#(: when will clive return from war

[hadesknockedupintheunderworld]

Not main tagging this rn but it like lowkey kind of fucks me up how many of Jill's scenes with Clive you could give to another character and it would either fit that character better, or it just kind of dawns on you how little it would change the overall story if you removed the connection to Clive and Rosaria from her character and just left her time in the Iron Kingdom forced to fight in the war for the sake of innocent people (and her consequent struggle over killing)

[nextyearzslutsukio]

Family Till Death Pt 1

Elias “Stack” Moore x Sister Reader x Elijah “Smoke” Moore x Reader (Platonic) (Clive is not apart of the movie he’s a character I added)

Warring  

Bloodplay, Consensual vampire turning, Power imbalance (dark seduction), Erotic content (18+), Mild gore/violence, Themes of death and transformation

 Disclaimer 

I own my own plot lines and all of the images, but I don't own sinners or any other characters save Clive; all credit goes to their creator. Please don't copy, translate, or claim my work. Thank you.

Family Till Death Pt 1

Elias “Stack” Moore x Sister Reader x Elijah “Smoke” Moore x Reader (Platonic) (Clive is not apart of the movie he’s a character I added)

Elias and Elijah, the older brothers to (Y/n) who are also referred to as Stack and Smoke. These three have remained together despite the difficulties they have encountered throughout the years. Given the difficult upbringing they experienced due to the abuse they endured at the hands of their own father, their relationship is unbreakable.

The trio had recently returned to Mississippi after a seven-year absence. The siblings had never felt better after returning from Chicago. When they arrive, they run into a big man who wants to sell an old building that they intend to convert into a juke joint bar. They waited for the man to arrive and depart while standing outside leaning against the car. Stack and Smoke were passing a blunt back and forth while (Y/n) was seated in the backseat of the automobile, ready to begin renovating the building that would be theirs.

When the man finally arrived, the three of them were furious since he was running late and they had other plans besides meeting him at the building. They had to leave so that people could eat, drink, smoke, and play games. Hogwood was the white man who parked his car, halted it, approached the three (Y/N), got out, and stood by Stack with her arms folded across her chest. She was a little irritated since he was running late.

“You're late, which means you're behind; money is time, and my time can’t be wasted.”

She spoke in a Southern accent as she looked at him, and he spat on the floor while ignoring her and focusing on the twins. Stack sensed that she was upset  and he too was both angry, but he held his temper not to upset this white man. Smoke simply stared at the man, saying nothing, as if he were assessing his strength and personality,the man had spoken up.

"Who is this petite woman? Are all of you triplets?”

 Given how similar her brothers seem, he said, (Y/n) thinking it was the most stupid thing to ask. They must be twins, no crap. He believes they are cousins or something. Make sense of it; you see, don't you? You are not blind, or perhaps he is simply as stupid as he appears to be due to a fried brain. However, Stack had already spoken before she could even open her mouth. "

“Nah, we're cousins”

(Y/n) had let out a little chuckle she loved her brother that was something they had in common was their humor Smoke just kept watching the man, they had moved into to look inside of the building getting a quick tour of it and the man had unlocked the door the three siblings had walked in walking around and taking a tour of it (Y/n) had walked off to look around for herself.

There had been a small laugh from (Y/n).The comedy they shared was something she adored about her brother. Smoke simply continued to observe the man; the man had unlocked the door and they had walked in to have a brief look inside the building. The three siblings had entered,wandered around, and given it a tour before (Y/n) left to explore on her own. 

~Timeskip~ 

Once the building has been paid for, they travel to pick up their cousin Sammy (Y/n), who was sitting in the back, reflecting on all the people they had left behind, Mary. There was one person she left and it was the most difficult person to leave Mary, who was like a sister she never had. She was like a best friend Stack and Mary had a past together that was rather toxic, and (Y/n) was aware of it as well but kept it to herself.

Being the calmer of the siblings, (Y/n) was always observing and never spoke much.

That was because the trauma she had endured at the hands of her father had altered her true self, causing her to become more mature, silent, and perceptive. She suffered a great deal from her father's abuse and the lack of a mother to shield

her.

Next came Annie, another woman whom (Y/n) also loves a lot; at this point, Annie was seeing Smoke. Annie was now her mother figure; as a child, she relied on Annie more than on her own father. She even referred to Annie as "Mama" on occasion. In other words, Annie was there for her first period and pretty much her first life.

Before leaving for Chicago, (Y/n) fell in love with a man named Clive, whom she worried didn't wait for her and either got married or even left Mississippi. However, he was her true love. She questioned whether his feelings for her had changed. She wished she could see him and embrace him. Seven years have passed since she last saw him.She could recall when she had last seen him.   

They arrived at Uncle Jack's Crunch a short while later to pick up their cousin Sammy and begin working on the juke joint. Sammie was only a young child when they left Mississippi, so (Y/n) was glad to see him. She gave him a strong hug and a quick peck on the cheek once he got into the car. He was no longer a child, and he looked fine, gorgeous even, and larger than when she had last seen him years before. (Y/n) had heard Sammy's father say.

“Sone you keep dancing with the devil. One day he’s gonna follow you home’

But Sammie didn’t listen; he just hopped in the car, and they drove away down a long road, just talking and having a good laugh together. They had a good convection going on, Stack, Smoke, and Sammie were just chatting. (Y/n) sat in the back, just enjoying the ride and the wind in her hair. Home never felt better; it was almost like they never left. She wanted to leave the three behind and go look for Clive, but she knew that would be selfish of her, so she just waited until she got into town to look for him. 

~A few minutes later~ 

Driving along the road, they pull onto the grass that is tucked away from the street.

They all exit the vehicle. A rattlesnake stops Sammie's attempt to assist Smoke and Stack as they remove a sheet cover from their second car (Y/N) and stand aside. The snake scared Sammie,so he leaped back.Stack had seen it, as had Smoke. They both positioned their backs against the truck, anticipating the snake's attack. However, Smoke threw his knife at Stack before it could strike, stabbing it and then tossing it aside after it had died. Smoke had checked his watch.

Smoke: 

“shit.Crackers showing up.They already got us behind schedule.I'm thinking we just set up tonight.Open up next weekend.”

Stack:

“Nah, fuck that.It's gotta be tonight.Grand opening. Start this shit with a bang.Well, we start with a misfire. Look at that sky.That's a mighty fine day to be free, ain't it? Our own juke joint.Follow us and buy us,just like we always wanted.”

Smoke: 

“Only chance we got if we split up.Well, who gonna watch the truck when I'm in there talking to the child?nigga, just let him see us you.”

Stack:

“We have been going a long time, Stack.Seven years ain't long enough to forget about us.”

Smoke: 

All right.Watch this fool make sure he doesn't get in any trouble. You're big enough to take me now, huh?

Sammie:

Nah, I'll do what I can.”

“Nah, you'll do what you told. You keep your eyes open for anybody staring too long.

Smoke:

“This nigga don't know how to watch his own back.”

Smoke:

“Love you.”

Stack:

“Love you too.”

Smoke:

“Be careful.”

Stack:

“I will.”

When Stack and Smoke had concluded their conversation, she turned to face Smoke and gave him a final embrace before leaving. The siblings embrace each other. (Y/n) gave Stack a huge hug, not wanting to be separated from her big brother, but she was with her other big brother, who had her back.

“I love you, Elijah. Be safe and get back to me. Do not make any dumb decisions.

Please stay safe. I do not want to lose you; if you see Annie, tell her I said hello."

had hugged his younger sister. He was concerned about her even though he could

see she was strong. Since she was his baby sister 

and best friend, he wanted to shield

her from anything or anyone that could hurt her, even though he knew she was strong since she was a young child.

"I'll see you all at the Juke Joint, so don't worry. While I'm away, just keep focused, avoid trouble, and if you do find him, bring him along.”

She nods her head getting in the care with Stack and Sammie while Smoke got in the car by himself they part ways Sammie and Stack sat in the front and (Y/n) sat in the back by herself thinking of Clive she prays he’s here at the train station she wanted to see the man of her life maybe he was still here and he was waiting for her like he was waiting for him.

“We're stacked.All right, listen.Every coo's got a button on it towards the top.

And you want to keep it, woman.You find it, lick that.Not too hard, not too soft either.You ever had a scoop of that ice cream from downtown?”

“Uh-huh.”

“About the same pressure you put on there.Like it tastes good, but you don't want it gone too quick, you know what I'm saying?”

While Stack was providing Sammie advice on how to get a guy to make a girl feel

good, (Y/n) simply cut off the talk and laughed in the back. Did she really care that she didn't want to hear this? She started thinking about Clive again, but she filtered out the conversation because it was boy chat that was better left for 

another time.

When they get to the station, they approach Old Man Slim, who is strumming his harmonica. Slim was a good elderly man who was also inebriated; he was clever and wise. They performed briefly after speaking with Slim and  Sammie to draw attention to the Juke Joint and encourage people to attend the grand launch. With a smile on her face, (Y/n) stood aside and observed them. She was aware that Sammie's performance would draw crowds. Looking among the crowd, she recognized a face. Although she didn't want to make any snap judgments, he reminded her of Clive.

Hoping it was her long-awaited lover of seven years, Clive, she approached Stack to make sure she wasn't seeing things and that it was indeed who she believed it to be.

Does that look like Clive, or is it just me, Stack? since I'm hoping I'm not seeing anything.

Stack had turned to look at his sister's area of interest. The twins were aware of Clive and had a fondness for him. They could tell he cared about their sister and would look after her, so they felt he was the one for her. After searching for a long time to determine whether it was indeed Clive, Stack finally caught sight of him. Clive's gaze was on (Y/n), who was scanning the area to make sure she didn't miss him if he was truly at the station.

“Nah, (Y/n), that’s him, and it looks like he’s coming this way. Oh shit, yeah, he's coming this way.”

TO BE CONTINUED….

This is my first time writing please like and let me know how I did!!!

[muiitoloko]

The Zumba Incident

Summary: When your retired, slightly unhinged ex-general husband crashes a community Zumba class with his equally inebriated war buddies, the result is chaos, sore hips, and one unforgettable performance.

Pairing: Frank Benson × Fem! Reader & Oc

Warnings: Funny

Author's Notes: A little continuation of "Operation Dog Flap". You don’t have to read it if you don’t want to, but it’s good for context. 😅 Am I making Frank too comedic?

Also read on Ao3

Three days had passed since Frank’s legendary dog-flap incident, and life had mostly returned to normal—or as normal as it could get when your husband was a retired Lieutenant General with the emotional maturity of a cranky badger and the self-preservation instincts of a lemming on a cliff.

That morning, Frank had wandered into the kitchen with his usual heavy-footed shuffle, white hair sticking up in several directions, his reading glasses perched low on his hooked nose.

“Going out,” he’d grunted around a mouthful of toast.

You glanced up from your coffee. “Oh?”

He nodded, vaguely. “Reggie, Clive, maybe Tony. Lunch. Catching up. I won’t be long.”

You arched a brow. “Lunch as in ‘lunch,’ or lunch as in you’ll be drunk before three and fall asleep on the couch covered in crisps and shame?”

Frank gave you his most affronted look—the one he always wore when you were absolutely correct. “It’s just lunch,” he said, hazel eyes blinking with poorly concealed innocence. “We’re old men. We get full after a pint and a sandwich.”

You rolled your eyes but said nothing. He had been good lately. He deserved a break. And frankly, you needed some quiet time with Thomas that didn’t involve cleaning olive oil off the floor or explaining to your son why Daddy had turned into a stuck sausage roll.

So, you kissed Frank goodbye, sent him off with his coat, wallet, and a warning—“Please, for the love of God, don’t get arrested”—and went about your day.

It was peaceful for a while.

Until your phone rang.

You glanced at the caller ID and frowned.

Frank Benson.

You answered with a smile, expecting your husband’s baritone and a half-sarcastic, half-sincere “I miss you already.”

Instead, a strange female voice greeted you.

“Hi! Uh, hello? Is this… Mrs. Benson?”

Your brow furrowed. “Yes?”

“Oh, great. Hi! I work at the community center on Rosehill Street and, um… we have your husband here. And his friends.”

You froze. “…Sorry?”

“They, uh… well, they’ve joined our Zumba class. Uninvited. And we just… thought you might want to come get them.”

You stared at your phone in silence for a beat.

“I’m sorry,” you said slowly, “did you just say Zumba?”

“Yes. Very enthusiastically.”

You pinched the bridge of your nose. “Is he drunk?”

“I’d guess… very.”

Of course he was.

You sighed and rubbed your temple. “Right. I’ll be there in fifteen.”

Twenty minutes later, you were standing in the entryway of the Rosehill Community Center, Thomas at your side, clutching his dinosaur backpack, eyes wide with curiosity.

You could hear the music before you even entered the main hall—Latin beats thumping through the walls, something absurdly upbeat about hips and rhythm and joy.

And then, through the windowed door, you saw them.

Frank. Your husband. White hair disheveled, cheeks red, moving in a way that could only be described as possessed by a rhythm demon with no sense of timing. His shirt was half-untucked, his stomach jiggled with every movement, and he looked like a retired garden gnome on a sugar high. His hazel eyes were glazed but… weirdly focused. Determined, even.

He was trying.

Reggie was beside him, shirtless for some godforsaken reason, twirling like a drunken ballerina. Clive was flapping his arms with all the coordination of a headless chicken, and Tony—sweet, poor Tony—was doing something vaguely resembling a twerk, and you never wanted to think about that again.

Thomas gasped beside you. “Mummy. Daddy’s dancing!”

“Not… exactly, sweetheart.”

“But he’s moving like Peppa’s grandpa when he sneezed.”

“That sounds about right.”

The instructor, a tired-looking woman in her mid-thirties, spotted you through the window and gave you a desperate thumbs-up.

You took a deep breath and pushed the door open.

The music blasted into your ears. The moment Frank caught sight of you, he froze mid-thrust, his arms outstretched, one knee bent in what might have once been a squat.

“…Darling,” he said, far too brightly. “You came!”

You stared at him in dead silence.

Frank blinked. Then tried to spin.

It did not go well.

He stumbled, caught Reggie’s elbow, and the two of them tumbled to the floor in a heap of laughter and flailing limbs.

Thomas clapped delightedly. “Again, Daddy! Do the spin again!”

Frank groaned from the floor, one hand reaching toward the ceiling. “I was ambushed,” he slurred. “They promised me pub lunch and a pint. And then there was music. And shouting. And a woman named Gloria said my hips were ‘full of promise.’”

You looked to the instructor. “How long has this been going on?”

She rubbed her forehead. “They got here at 2:40. It’s… 3:15.”

You stared at your husband. “You’ve been drunk dancing for thirty-five minutes?”

Frank beamed up at you from the floor. “Best workout I’ve had in years.”

You closed your eyes. “I’m going to bury you in the garden.”

“Preferably face down,” Reggie muttered, groaning as he sat up. “That way if I reanimate, I can’t climb out.”

Thomas waved his arms. “Can I do Zumba too?!”

You groaned. “Absolutely not. Everyone into the car.”

“But—”

“Now!”

Frank struggled to his feet, his arms wobbling. “Darling, I was quite good actually. You should’ve seen my hip circle.”

You took one long, slow breath. “Frank Benson. You are a decorated military officer. You commanded drone strikes. You negotiated ceasefires. You were once knighted by the Queen herself.”

He grinned, eyes drooping. “And now I Zumba.”

You turned to the instructor, digging into your bag. “Do you accept bribes to delete footage?”

That night, Frank lay spread-eagled on the couch, groaning.

“Everything hurts,” he mumbled.

“Good.”

“You’re not going to forgive me, are you?”

“Not even a little.”

“I think I may have sprained my arse.”

You didn’t answer. Just placed a glass of water on his chest and a bag of frozen peas on his thigh.

Thomas ran into the room with a piece of paper. “Look, Daddy! I drew you doing Zumba!”

Frank stared at the drawing. He was a stick figure with wild hair and a big, wobbling belly.

“…I’m magnificent,” he whispered.

You sighed, collapsing beside him, one hand brushing through his white hair.

“You are something, alright.”

And he smiled. Stupid. Pained. Drunk with life.

Yours.

[camisoledadparis]

THIS DAY IN GAY HISTORY

based on: The White Crane Institute's 'Gay Wisdom', Gay Birthdays, Gay For Today, Famous GLBT, glbt-Gay Encylopedia, Today in Gay History, Wikipedia, and more … January 21

1885 – Duncan Grant (d.1978) was one of the major British artists of the twentieth century, as well as the sexual catalyst of that remarkable group of friends, the Bloomsbury Circle, which included, among others, writer Lytton Strachey and economist John Maynard Keynes, who were to be among Grant's lovers.

Born Duncan James Corrow Grant in Scotland into an artistically cultivated Scottish family prominent in governing the British empire, Grant as a child recognized his attraction to other boys and actively sought out sexual encounters with them.

Grant spent his childhood in India but returned to Britain in 1893. He travelled to Paris in 1906, where he studied with Jacques-Emile Blanche and became acquainted with Picasso and other influential artists of the time. In 1910, he returned to England to exhibit as a post-impressionist and then experimented with abstraction.

Famous for his use of color, he was called "the Matisse of Britain." His career flourished and his work was widely commissioned and collected by patrons, including Queen Elizabeth (the late Queen Mother), as well as by museums throughout the world.

Soon after World War II, the abstract school triumphed. Nevertheless, Grant had begun painting in a representational style, where his unabashed depictions of the male figure declared his sexual preference.

Bathers by the Pond

Throughout his life, Grant produced homoerotic sketches and paintings. When he was commissioned to decorate the Russell Chantry in Lincoln Cathedral in the late 1950s, he used his lover, the youthful, blond, physically beautiful Paul Roche, as the model for the face and body of Christ.

Despite the oppressiveness of British law and social attitudes condemning homosexuality, Grant lived openly as a gay man. "Never be ashamed," he liked to say. He remarked that his moral sensibility came from the Regency period, the pre-Victorian era noted for its relaxed sexual mores.

Although unabashedly homosexual in orientation, Grant was the object of desire of men and women alike. The painter Vanessa Bell, for example, with whom Grant and her husband art critic Clive Bell, shared a Sussex farmhouse for many years, fell in love with him.

Grant reluctantly yielded when she climbed into bed with him. She became pregnant and, in 1918, gave birth to a daughter she named Angelica. Grant neither acknowledged nor denied his paternity. However, when Angelica was a teenager, Vanessa told her that Grant was her father.

The young woman was traumatized with outrage and bitterness. After her mother's revelation, Angelica initiated an affair with and later married writer David Garnett, whom she knew to have been Grant's lover at the time of her conception.

Grant died peacefully on May 9, 1978, at the age of 92, in the arms of his companion, the poet Paul Roche. Grant's will divided his estate, including the copyrights to his work, between Roche and Angelica Garnett.

Unfortunately, Garnett has used this power to restrict and generally deny permission to reproduce Grant's work. As a result, the artist remains something of a ghostly figure, despite the resurgent interest in representational art and the perennial fascination with Bloomsbury.

*****

In 2020, an extraordinary stash of more than 400 erotic drawings by Duncan Grant that was long thought to have been destroyed came to light, secretly passed down over decades from friend to friend and lover to lover.

In the 1940s and 50s Grant made hundreds of drawings, many of them explicit and often influenced by Greco-Roman traditions as well as contemporary physique magazines.

One of the sketches

In May 1959, Grant gave his friend Edward le Bas a folder marked “these drawings are very private”. The mythology in Bloomsbury circles is that the drawings were later destroyed, probably by Le Bas’s sister. That was that, until Nathaniel Hepburn, the director of Charleston, the beautiful Sussex farmhouse Grant and Vanessa Bell called home, was contacted with an offer of the drawings.

The offer came from the retired theatre designer Norman Coates, who for years stored the drawings in plastic folders under his bed.

Coates said the drawings were “extraordinary, so in your face. You can’t avoid them. When I’ve occasionally brought them out to show selected friends after dinner, after the initial ‘My God’ exclamation at these very explicit drawings, they mellow … the sexual element really doesn’t dominate.

“It is the painting and the skill of his drawing and the aesthetic of it which negates the sexiness of them. It becomes irrelevant that the subject is what it is … it is a very odd feeling. It just becomes a beautiful collection of pictures.”

Coates was left the drawings by his partner, Mattei Radev, who died in 2009. Radev, a Bloomsbury mainstay who as a younger man had had a secret and tortured affair with E.M. Forster, was left them by Eardley Knollys, who died in 1991.

Knollys, who ran the influential Storran gallery in London and had an affair with Jean Cocteau, was given them by Le Bas, a painter. Le Bas was given them by Grant, a man who the economist John Maynard Keynes briefly thought might be the love of his life.

Hepburn said the drawings were often explicit fantasies but, as a whole, they were something more. “They are, I think, a body of work that talks of love. Of course at a time they were made, that is a love that was illegal,” he said. “He was never able to share the works. How we see them now will be very different.”

1895 – The best known Spanish fashion designer, Cristóbal Balenciaga was born (d.1972). Regarded as the master of fashion, his classic designs inspired the fashion industry throughout most of the twentieth century and continue to exert influence.

Born in Guetaria, near San Sebastian, Spain, Cristóbal Balenciaga Eisaguirre was the son of a fisherman. He studied needlework and dressmaking with his mother until 1910. In 1915, he established his own tailoring business under the sponsorship of Marquesa de Casa Torres. By the early 1930s he had established a reputation as Spain's leading couturier. Following the outbreak of the Spanish Civil War in 1936, Balenciaga closed his three couture houses and left Spain. After a brief stay in London, Balenciaga settled in Paris and in 1937 opened The House of Balenciaga on Avenue George V.

Balenciaga never married. This fact, coupled with his career in fashion, has led to speculation and rumors about his sexuality. A deeply private man, he never discussed his personal life publicly. One particular incident reported by writer Jacqueline Demornex may, however, throw a little light on his sexuality. After an argument between the couturier Coco Chanel and Balenciaga, Chanel allegedly made the following observation to a mutual friend: "It is obvious that he dislikes them (women); look at the way he conceals blouses under suits, just to expose the wrinkles in their necks." Inasmuch as such charges are frequently made against gay male designers, Demornex ponders why Chanel attacked Balenciaga in such a way: was it his age, his way of dressing women, or his private life?

So flattering were Balenciaga's creations that women often ordered more than one of each design so that they could wear one while the other was being cleaned or so they could keep one at each of their houses. Remembered as a master of black, Balenciaga often favored a muted palette of colors, especially a combination of black and brown, inspired by the traditional dress of his native Spain. Spain was also the source and inspiration for his use of lace, his heavy embroidery with jet-encrusted trimmings, as well as the brilliant whites and the drama and dignity of stiff formal fabrics reminiscent of those painted by Goya and Velásquez.

In 1968 Balenciaga closed his business rather than see it compromised in a fashion era he did not respect. He retired to Spain and died in 1972.

1905 – Fashion designer and icon Christian Dior was born on this date (d.1957). He was born in Granville, Manche, Normandy, France, the younger son of Maurice Dior, a manufacturer of fertilizer and chemicals, and his wife, the former Madeleine Martin. Dior had an elder brother, Raymond, whose daughter was the Nazi sympathizer Françoise Dior. Acceding to his parents' wishes, Dior attended the Ecole des Sciences Politiques from 1920 to 1925. The family, whose fortune was derived from the manufacture of fertilizer, had hopes he would become a diplomat, but Dior only wished to be involved in the arts. After leaving school he received money from his father so that in 1928 he could open a small art gallery, where he sold art by the likes of Pablo Picasso and Max Jacob. After a family financial disaster that resulted in his father losing his business, Dior was forced to shut down the gallery.

In the 1930s Dior made a living by doing sketches for haute couture houses. In 1938 he worked with Robert Piguet and later joined the fashion house of Lucien Lelong, where he and Pierre Balmain were the primary designers. In 1945 he went into business for himself, backed by Marcel Boussac, the cotton-fabric magnate. Dior's fashion house opened in December 1946, and the following February, he presented his first collection, known as Corolle. It was more famously known as the New Look. The actual phrase the "New Look" was coined by Carmel Snow, the powerful editor-in-chief of Harper's Bazaar. Dior's designs were more voluptuous than the boxy, fabric-conserving shapes of the recent World War II styles, influenced by the rations on fabric. He was a master at creating shapes and silhouettes; Dior is quoted as saying "I have designed flower women." His look employed fabrics lined predominantly with percale, boned, bustier-style bodices, hip padding, wasp-waisted corsets and petticoats that made his dresses flare out from the waist, giving his models a very curvaceous form. The hem of the skirt was very flattering on the calves and ankles, creating a beautiful silhouette. Initially, women protested because his designs covered up their legs, which they had been unused to because of the previous limitations on fabric. There was also some backlash to Dior's designs form due to the amount of fabrics used in a single dress or suit--during one photo shoot in a Paris market, the models were attacked by female vendors over the profligacy of their dresses--but opposition ceased as the wartime shortages ended. The New Look revolutionized women's dress and reestablished Paris as the center of the fashion world after World War II.

Dior died at the health spa town Montecatini. Some reports say that he died of a heart attack after choking on a fish bone. Time magazine's obituary stated that he died of a heart attack after playing a game of cards. However, the Paris socialite and Dior acquaintance Alexis von Rosenberg, Baron de Rédé stated in his memoirs that contemporary rumor had it that the fashion designer succumbed to a heart attack after a strenuous sexual encounter with two young men. His companion, at the time of his death, was an Algerian-born singer, Jacques Benita.

1959 – Antonio D'Amico is an Italian model and fashion designer.

D'Amico was born in Mesagne, in the Italian province of Brindisi, and later lived in Milan. He was hired as a part-time office administrator for his first job. He met Gianni Versace in 1982, and the couple eventually embarked on a long-term relationship that lasted 15 years, until Versace's murder in 1997. During that time, he worked as designer for the Versace Sport line. D'Amico now runs his own fashion design company.Versace's will left D'Amico with a pension of 50 million lira a month for life, and the right to live in any of Versace's homes in Italy and the United States. However, since the properties that were left to D'Amico in Gianni's will actually belonged to the company, the homes belonged to Versace's sister Donatella, brother Santo, and his niece, Allegra after his death. After working out agreements with lawyers, D'Amico obtained a fraction of the pension and a restricted right to live in Gianni's properties. D'Amico's relations with the rest of the Versace family have not always been easy; Donatella said in March 1999,

"My relationship with Antonio is exactly as it was when Gianni was alive. I respected him as the boyfriend of my brother, but I never liked him as a person. So the relationship stayed the same."

1966 – Time Magazine publishes an unsigned two-page article, "The Homosexual in America." The article includes statements such as "[Homosexuality] is a pathetic little second-rate substitute for reality, a pitiable flight from life. . . . it deserves no encouragement . . . no pretense that it is anything but a pernicious sickness."

1988 – John Early is an American comedian and actor. He has appeared on 30 Rock as Jenna Maroney's son and in the independent film Fort Tilden. He stars in Search Party, which was written partly by Michael Showalter and also stars Alia Shawkat.

Early was featured on Lauren Lapkus' podcast (Episode #41, August 28, 2015), as well as Wet Hot American Summer: First Day of Camp, which was released on Netflix in the summer of 2015. He tours around the country with his stand-up/variety show "Literally Me" and also hosts a monthly variety event (called Showgasm) at Ars Nova in New York City. He has made voice appearances on two episodes of Bob's Burgers as brunch blogger Dalton Crespin.

Early frequently collaborates with comedians such as Hamm Samwich and Kate Berlant in a variety of sketch and filmed presentations. In 2016, he wrote and starred in his own 30-minute episode of the sketch show Netflix Presents: The Characters. He also had a small role as Evan in the 2017 comedy Beatriz at Dinner, starring Salma Hayek and John Lithgow.

Early is from Nashville, Tennessee. His father was a Presbyterian minister; his mother, a minister of the Disciples of Christ. He attended the University School of Nashville. He graduated from New York University where he majored in Acting. He is gay.

Javier Calvo and Javier Ambrossi

1991 – Javier Calvo Guirao is a Spanish actor, stage director, and film director. He is the best known for his role of Fernando "Fer" Redondo in the Antena 3 series Física o Química and for creating and directing the musical La llamada together with Javier Ambrossi, as well as co-directing its film adaptation.

Calvo began acting in theatre at age 11, eventually appearing in 2007 in the film Doctor Infierno. Beginning in 2008, he starred in the Antena 3 television series Física o Química, portraying gay teenager Fernando "Fer" Redondo. Focusing on problems such as drugs, addictions, anorexia and sexual orientation, the series attracted much controversy. Calvo considers the themes of the series "problems that are also present in reality". He, however, received critical acclaim for portraying a gay male in his debut role.

Since 2010, Calvo has been in a relationship with actor and director Javier Ambrossi.

2009 – The Swedish parliament was presented with legislation that would allow Gay couples to marry in civil ceremonies or in the Lutheran Church, which until 2000 was the official church of Sweden. "The main proposal in the motion is that ... a person's gender will no longer have any bearing on whether they can marry. The marriage law and other laws concerning spouses will be rendered gender neutral according to the proposal," a statement from Prime Minister Fredrik Reinfeldt's conservative Moderates said.

The proposal had wide backing in parliament and is expected to be adopted, though a date has yet to be set for a vote. While heterosexuals in Sweden can choose to marry in either a civil ceremony or a church ceremony, homosexuals are currently only allowed to register their "partnerships" in a civil ceremony. Civil unions granting Gays and Lesbians the same legal status as married couples have been allowed in Sweden since 1995. If the new legislation is adopted, Sweden, already a pioneer in giving same-sex couples the right to adopt children, would become the first country in the world to allow Gays to marry within a major Church. Under the proposal, Lutheran pastors will be able to opt-out of performing Gay marriages if they have personal objections.

2009 – ABC television station in Los Angeles refused to air a Public Service Announcement about Gay Families claiming it was "too controversial" to run during inauguration coverage. KABC-TV in Los Angeles refused to run public service announcements from Get To Know Us First, a group that promotes acceptance of LGBT families.

2013 – President Obama made the first mention of gay rights in a U.S. inaugural address. The text of President Obama’s Inauguration speech reads: "It is now our generation’s task to carry on what those pioneers began. [. . .] Our journey is not complete until our gay brothers and sisters are treated like anyone else under the law — for if we are truly created equal, then surely the love we commit to one another must be equal as well."

[robo-writing]

Sweet Knowing

Summary: Cid becomes aware of the attention you seem to draw from a certain Rosfield, and uses it to his advantage.

Warnings: implied voyeurism, p in v actions, 18+ MDNI

This is the second part to this, but can be read on its own.

Cid can be called a slew of things; Lord Commander, Dominant of Ramuh, Outlaw—but one thing he cannot be called, is a fool.

When he found the young Rosfield in the wastelands he felt his heart tug at the display; of a man beaten and broken, only to find that his mission was to kill his childhood friend, one he thought dead long ago. He didn’t think twice about recruiting him to the cause, bringing him to The Hideaway and giving him a rundown of his plans to free bearers from their lot in life. He offered the boy a hot meal and a warm bath, or rather his beloved did.

When word got around that there was a newcomer she was ready to accommodate him. Bright-eyed and friendly, you had offered him whatever was needed to make him feel at home.

“Gods, your clothes are filthy!” You gasped, scanning Clive from head to toe, shaking your head at the muddied state of his armor. “I’ll run to the markets tomorrow and get you some more suitable attire, I can’t let you sleep in armor.”

“Thank you ma’am, but there’s no need—“ he began, only to be stopped by your stern gaze.

“Nonsense. You’re a part of our merry band and I won’t have you sleeping in iron and steel. Now, when’s the last time you had a hot meal?”

Despite his protests you wouldn’t take no for an answer, offering Clive a handkerchief to wipe his face as you ran towards the kitchens to make your own stew for the war-weary traveler.

Cid noticed it when you set the plate full of soup in front of him, how Clive had gotten just the slightest bit nervous around you. He was already the quiet type but this was a different kind of quiet, as if he was afraid of saying something he shouldn’t. Subtle to anyone else, but not to him.

Intrigued, Cid didn’t say a word, only watched in amusement as the former Lord ate by the spoonful, thanking you profusely.

That same night you offered to give him a tour of what would be his new home. Clive had initially declined, afraid of taking advantage of your generosity, and it was only with a firm hand on his shoulder and encouragement from Cid that he accepted.

“Come now, the nice lady’s offered, you wouldn’t want to disappoint her now, would you?” He grins, waving a hand at your expectant form. “Promise she won’t bite.”

He finishes with a wink before pushing Clive a step forward, watching as he follows behind her like a lost puppy.

Let’s see how far this schoolyard crush goes.

The answer, he’d find out, is very far. Weeks have gone by and Clive still looks at you entranced, practically jumping at the opportunity to spend time with you. Just a minute ago you had offered for him to accompany you to gather some flowers, Tarja needing them for one reason or another, and Cid had never seen the man so eager to leave.

He watches the interaction from a secluded corner, a cigar between his lips, relishing in the view. Your doe-like eyes fluttering, the young Rosarian struggling to keep eye contact—the boy was a fool for you. Not that he could blame him, just looking at you made Cid’s heart jump in his chest, fondly remembering how nervous he was when he asked you to be his.

You were far too pretty, too humble, practically a walking angel and he was…him. He had his faults, but you, you were faultless, despite how many times you tried to convince him you weren’t. You’d spend the rest of your life trying to convince him because as far as Cid was concerned you were perfection personified, and nothing you’d say would change his mind.

His thoughts are broken when you notice his secluded form, the smallest wink being sent his way before returning to your conversation with Clive.

Well, you did have one fault; You could be a bit of a tease.

He still remembers what you told him days ago before he had to leave for an excursion. You kissed him goodbye before his mission, words as sweet as honey, only to whisper pure filth in his ears when no one was watching.

“Come back safe and I might give you a reward.”

He did not miss how your fingers wandered down his shirt for the briefest of moments, before pulling away enticingly.

He doesn’t think he’s ever completed a mission that fast before, or so effectively. Tarja was stunned to find not so much as a hair out of place considering his reputation for getting hurt, but Cid was too busy thinking about just how you would reward him for his efforts. The thought of it made him impatient, made him want to drag you away and keep you all to himself, but he could wait a while longer. You’d be back by tonight, and then he’d have you all to himself.

“Always so eager…” He murmurs against your lips, keeping you pressed into the sheets. Slow, sensual, he holds you close as he fucks you, taking his time to watch your eyes roll back and your jaw go slack.

Your legs close around his waist, pulling him ever further into your wet heat—he could never get used to how good you feel, how quickly you surrender yourself to him. He grinds himself harder against you, listening with pride when you whine his name.

“I missed you so much,” he sighs. “Missed me too, didn’t you?”

You nod shakily, unable to speak. He breathes you in, his hands touching every expanse of your skin from your hips to your breasts, unable to stop himself. His fingers hold firm against your pliant body, the smallest tremble moving through you when he presses himself deeper into your heat.

You cast a spell on him, a lust that borders on insanity. You clench against him so tightly like you never want him to leave, nails leaving angry lines against his back that he’ll be sure to be proud of in the morning. The slight sting only motivates him further, teeth grazing against the sensitive skin of your neck.

“That’s it,” he groans into your ear. “Don’t think, just feel, feel what you do to me.”

It’s in that moment that he hears the soft tapping of someone outside his door. Footsteps? This late into the night?

Stopping doesn’t so much as cross his mind—whatever it is cannot be more important than you.

His assault against your senses continues, hitting that soft spot that has you arch your back and moan his name like a whore.

“Gods, Cid…”

He unravels you, he keeps you whole, he takes your sanity and brings you to new heights all at the same time. The whiplash is dizzying, not sure if you should cry or beg for more.

“Good fucking girl,” he rasps, pride in his voice. “Lay back and take it, just like that—“

His heart beats faster when you let out an even louder noise, squirming against his length. So good, so fucking perfect, you’re a dream, one he never wishes to wake from.

He moves with a practiced ease, focused on your pleasure, but also towards the door, distinctly aware of his midnight visitor. There were footsteps coming towards the door but none leaving it—whoever’s there is still listening.

An idea springs forth, feeling just the slightest bit mischievous.

Might as well give them a show.

His brings his thumb to your clit, circling it ever so slightly, teasing the hard nub and watching as you’re reduced to a mess before his very eyes. Mouth open and eyes lidded, you whimper under his commanding touch, begging for more.

“So good, so good, oh gods—please don’t stop—“ You cry, shaking against him. Your legs are barely able to hold onto him, a brutal pace being set and yet you beg him for more.

How could he resist when you ask him so nicely?

So he indulges you, and this time you really can’t keep up, trying and failing to match his rhythm but your poor abused body just can’t, no matter how badly you want to. Cid grabs you by the hips with both hands and presses you flush to him, practically breathing each other’s air. Between the scrape of the bed and the slap of skin against skin, Cid can faintly make out a muffled groan.

The tone is strikingly familiar.

He can’t help the wicked grin painted on his face.

He slows down, just enough to bring your attention back to him as he whispers against your neck.

“Do you hear that? We have an audience.”

Eyes glazed, you slowly gather your bearings before looking at him in confusion. “What are you—“

“Shhh,” he silences you, pressing a quick kiss to your lips. “It seems like a certain Rosarian has come to visit us.”

He grinds himself against you, your own sound of pleasure being followed by the softest grunt from outside the door. Your head turns, finally realizing with wide eyes.

“Is that—“

“It is,” he moves slowly against you, making sure to keep you pleasured but coherent. “I could tell him to leave, if that’s what you wish.”

He knows you better than you know yourself, so it’s no surprise to him when you shake your head.

“Keep going, please.”

The moment you give him permission he’s back to fucking you, thumb moving against your sensitive nub once more. You keen for him, louder and louder as he chases your lips impatiently, swallowing your moans with his tongue. When he pulls away he growls against your lips, eyes pinning you on the spot.

“Like being listened to? Like the idea of him knowing how desperate you are?”

You shake your head, but the way you tighten up tells another tale.

“Don’t lie to me, I know you do, it’s okay,” He coos, his own high slowly approaching. “You don’t think I see how he looks at you? How you’re so eager to let him follow you around?”

You shake your head ready to deny the accusation. The moment you do Cid’s movements slow to a crawl, holding you right on the edge, tantalizingly close to falling apart.

“Don’t, please move—“ He refuses when you beg, tears welling in your eyes as your pussy throbs for release, a release Cid holds you back from.

“What did I say my dear?” He breathes. “Don’t lie to me.”

You whimper, begging for mercy once again. “I promise, just, please don’t stop, need you to fuck me—”

Cid’s grin is nothing short of sinful. “Need me, or need us?”

The notion makes your heart stop, a shocked expression painting your face. And yet he can feel your velvety walls spasm around him, answer clear as day.

He laughs, breath heaving. “You do, don’t you? Want us to fuck you, treat you like the needy little whore you are—“

He’s moving again, even faster now. This time you can’t even bring yourself to lie, a broken mess below him. Half-uttered sentences and broken moans, too far gone to care about anything except how fucking good you feel.

You scream, and Cid hears a thump outside the door.

Hope he’s enjoying himself.

He wraps his arms around you, unwilling to let you go for even a second. “Fuck—say it, say you want us, fucking say it—“

“Yes—I want it, please—!”

Your cunt is so welcoming, he feels like he’s going to go mad. He gives his all and then some, relishes in how fucking tight you hold onto him, gushing around him.

“There’s my girl, come on, let go for me—“ He grunts into your skin, shuddering as his own release takes hold of him.

You look glorious, spread out before him. Even when you look fucked within an inch of your life he can’t help but admire what a fucking sight you are. He doesn’t stop, keeps going even though he’s so sensitive it’s downright painful, if only to squeeze out a few more seconds of your orgasm. Your sobs threaten to wake the entire Hideaway but he just can’t bring himself to stop.

“Yesyesyes, so good, I can’t—fuck—I can’t—“

“Yes you fucking can,” Cid interrupts in awe. “Be good and let me see you stain the sheets love.”

[pinturas-sgm-aviacion]

1943 08 17 Defence of Darwin - Norman Clifford

The date is 17 August, 1943, time 4.30pm and the crew of the Japanese Ki-46II “Dinah” had failed in their mission to photograph Darwin Harbour in Northern Australia. Flying the Spitfire Vc (Tropical) is Australia’s leading WWII fighter pilot Clive Caldwell, Wing Commander of No. 1 Fighter Wing RAAF, the defenders of Darwin during 1943.The “Dinah” is from the reconnaissance element of the 202 Kokutai “Zero” fighter unit of the Japanese Naval Air Force based on the island of Timor. Three “Dinahs” of the Japanese Army Air Force had failed to return from reconnaissance trip over Darwin that morning. All had been lost to 457 Squadron.Born in 1910, Caldwell enlisted in the permanent RAAF at the outbreak of war. When he was called up for service in February, 1940, not only did he have to lower his age (he was “too old” for pilot training), he discovered he was destined to be an instructor! Caldwell, wishing only to be a fighter pilot, promptly resigned, and rejoined the Empire Training Scheme in Sydney on May 6.Becoming operational in the middle East in May, 1941 as a pilot officer with 250 Squadron RAF, Caldwell flew P-40 Tomahawks. He experienced a rapid rise in the hard and dangerous world of the fighter pilot, becoming the Squadron Leader of the famous 112 “Shark” Squadron RAF on 6 January, 1942.Caldwell was the first Empire Air training Scheme pilot to achieve squadron command. Soon after having done so, he became the most successful pilot of the Desert Air Force with a total of 20.5 victories. He was then rested from operations, but not for long.Following a quick stint on operations with the Kenley Wing in England to gain experience on Spitfires, Caldwell returned to Australia via the Curtis factory in the USA. He was then attached to No. 2 O.T.U. where he flight tested the Australian Boomerang fighter. On 26 November, 1942, Caldwell was assigned to No. 1 Fighter Wing known as the “Churchill Wing” which comprised of 452 of 457 Squadrons RAAF and 54 Squadron RAF. No. 1 Fighter Wing arrived in Darwin on 15 January, 1943 and the unit was equipped with Spitfire Vc (Tropical) code named “Capstan”. The wing performed admirably under Caldwell’s leadership and on 2 March he claimed his first Japanese victories when leading a flight of six Spitfires on patrol. Just beyond landfall he spotted six “Kate” dive-bombers escorted by 12 “Zeros”, preparing to attack allied shipping in the Arafura Sea, north of Darwin.The five Spitfires followed their leader and wreaked so much havoc amongst the enemy that the intruders turned and sped homewards, but not before one “Kate” and one “Zero” fell under Caldwell’s guns. His third tour got underway on 14 April, 1944; Caldwell, now a Group Captain was placed in command of No. 80 Fighter Wing, RAAF. This unit included 79, 452 and 457 Squadrons which were equipped with the Spitfire MkVIII.Caldwell became one of only two Australians to achieve “Ace” status flying from Australia and is portrayed having just destroyed the last of his 28.5 confirmed aerial victories in the evocative painting by Norman Clifford.

[bracketsoffear]

Spiral Leitner Reading List

The full list of submissions for the Spiral Leitner bracket. Bold titles are ones which were accepted to appear in the bracket. Synopses and propaganda can be found below the cut. Be warned, however, that these may contain spoilers!

Abbott, Edwin Abbott: Flatland: A Romance of Many Dimensions Amato, Mary: The Word Eater

Barker, Clive: Abarat Basye, Dale E.: Fibble Borges, Jorge Luis: Tlön, Uqbar, Orbis Tertius

Calvino, Italo: If on a winter’s night a traveler Carroll, Emily: A Guest in the House Carroll, Lewis: Alice's Adventures in Wonderland/ Through the Looking Glass and what Alice found there Chambers, Robert W.: The King in Yellow Coltrane, John: Giant Steps Cortázar, Julio: Rayuela (Hopscotch) Cutter, Nick: The Deep

Dahl, Roald: Charlie and the Chocolate Factory Danielewski, Mark Z.: House of Leaves de Cervantes, Miguel: Don Quixote DeLaney, Samuel R.: Babel-17

Eliot, T.S.: The Waste Land Ewing, Frederick R.: I, Libertine

Gaiman, Neil: Neverwhere Gilman, Charlotte Perkins: The Yellow Wallpaper

Hall, Steven: The Raw Shark Texts Hamilton, Patrick: Angel Street/Gas Light Hawke, Marcus: Grey Noise Hodgson, William Hope: The House on the Borderlands Hunter, Erin: Warriors

Ito, Junji: Uzumaki

Joyce, James: Finnegans Wake Juster, Norton: The Phantom Tollbooth

Kte'pi, Bill: The Cheshire

Lovecraft, H.P.: The Color Out of Space Lyons, Steve: The Stealers of Dreams

Mathers, Edward Powys: Cain’s Jawbone Mearns, William Hughes: Antigonish Miles, Lawrence et. al.: The Book of the War Morrison, Grant: Doom Patrol Moore, Christopher: Sacré Bleu: A Comedy d’Art Muir, Tamsyn: Harrow the Ninth

National Governors Association and Council of Chief State School Officers: Common Core Math Textbook Nikolson, Adam: Life between the tides

O’Brien, Flann: The Third Policeman Ogawa, Yoko: The Memory Police Orwell, George: Nineteen Eighty-Four

Pelevin, Victor: The Helmet of Horror Pratchett, Terry: Moving Pictures Pynchon, Thomas: The Crying of Lot 49

Ryukishi07: higurashi no naku koro ni (When The Evening Cicadas Cry)

Sachar, Louis: Wayside School Is Falling Down Schwartz, Alvin: "Maybe You Will Remember" (short story from Scary Stories 3: More Tales To Chill Your Bones) Serafini, Luigi: Codex Seraphinianus Shakespeare, William: A Midsummer Night's Dream Shakespeare, William: King Lear Shakespeare, William: The Winter's Tale Silberescher: SCP-1425: Star Signals Stine, R.L.: Don't Go to Sleep!

Unknown, Voynich Manuscript

Wells, H.G.: The Door in the Wall West, A.J.: The Spirit Engineer Whorf, Benjamin Lee: Relation of Habitual Thought and Behavior to Language Wyspiański, Stanisław: The Wedding

Abbott, Edwin Abbott: Flatland: A Romance of Many Dimensions

Both a satire on Victorian hierarchies and a mathematical examination of lower and higher dimensions, Flatland's narrator has strange dreams of a one-dimensional Lineland where he can only be seen as a series of points on a line. Following this, he meets A. Sphere, whom he in turn can only see as a circle, and is exposed to the three-dimensional space of Spaceland. When he returns home to try and explain what he has seen, he is thrown into an insane asylum.

Amato, Mary: The Word Eater

The titular Word Eater is a worm born with eyes and the magical ability to eat words instead of dirt, named Fip. Whenever Fip eats a word, the object or subject that word was referring to vanishes, at one point accidentally erasing a recently discovered star. When used on a subject, erasure removes any ontological effects, as when used on a torturous dog training method the dogs it was used on all suddenly become docile instead of vicious. The conflict of the story comes in the fact that words are the only thing Fip can eat, so keeping anything else from being erased becomes a matter of starving him. There's also some disgruntled students who almost use him to erase their school, with the protagonist worrying that the effect could abstractly extend to the staff and students, necessitating their thwarting.

Barker, Clive: Abarat

Candy lives in Chickentown USA: the most boring place in the world, her heart bursting for some clue as to what her future may hold. She is soon to find out: swept out of our world by a giant wave, she finds herself in another place entirely...

The Abarat: a vast archipelago where every island is a different hour of the day, from the sunlit wonders of Three in the Afternoon, where dragons roam, to the dark terrors of the island of Midnight, ruled by Christopher Carrion. (...)

Abarat is an extremely Spiral coded place working so differently from the real world and being extremely nonsensical that I think this book deserves to be the Spiral Leitner.

Basye, Dale E.: Fibble

"When Marlo Fauster claims she has switched souls with her brother, she gets sent straight to Fibble, the circle of Heck reserved for liars. But it’s true—Milton and Marlo have switched places, and Marlo finds herself trapped in Milton’s gross, gangly body. She also finds herself trapped in Fibble, a three-ring media circus run by none other than P. T. Barnum, an insane ringmaster with grandiose plans and giant, flaming pants. Meanwhile Milton, as Marlo, is working at the devil’s new television network, T.H.E.E.N.D. But there’s something strange about these new shows. Why do they all air at the same time? And are they really broadcasting to the Surface? Soon Milton and Marlo realize that they need each other to sort through the lies and possibly prevent the end of the world—if Bea “Elsa” Bubb doesn’t catch them first."

The Fauster twins are caught up in yet another apocalyptic scheme as hellish figures plot to stoke a ratings war into a holy war, using elaborate lies and propaganda to provoke the end of humanity itself.

Borges, Jorge Luis: Tlön, Uqbar, Orbis Tertius

A short story concerning the author and his friend stumbling upon a mention of the Uqbar region in an encyclopedia, a place which is found in no other literature. One of the myths of Uqbar concerns Tlön, a fantastical place where people do not believe in the reality of the material world, and only the most outre scholars would dare suggest that objects have permanence. Objects there "grow vague or sketchy and lose detail" when they begin to be forgotten, culminating in their disappearance when they are completely forgotten. One year later, Tlönian objects begin to appear in the real world. Then a complete encyclopedia of the world turns up, transforming the human understanding of science and philosophy. As the author writes his postscript, the world is transforming entirely into Tlön.

Calvino, Italo: If on a winter’s night a traveler

The postmodernist narrative, in the form of a frame story, is about the reader trying to read a book called If on a winter's night a traveler. Each chapter is divided into two sections. The first section of each chapter is in second person, and describes the process the reader goes through to attempt to read the next chapter of the book they are reading. The second half is the first part of a new book that the reader ("you") finds. The second half is always about something different from the previous ones.

Carroll, Emily: A Guest in the House

"After many lonely years, Abby’s just gotten married. She met her new husband—a recently widowed dentist—when he arrived in town with his young daughter, seeking a new start. Although it’s strange living in the shadow of her predecessor, Abby does her best to be a good wife and mother. But the more she learns about her new husband’s first wife, the more things don’t add up. And Abby starts to wonder . . . was Sheila’s death really by natural causes? As Abby sinks deeper into confusion, Sheila’s memory seems to become a force all its own, ensnaring Abby in a mystery that leaves her obsessed, fascinated, and desperately in love for the first time in her life"

While most riffs on the Bluebeard story are probably slaughter, buried, or eye aligned, much of the horror in this story is the uncertainty and loss of a clear sense of reality. Also the art of Sheila feels very spiral.

Carroll, Lewis: Alice's Adventures in Wonderland/ Through the Looking Glass and what Alice found there

Both books have a similar structure and are spiral for the same reasons: little Victorian child Alice founds herself in a strange world with rules vastly different from hers (for example, there’s no real geography and the scenery changes suddenly from one place to another very much like in a dream). The characters she crosses constantly defy her understanding of the world and applies logics she struggles to understand. Even though she ends up going with the flow most of the time she never ceases to question whether she’s experiencing real life or a dream; sanity is brought up a few times, and there’s also the popular quote "We're all mad here. I'm mad. You're mad", delivered by the grinning cat that appears and disappears like a slippery distortion. Lastly I may add that the TMA episode whose title references the book (Mag 177, Wonderland) is a spiral episode.

Chambers, Robert W.: The King in Yellow

A collection of short stories, most of which revolve around a fictional two-act play of the same title: The King in Yellow. Although the play is never described in any great detail, anyone who reads it is driven to madness.

Coltrane, John: Giant Steps

At first a reader simply sees the rapid changes, seemingly random and discordant. Further investigation will begin to reveal patterns, the chords begin to outline other chords, that in turn outline further chords, only to loop back to the beginning. A master or his craft, the creator can seemingly effortlessly navigate this fractal of potential sound. You, can only hope to keep up as the endless, rapidly twisting patterns give you no time to comprehend the page in front of you.

This is specifically against tournament rules, but I still wanted to at least give it a submission.

Cortázar, Julio: Rayuela (Hopscotch)

The story of two young writers whose lives are playing themselves out in Buenos Aires and Paris to the sounds of jazz and brilliant talk, Hopscotch, written in 1963, was the first hypertext novel. Anticipating the age of the web with a non-structure that allows readers to take the chapters in any order they wish, Hopscotch invites them to be the architects of the novel themselves.

Cutter, Nick: The Deep

A strange plague called the ‘Gets is decimating humanity on a global scale. It causes people to forget— Small things at first and eventually their bodies forget how to function involuntarily. There is no cure.

But far below the surface of the Pacific Ocean, a universal healer hailed as “ambrosia” has been discovered. In order to study this phenomenon, a special research lab has been built eight miles under the sea’s surface. But when the station goes incommunicado, a brave few descend through the lightless fathoms in hopes of unraveling the mysteries lurking at those crushing depths."

At first glance you might think this book is much more aligned to The Buried than The Spiral and while it does have a lot of claustrophobic elements, the true horror the protagonist (Luke) faces, comes from slowly losing your perception of reality. The relatively small laboratory soon becomes a labyrinth, as he moves from room to room he also moves through memories that become more and more vivid as time goes by. He has hallucinations, falls asleep and dreams of being awake while sleepwalks, he is chased by monsters that are very real and some that are just his own demons.

(spoilers) At the end we find out he and all the other people in the laboratory were lured by two ancient creatures trapped both at the bottom of the sea and another dimension and needed Luke's body to be free. The Figmen are tricksters, they enjoy doing "experiments" seeing how much a body can twist and what it takes to break a mind. The people inside the laboratory were little more that mice they wanted to see run around for their amusement before being freed

Dahl, Roald: Charlie and the Chocolate Factory

I want off Mr. Wonka's wild ride. Why the fuck is this man dragging children through his acid trip pun-tastical Saw movie. OSHA get his ass

Danielewski, Mark Z.: House of Leaves

The novel is written as a work of epistolary fiction and metafiction focusing on a fictional documentary film titled the Navidson Record, presented as a story within a story discussed in a handwritten monograph recovered by the primary narrator, Johnny Truant. The narrative makes heavy use of multiperspectivity as Truant's footnotes chronicle his efforts to transcribe the manuscript, which itself reveals the Navidson Record's supposed narrative through transcriptions and analysis depicting a story of a family who discovers a larger-on-the-inside labyrinth in their house.

***

Come on, its the book that gaslights you. Some pages are literally typed in spirals. Its about a beautiful new house that breaks the laws of physics and also eats some people- Helen Richardson would be PROUD. Its a story in a story IN A STORY. The introduction of the book is about how the man annotating the manuscript of the documentary and his friend used to pick up girls by telling fantastical and false stories about their lives. Everyone in the books universe thinks the documentary was faked. What can i say that hasn't been said before? The “M” in Mark Z. Danielowki stands for “Mr. Michael Distortion”

***

I mean, look at the book. Look at it. I feel like I'm going mad every time I see its pages.

de Cervantes, Miguel: Don Quixote

After reading too many courtly romances, Quixote's perception of reality is warped, and he seeks to become a knight and restore the courtly chivalric graces. Also he thinks windmills are evil giants.

DeLaney, Samuel R.: Babel-17

Rydra Wong is a top linguist, acclaimed poet, and former military cryptologist. When the Alliance military come across a new code used by the enemy, which is beyond their ability to crack, they come to her for help. She informs them that it is not a mere code, but an actual language, and agrees to accept the challenge.

Quickly assembling a crew, Wong heads to the Alliance War Yards to study the raw data on this new language, which the military calls Babel-17. However, shortly after she arrives, an enemy attack forces her to flee in disarray, and she falls in with a privateer, who is, fortunately, on the Alliance side.

Or mostly so. On board the privateer's ship, she begins to learn more about Babel-17, and the surprising benefits and dangers it offers to someone who learns to speak it. The language literally twists the thought pattern of its speakers, making it easier to conceptualize certain ideas, but more difficult to translate your thoughts into anything others can understand.

Eliot, T.S.: The Waste Land

Here's a link to the text if anyone is curious

The Waste Land is a poem that describes a...place? state of mind? an arc of history?...in a series of fragments. It weaves together fractured dialogue, mythology, language, and popular culture of its day into a bizarre but beautiful landscape that defies easy explanation.

Ewing, Frederick R.: I, Libertine

New York Times Best Selling novel by acclaimed author, Frederick R. Ewing, “I, Libertine” tells the story of a social climber who styles himself as Lance Courtney.

I highly recommend those voting seek out the book to read for themselves, as it is truly one of the great works of modern American literature.

Gaiman, Neil: Neverwhere

"Under the streets of London there's a world most people could never even dream of. A city of monsters and saints, murderers and angels, knights in armour and pale girls in black velvet. "Neverwhere" is the London of the people who have fallen between the cracks. Strange destinies lie in wait in London below - a world that seems eerily familiar. But a world that is utterly bizarre, peopled by unearthly characters such as the Angel called Islington, the girl named Door, and the Earl who holds Court on a tube train. (...)"

Extremely weird world that unsuspecting civilian can be stuck in, and there is a door motive. This is a Spiral Leitner if I ever saw one.

Gilman, Charlotte Perkins: The Yellow Wallpaper

Link

From Wikipedia: "The story is written as a collection of journal entries narrated in the first person. The journal was written by a woman whose physician husband has rented an old mansion for the summer. Forgoing other rooms in the house, the couple moves into the upstairs nursery. As a form of treatment, the husband forbids the journal writer from working or writing, and encourages her to eat well and get plenty of air so that she can recuperate from what he calls a "temporary nervous depression – a slight hysterical tendency", a common diagnosis in women at the time. As the reader continues through the journal entries, they experience the writer's gradual descent into madness with nothing better to do than observe the peeling yellow wallpaper in her room.”

***

Epistolary novel about a woman who's being made to live in a single room to treat her post-partum depression. Over the course of the story, she becomes increasingly obsessed with the patterns of the room's wallpaper, spending hours gazing at it and trying to make sense of it. By the end of the story, she believes that there's a woman trapped in the wallpaper, or perhaps that she is the women trapped in the wallpaper. Throughout the story, she's also gaslit by her husband.

***

It's a short story and I highly recommend that you read it. Spoilers (of course) are ahead, so if you want an unspoiled experience, skip past.

This story follows the narrator, as she is locked up by her husband who cares for her and ultimately makes all decisions for her. He makes her doubt her state of mind as she suffers from a nervious disorder. As she stays in the ex-nursery attic, she writes of the horrendous yellow wallpaper. She becomes obsessive of it, watching it night and day amd watching as the colours change with the lighting of the room. She begins seeing a woman locked behind the twisting patterns, and in the end she becomes it - or it becomes her, and she has a hysteric breakdown.

Hall, Steven: The Raw Shark Texts

Eric Sanderson wakes up with no memory of who he is or any past experiences. He is told by a psychologist that he has a dissociative condition known as fugue but a trail of written clues purporting to be from his pre-amnesiac self describe a more fantastic and sinister explanation for his lack of memories. According to these, he has activated a conceptual shark called a Ludovician which "feeds on human memories and the intrinsic sense of self" and is relentlessly pursuing him and will eventually erase his personality completely.

Also at one point there's about 30 pages of an ASCII shark moving towards the reader. Could easily be interpreted as the Ludovician actually approaching the reader in a Leitner-ized version.

[SPOILERS] When the Ludovician attacks Eric, he decides to go in search of a doctor named Trey Fidorous, identified by the letters from his previous self, in the hope he may be able to help to explain what happened to him and how to defeat the shark. Eric travels through Britain in search of clues and is contacted by a mysterious figure called Mr. Nobody, who is part of a megalomaniac network intelligence called Mycroft Ward. Mr. Nobody attempts to subdue and control Eric but Eric manages to escape with the help of an associate of Fidorous named Scout. Scout takes Eric to meet Fidorous, travelling through un-space (an underground network of empty warehouses and unused cellars). They begin a romantic relationship during the journey but Eric feels betrayed when he discovers that Scout has brought him to Fidorous to use him as bait for the shark in the hope of destroying Ward.

With their help Fidorous builds a conceptual shark-hunting boat and they sail out on a conceptual ocean. After a battle with the shark they throw a laptop hooked up to the Mycroft Ward database into its mouth, destroying both Ward and the shark. Eric and Scout remain in the conceptual universe while Eric's dead body is discovered back in the real world.

Hamilton, Patrick: Angel Street/Gas Light

Under the guise of kindness, Jack Manningham is slowly torturing his fragile wife Bella into insanity in his efforts to cover his search for treasure from his diabolical past. He makes her think she is forgetting things and rattles her nerves with the flickering gaslight, which he controls from another room. One day, when Jack is out, Bella has an unexpected caller: kindly Inspector Rough from Scotland Yard. Rough is convinced that Jack is a homicidal maniac wanted for a murder committed fifteen years earlier in this very house. Gradually the Inspector restores Bella's confidence in herself and as the evidence against Jack unfolds.

The play that inspired the movie 1994 "Gaslight" which brought the term "gaslighting" into the public eye.

***

The literal origins of the term "gaslighting," the play follows the recently-married protagonist as her husband tries to convince her that she's going mad.

Hawke, Marcus: Grey Noise

Evan is just trying to get his store, REWIND VIDEO, up and running. Fate, unfortunately, often has other plans. Then he finds something that would be the perfect touch, an old vacuum tube TV. One that keeps turning to static. And it too has other plans. It follows you. Drives you. It’s already inside you. Lose yourself in...GREY NOISE.

Hodgson, William Hope: The House on the Borderlands

Fishing buddies Tonnison and Berreggnog didn't bargain for what they found while on holiday near the remote Irish village of Kraighten. While walking along the riverbank, they're astonished to see that the river abruptly ends. It reappears as a surge from a chasm some 100 feet below the edge of an abyss, where also stand the remains of an oddly shaped house, half-swallowed by the pit.

Exploring the ruins, the friends discover the moldering journal of an unidentified man--the Recluse--who had lived in the house with his sister and faithful dog years ago. Its pages reveal the man's apparent descent into madness--how else to account for his chronicles of otherworldly visions, trips to other dimensions, and attacks by swine-like humanoid creatures that seem to have followed him home? After one particular vision in which he witnesses the end of the earth and time itself, the Recluse awakens in his study to find nothing has changed--except that his dog Pepper is dead, dissolved into a pile of dust. And then the "swine things" return...

Hunter, Erin: Warriors

Can you keep track of who the fuck is related to who and who died when and what these cats look like and what they're named? No you fucking can't, there's four writers all sharing a pen name and metric shit ton of books in the main series alone, let alone the spinoffs. Continuity is dead and these cats murdered it.

Ito, Junji: Uzumaki

Uzumaki follows a high-school teenager, Kirie Goshima (五島桐絵); her boyfriend, Shuichi Saito (斎藤秀一); and the citizens of the small, quiet Japanese town of Kurouzu-cho (黒渦町, Black Vortex Town), which is enveloped by supernatural events involving spirals.

As the story progresses, Kirie and Shuichi witness how the spiral curse affects the people around them, causing the citizens to become either obsessed or paranoid about spirals. Shuichi becomes reclusive after both of his parents die from the horrific psychological and physical powers of the spirals, but also gains the ability to detect when the spiral curse is taking place, although he is often dismissed until the next paranormal effects of the curse become obvious. Eventually, Kirie is affected by the curse as well, when her hair begins to curl into an unnatural spiral pattern, drains her life energy to hypnotize the citizens, and chokes her whenever she attempts to cut it off. Shuichi is able to cut her hair and save her. The curse continues to plague the town until a series of typhoons conjured by the curse destroys most of its structures. The only remaining buildings are ancient abandoned terraced houses, which the citizens are forced first to move into, and then begin expanding as they grow more and more crowded.

As a series of increasingly powerful earthquakes and additional destruction from delinquents able to utilize strong winds strike the town, Kirie and Shuichi devise a plan to escape Kurouzu-cho, but when they attempt to escape, their efforts are unsuccessful. After returning to the town, they discover that several years have passed since they left, as time speeds up away from the spiral. The other citizens have expanded the terraced houses until they connected into a single structure forming a labyrinthine spiral pattern, but have become mutated as a consequence of overcrowding, their limbs twisting and warping into spirals. Kirie and Shuichi decide to search for Kirie's parents, which brings them to the center after many days of walking through the labyrinth.

At the center, Shuichi is hurled down a pit leading deep beneath the earth by a mutated citizen, with Kirie herself descending via a colossal spiral staircase to find him. She falls but is saved by countless bodies making up the ground of a vast, ancient city consisting entirely of spiral patterns in various arrangements. As Kirie looks for Shuichi, she finds her parents twisted and petrified, resembling stone statues, along with many other citizens of Kurouzu-cho who have met the same fate. Then, she hears Shuichi call for her and goes to him. Both are overwhelmed by the ancient spirals surrounding them and Shuichi points out how it seems as though the spiral ruins have a will of their own. Noticing that the petrified citizens of Kurouzu-cho are all facing the spiral city, Shuichi theorizes that this is the source of the curse; the city expands on its own periodically and has cursed the land above out of jealousy from having no one to view it.

Shuichi urges Kirie to leave without him as he can no longer walk, and that the curse should be over soon, but she replies that she does not have the strength and wishes to stay with him. The two embrace with their bodies twisting and intertwining together, signifying their acceptance into the never-ending curse. At the same time, a stone tower in the shape of a drill bit rises out of the city, and breaches the surface, forming the centerpiece of the abandoned town. As Shuichi and Kirie lie together, Kirie notes that the curse ended at the same time it began, for just as time speeds up away from the center, it freezes at the center. The spiral's curse is eternal, and all the events will repeat when a new Kurouzu-cho is built where the previous one lay.

***

I was debating if I should just do the first volume but three in one horrors sounded great to me. So Uzumaki is largely about spirals, to put the most obvious reasoning first. That's that Uzumaki translates to, after all. Spirals begin enveloping this small town, causing supernatural events. But the madness side of things comes as quickly as the spirals are there. You see it first in completely opposite ways with Shuichi's father and mother, with one becoming obsessed with spirals to the point of madness and eventually becoming one himself and the other being so terrified of spirals that it turns into its own psychological torment as she tries to remove spirals from her life and eventually realizes that those spirals are part of her naturally, causing her to try to take apart those aspects of her as well. Over chapters, characters become warped and characters succumb to the madness of spirals. Some fear the spirals, while others embrace them. Escaping the spirals is proven futile, and through that, it is also proven how out of sync the town is from reality as a whole, with time being sped up. Also, it has a labyrinth at this point, built by those suffering from the curse, so I think the Spiral would love that. In the end, the spirals are proven inescapable, and the two main characters warp together into a spiral of their own. The curse seems to end here, but really, it's a never ending cycle, and a curse which will never go away. The curse and the madness it brings won't fade.

***

Kurouzu-cho, a small fogbound town on the coast of Japan, is cursed. According to Shuichi Saito, the withdrawn boyfriend of teenager Kirie Goshima, their town is haunted not by a person or being but a pattern: UZUMAKI, the spiral—the hypnotic secret shape of the world.

***

Plot is about a town cursed by spirals which make you go insane

Joyce, James: Finnegans Wake

Considered to be one of the great literary mindscrews. The plot is covered in about a tenth of the chapters in the book. The rest tell a series of unconnected vignettes, describe minor characters in excessive detail, give allegories for the main plot, and teach you geometry. One chapter was described by Joyce as "A chattering dialogue across a river by two washerwomen who, as night falls, become a tree and stone." Some chapters feature random doodles in the margins. The first sentence is the ending part of the last sentence, making the book circular. Finally, it's written in a combination of five dozen or so different languages, random puns that you need a doctorate in ancient mythology and the aforementioned languages to understand, and general stream of consciousness. In short, it makes no sense. Which is awesome. Joyce stated that it was supposed to be a dream-like "night book" in comparison to his "day-book", Ulysses, which described a day in the life of some ordinary Dubliners but whose style and construction was almost as weird.

***

Finnegan's Wake is one of the most experimental novels of the twentieth century. Rather than write using conventions of novels--or of the English language--Joyce structured his book on language itself. The result is surreal, dense, and famously difficult. To get a sense of just how strange and dreamlike the whole thing is, even its Wikipedia page compares it to Lewis Carroll's "Jabberwocky" before pointing out the the book begins with the second half of a sentence, which it gives the first half of at its end. Tl;dr Finnegan's Wake is so unsettlingly experimental that Joyce had to break the English language down to its components to get his vision down on the page.

Juster, Norton: The Phantom Tollbooth

Milo receives a package one day, from an unknown source. The package takes him on a journey where he meets the judge jury and executioner, the princesses rhyme and reason, and more

Kte'pi, Bill: The Cheshire

If you don't want to read this whole summary, here's a song based on the story

Alice Little came out of a showing of Disney's Alice in Wonderland sixteen years ago with nothing but a blue gingham dress, a faded daguerrotype of cats, and jumbled memories of being Alice Liddell. Specifically the fictional character: "she'd never thought of herself as the 'real' Alice, the one Charles Dodgson wrote Alice's Adventures in Wonderland for - she had no memories of that Alice's life, only of the life chronicled by Lewis Carroll - madness and tea parties and talking animals. Worse, her memories conflicted, as she remembered Alice's Adventures Underground, Wonderland's first draft, as vividly as she did the two published novels." After years of attempting to return to Wonderland failed--she'd "tried every drug she could, hallucinogenic and otherwise [...] meditation, trances, pain rituals, sweat lodges, prayers and madness and hypnosis and psychotherapy"--Alice tells herself that her memories are merely symptomatic of a dissociative disorder and tries to go clean. But she puts an ad in the paper asking "Why is a raven like a writing desk?" (which includes a coded message saying "SAVE ME"), searching for answers despite herself, and eventually gets an answer. She meets a grinning man "in a purple-striped turtleneck, with odd-shaped nails and a tattoo of a mushroom on one of his knuckles" at a bar and they talk about her struggles, with him eventually getting her to ask what she really wants to know--if he can take her back. The man replies, "'There's no back to take you. You never left [...] Maybe we recognise each other because you're Alice and I'm the Cheshire Cat. Maybe we're descendents of the originals. Maybe we're brother and sister, separated after our parents' deaths and so traumatised we sought refuge in the books Father read to us as children. Maybe we're simply mad.'" After giving her LSD, the man tells her that a raven isn't like a writing desk at all, "And he faded away, leaving nothing but a grinnnnnnnnnn."

Lovecraft, H.P.: The Color Out of Space

An indescribable color leaches the life out of a patch of farmland and everyone on it.

Lyons, Steve: The Stealers of Dreams

Synopsis: "In the far future, the Doctor, Rose and Captain Jack find a world on which fiction has been outlawed. A world where it's a crime to tell stories, a crime to lie, a crime to hope, and a crime to dream.

But now somebody is challenging the status quo. A pirate TV station urges people to fight back. And the Doctor wants to help -- until he sees how easily dreams can turn into nightmares.

With one of his companions stalked by shadows and the other committed to an asylum, the Doctor is forced to admit that fiction can be dangerous after all. Though perhaps it is not as deadly as the truth... "

Why it's Spiral: A society where lies and fictions are forbidden is, evidently, a society that will fall for anything. The repression of any untruth -- by threat of violence and by invasive brain surgery to paralyze the region that dreams -- means that people are more desperate than ever to believe in anything. Fiction has consequences on this planet. And what could be a more obvious lie than the time-traveling man in his blue box...?

Mathers, Edward Powys: Cain’s Jawbone

I'm just going to quote an article from The Independent: "Cain’s Jawbone, originally published in 1934, is a murder mystery puzzle composed of 100 pages – all assembled in the wrong order. The only way to solve all six murders in the prose narrative is to reorder the pages and correctly identify the crimes, their victims, and who perpetrated them."

Here's the link to the article

Mearns, William Hughes: Antigonish

It's all pretty much all in the TMA episode (Upon the stairs). The little man who "wasn't there" in the stairs.

Miles, Lawrence et. al.: The Book of the War

Synopsis: "The Great Houses: Immovable. Implacable. Unchanging. Old enough to pass themselves off as immortal, arrogant enough to claim ultimate authority over the Spiral Politic.

The Enemy: Not so much an army as a hostile new kind of history. So ambitious it can re-write worlds, so complex that even calling it by its name seems to underestimate it.

Faction Paradox: Renegades, ritualists, saboteurs and subterfugers, the criminal-cult to end all criminal-cults, happy to be caught in the crossfire and ready to take whatever's needed from the wreckage… assuming the other powers leave behind a universe that's habitable.

The War: A fifty-year-old dispute over the two most valuable territories in existence: "cause" and "effect."

Marking the first five decades of the conflict, THE BOOK OF THE WAR is an A to Z of a self-contained continuum and a complete guide to the Spiral Politic, from the beginning of recordable time to the fall of humanity. Part story, part history and part puzzle-box, this is a chronicle of protocol and paranoia in a War where the historians win as many battles as the soldiers and the greatest victory of all is to hold on to your own past."

Propaganda: A text which purports to be a constantly shifting and updating guide to The War, a conflict so overarching and complete that every other conflict is but a pale shadow thereof; the Time War. Of course, since it would shift retroactively with the changing timelines, there is no way to prove or disprove this claim. Notable entries include cities built from days stolen from shifting calendars, the secrets of removing yourself from history while still leaving yourself free to interfere, Grandfather Paradox, the location of the exact centre of history, how to weaponize banality, and Parablox.

Oh, and there's something else in there. Something that seems to be talking to you...

Morrison, Grant: Doom Patrol

The series in general could easily fit in the Spiral, but I'll focus on a certain arc. A great new evil emerges! The Brotherhood of Dada! Its members: a woman that has super strength when she's asleep, a man that is made of fog and swallows his victims(and then has to put up with their voices inside his brain forever), a woman that has every super power you haven't thought of and is deathly afraid of dirt and an illiterate man that can turn into a hurricane. And their intrepid leader! Mr Nobody! He used to be a boring, average man. With the help of a very criminal doctor he tried to turn into a new man...but he went so insane he's always slightly left of reality and 2D. He doesn't mind though, he rather enjoys the meaninglessness of it all, which is a bit Vast of him. He also calls cops fascists.

The bad guys steal a painting that swallows everything and anything and they put Paris inside it. One of the funniest panels ever is various super heroes sitting around a painting wandering what they're supposed to do. Thankfully, Doom Patrol knows how to deal with the weird stuff. They go into the painting, get separated in different artstyles and beaten up.

But the Fifth Horseman of the Apocalypse is coming, so they cooperate and put him in the dadaist section, making him lose all meaning and turning into a wooden horse.

A big part of the arc is also narrated by the illiterate hurricane guy, which makes it harder to understand since he writes phonetically.

The whole thing is absurdity, the first bad guys are absurd and the second bad guy gets beaten by the absurd. After a few more arcs Mr Nobody runs for president(with some members of the Doom Patrol endorsing him) and gets killed by the CIA in a similar manner to Jesus. For his campaign he drove a bus that made everyone behind it feel like they've taken lsd.

Moore, Christopher: Sacré Bleu: A Comedy d’Art

The story surrounds the mysterious suicide of Vincent van Gogh, who famously shot himself in a French wheat field only to walk a mile to a doctor’s house. The mystery, which is slowly but cleverly revealed through the course of the book, is blue: specifically the exclusive ultramarine pigment that accents pictures created by the likes of Michelangelo and van Gogh. To find the origin of the hue, Moore brings on Lucien Lessard, a baker, aspiring artist and lover of Juliette, the brunette beauty who breaks his heart. After van Gogh’s death, Lucien joins up with the diminutive force of nature Henri Toulouse-Lautrec to track down the inspiration behind the Sacré Bleu. In the shadows, lurking for centuries, is a perverse paint dealer dubbed The Colorman, who tempts the world’s great artists with his unique hues and a mysterious female companion who brings revelation—and often syphilis (it is Moore, after all). Into the palette, Moore throws a dizzying array of characters, all expertly portrayed, from the oft-drunk “little gentleman” to a host of artists including Édouard Manet, Paul Gauguin, Georges Seurat, Claude Monet, Camille Pissarro and Pierre-Auguste Renoir.

Muir, Tamsyn: Harrow the Ninth

Harrow the Ninth is, above all, really fucking confusing. Roughly every third chapter is actively gaslighting the reader about what happened in the last book. The main character is fucking struggling to maintain any sort of grip on reality all throughout the story, and more often than not, she fails miserably. This is due to several factors, including, but not limited to - sleep deprivation, latent schizophrenia, ruthless emotional manipulation from everyone around her, being full of a frankly alarming number of ghosts from several entirely unrelated sources, childhood parental and religious trauma, and a self-inflicted amateur lobotomy.

***

Takes place post(sometimes pre) DIY lobotomy; leaving our protag, who already struggles identifying between reality and hallucination, a paranoid, constantly questioning wreck. It's written in second person and does not follow events chronologically, leaving the reader questioning everything almost as much as the protag.

National Governors Association and Council of Chief State School Officers: Common Core Math Textbook

Drives me up the damn wall insane. This is mostly a joke suggestion but also I think there’s something to be said about fractals’ place in mathematics, and the widespread range of common core math’s influence. To be honest, submitting this is a gut feeling of dread to me.

Nikolson, Adam: Life between the tides

Look this probably shouldn’t even make it into the bracket and this is mostly a very dull book about shoreline ecosystems but there’s this one chapter where the dude gets positively poetic about I think?? winkles?? (a kind of snail) and it absolutely reads like a statement like we are talking fractal winkles-all-the-way-down insanity. I need to tell someone about it bc it was like suddenly reading another book. A better and also worse book. I’m pretty sure he quoted philosophers in it. I wish I had taken notes. He would get along with Ivo Lensik’s dad.

O’Brien, Flann: The Third Policeman

Synopsis from Goodreads: "The Third Policeman is Flann O'Brien's brilliantly dark comic novel about the nature of time, death, and existence. Told by a narrator who has committed a botched robbery and brutal murder, the novel follows him and his adventures in a two-dimensional police station where, through the theories of the scientist/philosopher de Selby, he is introduced to "Atomic Theory" and its relation to bicycles, the existence of eternity (which turns out to be just down the road), and de Selby's view that the earth is not round but "sausage-shaped." With the help of his newly found soul named "Joe," he grapples with the riddles and contradictions that three eccentric policeman present to him."

Ogawa, Yoko: The Memory Police

The story is set in an alternate Japan where people's memories of certain things and concepts (e.g. birds, hats, winter, books, seasons, even their sense of self) are slowly taken away from their collective minds for 'their safety' by the titular Memory Police, a government force of sorts. This forced forgetting goes to the point where they can't physically perceive that concept; birds are weird creatures because no one remembers what a bird is like, and it's always winter because no one remembers what spring is. The story even ends with the unnamed protagonist (along with several others) eventually fading away from existence (read: forgetting) as memories of certain body parts and finally the concept of the human body is taken away by the Memory Police. It's like if the vase from MAG 38 formed and entire task force to do its job.

This one has narrative potential too; imagine a statement where someone slowly lose memories of certain things after reading this Leitner, gradually becoming an unreliable narrator as reality slips away from their conscious.

Orwell, George: Nineteen Eighty-Four

Pelevin, Victor: The Helmet of Horror

Eight people find themselves in eight different rooms with a labyrinth behind them and a computer in front of them. They try to communicate via the computer that allows them to chat with one another, but has nicknames set for them(IsoldA, UGLI 666, Ariane...) and blocks their personal information. They(and us) can't know if they are lying. When two of them try to see each other by visiting a spot in the labyrinths that should be the same they each then recount a completely different experience and accuse each other of lying. Another character claims they all must be figments of his imagination, he must be very drunk. And they're all afraid of the minotaur. It is a book where no one, even the reader knows what's real, everyone is afraid of what might appear if they turn a corner and no one knows what's going on.

Pratchett, Terry: Moving Pictures

"‘HOLY WOOD IS A DIFFERENT SORT OF PLACE . . . HERE, THE MOST IMPORTANT THING IS TO BE IMPORTANT.’

A new phenomenon is taking over the Discworld: moving pictures. Created by the alchemists of Ankh-Morpork, the growing ‘clicks’ industry moves to the sandy land of Holy Wood, attracted by the light of the sun and some strange calling no one can quite put their finger on…

Also drawn to Holy Wood are aspiring young stars Victor Tugelbend, a wizarding student dropout, and Theda ‘Ginger’ Withel, a small-town girl with big dreams. But behind the glitz and glamour of the clicks, a sinister presence lurks. Because belief is powerful in the Discworld, and sometimes downright dangerous…

The magic of movies might just unravel reality itself."

Pynchon, Thomas: The Crying of Lot 49

Oedipa Maas spends the whole book trying to figure out if the conspiracy she’s trying to unravel about the US postal service and a conter-postal service via plays, signs/images, and history is real or if she’s being gaslit by her ex, who just died and made her executor of his will.

Ryukishi07: higurashi no naku koro ni (When The Evening Cicadas Cry)

The series explores paranoia and deceit among friends. It uses its POVs incredibly well, limiting your view of the situation so much that it is genuinely incredibly hard to figure out what happened or why (until you read the answer arcs ofc). Several key plot points involve characters getting so consumed by their own madness that they cannot see reality for what it is and wildly assume false things. This madness repeats and repeats and repeats, consuming the friends group over and over and over, leading them to do horrific things to each other. Many a character become so consumed by suspicion and fear that the world distorts and details change in their mind to match what they think is happening. I am desperately trying to describe the series without spoilers rn

Sachar, Louis: Wayside School Is Falling Down

Obviously all of Wayside School is a little Spirally -- the weird architecture, the cow invasions, occasional hypnosis, and more -- but this one tells a story of the nineteenth floor. Wayside School has no nineteenth floor. There is one teacher on the nineteenth floor, and only one class, who learn about how to alphabetize every number. Sometimes, new students arrive...

Schwartz, Alvin: "Maybe You Will Remember" (short story from Scary Stories 3: More Tales To Chill Your Bones)

A girl, Rosemary, and her mother are on vacation in Paris. Rosemary's mother is ill, so Rosemary is sent to get medicine, but ultimately has her time wasted by the driver on the way back, and when she returns to the hotel, nobody recognizes her, telling her she has the wrong place. Her mother is gone, too, and when Rosemary asks to see the room they stayed in as proof they were there, the clerk shows her a completely unfamiliar setup, making Rosemary wonder what happened to her.

In the appendix of the book, the scenario is explained. Rosemary's mother was sick with the plague, and the doctor, recognizing it, knew she would be dead very quickly. Rosemary was put on a wild goose chase for the medicine and given a driver who would delay her, with the doctor and hotel staff working to dispose of her mother's body and re-decorate the hotel room while Rosemary was away. With Rosemary unable to verify that she was in the hotel, and unknowing that her mother died of plague, the hotel avoided any negative publicity that would have occurred if anyone were to find out a guest had the plague. The hotel's PR was saved, but Rosemary was left doubting her sanity.

Serafini, Luigi: Codex Seraphinianus

The Codex is an encyclopedia in manuscript with copious hand-drawn, colored-pencil illustrations of bizarre and fantastical flora, fauna, anatomies, fashions, and foods. The illustrations are often surreal parodies of things in the real world, such as a bleeding fruit, a plant that grows into roughly the shape of a chair and is subsequently made into one, and a copulating couple who metamorphose into an alligator. Others depict odd, apparently senseless machines, often with delicate appearances and bound by tiny filaments. Some illustrations are recognizable as maps or human faces, while others (especially in the "physics" chapter) are mostly or totally abstract. Nearly all of the illustrations are brightly coloured and highly detailed

***

It's an encyclopedia for a universe that doesn't exist, treated as if it does exist in another universe while being written in a nonsense, impossible to understand language. The things it depict doesn't make sense either, ranging from swimming trees and eye-shaped fishes to absolutely bizarre creatures and technology, like a rainbow-making cloud shaped like Da Vinci's aerial screw. The entire thing comes off as surreal nonsense because it's meant to symbolise the feeling of trying to understand something that you can't understand, but finds cool because of the visuals. It's a book that you aren't meant to read understand, but simply look at, because trying to understand it just... doesn't work.

***

The Codex is an encyclopedia in manuscript with copious hand-drawn, colored-pencil illustrations of bizarre and fantastical flora, fauna, anatomies, fashions, and foods. It has been compared to the still undeciphered Voynich manuscript, the story "Tlön, Uqbar, Orbis Tertius" by Jorge Luis Borges, and the artwork of M. C. Escher and Hieronymus Bosch. The illustrations are often surreal parodies of things in the real world, such as a bleeding fruit, a plant that grows into roughly the shape of a chair and is subsequently made into one, and a copulating couple who metamorphose into an alligator. Others depict odd, apparently senseless machines, often with delicate appearances and bound by tiny filaments. Some illustrations are recognizable as maps or human faces, while others (especially in the "physics" chapter) are mostly or totally abstract. Nearly all of the illustrations are brightly coloured and highly detailed.

The false writing system appears modeled on Western writing systems, with left-to-right writing in rows and an alphabet with uppercase and lowercase letters, some of which double as numerals. Some letters appear only at the beginning or end of words, similar to Semitic writing systems. The curvilinear letters are rope- or thread-like, with loops and even knots, and are somewhat reminiscent of Sinhala script. In a talk at the Oxford University Society of Bibliophiles [...] Serafini stated that there is no meaning behind the Codex's script, which is asemic; that his experience in writing it was similar to automatic writing; and that what he wanted his alphabet to convey was the sensation children feel with books they cannot yet understand, although they see that the writing makes sense for adults. Take a look for yourself:

Shakespeare, William: A Midsummer Night's Dream

The way the fey play with the perceptions and emotions of the wandering youths in the woods is peak Spiral, as their loves and disdains change with the machinations of Oberon and Puck.

Shakespeare, William: King Lear

The play has everything: real descents into madness, fake descents into madness, betrayal by trusted loved ones, loyalty from betrayed loved ones, and would-be wise men who turn out to be fools.

Shakespeare, William: The Winter's Tale

Imagine that you are absolutely, completely, 100 percent certain that your wife is cheating on you with your best friend. Now imagine you're the king, and your best friend is the king of a far-off kingdom. Now imagine that the consequences of your actions spiral outward: your wife and son die, one of your trusted advisors has disappeared with daughter on your orders to kill her.

This first half of this deeply underappreciated play explores the consequences of one man's fear of betrayal. Coincidentally, it is one Shakespeare's more surreal works. It's the origin of the infamous "Exit pursued by a bear," a stage direction that concludes a scene set on the coast of a kingdom that in real life was landlocked. And--spoiler alert--the play concludes with a statute coming back to life.

Anyway, it's a surprisingly Spiral-like play with a dream-like atmosphere, fairy-tale logic, and a Distortion-esque look at the fear of betrayal.

Silberescher: SCP-1425: Star Signals

Stine, R.L.: Don't Go to Sleep!

"Matt hates his tiny bedroom. It's so small it's practically a closet! Still, Matt's mom refuses to let him sleep in the guest room. After all, they might have guests. Some day. Or year. Then Matt does it. Late one night. When everyone's in bed. He sneaks into the guest room and falls asleep. Poor Matt. He should have listened to his mom. Because when Matt wakes up, his whole life has changed. For the worse. And every time he falls asleep, he wakes up in a new nightmare... "

Inception, for kids! Whenever Matt falls asleep, he changes reality -- and a group of special agents want to stop him by putting him to sleep, permanently.

Unknown, Voynich Manuscript

Many call the fifteenth-century codex, commonly known as the “Voynich Manuscript,” the world’s most mysterious book. Written in an unknown script by an unknown author, the manuscript has no clearer purpose now than when it was rediscovered in 1912 by rare books dealer Wilfrid Voynich. It's a strange code describing alchemical formulae and unknown life forms, and no one understands it. It's a mystery waiting for you to lose yourself in its pages.

Wells, H.G.: The Door in the Wall

This short story is about Lionel Wallace, who at the age of 5 encountered and entered a weird door. Behind it he found a beautiful and peaceful garden and felt such happiness and bliss, that when he was transported back on the street and escorted back to his home, he was very upset. He would see the door again many times later in life, but every time he will refuse to enter it due to his responsibilities (for example, to not be late to class, to catch a train, to be on time for an appointment). He grew up and became a successful politician, but the perfect world behind the door haunted him, and his success felt dull and boring. The book ends with people finding his lifeless body at the bottom of a pit, and that he had in poor light walked through a small doorway that led onto it. The narrator then speculates that maybe Lionel saw the perfect garden behind the doorway and was finally able to find happiness.

West, A.J.: The Spirit Engineer

Based on a real story about a guy who was convinced that one particular medium was the real deal. He completely upended his career for it, and wrote a paper on the science of the ghostly plane.

He did several shows, and got relatively famous. Eventually, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle [someone who wanted to believe] and Harry Houdini [An avid non-believer] invite him over to convince them that séances were real. In the process, Houdini completely disproves him, and outs the medium he thought was real as a fraud.

It turns out his wife and coworker had convinced the 'medium' and their family to run a prank on him. In his fury, he kills everyone involved, and then drinks Poison to try - one final time - to proove his theory.

Tldr: A real story who unknowingly changed his life and ruined his reputation because of the lies of the ones he trusted. When he realises, he looses his sanity and kills everyone around him, including himself.

 Whorf, Benjamin Lee: Relation of Habitual Thought and Behavior to Language

The famous text about language as a symbol that can never truly reflect reality can kinda fuck with your perceptions about how our language serves to construct our own realities. We're programmed to experience the world in different ways according to the way we interpret language.

Wyspiański, Stanisław: The Wedding

Relevant parts from Wikipedia

"The play's action takes place at the wedding of a member of the Kraków intelligentsia (the Bridegroom) and his peasant Bride. Their crossclass union follows a then fashionable trend of chłopomaństwo ("peasant-mania") among some Polish intelligentsia, who were often scions of the historic Polish szlachta (nobility). (...) Among the live guests are ghosts of personae from Polish history and culture, representing the guilty consciences of the living. The two groups engage in dialogues. The wedding guests are hypnotized by a rosebush straw-wrap (Chochoł) from the garden which comes to life and joins the party. (Offending a chochoł, according to folk beliefs, could provoke the thing to play tricks).The "Poet" is visited successively by the "Black Knight" (a symbol of the nation's past military glory); the "Journalist"; the court jester Stańczyk, a conservative political sage; and the "Ghost of Wernyhora" (a paradigm of leadership for Poland). (...)Thus the wedding guests, symbolizing the nation, waste their chance at national freedom. They keep on dancing a "chocholi taniec" (a "straw-wrap's dance") "the way it's played for them" (a Polish folk saying), failing in their mission." This play is as if patriotically motivated Spiral avatars crashed somebody's wedding, and I think it deserves consideration as Spiral Leitner.

[brokehorrorfan]

4K UHD Review: The Guyver

Following in the wildly successful footsteps of Batman and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, The Guyver takes a (relatively) grounded approach to its outlandish source material — in this case, a Japanese manga series — without divorcing itself from its comic book roots. Produced by Brian Yuzna (Re-Animator, Society), the 1991 film is directed by special effects wizards Screaming Mad George (Society, A Nightmare on Elm Street 4: The Dream Master) and Steve Wang (Predator, The Monster Squad).

As the Star Wars-esque expository opening crawl explains, mankind was created by aliens as an organic weapon. The evil Chronos corporation is further developing a technology that allows humans to change into "super monster soldiers" known as Zoanoids for world domination. The only viable defense against them is The Unit, a piece of bio-booster alien armor that increases a human's natural powers a hundredfold, turning them into The Guyver.

Mark Hamill's top billing may lead you to believe that he's the titular hero, but he instead plays a supporting role as a CIA agent investigating Chronos. The real lead is Jack Armstrong (Student Bodies) as Sean Barker, an amateur martial artist who's the only person that can activate The Unit. When his girlfriend (Vivian Wu, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles III) is endangered, Sean utilizes his newfound powers to take down Chronos and the Zoanoids.

Armstrong is a bland lead, but it's not entirely his fault. In addition to a mustachioed Hamill channeling Colombo, he has to compete with several scene-stealing character actors. Re-Animator's David Gale chews the scenery as the malevolent head of Chronos, briefly reuniting with Jeffrey Combs as the company's scientist, Dr. East (get it?). Michael Berryman (The Hills Have Eyes) plays Gale's right-hand Zoanoid with Jimmie Walker (Good Times) as his rapping goon. Linnea Quigley (The Return of the Living Dead) cameos as a scream queen.

But the real stars of the show are the creatures, the designs of which showcase boundless creativity. The Guyver looks like Ultraman by way of Clive Barker, and each Zoanoid adopts a different animal's traits. While a number of other artists were employed to pull off the myriad of monsters, George and Wang's fingerprints are all over the effects, imbuing the alien superhero movie with some disturbing body-horror.

Jon Purdy's script deviates significantly from source material not only in terms of story but also tone. While some of the manga's dark atmosphere and violence remain intact, it's undercut by goofy humor in an attempt to appeal to a younger demographic. Fans of Yoshiki Takaya's original creation were no doubt disappointed (Wang attempted a bit of a course correction with his 1994 sequel, Guyver: Dark Hero), but the tonal confusion is actually charming.

Originally cut down to a PG-13 rating in the US, The Guyver has been newly restored in 4K from the original, R-rated 35mm camera negative with DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 and 2.0 options for Unearthed Films' 4K UHD + Blu-ray release. Far removed from the days of Jaws and Alien in which the monster was largely hidden in shadows, George and Wang put their creations on full display — and even with a crystal-clear restoration, the in-camera effects shine.

Two new audio commentaries are included. The first is a lively one with George and Wang, moderated by Budget Biomorphs: The Making of The Guyver Films author Dom O’Brien. It's not the most informative track — the filmmakers admit to not having seen the film in over two decades — but they're enjoying themselves so much that it hardly matters. The second commentary features creature crew members "Evil" Ted Smith and Wyatt Weed, who delve into the nitty-gritty of the effects.

Yuzna and George each sit down for thorough new interviews. Yuzna reveals that he's been approached about a remake, but the rights are complicated, while George's infectious energy lasts the entire 56 (!) minutes. Creature suit camera test footage is included with commentary options from George and Wang or Smith and Weed, while outtakes and a gag reel feature George and Wang commentary.

Other extras include: alternate title sequences in English, German and Spanish; English, German, Spanish, and French trailers (all carrying the alternate title Mutronics); and extensive promotional and production galleries. The collector's edition also comes with the soundtrack CD composed by Matthew Morse (Silent Night, Deadly Night 5: The Toy Maker) and a booklet featuring liner notes by O’Brien and Morse.

The Guyver is available now on 4K UHD via Unearthed Films.

[sleepynegress]

On Challengers...

Okay.

So, here's the thing. It's decent.

It's sassy, catfighty, but with dudes using rackets and tongue-wrestling, and the tennis scenes are tense, but... it wasn't at all confidently scandalous like I would've expected.

....Like I feel like they didn't push it far enough, somehow? And not even in the way you might think, with dicks a-swingin and thrusts abundant. Remember, the movie Closer? -I think that came out in 2007ish and was rated PG-13??? Or could have been if not for the language.

Natalie Portman has a similar nudity clause to her contract and *STILL* had the absolute sexiest scene with Clive Owen.... .....Which I'll put in this post to demonstrate what I mean. This felt like it held back at moments... When it came to pushing desire, between the men and/or with Zendaya, with one or the other. It just felt so tame to me given the hype. I was hoping for a return to artistic sensuality in film again, instead of this weird sort of by-rote-feeling purity culture we're having rn. (I'm watching Love Lies Bleeding tonight and I BET that delivers. Lesbians, salude!) I was hoping for Cruel Intentions' lush cut with The Dreamers' sensuality..if that makes sense?? AND some good-good tennis. THAT did deliver. WOW, some of the shots for that were eye-popping. A critic I follow noted that her issue (she always has the best takes I don't agree with all of them but they are always well-articulated) was that Zendaya was not fleshed out as a central figure, especially as a BLACK WOMAN. It was yet again another case of a Black woman dropped down from the moon coming from no people of her own, but just somehow existing in a sea of white people with not a hint of Black friends or loved ones.

Hell, they could've even laid out *her people* like the brilliantly underrated Beyond The Lights with Minnie Driver playing the stage manager mom to Gugu Mbatha Raw's biracial pop star. But that comes down to the white male gaze fucking it up, yet again. I looked up the screenwriter and just kind of nodded knowingly with an 'oh, yeah that's what I expected, that explains it...' He simply didn't have the range beyond a sort of vague tennis fetish for brown girls in short skirts grunting and swinging and wanting to do something with that. He admitted that Naomi and another Black woman player's interaction on the court *inspired* this...

Perception of Black women doing ANYTHING can be so heavy with a weirdly asexual gaze from white women and hyper-sexualized by white men. And if desire/centering tips in the "wrong" direction deemed by prejudice and our assumed place....*yeesh* we catch hell. You're either bafflingly too ugly to be treated with desire (whew the incel bigots are big mad that it's Zendaya and not a Sweeney-type) or only deemed good enough for it, because of that white gaze. And resented regardless.

*sigh* Can't win for losing. But I digress. Zendaya's co-stars are the oddest looking mystical-dwarf-head ass forest creature white boys with big ears, but they GAVE in the acting department. Mike Faist is a STAR. He has a sort of laidback sweetly confident rizz. But he definitely is the lovechild of a young Scott Glenn and DJ Qualls. I want to put him in a western immediately because he has Civil War photo face.

Mike O'Connor has that desperate dirty hairy scruffy thing like dude from The Bear. Like you KNOW he has a scratch tat somewhere and would do the dirty with his partner in the toilet stalls or anywhere else. Hollyweird is strange about beauty standards man. Back in the day, they used to pretend old white men, who looked like they smelled like Barbasol mixed w/ urine would somehow be sexy to a twentysomething. Now, we have this dichotomy of thankfully a little more of a diverse gaze for the centered "bombshell" other than blonde with large breasts number 32637263872.... but we also have some actresses cutting fat out their cheeks and being Ozempic thin. *sigh* ...While the "basic" hot boys are punching the air rn because they are also passé. Got to have something interesting going on in the face for everyone now, I think. Can't just be AI "pretty" anymore. Thankfully.

....Anyway. It is good, but with those caveats I laid out.

P.S. ICONIC for me is seeing Zendaya's Black-ass nose bridge drawn large on that poster. P.P.S Thank LUCA for doing the queer elements well... I personally don't think it went far enough, tho...

Mike bottoming for all, including getting pegged by Zendaya would've happened in my version of this... at least implied, come on (ficwriters?) Oh! and here are the clips from Closer, but then it was a successful play first, so the script is more substantial in that.

This is how filthy I expected Challengers to be, and it's just. not. Nothing in The Challengers touches the heavy heady nastiness in this scene IMO, but something in that movie should have, dammit! Note they never even touch each other.

[posttexasstressdisorder]

CNN 4/30/2025

First Canada, now Australia? Conservatives fear the Trump slump is spreading

By Hilary Whiteman and Angus Watson, CNN

Updated: 4:00 PM EDT, Wed April 30, 2025

Source: CNN

The man vying to become Australia’s next prime minister has spent weeks trying to distance himself from comparisons to US President Donald Trump.

“I’m my own person,” opposition Liberal Party leader Peter Dutton insisted, when asked for his thoughts on “Temu Trump,” the label given to him by critics referring to the Chinese website with a reputation for cheap copies.

Political analysts say comparisons to Trump have eaten away at any lead Dutton had over incumbent center-left Labor Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, who is topping opinion polls before Saturday’s vote.

Ex-police officer Dutton became opposition leader after the center-right Liberal Party was swept from power three years ago, bringing with him a reputation as the uncompromising strongman of the party’s right wing – a former minister for defense, home affairs and immigration.

He’s been accused of stoking culture wars, claims Australia takes in too many migrants, and days ago branded the nation’s public broadcaster “hate media.”

“His instincts are those of a right-wing populist. I have no doubt about that, so they do bear resemblance to the kind of politics and rhetoric we’ve associated with Trump,” said Frank Bongiorno, professor of history at the Australian National University.

The Trumpian strategy appears to have been encouraged by senior party members and Australia’s richest woman, mining magnate Gina Rinehart, who attended the US president’s inauguration and backs his “drill baby drill” mantra, according to reports from 2024.

But what sounded like a vote winner backfired when the US president announced global tariffs, turning a prospective Trump bump into a Trump slump – something Canada’s conservatives also experienced this week when they failed to win the national election.

Dutton also faces the potential ignominy of losing his own seat in parliament, as happened to Canadian Conservative Party leader Pierre Poilievre. Dutton holds Dickson, a constituency in the outer suburbs of Brisbane, by just 1.7% – and rivals are circling.

Australia is seeing “a diluted version” of the Canada trend, according to Marija Taflaga, director of the Center for the Study of Australian Politics at the Australian National University.

“Trump has essentially created a rally around the flag effect,” she said. “In liberal democracies like Australia and Canada, (he’s) flipped the incumbent from being in a disadvantaged position… into an advantageous position,” she added.

“Better the devil you know.”

‘The election pivoted’

The most blatant grab for Trump supporters comes from mining billionaire Clive Palmer, of Titanic II fame, who launched Trump-inspired party the Trumpet of Patriots, vowing to “end the two-party duopoly and make Australia great.”

For the most part, Australian elections are a competition between Dutton’s Liberal Party and Albanese’s Labor Party. Compulsory voting and a preference system that redistributes votes cast for candidates that fall out of the race mean both parties focus on securing the maximum middle ground.

The main issue this election has been the cost-of-living crisis, and both major parties have promised to help lower household bills with an array of tax cuts and handouts.

In a program redolent of Trump’s early moves since returning to the White House, Dutton promised 41,000 federal job cuts, an end to work-from-home privileges and an overhaul of “woke” school agendas – some of which he’s had to roll back.

He also appointed a shadow minister for government efficiency, who told a recent rally the Liberal Party would “make Australia great again” – a comment that she later said she didn’t realize she’d made.

As recently as January, the Liberal leader was on a path to victory, according to Simon Jackman, an honorary professor at the University of Sydney and former chief executive officer of its US Studies Centre.

“Then along comes Donald Trump… and the election just pivoted,” Jackman said.

Australians take an avid interest in US politics, so they were watching when the big US pharmaceutical companies complained that the Australian government’s subsidy program was undervaluing US medicines; as US trade advisor Peter Navarro warned that Australian aluminum exports were “killing” America’s aluminum market; and when Democrat Sen. Mark Warner demanded to know why Australia, “an incredibly important national security partner,” had been “whacked” with 10% tariffs.

But it was the post-tariff selling on international markets that really caught their attention, and older voters watched in horror as their retirement savings tracked south, Jackman said.

“The narrative flipped from being sort of looking backwards at Labor’s economic performance to looking forward and (saying), ‘Oh my goodness, the world is very different and dangerous and insecure, and our closest ally and strategic partner is saying all these horrible things about us. I thought the Americans liked us. What’s going on?’” said Jackman.

The Trump backlash presented an issue for Dutton. So, in mid-April, when asked by the moderator during a leaders’ debate if he trusted the US president, he seemed keen to put some distance between them. “I don’t know Donald Trump; I’ve never met him,” he said.

Easing off the China threat

During the last election in 2022, China was seen as the bigger issue.

Relations had suffered under the previous Liberal Party leader Scott Morrison, who led a Coalition government with the National Party and suggested China be investigated for its role in the spread of the Covid pandemic. In response, China slapped tariffs on key Australian exports. While Labor touted its desire to improve relations, the Liberal Party talked up China’s military threat and subsequently lost the votes of Chinese-Australians.

So, this election, despite the unprecedented circumnavigation by Chinese warships of Australia in February and March – complete with unannounced live-fire drills – discussion of China’s threat to Australia’s national security has been relatively subdued.

“Funnily enough, Trump is probably seen as a bigger threat to the global order than China,” said Jackman.

The US president’s unpredictability, transactional approach to foreign affairs, and readiness to rip up past agreements has focused attention on whether Australia can trust the US under Trump.

Critics of AUKUS, Australia’s key security deal with the US and United Kingdom, have cited the president’s recent behavior as proof that it’s too dangerous to outsource the country’s national security.

“Donald Trump is a dangerous demagogue and is a threat to peace, a threat to democracy, and is also a threat to Australia,” said Adam Bandt, leader of the Greens, Australia’s third-largest party, which is pushing for more housing, support for renters and stronger climate action.

Both Albanese and Dutton signed up to AUKUS and have defended the defense agreement.

A possible minority government

While polling suggests Albanese will win the election, it’s unclear if he’ll gain enough votes for a majority government, and analysts say it’s possible he’ll have to form a minority government with smaller parties or independents.

This year, for the first time, Millennial and Gen Z voters will outnumber older demographics, and they’re expected to cast a more progressive, anti-establishment vote that could cost Labor seats.

“Young renters who earn more than their parents but cannot afford to buy the house they grew up in have little reason to preserve the existing political order and appear happy to roll the dice on a minority government,” Shaun Ratcliff, a political scientist from research firm Accent Research, told the National Press Club last week.

Bongiorno from the Australian National University says that, if Dutton loses, he can’t blame the loss entirely on Trump. The Liberal campaign was ill-prepared and relied on voters being angry enough with Labor to want change, he said.

“It hasn’t been a disastrous government, and I think it was probably a mistake for the Coalition to imagine that it could simply wait around and watch it fall over,” Bongiorno said.

As for Dutton’s challenge in Dickson, the seat he’s held for more than 20 years, Bongiorno said the demographics of the area seem to be changing, and that may steer votes towards Labor’s Ali France or progressive independent Ellie Smith. “I suspect he’ll hold on,” Bongiorno said.

The last of 18 million registered voters are expected to go to the polls on Saturday after a record turnout at early-voting centers.

Jackman said he didn’t get the feeling that people were voting with “gusto” to remove the government, as they did three years ago to oust Morrison.

“Sometimes it signals, ‘Oh, I can’t wait to get rid of this government,’” Jackman said. “I don’t get that same vibe this time,” he added. “I suspect it’s more just people want to get it over with.”

“We knew Trump mark two was going to be different,” he said. “I don’t think anybody counted on just how different.”

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[avenger09]

Code Eikon: FFXVI/Code Geass Crossover

Many things have decided the course of history, Ambition, Will, Love. But none more so then the that the Dominates, individuals gifted godlike power and able to transform into avatars.

Through their coveted power, nations have risen and fallen, as have those who wielded them.

Once many, now only eight are publicly known:

Pheonix, Dominate of Fire

Garuda, Dominate of Wind

Titan, Dominate of Earth

Ramuh, Dominate of Lightning

Shiva, Dominate of Ice

Leviathen, Dominate of Water

Bahamut, Dominate of Light

Odin, Dominate of Darkness

All others are remembered only in the annals of history, with Leviathen being the most recent to number among these lost eikon's, its dominate vanishing in a fierce battle with Shiva over the Bering Strait a century past. Yet hope remains by those who belive that these lost simple lay await for one's worthy of their blessings.

But as these giants quaked the earth with their presence, another power, known to only a few has coexisted in the shadows, veiled by its subtle graces, the power of Geass.

Tied to influencing the minds of men, save for those of the Dominates, it's proven eqully a blessing and a curse. Should one ever hold the power of both, there is to telling what upheaval will be unleashed. Could such a person save the world, or usher its ruin?

----

Nations

Britannia - Eikon: Bahamut (Formerly: Knights of the Round)

An ever expanding nation, ruled by the Britannia royal family. Once able to call upon the spirit of the orignal Knights of the Round Table to fight in battle as host to the spirit of King Arthur himself by becoming a holy Paladin, however this power vanished from the Britannia bloodline when Charles Vi Britannia ascended the throne and began is imperialistic conquests.

It is clear to all, including Empeor himself, that those whom Britannia claim heritage to do not condone Britnania's self appointed reign over the world, but none dare speak this aloud for fear of losing face. Undeterred, Britannia instead makes use of the House Lesage, cousins to the royals, and dominates of Bahamut, the current being the beloved and courageous Prince Dion whose wings and flight of loyal dragoons, are a joyous sight to behold by Britannia forces, and dreaded by her enemies.

European Republic - Eikon: Titan

A conglomerate of nations and corporations bounded together by the promise of mutual gain and resistance against Britannia, the most powerful being DhalmekiCorp owned and headed by the Dominate of Titan, Hugo Kupka.

Though shrewd minded enough to leverage his influence as an invaluable asset, Hugo's infamous temper and the tremendous strength of Titan he wields is the true reason his word is often considered law among the European Council.

Rosaria (Annexed) - Eikon: Pheonix 

For years Rosaria stood as the sole nation able to resist Britannia on its own soil, by the grace of the Pheonix and the guile of the Rosfield line, they acted as a buffer between the bulk of the Imperial War machine and resource rich lands of its northern neighbor, fostering a strong fraternal alliance between the country's.

All this came to end sadly, when during a pilgrimage to the sacred site of Pheonix Gate the Duke and his loyal retinue came under attack by turncoats and Britannian black ops, in a traitorous plot engineered by the Duke''s own wife, Annabella, to gain favor with Britannia by returning them lands seceded.

During the fighting the Duke's two son's, Clive and the young Joshua, went missing, with the Duke Elwin found dead from gunshot wounds in his car a short distance from Pheonix Gate, the prevailing theory being that Joshua had primed for the first time during a failed getaway attempt with his father, only for his sickly body to become consumed by the power of the firebird, leaving no trace. However, despite the efforts of Britannia information suppression following Rosaria's annexation, survivor's of that terrible ordeal have been able to circulate that a second Eikon's flames may have burned that night, and that its dominant, along with the Rosfield's loyal canine Torgal, were seen being carried to parts unknown by a man in purple garb.

Silverplaine (Annexed) - Eikon: Shiva 

A land rich in natural splendour and resources. Long an ally to its neighbour Rosaria, the commonwealth and the duchy have held each other in high regard, safeguarding the other from the covetous eye of Britannia.

Japan (Annexed) - Eikon: Leviathen (Lost) 

A nation with a storied history, Japan's past is rife with various conflicts as warring factionsz sought to guide it's destiny, however upon the openingg of its borders Japan united as never before when it beheld the various powers which threatened to swallow the island whole.

Modernising at a rapid rate, Japan sought to secure it's position on the world stage as a force to be reckoned with by seeking dominion over the Pacific, it's impressive navy and air force, flaked by the dominate of water, Leviathen, seemingly invincible as it expanded across the waves. However these aspirations were literally forzen in their tracks when Japan's military excursions into the northern territories protected by the Silverplaine Commonwealth brought the attention of the Frost Maiden, Shiva herself, who sealed the Lord of the Depths beneath the very waves they commanded.

Without Leviathen, Japan retreated back into a period of isolationism, but as superpowers such as the Chinese Federation, and the European Republic began to arise, the nation switched tactics once more, hoping to secure it's independence by foster of stronger diplomatic ties with foreign powers such as Britannia,  which seemed promising initially, with the Emperor giving two of his own children, the Prince and Princess Leuloch and Nannaly, as ward's of the Japanese prime minister. Tragically this proved but a ploy, with Britannia invading and annexing the island with its new knightmare frames in a swift and brutal war which seemingly claimed the lives of the young Prince and Princess as victims in the crossfire.

Now Japan is a nation occupied, its people denied even the dignity of a name, save the designation of Area 11, as various factions arising to resist their conquerors even seven years since their  official surrender, from remnants of the army, to youths continuing the fight their elders began, with little success against the substantially more advanced occupying forces. But a unifying factor may yet deliver salvation from this tyranny, even from an unexpected source, while others yet cling to the hope of Leviathen's resurgence to enact vengeance in Japan's name, needless of the danger that such hatred filled tides may drown them along with their foes.

Waloed - Eikon: Odin and Garuda 

A rising superpower orignating from Scandinavia, for the last fifty years Waloed has steadily grown into a nation to be reckoned with under the rule of Barnabus Tharmr, who seized control of his homeland when his powers as the dominant of Odin manifested. Renown throughout the world as the "Last King" for being the only remaining monarch still recognized outside of Britannia, Barnabus has successfully beaten back every foe he's faced, with not even the most advanced knightmare frame being a match for the Warden of Darkness on the field.

While their initial expansion made them an opponent of the European Republic, Tharm was able to form a tentative peace with them when the Chinese Federation siezed the opportunity to take control of the E.R's Eureasan territory when Barnabus' campaign began, in exchange for acting as a buffer between the two powers.

Though its clear to all the Republic now regrets this bargian, having underestimated the amount of territory that Waloed had the abiltiy to hold once the Federal forces were evicted. Now they must tread carefully less Odin's eye again turns to their borders. But Odin alone is not their only advantage, for the last few decades Barnabus has sought out Dominates seemingly for the purpose of bringing them under his command and securing his kingdoms position, rather then eliminate rivals as others have done in the past, and while this objective has had a setback when the dominant of Ramuh split from Waloed, the dominant of Garuda, Benedikta Harman remains steadfast as the head of the Waloed Intelligence Bureau, who rumour had it continues to hunt for her former mentor across the globe. While Britannia had in the past been content in ignoring Waloed as a potential rival, that soon changed when Britannia sought to contest their  ownership of Iceland, marking the first official engagement between the two powers.

However Britannia is reluctant to escalate the conflict beyond skirmishe with the majority of their forces still engaged with the European Republic, all the same it led to a spectacular event for the opposing armies when word of Prince Dion joining the fight prompted a appearance from Barnabus himself, the Eikons of Light and Darkness clashing in the skies above Iceland soon after, the island yet remains in dispute.

What many subject is truly given Britannia pause is the existence of two massive submersible vessels capable of launching powerful burst missiles, as well as drone support, which guard the nation, preventing any large scale air or sea assaults, the only means that Britannia would have of reaching Waloed territory. Indeed so long as the Skinfaxi and Hrímfaxi remain operational, any hope of challenging Waloed directly will remain out of reach. 

[ninadove]

What is one character from each of your top five fandoms that you would date/marry?

CLIVE CLIVE CLIVE I WOULD MARRY CLIVE

Seriously though, this is hard one, especially since I don’t have a fixed top 5 — it’s more like 1. Miraculous, 2. Professor Layton and then a bunch of satellite interests fighting for attention in my brain. BUT LET’S TRY ANYWAY

1. Miraculous… No one. The kids are my favourites and I’m not the biggest fan of the adults. Amelie is the exception, but Amelie deserves to be happily single, and I respect that.

2. Professor Layton: I like to say Clive is the man of my life (it’s funny because I am a lesbian). Would I marry him though? Would I share a life with him, knowing about all the terrorism and stuff? Would I want to wear his last name, and the stigma attached to it? The answer is yes give me that ring

3. RWBY: kind of a similar situation to Miraculous. RWBY has an amazing extended cast, but my heart is set on the main 4, and I don’t have crushes on any of them. They’re more like old friends at this point! Man, I miss RWBY… When will RWBY return from the war…

4. EPIC: I would say Penelope, but trying to marry Penelope is antithetic to staying alive... I’d rather try my luck with Circe instead. Join the ace lesbian polycule, if she’ll have me.

5. Cyrano de Bergerac: I think we’re all in love with Cyrano himself, the man the myth the legend, and we’re all pretentious enough to think we can fix him (no one can). But I have to give this one to Le Bret. Le Bret would treat me right. Everyone deserves a Le Bret in their life.

There’s a bunch of characters who deserve an honourable mention, though! Edelgard von Hresvelg, whom I did marry in game… N Harmonia, my first actual fictional crush… Lisa Carol Fremont from Rear Window… Vi Arcane… All loved and adored beyond measure ❤️

[liminal-zone]

courage, dear heart

i wrote a thing! 

AO3 fic link: atomic blonde

fandom: Narnia/LOTR crossover | ship: Susan Pevensie/Éowyn, background Haladriel

rated: mature | tagged: crossover, canon compliant, pining, Gender Politics with Clive Staples and John Ronald Reuel, post The Horse and His Boy, bittersweet

Summary: It’s not the first time a power beyond understanding ripped Susan away from her home to fight in another world’s war. And in this strange country, she will find her courage.

Set as Frodo becomes the ringbearer, set after Susan returns from Tashbaan and the Battle of Anvard is won.

a/n: Written for @thenarniaficexchange 2023 for @syrena-of-the-lake. Is this fic just a string of references from all seven narnia books, at least five lotr books, various narnia and lotr films, a lotr tv show, Churchill’s “we shall fight on the beaches”, and Shakespeare? Maybe so.

Two canons in a blender, my favorite scene in this is when the Dark Lord Sauron comes to Queen Susan in her dreams to take her apart and finds something he didn’t expect. And my heart aches to answer an unanswered question in the fic about magicked memory loss and the Problem of Susan, perhaps in a sequel. 

Excerpt:

Her hands are dirty from drawing the circle, fingers burned from the blue fire.

The bright magic ring she wears is cold, very cold; cold as the bottom of the sea. And it sings of power, not of the flesh, but over flesh. The power of the Unseen World.

In her mouth is the language spoken before the dawn of time. Before the Deep Magic was written. Before the Sun and the Moon were made. “Call her up.”

*

It’s quite sudden – the searing sound in her ears and then a great pop – and she’s no longer riding alongside her sister in the wilds of Galma but in a strange, alien land.

She stills her horse, and is surprised to find it not the dumb Galman beast who was a pleasure to ride along the sands of the ocean, but a great stallion fit for a warrior of renown. The shabby islander saddle is now richly ornate, covered in symbols she does not recognize. The windswept sea of grass smells sweet; rich earth beneath and a warm yellow sun in the endless blue sky above. Massive forests and towering mountains in the distance, and far off to the south, clouds of smoke. No recognizable landmark of any kind.

This curious little girl from Finchley has experienced travel between worlds before, but she does not quite remember the first time. Something about a mother who loved her and a great stairwell and the numbing horror of nonstop destruction; all faded in memory and deemed unimportant, lost. She is now queen of a great country; taller than her brother, the High King, and a remarkable beauty sought by highborns across the known world. Her raven-colored hair and red lips, haunting the dreams of many. Her gracious kindness, a balm to her loving subjects once subjugated by winter and a witch.

More importantly, she still remains curious.

For she is Susan, by the gift of Aslan, by election, by prescription, and by conquest, Queen over Narnia under the High King Peter, the Lady of Cair Paravel and Protector of the River Rush, Blessed by the Radiant Southern Sun, Knight of the Most Noble Order of the Lion, Daughter of Eve, the Gentle.

And this strange country, unknown to her, is Middle Earth.

*

Her magical horn came with her, tied to her belt. There is no hesitation as she raises it to her lips. Father Christmas had said “–wherever you are–,” so she blows it, calling for help in this alien place.

The full velvety sound rings out across the grassy plains, ringing up through the nearby mountains and reaching forests unknown and reaching foreign ears in their towers of stone. (Perhaps even reaching the power that brought her here.)

A rider appears in the distance. Susan narrows her eyes, considering if this is friend or foe. She only has a dagger and her wits, which may be enough.

It is a warrior with a shield on his arm. He rides a white steed and golden horse hair flows out of his helmet. He shines bright like the famed white stag and Susan feels an intense urge to chase this rider at once, to put an arrow in his heart and drag him to the ground.

To demand wishes? Perhaps. The urge is unknowable.

But no: this is no white stag, nor a magical creature of any sort.

And Susan does not yet know that this is no man.

Susan called for help, and help has arrived in the form of Éowyn, the Lady of Rohan.

*

It is a cautious meeting and neither dismount.

The rider’s gaze is appraising, obviously noting Susan’s foreign dress. There’s the uncommon length of her raven hair, adorned with the lush island flowers of Galma. The dagger and white horn at her side, and the ease in which Susan is managing a stallion. The queenly posture; a regal confidence undoubted. (This is learned behavior. Pevensies can trace their lineage to poor fishermen in East Sussex and poorer soldiers from Normandy.)

Susan’s assessment is this: the young rider is a dangerous warrior, lithe and well-knit in frame, made all the more queer with his open courtesy to a stranger.

“What country, friend, is this?” Susan asks.

The rider tilts his head. “This is Rohan, my lady.” His voice ringing out clear.

And what shall I do in Rohan? Susan thinks, miserably.

“Are you in need some assistance, my lady?” the rider continues, a look of concern in his gray eyes. A pause. “I am Dernhelm, at your service.”

*

Dernhelm listens to her tale and “strange sorcery” is his response. He thinks a moment before: “Have you experience with witches?”

Susan gives a smile, but it is a bitter one. She knows more than some about witches.

After Susan explains, Dernhelm nods. “The way I see it is this: you have appeared here through magic, for what reason, I cannot say. And you have appeared in Rohan, for what reason, I cannot say. You are no servant of the Dark Lord, there is something true and honorable about you.” He stops there for a moment before a continuing in a most peculiar tone. “The wizards have no interest in queens; what is a woman to the affairs of air and earth? So, the Lady of the Golden Wood, she must be behind this and her reasons could have promise in them.”

“The Lady?” Susan echoes quietly. There are hags that called Her “the White Lady.”

“She is a great sorceress. An elf-witch of terrible power who dwells in Dwimordene.” Dernhelm looks grave. “It is said that all who look upon her shall fall under her spell and are never seen again.”

Susan shivers, thinking of the horror of Jadis’ castle. Of Tumnus’ look of terror, frozen in stone.

Dernhelm continues. “My brother believes she is a myth, and–” he pauses as if pained by a memory unspoken. “My king’s advisor says webs of deceit were ever woven in Dwimordene.” He raises his chin, and his eyes are shining bright. “But I believe differently. There is an old, old tale of this elf-witch helping my annointed forebear, the first of our kings. I choose to believe that tale. I choose to believe that in our time of need, the Lady came to our aid. High honor to protect the king and his men, and dread magic too. And perhaps, perhaps if she is behind this, she can be reasoned with and you can return home. Should you have the courage, you seek her out.”

“Then I shall go to find this Lady of the Golden Wood,” Susan says. “If you will take me there, sir. For I do not know the way.”

The man sucks in air and holds it a moment before: “For this journey, you have my sword, your grace.”

[sundove88]

Despicable Me (Sundove88’s Version Casting)

You can find the original Here.

A man who delights in all things wicked, supervillain Guzma hatches a plan to steal the moon. Surrounded by an army of little green bug types and his impenetrable arsenal of weapons and war machines, Guzma makes ready to vanquish all who stand in his way. But nothing in his calculations and groundwork has prepared him for his greatest challenge: three adorable orphan girls who want to make him their dad.

Now that Guzma has forsaken a life of crime to raise Nezuko, Eri, and Lillie, he's trying to figure out how to provide for his new family. As he struggles with his responsibilities as a father, the Anti-Villain League, an organization dedicated to fighting evil, comes calling. The AVL sends Guzma on a mission to capture the perpetrator of a spectacular heist, for who would be better than the world's greatest ex-villain to capture the individual who seeks to usurp his power.

The mischievous bug types hope that Guzma will return to a life of crime after the new boss of the Anti-Villain League fires him. Instead, Guzma decides to remain retired and travel to Freedonia to meet his long-lost twin brother for the first time. The reunited siblings soon find themselves in an uneasy alliance to take down the elusive Binary Bard, a former Astro Knights inventor who seeks revenge against the world.

Evolving from single-celled multicolored organisms at the dawn of time, bug types live to serve, but find themselves working for a continual series of unsuccessful masters, from T. Rex to Napoleon. Without a master to grovel for, the Bug Types fall into a deep depression. But one bug type, Golisopod, has a plan; accompanied by his pals Accelgor and Escavalier, Golisopod sets forth to find a new evil boss for his brethren to follow. Their search leads them to Maleficent, the world's first-ever super-villainess.

In the 1970s, young Guzma tries to join a group of supervillains called the Vicious 6 after they oust their leader -- the legendary fighter Jiraiya. When the interview turns disastrous, Guzma and his Bug Types go on the run with the Vicious 6 hot on their tails. Luckily, he finds an unlikely source for guidance -- Jiraiya himself -- and soon discovers that even bad guys need a little help from their friends.

Guzma as Felonius Gru (Pokemon)

Beedrill as Bob (Pokemon)

Centiskorch as Carl (Pokemon)

Golisopod as Kevin (Pokemon)

Escavalier as Stuart (Kirby)

Accelgor as Jerry (Kirby)

Dustox as Mel (Kirby)

Butterfree as Dave (Kirby)

Ledian as Tim (Kirby)

Yanmega as Otto (Pokemon)

Ribombee as Themselves/Gru’s Emotional Support (Pokemon)

Eri as Agnes (My Hero Academia)

Nezuko as Margo (Demon Slayer)

Lillie as Edith (Pokemon)

Awoofy as Kyle (Kirby)

Agatha as Marlena Gru (Pokemon)

Professor Turo as Dr. Nefario (Pokemon)

Ghetsis as Robert Gru (Pokemon)

Kai Chisaki as Vector (My Hero Academia)

Scar as Mr. Perkins (The Lion King)

Zira as Herself/Mrs. Perkins (The Lion King)

Dolores Umbridge as Miss Hattie (Harry Potter)

Raiden Shogun as Lucy Wilde (Genshin Impact)

Asgore as Silas Ramsbottom

(Undertale)

Ruto as Jillian (The Legend of Zelda)

Magda as Shannon (The Legend of Zelda)

Vaati as Antonio Perez (The Legend of Zelda)

Ganondorf as Eduardo Perez/El Macho (The Legend of Zelda)

Lady Maud as Herself/El Macho’s Wife (The Legend of Zelda)

Maleficent as Scarlet Overkill (Sleeping Beauty)

Hades as Herb Overkill (Hercules)

Mal as herself/Scarlet's Daughter

(Descendants)

Felix as Walter Nelson (Encanto)

Pepa as Madge Nelson (Encanto)

Dolores as Tina Nelson (Encanto)

Camilo as Walter Nelson Jr. (Encanto)

Antonio as Binky Nelson (Encanto)

Various Villains as the Villain Con

Attendees

N Harmonia as Dru Gru (Pokemon)

Youngster Joey as Himself/Dru's Adoptive Son (Pokemon)

Binary Bard as Balthazar Bratt (Poptropica)

Holmes as Clive (Poptropica)

Monster Kid as Niko (Undertale)

Gogoat as Lucky (Pokemon)

Jiraiya as Wild Knuckles (Naruto)

Magica De Spell as Belle Bottom (Ducktales)

Haxorous as Dragon!Belle Bottom (Pokemon)

The Ghoulfather as Jean Clawed (Yo-Kai Watch)

Annihilape as Monkey!Jean Clawed (Pokemon)

Gaston as Stronghold (Beauty and The Beast)

Tauros as Ox!Stronghold (Pokemon)

Queen Grimhilde as Nunchuck (Snow White and The 7 Dwarves)

Arbok as Snake!Nunchuck (Pokemon)

Jafar as Svengeance (Aladdin)

Incineroar as Tiger!Svengance (Pokemon)

Korina as Master Chow (Pokemon)

Duke Caboom as The Biker (Toy Story)

Here’s your hint to the next Crossover Casting (It’s Don Bluth):

👸🇷🇺🎶

[chillingcinemachronicles]

the Best Sci-Fi Movies on Netflix Right Now

Embark on an interstellar journey where the boundaries of reality dissolve, and imagination takes flight. Brace yourself for a warp-speed adventure through the cosmos with our curated selection of mind-bending science fiction wonders!

5. Annihilation (2018)

EW grade: A- (read the review)

Director: Alex Garland

Talent: Natalie Portman, Oscar Isaac, Jennifer Jason Leigh, Gina Rodriguez, Tessa Thompson, Tuva Novotny

Lights, camera, VPNaction! Elevate your movie nights with NordVPN. 🎥🔒secure your connection and Download NordVPN . Click now to unlock global cinematic thrills!

In the swamplands of Florida there sits a forcefield that formed after a meteor hit the area. Separated from regular life by a kaleidoscopic shell whose circumference continues to expand, The Shimmer, as it’s called, has claimed the lives of every man who has gone inside — except one. Biologist Lena (Natalie Portman) lost her husband Kane (Oscar Isaac) after he was presumably killed during a military operation, but when Kane returns home with his memory gone and his health failing, Lena looks for answers.

She then joins an all-female research team consisting of a physicist, a geologist, a paramedic, and a psychologist, all of whom volunteer to enter The Shimmer in what amounts to a suicide mission. While inside, the women find a gorgeous world that defies nature — but the mutations taking place within threaten to destroy the women, their team, and eventually, the world.

4. Anon (2018)

EW grade: (read the review)

Director: Andrew Niccol

Cast: Clive Owen, Amanda Seyfried, Colm Feore, Mark O’Brien,

Privacy and anonymity are luxuries afforded to no one in the 2018 British-American sci-fi thriller Anon. Clive Owen stars as Detective Sal Frieland, a troubled cop operating in a dystopia where the entire populace is implanted with an ocular device intended to record and track the movements of the people around them. The government’s transparency methods ensure that all criminal activity is caught on tape — but when a mysterious woman with no digital footprint (Amanda Seyfried) crosses paths with Sal, he realizes she might have a connection with a series of unsolved murders he’s investigating. Director Andrew Niccol tells EW “I always wanted to do a movie about privacy and the fact that there was never a war for privacy, because we already lost — we gave away our privacy without a fight, all for convenience.

3. Bird Box (2018)

EW grade: B (read the review)

Director: Susanne Bier

Cast: Sandra Bullock, Trevante Rhodes, John Malkovich, Danielle Macdonald, Sarah Paulson, Machine Gun Kelly

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Sight becomes a handicap in Bird Box, a post-apocalyptic thriller where the enemy must go unseen, or else. Sandra Bullock stars as Malorie Hayes, a woman responsible for transporting two young children down a river while wearing blindfolds, a strategy intended to help the survivors avoid seeing the entities that attacked Earth five years earlier, and who cause those who look upon them to commit suicide. Jumping between their present journey and the past events that led Malorie and the children to this point, director Susanne Bier leans into the tension of the unknown and relies on her talented but eclectic cast to do the rest. Released the same year as A Quiet Place, and possessing a somewhat similar premise, Bird Box received less attention when it first premiered, but this sci-fi horror film is a great option for fans of both genres.

2. Black Mirror: Bandersnatch (2018)

Director: David Slade

Cast: Fionn Whitehead, Will Poulter, Craig Parkinson, Tallulah Rose Haddon, Catriona Knox

As it turns out, the only thing missing from the British anthology series, Black Mirror, was options. In Black Mirror: Bandersnatch, the TV show gets a movie makeover, but with a twist: The film was shot in the style of a “choose your own adventure” novel, and viewers are able to customize their viewing experience through their scene selections. Centered around a young programmer named Stefan (Fionn Whitehead), Bandersnatch follows Stefan’s journey in developing a video game for a famous gaming company, a journey that puts Stefan under a great deal of mental and emotional stress, and results in one of ten main endings. Black Mirror is beloved for its eldritch and tech-focused content, and Bandersnatch keeps that tone alive, using the main storyline to explore themes like free will and mind control, even as the viewers’ choices drive the story forward.

Don’t Look Up (2021)

EW grade: B (read the review)

Director: Adam McKay

Cast: Leonardo DiCaprio, Jennifer Lawrence, Jonah Hill, Meryl Streep, Timothee Chalamet, Ariana Grande, Cate Blanchett, Mark Rylance, Melanie Lynskey, Chris Evans

Lights, camera, VPNaction! Elevate your movie nights with NordVPN. 🎥🔒secure your connection and Download NordVPN . Click now to unlock global cinematic thrills!

As a comet sets its sights on Earth and prepares to wipe out human civilization, two astronomers (Leonardo DiCaprio and Jennifer Lawrence) rush to warn the world of the impending collision — only to discover the world doesn’t really care. “Based on events that haven’t happened yet,” as the film’s trailer states, Don’t Look Up is a sci-fi satire that skewers climate deniers and government inaction in the face of scientific evidence pointing to looming catastrophe. Directed by Adam McKay (Vice, The Big Short), and featuring everyone in Hollywood from Jonah Hill and Meryl Streep to Timothee Chalamet and Ariana Grande, Don’t Look Up offers great jokes and fun cameos, but be warned: it’s not exactly light fare. Still, as far as sci-fi comedies go, this one is worth a watch — just don’t think too deeply about the implications of the film’s ending.

[cryptictongues]

wip tag game rules :

post the names of all the files in ur wip folder, regardless of how non-descriptive or ridiculous. let people send u an ask with the title that most intrigues them and then post a little snippet of it or tell them something about it! tag as many people as you have wips!

Thank you for tagging me @pinkkittysaw for allowing me to share my ideas publicly LMAO

Would like to note that I don't usually create titles until I finish something!

Tagging whoever wants to partake!

Joshua Rosfield x Leviathan!Reader (Chaptered): Reader and Joshua were betrothed to one another at a young age until the fall of Phoenix Gate. 18 years pass and Reader is the ruler of Aquaos, a safe haven kingdom for war refugees and bearers. 

Barnabas Tharmr x Leviathan!Reader (Chaptered): A love story that turns sour (Thanks Ultima boooo)

Clive Rosfield x Flower!Reader: Throwback to when Clive had his brand removed and reader took care of him. 

Modern AU: Reader and Clive are actors, and don't know what's real and what's not on set. NSFW

The Waloedian Witch: Witch!Reader finds Clive washed along the shores of Waloed. She takes care of him so he is strong enough to get back home. Unrequited Love AU

Gav x Reader Friends to Lovers AU: Everyone in the Hideaway knows you and Gav like each other… well except for you and Gav.

Clive Rosfield x Flower!Reader: Clive comes back to the Hideaway after Origin to find out you left. He stops at nothing to find you. (I'm writing this one now YAYAYAYAYAY!!!!)

Ignis Scientia x Rockstar!Reader: Ignis never thought a woman like you could fall for the likes of him. You could say the same about him. 

Cidolfus Telamon x Reader: You are Cid's second in command at the Hideaway. The both of you tend to butt heads and it all comes to a head when Cid comes back from the one place you both swore never to return to… Waloed. NSFW

Barnabas Tharmr x Reader: you and Barnabas commence a marriage through a blood oath. Things get horny. NSFW

Clive Rosfield x Flower!Reader: Clive teaches you how to wield a sword. NSFW

Barnabas Tharmr x Reader: Barnabas decides to punish you the only way he knows: strap you down and make you cum until you are a mess. NSFW

Clive Rosfield x Reader: Clive avoids you like the plague and you have no idea why… that is until you see him locked down in the dungeon: Ifrit Rut fic NSFW

Cidolfus Telamon x Reader: Cid accidentally invents a vibrator. He wants to test it out. NSFW Crack fic

Clive Rosfield x Reader: Clive and Reader get heated in an argument, with the reader telling Clive how much she hates him. Clive decides to how true that statement is. NSFW

Moulin Rouge Roxanne inspo: Reader and Cid are in love, but Cid has to watch her entertain Barnabas.

Clive meets an older woman who would end up being an important figure in his life. Mother Figure!AU

Barnabas Tharmr x Reader: A fic based on the lyric “Always an Angel, Never a God” from the song "Not Strong Enough" by boygenius

Clive Rosfield x Reader Office AU: Clive is the CEO of Hide, Hideaway industries, and while visiting his brother's building, he sees Joshua has the most beautiful woman he has ever laid eyes on as his secretary. NSFW

Clive x Princess AU: During Clive’s time in the Imperial Army, he is given the task to escort you, a princess from the Northern Territories, to the Holy Empire of Sanbreque where you will wed Prince Dion. NSFW

Beware the Eikon of Death: You, the immortal Eikon, are put in charge of guiding Dominants to their peace for their life after death. 

FFVII Remake x FFXV Crossover with Ignis Scientia x Reader relationship: Reader runs away from her past after the incident in Altissia only to find herself on the other side of the world in Midgar. Years have passed and she is now part of the splinter cell of Avalanche, but still has dreams about her past and her lover, which comes back to haunt her.