Kanon-Darkstar goes to the care facility after ALL THAT REMAINS (beginning of JUST ANOTHER TITANIC TUESDAY) and looks at Warrick Tobias. Darkstar is dressed in normal clothes and has his powers dampened.
DARKSTAR "You could have been my happiness," he says to the unresponsive face. He’s saddened by what might have been.
"Another time, another place. We could have been happy."
It hurt to think about, the might-have-been meeting the never-was.
He’d seen some version of himself immersed in a happiness he’d never dreamed of having for himself.
He’d been broken too young, by his mother’s brittle strength and his father’s human weakness. He’d asked that other-him about that terrible Black Friday when they were 14…
The look had been blank confusion and he’d almost been angry. That his life had been so terribly torn asunder and that other-him had gotten to live happily ever after.
But then he’d allowed himself to be simply glad that some version of him somewhere was happy.
On the first day of Xmas, Harper Kingsley wrote for me of Darkstar transformed into a tree
Title: The Carrion Tree
Author: Harper Kingsley
Character: Kanon-Darkstar, post-Battle for Terra
The setup: After ruling a city of sycophants, a tired-of-all-the-bs Darkstar approaches Dr. Zee for the technology to jump universes. He activates the device and travels to a new Earth… And in that moment, there are an infinite number of worlds he could have gone to. And if branch-theory is a thing, a version of him has gone to a version of every world. This Darkstar has come to this world.
Darkstar ends up on an Earth with some very different plant life. Including the carrion plant that all smart humans avoid unless they want their every orifice entered.
The pleasure is great, but most people avoid carrion plants unless they want to die.
CW: consent issues due to it being an inhuman plant using aphrodisiacs as a prey attractant.
The birds circled overhead, their screeching caws more than anything else telling him he was far from home. Their red feathers were a bright slash against the blue-blue sky. The air smelled of some foreign spice, near overpowering in its intensity.
"Well shit," Darkstar said, and sneezed. He could feel his nose beginning to run and it was such a foreign sensation that he allowed himself to enjoy it. From his reading, he figured he wouldn’t be marveling at the feeling for long.
Reaching down, he picked up a rock and crushed it between his fingers. Superstrength intact? Check.
It looked like the air-quality of this alternate universe could affect him. At least until his body adapted to it. (He hoped his body adapted to it. He was already growing annoyed with the sensation.)
He looked around at the alien scenery and wondered if even half these plants existed on his own Earth. Some of the grass and trees appeared familiar. The rest… were exotic to say the least.
He thought about flying, but felt an instinctive aversion. He wanted to experience this new Earth from the ground floor. Wanted to get a closer look at the plant life. Wanted to trudge the dirt with his own booted feet and follow that strange elusive scent that was fluttering his nose hairs and making his nerves hum.
A flush of heat went over him, but he ignored it. If the sun rose and set the same as on his Earth, then he was walking east with the breeze in his face. He could see the leaves folding and bending under its invisible force.
The air was sweet perfume. He absently swept his hand under his dripping nose and wiped it off on his pant leg.
Walking became an automatic function. It felt as though his legs were working without him, carrying him toward something amazing.
There’s something funny happening here, he thought, but it seemed distant and unimportant.
He was on another Earth, one that was somehow completely different from his own while at the same time being kind of the same. Plant-life was different, but gravity still existed and the ground was solid beneath his feet.
It’s gardening time again. I’m not the best at it, but I keep trying.
Things I’m growing so-far:
JalapeƱo
Cherry tomatoes
Lettuce
Bell pepper
Pumpkin
Watermelon
Pet grass
Strawberries
I’ve got tons of other seeds, but I lack the space to grow them in once they’re big.
“Don’t plant where I gotta mow.”
“We don’t need a bunch of holes in the yard.”
So I’m looking at container plants, and I’ll maybe use a corner of my uncle’s garden. But small and sustainable is what I’m looking at.
I also need to look around for a safe moth spray. They come and lay their eggs on the fruit trees. If they can, they try to get their babies amongst the blossoms. It’s awful.
*
Stuff I’m working on:
ATR and Tuesday Night, of course.
Plus drawing and painting so my Ren’Py game will be awesome. People like graphics in games *shrug*.
I’mma be throwing Overwatch[1] to the public. There was some interest, and I do need to expand the details of the Kanon-verse.
*
[1] In Tuesday Night, the Teen Demis and many other superhero groups receive orders and oversight from Overwatch. Attached to the CMPF and the budding Metahuman Affairs Bureau (MAB), Overwatch is an organization setup and funded by the Tobias Foundation.
Started by Warrick Tobias upon the diagnoses of his brain tumor[2], Overwatch was founded in memorium of his long-time friend Blue Ice. Killed the year before in battle against the Hammer of Doom, Blue Ice had been one of the nation’s most beloved superheroes.
In honor of Blue Ice, many superheroes volunteered their time and expertise to the Overwatch program. It became the place where superheroes unfit for the field could still serve. Guiding, helping, and reining in the next generation.
Overwatch is a long-time organization in the Kanon-verse
*
[2] Dr. Zee had to get those brains from somewhere. And as the Kanon-verse operates at a different time-rate to the Heroes & Villains universe, Kanon-Warrick suffered some irreparable brain damage before he met Vereint. Very sad.
As such, Starburst was enrolled in so-called Charm School, where his psionic metability was studied and honed. By the time the side-effects were discovered, it was too late. Starburst had renamed himself Darkstar and half of Megacity was in his thrall.
The Wall surrounding and segregating Darkstar’s Megacity was built in record time. The Omega-class metahuman stood on the tip of the tallest rooftop spire and watched the construction. It was a relief when he didn’t intervene.
Supplies are delivered daily to the four Gates built into the Wall. As the agreement stands, as long as the Darksters never leave their walled city, they will receive all they need to survive and serve their “Dark God[3].”
Heroes & Villains, by Harper KingsleyHeroes & Villains, by Harper Kingsley
Warrick Reidenger Tobias was packing for a business trip to Chicago when it felt as though the world suddenly whirled around him. He staggered against the bed, dropping the navy silk tie he held as his hand lost all strength. Multicolor lights flared behind his eyes.
He didn’t realize he’d dropped until his knees hit the floor. His head bounced against the carpet. His body twitched and shivered uncontrollably.
It was his first seizure.
It wasn’t his last.
~ ~ ~
The doctors didn’t know what was wrong with him. Dozens of specialists and days spent in drafty paper gowns having his blood sucked out by needles and his brain scanned by machines. He felt like a lab experiment.
And at the end of it all, there were still no answers, just speculation.
He hated feeling helpless. But there was nothing he could do.
So he continued with his life and pretended that everything was all right. As though faking normal would *make* everything normal.
He did such a good job at pretending that he started believing it after awhile. As though the past few weeks had been a dream and he was finally awake.
He was free to go about his regularly scheduled life of superheroing and presiding over a large and powerful company.
And then there was another seizure and another one and another one, so rapid and close together that he didn’t recognize what was happening until after the third one, the BIG one. The one where he finally had to admit there was a problem because Caspian had seen and just wouldn’t let it go.
/EXCERPT
*
[3] Which is an irony, as I’ve been considering having the Kanon-Darkstar go on walkabout after ATR. Events progress, time gets wacky, and the God of Light comes into being.
After a timeless eternity floating through the nothingness, he. creates Sindarek, his brother and the God of Chaos, and later a sister, Goddess of the Night.
Events are explained when Rue’s Chosen enact the Play of Light in his honor. But basically Sindarek gets jealous and attacks the God of Light, destroying his physical form, and beginning his cycle of wearing human avatar bodies (like Rue). During the fight, there was a tear in spacetime, and the God of Light’s blood ended up in Universe A, creating the human gods.
Due to the humans of Universe A spreading from their now-hostile universe to neighboring realities, where they are gods in human form, there is a contamination of multiverse not just with the introduction of the human gene mutation known as the Nor-gene (resulting in metahumans) there is also the spread of the nectar bee mutation caused by the multiversal adventures of the superheroine known as Blue Devil aka Blue Fairy aka Fairy Godmother aka The Godmother of Horns.
*
Anyways, I’ve got stuff percolating in my brain, and I’m trying to get them all down on paper.
Title: Overwatch
Author: Harper Kingsley
Universe: Kanon-verse (alternate universe version of Heroes & Villains)
EXCERPT –
Here I am, he thought. One day older. One day closer.
He squeezed his eyes closed. Drew a deep breath in through his nose. Then he pressed the button that raised the top portion of the hospital bed to an upright position. He clenched his teeth against the pain, feeling the lines around his nose and eyes pull tight.
If he lived, he would carry reminders of this experience forever.
Finally the pain shifted, released. He could breathe. The tears weren’t threatening to squeeze their way past his eyelids.
He took a few moments to regain his composure. Then he shifted the fingers of his left hand onto the call button. Concentrated. And pressed.
Thirty seconds later a nurse appeared. “Good morning, Blue Ice. Are you ready for your pain medications now?”
Warrick thought about saying No. Thought about pretending to be strong for one more minute and continuing to suffer through this agony that had become his life. Then he thought about cool relief from the nerve pain caused by his continuous brain seizures.
“Sir?” the nurse asked. “Is that a Yes or a No on the pain medication at this time? I need a verbal reply, as per your instructions.”
Sometimes Warrick cursed his past-self. That self-assured fool that had never truly believed he could be brought so low. Who never would have imagined a time when all he’d want was for someone else to make the hard choices, because he hurt too much to even care.
“Y-y-yessss,” he hissed out through his teeth.
Then there was sweet relief at the hands of his beautiful caretaker. He didn’t know her name, but he loved her with all the fervor of someone finally released from the grasp of wretched misery.
He drifted for some timeless state of being.
A few precious moments completely free from pain.
Time was pressing in on itself. Soon these moments wouldn’t exist. He would count his blessings in seconds, not minutes. Then milliseconds. Then no relief at all. Pain would become his world.
And then he would die.
I hate this, he thought for the millionth time. Why won’t someone come save me for once?
The door slammed open hard enough to take a gouge out of the wall. Caspian didn’t pause in his entrance, coming right to the side of the bed, his grin a fierce baring of teeth. His eyes were like blue fire.
Warrick’s breath caught. He was all aquiver. He felt a desperate hope blooming in his chest.
“I found it. I found it!” Caspian reached his hand toward Warrick’s face, then ever-so-gently, careful of his friend’s propensity for pain, brushed his finger along the arch of Warrick’s cheek. “As long as you hold on, you miserable fuck, you’re going to be out of this hospital bed in a month, walking around. But you’ve gotta hold on, you hear me War? Can you hold on?”
Warrick drew in a shuddering breath. He formed the words slowly, carefully, wanting himself to be clearly heard. “Y-es. Ho-lding onn iss hw-wha-at I do b-es-t.”
/END EXCERPT
crossposted at Kimichee.com
*
I’ve been drawing a bit, which has really helped my imagination come up with storylines and characters.
I got a copy of “Drawing and Painting Beautiful Faces with Jane Davenport” and I’ve been trying to make the people I draw look more attractive and less lopsided. I really like this book. I’ve been carrying it around with me, and I’ve been drawing with colored pencil so I can’t erase anything, and my people’s lips are beginning to look like lips.
*
About the Warrick thing up there ^ ^ –– Things are a bit different in the Kanon-verse, and not just where “Pulse of the City” is concerned. It’s why things are so different in “Tuesday Night.”
