i love hellblazers apprentice genuinely so good.
If your going through the writer asks could you please do these ones for HBA? 3,4,11
Jason and Constantineâs dynamic feels so fulfilling and I love how Constantine has grown attached and Jason is starting to as well.
Honestly you write them so well, even if Jason never met Bruce again and just did slice of life style Iâd be happy, he really grows as a character here. Constantine and his dynamic with the JLD is enough for me <3
seriously though I binged this entire thing and every time Jasonâs assassin bg or trauma comes up I can literally feel the concern radiating off Constantine through the damn screen and itâs fucking amazing I love it
I AM SO SORRY, ANON, I FORGOT THIS ASK WAS IN MY INBOX! I'VE BEEN SO BUSY WITH WORK AND LOTS OF CELEBRATIONS IN MY LIFE THAT TIME GOT AWAY FROM ME.
Anyways, thank you for the kind words! They mean a lot to me <3
3: Whatâs your favorite line of narration?
Okay, bear with me, I know it's long butttt I love this bit of narration from Chapter 3
In all of the time Jason had spent with his various teachers, they all had one thing that linked them together, one thing that was always their downfall.
Pride.
You see, itâs always the same pattern with the teachers Talia would set him up with. Theyâd get a notice from Talia of her sending a prospective student their way to learn more, theyâd get semi-interested only to then be disappointed at the kid that arrived on their doorstep instead of some warrior. Theyâd stare down at him with their noses turned up in disdain, thinking that heâs just some snot-nosed American brat that was sent their way to learn under them by âmommy dearest.â Theyâd think they could get away with teaching the basics of all basics and keep the money for themselves. They were so sure that they were the superior ones whenever they taught Jason, and well, who was he to not take advantage of an opportunity? A few basic mistakes here, a stumble in learning progress there, and they always fell into the same complacency that he was just an idiot with connections and money. It was laughably easy then, to pretend to build up proficiency at half the speed heâd normally pick up something and then act cocky once enough time came. Heâd make a few subtle jabs at their ability to teach, and like always, their egos could not handle such an attack and theyâd ramp up their training to prove him wrong.Â
And once he was done wringing them of enough information, it was always too late for them to realize he was playing them like a fiddle.Â
Rudimentary reverse psychology at its finest was enough to fell several teachers before they had even realized what was happening. Really, it was almost pathetic, and it happened enough that Jason had once almost asked Talia if those people were really the best assassins she could set him up with.
And once again, he was using the same tricks on his current teacher. The only difference was that he couldnât kill Constantine, no matter how much he got on Jasonâs nerves. Even he wasnât stupid enough to not acknowledge the fact that he was at a severe disadvantage in his current situation. Unfamiliar territory, a whole new set of skills that Jason didnât even have the faintest of grasps on, and the potential of invoking the wrath of all of the Justice League were the biggest roadblocks that sprung to mind.Â
So heâd have to go about this like a game of chess. Sacrificing a few pawns and letting his opponent think he has him trapped would be a necessary evil that heâd have to put up with if he wants to dig deeper into the world of magic.
It was so much fun to write Jason's manipulative thought process (even if John didn't fall for it). One of the things that irks me about DC writers trying to write Jason is that they forget that he was deviously cunning during his Red Hood debut. He knew how to make a statement and how to run circles around Bruce. He's not the angry hothead so many writers try to portray him to be. He was trained by Batman and several other people, and he wasn't dumb when he was Robin! His manipulative streak also extends back into Lost Days, like when he poisoned his one teacher and outclassed the Russian mob in another arc. So, getting the chance to write that version of Jason was soooo much fun.
4: Whatâs your favorite line of dialogue?
I actually have two.
âSee, thatâs why Iâm not worried,â Constantineâs voice broke through Jasonâs trance, making him look back at the Brit. âIâm not locked in here with you.â
There was a sharpness to his cold gaze as he stared unblinkingly at Jason over the edge of the glass.Â
âYouâre locked in here with me.â
One, I just love the whole "I'm not locked in here with you. You're locked in here with me" trope. It just tickles the brain chemicals for me. Two, Constantine can be truly menacing sometimes, especially when he's sure that he's got a winning hand. So having him remind Jason of his homefield advantage is a fun way to highlight how little Jason knows about magic.
âYouâre not the first person Iâve met who died and was resurrected, and youâre probably not the last.â Constantine rolled his eyes. âItâs happened so often with them capes that I've stopped going to some of their funerals. So if you think youâre some special freak for dying and coming back, then youâre really not.â
One, it highlights how uncaring/indifferent John can be towards the rest of the hero community at large. He's not one to do the whole cape thing, and any time he's involved, it's often against his will. Two, this line was also just my own subtle jab at the way comics use fakeout character deaths so often nowadays.
11: What do you like best about this fic?
Trench coat Jason! Trench coat Jason! (I say after he finally gets said trench coat eight chapters later)
Lol, real answer: I like to give Jason different mentor/familial figures in my fics, and The Hellblazer's Apprentice is no exception. It's fun to explore how different he could be with someone that isn't Bruce. Really, he has such potential for growth when he's matched with a person that can empathize with him in some way that differs from the Batfamily's less than stellar coping mechanisms. Case in point, I have four other fics that have someone else becoming Jason's support system.
Going back to Constantine specifically, I'm going to quote one of my commentors to explain just why I love writing Jason & Constantine together (shout out to VorpalGirl for their amazing analysis on Jason & John's relationship dynamic!).
"Constantine is not a perfect man by any means; but he's perhaps the perfect personality match for mentoring Jason."
You see, Constantine is messy and pragmatic; he sees the world in shades of morally gray instead of black and white. He's not afraid to lean into dubious methods, nor is he afraid of owning up to his screw ups. He's also aware and understands that other people are capable of messing up too, because they're human. Instead of lingering on a fuckup or harshly berating Jason, he acknowledges it and moves on. There might be some chastising, but he's not going to nitpick every minor mistake.
John's also capable of seeing his own missteps with Jason and tries to correct them, like in Chapter 4 when he apologized to Jason after he unintentionally dug up an old trauma. Or in Chapter 6 when he reminded Jason that there were different means to get information and he didn't need to succeed in summoning the ghost just because John asked him to. He understood that he didn't explain why Jason shouldn't use some of his own essence in summoning a spirit, and realized that just telling Jason no isn't going to cut it; Jason needs to be told why he shouldn't do something. Otherwise, he isn't going to take that order as seriously. And when Jason revealed his bloody past with his previous teachers, John didn't shun him for his actions; he showed concern at the fact that Jason was essentially damning his soul.
That's why John is such a good fit for Jason, especially Lost Days Jason, where he's full of pain and anger and so many messy emotions. John understands that and doesn't demean Jason for it. He just accepts it and helps guide him on a different path. He sees Jason as the person he currently is, and not as a ghost haunting a memory.
