backdated to 4/12, welcome to ultimate nerd hell

[frostythehitman]

James Barnes shared a photo. April 12 near Recolle

There's got to be at least one comics nerd on here. Someone explain to me what all these old comics are supposed to be, and why they all have me in them. And before you say "just google it," I did and I couldn't find anything. I have no idea where Retrospec dug these up from. Also, I've got one free ticket to the shooting range I'm willing to share. The only catch is you have to be 18+ and willing to take me too. Let me know if you're interested.

((To view the comics in larger size/more detail, click here. There was no way i was gonna manage to embed that in a DW post. EDIT: also i added a bit to this post at 4/17 11:38 EST because I was a dumbass who forgot to include it originally, sorry for any possible confusion! ))

Comments

[constellates]

sometimes when people get things from retrospec
they look at it and feel like saying
this is mine

but maybe it is the same if you feel like you are the character
maybe it tells the story of your life ?
someone wrote a comic about you !
back then
it is like a current day legend
exciting !

[frostythehitman]

How can it be the story of my life if I wasn't even born yet?

Besides, none of this stuff matches up with anything I remember, not even in any of the hallucinomemories.

[constellates]

the story of your life before this one
or a different one from this one
when you were born earlier ?

what do you hallucinoremember ?

[frostythehitman]

What, like reincarnation?

[ He doesn't much like actually describing the contents of the hallucinomemories, because he has a feeling that "I tossed a knife through a guy's neck and killed him" is not really something one brings up in polite conversation. So he's gonna just. Skirt around that. ]

Are we actually using that as the verb now? Okay.
I hallucinoremember a major telling me he had a "special assignment" for me in the army. And some other stuff that was probably part of that assignment.

[constellates]

i think so
we have not talked in person so it is not clear
but one of anyas changes was that i do not remember all my english anymore
so sometimes i do not have the words
sorry
but i think reincarnation is good if google is right

[She's trying... It's a little embarrassing to admit, but better to say so now than later. For now she'll also keep googling words that she can't recognize.]

you were in the army ?
was it scary ?

[frostythehitman]

Oh. That's weird.

[ And kind of disturbing. He can lose things because of all this weirdness now too? He doesn't want to lose anything.

James thinks back on his hallucinomemories. ]

I haven't seen/remembered much of it, but yeah. Sometimes it was scary.

[ Not as much as he would've expected though, considering what he saw. Is that a blessing, or something to be concerned about? ]

[constellates]

it is
but do not worry
it is even more rare for people to lose i think
mostly it is just a change

[??? she's trying to make him feel better, she really is]

i am glad that it was only sometimes
that would be a lot to remember

[frostythehitman]

I think forgetting part of a language and not being fluent in it any more is more than just "a change."

[ Not that he's trying to be mean or rub it in her face or anything, but JESUS CHRIST. He only knows the one language, the idea of losing any bit of fluency in it is, frankly, terrifying. What would he do, resort to charades? ]

Yeah well we'll see. I only remember like two bits of it right now. Who knows what else I'm gonna "hallucinoremember."

[constellates]

[charades works]

it was a little trade ?
sort of
english is not as good
but now i know some japanese
and a lot of russian ?

i hope they are good things !
it cannot all be bad things yes ?
maybe you will remember comic adventures

i spent like an hour reading these comics just for this comment

[frostythehitman]

So you forgot a bunch of English but then you suddenly learned a bunch of other languages? Didn't your family notice you suddenly couldn't speak English as well? Or your friends?

The extra languages are cool but what's the point if no one around you can speak them?

God, I hope I remember something better than these 'comic adventures'. If I actually have to remember a guy named "Netman" who does nothing but throw nets on people, I'm going to quit.

omg comics life i'm laughing

[constellates]

mama noticed but now she does not think it is odd
some of my friends noticed and some did not
it is confusing

i can speak russian with viktor and yuratchka
and there are some people who know japanese
and sometimes it is hard that i do not have the words for what i want to say in english
but if i keep thinking about the bad things that i cannot change
what is the point ?
now i study to try to get my words back

[admittedly she's borrowing his words for that last bit as she tends to do - but she did spend quite a bit of time grappling with it. and she still does... talking about it is just hard]

netman !
that sounds funny ?
to live in the comics world
i do not know them very well since i just started to read
but if you are the hero then that is a good thing ?

[frostythehitman]

[ Forgive him his rudeness, he's just curious and tactless. ]

Did they seriously just not notice? That makes no sense. And what did your mom do, just shrug about it and act like it's no big deal?

Does the studying actually help, at least? Or are you just stuck with whatever level you're at for all those languages?

Yeah, at least I'm the hero and not "Netman". I wouldn't want to be known as a hero for beating up guys like that, though. A hero should at least have some respectable villains.

[constellates]

[admittedly it doesn't register as rudeness just yet - it's direct enough that anya only bothers to be honest. she's had enough people ask her about her language regain anyway]

mama does not pay it any mind anymore
but it is like when i talk to her about the chocobos and she does not remember horses
there is nothing i can do to convince her ? i am worried but i do not have an answer yet

studying helps !
i am already better with words than i was a month ago when it happened i think
people practice with me a lot and i have to use english everyday and no one lets me speak too much russian
so i think it is ok and getting easier
even if i miss having all the words to say what i want

is it possible to be respectable and a villain ?

[frostythehitman]

Weird. And creepy.

What about for things like school? You go to school, right? Do you just do really badly in English class now?

And when I say 'respectable villain' I mean a villain that a hero would get respect for beating. You don't earn respect for beating up "Netman."

[constellates]

not really badly
but it is harder to read and understand so i always google words
it is not as easy but if i keep trying then it turns easier with time
that is what i believe

you are still saving people ?
i think that is worth respect

[frostythehitman]

And I guess you're not expecting to get your English back any time soon, either.

Yeah but saving people from someone who's trying to blow up a city gets a lot more respect than someone who saves people from a guy throwing a bunch of nets around.

[constellates]

i hope i do
but if i do not then i do not want to be sad

you do not need to compare
saving people is always good

[frostythehitman]

[ Good lord is she blindingly optimistic. It's like staring into the sun. It's burning his flesh off. You know what, that's a good analogy. ]

Yeah yeah,
good deeds are their own reward and all that, but people aren't inherently nice like that. They want something in exchange that isn't just "the satisfaction of a job well done"
or whatever load of bull people think of.

People are greedy. Fame and acknowledgement is one incentive for getting them to do stuff.

[ whoa step back folks we got an edgelord over here ]

[constellates]

[he sounds like yuri

it clicks with her immediately, because yuri loves to talk about how people are jackasses and then here's bucky and she's wondering if it's just some sort of shared illness that afflicts teenaged boys]

is that what you think ?
you would not help because you want to help ?
odd
there are a lot of nice people who will give their time if you ask i think
even if you do not ask

[no anya, that's literally just you]

[frostythehitman]

[ ...well. Honestly this doesn't really jive with James's own experiences, where everyone on base is like a huge family all helping each other out. But he assumes that's just an edge case, as opposed to the angsty navel-gazing truth. ]

It depends on what you mean by 'help.' A stranger asking for directions to someplace is nothing like saving them from an impending car crash.

I bet lots of people would give directions, but not save someone from a car crash. It's way too risky. That's why you need to give people some incentive to take some crazy risk like that.

[constellates]

i think that most will want to save someone
but they do not know if they can
and they have to worry about their own family
and not getting hurt
and that is okay too

but at heart people want to be good ?
probably

[frostythehitman]

If at heart people all wanted to be good, then why are there so many assholes?

[constellates]

some people were not good to them
and then that is all they know
the not good
so they act that way too

that is what i think

[frostythehitman]

So every asshole is just someone who tried to do something good and got screwed over for it?

[constellates]

maybe
or they did not know how to handle feelings

[she's seen yuri kick at doors so]

the world was not nice to them
so they did not learn how to be nice
something like that ?
i think