More comic flashfics
Er. I'm not really seriously writing for these series. More like throwing ideas at the wall to see what sticks. These aren't even edited for simple typos. I whip 'em up to see what happens. As an aside, trying to capture the voice of a teenager like any of the Runaways vs. the voice of a mature, overly rational adult (i.e. Babs) is a weird contrast.
Fandom: Runaways
Characters: Karolina Dean
Words: 780
Karolina Dean had a hard time finding the words to say things. Everything always seemed to get jumbled inside her until it was a big ball of feelings and thoughts chasing after each other around and around until she wasn’t sure what she was feeling anymore. Sometimes she thought she knew what she wanted, that she could finally put a word or a face to some emotion or idea and then it would get lost somewhere inside her when she tried to spell it out.
Like when Nico asked her what it felt like to fly and she only answered “Like being completely free” because she didn’t know how to describe that first feeling, of rising up as if the knot of revulsion and anxiety in her stomach had really been a swarm of butterflies beating their wings so fast and hard that they had lifted her feet right off the ground. And then she was floating-and then she was flying-and how could she describe the breathless feeling of her stomach plummeting to her feet and the sudden realization that the whole sky-the whole world-was suddenly open and accessible to her, that she could just go wherever she wanted with a thought and there was nothing underneath her but it didn’t matter because she was freakin’ flying and it felt like she was the first person to ever experience something like that.
And she could do it whenever she wanted to.
Only she was a freak and that was like what she imagined coming off a high would be like-disappointing-or maybe withdrawal with all the headaches and the shakes and the sickness eating at her. But she got better over time, too. Maybe. All she had to do was not think about it.
Or that time when Nico asked her what her home planet-her parents’ home planet-was like and in her mind flashed the vastness of space, the empty blackness pierced by the glow of stars and how the days passed without her ever knowing it, time moving only at the speed at which the ship moved forward and she wasn’t sure how to measure it but her body told her when she needed to sleep and she woke up to a similar sight until they were there. And then Majesdane appeared and it was so beautiful it made her homesick-for Earth, where she was once just a regular teenaged girl with teenager problems and not this scared ambassador of peace, the child of the harbingers of this devastating war, floating-flying-in the light of a star where a world straight from a fairytale lurked and all she could think of to say was “Bright. And hot. And really far away.”
Or any of those times Nico asked her opinion on boys and all Karolina could think about was the way contacts had really done wonders to show off Nico’s face and how she could look into Nico’s eyes now and admire the attitude behind her friend’s eyes, not to mention that haircut with the bangs that Karolina wanted to brush away from Nico’s face, or the clothes that made Nico look so fab and attractive that Karolina’s heart almost ached at the sight of her. And still she said, “I guess he’s alright” or “I dunno….”
Or when Nico kind of asked about her and Xavin, never really asking, and Karolina wanted to say something crazy like that sometimes she felt confused, sometimes she wasn’t sure that Xavin being able to shape-change made things alright between them or if she really understood Xavin or if she understood Karolina or if they could ever really understand each other. That Xavin was a beautiful woman that could send her heart racing but that he was a sight that sometimes made her stomach twist or flip or contract in a way that she didn’t like and sometimes they argued about things and he didn’t seem to understand concepts that she’d always taken for granted. She didn’t know what it meant that she sometimes had dreams about Nico and that sometimes she wondered what it would be like to kiss her although she totally knew that Nico wasn’t into girls like she was (just like she totally knew that Nico had sworn off boys?).
But because Nico didn’t really ask, Karolina didn’t have to say anything, only sometimes she wanted to but she didn’t know what.
And when she did know, she was afraid of the way it might sound, the way it would make her look, the way Nico might look at her.
Karolina knew how to keep her insecurities to herself.
Fandom: Birds of Prey
Characters: Barbara Gordon, Oracle
Words: 285
Oracle watches. Oracle watches the world on television, on the Internet, through every satellite and street camera she can hack into. Oracle watches as the world increasingly turns to technology, allowing her access to information, resources, funds and lives at no more than a few efficient and clever clicks of a button. Oracle watches her operatives as she sends them out the door and into the streets or to the other side of the world and into unpredictable territory. Oracle watches them do the tasks she sets for them, sometimes efficiently, sometimes not, sometimes obediently, sometimes not, but she watches, waits, and directs. And when she can’t watch, Oracle listens to the sounds coming through the comm. links, puzzling at every new voice, hearing every nuance.
Barbara watches. Barbara watches television and listens to the report of the world plummeting further and further into chaos and feels a little helpless before the relentless tide of villainy. Barbara watches and questions her principles and methods, wondering if what she does is right, if saving lives justifies violating civil rights. Barbara watches her operatives and worries about the possible outcomes of every situation, about the possibilities of injuries or worse. She watches them move, admiring and envying how easily they walk, run, jump, punch, and kick, and she watches them fight, flirt, and flounder their way through missions, at once both fiercely proud and deeply anxious. She talks with them, learns their voices and their speech patterns, banters with them. And when she can’t watch, Barbara feels a frisson of fear, the sensation of losing control, or, worst of all, helplessness.
Barbara Gordon is Oracle, but there are times, she sometimes glimpses, that Oracle isn’t Barbara Gordon.
Fandom: Runaways
Characters: Karolina Dean
Words: 780
Karolina Dean had a hard time finding the words to say things. Everything always seemed to get jumbled inside her until it was a big ball of feelings and thoughts chasing after each other around and around until she wasn’t sure what she was feeling anymore. Sometimes she thought she knew what she wanted, that she could finally put a word or a face to some emotion or idea and then it would get lost somewhere inside her when she tried to spell it out.
Like when Nico asked her what it felt like to fly and she only answered “Like being completely free” because she didn’t know how to describe that first feeling, of rising up as if the knot of revulsion and anxiety in her stomach had really been a swarm of butterflies beating their wings so fast and hard that they had lifted her feet right off the ground. And then she was floating-and then she was flying-and how could she describe the breathless feeling of her stomach plummeting to her feet and the sudden realization that the whole sky-the whole world-was suddenly open and accessible to her, that she could just go wherever she wanted with a thought and there was nothing underneath her but it didn’t matter because she was freakin’ flying and it felt like she was the first person to ever experience something like that.
And she could do it whenever she wanted to.
Only she was a freak and that was like what she imagined coming off a high would be like-disappointing-or maybe withdrawal with all the headaches and the shakes and the sickness eating at her. But she got better over time, too. Maybe. All she had to do was not think about it.
Or that time when Nico asked her what her home planet-her parents’ home planet-was like and in her mind flashed the vastness of space, the empty blackness pierced by the glow of stars and how the days passed without her ever knowing it, time moving only at the speed at which the ship moved forward and she wasn’t sure how to measure it but her body told her when she needed to sleep and she woke up to a similar sight until they were there. And then Majesdane appeared and it was so beautiful it made her homesick-for Earth, where she was once just a regular teenaged girl with teenager problems and not this scared ambassador of peace, the child of the harbingers of this devastating war, floating-flying-in the light of a star where a world straight from a fairytale lurked and all she could think of to say was “Bright. And hot. And really far away.”
Or any of those times Nico asked her opinion on boys and all Karolina could think about was the way contacts had really done wonders to show off Nico’s face and how she could look into Nico’s eyes now and admire the attitude behind her friend’s eyes, not to mention that haircut with the bangs that Karolina wanted to brush away from Nico’s face, or the clothes that made Nico look so fab and attractive that Karolina’s heart almost ached at the sight of her. And still she said, “I guess he’s alright” or “I dunno….”
Or when Nico kind of asked about her and Xavin, never really asking, and Karolina wanted to say something crazy like that sometimes she felt confused, sometimes she wasn’t sure that Xavin being able to shape-change made things alright between them or if she really understood Xavin or if she understood Karolina or if they could ever really understand each other. That Xavin was a beautiful woman that could send her heart racing but that he was a sight that sometimes made her stomach twist or flip or contract in a way that she didn’t like and sometimes they argued about things and he didn’t seem to understand concepts that she’d always taken for granted. She didn’t know what it meant that she sometimes had dreams about Nico and that sometimes she wondered what it would be like to kiss her although she totally knew that Nico wasn’t into girls like she was (just like she totally knew that Nico had sworn off boys?).
But because Nico didn’t really ask, Karolina didn’t have to say anything, only sometimes she wanted to but she didn’t know what.
And when she did know, she was afraid of the way it might sound, the way it would make her look, the way Nico might look at her.
Karolina knew how to keep her insecurities to herself.
Fandom: Birds of Prey
Characters: Barbara Gordon, Oracle
Words: 285
Oracle watches. Oracle watches the world on television, on the Internet, through every satellite and street camera she can hack into. Oracle watches as the world increasingly turns to technology, allowing her access to information, resources, funds and lives at no more than a few efficient and clever clicks of a button. Oracle watches her operatives as she sends them out the door and into the streets or to the other side of the world and into unpredictable territory. Oracle watches them do the tasks she sets for them, sometimes efficiently, sometimes not, sometimes obediently, sometimes not, but she watches, waits, and directs. And when she can’t watch, Oracle listens to the sounds coming through the comm. links, puzzling at every new voice, hearing every nuance.
Barbara watches. Barbara watches television and listens to the report of the world plummeting further and further into chaos and feels a little helpless before the relentless tide of villainy. Barbara watches and questions her principles and methods, wondering if what she does is right, if saving lives justifies violating civil rights. Barbara watches her operatives and worries about the possible outcomes of every situation, about the possibilities of injuries or worse. She watches them move, admiring and envying how easily they walk, run, jump, punch, and kick, and she watches them fight, flirt, and flounder their way through missions, at once both fiercely proud and deeply anxious. She talks with them, learns their voices and their speech patterns, banters with them. And when she can’t watch, Barbara feels a frisson of fear, the sensation of losing control, or, worst of all, helplessness.
Barbara Gordon is Oracle, but there are times, she sometimes glimpses, that Oracle isn’t Barbara Gordon.