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psocopteraYikes, been quite a few days here.
Prince Adam was on his way to have breakfast with his parents when a many-armed creature crawled over the wall.
"It's ok," he told the cowering Cringer. He held aloft his mighty sword. "By the Power of Greyskull!" he proclaimed, and wrestled the creature until he was able to hurl it into a nearby lake.
By the time he made it to breakfast, his parents had finished eating. "I keep thinking that one of these mornings, you might be on time," his father said. "I stopped sleeping in late in my mid-twenties."
"Not today," Adam said, pretending to stretch and yawn. He hadn't slept in late since he'd gotten the Power Sword.
The day went on typically from there. Prince Adam was scheduled to meet with the Chancellor in the morning, but He-Man had to stop Slime-Man and his slug army from eating all of Eternia's vegetables. The Chancellor had left for his next appointment by the time he got all the slime off, leaving only a note asking Adam to please inform him if his plans changed. Prince Adam was supposed to attend a lecture and present a medal at the Pilots' Guild, but He-Man had to rescue some miners from a collapsed cave, and Orko lost the medal when he went to fill in for him. Orko told him that he'd heard some Pilots say they'd ask for Stratos next year instead. Prince Adam tried to have dinner on the Guards' balcony with Teela, and Skeletor attacked with an enormous porcupine that shot its quills like javelins. They'd been right on the edge of the balcony and he had to turn and run past an entire company of the Royal Guard to get around the corner to transform, with Teela yelling "Adam, you coward!" at his back while she fought the porcupine. The Guard were too disciplined to say anything, but he heard hisses.
When Prince Adam came back after He-Man had dealt with the porcupine and chased off Skeletor, Teela had removed her tiara and was massaging her temples.
"I'm fine," she told him tiredly. "If you were wondering."
"I always thought I would get to tell you someday," Adam did not say to her. "I hated it that you thought I would abandon you when you were in danger. I thought that someday the Sorceress would tell me it was time and I'd reveal the fabulous secret powers and we would have a good laugh about it all."
"But it's really not funny, is it?" he still didn't say. "The years of lies, all the times I've left you? I thought his strength made up for what I was giving up. But He-Man and I, we're not two different people, we're not even each half a person. We add up to less than one. Even if I could tell you, it wouldn't be enough now."
He didn't say any of that. "Done with dinner?" he asked Teela, trying to flash her his best roguish grin. It was a bit pasted-on but she wouldn't look closely. "I think I've seen enough porc for awhile." He remembered when his puns could still make her laugh, could still make her angry. "You know if you got porked, I would pine..."
She looked away. "Adam..." she said. "Adam... grow up."
His mother found him on his way back to his room. "Lunch with the Noble Families tomorrow," she said, "Then we've got a school group coming in, and there's a briefing briefing before dinner on some new science. Do you think you might make it to any of that?" She gave him a weak, resigned smile.
He smiled hopefully back and ducked into his room. He unslung the baldric from his back and sat down heavily on the bed.
"In today's show," Adam said to Cringer, "We saw how behavior that can be forgiven at twenty just looks pathetic at thirty, and how a compromise that you can accept at first may become unbearable with time." He stared blankly at the hilt of the Power Sword. "Remember, kids, always have an exit strategy."
Prince Adam was on his way to have breakfast with his parents when a many-armed creature crawled over the wall.
"It's ok," he told the cowering Cringer. He held aloft his mighty sword. "By the Power of Greyskull!" he proclaimed, and wrestled the creature until he was able to hurl it into a nearby lake.
By the time he made it to breakfast, his parents had finished eating. "I keep thinking that one of these mornings, you might be on time," his father said. "I stopped sleeping in late in my mid-twenties."
"Not today," Adam said, pretending to stretch and yawn. He hadn't slept in late since he'd gotten the Power Sword.
The day went on typically from there. Prince Adam was scheduled to meet with the Chancellor in the morning, but He-Man had to stop Slime-Man and his slug army from eating all of Eternia's vegetables. The Chancellor had left for his next appointment by the time he got all the slime off, leaving only a note asking Adam to please inform him if his plans changed. Prince Adam was supposed to attend a lecture and present a medal at the Pilots' Guild, but He-Man had to rescue some miners from a collapsed cave, and Orko lost the medal when he went to fill in for him. Orko told him that he'd heard some Pilots say they'd ask for Stratos next year instead. Prince Adam tried to have dinner on the Guards' balcony with Teela, and Skeletor attacked with an enormous porcupine that shot its quills like javelins. They'd been right on the edge of the balcony and he had to turn and run past an entire company of the Royal Guard to get around the corner to transform, with Teela yelling "Adam, you coward!" at his back while she fought the porcupine. The Guard were too disciplined to say anything, but he heard hisses.
When Prince Adam came back after He-Man had dealt with the porcupine and chased off Skeletor, Teela had removed her tiara and was massaging her temples.
"I'm fine," she told him tiredly. "If you were wondering."
"I always thought I would get to tell you someday," Adam did not say to her. "I hated it that you thought I would abandon you when you were in danger. I thought that someday the Sorceress would tell me it was time and I'd reveal the fabulous secret powers and we would have a good laugh about it all."
"But it's really not funny, is it?" he still didn't say. "The years of lies, all the times I've left you? I thought his strength made up for what I was giving up. But He-Man and I, we're not two different people, we're not even each half a person. We add up to less than one. Even if I could tell you, it wouldn't be enough now."
He didn't say any of that. "Done with dinner?" he asked Teela, trying to flash her his best roguish grin. It was a bit pasted-on but she wouldn't look closely. "I think I've seen enough porc for awhile." He remembered when his puns could still make her laugh, could still make her angry. "You know if you got porked, I would pine..."
She looked away. "Adam..." she said. "Adam... grow up."
His mother found him on his way back to his room. "Lunch with the Noble Families tomorrow," she said, "Then we've got a school group coming in, and there's a briefing briefing before dinner on some new science. Do you think you might make it to any of that?" She gave him a weak, resigned smile.
He smiled hopefully back and ducked into his room. He unslung the baldric from his back and sat down heavily on the bed.
"In today's show," Adam said to Cringer, "We saw how behavior that can be forgiven at twenty just looks pathetic at thirty, and how a compromise that you can accept at first may become unbearable with time." He stared blankly at the hilt of the Power Sword. "Remember, kids, always have an exit strategy."
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no subject
Date: 2007-12-21 05:40 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-12-21 11:47 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-12-24 05:18 pm (UTC)so I'm pretty sure that we won't see a lot of Clark Kent aging, for the common reader (Archie and Veronica have been in high school for 50 years now, Superman's been avoiding Kryptonite for the same period of time). The original comic book audience has already aged--we got Watchmen and Dark Knight and Sandman out of that process, I think.
Though your point re: an escape back to youth could be right--it could work. The kids of the 50's who were reading the original superman comics are now heading toward 70 and beyond, so that demographic is only going to grow. There's something painful about escaping to youth (and the past, and what might have been) that is not painful about a shortcut to adulthood (and potential, everything that still could be).
no subject
Date: 2007-12-24 11:35 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-12-25 06:49 pm (UTC)