#just sent an email having to back out of a volunteer role bc i just don’t have the bandwidth rn

[beachbabywrites]

Dynamic Duo // A Kara Danvers imagine

Valentine’s Request 18/?

REQUEST: Kara Danvers + Enemies to Lovers + candy heart

A/N: So I’ve come to realize I cannot write enemies to lovers fics for Kara, it’s just impossible ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ so I twisted it around a bit. In this fic, the media is doing everything in their power to pit Supergirl and Phoenix (Aka the reader bc I cannot come up with imaginary superhero names for the life of me) against each other even though the two have never publicly associated or worked together. Unbeknownst to the public, Supergirl and Phoenix are in a happy and healthy relationship. This takes place somewhere in the season one/early season two timeline

"Supergirl declares, 'National City only needs ONE HERO!"

"The REAL reason you'll never see Supergirl and Phoenix working together."

"Supergirl threatens to reveal Phoenix's true identity; Phoenix says "stand down!"

"Source says Phoenix will destroy National City before going to Supergirl's aid."

Of course, the headlines were the first thing you saw this morning, they were hard to miss with street vendors yelling at passing crowds trying to sell a copy of the latest gossip magazine. You scoffed, trying not to laugh in the man's face as he pushed the paper towards you. You could tell him then and there just how wrong those sources were but he wouldn't believe you. Why would he? You're no one special to National City. You're just (Y/N) (Y/L/N). So instead of initiating an argument on the sidewalk you went on to work and prayed you made it to your desk before your boss showed up.

You were staring at the clock, counting down the minutes till your lunch break. 15... 14... You answered an email about scheduling your bosses next meeting with the CEO, then answered a personal email regarding dinner plans.

12... Someone's phone rang, you began putting your things in your purse so you could sneak out early. You could hear the car horns outside in the lunch hour rush. You looked up as your coworker approached your desk and handed you a file. She apologized for laying it on you right before lunch, but it was due by 5 tonight. Inside was the research for yet another gossip segment on Supergirl and Phoenix's feud.

9... You agreed happily when your coworker asked if you wanted to grab lunch with her before she left to pick her kids up from school.

Much like every other devastating event that happened in National City, this one happened without warning.

When the first crash was heard, you dropped to your knees on the carpeted floor like everyone had been instructed to do in the past. Glass shattered, you could hear the screeching of breaks and mangled metal. The people on your floor screamed as the windows imploded, sending glass flying across the floor. Two more explosions quickly followed the first one, each one shaking the building more violently than the last.

You stood up slowly after some time had passed after the last blast, looking around the floor at your coworkers. All were fine, nothing too serious, maybe a couple cuts that would need stitches. You placed a hand on the shoulder of the woman who was trying to call her children at school.

"Phone lines are down." Someone hollered across the room and slammed the landline down. "Was it a gas line?"

"Surely not that strong!" Another voice answered.

The power went out and another round of screams pierced the air.

"Go! To the stairwell, come on." You urged them along. You rushed to the window to see what was going on outside when shouts of 'Supergirl!' caught your attention.

"Kara!" You whispered out loud, amazement and terror-striking your heart as she flew through the sky straight towards the pillar of smoke rising just a few blocks away.

"Come on!" Someone shouted behind you so you turned and made your way down the stairs.

You followed the crowd away from the shaky buildings and chaos, helping those who needed it but listening closely to the battle that was happening behind you.

You heard the first cry as you were helping a child find her mother. Kara was in distress but you couldn't just leave these people. You knew she could handle her self, besides you had a bigger responsibility at the time. You couldn't help the small part of you wondered what if?

Within a matter of minutes, dozens of buildings were evacuated, barricades set up to prevent any civilians from running into the mess. Smoke still darkened the sky and burned at your nose. It sounded like the worst of the fight was over, you could hear Kara yelling over the noise, but you couldn't hear a second voice.

Oh great, you sighed to yourself. She's monologuing.

You helped the volunteers passing out shock blankets to those who were injured or just scared, EMTs were rushing around the area. Someone mentioned the museum was in the same area Supergirl and the unnamed villain were fighting. The crowd wondered if there was something in there worth the fight. A man claimed it was Phoenix.

"I saw her with my own eyes, Supergirl tackled her out of the air as the building exploded!"

Everyone saw something different, no one could agree on who it was that Supergirl had encountered. With every yell from Kara's mouth, you became more anxious. More theories began to spread across the street, cops and reporters whispering Kryptonite and 'alien', despite your racing heart and clenched jaw you reminded yourself just how strong she had proven herself to be in the past.

Kara had taken on prisoners from Fort Rozz, she stopped a falling plane, Live Wire and the Red Tornado, the latter was designed specifically to upgrade its fighting skills based on its spars with Supergirl, to use her strongest moves and patterns against her, and these were only in the first couple of months of taking on the hero role. Kara was called super for a reason.

You could hear Alex and her team mobilizing and preparing to rush in as Kara landed the final blows. Your phone buzzed in your pocket, the screen lit up with Alex's name and number and a text asking where you were.

"I'm safe. Is Kara?" The little bubbles on the screen told you Alex was typing and erasing, typing and erasing for what felt like ten minutes before she finally sent back "Kara is safe." But at this point, Kara didn't sound safe.

A menacing voice was taunting her, telling her if she stayed down, if she gave up he would spare the block of her choice. The longer you sat on the stairs to the bank with the unaware crowd the more your muscles ached with an electric need to step in and help, every nerve running up your spine tingling. When you heard a cop whisper to his partner in a broken and panicked voice 'she's losing' you couldn't stay still any longer.

You hopped up, the metallic blanket falling to the steps as you turned and raced the opposite direction, away from Supergirl and the fight.

The dust didn't have time to settle before the alien that had Kara trapped on the ground was turning on you, giving the blonde a chance to jump to her feet.

"Just how many of your kind are on this planet Kara Zor-El?" The alien asked the laughter in his voice was infuriating as you realized just how worn out Kara looked. She stared at you wide-eyed, taking in the red and yellow you were wearing, a hint of pride in her slight smile. "Two Kryptonian heads will be more than enough to atone for the crimes your people have committed against my home."

"I'm not Kryptonian. I will not allow you to commit the same crimes you allege against the Kryptonians to my own people." You countered, hands already burning.

"Phoenix!" Kara shouted, "distract him!" You sent her a glance as she dashed away but did as she asked.

This alien was highly skilled at hand to hand, their punches fast and aiming at all of your weakest points. Face, throat, face, stomach, stomach, face, throat. You were beginning to notice a pattern to his moves and as you stepped to the side in anticipation of his next move, ready to make your own, he took you by surprise with a right hook to the face. You stumbled back before regaining your balance,  a coppery taste on your tongue.

You could see Kara picking up something from the farthest edge of the street, he was preparing to turn his back on you to attack her once again, so you ran at the invader. When your bodies collided the impact knocked both of you back. The force of it knocked the breath out of your body. You forced yourself up, staggering slightly as you put distance between you and the seven foot alien on the ground.

Supergirl was behind him as he stood. He snarled at you in a foreign language before lurching forward. Supergirl grabbed him by the shoulder, pushed him so he was now facing her. She landed punches in quick succession; One, two, three, his fist made loud contact with her face.  Kara glanced over her shoulder and you knew she had a plan. Your heel connected with the aliens back, he fell to his knees.

"Move!" Kara bellowed and before you had much time to do anything, a second blast rang throughout the area, throwing you onto your back once again. As you sat up, dizzied and sore, you noticed the DEO agents rushing in, guns raised and shouting orders at the criminal.

Supergirl rushed up to you, arms extended to help you up.

"I'm okay." You assured her for the third time before she finally quit asking and stepped back. "Are you okay?"

"I'm fine, I'm not the one who was just electrocuted." You rolled your eyes but smiled at her. "Wow, we really are a dynamic duo! We should do this more often... Besides the whole- Yeah." Kara stammered out, cheeks bright pink and eyes bright from the thrill of the fight.

You threw your arms around her and whispered, "you scared me Supergirl." Kara quickly wrapped her arms around you tightly. Exhaustion flooded your body and senses. "I've never seen you in action like that." You told her. "You're kinda hot Supergirl."

"Oh, oh geez." Kara laughed nervously and shook her head. "Noo... I'm a- I'm a mess."

You pressed your lips to her's quick, forgetting where and who you were for a moment. You could have stayed there with her like that for hours if it weren't for the sounds of shutters clicking and reporters shouting. Kara jumped back from you, eyes wide as she scanned the crowd, only relaxing when she saw Jimmy was front and center with his camera.

"Our secret is out." She whispered. A moment of panic fell over the two of you as reality set in. "We'll be okay." She decided, not quite sure if she was assuring you or herself.

"You know, someone said I was the one attacking the city." You told her as she watched her sister's team drag the alien away in Kryptonite handcuffs.

"That's funny because, on my way over, I heard that I was the one blowing an entrance into the side of the museum to lure you out of hiding for a final smackdown." Kara jumped back, playfully lifting her fists in a mock spar.

"It worked, I guess." You answered throwing a hand up to block a punch.

The next morning on the way to work the headlines read very differently than they had just the day before, a picture of Supergirl and Phoenix hugging was splashed across the front of each magazine and newspaper.

"SUPER-TRUCE? A timeline of the SvP feud"

"Supergirl retiring? Source says 'She's ready to settle down!"

"The 'dynamic duo' we didn't know we were waiting for"

Your eyes lingered on the last title, the picture of Supergirl's hand resting on Phoenix's back. As you picked up the magazine, you recognized the logo across the top and laughed.

"How much for the CATCO, sir?" You asked reaching for your purse.

#kara danvers #kara danvers x reader #kara danvers imagine #supergirl #supergirl oneshot #supergirl fic #supergirl imagine #valentines celebration #beachbabywrites

[fuzzypress]

Comic con Evangelist

Digital Print Evangelist Spawns from Comics Convention

By Bill Michael|Jun 19, 2017|Books and Manuals|3 Comments Share

San Diego ComicCon San Diego Comic-Con, image courtesy of Wikimedia Commons

Growing up in Sioux City, Iowa, Jeff Twohig was a fan of comic books. Years later, in his mid forties, he revisited his youthful passion, attending the 2008 Comic-Con comic books convention in San Diego.

“I was very interested in the creators, and I talked to a lot of them about their projects,” Twohig said. Several expressed frustration that they weren’t displaying their latest works because the printing took too long. Twohig, a digital print specialist at Lithexcel Marketing Services Provider, Albuquerque, N.M., told them, much to their surprise, “We could turn it in two to three days.” It turns out most comic creators weren’t aware of the powers of their own local printers.

Recognizing a disconnect, Twohig sent an email to the conference organizers—and they invited him to submit a proposal for a panel discussion at the next year’s conference. He’d never given a public presentation before, but he pursued it, earned a spot and pulled together a panel from contacts he made in San Diego, including luminaries such as Glyph Award winner, Robert Roach.

Jeff Twohig Comic-Con Twohig, second from right, during panel session

“When I got there, a big line stretched down the hallway and around the corner, and I figured it was for the presentation next door,” Twohig said. “So I asked some people to step aside because I had to get into the Small Print 101 panel discussion, and they said, ‘This is the line for Small Print 101.’”

Three hundred eager listeners filled the room for that first panel. Since then, Twohig has led dozens of panels at comics and sci-fi conventions across the United States, for audiences that often reach 500 and 600. “Print customers are not really up on everything going on in the industry and the technology and how much headway has been made,” he said. “We can make the creators’ jobs so much easier.”

Building Digital Print Awareness

Twohig was equally unaware of the advances in print technology when he left his career running a restaurant and bar in 1998 to become a digital press operator at House of Graphics in South Sioux City, Neb. “They sent me to Boston for a month of training on Indigo presses with all the engineers and R&D there in the building,” Twohig said. “It was mind-blowing.”

In 2004, he moved to Albuquerque to be closer to family members and soon landed a position with Lithexcel, first running Indigo presses, then Xerox® iGen3® Digital Production Presses (since upgraded to a Xerox® iGen® 5 Press and a Xerox® iGen® 150 Press).

His comics conventions evangelism is not part of his job, but something he enjoys doing, blending avocation and vocation. “The best thing about conventions is I always come back energized,” he said. “The fandom and amount of energy at conventions is amazing.”

That fandom feeds attendance at his panels, which usually include well-known artists. Twohig’s part is to explain the benefits of on-demand printing. “When most people hear ‘print on demand’ they think, ‘Oh, I can print that on my desktop printer,’” he said. “But when you go to a professional printer, the quality is going to be mind-blowing. We get amazing colors, especially with the iGen 5 and its gamut extension colors.”

At his conference presentations, Twohig offers tips on file preparation, calibrating monitors for accurate color, and testing files by running them at a copy shop before submitting them. And while he has landed work for Lithexcel through the panels, he takes an evangelical stance, encouraging artists to use their local printers—and for convention host city printers to promote their services to creators at conventions.

Twohig sees plenty of opportunities for local printers to get involved. When asked for recommendations on what his fellow printers should be doing, he suggests:

Go to shows and local events. “Visit a small show nearby and see what they are producing. Remember, the exhibitors are your demand specifiers. By talking with them and understanding their goals and challenges, you might come up with ideas for their marketing plan.” Have fun and relish the opportunity. “There are no “gatekeepers”, so take full advantage of the opportunity. You are talking to business owners from the time you are at their table.” Consider an open house. “We have hosted open houses and offered invites to folks we’ve met at these events. It’s a great mutual opportunity for both parties. They have a chance to see what our shop offers and get answers to any questions they may have. It’s through this networking that strong relationships have blossomed.” Preach how print is not dead. “Print is evolving, just like all technologies we use. As providers of printing services, we need to re-imagine the role print can play and the projects we provide.” Educating comic creators on the value of on-demand print. How one printer is making a difference Many Ways to Tell a Story

Twohig is involved in a number of related projects and volunteer activities, as well. They include the 7000 BC Group, which supports comic book artists and writers; and The Project Pinball Charity, which places pinball machines in children’s hospitals. He’s also an active podcaster and has dabbled in video.

“I love the idea of people getting the chance to create,” Twohig said. “We live in a crazy world, and everybody has a story to tell. People need to know that there are options out there to spread their message and share their work. One way is on-demand printing, and it’s not going to break the bank.”