Over at the comic shop...

[Martha Villiers]

Pepper spoke with such clarity and expertise Martha simply didn't wish to interrupt so fascinating a lecture. Nodding often to show she was following, her eyes keenly on Pepper!

"Goodness! I see! I do see! How...ingenious! I shall indeed read it on your recommendation and explanation! From your very clear and acute insights, I am now wondering if you a writer or artist yourself, Miss?" she asks with sincere enthusiasm.

Small hand movements flutter to illustrate some of the more aggressive looking covers close to where they are standing and chatting.

[Pepper]

Pepper very nearly blushed. Ah, embarrassment. She smiled at the petite woman and winked "Oh, that's quite the compliment, but no. Creating from scratch isn't anything I excel at, never had the Voice for it. I am an editor... of novels." She gave a little half-shrug and held out her hands with a hint of despair.

"As much as I love comics, trying to get into the business of making them can be a huge struggle... It's still an industry that ascribes to tokenism with it's creation staff. Doubly so since Milestone was bought by DC. Regardless, I'm a lover of stories in general, and always had an eye for storytelling patterns that work. I'd like to think that it puts me in a good position to help other people get their stories in order." Pepper's eyes traced Martha's hands as they fluttered, but quickly moved back to her delicately featured face. Was she perhaps leaning in to the Englishwoman? If she was, she just hoped it wouldn't feel like looming.

[Daniella Sage]

She found herself laughing along with him, but hers was a softer, gentler sound.

“I’ll give you that, Sephiroth had a pretty impressive sword. But I’m referring to Heavenly Sword. A sword that can change into three different forms, that is pretty great.” The game was interesting. Seemed the usual all business Au Pair could let loose.

“All a superhero is, is someone who possesses extraordinary traits, super hero powers and is dedicated to protecting the public. No to mention they usually have a great costume. A superhero is in the eyes of the beholder.” She replied. “What I would recommend? Hmmm..” she thinks a moment, “You could always do like I am, look for obscure and not so well known superheros. That way, there is little chance for someone to have the same costume. But also go with what looks good and fun to you! The whole idea behind the costume idea is for us to all have a blast! Worrying as to if a video game hero counts seems trivial to me, after all, who may be a superhero to one, might not be considered as one by another.”

She then shrugs and laughs again, “But we get too serious,” she says, “Just have fun.”

[Martha Villiers]

As Pepper outlines her talents and ambitions Martha smiles and nods and seems both deeply impressed and fascinated. Leaning hard on her cane, she nods. "Goodness me!" she enthuses,

"I...I can tell you are talented and artistic! It positively shines through in some...some indefinable, exciting, quality!"

Martha smiled again, as she excitably praises Pepper, one hand balances the comics she's holding, rubbing at her crippled hip while the other grips hard at her cane.

"As an editor, Miss, do you feel that the comic format leads to more concise writing...more pithy and, perhaps even showing it's Pulp fiction origins and heritage, or akin to excitable adventure tales from the early 1900's...or do you feel the art form has now surpassed these origins and developed it's own particular voice and vocabulary or style?"

Martha's question is asked with a sweet smile and genuine wide eyed desire to hear Pepper's views.

[Edwin Bridges]

Edwin nodded before his eyes moved from where they were locked on the Keeper to scan once again the many comic book covers for some kind of inspiration.

"You know, I never once thought that coming to Sac, I would be involved in cosplay," he grinned, picking up the latest issue of Hawkeye.

[Pepper]

Pepper scratches her temple, unsure what to say to the enthusiastic complements. "Thank you, it's very generous for you to say." She paused, catching sight of Matha rubbing her hip, then gestured to some nearby chairs. Might as well sit down, if they're going to be talking.

"Oh, no need to call me 'Miss', Pepper works just fine, Martha." She gave a friendly wink, then hummed as she thought that question through. "That depends on your definition of Comics - I consider them the combination of Sequential images with the written word to produce a story. That definition has a far longer history than the common perception of modern Western comics."

Because the use of image and words was a very different animal in other cultures. "But the way Western - particularly American comics were developed out of newspaper strips and with the focus on action, does mean that there were limited pages. Each issue had to get the most out of every panel and line of dialogue. So yes, Brevity and Pithiness were ideal. In contrast, comics came into different standards when they became popular in Japan. For one thing, longer stories were welcomed, so it became common for them to use panels solely for setting the scene, and yes, developing shorthand symbology for expressions and emotions." She sat in one of the chairs and tapped her chin.

"Really, the way Comics are designed lends itself to ever-changing and growing ways of expression, so you can't really box things into their origins. It's a matter of Genre and the Devices used to tell the stories from that Genre. And I suppose the combined skill of the artist and writer. There's nothing worse than having pretty artwork that clashes with the story the writer is trying to tell. If it's not making sense in context, is can take the audience out of the story... and well, it's hard to recover from that." Pepper was rambling again, and knew it. It wasn't really embarrassing, at least Martha seemed eager for the lecture and not merely swept up in the discussion.

Really though, she felt bad for paraphrasing and summarizing so much of Scott McCloud's Understanding Comics....

[Martha Villiers]

Martha picked up on the echoes of McCloud, but nodded with excitement as Pepper somehow made any restatement of ideas a delightful experience. Martha watched Pepper's eyes, her mannerisms...her wholeness.

The brilliance of her Presence was quite enthralling.

Smiling sweetly Martha limped and skipped her way to follow Pepper to the seats. She sat with a demur posture, but was clearly grateful for the chance to rest her hip and stretch out her C-Leg.

As Pepper spoke Martha found herself echoing the word; "...simply quite enthralling, Miss Pepper! Goodness! How...how compelling you are!" she enthuses.

"I must say how grateful I am to you for your insights! Have...well, conscious of your remark earlier about the competitive, and likely unjust, commercial realm of the comic book industry, if I may trouble you to talk a little longer...have you thought of writing or illustrating a Internet web-platform-comic of your own, Miss Pepper? Such an undertaking, I should hope!, would be freed from the constraints inherent in an unfair industrial hegemony!" she asks with equal, undiminished, enthusiasm. Rubbing at her crippled hip once more, she seemed ready to listen to Pepper all evening.

[Pepper]

Pepper's gratitude for the compliment shone out in a smile. "Thank you. I have to say, I'm impressed that with as much praise as you've been showering upon me, every bit of it has been genuine." An odd comment perhaps, but Pepper was truly surprised that none of the comments really rang hollow.

"I have considered, but I find that my largest problem with stepping into the creator's role is that all the best stories I want to write aren't really mine to tell. I've had a very boring life, that keeps catching flashed of other people's excitement or danger, but I'm almost never hurt for it. It seems to me, that if I wrote what I know, I would either be borrowing from events those I'm close to would rather not speak of or... Well, I suppose I could try my hands as a romance webcomic." Pepper hummed, finding herself amused and intrigued by that idea. Could she? "Or slice of life?" though the second didn't sit well with her as a genre. It wasn't what she wanted to write.

[Martha Villiers]

Martha found she had to listen as Pepper's ideas were outlined.

Watching with smiles and wide eyed attention, she nodded often. Holding her cane and hands in a gleeful gesture.

"I say!" she chirped in a very English manner, "This is exciting! Perhaps a Romance might be made more remarkable if seen through the dramatic conception of, perhaps, a Quixotic or Courtly Romantic thematic spin on events? A slightly surreal approach to the Art Form, Miss? Your Life, just not quite as we know it! Your knowledge of literary forms and concepts will bring intellectual qualities to a web comic that others can appreciate! I dare say this is an Art Form and experience limited only by the imagination." Martha beams a happy, excited, smile. Now caught up in the buzz of the discussion, Martha adds; "Imagination, I venture to suggest, is an attribute you clearly have in abundance, Miss!"

Martha offers this praise with clear honesty too. Leaning on her cane, she blinks and falls into a happy, reflective, silence, as if eager to help let the silence propagate Peppers ideas.

[Daniella Sage]

“I have to agree with you there, I never pictured myself cosplaying.” She replied with a smile. “Though I have to admit, it does have a sense of excitement to it.”

An idea occurred to her, “Tell me Mr Bridges, do you know much about magna?” she asked. She had read a few here and there that had looked appealing.

“There are quite a few interesting characters in them. And one comes to mind that you might have fun with.” A sly smile appears. “Ever heard of Alucard from the Hellsing series?” sure, it was a little ironic for a vampire to play a Vampire, but hey, why not? “I realize Magna is not exactly a comic book per say, but one cannot deny the similarities.”