Sasha Whittaker (praelia) wrote in remains_rpg, @ 2016-11-09 13:00:00 |
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They had been back in school now long enough that Sasha could admit he was used to it again. Still didn’t like it, but he was used to it. He had his routines, his ways of making it through a school day without completely losing his mind. One of them was reading something other than a textbook between classes. Which was exactly what he was doing in that very moment, long limbs thrown over the arm of a overstuffed chair in a community area of the Education Center, he had an old copy of a DC comic -- Batman, of course -- in his hands and although he had read it at least a handful of times before, Sasha was fully immersed in it. So much so he didn't even hear the blonde woman approach and it wasn’t until her body cast a shadow across him that Sasha looked up for his comic and smiled. “Ah, hey,” there was a pause. “Am I in your spot or something?” Sasha was already beginning to move as he spoke, definitely not looking to intrude on this woman’s own daily routine -- if she had one. For all Reese’s oddities she did have the good grace to grin apologetically. “Oh! I’m sorry, I was kind of just reading over your shoulder.” She was also very honest. Adjusting her satchel against her hip she weighed the pros and cons of actually engaging the young man. Dressed in her usual relaxed but well kempt teaching style she might still pass for younger than she was--she had gotten used to being the baby so being baby faced was the Universe’s cruel joke on her. “No-no, you’re not in my spot. I’m usually behind a desk or something, actually. I was just wondering if you got that comic here, or ordered it? I haven’t seen a comic that wasn’t one of my own since 2016 and if we can order them now....” Okay, maybe she had Lara Crofted some from abandoned places, whatever. She was sticking with the 2016 story. “Oh my god, don’t be sorry about that,” Sasha replied quickly, waving off the woman’s apology good natured lay. He couldn't really blame her, especially if she was a comic book fan -- which it seemed like she was. In truth he might have been tempted to do that exact same thing if he saw someone reading a comic he hadn’t seen before. “I mean, it didn’t bother me or anything.” he tacked on, shifting to sit up a little bit now that he was holding a conversation with someone. Sasha looked the woman over for a moment, head kind of cocked as he tried to figure out why she might be behind a desk. “Are you a teacher here?” he asked, though the uncertainty in his conclusion was clear in his tone. Reese laughed, her head tipping back slightly. “Yeah, I help teach some history courses, but my main job is as a college level professor. I also work at The Bar for my bestfriend, so don’t think I’m too much of a stickler.” Truth was she was kind silly, but she did get offended if people were jerks in class thus bringing out her temper. “This,” Sasha waved the comic and smiled sheepishly. “Was acquired by less than legal means, though it was back before scavenging became illegal,” his dad had snagged him the comic awhile ago. A dark blonde eyebrow was arched at him, though it was accompanied by a good natured smile. “Most of my new-ish ones were taken before it was illegal too.” She made a face, insinuating some of her other books or oddities were also acquired that way. “I, ah, haven’t looked into whether or not comics can be ordered or not,” he paused. “But maybe that’s something that should be explored now.” Pointing a finger she smirked. “Maybe Austin needs a comic book store, or just a general nerdery store.” At the mention of Austin getting a comic book shop, Sasha couldn’t help but grin widely at the idea. He wouldn’t be the one to open one, he wasn’t a business owner by any means, but if someone else did he would be a regular customer. “Oh god, a comic book store would be awesome,” He exclaimed, verbalizing the thoughts he had just had. His enthusiasm making Reese smile a little wider, head tilting a little as she listened. “What if someone actually started publishing comics again also?” Sasha loved that he had a larger collection than most of comic books, but he would also kill to have the option of new comics also. “I don’t see why not. We have artists, we have creative minds and a world that needs normalcy and literature, even if it’s fantasy.” It was a thought that had been tumbling around her brain for a while. Pretty much every time she finished rereading a comic. “Do you think they’d still write about superheroes?” He mused. “Or something else?” “Now that’s a good question.” she said, shifting her weight from one foot to the other as she folded her arms in thought. “When I said we need literature even if it’s fantasy I should have said we actually need fantasy. You can pick any timeframe in history and figure out what was going on, what their thoughts were, what they were concerned about or interested in just by looking at what they read--if they could read, or their art or whatever else.” Chewing on her bottom lip she looked up, thinking again for a brief moment. “We had a lot of undead media before all of this, so I think they’ll start to examine why and how this happened, and maybe even who. For the superheros I think it’ll be us, or maybe it will be the immune, or a vigilante like Batman--probably a much poorer Batman because none of us are really rolling in dough right now, who goes into government labs and uncovers the truth. Maybe gets a group of people together with all the different skills, yanno’ the whole everyone has their strengths sort of group. The tech, the brains, the brawn, the stealthy assassin, the one scapegoat, the sidekick.” She wasn’t speaking fast but Reese was clearly all about what she was saying, wrapping it up with a neat little nerdy bow as she moved into her finishing rant. “All of that, and it’ll sort of be a way to regain our self confidence and challenge us to ask questions. Like in Spider-man when Captain America said “Doesn't matter what the press says. Doesn't matter what the politicians or the mobs say. Doesn't matter if the whole country decides that something wrong is something right. This nation was founded on one principle above all else: the requirement that we stand up for what we believe, no matter the odds or the consequences. When the mob and the press and the whole world tell you to move, your job is to plant yourself like a tree beside the river of truth, and tell the whole world — "No, you move." As the blonde mapped out all the ways that literature or comic books in general might change, Sasha listened intently -- engrossed in all the many options that could come about in storybook form as the world began to right itself. Or more accurately adjust to the new normal. The last bit about Captain America had Sasha nodding in agreement. While he had spent the better part of the apocalypse living with outlaws, he could say that they were standing up for something -- maybe not the right something, but it had been something. “You’re right, I mean I agree with all of that,” Sasha knew it wasn’t necessarily the most articulate reply, but he was an artist, not a speaker. “Maybe figures who’ve stepped up and refused to let this world fall entirely to pieces will be the ones that are written about now? Or characters will be created to mirror them.” Sasha wondered then if the Hellhounds might appear in something, as the villains of course -- but maybe people like his dad and Bishop would appear as redemption stories. Men who had once been intent on watching the world burn, but now were fighting as stubbornly as everyone else to reclaim Austin and some sense of normalcy. “Absolutely. They'll probably be mirrored, but those are the kind of heroes I would like to see, personally. The people who didn't give up even when we were near death, even as we coped knowing the people we loved were gone and things that the public still doesn't understand are walking around in their bodies.” She grimaced at her own words, though it was true. “None of us might have capes but we still helped save our piece of the world, or fought for what we cared about and some of us died for it. Kinda makes Iron Man look like a brat, really.” She actually did think Tony Stark was a brat, but that was neither here nor there. Internally Sasha winced at the mention of people walking around in the form of loved ones. His mom wasn’t one of them, his dad had made sure of that. Still, it didn’t stop him from the brief moment of sadness that washed over him. None of it showed in his outward expression though. “Capes are dangerous anyway,” he remarked with a laugh. “And I say that as a huge Batman fan.” Holding up a finger Reese signaled she actually had a remark for that. “Aerodynamic, actually. I thought they were some useless, flashy thing but they’re actually useful in helping make turns. Though..if you don’t fly it’s kind of pointless” Sasha couldn’t hold in the laugh that the Iron Man comment got. “I mean yeah, it kind of does,” a pause. “Although if Tony were here living through this he’d have probably figured out some kind of advance detection system for shufflers or something.” “Yeah, he probably would have actually had this under control. Him and Banner both.” Sitting down on the edge of a vacant chair she looked up, trying to reason out the alternate endings if they did exist. “Who knows, maybe there’s some rich person who’s ready to go vigilante on the world for the good of the people. Though I’m not sure what we need saving from. Maybe an inoculation for immunity, but testing that would uh, ethically questionable as my psychologist friend might put it. Might make for another good comic plotline, in any case.” Stopping herself from getting lost in thought she focused on Sasha. “I’m probably taking up all your inbetween time...or making you late.” Sasha nodded. “Without a doubt they’d have had this under control by now,” he replied in agreement with the woman’s assessment of what would happen if superheroes were real and taking care of this whole zombie thing. “Pretty sure a vigilante wouldn’t help much in the inoculation department,” he began. “I mean unless the billionaire vigilante wanted to fund the research or something.” Sasha didn’t even know though if it was a lack of funds or lack of data or what that was keeping the government from creating some kind of vaccine for this. “But yeah, I mean aren’t half of the plot lines in comics sort of ethically questionable?” He continued, before shaking his head. “Nope, you’re not taking up any of my time or making me late,” Sasha paused. “I’m Sasha by the way.” Reese laughed at the statement about ethics. He wasn't wrong by any means, most of them had tortured backgrounds and some of the anti-heroes ended up being great save the dayers even if it didn't fit their particular modus operandi. “Oh! Shit—” she paused, assessing his age. “I'm sure you don't care, but let's pretend I said shoot. For works sake.” “Anyway! I'm Reese.” She grins at him. “If you ever end up in any of my history lectures you'll find my bonus point easy. They're literally just comic geek and gamer questions, like what was Princess Peach’s original hair color. I'm hoping anyone who's even close to my age will get that or I might start questioning my life.” “I don’t care, but for works sake if asked I’ll swear you said shoot,” Sasha said this with a wink. Reese laughed at him but smiled appreciatively. Having spent the last three years around Hellhounds, he wasn’t bothered by colorful language, hell, he used it himself -- but he could understand the need for a teacher to maintain a level of professionalism that didn’t involve cursing. Sasha smiled again. “Nice to meet you Reese,” he said before he continued. “And I think maybe if I were in one of your history lectures the bonus points might be the only thing I get right.” Sasha laughed, and Reese gave him a challenge accepted face. School was not now or had it ever been easy for him, he was smart, that wasn’t the issue. Sasha just generally had a way of learning subjects that was a lot different than how teachers usually taught them. “Wasn’t Princess Peach originally a redhead?” “Bingo!” She exclaimed, clapping her hands together once in joy. “She was in strawberry blonde, but someone made it brown--probably for pixels sake, but then eventually it just morphed into blonde so people stopped screwing it up.” Sighing she plucked at the chair. “They also made her a Toadstool once. Like, an actual one. It makes sense in the the fact that the US named her Princess Toadstool until Super Mario Brothers, then they used her actual translated-Japanese name. Can you imagine playing Smash Brothers with her as a Toadstool?” Wait, what if he hasn’t played that… The grin that overtook Sasha’s features clearly conveyed just how proud of himself he was that he had gotten that question right. He then continued to listen intently as Reese proceeded to explain more of the history behind Princess Peach, who had once been a Toadstool. While he had always been more into comic books than he had video games, some of this sounded vaguely familiar. “I was always terrible at Smash Brothers,” Sasha admitted with a laugh. “But I can’t imagine that.” He shot a quick glance down at his watch and took note that he had about five more minutes before he really needed to get going again. “Why did they wait until Super Mario Brothers to translate her proper name?” He asked curious, both about the name and about whether or not Reese would actually know why they had done that. “Oh, I’m really bad at words. I meant Super Mario Brothers is when they finally got her name right.” She grinned sheepishly. “As for why they called her that, probably because she technically is the Princess of the Mushroom Kingdom and the United States likes to make things fit in a box, and a Princess named after a fruit in a Mushroom Kingdom was just too weird in a game about eating mushrooms, jumping down pipes and killing turtles, I guess.” Reese threw her hands up dramatically, not having any real understanding why that stupid decision was made. “I’m guessing Nintendo got sick of their crap, and once they were established they said my way or the highway.” “You know the game as a whole sounds kind of weird when you break it down into those few little facts,” Sasha commented with a laugh. He understood what Reese was saying though as to why they renamed Princess Peach for a time. “I don’t know though, I think a Princess named after a fruit is a lot more interesting than one named after a fungus, but that’s just my opinion.” He added before he glanced down at his watch and realized he had about three minutes to get back to class. “Shit,” Sasha muttered and then gave the blonde an apologetic look. “I gotta be to class now.” Reese laughed. “I figured that would happen. Get to class, feel free to blame me.” Sasha shoved his comic book back into his backpack and stood up, slinging it over his shoulder as he added. “It was really great talking to you, and if I ever find I’ve got an interest in history or something you’ll find me sitting in your class.” He flashed her a bright smile before he got ready to race off -- literally -- so he wouldn’t be late. “You too!” She called after him, laughing again and wondering if maybe he had ever read the Flash. |