#c. mike hawk

[vinzred]

my piece for @problemsynth's dollhouse vtm zine. thanks for organizing!

you can find the full zine here.

[lealdog]

📻 Cecil, 📻 Mike, 📻 Cygnus

Send me 📻 + an oc and I'll give you a random song off their playlist + an explanation of why it's there

I have a feeling for all three of these the explanation of why it's there will just be "because of vibes". I actually forgot Cygnus had a playlist and was scrambling to go make one. But he does have one.

Cecil: The Cycle by Death Tour, WARGASM (UK)

He only exists because of trap metal. That was kind of his original idea when the premise was guy in a band: Edgy TikTok guy who makes videos with weird death facts (he's is, well, was, a pathologist looking very funny when he cleaned up for his job) and has never been part of the local music scene and is kind of a poser who will play tough (especially with the Sabbat vampires he met) but really he's a whole rich kid nerd and spent most of his human days studying.

Mike: Neo Tokyo by Pertubator

He was created because of the Pertubator concerts I went to. And I needed something synthwave-y with demons, fast cars and violence. Mike is so over the top he's really kind of a parody.

Cygnus: Guillotine by Stray From The Path (the song is so good. good workout song)

When I made Cygnus' playlist it was pretty much "What's the vibe?" "Hm, Beatdown Hardcore". And that's that. It's intense just like he is. Though you don't see it on the surface (usually). I also think he listens to it but the jury's still out on that. Anyway, the song just goes hard and the lyrics kinda fit, too. Cygnus himself (if you take the lines out of context, because he's a hitman) but also the anger about a broken system and the greedy fucks at the top etc etc.

Death I can guarantee As quick as a cut can bleed

[lonelyoleander]

CHOOSE YOUR CHAMPION

[dajo42]

i have moved on to dragon age 2. just named my dog Mike

[octobre-ackedia]

here you go, art

he's my little blorbo (as in Mike Hawk)

credits to reference:

TW suggestive

Together with @fernlessbastard we've just established a headcanon so good, that with the current state of the ship (William Gold being awful and no more content to get, so almost all of us just took the characters as our OCs), it could just very much be canon.

They adopt a pet. Or more so, Wilbur adopts a pet and just makes Quackity adopt both of them (let them live with him).

And now, let me present to you

the one and only

Mike Hawk

Wilbur, being the creator of L'manburg, obviously gave Mike his brilliant name. And you might think Mr. President of Las Nevadas, Quackity, would be just so tired of Wilbur's bullshit at that point and hated the name, but you would be so wrong. He loves the name, and he is usually to be blamed for all the awful jokes.

Now, if you still don't understand what I mean, you have to imagine it being said.

"Wilbur, why is Mike Hawk so dirty?"

"You won't believe how big Mike Hawk is"

"Why is Mike Hawk up so early in the morning"

Or our favourite, running joke:

"Where's Mike Hawk??? Did you eat Mike Hawk???????"

(they would never actually eat Mike, he's their beloved pet and they're very attached to him)

PS They also sometimes refer to the chicken simply as "your/our cock" purely because they find it absolutely hilarious.

"Can you stop your cock from poking me in the ass so much?"

[queer-ragnelle]

Seeking a book to read this winter break?

Brand "New" List of Additions to the Arthurian Preservation Project Archive

In time, all books will be added to my Retellings List or Medieval Literature List respectively, and possibly a third page for handbooks/informational resources. Retellings may be under construction for a bit as I reformat to accommodate the influx in links. There are some duplicates—Alan Lupack's and Mike Ashley's anthologies occasionally contain a one-off story I've otherwise included in an individual volume of collected works by the author.

Links connect to corresponding PDFs on my Google drive where they can be read and downloaded for free. But if you like what I do, consider supporting me on Ko-Fi. I haven't yet read these listings in full; I cannot attest to their content or quality. A big thank you to @wandrenowle for the help collecting!

Modern Retellings

Merlin in Love by Aaron Hill (1790) — Opera about Merlin & his love interest Columbine.

The Fortunate Island by Max Adeler (1882) — A family shipwrecks on an island only to discover its populated with Arthurian knights, including Dinadan, Bleoberis, & Agravaine.

Sir Marrok by Allen French (1902) — Werewolf knight.

The Story of Sir Galahad by Mary Blackwell Stirling (1908) — Illustrated retelling of Malory's Grail Quest.

The Story of Parzival by Mary Blackwell Stirling (1911) — Illustrated retelling of Eschenbach's Parzival.

Stories From King Arthur and His Round Table by Beatrice Clay (1913) — Illustrated retelling of Malory.

Cloud Castle and Other Papers by Edward Thomas (1922) — Contains two Arthurian entries: the story Bronwen The Welsh Idyll about Agravaine & his lady Bronwen, & the essay Isoud about the Prose Tristan.

Collected Poems by Rolfe Humphries (1924-1966) — Contains Dream of Rhonabwy about Owain & Arthur's chess game, A Brecon Version about Essylt/Trystan, Under Craig y Ddynas about Arthur's "sleeping" warriors, & The Return of Peredwr about the Grail Hero's arrival to court.

Peronnik the Fool by George Moore (1926) — The quest for the Holy Grail based on Breton folklore.

The Merriest Knight by Theodore Goodridge Roberts (1946-2001) — Anthology of short stories all about Dinadan.

The Eagles Have Flown by Henry Treece (1954) — A third Arthurian novel from Treece detailing the rivalry between Artos & Medrawt, with illustrations this time.

Launcelot, my Brother by Dorothy James Roberts (1954) — The fall of Camelot from Bors perspective, as a brother of Launcelot.

To the Chapel Perilous by Naomi Mitchison (1955) — Two rival journalists report about the goings on in Camelot.

The Pagan King by Edison Marshall (1959) — Historical fiction from the perspective of Pagan King Arthur.

Kinsmen of the Grail by Dorothy James Roberts (1963) — The Grail Quest but Gawain is Perceval's step dad.

Stories of King Arthur by Blanche Winder (1968) — Illustrated retelling of Malory.

Drustan the Wanderer by Anna Taylor (1971) — Retelling of Essylt/Drustan.

Merlin's Ring by H. Warner Munn (1974) Gwalchmai is a godson of Merlin's that uses his ring to travel through the magical & real worlds.

Lionors, Arthur's Uncrowned Queen by Barbara Ferry Johnson (1975) — Story of Arthur's sweetheart & mother of his son, Loholt.

Gawain and The Green Knight by Y. R. Ponsor (1979) — Illustrated prose retelling of SGATGK poem.

Firelord (#1), Beloved Exile (#2), The Lovers: Trystan and Yseult (#3) by Parke Godwin (pseudonym Kate Hawks) (1980-1999) — Book 1 Arthur, book 2 Guinevere, book 3 Trystan/Yseult.

Bride of the Spear by Kathleen Herbert (1982) — "Historical" romance retelling of Teneu/Owain.

Invitation to Camelot edited by Parke Godwin (1988) — Anthology of assorted Arthurian stories from authors like Phyllis Ann Karr & Sharan Newman.

Arthur, The Greatest King - An Anthology of Modern Arthurian Poems by Alan Lupack (1988) — Anthology of modern Arthurian poetry by various authors including E. A. Robinson, William Morris, C. S. Lewis, & Ralph Waldo Emerson.

The White Raven by Diana L Paxson (1988) — "Historical" romance retelling of Drustan/Esseilte.

Merlin Dreams by Peter Dickinson (1988) — Illustrated by Alan Lee.

The Pendragon Chronicles edited by Mike Ashley (1990) — An anthology of Arthurian stories, including some translations such as the Lady of the Fountain, and retellings by John Steinbeck & Phyllis Ann Karr.

Grails: Quest of the Dawn edited by Richard Gilliam (1992-1994) — Anthology of Grail Quest stories.

The Merlin Chronicles edited by Mike Ashley (1995) — Anthology about Merlin from authors like Theodore Goodridge Roberts & Phyllis Ann Karr.

The Chronicles of the Holy Grail edited by Mike Ashley (1996) — Anthology about the Holy Grail from authors like Cherith Baldry & Phyllis Ann Karr.

The Chronicles of the Round Table edited by Mike Ashley (1997) — Anthology of assorted Arthurian stories from authors like Cherith Baldry & Phyllis Ann Karr.

Sleepless Knights by Mark H Williams (2013) — 1,500 years have passed but Lucan the Butler’s still on the clock.

Medieval Literature

Three Arthurian Romances (Caradoc, The Knight with The Sword, The Perilous Graveyard) [This is on the Internet Archive & cannot be downloaded. If someone could help with that, lmk!] translated by Ross G. Arthur

Le Bel Inconnu (The Fair Unknown) translated by Colleen P. Donagher

Segurant The Knight of the Dragon (Portuguese) edited by Emanuele Arioli

An Anglo-Norman Reader by Jane Bliss

Stanzaic Morte Arthur / Alliterative Morte Arthure edited by Larry D. Benson

Sir Perceval de Galles / Ywain and Gawain edited by Mary Flowers Braswell

Sir Gawain: Eleven Romances and Tales edited by Thomas Hahn

Prose Merlin edited by John Conlee

The Middle English Breton Lays edited by Eve Sailsbury & Anne Laskaya

Il Ciclo Di Guiron Le Courtois Volumes 1-7 (Italian)

Wace's Roman de Brut / Layamon's Brut by Robert Wace & Eugene Mason

Arthurian Literature by Women edited by Alan Lupack & Barbara Tepa Lupack

Handbooks

Studies in the Fairy Mythology of Arthurian Romance by Lucy Allen Paton (1960)

A Companion to the Gawain-Poet edited by Derek Brewer (1990)

The Mammoth Book of King Arthur edited by Mike Ashley (2005)

A Bibliography of Modern Arthuriana 1500-2000 by Ann F. Howey & Stephen R. Reimer (2006)

[spark-hearts2]

So Goose said that Caine would fall for stuff like the "what is 'updog'?" joke

Makes me think Jax would use that obliviousness to trick Caine into saying a swear word

That's a good point! Caine would fall for the "Mike Hawk" and the "Sofa king" bit. I bet that you could only get him to fall for the first few before he figured out how to prevent that, but it would be fun while it lasted.

I imagine he would say it, get hit with the censor, think 'oh no, was that a false positive?' only to realize what happened. The little guy would be mortified after that lmao

Although, it does make me wonder if the humans have come up with any swear substitutes. Caine clearly doesn't care about swearing as in an exclamatory, just the bad words themselves. I wonder if making little adjustments to the swears so that they aren't immediately identifiable as a swear word would work. Catch me spelling out F U C K very slowly in order to get around the censor.

[nm244lionsfan]

My favorite fictional best friend groups (That I Can Think Of)

The Losers Club-Bill, Richie, Eddie, Stanley, Mike, Ben, and Beverly (IT)

The Party-Mike, Will, Dustin, Lucas, Max, and El (Stranger Things)

The Golden Trio-Harry, Hermione, and Ron (Harry Potter)

Team Hunt-Ethan, Benji, Luther, and Ilsa (Mission Impossible)

Ghostbusters-Egon, Winston, Ray, and Venkmen (Ghostbusters)

Maverick and Goose, Tom and Maverick, Maverick and Roster, Payback and Fanboy, Bob and Phoenix, Penny and Maverick (Top Gun)

The Outsiders-Johnny, Ponyboy, Derry, Sodapop, Two-Bit, and Dally (The Outsiders)

Sam and Dean (Supernatural)

Johnny and Daniel, Sam and Tory, Miguel and Robby, Hawk and Demetri, Nate and Bert (Cobra Kai)

Chandler, Joey, Monica, Pheobe, Rachel, and Ross (Friends)

The Core Four-Sam, Tara, Chad, and Mindy (Scream)

Chris, Gordie, Teddy, and Vern (Stand By Me)

Sheldon, Leonard, Penny, Amy, Howard, and Bernadette (The Big Bang Theory)

Clay, Justin, Jess, Alex, Tyler, Zack, Tony, Jeff, and Charlie St. George (13 Reasons Why)

Rogue One, Luke and Leia, Solo and Chewie, Rey and Finn, Obi-Wan and Anakin, Anakin and Ashoka, C-3PO, and R2, BB-8, and D-O (Star Wars)

The Ducks-Charlie, Adam, Carp, Goldberg, Julie, Avermen, Fulton, Dean, Luise, Connie, Guy, Jeese, Tommy, Russ, Tammy, Ken, and Dwayne (The Mighty Ducks)

The iCarly Gang-Carly, Sam, and Freddie (iCarly)

Henry, Shawas, Jasper, Charlotte, Rey, and Piper (Henry Danger)

Choppa, Boes, Miles, and Myka (Danger Force)

Phoebe and Max (The Thundermens)

The Band-Kendell, Logan, James, and Carlos (All Time Rush)

Tony, Steve, Nat, Clint, Bruce, Thor, Loki, and Peter (MCU)

Patrick and Spongebob (Spongebob Squarepants)

The Goonies-Mikey, Data, Mouth, Chunk, and Andy (Goonies)

Buzz and Woody (Toy Story)

The Midnight Society-Gary, David, Kitti, Betty, Ann, Eric, and Tucker, Rachel, Akiko, Adam, Gavin, Graham, and Louise, Luke, Hanna, Seth, Gabby, Jai, and Conner, Max, Leo, Feris, Kayla, and Summer (Are You Afraid Of The Dark?)

Auggie, Jack, Summer, Violet, Via, and Justin (Wonder)

Dick, Donna, Kori, Hank, Jason, Rachal, Logan, Connor, Bernard, Rose, Krypto, Jericho, and Dawn (Titans)

ClinkonMcCloud-Lincon and Clide (The Loud House)

The Harpers-Nicky, Ricky, Dicky, and Dawn (NRDD)

The Umbrella Academy-Luther, Diego, Allison, Klaus, Five, Ben, Viktor, and Lila

I know I missed some, and the list is in no particular order either

[beardedmrbean]

WASHINGTON (AP) — Even as she promoted her efforts to boost clean energy, Vice President Kamala Harris said in Tuesday's debate that the Biden-Harris administration has overseen “the largest increase in domestic oil production in history because of an approach that recognizes that we cannot over rely on foreign oil.″

The comment by Harris, a longtime climate hawk who backed the original Green New Deal, surprised supporters and opponents alike — and conflicted with frequent boasts by Harris and President Joe Biden that they are champions in the fight to slow global warming.

After former President Donald Trump withdrew the U.S. from the Paris Agreement on climate change, the Biden-Harris administration reentered the global pact aimed at reducing emissions. The administration also set a target to slash U.S. greenhouse gas emissions by 50% by 2030 and moved to accelerate renewable energy projects and shift away from fossil fuels.

Liam Donovan, a Republican strategist, said it was notable that at a debate in energy-rich Pennsylvania, Harris chose to “brag about something that President Biden has barely acknowledged — that domestic fossil fuel production under the Biden administration is at an all-time high.″ Crude production averaged 12.9 million barrels a day last year, eclipsing a previous record set in 2019 under Trump, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration.

The statement was “another sign of Harris’ sprint to the middle″ on energy policy and other issues, said Donovan, who works with energy industry clients at the Bracewell law and lobbying firm.

Harris went one step further, rebranding the 2022 Inflation Reduction Act — the administration's signature climate law — as a boon to fracking and other drilling, thanks to lease-sale requirements inserted into the bill by independent West Virginia Sen. Joe Manchin, a key swing vote in the Senate and a strong supporter of the fossil fuel industry.

Harris's comments disappointed some in the environmental community.

“Harris missed a critical opportunity to lay out a stark contrast with Trump and show young voters that she will stand up to Big Oil and stop the climate crisis,'' said Stevie O’Hanlon, a spokesperson for the Sunrise Movement, one of the groups behind the Green New Deal.

“Harris spent more time promoting fracking than laying out a bold vision for a clean energy future,'' O'Hanlon said. “Young voters want more from Harris'' on climate change, she added. “We want to see a real plan that meets the scale and urgency of this crisis.''

Her group is working to turn out young voters, “but we hear people asking every day, ‘What are Democrats going to do for us?’” O'Hanlon said. “To win, Harris needs to show young people she will fight for us.”

Other environmental groups were less critical, citing the looming threat to climate action posed by Trump, who rolled back more than 100 environmental protections during his term as president.

“There is only one presidential candidate who is a champion for climate action and that is Kamala Harris,'' said Alex Glass, speaking for Climate Power, a liberal advocacy group. Harris "laid out a clear vision to invest in clean energy jobs and lower costs for working families,'' Glass said.

By comparison, she said, Trump "will do the bidding of his Big Oil donors.''

Glass cited the conservative Project 2025, written by Trump allies, saying it will put millions of clean-energy jobs at risk and let oil companies "profiteer and pollute.'' Trump has denied a direct connection to Project 2025 but has endorsed some of its key ideas.

Mike Sommers, president and CEO of the American Petroleum Institute, the oil and gas industry's top lobbying group, said Harris' comment in support of fracking reflected political reality in the closely contested election. “You have to be for fracking to be elected president in 2024,'' he said. “That's good news for our industry and great news for American consumers.''

Asked why he was so confident about the need to support fracking, Sommers offered a one-word answer: “Pennsylvania.”

Not only is it a key swing state in the election, Pennsylvania also “is the beating heart of the natural gas industry in this country,” Sommers said, second only to Texas in total production.

"You don't win Pennsylvania without supporting fracking, and you don't win the presidency without Pennsylvania,'' Sommers said.

In the debate, Trump disputed Harris's claim that she will not try to ban fracking, but Sommers said he takes Harris at her word and welcomes her support for fracking and oil drilling more generally.

Asked if he was concerned about Harris' past actions suing oil companies, Sommers said no. The oil and gas industry supports 11 million jobs, he said, and the price of gasoline “is determined by economics — supply and demand. There is no man behind the curtain” rigging prices.

As California attorney general, Harris “won tens of millions in settlements against Big Oil and held polluters accountable,'' her campaign says. Her platform includes a promise to ”hold polluters accountable to secure clean air and water for all.''

Trump, meanwhile, has vowed to rescind unspent funds from the climate law and other programs, and said he will target offshore wind projects. He said Harris would move to restrict onshore oil and gas production if elected.

“They’ll go back to destroying our country, and oil will be dead, fossil fuel will be dead,” Trump said.

A president’s power to restrict fracking, even on federal lands, is limited, and barring the practice on private land would require an act of Congress.

[unclewaynemunson]

Read from the beginning | Read on ao3

Eddie finally manages to let it go. Truly, he does. Whenever he and Karen Wheeler accidentally cross paths, he doesn't stare at her, follow her, or try to strike up a conversation with her; he doesn't do any of that inappropriate shit anymore. He keeps his distance, gives her no more attention than a polite nod in passing. He keeps wondering, sometimes, if she knows who he is – but he mostly manages to shove that thought to the far back of his mind, where it belongs.

When Nancy starts dating Grade A Douchebag Steve Harrington, he suppresses the hell out of any lingering Concerned Big Brother feelings and he doesn't spare the two of them a second glance whenever he walks past them in the Hawkins High hallways. And even when Barbara Holland goes missing, he doesn't fantasize about being a hero or a shoulder to cry on for this girl who has no attachment to him in any way. In another life, he'd be the one comforting her or helping her look for her best friend. But in this life, he's just some guy who has nothing to do with her business.

He does think it's odd that both of the Wheelers' best friends have gone missing within a few days of each other; but hey, what does he know? It's not his business, so he stays out of it. He stays far away from Will Byers' funeral and doesn't think about this other life, the life in which he'd help little Mike put on a suit and dry his tears. He merely lets out a relieved breath when he sees the two boys reunited about a month later, both giggling about some private joke with matching innocent smiles on their faces.

He doesn't fantasize about punching Steve Harrington in the face when the douchebag drags Nancy's name through the mud on the front of the Hawk and he doesn't reach out to her when she seems to grow smaller and paler over the course of the months that follow with still no news about Barbara. He doesn't even talk to her after the news breaks that Barbara is dead. He knows his place. He has learned to keep his distance.

Which is why he's taken by utter surprise when someone knocks on the door of the trailer one night and he's suddenly face-to-face with none other than Nancy Wheeler.

She doesn't exactly look like the little miss perfect he's come to know from the glimpses he caught of her over the years at school or in town. She looks... Well, she looks distressed, that's probably the best word for it. Her resemblance to Eddie has grown over the years, especially since she started sporting curls and her girlish features made way for something more grown-up. She looks like the loss of her best friend has forced her to mature quicker than she would've if her life was still the picture-perfect suburban dream it should've been. It suddenly strikes Eddie, when he looks into her eyes for the first time in years, how much more similar they've become exactly. They're not as different anymore as they once were. They both know more grief than most of their classmates. They're both haunted, in a way. They've both been forced to grow up when they weren't quite ready for it yet.

'Wheeler,' he says, keeping his voice as distant and careless as he can, complemented with an indifferent nod to make the whole thing as convincing as possible.

'Can I come in?' Nancy asks him.

He's got to say he's surprised. It's not an uncommon thing to have people knocking on his door at odd hours, shielded by the dark and with varying levels of desperation in their eyes while they ask Eddie for whatever it is they need to calm themselves down from whatever demons they've got going on. But it's not exactly something he was expecting from Nancy Wheeler, even though he supposes she has plenty of reasons to need some help calming herself down after the loss she suffered last year.

He knows he should keep his distance. He remembers the promise he made himself, for his own good, more than a year and a half ago. But the look in Nancy's eyes is making his heart weak.

'Sure,' he says before he can stop himself. With a bow he opens the door further and steps aside to let her in.

She looks a little lost, standing in the middle of the trailer with her perfectly styled hair and expensive-looking clothes.

'Whaddaya want?' he asks when she says nothing. 'Just some weed? I'm guessing something not too strong, you don't strike me like a particularly experienced person – do you even know how to roll? I can do it for you, but I'll have to ask for a fee of –'

'I'm not here to buy anything,' Nancy interrupts him. 'I – I just need to talk with you.'

'Talk with me?' he repeats, confused. ''Bout what?'

'About my mom.'

The implications of that simple confession hang heavy in the air between them. It's quiet for an endless amount of seconds, the two of them merely caught in each other's equally wide-eyed gazes.

'You knew, didn't you?' Nancy asks finally. 'That's why you were, like, stalking me back in my freshman year.'

He still doesn't know what to say; the only thing he can do is nod slowly.

'Can we talk?' she asks.

He sinks down on the ratty old couch with the faded cushions, which Nancy seems to take as an invitation for her to take Uncle Wayne's worn-down but insanely comfortable armchair.

Never in a million years would he have expected things to play out this way. Oh sure, he's imagined it, Nancy sitting across from him in the exact same chair she's sitting now; he's imagined it countless times. But he never actually thought it would happen. And certainly not like this.

For fuck's sake, just when he managed to let it go, it all comes crashing back... He doesn't know what to think, doesn't even know what to feel right now.

'Did she tell you?' he blurts out.

A humorless laugh escapes from Nancy's mouth.

'God, no,' she says. 'I think she's planning to take it to the grave with her. I snooped around in her stuff.' She doesn't seem too ashamed about it. 'I met this P.I. a few months ago, when I was trying to find Barbara. He said some weird things, about my mom. That she was hiding shit, keeping secrets. Johnathan kept telling me to let it go, but I couldn't, so I started digging and...' She sighs. 'I never expected this. But I just – I needed to meet you. To talk with you.'

She seems to hesitate for a moment, biting her lip. 'I'm so sorry she did that to you,' she finally says.

Eddie wants to tell her a million things: that it's not her fault, that she has nothing to say sorry for, that he's beyond glad she showed up at the trailer... But he feels pressure building behind his eyes and finds himself stunned, only able to blink rapidly in order to keep his tears from falling.

He tries to hide himself behind his hair and his hands, but there's no use; Nancy is smart, he won't be able to hide anything from her...

And suddenly she's right next to him on the couch, wrapping her thin arms around him and nudging him until he's leaning against her and his head is on her shoulder.

'It's okay, I'm here,' she murmurs, putting a hand in his hair.

And it's all so goddamn ridiculous. He can't count the times he imagined himself being the big brother this girl never had. All the times he dreamed about catching her when she'd fall, being a shoulder to cry on whenever she suffered loss or grief or pain in any way... Not once had he thought about a reunion where he would be the one breaking down in her arms like a fucking child.

But when he looks up, trying to get his breathing under control again, her face shows him a reflection of what he himself must look like: Nancy's lip is wobbling, her eyes are wet and traces of tears are visible on her cheeks.

It takes his breath away in a whole new way: he doesn't think he's ever cried with someone before. Sure, Wayne was never above comforting him when he was younger. But he's nineteen now, an adult who no longer lets his uncle see him when he cries. And no matter how close he is to Jeff, Freak and Gareth, he has never let any of them witness his tears.

'I'm really glad I found out,' Nancy says, her voice unsteady but sincere. 'You must've felt so lonely.'

Eddie can't help but return her tentative smile.

'Are you gonna confront your mom?' he asks.

Nancy sighs. 'I don't know,' she quietly confesses. 'I honestly don't think I can even look at her right now. I just – I needed to get away from there. I think I need some time to process all of it.'

Eddie almost bursts out into unbelieving laughter with what he's about to propose.

'Wanna make this a sleepover, then?' He makes a broad arm gesture towards their surroundings. 'I mean, we don't exactly have much here, but my uncle's at work all night and I think I got enough room in my bed for two. If you want to.'

Nancy gladly takes his offer, borrows one of Eddie's old shirts that don't fit him anymore, and crawls under the covers beside him. It all feels more than a little bit surreal; like Eddie will wake up the next day to a cold and empty bed, and the sisterly love he's been yearning for will turn out to have been nothing but a dream all along, slipping through his fingers yet another time.

But, surreal or not, they keep talking until well into the night. They're lying in mirroring fetal positions, facing each other from their own pillow. They let words rapidly stream out of their mouths as they desperately try to catch up on seventeen years of not being together before the sun comes up, in a race against the clock. Maybe Nancy feels the utter outlandishness of this whole situation as well, making it feel like they'll only ever get this night, instead of a whole lifetime to properly get to know each other. As if everything they tell each other will be gone by the time they'll wake up the next day, and they have to cram as many words into it as possible.

Finally, Eddie can stop imagining what it would've been like to grow up in the big house on Maple Street. Nancy tells him all about her parents' loveless marriage, her annoying little brother and spoiled little sister; about what it's like to eat in the spotless kitchen and play in the neatly maintained garden. About how she feels like that picture-perfect life has its fingers wrapped around her throat and has been slowly choking her for years.

She tells him about Barb: about how she's been feeling as if she's walking around with a gaping, throbbing wound in her chest ever since she lost her. About the guilt that's still consuming her more than a year later. About how she wishes every single day that she had done things differently on the night Barb disappeared.

She also tells him about her mother: about how she resents her sometimes, for settling for a marriage devoid of love and willingly inhabiting the cage of being a housewife. About how much she looks down on her for caring too much about things like tablecloths or apple pies or smudges on freshly cleaned windows – and about how much she loves her despite it all, for knowing how to listen when Nancy needs her to, and for encouraging Nancy to become something unlike herself. She confesses to him how fiercely she hates her right now, for abandoning a baby and keeping that from her family. She tells Eddie how she feels like she never truly knew her.

And he tells her things, too. He tells her what it was like growing up as the son of Clyde Munson. What it was like to be a child without a mother, to have nothing but a father raging about some bitch whenever he'd ask questions about this mystery woman who brought him into this world. How he could tell that his father still loved her, despite everything, because he refused to give up her secret.

He tells her what it was like when his father got locked up for grand theft auto and arson, what it was like to come and live with Wayne. He tells her how he found out who his mother was; how he ended up in the Wheelers' yard on the night he learned the truth, and how he could never stop staring at any of the Wheelers during the all the years that followed. He tells her how he let his obsession grow big enough to make him fail his senior year. He even tells her the one thing he's never told anyone before, not even Jeff: that he feels guilty towards Uncle Wayne every single day. The supply of love he gives to Eddie is endless, and yet it will never be enough: he'll always keep standing in the shadow of this fantasy of a family.

But he doesn't only talk about his messed-up family. He also tells her about good things: about his friends, his band, and his other passion projects. When he finds himself talking a mile a minute about D&D, Nancy smiles and tells him it must be a family trait, because her little brother is equally obsessed with that game.

They talk until their throats are sore; until Nancy's eyes are falling shut every two seconds and she can't stop yawning.

He has so many things to tell her, so many things to ask her, so many lost moments to make up for. He understands all too well that they're both almost adults and that there's no possibility to turn back the clock and pretend like they're little kids again. There's no way to get back the versions of them that might play hide-and-seek on the street in front of their house, or egg each other on to see who can swing the highest in the playground. Those are the memories they'll never get to make. But they're here. Against everything he ever expected, he's having a sleepover with his little sister. They're sharing secrets while wrapped up in the same blanket. They're only properly meeting each other for the first time, but they're already connecting like they've known each other all their lives. And, against all odds, they get to build something neither of them ever thought they'd have.

[jbaileyfansite]

Interview with The Telegraph (2023)

We all know what is meant by McCarthyism. It ­popularly refers to the first half of the 1950s, when Senator Joseph R McCarthy led a ruthless ­campaign to hound suspected communists out of the US government. What’s less well-remembered than the Red Menace is the Lavender Scare: by an executive order from President Eisenhower, McCarthyism also targeted gays and lesbians. “If you want to be against McCarthy, boys,” the senator once told the press, “you’ve got to be either a Communist or a c--ksucker.”

Thus gay men and women, living closeted lives as they worked for the state, were targeted by sinister-sounding bodies: the FBI’s Sex ­Deviance Investigations Unit, ­Washington DC police’s Sex ­Perversion Elimination Program and the Department of State’s M Unit. All sought to identify ­government employees deemed to be security risks vulnerable to blackmail.

Popular culture lost sight of the Lavender Scare until it was brought into the light in the US by Thomas Mallon’s 2007 novel Fellow ­Travelers. Set mostly in the early 1950s, it told of a tangled romance between two men; Hawkins “Hawk” Fuller, a handsome war veteran and political fixer who steers clear of emotional attachment until he meets Tim Laughlin, a sweet young Catholic newcomer to DC whom he nicknames Skippy and sets up in the office of a Republican senator.

The novel was not published in the UK. But now it has been adapted for television, and one piece of ­casting in particular feels ­calculated to get the attention of audiences beyond the US: Laughlin is played by British actor Jonathan Bailey, best known as the Regency heartthrob Anthony, 9th Viscount Bridgerton.

His co-star is the American Matt Bomer, who, like Bailey, professes ignorance of what the New York Times, in its review of the novel, referred to as “the Lavender Hill mob”. “It’s a chapter of LGBTQIA history that I was completely ­unaware of,” he says.

This is not the first time the novel has been adapted – it was staged as an opera in Cincinnati in 2016. By then it had already caught the attention of Ron Nyswaner, who laboured over bringing the book to the screen for the best part of a ­decade. Best known for his script for Philadelphia, the 1993 Aids courtroom drama which earned Tom Hanks his first Oscar, it was his stint as a producer of Homeland that persuaded Showtime to fund an expensive eight-part decades-spanning drama. “I’m still in ­disbelief that we were able to tell this story on the scale that we were able to tell it,” says Bomer, who is also an executive producer on the drama.

The scale is considerable. The period detail of 1950s Washington, in both corridors of power and gay demimonde, is lavishly recreated. And as the story progresses it parts company with the novel, which opens with Hawk looking back at the closure of his career as a ­diplomat in Tallinn in 1991. Nyswaner’s script expands to take in other pivots in modern US ­history: the Civil Rights movement, the Vietnam War, and the spread of Aids in the 1980s, when the now-married Hawk and the dying Laughlin meet for a final reckoning.

I met the drama’s two stars in London earlier in the summer, before the actors’ strike in ­Hollywood put a stop to such encounters. It was the first time they’d seen each other since the end of the shoot. Bomer, though just off the plane and heavily jet-lagged, exudes a chiselled, blue-eyed intensity. Bailey fizzes with puppyish energy. Both are themselves gay and Bailey in particular sees their casting as a sign of ­progress. “We would not be playing these parts five or 10 years ago,” he says. The highlights of his CV are mix and match. He has played mainly straight characters on ­television in the likes of Broadchurch, Crashing and W1A, and gay characters on stage in the Sondheim musical Company and Mike Bartlett’s play C--k in the West End. 

The career of Bomer, 10 years his senior, looks a little more linear. His most high-profile film role is as an object of ladies’ lust in male-strippers drama Magic Mike and its sequel. But in 2014 he won a Golden Globe playing a closeted journalist in HBO’s adaptation of Larry ­Kramer’s play The Normal Heart. In 2018, he made his Broadway debut as part of an exclusively gay cast reviving The Boys in the Band, a ­portrait of gay life in 1960s New York. 

Earlier on the day we met, ­Stanley Tucci had said on Desert Island Discs that he doesn’t see why straight actors shouldn’t play gay characters. “I think it’s incredibly complicated and nuanced,” says Bailey with a sigh. “You just want to make sure that everyone feels there’s enough space at the table. Everyone who is panicking that they’re never going to be able to play outside their own experience is wasting their energy.”

Bomer counters that it ought to cut both ways, that gay actors should be allowed to play straight. He speaks darkly of movie ­producers who “wouldn’t hire me because of who I was”, of gay actors who “weren’t even given a shot. A lot of it boils down to opportunity. Was ­everyone given the opportunity for the role? There is something about seeing the most authentic version of who you are represented on screen. It gives you hope.”

In Fellow Travelers that ­authenticity is portrayed most unswervingly in the bedroom, which the plot requires Hawk and Laughlin to visit often. “I haven’t necessarily really seen gay intimacy in a way that I would want to,” says Bailey. I gently remind him of Linus Roache, who plays a senator in ­Fellow Travelers but, back in 1994, starred in Jimmy McGovern’s Priest as a Catholic priest struggling with his sexuality – graphically so in a central scene with Robert Carlyle. “Oh yeah, that’s true,” he says. “I looked to that a lot.” 

As is on trend for male actors ­nowadays, both leads look ­impeccable with their shirts off in low honeyed lighting. “Hawk is ex-military and he also wants to appeal to people in bathroom stalls,” ­reasons Bomer, who did period-appropriate Royal Canadian Air Force drills and looks no less ­pneumatic than he did in Magic Mike.

Bailey concedes that Laughlin, who orders milk the first time we meet him, boasts the body of a Greek god for the simple reason that the shoot overlapped with Bridgerton (yes, he confirms, the newly married Anthony is back for the third season). “There’s no way Tim would have had a Bridgerton body, but what can you do if you’re commuting? I was like, I really want to lose weight to tell Tim’s story, but I lost fat and just got really ripped.”

How resonant is the history ­portrayed in Fellow Travelers to today? It’s easy to play six degrees of separation between now and then. For instance, McCarthy’s ­closeted sidekick Roy Cohn is a lead character (played here by Will Brill). A ferocious prosecutor of both communists and gays, he would go on to be Donald Trump’s lawyer, before dying of complications from Aids. It was Trump’s three appointees to the Supreme Court who this summer enabled a 6-3 ruling releasing businesses and organisations from the obligation to treat same-sex couples equally. The landmark ruling occurred just days before I met the actors, and has been widely interpreted as a ­profound attack on LGBT rights.

“There is an entire generation of men and women who suffered and struggled and loved under a ­government that felt that its morals were more important than their personal freedoms,” says Bomer. “And that’s exactly what we see happening today. Whether it’s McCarthy or the current Supreme Court justices, are morals more important than freedoms?”

Source

[lealdog]

📻 for Cecil, Jonathan, Corvin, Mike

Cecil: The Cycle by Death Tour & WARGASM (UK)

It's there for the vibes. He's an edgy scene kid (just some years late) and his playlist has a lot of fast-paced trap metal and hyperpop adjacent things.

Jonathan: Something I Can Never Have by Nine Inch Nails

Story don't read

Jonathan's playlist is s train wreck honestly with no clear vibe to it. This song is kinda there for the lyrics and a little bit of the vibes. It's about the intimate act of killing someone and then missing them later— being conflicted about his inability to just be with someone without the need of crawling into their insides, craving the intimacy of those final moments and them being forever with him and no one else. He's fucked up.

Corvin: Bright Black Beach by So Hideous

D&D friends don't read

This song is Corvin at his worst, at his angriest and most desperate. It follows his falling as an Assimar, his first kill, seduced to it by the cult that had its claws hooked into him. The song starts off with a sigh off relief– finally, he's free of the daeva (he's an Assimar) that he blames for the death of his best friend, and really everything else. And then begin the atrocities— Corvin leading a band of ruffians to murder and plunder and burn for the benefit of the cult who'd been using his anger and grief to do their bidding and get revenge on the world.

Mike: Dumb by Haezer

This song is there for the lyrics: "Punch me in the face I wanna feel something". And this his playlist has a bunch of edgy electronic shit this fit right in.

[mariacallous]

As Speaker Mike Johnson and House Republicans were struggling to pass their budget-busting tax-and-spending bill last week—they eventually got it through by a single vote—my mind went back more than three decades to February, 1993, when, in a meeting in the Roosevelt Room of the White House, the newly inaugurated President Bill Clinton met with some of his aides to finalize an economic plan to present to Congress.

The previous November, Clinton had swept to victory on a promise to revive a sluggish economy, the effects of which had been widely blamed on the Republican incumbent, George H. W. Bush. During the campaign, Clinton had talked about raising spending on sectors such as education, infrastructure, and scientific research. In the February meeting, however, Clinton’s top economic advisers, including Bob Rubin, the then head of the National Economic Council, and Lloyd Bentsen, the Treasury Secretary at the time, were advocating substantial cuts in the budget. They argued that this policy would reassure investors about the budget deficit, which the government finances by issuing Treasury bonds, and encourage a rally in bond prices and a decrease in borrowing rates. (When bond prices rise, interest rates fall.) In the 1994 book “The Agenda,” Bob Woodward recounts how some of Clinton’s political operatives felt frustrated by the President’s embrace of fiscal austerity. “How many votes does the fucking bond market have?” Howard Paster, a former lobbyist for the United Auto Workers union, whom Clinton had appointed to liaise with Congress, said at one point in the discussions. “We’ve got to win votes on the Hill, not Wall Street.”

Despite protests from Paster and others, the deficit hawks won out. In August, 1993, Congress passed a tax-and-spending bill that was designed to reduce the deficit by half a trillion dollars over five years. Clinton’s electoral strategist James Carville famously observed, “I used to think that if there was reincarnation, I wanted to come back as the president or the pope or a .400 baseball hitter. But now I want to come back as the bond market. You can intimidate everybody.”

Everybody except Johnson and his colleagues, it seems. On Friday, May 16th, Moody’s Ratings downgraded the credit rating of the U.S. government, a move that left the country without a triple-A rating at a major agency for the first time in more than a century. Throughout the past decade, “federal debt has risen sharply due to continuous fiscal deficits,” Moody’s noted in a statement. “During that time, federal spending has increased while tax cuts have reduced government revenues.” The provisions of the House tax bill, which include extending the Republicans’ 2017 tax cuts and eliminating taxes on tips and overtime, would surely drive the deficit and debt up further. According to the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget, they would add another $3.1 trillion to the national debt in the next ten years.

After the Moody’s downgrade, bond prices fell, and market interest rates edged up. Last Wednesday, when the Treasury Department held an auction of long-term bonds, investors demanded even higher yields to buy them. Despite these developments, House Republicans, at Donald Trump’s behest, pushed through their One Big Beautiful Bill Act. (Yes, it’s actually called that.) As the voting was taking place on Thursday morning, bond prices dropped lower. Subsequently, they recovered a bit, but the story is far from over.

As attention shifts to the Senate, where Republicans leaders are hoping to pass a bill by July 4th, some Wall Street analysts are predicting that the markets will force a change of course—a scenario for which there is a very recent precedent. At the start of April, Trump’s “Liberation Day” announcement of sky-high tariffs on more than a hundred countries led to a big sell-off in the stock market and a sudden spike in bond yields, which can be a sign of distress somewhere in the financial system. These developments prompted Trump to back down and announce a ninety-day suspension of most of his “reciprocal” tariffs. “The market’s gonna bring discipline to this thing one way or the other,” Tim Magnusson, the chief investment officer at Garda Capital Partners, a hedge fund, told Bloomberg last week. “That’s the only way. It’s always the bond market that brings the discipline.”

Given that some past Presidents, including Barack Obama, managed to shrink the deficit relative to G.D.P. without a crisis in the bond market, that’s a somewhat reductionist take. But right now, with the Republicans controlling both houses of Congress—and with Trump intimidating the vast majority of its members—the markets are clearly reacting negatively to the Administration’s reckless economic policies. Bond rates also affect mortgage rates, which directly impact ordinary Americans. After the Moody’s credit downgrade, when bond yields rose, the cost of home loans ticked higher than seven per cent. Increased mortgage rates aren’t good news for any Administration, and we can safely assume that Trump, as a real-estate developer, keeps a particularly close eye on them. We also know that he watches the bond market. After he did his about-turn on tariffs, the market stabilized and yields somewhat fell, prompting him to remark, “The bond market is very tricky. . . . but if you look at it now it’s beautiful.”

That declaration was premature. The recent rise in bond yields reflects a growing recognition on Wall Street that Trump’s tax-and-spending policies are just as irresponsible as his tariff policies. “What we are learning is that there will be no material fiscal consolidation,” Krishna Guha, an economist at Evercore ISI, told the Wall Street Journal. “The U.S. will continue to run extremely large deficits as far as the eye can see . . . with bigger deficits the next time we experience a downturn or emergency.”

How large is “extremely large”? In 1992, the year before Clinton and his economic team gathered in the Roosevelt Room, the annual deficit was 4.5 per cent of G.D.P., and the total federal debt held by the public amounted to 46.3 per cent of G.D.P. Last year, the equivalent figures were 6.3 per cent and 96.2 per cent. Moody’s, in issuing its downgrade, projected that by 2035, if the House G.O.P. bill were to be enacted, the deficit and debt numbers would have risen to nine per cent and a hundred and thirty-four per cent, respectively.

There is no set formula for when deficits and debts reach crisis levels, but this over-all level of indebtedness would exceed even that seen at the end of the Second World War, when the U.S. government had been, for years, financing the fight against the Axis powers. On the other side of the ledger, many foreign governments and institutional investors still rely on U.S. Treasury bonds as safe and liquid havens for their money. And, as the president of Switzerland’s central bank pointed out after the Moody’s downgrade, “there is currently no alternative to them.”

This fortuitous circumstance suggests that Trump and his supine advisers may have a bit more room to blunder than Liz Truss, the short-lived British Prime Minister, who, in 2022, fell victim to the “bond vigilantes.” She had announced a tax-cutting mini-budget that resulted in a big sell-off in the U.K.’s bond market, a sharp fall in the value of the pound sterling, and financial difficulties for large pension funds that relied on bond investments. (After losing the support of some of her own Cabinet members, Truss was forced to resign.) Last Friday, Trump created another kerfuffle in the markets by threatening to impose tariffs of fifty per cent on goods from the European Union and duties of twenty-five per cent on imported iPhones. Stocks fell; bond prices actually moved up a bit. Many investors believe a full-scale trade war would plunge the economy into a recession and force the Federal Reserve to cut short-term interest rates, which would likely provide some support for the bond market. So Trump’s latest tariff threats gave a short-term lift to Treasuries without changing the over-all picture, which is that the bond market is sending out warning signals.

That’s hardly surprising. The fiscal outlook is much more dire than it was thirty-odd years ago, when the Clinton Administration adopted Rubinomics. The U.S. government relies on foreigners, at least in part, to finance its gaping deficit, and much of the world regards the Trump Administration as a clown show, or worse. This is not a recipe for financial stability or keeping the bond vigilantes in check. If Trump isn’t careful, he could well find himself echoing James Carville.

[stevenmeeks]

A C E Y for the alphabet ask?

Full Name: Ashley Melissa Puckett

Nicknames, If Any: Ash, Sweetheart (by Eddie), Psycho (by Tommy H. and the crowd adjacent), Bunny (by her mother)

Hogwarts House: Hufflepuff

Gender: cis girl

Sexuality: straight (probbably)

A Song I Associate With Them: Dog Day Are Over, Florence + The Machine

3 Important Relationships: Gracie Middleton (half-sister), Eddie Munson, Nancy Wheeler

2 Fears: Getting stuck in Hawkins, Snakes

1 Element of their backstory: Ever since she was a kid, she had to run some odd jobs around Hawkins to earn some cash to help her mother pay the bills. At the beginning of s1 she works at the Hawk theatre.

Full Name: Charlotte Heather Knight

Nicknames, If Any: Charlie

Hogwarts House: Slytherin

Gender: cis girl

Sexuality: bisexual

A Song I Associate With Them: Dance, Dance, Fall Out Boy

3 Important Relationships: Mike Chang, Tina Cohen-Chang, Mercedes Jones

2 Fears: getting stuck in an elevator, green jelly

1 Element of their backstory: In Middle School she was in charge of the school radio show, but it got shut down, because she kept playing songs that the principal banned.

Full Name: Elisabeth Marigold Parker

Nicknames, If Any: Lizzie, Liz, Cursebreaker, Pip

Hogwarts House: Slytherin

Gender: a girl (question mark?)

Sexuality: a bisexual disaster

A Song I Associate With Them: EAT ME, Demi Lovato

3 Important Relationships: Jae Kim, Bill Weasley, Erica Rath

2 Fears: losing people, Andre putting her in another dress with puffy sleeves

1 Element of their backstory: She almost left school after Rowan died. It took a lot of convincing, especially by Bill, but eventually, she decided to finish her schooling.

I don't have an OC whose name starts with Y, unfortunately.

Send me a letter from A-Z and if I'll answer with an OC whose name begins with that letter!

[goalhofer]

2024-25 Columbus Blue Jackets famous relations

#59 Yegor Chinakhov: Son of former Neftyanik Almetievsk II C Vitali Chinakhov. #44 Erik Gudbranson: Brother of former Newfoundland Growlers D Alex Gudbranson. #22 Jordan Harris: Son of former Richmond Renegades G Peter Harris. #38 Boone Jenner: Nephew of former Detroit Red Wings C Billy Carroll and cousin of former Toronto Rock D Matt Carroll & former Utah Grizzlies C Marcus Carroll. #3 Jack Johnson III: Brother-in-law of Sirius XM NFL Radio analyst Brayden Quinn, former olympic gymnast Alicia Quinn & former Atlanta Falcons LB A.J. Hawk. #62 Kevin Labanc: Son of former H.K. Spišská Nová Ves C Milan Labanc. #24 Mathieu Olivier: Son of former Victoriaville Tigres assistant coach Simon Olivier. #4 Cole Sillinger: Son of former New York Islanders C Mike Sillinger and brother of Cleveland Monsters C Owen Sillinger. #40 Daniil Tarasov: Son of K.K. Sibir Novosibirsk Oblast goalie coach Vadim Tarasov. #21 James Van Riemsdyk: Brother of Washington Capitals D Trevor Van Riemsdyk & former Norfolk Admirals C Brendan Van Riemsdyk.

[read-alert]

August TBR!!! 📚📖🍁 Full titles under the cut!

Lone Women by Victor Lavalle

Accessing the Future ed by Kathryn Allan and Djibril Al-Ayad

Dawn by Octavia Butler

Dragonflight by Anne McCaffery

The Reformatory by Tananarive Due

Medical Apartheid: The Dark History of Medical Experimentation on Black Americans from Colonial Times to the Present by Harriet A Washington

Being Seen: One Deafblind Woman's Fight to End Ableism by Elsa Sjunneson

Never Whistle at Night: An Indigenous Dark Fiction Anthology ed by Shane Hawk and Theodore C Van Alst Jr

Light in Gaza: Writings Born of Fire ed by Jehad Abusalim, Jennifer Bing, and Mike Merryman-Lotze

A Little Kissing Between Friends by Chencia C Higgins

Four Minutes by Nataliya Deleva

Captive Genders: Trans Embodiment and the Prison Industrial Complex by Nat Smith, Eric A Stanley, and CeCe McDonald

Mislaid in Parts Half Known by Seanan McGuire

Show Me a Sign by Ann Clare LeZotte

The Jasmine Throne by Tasha Suri

Snuff by Terry Pratchett

Where's My Cow by Terry Pratchett

Miss Felicity Beedle's The World of Poo by Terry Pratchett

Mort by Terry Pratchett

Beyond the Wall by Micaiah Johnson

Greenland by David Santos Donaldson

The Gods of Tango by Carolina De Robertis

Dear America: Notes of an Undocumented Citizen by José Antonio Vargas

The Vampire Lestat by Anne Rice

Each of Us a Desert by Mark Oshiro

A Dangerous Trade by Cassandra Rose Clarke

King of the Rising by Kacen Callender

An Elderly Lady Must Not Be Crossed by Helene Tursten

Juliet Takes a Breath: The Graphic Novel by Gabby Rivera and Celia Moscote

Justice League International vol 4 by Keith Giffen et al

Teen Titans vol 2: Family Lost by Geoff Johns et al

The Old Guard Book Two: Force Multiplied by Greg Rucka et al