#'youre the william i know and love' VINE BOOM

[go-k-art-er]

i actually think about shipping a more often than i let on i just dont talk about it as much to avoid being cringe but just know that ghostknife is constantly haunting my waking moments at all times

[ravenadottir]

Yo! I had so many questions I wanted to ask you while you were gone but I of course wasn’t gonna send in asks while you were on hiatus! I wanted you to have peace. But I should have written them down!! 😭

Now I only have this one question. I saw your ask to Mango about Chelsea’s super power and now I want your take on this. Not on Chelsea but an islander or islanders of your choice. What super powers would you give your favorite islanders? They can have more than one power like super heroes do if you feel like it fits.

hi! i missed you!

oh oh oh oh!! anything you remember, send it my way! i need something to help me wake up from this brain coma i've been in. i blame cmm for that...

ok, so i love this question, thank you for sending it to me! i'll definitely focus on a lot of them because well, i love the genre, and i love talking about them 🥺

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

lucas

fire. he's able to start it, besides dominating and bending it over to his own will. sometimes uses it for (partial) evil and more. being the anti hero i think he is, i would LOVE to see lucas playing with fire while delivering a speech that instigates the good guy in front of him. in a cool, well cut, all black suit with just one (1) red scarf on the lapel, or his neck, he would look amazing sending blazes everywhere! i even have a song for him: play with fire. aaaah the idea of lucas and fire sends me to heaven, hell, purgatory and back! he can be like tuxedo mask, regarding how he annoys everyone with his smugness.

gary

colossus. strength and possibility of turning into a dense metal at will? gary is perfect for it! he has the body shape and weight, and the skills for the maintenance. picture this: you walk down the hallway to go to the bathroom, only to hear him moaning in there. you're uncomfortable, thinking the worst, only to open the door and see him oiling his joints and almost falling on the floor. "a little help? i can't reach some places..." please, give me metal body gary, it would clear all my trauma! plus, as he is in the villa, he would exercise his comic relief role.

carl

brainiac with technology/time bending. (@lasswithumor's idea for 'time' makes me smile! thank you for the inspo!) not actual brainiac from dc though, let me explain. i always get the sense carl could be tony stark or bruce wayne, minus the assholery. he's much humbler and quiet, but still very capable. as for time bending being his power, it could make him overcome this sense of running out of time he always seems to have. he might have a hardship about it because he never seems to find a balance, so this skill is probably the only thing he could actually be good at, and benefit from.

noah

talking to the dead, like klaus hargreeves. something i would love to see is how tormented he would be while it happens. distressed noah is a beautiful concept, and part of the reason why he would be such a troubled character. picture this: he uses those people to fight in exchange of favors, like finding out who killed them, or to tell their families how peaceful they are now, among other things. noah and ghosts ring different to me, and the thought of him being troubled? even more! not like klaus, but definitely close to that. i love that "short temper" side of him, and in this context, it would be perfect. plus, his looks being similar to something from the 1920's, without the hat. so white shirt, suspenders, dark brown pants. ugh, he would look so good in it!

henrik

vines and plant banding, like layla williams in sky high. there's no other answer for him. i thought about making him avalanche, from x men, but i see him more connected to plants than any other element of nature. the way he would smirk and grow a small vine around his pinky while talking about a brilliant idea he just had? PLEASE. GIVE - IT - TO - ME, I LIVE FOR SMUG HENRIK! and you can be damn sure his looks would include this ponytail, by @juggalohenrik.

kassam

at first i thought invisibility, because of his personality and how he behaves in groups, but then it hit me, supersonic scream. he can take his frustrations out on a single booming scream and be done with it. i would love to see kassam being teased and beat up, only to get up from the ground, scrapes all over, bloody nose, only to position himself and close his fists to focus, before delivering a resounding scream to round it up real nicely. that's definitely a power he would find useful and excels in. the visuals definitely don't hurt either!

bobby

he's a very peculiar boy, and so his powers would have to be too. it might sound crazy, but hear me out! laughter inducement. the power itself can cause the person to laugh so hard, eventually the air is expelled from their lungs and they have quite the death! it's gruesome and i love it, it's the perfect juxtaposition between it and bobby's personality that is so bubbly. picture this: battlefield, gary smugly says "i guess that's the only way you could make someone laugh." to which bobby replies with a laugh "including you, tin can" while making colossus!gary laugh and fall on the floor because of it. it might require lots of energy, so bobby can't always cause mass laughter, just like in the villa... jk jk jk! i just know his uniform would be clown like, before priya adjusted to a beautiful dark teal piece. before that? goofy pink mask and cape with sprinkles, and tights everywhere else. he would also be the type of hero that is a comic relief. ironically, in this case.

lottie

rogue. the power and the visuals fit in so well! sucking up someone's power and/or energy SCREAMS lottie's personality all over! if i could adjust it so the girl doesn't manifest it unless she wants to, that's even better. lottie with dark hair and a streak of platinum, or the opposite, would look another level and i'm here for it! plus, the gloves... AAAAH THE GLOVES. she would smirk before taking them off and turning that grin into a determined smug expression before touching her enemy. PLEASE!

priya

TURNING - PEOPLE - INTO - GOLD. i said what i said. similar to medusa's power of turning people into stone. flowy dresses for the goddess looks, a smirk on her lips while she does it, and golden shiny eyes that glow bright when she throws her gold curse upon her enemy! she's goofy, so you know she has a cheesy catchphrase, but i can't think of anything right now. it's there, i just need to find it.

hope

mind control. CAN I JUST SAY? she practically has that power already. being persuasive and having the power of negotiation the way she already does would fit in perfectly. and if i may add, storm looks like the uniform and the "bright white eyes" while it happens???also! hope as the person who plans the attacks and defense.

marisol

persuasion. similar to allison hargreeves. one word and they will do it. at first i considered super strength, for being so unexpected to someone that petit, but if you account for her personality, persuasion as a super power is so much cooler! plus, she doesn't have to try hard, the seed of argumentation is already there. in her origin story you could have marisol having a moral grey area where she debates whether or not using those powers in court. i would love to see this dilemma and her going through it, since there's a clear distinction in what she considers right and wrong, and the ethically correct options to choose. as looks go, all she needs is a suit, similar to the prom one, and definitely a ponytail and gloves.

ibrahim.

flying and speed. something about rahim screams traditional super hero persona and i can't help but stir into it. he's perfect for the superman alter ego, the one that talks about justice and fights the big guy for the little ones. rahim has a way of going around and making people's lives better, at least that's how i see him. i asked for @itsrealityboo 's approval about this, because you know, she's the authority on golf boy, and she added something really cool that i hadn't thought about: "I will say that I could definitely see Rahim as a part of a team tho, like the fantastic four! I think because of his insecurities, he’s need some type of support system or even older mentor. He’d definitely go through that awkward phase of learning how to manage his powers if he wasn’t born with them lol"

i definitely agree after reading it, it makes so much sense! i don't know if that need comes from being the younger brother, or having those expectations at home (about being suave and all) but that would for sure be a part of his origin story as a superhero.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

in case you missed the asks i sent about superpowers, here is chelsea, by mango, and elisa, by kc

[sam-i-am-27]

The Haunting and Killings of Iplier Manor

Summary: Mark Iplier Manor has always been a subject of great mystery and a possible investigation for Ryan and Shane. So when they finally go, thinking it’ll just be another ‘haunted’ home, they are in for a real surprise...

Word Count: 3,854

Thank you to my amazing editor, Jay, aka @pastel-and-gore​. They are an amazing human bean who deserves the world! I can’t believe they can put up with my multiple doc bullshit and continue to edit but I am so grateful for them doing this. I literally cannot say thank you enough, my dude.

A/N: This is not a script. This is how I believe the experience Ryan and Shane would have in the manor would go if they visited. The reason not everything Also, everything in bold would be where the visuals would be and is the ‘script’ that Ryan wrote.

“I don’t like this, Shane. Like really don't like this,” Ryan said, looking up at the Manor they'd be covering in this new video. The sense of death hung in the air, something Ryan had felt at almost every single place they've filmed, but it never got easier to experience. It was even worse here, the air was so heavy that it was almost tangible.

“You say that everywhere we go,” Shane argued, glancing at the door and patio.

“Yeah, but none of the places has so many sales and ownership transfers for the same reason!” he sighed. “Let's just get some daytime, outdoor shots and then get inside. We’re doing this alone, remember? The landlords didn’t want to ‘risk’ more than two people at a time. And that’s something that’s already a horrible thought.”

“Whatever dude. His loss,” Shane said, turning on his camera and walking to the left. 

As Ryan walked around the house, the mere sight of it gave him chills. Not because it was creepy, but because it wasn't. While weeds and grass were overgrown in the nearby gardens, the house remained very intact, only the occasional chipped brick or vine. Other than that, it was in perfect condition. The mansion itself was confusing and he felt like he was walking in circles. Was that chessboard always there? How many times had he passed by the pond-sized pool?

When he finally caught up with Shane, he felt thoroughly dizzy.

“Dude there’s a golf course and a giant chessboard!” his friend said, holding a few of their lights.

“Yeah, I saw it. Multiple times,” Ryan muttered, glancing at the setting sun. “Let's get inside before it gets too dark.”

Opening the door and walking inside was just as unnerving as walking outside. The door hinges barely creaked and the wood floor was completely unmarked, except to the right of the entrance.

“Murderers! We’re here for a murder!”

“Shut up, let’s just go inside,” Ryan said, rushing in behind Shane.

“Hey check out this mirror,” Shane said, pointing his camera at a broken mirror on the other side of the foyer.

“Yeah, there was a bit of shooting in the house during the time it was occupied. A bullet must have hit it,” Ryan snapped. “Let's just find a place to set up.”

Twenty minutes later, they had situated their equipment, Ryan's heart was still pounding in fear. Where had that very obvious and close lightning come from on such a clear night?

“Ryan, come on. Do it for the folks at home!” Shane said, patting him on the back. Ryan sighed and nodded.

“Yeah, let's do this shit and get out of here.”

They sat down in front of the rolling cameras and Ryan held up three fingers. Then two. One.

“This week on a special episode of Buzzfeed: Unsolved, we cover the mysterious hauntings and deaths within the Northern California home, Markiplier Manor,” he narrated. “Not only is this house reportedly haunted by dozens of real estate agents who have tried to sell it to new owners, but apparently, it is the sight of one of the cruelest, most motivated and quite frankly, one of the strangest killings we’ve ever covered.”

“Well I don’t know if this is true or not, so I’m holding back all judgement,” Shane said. 

“Well other than you don’t believe that it’s haunted.” 

“Obviously.”

Ryan laughed and sat back up straight. “Anyways, we’re investigating the hauntings and killings…” No lightning. “The killings of Mark Iplier Manor. For the sake of video length, the fact that this video will be part of the Supernatural season, and for my own sanity, we won’t be going much into the mystery of the killings itself and focusing more on the ghosts that haunt this place. Also, I’m not going to use the word M-U-D-E-R because according to reports, the word seemed to be a trigger word of sorts for whatever spirits haunt this place.”

“Murrrd...ock,” Shane taunted.

“L- let's just get into this… Before we begin, there are two things that need to be noted. One, for reasons unknown, many of the people in this story have no recorded history, last names or legal records. So all information I am giving has holes and is from news released to the public or from reports of one of our characters that were found abandoned in different locations. Second, there is background information that needs be covered before we can go over the deaths that occurred here.” He pulled out the script. “Mark Iplier Manor was built and owned by the parents of their son, Mark Iplier, who they named the house after.”

“Already I know he’s a fuckboy.”

“What do you mean by that?”

"Come on, you name a multi-storied manor in the middle of Northern California after your son, the kid’s going to be spoiled rotten!” Shane said, making Ryan laugh.

“Well he was, but we’ll get back to that a little while later,” Ryan agreed. “As a child, Mark spent a majority of his time with his three friends, William Jackson Barnum and siblings Damien and Celine, no surname recorded. When they were older, Mark and Celine fell in love and eventually got married, living in this Manor with a hired a butler named Benjamin, no last name given, and a Chef who only went by the name Chef.”

“Benjamin the Butler and Chef Chef?!” Shane chuckled. “Where there any other names like… William the Ward?”

“Shut up and let me do this quickly. Damien remained unmarried and moved on to run for mayor. William, unmarried but publically jealous of Celine and Mark's relationship, became a Private in the military, working as the employer of Chef for a time, and eventually a Colonel. After he was done with the military, he reconciled with Mark and managed to convince his friend to fund millions into expeditions.”

“Millions for a guy who wanted to fuck his wife!” Shane laughed. “’Oh hey dude, I wanna go do some Jumanji shit with your WIFE. Can I have a few million dollars?’”

Ryan laughed uncontrollably for a second. “He had money to spare and at the time, I think he was in a state of shock that rendered him a little incapable of processing how fucked up this situation was.”

“Yeah because no one realizes when their wife has gone missing with their best friend.”

Ryan chuckled and shuffled his papers, shivering as a draft blew through the room but ignoring it to continue the explanation. “By the time that William had returned, he hadn't made nearly enough to pay off his debts to Mark. This led to the two friends growing farther and farther apart, leaving William financially crippled. But Celine, who was still studying the mystic arts, was growing closer to William. The two didn't keep their relationship very secret and one day, William ran off with Celine, leaving Mark alone and broken in a reportedly haunted house.”

“Okay, so obviously the Colonel dude and Mark had some rough patches,” Shane said.

“Oh you think?!” Ryan asked, unable to hold back a small laugh.

“So what about Damien?” Shane asked. “Was he like ‘Oh my sister’s fucking my two best friends who want to kill each other. Better run for mayor!’”

“Actually yes. He won mayor with the help of one of his other friends, who we will cover later,” Ryan said and continued to read the script. “Almost a year later, on October 10, Mark called all his friends -excluding Celine and including a detective friend Mark had made, Abraham, and Damien’s District Attorney, who strangely, had no background information, not even a gender- back to the manor for a night of poker with no explanation as to why other than to, quote, ‘Get the old gang back together’. The events that occurred over the next two days ended with the disappearance of William, Mark, Celine, and the District Attorney.”

He took a breath but before he continued, the draft picked up, bringing a haunting voice with it. 

“I’m here.”

Ryan yelped and turned around, looking for the source of the voice, and was surprised to see that Shane was looking too. “You heard that?”

His friend nodded, looking a tad bit paler than usual. “Yup… that was definitely words of some sort.”

“‘I’m here’ or something like that.”

“I heard something ‘Da deer’,” Shane reasoned, but Ryan knew he was just convincing himself.

“Uh… let's just start our investigations.” He began to pull out his Spirit Box. “In the manor, there are reportedly three areas in the house that are the most haunted: the Foyer, the Seance room, and the room we are in now, the Living Room. There are reports of whispers, random cold spots, disappearing and reappearing objects and rooms. Many of the guests who visit here say that they will black out randomly and appear somewhere else”

“Who haunts this place, Ryan?” Shane asked in mock curiosity.

“If you’d let me talk, I could tell you.”

“Alright, go ahead!” 

“The night of the Poker Party, everyone had gotten very drunk over the course of seven hours. When the Attorney woke up, spoke with Benjamin and Damien before coming down here. Immediately, they were met with a crack of lightning and saw Mark's body on the floor.”

“So they walk in, BOOM WAKE THE FUCK UP and then splat. body?”

“Yeah, just like that,” Ryan confirmed. “The remaining people ran into the room and Abraham took over the scene with the Attorney as his new partner.”

“What happened his last one?”

“Well according to what little I could find on Abraham, every single one of his partners died or went missing in increasingly painful and violent ways.”

“Oh. So like one got shot and he’s like ‘Oh no, can’t get any worse’ and then the next one gets impaled by a bull?”

Ryan laughed and shook his head. “I mean I guess! Can I get through this?!”

“Sure, go ahead.”

“So also according to Abraham, who examined the body personally, Mark had been stabbed 37 times, poisoned, beaten, strangled, drowned, and shot in that order.”

“WHOA! Someone wanted him dead.”

“Yup. Out of curiosity, who do you think it was?” Ryan asked.

“William. Come on. In debt, with this guys wife. It's got to be him,” Shane said.

“We’ll just see,” Ryan said. “Anyways, about an hour later, while Abraham was out of the room talking with his partner, the body vanished without trace, explanation or evidence that one of the guests had stolen it. It was never found and is still missing to this day. But it’s rumored that his ghost still haunts this room.”

“So it could be under our feet? Or in the roof? Or in the room we're sleeping in?!”

“I don’t want to think about where it is. Besides, a lot of theories say that it was either a faked death, buried in the yard or became a zombie.”

“No.” 

“Yeah, that’s another reason we’re not discussing the mystery itself: you’d hate every bit of it. Now shut up and let's just talk to the ghost…” Ryan groaned and held up the Spirit Box. “Uh, Mark Iplier, I'm Ryan. This is my friend, Shane. This is a Spirit Box and it will help you talk to us if you want to. I'm turning it on… now.”

The high pitch whine the machine made made him groan but he held the box tight.

“Mark Iplier, are you here right now?”

The channels changed without a word spoken.

“Mark, if you can here is, I heard you had a pretty violent death and a pretty bad life… uh… are you-”

“H-He-ll-lo?”

“Oh fuck…”

“Hi,” Shane said cheerfully.

“Are you Mark Iplier?” Ryan asked, his voice shaky.

“N-o-oo.”

“New? Are you a new ghost?” Shane asked.

“Shut up dude. It just said that it’s not Mark, so it’s probably someone else,” Ryan said. “Can you tell us what color shirt are our shirts?”

There was silence for a second.

“I-I c-c-an-n-t-t s-s-s-ee. I-I-t-t-s d-a-a-a-r-k.”

“Okay dude these are clear sentences,” Ryan said. “Clear words that are forming functional sentences.”

“Sure. I'm just hearing huh-guh-cuuhhh-"

“Whatever dude. Let's just wrap this up so we can move to the next room and next story,” Ryan said. “Well, Mark or whoever you are, we’re going to go now and check out the rest of the house. Bye.”

“W-W-a-a-i-”

But it was too late and Ryan was putting the Spirit Box away. He really didn’t want to put it away, seeing as to how he was getting some of the most definite proof they had ever gotten, but he wanted to move on as quickly as possible and get to sleeping and besides, if it was this haunted here, hopefully it’d be just as in the other rooms.

“Okay, on to the second room, the Seance Room, which is upstairs,” Ryan said, getting up and grabbing the hand-held camera.

“Oh we’re moving?”

“Yeah, it’s upstairs. We’re not just going to tele-”

The world turned upside-down. Ryan everything inside of him float for half a second before crashing down. He stumbled and retched, not realizing he was standing in the foyer, sweating and cold. He could feel the cold leather seat but it wasn’t there. He had been moved into the foyer by an unknown force and he felt fear worse than he’d ever felt before. As he realized where he was and wiped his mouth of the bile, he whispered, “What the hell?”

Shane came running out of the living room and looked at his friend with a fear he hadn’t ever seen on his face. He saw the vomit and pulled out some water for Ryan to use.

“What just happened?” Ryan asked, taking the bottle gratefully.

“You disappeared dude,” Shane said. “One moment you were there in the living room. The next you’re out here.”

“Fuck, dude, I hate this… I hate this,” Ryan said, sitting down in the middle of the room, taking deep steadying breaths as he tried to rationalize what was happening. “Okay, so we can either keep going or we can stop… I really want to stop but if we can keep going…”

“Ryan, your camera was still going,” Shane said, pointing to the GoPro strapped to his chest. “We can check that-”

“Shane I just teleported!” Ryan said. “Do we really want to keep going for the sake of a video?!”

“It’s money, Ryan. I know we’re both scared, and yes, I’ll admit that I’m scared out of my fucking mind, but we are getting footage that could boost our careers exponentially! If you’re too uncomfortable and want to leave, we can do the Jerome investigation instead, but… nothing else. It’s up to you.”

Every single part of his being was telling him to run, to get out of this place this instant. However his curiosity part was telling him that this manor, The Eastern State Penitentiary, and the Sally House was the closest thing to a true haunting. But now… did he really want to keep going with this for a job and some money?

“We can… just do the recordings… and not spend the night. I cannot spend a night in this place… but let’s just get through this place as quick as possible,” Ryan whispered. “Let’s just do the foyer right now.”

“Okay,” Shane said, sitting right next to Ryan and placing the camera in front of them.

“So the Foyer… according to Abraham’s reports, there had been building tension between him and William for some time. On the final day of these events, William found something out that caused him to pull his gun. In an act of anger, on that balcony up there,” Ryan pointed above them to the railing, “William shot Abraham in the side, just below the ribs, and it was not fatal but it did knock him unconscious for a long while. The Attorney rushed forward to tear the gun away from William and after only a second of struggling, was also shot and fell over the railing down here. When Abraham awoke, he found the house abandoned by everyone and the Attorney’s body missing.”

“Well then. That was a quick and sudden ending,” Shane said.

“I mean Abraham did spend an unknown amount of years chasing down William, who escaped the country under many different names before both of them disappeared from the books completely. But yeah, a sudden ending here,” Ryan said sarcastically.

“Oh.”

“Yeah. So the rumor about this room is that the Attorney’s spirit resides not only throughout the entire room, but mainly within that mirror you were looking at earlier. Apparently, they like to pound on it, press their hands up against it. Sometimes you can hear a gunshot at approximately 4:30 every day whether it be day or night, or calls to Abraham, William, Damien and Celine.”

“Oh yeah, what happened to the two of them?” Shane asked.

“That we’ll get to later,” Ryan said as he pulled out the Spirit Box again. “Okay, uh, Attorney, my name is Ryan, this is my friend Shane… we’re going to use this thing called a Spirit Box. You can speak to us through it.”

He turned on the box and before the high pitch whine cut through his ears, there was a voice, clear as day.

“P-Pleas-s-e. I-I a-m-m s-s-so al-l-on-ne.”

Ryan screamed and dropped the box. He and Shane backed away from the box as it sat on the floor, continuing to hiss and screech.

“What the hell…”

“I-I-I tried-d to t-t-alk-k… I n-n-e-e-d to-o get-t-t out-t-t…”

“Okay, Ryan, I take it back,” Shane said. “This might not be worth the money if our lives are in danger… but the cameras are rolling so that’s something... ”

Ryan was too terrified to respond. He was pretty sure that if he moved another inch, he’d continue moving right out the door and into Father Thomas’ home until he died. This was happening… an actual ghost was talking to them so clearly that anything that Shane was scared. He couldn’t reason his way out of this situation.

“T-Th-h-h-e hous-s-e is-s the-e-e enem-m-my… g-g-e-t-t out-t-t… H-H-el-l-p-p m-m-me-e…” the voice said.

“Are you the Attorney?” Ryan asked, his voice wavering on the brink of tears. They were interacting with a paranormal entity and from the sound of it, it wasn’t alone.

There was no response from the box. For a second, the white noise was barely muffling Ryan and Shane’s heavy breathing. He was going to cry… he was sure he was going to cry…

Something shook the entire room and Ryan screamed as the broken mirror across the foyer fogged up and a bloody hand pressed up against it. A fuzzy reflection of a person pressed up against the glass, smearing blood everywhere. A high pitch whine filled the air, making the two humans grab their pleading, “Save me! Please! I can’t do this! Please! Find Damien and Celine! They did this! LET ME OUT!”

There was a crack of lightning louder than any they had heard already. The room was suddenly filled with a bright red light and Ryan looked up at the balcony to see a red entity of some sort standing there, glaring down at them. Ryan felt a wave of fear, anger, and need sweep through him, making him want to go to the light… but at the same time, he knew he had to get out of here if he wanted to survive.

“GO! GO!” 

The two of them sprinted to the door, every thought of money, viewers, and the equipment left behind in the house. Ryan barely made it through the door as it slammed closed. The back of his shirt snagged between the crack and he yelped as this small bit of fabric began to get dragged back into the home.

“SHANE!” he screamed, holding out a hand to his friend. Shane grabbed his arm and pulled, his strength barely matching that of whatever was dragging him back inside. Light was pouring out the windows, starting to blind him and light up the night sky. Ryan scrambled to rip his shirt off and with a rip, the end of his shirt being sucked into the house, but he didn’t have time to care. He needed to leave now.

As the two sprinted through the grounds, Ryan noticed how the world seemed to be splitting in three, reflecting on two levels of red and blue and white. He couldn’t tell what was real and what was the illusion. He felt like he was running in circles again, but the gate was barely getting closer and the pull from the house was getting stronger. But he plunged forward with a scream, bursting through the gates and hopping into the car as quick as he could, Shane following right behind him. The house literally howled with rage, shaking the world and making Ryan certain that the ringing noise would take days to go away.

Without looking back, he drove the car as fast and as quickly as he could away from that house.

It wouldn’t be until nearly an hour of driving later that Ryan would be able to breathe somewhat normally. His hands wouldn’t stop shaking for days and anytime he would be able to catch a wink of sleep, they’d be plagued with that light, with that broken mirror…

He couldn’t go back to work… he could barely go around corners without a mirror. It had only been a few seconds of downright encounter but the time spent in that house had been hours upon hours of fear. As if the past two years worth of investigating hadn’t left him scarred enough. Now he jumped at shadows, which were cast by the Light. His own reflection became the Attorney’s bloody hands and image, pleading with him to save them.

Shane wasn’t doing any better. For the first time in the years that Ryan had known him, he didn’t have a snarky quip or a smile or anything. His girlfriend worried about him and tried to get him to smile, but it just wasn’t working. She and Ryan’s girlfriend both worried so much but neither could tell them what had happened…

It could only be believed if they saw it.

“Ryan… we need to look at that footage,” Shane said almost two weeks later, his voice scratchy from lack of speaking and the occasional screaming nightmare.

“I know… we need to for everyone’s sake…” Ryan said, his voice aching for the same reasons. “But… I don’t want to remember anything more than I need to.”

“We’ll look at it and we’ll see what we can do with it… If we can’t do anything, we take a long break. We won’t ever do any hauntings or ghosts again. Just mysteries and stuff, okay?” Shane said, holding out the three cameras that had been recording every second of their encounter. Ryan looked at them and then at Shane, with his baggy, bloodshot eyes and nodded.

“Let’s fucking do this.”

So uh yeah! THE BOYS ARE MENTALLY SCARRED. 

I had a ton of fun writing this. Like way too much fun writing it, but I am so glad that I did because it’s been building up in my head for a while. And I am in love with the result.

Uh... yeah! I don’t think I have a general taglist (if I do, I’m sorry I’m an idiot and I lost the names) but it is open!

Reblogs are awesome. 

Have a good day!

[thewednesdayclubrecs]

Episode 1: “Origins”

The Giant Sized Wednesday Club! This first episode ran extra long, and included a lot of comics mentioned.

These are the titles mentioned by Taleisin, Amy, or Matt over the course of the first episode of the Wednesday Club. If people are interested in another post with further reading on the topics, creators, and characters mentioned this episode, I can create that as well, if there is demand for it.

Physical comics: You may have a comic book store near you! Comic Shop Locator Hater Free Wednesdays Your local library may have a selection of physical comics as well. Ask your local librarian (many of us are nerds in disguise!)

Digital comics: Comixology and Comixology Unlimited Each publisher may have comics online for sale, including Marvel, DC, Image, Dark Horse, and more. Again, your local library! Many are part of services such as Hoopla, where you can borrow and read digital comics.

On to the comics!

Matt's origins: Giant Size X-Men #1, 1975: Wikia; Comixology

Amy's origins: Asterix   Archie Comics X-Men Volume 2 (1990s): Note, I believe Amy says 36 and 37 here, but I believe the comics she’s talking about are #46 and #47, with the X-Babies on the run from Mojo’s hunters. Generation X #5 Wikia; Comixology Webcomics: Kate Beaton’s Hark! A Vagrant, Ryan North’s Dinosaur Comics (he’s now writing Squirrel Girl, for one), (Note: There's a third whose name I didnt quite get here, David something? If someone caught that, let me know)

Taliesin's origins: (someone please, please illustrate Taliesin's weird mental images of the X-Men wow) V for Vendetta Wasteland (DC pre-Vertigo): Wikipedia; Comixology Vampirella Wikipedia; Comixology The Alice Cooper The Last Temptation, written by Neil Gaiman: based off this album; Comixology Sandman: Wikipedia; Comixology Jack Kirby’s Avengers

Fables: Wikipedia; Comixology

Rumiko Takahashi - Maison Ikkoku - Inuyasha   - Ranma 1/2 - Urusei Yatsura - Rumic World horror shorts (hungry ghost) Tragically, outside of the big three (Maison Ikkoku, Inuyasha and Ranma 1/2), these are harder to find digitally (legally) than they should be by all rights. Your library may have them from the manga boom back in the day though.

Strangers in Paradise: Wikipedia; Comixology

America Chavez’s solo title

Cheung’s Young Avengers run: Comixology The Gillen/McKelvie Team Kieron Gillen and Jamie McKelvie have done a ton of comics together, including Young Avengers and others mentioned below.

She-hulk: Alternate-dimensional tourism from Dimension A (the A-Holes): Wikia; Comixology

Patsy Walker: Hellcat: Wikia; Comixology

The Boys: Wikipedia; Comixology (BTW some SERIOUS content/trigger warnings here. For real. I’m including this because they did.)

What comics changed you? Taleisin: The Invisibles: Wikipedia; Comixology Jack Kirby’s New Gods; Jimmy Olsen Adventures Sandman’s Death: High cost of Living: Wikipedia; Comixology Promethea Whatever Happened to the man of Tomorrow?: Wikipedia; Comixology (V for Vendetta again)

Amy: Fun Home: Wikipedia; Comixology (also a musical)

Chat: Legion from X-Men (and mental health stuff--more on this next week) Marvel Zombies: Wikipedia; Comixology (.....if this changed your life...)

Alias - Marvel Max (origin of Jessica Jones): Wikipedia; Comixology

Generation X (mentioned above): Comixology - According to Amy: "pretty good for, like, 20 issues, and then... a book I still dearly love for 50 more issues" - "like the New Mutants of the 90s"

Claremont's X-Men run: Wikipedia - As per the three of them: this run’s not timeless, they’re not exactly “recommending” it yet. They're going to curate some issues for us later on, bless them. Stayed tuned for those links.

LGBT+ in comics - North Star reveal of the 90s: Aplha Flight #106: Wikia; Comixology (We’ll talk more about this when we get to the specific episode)

Rocket Raccoon's origin on the Mignola run: I believe this is the run they’re talking about.

Show and Share: Superman's Pal, Jimmy Olsen #68 "The Helmet of Hate": Comics Vine (Wasn’t able to find a digital issue of this...)

Anti-drug issue of Spider-man: The Amazing Spider-Man #96 (Comics Vine). Printed without the CCA stamp on the front.

Kamandi the Last Boy on Earth: Wikipedia; Comixology

Warlock #11 "The Strange Death of Adam Warlock": Comic Vine; Comixology

Generation-X (signed by Lobdell) #2 with Penance on the cover: Wikia; Comixology

The New Mutants #1: Wikia; Comixology - "the Generation X of the 80s" - characters were introduced in a standalone story/graphic novel: Wikia; Comixology

Uncanny X-Men #201 "Who Will Lead them?": Wikia; Comixology - battle for leadership between Storm and Cyclops

X-Men Jim Lee alternate covers #1 "A Legend Reborn": Wikia; Comixology; All four variant covers in one image

X-Men Vol. 2 #4 First appearance of omega red: Wikia; (Having trouble finding this on Comixology...)

Excalibur #71 with Dark Phoenix, Fatal Attractions finale with Nightcrawler foil: Wikia; Comixology - this and Maximum Carnage were Matt's first big collected works as a kid

Uncanny X-Men #139 "Welcome to the X-Men Kitty Pryde... Hope you survive the experience!": Wikia; Comixology - Uncanny X-Men #129, Introduction of Kitty Pryde: Wikia; Comixology

The Wicked and the Divine: Wikipedia; Image Comics - "none more goth"

If you like Saga: Wikipedia; Image Comics - Y the Last Man: Wikipedia; Vertigo Comics

- Runaways: Wikipedia; Comixology -- and then Brian K Vaughn traded series with Joss Whedon

Avengers Arena: Wikipedia; Wikia; Comixology - according to Taleisin, this book has more impact if you know the characters more, so maybe this is part of the advanced class in recommendations

New Teen Titans - Not sure which series is meant here?

DC Bombshells: Wikipedia; DC Comics

Tom King's Vision: Wikia; Comixology

Ms. Marvel (Kamala Khan): Wikia; Comixology (vol 3); continued in vol 4

Iron Heart - Riri Williams (current Iron Man): Wikia; Comixology

Image Comics: Website; Wikipedia - Early Image is noooot so much Amy's jam The Walking Dead: Wikipedia; Comixology Savage Dragon: Wikipedia; Comixology Sam and Twitch: Wikipedia; Comixology

Faith: Valiant’s site; Comixology Star Wars: Rogue One (run-up was announced, but never happened... perhaps what was meant was the run up to The Force Awakens?) - “Star Wars comics got good”--They moved from Dark Horse to Marvel recently - Note: there are quite a few Star Wars series being published by Marvel at the moment. (In this contributor’s opinion, some are better than others...)

Not strictly comics: X-Men (’90s animated series): Wikipedia; IMDB; Sailor Moon (the 90s dub, aw yeah); Wikipedia Superman (1978): Wikipedia; IMDB Batman the Animated Series: Wikipedia; IMDB Tom Stoppard's Arcadia: Wikipedia; Powell’s Comics In Focus: Chris Claremont’s X-Men: Wikipedia; it appears that this is no longer available on Vimeo... The LARPosal On Youtube "cardio and pie" - which we should all apparently try a slice of cheddar cheese on? Battle Royale: Wikipedia; IMDB The Supergirl Show on CW: Wikipedia; IMDB The Tick: The 1994 series, and the 2001 series The Image Revolution (documentary about the birth of Image comics): IMDB, trailer; Streaming on Youtube, Amazon, and elsewhere. Pogs. Just. Pogs. God I remember Pogs. Where Taleisin's handle comes from: Executive Transvetite

Stores mentioned: Hi De Ho Comics (store) LA Golden Apple (store) LA Torpedo Comic (store) Las Vegas Box Lunch House of Secrets (store) Burbank, CA (where Amy works)

Next week Mental Health and Comics Legion: Wikipedia; IMDB; airing on FX; streaming on Hulu, Amazon

X-Men Legacy (2012) volume 2: Wikia; Comixology; Marvel

Moon Knight - Current run, written by Lemire: Comixology; Marvel - Warren Ellis: Comixology; Marvel - Bendis' LA run: Comixology; Marvel

Doom Patrol - specifically Crazy Jane - Grant Morrison's run (which Taliesin says is psychotropic, take that as you will): Wikipedia; Comixology - Just pointing out that Taliesin gave a content warning for this, so.

Note: mentions may or may not be recommendations. My personal recommendations sometimes differ, but that’s not the point of this post. And remember: it’s ok to not have read everything--or anything!

If I missed anything, please let me know! Episode #2 will be up.... soon?