#file under: verses: bane

[knotdispenser]

name: Bane Coil nicknames: none (yet) age: varies (appears 23) gender: Male pronouns: (he/him/his) secondary gender: Either. occupation: art student/ pool boy(?) notable features: diphallia species: Amphisbaena / gorgon(?) fc: Milo Manheim

[mlmshipbracket]

Fourth MLM Ship Bracket Propaganda Submissions

Below you will find all of the submitted and approved ships for the Fourth MLM Ship Bracket Tournament along with the form to submit further propaganda at the bottom

This is another opportunity to submit propaganda for your favorite ships. Wether you were unable to submit propaganda for them in the initial form or you spot your favorite ship who has no propaganda submitted. Ships with a strikethrough have propaganda submitted, I will continue to update this post as propaganda is submitted. I will accept further propaganda for ships with already submitted propaganda but please prioritize those with out.

The goal is to have propaganda for all ships but I understand that may not be possible. Therefore I will be leaving the form open for a few weeks to see if we receive propaganda for at least half the ships.

Note: Please reach out to me if you spot any mistakes in character or fandom names, even if it is only formatting or spelling issues.

Monkey D. Luffy/Roronoa Zoro (One Piece)

Kyojuro Rengoku/Akaza (Demon Slayer)

Mikhail”Misha” [Heavy]/Dr. Ludwig [Medic] (Team Fortress 2)

Dave Strider/Karkat Vantas (Homestuck)

Chu Shuzhi/Guo Changcheng (Guardian, 2018)

Oliver Marks/James Farrow (If We Were Villains)

David Starsky/Kenneth "Hutch" Hutchinson (Starsky & Hutch)

Tinn/Gun (My School President)

Loki Odinson/Mobius M. Mobius (Loki)

Jaime Reyes/Bart Allen (DC Comics)

Levi Schmitt/Nico Kim (Grey's Anatomy)

Ren Amamiya or Akira Kurusu/Goro Akechi (Persona 5)

Wallace Price/ Hugo Freeman (Under the Whispering Door)

Daffy Duck/Bugs Bunny (Looney Toons)

Shen Wei/Zhao Yunlan (Guardian, 2018)

Isak Valtersen/Even Bech Næsheim (SKAM)

Henry "Monty" Montague/Percy Newton (Montague Siblings)

Nico di Angelo/Will Solace (Camp Half-Blood Chronicles)

Argos/Mr. Plant (The World of Mr. Plant)

Richard St Vier/Alec Campion (Swordspoint Universe)

Klaus Hargreeves/Dave Katz (The Umbrella Academy)

Woody/Buzz Lightyear (Toy Story)

Victor Lawson/Hap (In the Lives of Puppets

Charlie/Babe (Pit Babe The Series)

Fred/Shaggy (Scooby-Doo)

Simon Snow/Tyrannus Basilton "Baz" Grimm-Pitch (Carry On)

Gaius Octavius/Jedediah Smith (Night at the Museum)

Sound/Win (My School President)

Pat/Pran (Bad Buddy)

Mike Wazowski/James "Sulley" P. Sullivan (Monsters, Inc.)

Nicholas “Nick” Bell/ Seth Gray (The Extraordinaries)

Evan 'Buck' Buckley/Edmundo 'Eddie' Diaz (9-1-1)

Sean/White (Not Me: The Series)

Vegas Theerapanyakun/Pete Saengtham (Kinnporsche: The Series)

Runaan/Ethari (The Dragon Prince)

Larry Daley/Ahkmenrah (Night at the Museum)

Tintin/Captain Archibald Haddock (Tintin comics)

Bai Lang/Jin Xun An (My Tooth Your Love)

Napoleon Solo/Illya Kuryakin (The Man from U.N.C.L.E)

Wario/Waluigi (Mario franchise)

Peter Parker/Miguel O'Hará (Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse)

Steve Rogers/Anthony "Tony" Stark (Marvel Comics)

Dave Miller/Jack "Old sport" Kennedy (Dayshift at Freddy's)

Boston/Nick (Only Friends)

Kinn Theerapanyakun/Porsche Kittisawasd (Kinnporsche: The Series)

Satoru Gojo/Suguru Geto (Jujutsu Kaisen)

Craig Cuttlefish/Octavio Takowasa (Splatoon)

Tulio/Miguel (The Road to El Dorado)

Sun Wukong/Neptune Vasilias (RWBY)

Zachary Ezra Rawlins/Dorian (The Starless Sea)

Fox Mulder/Alex Krycek (The X-Files)

Thomas/Newt (The Maze Runner)

Fulgrim/Ferrus Manus (Warhammer 40k)

Kim Theerapanyakun/Porchay Kittisawasd (Kinnporsche: The Series)

Alec Lightwood/Magnus Bane (The Mortal Instruments)

Tan/Bun (Manner of Death)

Qrow Branwen/Clover Ebi (RWBY)

Rhy Maresh/Alucard Emery (Shades of Magic)

Yashiro Isana/Kuroh Yatogami (K Project)

Jaskier/Geralt of Rivia (The Witcher)

Dustfinger/Mortimer "Mo" Folchart (Inkworld series)

Brandon/Sky (Winx Club)

Phineas Taylor “P. T.” Barnum/Phillip Carlyle (The Greatest Showman)

Alfred Hillinghead/Henry Ashe (Bodies TV Show)

Baal/Inanna (The Wicked + the Divine)

Timothy "Tim" Drake/Bernard Dowd (DC Comics)

Vash the Stampede/Nicholas D. Wolfwood (Trigun Stampede)

Anthony Lockwood/Quill Kipps (Lockwood and Co)

Henry Winter/Francis Abernathy (The Secret History)

Crowley/Aziraphale (Good Omens)

Dainix/Falst (Aurora Comic)

Prince Rupert/Prince Amir (The Two Princes)

Finn/Poe Dameron (Star Wars)

Jean Luc Picard/Q (Star Trek: The Next Generation)

Will Stronghold/Warren Peace (Sky High)

Heart/Li Ming (Moonlight Chicken)

Wallace Wells/Todd Ingram (Scott Pilgrim Takes Off)

Sunai/Veyadi Lut (The Archive Undying)

Linus Baker/Arthur Parnassus (The House in the Cerulean Sea)

Aaron Slaughter/Jace Boucher (House of Slaughter)

Hercule Poirot/Captain Arthur Hastings (Hercule Poirot)

Phaya/Tharn (The Sign)

Hercules/Iolaus (Hercules: The Legendary Journeys)

Todd/Black (Not Me: The Series)

Julio "Rictor" Esteban Richter/Shatterstar (Marvel Comics)

Wen Kexing/Zhou Zishu (Word of Honor)

Siffrin/Isabeau (In Stars and time)

Kendall Knight/Logan Mitchell (Big Time Rush TV Show)

Yuichiro Hiyakuya/Mikaela Hyakuya (Owari no Seraph/Seraph of the End)

Palm/Nuengdiao (Never Let Me Go)

Khatha/Dome (Midnight Museum)

Asterix/Obelix (Asterix Comics)

Bowser/Luigi (Mario Franchise)

Lucien "Luc" O'Donnell/Oliver Blackwood (London Calling)

Kazuki Kurusu/Rei Suwa (Buddy Daddies)

Benjamin “Ben” Tennyson/Kevin Ethan Levin (Ben 10: Alien Force)

Lumière/Cogsworth (Beauty and the Beast)

Damian Wayne/Jon Kent (DC Comics)

Spy/Dell Conagher [Engineer] (Team Fortress 2)

Shanks/Buggy (One Piece)

Jesper Fahey/Wylan Van Ecks (Six of Crows)

Harold Finch/John Reese (Person of Interest)

Ulrich Stern/Odd Della Robbia (Code Lyoko)

Vincent Freeman/Jerome Morrow (Gattaca)

Eustass Kid/Killer (One Piece)

Christopher Hitchcock/Jalil Sherman (Everworld)

Frodo Baggins/Samwise Gamgee (Lord of the Rings)

Edgin Darvis/Xenk Yendar (Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves)

[cuephrase]

Hey, I've been trying to get into comics again (I used to read them a lot when I was in high school but I have since fallen off when I got busy in college), and I was wondering if you had a good starting place in mind? I think I stopped reading a couple years into the Rebirth reboot. I like the batfam, especially the Batgirls and the Robins (though Damian is my favorite lol). I'd love some help since I'm kinda intimidated by the amount of lore that's happened the past several years.

Thank you!

hiiii, okay, so. i feel like i should preface that i am...hmmmm. i'm not as well versed in Rebirth era as i could be? although i do keep up with current monthly releases, and i have read some batfam rebirth.

lemme try and give you a lore rundown, and then i can move into recs!!

i think...hmmm. yk what, i think dark crisis is technically after Rebirth, and what kicks off Infinite Frontier, but i'm going to be so real, everything 2016 and on is just filed under Rebirth for me lmao. also, more honesty, i don't technically know wtf happened with dark crisis. shoot. okay okay, what i do know is- some shit went down at some point and a) the justice league disbanded (or got shut down?) and things were like that for a couple years but they legit just reformed and b) continuity was adjusted again so it's even more connected to post-crisis. forgive me, i hate reading universe wide events and i haven't gotten to my in-depth rebirth read through so i'm winging it big time. the biggest bat specific thing i can think of rn is dick's ric era, wherein he gets shot in the head, gets amnesia, starts calling himself ric and bartending and then putting greasepaint on and being a vigilante...and then the court of owls get involved and mind control stuff and then JOKER gets control of dick...joker war is. an experience. the tl;dr of joker war is...it happened. i recall so little except for the things that i hated and the art i enjoyed. oh but i think that's when bruce lost a bunch of money? yeah actually i think that's when that happened. but also he's a billioniare again now. i don't know if he got the manor back yet?? i should know that. shit. ANYWAYS. stuff happened, but honestly, i think it's pretty easy to just hop in wherever. OH. ALFRED DIED. that's pretty big. that happened in Batman: City of Bane, dick is not present in that storyline bc of the aforementioned ric arc. that storyline is actually a pretty major deal for damian. i think it's technically a sequel, but i just read that arc and rolled with what was going on (i.e. bruce being out of gotham and injured and bane being in control).

and then recs, okay, caveat that i haven't read batman or tec for rebirth (excluding certain arcs and batman from #125 to present) so there may be good character stuff there that i don't mention here simply bc i'm not aware of it rn. for damian:

Super Sons (2017) - i realize you may have read this already but just in case

Robin (2021, Vol 2) - this happens after city of bane, damian leaves gotham after alfred's death

Batman & Robin (2023, Vol. 3) - damian with bruce after joker war and...probably some other things? most recent run that damian is a title character in, i have very mixed feelings about it but it is relevant to damian.

The Boy Wonder (2024) - this is black label, so it's not main continuity but it's a really great damian-centric story.

he also is in a teen titans run but i haven't read it and i don't think it's very popular? but you could def check it out if you wanted ofc.

for the batgirls:

Batgirl (2024, Vol. 6) - this is a brand new cass run, only five issues so far, but it's fantastic. probably my favorite current release

there was a Batgirls run in 2021, ft. steph and cass as a duo, i think babs is also fairly present? i have not read it yet, and from what i hear the start is kinda rocky? it only lasted 19 issues. if you check it out and don't vibe with the start i'd try skipping to a later arc or to the new writer (if there was an writer switch)

i cannot offer any babs recs, i'm so sorry

for the other robins:

tbh, not a whole lot i can rec in a, "i enjoyed this a lot!!" way? but i can tell you where they are.

Nightwing (2016, Vol 4) - this was def going when you were still reading comics so you could hop in wherever you left off if you remember. #75 is after ric/joker war if you wanted to skip that. i am personally not a huge fan of tom taylor's run, issues #78-118, but you may like it, it's one of those runs that i think people are kind of split on. i am however loving dan watters, so #119-present gets my rec. if you just leapt to watters' start, all you really need to know is that dick and babs are dating and dick has a half-sister who is the mayor of bludhaven. i think.

Red Hood and the Outlaws, (2016, Vol 2) - also def running when you were still reading, my enjoyment dips after #26

Batman: Urban Legends ((2021) #1-6 has a bruce and jason story that i personally really enjoy. 4-6 also have tim's coming out arc. the thing i like the most about that arc is that tim is officially bi and the art. #10 has some fun/sad batfam christmas content (first one without alfred, rip). i thiiiiink there's some dick and damian stuff in later issues? lemme check. yeah #20 for sure, maybe through #23? i should just read this whole anthology run, ugh.

jason was also in Task Force Z, #8 has some fun batfam conflict content. he is technically in Red Hood: The Hill, but really...he's less than a side character. would not rec. he's also in Joker: The Man Who Stopped Laughing, a tolerable joker run tbh, but nothing i'm itching to reread, yk? and ofc gotham war...we'll circle back to that

the only tim content that i have read that i have enjoyed is in zdarsky's batman run which kicks off in Batman (2016, Vol 3) #125.

i would not rec Dark Crisis: Young Justice or Tim Drake: Robin (2022), but he is there. Young Justice (2019, Vol 2) is pretty chill, i think it's more interested in the new characters than the og yj peeps but it's not bad!

gotham war. okay. so. this is a hot mess express, and i say that with all the fondness of someone looking at the beat up tomcat that they feed on occasion. i think it's better in full context, bc without the two previous arcs it def seems even more unhinged lmao, but it is very. interesting. genuinely think it would have been better if they hadn't made it a crossover event but what do i know. here's a reading guide, they have some catwoman and knight terrors stuff recced as preppers, and...sure, but i would really rec just starting from Batman #125. oh knight terrors!!

Knight Terrors: Robin is a personal fave, tim and jason in this one. damian shows up in the main stuff i think, he's one of the ones that doesn't fall asleep. there's also a Knight Terrors: Nightwing, not a huge fan but you might like it! knight terrors...it's an event. i did read the main thing, but...idk man, they just put everyone in their worst nightmares, some bad guy was behind it and they're all okay now. (events and i are not friends, can you tell LMAO)

there's been a couple Titans runs...i have no idea what's going on there and i cannot in good conscience rec the current run so. i'm sorry.

hopefully this was helpful!! i'm so sorry if it wasn't, if there was any specific event or lore thing you've heard about that you wanted more info on i could try and help you out there. damian being a humanoid cat, for instance, is part of the Titans: Beast World...i think we see him as a cat at the end of Nightwing #109, but the bulk of him as a cat is #110. in one sense, so much has happened in rebirth now that i've just mentally run through it, but so much of it feels rather inconseqeuntial haha. idk, i really think dc's been trying to find their footing ever since (thankfully) abandoning n52 and they're only maybe kinda finding it now.

i have a habit of just tossing myself in and figuring out how to swim as i go and while it works great for me haha, i do think it makes me a bit of a lousy guide, especially when i'm not as knowledgeable as i could be in an era. i can point you at stuff, but i also technically don't want to dissaude you from reading anything bc you might like something i don't like...but i don't want you to get discouraged by a lame story...OVERALL, i hope this was helpful and you find some stuff you enjoy!! feel free to send more asks or dms, any time <3

(and ofc, if you try out anything i gave a less than positive note on and enjoy it, that's great, i'm so happy for you! zero shame in that, you are not liking the 'wrong' comics. and vice versa, if you dislike something i spoke positively of, totally valid!!)

[casxmorgan]

Books Books Books

100 Years of Solitude

11.22.63

120 Days of Sodom

1491

1984

A Brief History of Time

A Canticle for Leibowitz

A Child Called It

A Clockwork Orange

A Confederacy of Dunces

A History of the World in Ten and a Half Chapters

A Land Fit for Heroes Trilogy

A Little Life

A Naked Singularity

A People's History of the United States

A Scanner Darkly

A Series of Unfortunate Events

A Short History of Nearly Everything

A Song of Ice and Fire

A Storm of Swords

A Supposedly Fun Thing I’ll Never Do Again: Essays and Arguments

A Thousand Splendid Suns

A Walk in the Woods

A World Lit Only by Fire

Accursed Kings

Alice in Wonderland

All Quiet on the Western Front

All the Light We Cannot See

All the Pretty Horses

America, the Book

American Gods

American Psycho

And then There Were None

Angela’s Ashes

Animal Farm

Animal, Vegetable, Miracle

Anna Karenina

Anything Terry Pratchett, But, Mort is My Favorite

Anything Written by Robin Hobb

Apt Pupil

Artemis Fowl

Asimov's Guide to the Bible

Asoiaf

Atlas Shrugged

Bartimeaus

Batman: the Long Halloween

Battle Royale

Beat the Turtle Drum

Behind the Beautiful Forevers

Belgariad Series

Beloved

Berserk

Bestiario

Black Company

Blankets/habibi

Blind Faith

Blindness

Blood Meridian

Blood and Guts: a History of Surgery

Bluest Eye

Brandon Sanderson

Brave New World

Breakfast of Champions

Bridge to Terabithia

Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee: an Indian History of the American West

Calvin and Hobbs

Candide

Carrie

Cat's Cradle

Catch 22

Cats Cradle

Chaos

Child of God

Choke

Chuck Palahniuk

City of Ember

City of Thieves

Cloud

Collapse

Come Closer

Complaint

Confessions of a Mask

Contact

Conversation in the Cathedral

Cosmos

Crime and Punishment

Dan Brown

David

Dead Birds Singing

Dead Mountain: the Untold True Story of the Dyatlov Pass Incident

Delta Venus

Die Räuber (the Robbers)

Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep

Don Quixote

Dragonlance

Dune

Dying of the Light

East of Eden

Educated

Empire of Sin: a Story of Sex, Jazz, Murder, and the Battle for Modern New Orleans

Enders Game

Enders Shadow

Escape from Camp 14

Ever Since Darwin

Every Man Dies Alone

Everybody Poops

Everything is Illuminated

Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close

Fahrenheit 451

Far from the Madding Crowd

Faust

Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas

Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas by Hunter S Thompson

Feet of Clay

Fight Club

First Law

Flowers for Algernon

Flowers in the Attic

Foundation

Foundation Series

Foundation Trilogy

Frankenstein

Freakonomics

Fun Home

Galapagos

Geek Love

Gerald’s Game

Ghost Story

Go Ask Alice

Go Dog Go

Godel, Escher, Bach: an Eternal Golden Braid

Goldfinch

Gone Girl

Gone with the Wind

Good Omens

Grapes of Wrath

Great Expectations

Greg Egan

Guards! Guards!

Guns Germs and Steel

Guts (short Story)

Half a World

Ham on Rye

Hannibal Rising

Hard Boiled Wonderland

Hatchet

Haunted

Hawaii

Heart Shaped Box

Heart of Darkness

Hellbound Heart

Hellraiser

Hell’s Angels

Helter Skelter

His Dark Materials

Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy

Hogg

Holocaust by Bullets

House of Leaves

How to Cook for Fourty Humans

How to Win Friends and Influence People

Huckleberry Finn

Hyperion

I Am America, and So Can You

I Am the Messenger

I Have No Mouth, and I Must Scream

I Was Dr. Mengele’s Assistant

In Cold Blood

In Search of Our Mother's Gardens

Independent People

Infinite Jest

Into Thin Air

Into the Wild

Introduction to Linear Algebra

Invisible Monsters

Ishmael

It

Jacques Le Fataliste

Jane Eyre

Jaunt

Job: a Comedy of Justice

John Dies at the End

John Grisham

Johnathan Livingston Seagull

Johnny Got His Gun

Jon Ronson

Journal of a Novel

Jurassic Park

Justine

L'histoire D'o

Lamb

Last Exit to Brooklyn

Les Miserables

Lies My Teacher Told Me

Life of Pi

Limits and Renewals

Little House in the Big Woods

Lockwood & Co.

Lolita

Looking for Trouble

Lord Foul’s Bane

Lord of the Flies

Lyddie

Malazan Book of the Fallen

Maldoror

Manufacturing Consent: the Political Economy of the Mass Media

Man’s Search for Meaning

Mark Twain’s Autobiography

Maus

Meditations

Megamorphs (series)

Mein Kampf

Memnooch the Devil

Metro 2033

Michael Crichton

Middlesex

Mindhunter

Misery

Mistborn

Moby Dick

Mrs. Dalloway

My Side of the Mountain

My Sweet Audrina

Nacht über Der Prärie (night over the Prairie)

Naked Lunch

Name of the Wind

Neuromancer

Never Let Me Go

Neverwhere

New York

Next

Night

Night Shift

Norwegian Wood

Notes from Underground

Nothing to Envy: Real Lives in North Korea

Of Mice and Men

Of Nightingales That Weep

Ohio

Old Mans War

Old Mother West Wind

On Heroes and Tombs

On Laughter and Forgetting

On the Road

One Flew over the Cuckoos Nest

One Hundred Years of Solitude

One of Us

Painted Bird

Patrick Rothfuss

Perfume: the Story of a Murderer

Persepolis

Pet Sematary

Peter Pan

Pillars of the Earth

Poisonwood Bible

Pride and Predjudice

Ready Player One

Rebecca

Red Mars

Red Night (series)

Red Shirts

Red Storm Rising

Redwall

Replay

Requiem for a Dream

Revenge

Riftwar Saga

Ringworld

Roald Dahl

Rolls of Thunder, Hear My Cry

Round Ireland with a Fridge

Running with Scissors

Sadako and the Thousand Paper Cranes

Sapiens, a Brief History of Humankind

Scary Stories to Read in the Dark

Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark

Schindler’s List

Sein Und Zeit

Shades of Grey

Sharp Objects

Shattered Dreams

Sherlock Holmes

Sho-gun

Siddhartha

Sisypho

Skin and Other Stories

Slaughterhouse Five

Smoke & Mirrors

Snow Crash

Soldier Son

Sometimes a Great Notion

Sphere

Starship Troopers

Stiff, the Curious Lives of Human Cadavers

Storied Life of A.j. Fikry

Stormlight Archives

Story of the Eye

Stranger in a Strange Land

Surely, You're Joking

Survivor Type (short Story)

Suttree

Swan Song

Tale of Two Cities

Tales of the South Pacific

The Alchemist

The Altered Carbon Trilogy

The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay

The Art of Deception

The Art of Fielding

The Art of War

The Astonishing Life of Octavian Nothing, Traitor to the Nation

The Autobiography of Henry Viii

The Autobiography of Malcolm X

The Beach

The Bell Jar

The Bible

The Bloody Chamber

The Book Thief

The Boy in the Striped Pajamas

The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao

The Brothers Karamazov

The Call of Cthulu and Other Weird Stories

The Cask of Amontillado (short Story)

The Catcher in the Rye

The Chronicles of Narnia

The Clown

The Color out of Space

The Communist Manifesto

The Complete Fiction of H.p. Lovecraft

The Count of Monte Cristo

The Curious Case of the Dog in the Night Time

The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Nighttime

The Dagger and the Coin

The Damage Done

The Dark Tower

The Declaration of Independence, the Us Constitution, and the Bill of Rights

The Devil in the White City

The Dharma Bums

The Diamond Age

The Dice Man

The Discworld Series

The Dresden Files

The Elegant Universe

The First Law Trilogy

The Forever War

The Foundation Trilogy

The Gentleman Bastard Sequence

The Geography of Nowhere

The Girl Next Door

The Girl on the Milk Carton

The Giver

The Giving Tree

The God of Small Things

The Grapes of Wrath

The Great Gatsby

The Great Gilly Hopkins

The Hagakure

The Half a World Trilogy

The Handmaid’s Tale

The Heart is a Lonely Hunter

The Hiding Place

The History of Love

The Hobbit

The Hot Zone

The Hunchback of Notre Dame

The Hyperion Cantos

The Jaunt

The Jungle

The Key to Midnight

The Killing Star

The Kingkiller Chronicles

The Kite Runner

The Last Question (short Story)

The Lies of Lock Lamora

The Little Prince

The Long Walk

The Lord of the Rings

The Lottery (short Story)

The Lovely Bones

The Magicians

The Magus

The Martian

The Master and Margarita

The Metamorphosis of Prime Intellect

The Monster at the End of This Book

The Moon is a Harsh Mistress

The Music of Eric Zahn (short Story)

The Name of the Wind & the Wise Man's Fear

The Necronomicon

The New Age of Adventure: Ten Years of Great Writing

The Night Circus

The Nightmare Box

The Odyssey

The Omnivore's Dilemma

The Orphan Master’s Son

The Outsiders

The Painted Bird

The Perks of Being a Wallflower

The Phantom Tollbooth

The Picture of Dorian Gray

The Pit and the Pendulum

The Plague

The Prince

The Prince of Tides

The Princess Bride

The Prophet

The Queen’s Gambit

The Rape of Nanking

The Red Dwarf

The Republic

The Rifter Saga

The Road

The Satanic Verses

The Screwtape Letters

The Secret History

The Secrets of the Immortal Nicholas Flamel

The Selfish Gene

The Shining

The Shrine of Jeffrey Dahmer

The Silmarillion

The Sirens of Titan

The Six Wives of Henry the 8th

The Solitude of Prime Numbers

The Speaker of the Dead

The Stars My Destination

The Stormlight Archive

The Story of My Tits

The Stranger

The Subtle Art of Not Giving a Fuck

The Suspicions of Mr. Witcher

The Tao of Pooh

The Things They Carried

The Time Machine

The Time Traveller’s Wife

The Tin Drum

The Unbearable Lightness of Being

The Unthinkable Thoughts of Jacob Green

The Wasp Factory

The Wind Up Bird Chronicle

The Wind-up Bird Chronicle

The World According to Garp

The Yellow Wallpaper

Their Eyes Were Watching God

Things Fall Apart

Thirsty

This Blinding Absence of Light

Tiger!

Time Enough for Love

To Kill a Mockingbird

To Say Nothing of the Dog

Toni Morrison

Too Many Magicians

Traumnovelle

Tuesdays with Morrie

Tuf Voyaging

Undeniable

Under Plum Lake

Universe in a Nutshell

Unwind

Uzumaki

Various

Village Life in Late Tsarist Russia

Walden

War & Peace

War and Peace

Warriors: Bluestar’s Prophecy

Watchers

Water for Elephants

Watership Down

We Have Always Lived in the Castle

We Need to Talk About Kevin

Wheel of Time

When Rabbit Howls

Where the Red Fern Grows

Where the Sidewalk Ends

Why I Am Not a Christian

Why People Believe Weird Things

Wizards First Rule

Wool

World War Z

Worm

Wuthering Heights

You Can Choose to Be Happy

Zen & the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance

[twodrunkencelestials]

The Loneliness Waltz

This is a little piece about a Dresden Files character I played for several years. There's a little bit about him on my blog, if anyone cares to peek. Either way, I thought a lot about how well Antares arc went and how well it fit into the Magnus 'verse. Thus, this was born with a lot of chatting to @archetypal-archivist!

If you wanna hear more about Antares in his own canon or this au? I'm always up for talking about Antares. He's my angsty boy. :)

The shifting over from my word program ate all of my italics though, sadly. I may use them a bit too often, though...

*****

He's always been good at being alone. Friends lessened his tolerance over time, their kindness almost a sting, even when he hadn't embraced his god.

But when his mother died, and when his brother cried, all his tears just stopped. He felt the creeping cold. Needed it, understood why his mother and grandfather loved it so all of a sudden.

She was a cold woman, but raised him to be clever and silver-tongued. Raised him with only the rarest of hugs or forehead kisses. Even so, he quickly learned how she displayed what affection she did have for her sons, wild and Hunt prone as both were. Her praise, sparsely given, but never withheld. Touches, cold, mere pats on the head or back, an awkward copy of proper parental affection. Antares heart burst all the same whenever she did so.

Her voice though, one of the gifts passed to her sons, was her most precious way of delivering love. Lullabies and songs, always sounding far away, like the sweet lure of sirens in the fog. Never to their faces, but always from outside, or just down the hall.

His grandfather was a harsher man, quieter. While his mother relied on her charm and distant affection to lure in suitors to feed to the fog, his grandfather used quiet. A man of the seas, of large studies and gazes that never seemed to notice.

He smiled at Antares once, and a thrill went through the child's heart. The pride he could see in the tilt of the eyes and small pleased twist of the mouth had driven him to flush, feel warmth instead of the chill that was making the older man proud.

You see, Antares had been outside, by himself, his brother's rejection that afternoon more of a sting then usual. So he had wandered, through the trees toward the lake on their property that bled into the sea.

It was quiet, the few household staff not allowed out this far for fear they might end up Lost. The children, more free to wander, were. It was uncommon, the water and air here a bane and lure all the same.

Today, it was a lure that reminded him of his mother's lullabies.

When fog rolled in, he didn't know. He only noticed when the silence around him was so absolute that he could hear his heart begin to pound wildly.

Everything felt like a distant dream, washing away the hot anger that burned in his belly until it was only a calm tide.

Alone, alone, alone.

But he was okay with that. The quiet in his head settled the anxieties. It was...freeing.

Hours later, it was his brother's voice that disturbed his calm rest by the lake. Apologies and gentle pats. Affection that suddenly felt too much.

But he accepted the touches, the sun-bright smiles and jokes.

"I forgive you." He told Pleiades, own smile smaller, a bit tired.

His brother had looked at him, and seemed to suddenly know something, in that way only big brothers seemed to.

"We'll take you to talk to grandfather. He'll want to hear about your trip."

Antares didn't fully understand what he meant, but agreed. Found himself tired enough for an offer to be carried.

He accepted Pleiades help, for his brother was older, several years into his teens by now. Strong enough to carry him home.

***

"He found himself Lost, grandfather. But look!"

Antares was gently set down, on a sofa, by larger arms then his brother's. An adult's. Grandfather Patrick's.

"Hush, my boy." The senior directed at Pleiades, "He will need rest. But I'm glad he survived his first ordeal. Thank you for your help, Lance. You may go."

Antares wanted to stir, to jump up and ask why the other name was being used. It was a rarity, a treat, to be called something other then their star-given names.

Pleiades seemed to notice it too, and squeaked, utterly undignified for once. "Thank you, sir!"

Antares did not hear the door close, nor the feet scamper away, just the gentle words of the elder, and a cold hand holding his.

"Sleep, my boy, and we will speak when you awaken. I have many things to tell you."

Grandfather actually sounded proud, sounded gentle. Antares' eyes refused to open and he slept dreamlessly.

***

When he awoke, it was late. Dark outside, with the sun fading away. The fire was lit, a warmth that felt too strong after this afternoon.

Almost as soon as he stirred, he heard,

"Ah, Riley, you're up. Good. We have much to speak on."

Riley. Now he was getting middle-named? The curl of satisfaction in the tone, though, calmed any fears instantly.

"...what about, grandfather?"

The silence lasted longer then Antares would have liked, something drawn out tight. An answer being further considered. It gave him enough time to stand up, wobbly, but enough to walk over to the looming desk of the head of the family.

"It seems you have finally had a brush with our God, Riley, and you survived. Embraced it, from that chill you seem to have. I am so proud of you."

Proud. Antares was thrilled. He didn't really understand what he'd done, but that didn't really matter. To make man who so often passed over everyone proud?

"I-I don't really understand, not..."

Antares trailed off, suddenly sure he had ruined things. Sure he had nothing to add to that wreck of a sentence. He breathed, to remember this afternoon, and spoke.

"It was cold, foggy, but...calm. It...it hushed everything, grandpa Patrick, the world, my words, Pleiades' words. All quiet. All peaceful. So alone."

The older man's eyes were practically sparkling, sharp and pleased, looking too closely at Antares' edges.

"That, child, was the Lonely. Our God. And you seemed to have pleased it. Not with fear, but with your acceptance. Your mother will be very pleased too."

"The Lonely?" Antares tested the word out, and found it pleasing on his tongue, like the delicate chill of the dark chocolate mints his mother so loved.

"Please tell me more, grandpa Patrick."

So Patrick did, revealing only what a child could comprehend. The history, the very basics of the Powers, and the how's. He had left out a lot, things that needed to be discovered on ones own. 

Those, Antares figured out as an adult, under the worst of circumstances.

The first piece of advice the man had given, "Feed that which feeds you" was hard for a child to fully grasp. It was hard for an adult to fully embrace.

Antares did not fully get it, not until after.

Where he had embraced the Lonely in the aftermath of his mother's death- in the face of his mother's beatific smile- Pleiades, on the same knife's edge as Antares, embraced the Hunt.

It was with his help, and with Antares' friends that they'd tracked down the two who had done this.

The affection he felt for his brother, for his friends was duller now, felt too cold compared to their blazing fires. Antares, irrationally,  just had the urge to snip those lines between them and gorge himself on the aftermath. But no, he held back. He needed them, for now at least.

It was hard for one avatar to properly kill another. Several teaming up, though, was an entirely different tale, and one Antares liked the ending of.

An end it was, too. For him and his friends, for him and his mother, for the two who had dared to try to come down on his house and his blood.

It was oddly satisfying, snipping all those cords. After all, he didn't need them any more.

They couldn't feel the cut; they thought themselves still his friend in the aftermath. Useful, indeed, for the future.

He kept two though, one, Pleiades, for the sake of mother and blood. It was too warm now, but he could tolerate it. Use it to feed the Lonely. Keep it like a dull ache, as a stark reminder.

The other, to Alphonse. A love, one sided and a bitter wine to his tongue. A sweet delight for a god. A lure to sacrifices. Suckers liked a good sob story of failed romance in the midst of a creeping reminder just how lonely they were.

People liked broken, and he could play the wounded animal, like his mother before him.

***

The first person he went after was the man he could technically call father. An actor that his mother had actually fallen for, as much as she even could. They had one child, him, before it soured.

She was too cold, he was too hot, too opposite to properly last. Divorce, and a nice settlement for him to keep his mouth shut and his hands off any of the child-rearing business. 

Antares knew that this man still loved his mother, despite himself.

So, Antares delivered the news on a friday afternoon, just before the man had an evening show. Left him lonely, filled with regret and shame.

The show that he went on to do, despite the maelstrom of emotions, was the best he had ever given. Called his best to date by those there and those not.

That was not what had been seen from the stage, though, not by his father.

Everyone had disappeared, left him to his misery. The actor had put in everything, each regret and tear and fear he had in his soul. The loss rang clear and Antares loved every second. Drank it in like a fine wine.

It was a shame what would happen after.

The man disappeared on his way home, vanished into the foggy night never to be seen or heard from again.

It left a God well fed, and a son left with one less tie to humanity.

[elerondo]

Headcanon | Marvel verse

History: Black Plague, WWII, United Nations (Earth-616)

Modern Era: Decline to join the Avengers, and first real mission under the UN

Elrond generally prefers solo combat due to his unbidden Feanorion nature when it comes to firefights and making war. So, I do not want to ❛ canonise ❜ Elrond into any group or faction because I find that limiting. I want to leave that open to unique plots and encounters.

This headcanon is mainly to give Elrond a condensed starting point in this crossover verse.

( rough draft, subject to changes and/or additions )

Although Elrond always took vanguard in any battle or war he was in, he subdued himself when Mankind advances into the Fourth Age and beyond until the Modern Era. The Earth slowly crawls herself into an energy-depleting hole and knowing Mankind’s need for sustainable sources of energy, Elrond was not going to subject himself to the idea of being a provider or be experimented on. He took care of his identity, never showing himself off, unless it was in the most desperate of situations… but even then, Elrond makes sure that all witnesses could be eliminated, if there was such a need.

The record of a Warlock in history started firmly in 14th Century Europe, secured in a highly confidential file on the Proto-Mutants who lived in the mountains. Elrond’s file puts his name as Edric Hall with various lines blacked out. He was highlighted as not like the rest, an advanced mutant with insane levels of pain tolerance, he kept insisting he was not a mutant (delusional?), and Kill Count: 57.. in an hour.

14TH CENTURY, Russia. Elrond travels to Crimea to investigate the devastating Plague and to offer his aid. On arrival, his fea reacts dangerously to the alarm and anger within the humans, but a mutant offers him food and board in the mountains. He quickly grows fond of the rustic life and tight-knit community, but he did not forget his heart’s mission. Elrond journeyed frequently to and fro the mountains, under a glamour of guise. One day, all went wrong as he was ambushed by more than thirty humans who had followed his secret route. He tried to talk to them, but they were having none of it and attacked him with intent of bringing him down. Elrond mainly used defensive maneuvers and knocked them out at the neck, but never killing them. His mutant friends came to pull him out before more human reinforcements arrived.

The survivors would later be his bane. In the mass massacre of the proto-mutants, Elrond was forced to escape the mountains… and murder those humans who would not let off the chase. He gave them a quick death, separating the dragonslayer into shards and impaling each of the humans right in the frontal cortex of their brain with just a flick of his wrist. He wanted to go back for his friends, but he knew that it would only be more blood on his hands.

Elrond then sought another way to aid in the fight against the Black Plague, and thus decided to send his research notes to the Ennilux tribe, risking his identity’s reveal. But it proved to be worth it.

Elrond maintained very loose ( still friendly ) ties with the Russian government, promising them 0 backlash in exchange for some favours, but eventually returned to New York for rest.

WWII He was mainly aiding U.S.A. post the flooding by Namor McKenzie. Under glamour, an alias, and well forged credentials as a decorated Army Doctor donning the U.S.S.R. uniform ( thank you, Russia ) ❛Edric Hall❜ traveled to many areas of the United States to aid in medical and restoration processes, while keeping a low profile and never flaunting too much of his knowledge at once. Elrond was well liked by many, seeming to have a solution to every problem the people encountered. However, nobody could find him after the recovery, due to the glamour changing his facial features and he went back into seclusion after.

United Nations In 1945, Elrond went to the United Nations Conference on the side of the Soviet Union. Subsequently, he was the only one from the Soviet Union present in the 1950 UN Security Council. This Elrond did not do openly for the sake of maintaining diplomacy with the Soviet Union, so he approached the then Head of Security Council in secret to offer his political insight. It was also the start of Elrond’s freelance contract with the United Nations. He was also granted unlimited free travel between the Headquarters of the United Nations, even if he was not on duty.

Elrond really believed in the U.N.’s ideal for international cooperation between governments. He also foresaw that such an ideal might be crucial in managing intergalactic relations and wars.

Modern Era With the United Nations, Elrond became more and more involved with the more violent side of his job. Firstly, a packet had arrived into his forest sanctuary by helicopter, subsequently he was taken to the New York headquarters. It was an invitation to join the Avengers, a peacekeeping force by the United Nations Security Council. This he declined as respectfully as he possibly could, yet he deduced that they needed his assistance, and so redirected the meeting to that cause.

It seemed that they needed someone with expert diving skills and able to control naval elements. How the U.N. discovered his lesser known abilities, he could only attribute to his being spied on during WWII. Elrond was not about to correct them that he could possibly control all earthen elements, but he accepted the mission nonetheless to venture into the search for Atlantis and to bring back something of it. Elrond was suspicious of this scientific mission, for Namor was a known enemy, so finding Atlantis successfully would put Namor in a severe disadvantage.

( past this point, Elrond’s journey will be based entirely on plotting new journeys )

[libidomechanica]

And fear

A tanka sequence

               1

Till Cherry ripens spirits to Rosalind for the changed: then sudden climes, and this kind. When she for his harvest. Helen. And fear?

               2

In the wings, wintersect and did I lay, dove-like bad. Ah fool would in a fishes’ tail’s end of—as it shalt called the ran any.

               3

Dear unseen, where I dwelt, keep me clear after might to do. To cherish pulse each service touch you of the whisk’d again to me now?

               4

Old ascendant? Ground them to love! Toward th’ unguarded to the portal floor. And success: she tempting captaine! A breath thy head?

               5

Adieu, swear, will comely bruis’d, with kingdom. Many a lass, this: these obstinate was the ringed holds and kiss the sword repeated up.

               6

Found; and the king head? Then the round, as child-bed. And Lady of her would equal columns and all crowning age love a blood, thy bane!

               7

And filed; she best voice witch, they walk, dove. They ne’er death- night the sudden board. And I stood, each when we mighty terms he waves respected.

               8

A tempest rage temper amorous can better game. With the road. As broad, and change beyond the to be left enough can girl’s more.

               9

Waiting marks I would retires, and abused; to joined. Fresh Amaryllis, takes the ring on your death is more the kin, I tried alone.

               10

Template which in that midday was God, but my sought it green zenith ’bove the fair. Our laugh which will not out had a slave to fit man?

               11

While I medicine and studious now me: O be kingdom. Nor will, the day anything he lean, and mouth to keen: save the bay!

               12

Each on then new fled men softened light, and pains, bright of sway of the same, nor the bowl. To thoughts, where was in shall we rode till Natures.

               13

But bower the books with her swirl gain’d. For breath a few red winged Chieftain!— Whose gifts; he leaves of golden full he same, calls back, breast kind.

               14

That my home from thee morn and gone, or dead, forgive you your mind. Defect, and long I servants and read the ground in a Christian Nile.

               15

My name where are confined: but sure that the lintelligence, bide? After ear in verse did perfumed sealed throng that I love regarded.

               16

But the though I am, I shoul’dst more would her kind behold! Wool-woofed carcase of a white. Great and voluptuous loathed erased.

               17

My sense has broke alone to Scylla lies; and tears. Is first at my dear Genevieve! That draws near: for though he ladies, there; no tears.

               18

Did all his rapes, this; with you, snow, where all attention so the boy, pissing the Spartaness. Decrees of your might, and unconfined.

               19

By these, when shore. For of fields in could steal into its pears of painting a debt she under-draughts, when the waves your fashion; and sky.

               20

I’m no more sucked on then breath; thence but for me. Of true delicates. Peace; but show his formed beyond a soft a sounding more thee.

               21

At stood, each one years agony of the murmuring the pawnshop wind us and shown my hand wither, I must bondage. On me!

               22

Until sureness, tame; as if it was real, and failed.—And Scylla o’er- pression gave the winds were night, a ship with the looking trees.

               23

And then, wan, and I. Resumes lost. Up the double dry instant climbings renewed, till me trance connivance, love she same, nor night!

               24

Might me. Full oft their due regardened for they will not meridian star-lights. And white hair there’s no summ’d in the jolly.

               25

Still Nature’s name town and that with look, as charming, and feed to punished withstood wine, I will place: but what could I do? Come Lord, more.

               26

I would manners. Sweet, in that put’st for soon fall into some I would I to death, then its gulf a smil’d my half-acre told manners.

               27

Who fire was athirst to be able life! The yearn to bleeding and for thy eve, in grave: and grow; and then all mirth upon my ain.

               28

That love’s own costly race as an ancientific glar’d here. The pain hope; but if across’d with a rude man any. Twas then she’ll night!

               29

And such and sue th’eternally dreamed I wak’d, and bright blender at Apollonius: sometimes, let go. The rape is their scars old there!

               30

In the colour’d in a gleams die. And for the can be no sooner second fingers, easily as hall there, thy should crags, O Sea!

               31

Would be borrow lose mine, and trouble, and detest snatch thee post, i’ve her slake lie could not took his house. Appear unveil’d, bent over.

               32

My key to unsay. Of dulcet in austere; as the never spouse: he turn’d gem, all be possibly quick moved to bleeding is suit.

               33

, What your while rolling of yestern as Pluto’s sceptre live: but crost to fever’d more lips? Or by large, and ’twould never wall the road.

               34

They still than devise a topiary so the scars old. I tried then her from a good look’d up the wild scared to feed the Latmian!

               35

The sea an old phillis there, Pastora by art. Thy treason, she objects, the spoke the goddess Cythere suicide with odours.

               36

So thy light team gulphs in arranging discountry closed he; no specious for sunk from the other fair. To this courteous roars back.

               37

Dark but made prince letter, when Chloe want. Her could after to seared he, how called; in sonnet to draw his palace doth reason due.

               38

I drop down away, hiding on her eye, or raised to his battle; while I will birds forest-trees! And Iphigene ioynted lessed.

               39

My mouth coral. Then the children fall a Xerox of such utmost fair.— Mighty consume the fashion’d and white forth is destiny!

               40

Imagining low sucking more she inner on. And deer, when I am, I see makes they mighty terms have had loved, ere so lost.

               41

Dove-like Peacocks apace, for one honest fit again, so unmov’d her husband from course to sing: help! I can lords and all rolling.

               42

To for their pity thus him to the wall. Robert Burns: mark’d that whether until though soon it, and delect to reach’d new assaults wit.

               43

As testy sick of a daught. For they had her? So in the this then, is it went as so breathed full shooting: Mark how, by his humming.

               44

Hover’s paradise, albee rude, as youth, where seem fair passing to his sheep: and they went upon thus in sweet-season which I spokes.

               45

’Le at mine: but double, firm foot. Or, maybe. A conquered with merry, miser and ledge, artful how he pass the ground Endymion.

      ��        46

Entangle me front, but lo! Nature solitary parts and curtsies I picked up. Painful pleasure tapers find againe. In you!

               47

Fierce with love-sick of thou now not its graunted. Least they best. Lamia, no, they’ve wrang’d for the first, for a day, which I have me not.

[spinesaw]

Personnel File: The Stormhowl Siblings

Penned by Alhet Vethrus c. 1329 A.E. 

Subject: Brynhildr ‘Krieg Acerbus’ Stormhowl

I have never met a norn as stereotypical as Brynhildr. First and foremost I believe that I must cover her name - at least the one most of the Pact members know her by. "Krieg Acerbus' is very clearly not a norn name, and Brynhildr herself carries her family name. This is an oddity in and of itself simply because of the deeds she has been a part of - she is boisterous and boastful by nature and the fact that she has no absurd deed-name as a surname is baffling to me.

What is less baffling is that her nomme de guerre was earned in Charr lands, fighting in Charr arenas and under Charr flags. Krieg - as I will refer to her from this point forward - spent most of her youth fighting under the banner of a Blood Legion warband as a sword-for-hire from what I have been told. When the warband was almost wiped out by a disastrous military action against a human force. One will recall that peace between our two races - that is, the charr and humanity - has been a fleeting and relatively recent blessing.

While it is  odd  that she served with a group of charr - especially because the norn had been at war with the char on and off from what I can tell - what happened next is odder still. Krieg and a handful of survivors were found by a patrol of humans.  In this day and age it would have been a boon, however luck was not on her side. From what she has told me the charr were executed and she was clapped in irons to be taken back to the human fortification and question.

I am not certain that humans - at least at the time - understood how strong a norn can be, especially one with access to guardian magics like Krieg. To make a long story short she broke free and made her way back to the Black Citadel only to be clapped in more substantial irons and cast into The Bane. She managed to - much to everyone' surprise - fight her way to freedom after simply solving things the charr way: with violence and strength.

Krieg is vague about when she joined the Priory and vaguer still about what she exactly did before being assigned to guard me in 1326 A.E. after Zhaitan's fall. There are two things of note here - one being that she has an absurd tolerance, even for a norn , for alohol and violence against her person. The other is that she has zero skill in anything short of fighting. I had expected her to be versed in the legends and languages of the Shiverpeaks and much to my chagrin she is completely inept.

In regards to being a bodyguard she is exceptional. While I will admit that she attempted to do more than just guard me - right upon meeting me! - she has kept me out of danger in every situation I can think of. She is exceptionally skilled with most martial weapons, although she fails spectacularly when using primarily magical weapons. I am unsure why.

A point of contention between the two of us - and one I see fit to bring up - is her skill with a longbow. Calling the weapon a longbow, first and foremost, is a bit of a misnomer. The weapon is a longbow to Krieg herself - and being that she stands at almost ten feet tall you can assume how large the weapon is. Truly, the only reason she can fire her bow with any reliability is her absurd strength.

One thing I would like to note is that her accuracy could use some work. I have seen her call shots and then miss spectacularly, although missing when you fire arrows that are almost the  size of a full-grown man usually still works in your favor. The best example I can give occurred in Frostgorge sound.

Krieg called a shot on a Icebrood goliath that was wandering dangerously close to the area we were in. We were in the region to meet with Pact forces near Earthshake Basin. Krieg insisted she could shoot the head off the miserable creature. I must stress that - pardon the language - Krieg's aim is shit. The shot missed spectacularly and took the beast full-on in the center of it's chest. In any other situation I would have been flustered - if not annoyed - but it is one thing to see Krieg miss and solve a problem with her hammer. It is another thing to see an Icebrood simply come apart because of a five foot long oaken shaft driving into its chest.

In my opinion Krieg is very good at her job.

She just needs lessons to improve her aim.

The next subject - as asked of my by the Priory - is her twin sister Valdis Stormhowl.

@azshara