your school tomorrow."

Terry shrugged, his eyes locking with Jessie's for a moment. "Okay." A look passed between the Chosen One and the Dark Knight. Girl to boy. Then, she looked away.

"Um, Bruce, dad, I think I'd better go upstairs now. Given with the school and all." Jessie said.

Her father nodded, a faint smile on his lips. "Sweet dreams, honey."

Bruce turned to Terry. "Terry, go show our guest her room."

Terry turned to Jessie. "Come on, let's go."

As they reached the staircase of the Wayne Manor, Jessie caught sight of the large windows. "Hey," she said, stopping suddenly. "Wait."

Going over to the windows, she slowly opened it. The night breeze was refreshing as she

leaned outwards. A happy feeling rose in her, and she thought the better of it. She went up

to the ledge and sat on it.

"Hey, Terry," she said, combing her blonde hair back. "The wind's great here. Wanna join me?"

Amused, he crossed over to the girl's side. "You sure are different." (Now, see, that right there’s a diplomatic way to call a girl crazy, if ever there was one. And he thought calling a girl “vamp” was subtle, the silly little...)

She chuckled, her laugh as gentle as the breeze that caressed him. "Thanks for the compliment. I'm not like any other girl you know," she said, a little wistfully.

He raised an eyebrow as he sat on the ledge opposite her. The shadows played across her

features like a slow, sensual dance as the wind ruffled her hair. (She had to bring up a hand to slap the shadows after they decided to make too bold a move for her rear end.) Her perfect mouth curled

up gently in a dreamy smile as she gazed outside. The surroundings were shrouded in darkness

that had sometimes unnerved him. But with Jessie there, the darkness seemed harmless. Unable

to touch him. (Of course, as the Batman, he worked in shadows, and therefore had no reason to be scared of them in the first place, but...)

"Tonight is peaceful, isn't it?" he asked softly, studying her profile. She suddenly had seemed sad.

She nodded. "Yeah." she paused, tears glimmering in her eyes. "Do you have a mom?"

He nodded. "Yeah. Why?"

"How does it feel like to be loved by a mother?" she asked. Terry hesitated. Jessie seemed

so sincere and child-like.

"It's...different." he told her. "You feel safe and secure in your mother's warm arms,

knowing she'd be there for you. Why?"

"I lost my mother when I was just born." Jessie answered bitterly. In fact, her mother was

brutally killed by a demon when she was in labor. And when her mother had finally given

birth to her, the monster had killed her mother with a blow. (Fuck me. They even managed to slip in Mary Sue tendencies, when I wasn’t looking. This isn’t a shell game, they’re playing. This is David Copperfield levels of misdirection.)

"But you have your father." he answered, trying to comfort her.

She smiled faintly. "But a father's different from a mother. So, what does your father do?"

He wrenched his next words out with a pained expression. "My father is dead."

Her smile faded. "Oh. I'm sorry." she said quietly, looking away.

(Bruce’s voice trailed up from the Batcave, loud and annoyed. “Yeah?” he shouted “Well I watched both of my parents get brutally murdered, so the two of you can shove it with your pity pissing contest! Fuck me, young people today got no perspective...”)

Terry looked at Jessie. This girl was very...different from the girls he had known. He

somehow, seemed to feel totally at ease with the girl. Just then, she looked up, into his

ice blue eyes. Something connected between them as aquamarine gazed at ice blue. (The love story between Aquamarine and Ice Blue was a tale of alien love that spanned the cosmos, but sadly theirs was a story only relegated to filler chapters in a limited run of the comics, making it relatively unknown except to the most rabid of fanboys.) Something

in her eyes told him that she understood his pain. The pain he had hidden deep down before.

The pain of losing a loved one. They both understood what each had to go through. Still,

Terry thought. Having a father was better than having none at all. Jessie's mother had died

before Jessie could even see her face, and that was much worse. At least, he could remember

what his father looked like. (And since Terry’s trauma was more serious, he concluded that he had won the angst competition. It was a satisfying victory.)

"Is Bruce your relative or something?" Jessie asked suddenly, breaking the moment.

He blinked. "Nope. He's my employer."

Jessie raised an eyebrow in surprise. "Boss? What do you do for him?"

He shrugged, not wanting to tell her the truth, (especially not after she’d literally been in the Batcave, and all,) but feeling bad that she was being so honest with him, yet he wasn't so honest. "Running errands."

"It's hard work."

He smiled slightly. "Well, it's my responsibility."

She grinned at him. "You sure are big on the responsibility thing."

"Oh? No one had ever said that to me before." he said, half-joking.

She smiled wanly. "I'm the first." It sounded like a question. Then, she leaned forward, and whispered. "You're Batman."

He drew back, shocked. How'd she know that? "What?"

She smiled, a little smugly. "I noticed."

(Terry looked down, sheepishly grinning when he realized he never actually took off the costume.) "Keep it a secret, okay? The more people who know that, the more chance of me being totally annihilated in my sleep."

She grinned. "Sure. If you could keep mine."

He smiled at her, amused. "Okay. It's a deal."

"Deal. Let's shake on it."

They both shook hands, but their hands were joined for a second too long. Jessie looked up, surprised, when he kissed her softly and quickly on the mouth. "Good night, Jessie."

She nodded, dazed and surprised. "Yeah. Good night, Terry. I'll see you tomorrow."

Unknown to them, a creature of the night stood watching in the deep darkness of the surroundings. As it turned to go away, it only whispered one word. "Die."

(It then marched off, dramatically singing “You will curse the day you did not do! All that the Phantom asked of you!” DAAAAAAAH! Duh-duh-duh-duh daaaaaaaaaah ba-dah!)

#fanfiction #fanfic #fanfic commentary #batman #buffy the vampire slayer #crossover #crossover?#i guess it's a crossover #vampire #batman beyond

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