abhiadmin

[nonndrawz]

When Týr becomes an companion in the next game and he has a wonderful dyamnic with Kratos, everyone is gonna start shipping them and the Kratýr nation will rise up again!!! 🗣🔥

[peaches-writes]

neighborly presents

prompt 13: “Just so you know, I still don’t grant wishes if that’s why you’re back here again.”

member: chan wc: 1k  genre: fluff, mythological / fantasy au, modern fairy au, neighbor (?) au, a side of college au warning: mentions of injuries note: i was gonna give up and do a genie au then did this last-minute decision and i regret nothing of it !!! + connects to another drabble coming soon & sun shower!

Chan folds his arms over the windowsill, pursing his lips to hide a growing smile in front of you. “Oh,” He says, seemingly unimpressed. “it’s you again.” 

You smile and wave at him gently in response, folding your legs into a crisscross position on the grass as you sit right in front of his pine tree. “It’s me again,” You repeat with a giggle as you proceed to take out a basket of fruits from behind you. “but today I came bearing gifts!” 

The tree elf eyes you suspiciously, placing a hand on his cheek in thought.  “Just so you know, I still don’t grant wishes if that’s why you’re back here again.” He reminds you after, referring to the first time you met just a few months ago when you moved in. “I’m a tree elf not a genie.” 

“I know that, it’s not like it’s my first time doing this—not even the third!” You roll your eyes, earning yourself the smallest curl of a smile from him. Holding up the apples and peaches with a pout, you then add, “Now, let me in, please? I woke up really early today to get these discounted at the market!” 

He teases you with a pause, humming as if in thought. When he seems to have decided, though, he gives you a nod and snaps his fingers. “Alright, come right in.” You hear him finally break his façade and chuckle, his voice clearer now as you shrink in the same size as him. “You know where the front door is.” 

You squeal in delight against the now taller blades of grass around you, excitedly returning the apples and peaches back in your basket before hurrying to the open door perched right on the roots of Chan’s pine tree. “Let’s make fruit salad!” You announce, politely taking your shoes off at the welcome mat before stepping inside and greeting Chan’s dog, Berry. "Hi, Berry, long time no see! Not much has changed around here, huh.” 

Chan smiles at this, closing the door behind you before guiding you to his kitchen. “Not like anything really happens these days,” He shrugs, taking your basket from you once you reach the kitchen and perching it on his wooden kitchen island. “and I’m too lazy to make new things to hang on the walls.” 

“Felix and Minho not coming over lately?” You ask, taking the liberty of helping him take out the needed utensils from his cupboard after. 

Chan shakes his head when your eyes meet from across the kitchen. “Felix is helping prepare a sun shower wedding and Minho’s—well, Minho’s been making it rain and snow a lot somewhere these days, let’s just put it at that.” 

“Oh,” You muse in thought with a small smile, crossing the kitchen after to start preparing your fruit salad. “then aren’t you glad I came over today to keep you company?” 

“You actually disrupted Netflix day but sure,” He teases with a laugh, making you laugh as well. “what’s up, anyway?” 

“What do you mean?” 

You look over to your side and see him avoiding your glance, comically pretending to be too focused on the apples he’s now slicing. “It’s just that you haven’t come over in a week—n-not that I’m counting!—so I assume you’re busy with school or something then you just randomly showed up this morning with fruits.” He points out anyway. “so...yeah, what’s up? Finals done already or something?” 

“I am—well, I was busy but not because of finals, my finals ended weeks ago.” You nod at this, your grin growing wider at suddenly remembering why you came over in the first place. When he looks up at you, interest suddenly piqued at your last statement, you add, “The real reason I came over today is because...you’ll find out after we finish this fruit salad!” 

“Let’s finish this fruit salad quickly then.” Chan concludes, chopping the apples faster and making you laugh for the second time this morning. 

- 

“If you’re going to feed me to the beetles in your backyard, I just want you to know that I’m the one with magic here,” Chan reminds you, his hands holding yours in place as you cover his eyes while the two of you walk on the grass. “and I can easily switch our places.” 

You chuckle, playfully hitting the back of his knee. “I wouldn’t dare! Anyway, just a few steps more!” 

“Why does a gift need to be outside?” He asks for the second time since you left his house, almost stumbling on a random pebble in the process. “I told you, I don’t need another pet when I already have Berr—oh.”   

Before he could even finish his sentence, you’ve already removed your hands from his eyes, jumping right in front of him to watch his reaction shift into pure surprise at the two-storey mini house you’ve carefully crafted for him. “Like it?” You ask him, giggling at his wide eyes and bright smile. “It’s one of my plates for a class and I really liked how it turned out so I thought I’d give it to you—if you want!” 

Chan only smiles at you sheepishly, looking away as a blush rises up his cheeks. “I, um, I really really really love it so much.” He shyly answers, your eyes lighting up immediately from the corner of his eyes. “Is it—?” 

You nod immediately, taking his hand and tugging him towards the direction of the house. “Fully furnished and everything! The prof’s so detail-oriented that way.” You explain further after, opening the door for him this time as the two of you step in. “We could move it right next to your house after and have it as like a guest house or something when Felix and Minho could visit again or whatever you want to do. I really just don’t want to throw it away.” 

“I’d like that.” The tree elf replies, his voice already echoing from the distance as he proceeds to explore the house more in an excited run. “I really love this place!” 

“You better, I pricked my skin a lot trying to do all these!” You tease, chuckling to yourself before following him deeper in the house. “Now, where are you? I’m supposed to give you a house tour!” 

on a night much like tonight (drabble game)

[concrete-weed]

It’s hard to be a god (Malcolm Reed x reader)

summary: Reader pretends to be a goddess. Malcolm needs a hug.  trektober day 7- interspecies relationship                                                                    words:  1,877

read on AO3 here

-

When you first heard of the new "humans" your ship encountered, you mostly thought were quite brash, going into space with a barely finished ship and all, but during the weeks you lived among them, your opinion changed for the better. Humans are very different from your own species. Much louder for sure, but you eventually grew to like them.

The human ship was wrecked, their puppy dog approach to first contact wasn’t working so well. Starfleet had allowed four aliens to serve on Enterprise until the end of her mission, helping both diplomacy and the state of the human ship. Working on Enterprise has been a treat. You have been a doctor for three years. Working with doctor Phlox has offered many learning opportunities, so your career wasn’t suffering. Your social life, on the other hand, certainly was. You talked to the people you knew from your ship, but for the most part, they were in engineering while you were slaving away in med bay.

You had a friend in a few people, Hoshi, for example. You spent many lunch breaks helping her understand your language, not an easy task by any measure, and learning a human language called English. Through her, you have met most of the bridge crew. It was peculiar to watch them all interact.

One human, in particular, caught your eye, Malcolm Reed. He was a bit quiet for a human, which fascinated you. His dark hair and light eyes seemed majestic to you.  You knew that staring was considered rude by human standards, but the first time you met him it took Hoshi nudging you in the ribs to get you to tear your eyes off the mysterious human.

During your second month aboard Enterprise, captain Archer got a call from Admiral Forrest, saying that a planet 5 lightyears away is requesting immediate help with a medical crisis. All medical personnel were working day and night to find a cure, you being no exemption. For a week you were absolutely exhausted, so when captain Archer went down to your quarters to tell you were going to are on the away mission, you didn’t even register it until the debriefing.

“Okay, so this is a bit bizarre, ” God you were all so tired,” but the government insists that the locals will only accept our help if doctor L/N pretends to be their goddess of health.”

What?

“Half of the population already believes this is a gift from the gods anyway. I doubt you would need to make any change to your behavior.” Archer continued monotonously. With a civilization as evolved as theirs, he expected no interference from religion, no such luck.

“Excuse me, sir,” you said uneasily, “are you sure this is a good idea?”

“As much as I think that this is a ridiculous request to make of you doctor, I hope you will at least consider putting on this act. Malcolm and his men will be there if anything goes”.

Now you were here, standing in a long drapey light green dress. All of the away team was dressed in traditional clothing, leaving them a bit uncomfortable. The only people left in a Starfleet uniform were two security officers with phasers by their sides. Captain Archer insisted that the lieutenant needed to wear the strange clothes and respect the culture as the highest-ranking officer there. Malcolm’s clothes were similar to yours, the same shade of mint, the same writing along the edges of the garment. You unfortunately didn’t have time to think about what that meant. While doctor Phlox was teaching local doctors how to treat the deadly disease you were paraded around all the temples that were built in ‘your’ honor.

In them you saw many paintings that depicted the goddess and were eerily similar to you, almost all of them depicting the sick crying out to their goddess, hoping to be cured. The goddess was a little bit taller than you, her eyes a little more penetrating, even through the pictures, but essentially you were lead through the main room in that temple, looking at heart-wrenching scenes of yourself, saving the damned.  In some, the goddess was surrounded by other deities, her most common companion a shorter man, usually carrying a small child.

Finally, you got a break. Apparently, as the tour exclaimed, divine being needed to be given food before sunset, or the mortals around them would be punished. It seemed terrible to live like this, afraid of godly wrath every second of life but since you could do nothing you just went along with her.  She insisted that you should take your meals separately from your security detail, as the rest of the away party were all male. Malcolm pulled you aside from the woman.

“Are you sure this is safe? You will be alone in the dining hall.” Said Malcolm, pragmatic as always.

“I’m sure I’ll be fine. If anything is suspicious, I’ll just com you okay?” You answered hoping your voice sounded optimistic. You touched Malcolm’s upper arm in an attempt to comfort him. your gaze met his. You saw love in his brilliant blue-grey eyes. Or did you? Damn your wishful thinking. You quickly turned, walking back to the tour guide, you face a mask of calm, hiding your emotional turmoil.

The meal prepared for you was delicious but you couldn’t focus much on the conversation. Thankfully, your tour guide talked enough for the both of you.

“It is so wonderful you decided to come down to us! We have been awaiting your help for months.” you swore her nasal voice was going to drive you crazy, “My Lady, are you feeling okay?” you started stuttering out your answer but the guide cut you off. “Oh, you don’t have to explain yourself. We all have marital problems!” she added playfully. Marital problems?  

“Excuse me?” You hoped that your confusion won’t ruin the mission.

“My Lady, Archana? Oh, what does he go by now? Maco? Malcolm? Are you not married yet in this reincarnation?”

You remembered that during the tour the guide has mentioned that reincarnation was a major part of their mythology, still, the fact that she thought that you and Malcolm were married made your cheeks heat up. If you remembered correctly, the male deity, in this case, the god of protection, gave his life to protect his loved ones. The god will reappear in the next year, and the cycle will begin again.

“No. I’m afraid not,” you answered, trying not to choke on your drink.

“Well, I hope you find each other soon” she continued eating with a smile on her face.                                                                          

The meal continued in comfortable silence, your mind racing. Marrying Malcolm sounded like a dream, even if marriage was slightly different on your planet. Hoshi encouraged you to speak to Malcolm about your feelings, but the prospect of rejection terrified you. You preferred to live in this pathetic yearning state, maybe it was time to stop dreaming and take action.

-

Being back on the ship felt amazing but you were certainly nervous. For some reason ever since you got back Malcolm hasn’t even looked at you. His avoidance was becoming unbearable, the very second you entered a room he all but ran out. Your emotional side screamed each time but you wished to respect his wishes so you did nothing. Over time you felt worse and worse. You started working longer and longer shifts. Hoshi and Travis were starting to be worried. Dealing with heartache is unpleasant in the best conditions but dealing with it and being homesick, stuck on board an alien ship must be a thousand times worse.

Hoshi has convinced you to come to movie night. Before you could actually enjoy whatever old human movie, Trip put on you had to figure out what you had done to Malcolm and how you can reverse it. You cherished the unclear relationship that had been built between you and if you can’t be with Malcolm, at least you can be his friend. You may suffer but you would do anything to bring Malcolm happiness. Malcolm seemed sad to you. His smile not reaching his eyes, his body a little too tense.

You just got off your shift. You felt horrible, but if you stop now you will turn back to your quarters and never confront Malcolm. The dull grey walls seemed like they were closing in on you. You heard your heart beating. Malcolm was hard enough to get to know.  Letting him go is even harder.

The time you waited for his door to open felt like hours. Malcolm opened the door, hair messy from sleep. He seemed to awaken in seconds when he saw you, his eyes wide open.

“Listen, Malcolm,” your voice growing increasingly desperate, “I don’t know what I have done to offend you, humans are so confusing, but if you- “

His sarcastic chuckle caught you off guard. “You haven’t done anything. Please come in. We need to talk.”

Taking a deep breath, you walked in.

His room seemed vacant, almost militaristic. Everything was in its place. His clothes were perfectly folded and put away. What little pictures he had hanging completely straight. The room was almost shining, with no speck of dust visible. The only chair in the room was near Malcolm’s desk. You assumed he didn’t have much company over.

You stood awkwardly near the door, having no idea what you should do. You felt like an intruder in his space, your body taking up too much space. Malcolm seemed at ease. He sat down on his bed and gestured for you to sit down in the chair. He looked down, silent, thinking about his next move. God, it was a mistake to come here.

“I guess I owe you an explanation,” he stopped, taking a deep breath before continuing, “Remember when we went down to that planet? The one we helped with the plague?” you nodded slowly, “while you had to pretend to be the goddess of health, I had to be your,” he hesitated, “partner. The reincarnation of some god of protection, I believe. When we got separated some guards joined us. They didn’t think I was worthy of you, I’m afraid.” Malcolm’s voice quivered, seemingly trying to hold back the emotion currently showing. “To be honest, I agree with them.”

A tense silence fell over the room.  The engine’s hum being the only noise in the room. You moved to the bed and sat at Malcolm’s side, your shoulders touching. Malcolm looked at you, at little taken aback at your sudden move.

“I thought you were angry at me. I can’t convey how relieved I am Mal.” You said, not carrying if the happiness in your voice sounded strange, “I hope you know how amazing you are. That you’re valued and loved by your friends. I can’t convince you of that right now, I know, but I also hope that you will let me stick around and prove it.” You closed the distance between your lips, your heart beating against your chest. He kissed back softly, a bit awkwardly at first. You broke away, needing to take in air. Malcolm spoke:

“Have dinner with me?”

“of course.”

[hellyeahheroes]

Bendis Brings Back Legion of Super-Heroes!

And not only will they get a new series by Bendis and Ryan Sook, who has made new designs for the characters, including Cosmic Boy, Lightning Lad, Saturn Girl, Brainiac 5, Shadow Lass and Chameleon Boy. Bendis will also launch them at the heels of a miniseries Millenium, which shall connect many of DC futures into one continuous timeline

Per DC, Millennium focuses on a most unlikely tour guide to the 31st century -- a familiar face to DC fans who finds herself suddenly immortal. As she learns to cope with her newfound immortality and the reason she was chosen for this quest, her 1,000-year odyssey will connect all of DC’s future timelines for the first time. Along the way she encounters a host of DC heroes from the future, as drawn by some of comics’ most popular artists. The first issue will introduce a near-future version of Supergirl, drawn by Jim Lee; Batman Beyond, drawn by Dustin Nguyen; Kamandi, drawn by Andrea Sorrentino; and Tommy Tomorrow, drawn by André Lima Araújo. Legion of Super-Heroes: Millennium #2 will bring Booster Gold, drawn by Nicola Scott; OMAC, drawn by Jim Cheung; A DC “off-world” chapter, drawn by Jeff Dekal; and finally the Legion of Super-Heroes, drawn by Sook.

This is DC second attempt at establishing connection between the Legion and other possible futures after Electric Warriors tried to do the same for Legion and Kamandi.

Here is the interview

So you led into your Superman run with The Man of Steel, which is a storied title with a lot of fan affection behind it. Millennium, well...not so much.

This is speaking more to the actual shape of what it is. This is actually a unique experience of a character experiencing an entire millennium. The audience is going to experience it with them, and there really was no other word for it. I know the word has connotations, but I thought it's more of a tip of a hat than it is anything else. Because, there really is no other word that describes what this is.

These characters have been off the board for a lot longer than you have been with DC. What has it been like to immerse yourself into this broad, deep, crazy mythology?

It is the most -- and I say this with the curve that I know what real hard jobs are, but in the world of comics -- this is the absolute hardest job on a craft level. I think you can just see. The Avengers have six people on the team and four friends, right? Legions has, at their lowest, somewhere in the twenties and at their highest, in the forties. They're all from different planets, and they all have a couple of different aliases and a history and a power, and they all interact in unique and different ways.

It's all based on a history that's coming, based on a history that we have. It is the most unique, the most exciting, and the most demanding job in all of comics. I was talking to a fellow, past X-Menwriter who literally said to me, "So, it's literally like writing like the entire X-Men universe, but in one book." And I'm like, "Yeah, it really is. It's phenomenal."

It's an enormous task, and the most fun I've ever had. I'm literally vibrating when I'm writing it, it's so exciting. Because there's a feeling people get from Legion, and the people who have been missing it all this time. Legion gives you a very special, almost uniquely potent feeling of imagination and hope. It's almost like the whole theme of DC Comics, but amplified by how it's laid out.

The people who want it are desperate for it, and so our job is to give that feeling -- but the modern version of it. It's an enormous task that we've been working on literally since I walked in the door at DC.

How much of the development time was spent with kind of getting the tone? It seems like this is a property that gets reinvented every time they turn around, and so there are a lot of options, not all equally good.

It's all like a lot of franchises, its high marks are so high that a lot of people look at Mike Grell and Keith Giffen's work on Legion as being as good as superhero comics can ever be, right? That's a very high bar to be reaching for. People still read "The Great Darkness Saga." It's everything you want comics to be. Right? It's so imitated everywhere you look. One of the earliest of events events storie like we have today. So, to try to accomplish that, to make that our goal but from a modern setting. You go, okay, now we want to give people the feeling of a "Great Darkness Saga," let's say. Or, the feeling of the Mark Waid issues of Legion, but from the perspective of today. Building all of that, but starting from this standpoint of a modern comic reader, and that could only get us into brand new kinds of sci-fi, and that's exciting.

That's kind of where we are right now with our development is we have tried so hard not to indicate anybody we've specifically said, "No homage to Kirby, Moebius, or John Berkey," because so many people do that right now, there's so much of it, let's make it our goal not to do that and see what we get. Because, that's what Kirby, Moebius and John Berkey did. Ryan and I are right in the middle of building that language, and that's pretty exciting. And, we'll all see what it is together.

Every time there's a big continuity shakeup, the Legion gets the brunt of it -- but we almost never see how and why the changes happened. Here, it seems like you're walking the audience through whatever changes you might make to the backstory. Is that fair?

I'm with you on that. That question you just asked was one of the first questions I asked. People who have read Legion before will be excited, or interested that we're doing this, but for people who have never read Legion before, or have only heard about it (usually in very positive tones), it's up to us to invite them to the 31st century. It's a buy-in, right? You're coming to a new part of the DC Universe, so we want to invite you.

I thought, I wonder if there's a way -- and this is what Legion and Millennium is -- I wondered if there was a way to literally walk the audience from today, right to the Legion's front door, giving them a tour of what happens to the DC Universe...some of which we know because we've seen these disparate futures from different creators over the years.

Why don't we tie them all together and really walk it up to the Legion's door, because the point of the Legion of Super-Heroes is how it reflects back on the era of the Age of Heroes, right? We can take a character from today and walk them through how the icons and the heroes thrive and survive and altered and changed and ended up on the Legion's front door with a guide.

And this is what Millennium is: every chapter is by a different artist, some of the greatest artists working in comics today. Each I handpicked, or [the artists] handpicked, the future they wanted to do. And a character is walking literally from today to the Legion's front door, connecting everything from Kirby's Kamandi, to Dan [Jurgens]'s Booster Gold to Batman Beyond and Tommy Tomorrow. All of it, it gets threaded together in a very exciting timeline. If that seems like a load of work and research, absolutely. [Laughs]

At what point did you decide that, of all the people you can work with, Sook was the right fit for this book?

When you saw the first pages of Man of Steel, that's about when I knew. I knew as soon as Ryan said he'd do something for me. Your head can't help but go, "that would be the coolest Legion of Super-Heroes book I could see." It was just saying, what would I buy? But, I didn't know Ryan at all and also, it's like the biggest project. It's a huge project.

It literally took months just to design the characters, and he's working on it every day. I reached out to him and sold this enormous insanity that you see in front of you. and lo and behold, it was exactly what he was looking for. He was looking for the biggest challenge, and he has taken it on immensely.

My favorite thing from this whole year that no one knows about, is that Ryan sends in all these designs -- usually with a pamphlet of notes and character ideas -- and he's truly creating this with us. I get to share it with our other peers and they get to flip out and get impressed, it's fantastic. Ryan is an artist's artist; they love him, and this is the work of his life. I'm so honored to be part of it. So, yes, Ryan was a very early part of this.

Everything you have done so far at DC is bigger, bigger, bigger. What do you think comes next? What's bigger than reinventing the future?

Well, Legion is the next thing. It is still actually actively happening and one of my Legion goals is, and this isn't a criticism of other creators, but over the years, Legion doesn't have the consistency that other books have had. To attempt what we're attempting, and then keep it a consistent book for a while that really builds to something at the level of "The Great Darkness Saga" or other high-water marks of Legion, is a big goal for this and for us.

I think people buying in on this want the biggest thing in the world. That's what they're coming for. We're really going to try.

A lot of that, as far as what you said about the ambitions that I've had at DC, is because when I first came here, I thought so much about other creators that have come here over the decades, and what they did, or what they tried to do. I have such an immense opportunity, I should really try on every level, everywhere I can. I'm so happy a year later, that people can really feel the effort because I've been given such a beautiful opportunity. To waste it would be almost a crime.

It's exciting for Legion fans to hear about a commitment to consistency, since so often, DC puts a high profile creative team on Legion to launch it, and then after an arc or two, they're gone and the book doesn't have the same direction.

Yeah. As a fan, I would like a commitment from me to do what I just said. Beyond just launching it, which is exciting, having an excellent issue #12 is even more exciting, in a way. That's my goal.

The Legion also feels a little bit like the New Gods: you have this incredibly rich mythology that only a small number of readers really understand. How do you thread that needle of taking one of the most passionate and detail-oriented fanbases in all of comics, and giving the Legion fans what they want while still "walking everybody else to the door?"

I thought about that exact question quite a lot, and this is my answer: I have had this opportunity a couple of times, where I like something a great deal that I know only a few other people like. I think my reasons, or our reasons -- our cult's reasons -- for liking it are so legitimate, that it would just take a little nudge in the right direction to get other people onboard. Like Luke Cage or something like that, right?

I think along the same terms with Legion. Us passionate fans: oh, boy, how fun are they? My Twitter feed is fun all day with Legion. I think Legion fans love being teased more than they like seeing the book. But that kind of passion is infectious. You have some readers who, because let's say Avengers: Endgame and all the movies, think they've seen it all and are really itching for a next-level experience. And there are people who go, "Oh, Legion actually is a next-level experience." And then, we're there for them. That's what we're offering for those who think they've seen it all: you haven't, alright?

Or, those who want to see just another way to tell these stories. It's using the our infectious feeling towards it and just sharing it with other people. I've had that experience before. It's kind of my favorite thing. I had it just at DC, having people literally discover the Wonder Twins blind. They never heard of them, and are reading Mark Russell's book, and are so happy, it's the best feeling. I got to share that with you; I got to have a moment with you over a story, and it wasn't even mine.

I know that you guys are keeping it under wraps for the time being, who our point of view character is going in through Millennium, but is this a character people are familiar with? Is this a deep cut, or a new character?

For those who are worried, it's a character that can leave the DC Universe and walk a thousand years, and not mess up your favorite comics. Right away, I just want to let the Reddit people know. Immediately, they think it's their favorite character and I'll destroy their book. Wait 'til you find out, I will say it's a character that I'm writing right now. It's someone who I get to tee up to the walk. Almost like it was planned nicely...!

Also the character, and the reason we picked this character, is that it's a character whose morality shifts based on this scenario they are in. As they go from chapter to chapter, that is also a question: how are they going to react to what's going on around them?

Listen, we're saying a lot of words here, but I got, I can sell it with so much easier. Andrea Sorrentino drawing Kamandi. That's it, hashtag, done. Jimmy Cheung drawing OMAC.

A lot of these characters are characters you don't see much, but it's that story where "this is your favorite creator's favorite thing."

Yes! Also, what I got really happy about when it was all put together, is that your favorite creator's favorite thing is now so sturdily a building block towards something in the future of DC Comics. When I ran it by Dan Jurgens -- the Booster Gold stuff, right? -- he was stoked about it because it was like, "oh, now, it's not only just a cool story, it's part of this big thread that takes us somewhere."

It's funny, seeing Booster becoming part of a building block to the Legion, since he has sparred with them a few times about his stolen Legion ring!

Speaking of which, the Booster Gold chapter is drawn by Nicola Scott, if you need another reason to buy this. I love Nicola's work so much, but she's one of my closest friend's closest collaborators. She works with Greg Rucka so closely that I never thought I'd get a chance to do something, and we did this thing together. It's just, on a personal level, one of my great moments as a comics creator that I got to do this with Nicola.

I won't lie: at either San Diego or New York last year, I spoke with her briefly and we ended up talking about how much she wanted to draw Booster.

That happened a few times on this project. I don't want to speak for the other creators, but I had accidentally said, "Hey, I think you'd be perfect for (blank)." And they go, "That's my favorite thing, I can't believe you're asking!" It happened quite a few times on this project. I get excited, because I know for the few pages they're drawing, it's going to be among the best pages of their whole careers, because they think this might be the only chance they get to do it. Nicola's Booster pages reek with the feeling of, "Oh, my God, I finally got to draw Booster Gold."

The way you are framing this -- the idea of someone walking through the DC history -- almost feels a little like a "man versus self" story from 8th grade English class. Is there an over-arching threat to Millennium?

Our Legion is going to be a little different than past Legions. I know that sometimes in the past, the Legion have gotten together because things are so peaceful, they can't stand it. Our Legion is coming together out of what they think is dire necessity. Things are starting to crumble, and they're crumbling fast, and it really feels like it's time for a new Age of Heroes for the first time in a millennium. That there's a genuine sense of threat to all things.

It's funny because there are 34 lead characters. There are a lot of perspectives that the story is going to be handled from. So, so many perspectives that almost no story will be left unturned. Not every character will see things the same way. It's like every great team: some will be on the same page, some will not. It's going to be a time of great chaos and struggle in the galaxy, and it's up to them to get to work and figure it out as they're going; they're young.

You have been working with a lot of younger heroes not just at DC, but throughout your career going back to Miles and Peter on Ultimate Spider-Man. Does working on THE teen team feel a little like the culmination of that?

They are! And if you start really building the world around them, and the universe that they're part of...they're pining for an Age of Heroes. They want to make it themselves, right? You're coming into a universe of ideas about self and all the kinds of things that "self" means as far as anywhere on the spectrum. You can think of about religion, or sexuality, or anything that makes a person individual, and apply all these intergalactic ideas to it...and it is an explosion of imagination and hopefully a real, intimate reflection of the world we live in.

It's basically all I think about. Really, it's about making sure each one of those characters has their personality with a shiny, smooth wall of all of the amazing imagination that Ryan brings to every single panel.

Listen, what I'm so excited about this Legion/Millennium project in particular, is that the Legion fans who have been waiting...we wanted to give them something special, for the wait, all right? I know it wasn't my fault they were waiting, but, I'm like, "yeah! We were all waiting together, let's make this a real something, a unique storytelling experience that you deserve." So this lead-up is such a celebration of DC Comics's art and history, and at the same time its future, that I was like, "Yeah, this feels like a Legion-worthy launch."

[mearnsblog]

The Disney Quarantine Binge

Hello friends.

What’s baseball? Who knows. I’ve never heard of it. Thanks to the awful COVID-19 pandemic, it’s basically not a thing anymore! The world needs to get a whole lot better before we can even remotely consider the return of any kind of sport, aside from re-broadcasts of “Slippery Stairs: College Tour” on ESPN 8: The Ocho (that really happened, bless it).

In its absence, Ali and I have turned to Disney+ to patch in many hours of the void. We had just watched “Ratatouille,” and I suggested that our next movie could be one of the Disney films I remembered from childhood. We thought about a few different options and ultimately came down on the decision to just watch them all, starting all the way back at the beginning with “Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs.” We’re going to have a lot of free time and we had just watched the “Imagineering” documentary as well as a slew of other YouTube videos detailing Disney’s wild history, so why not?

It’s hard to write much about baseball right now, so I’m writing about Disney. Specifically, I’m going to use this binge to compile my personal ranking of all 58 films that fall under the category of “Walt Disney Animation Studio films.” Look, the internet clearly needed another idiot throwing some dumb listicle of his own thoughts out there. No need to thank me personally.

I make no promises about how much I’m going to write about each of these movies, mainly because I’m mostly just shooting from the hip and some of these films really don’t require that much thought. Also, I’m just doing this because I want to, and sometimes, it helps to take your mind off serious things. But I will update this post with my rankings as I go, if not only for convenience.

Onward.

1. “Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs” (1937)

The one that started it all. For all of Walt Disney’s personal faults, it’s hard not to admire the personal gumption that it took to pull this movie off. No one thought a full-length animated movie could work, and it went way over budget. Disney had to mortgage his house to pay for it all, but he and his team (including his always-overlooked financial expert of a brother, Roy) did it, and damn it if it wasn’t spectacular.

Is “Snow White” dated? Of course it is, it came out before World War II. (It’s No. 1 as I’m writing this list now and only going through the early Disney flicks, but I can guarantee that it will not be No. 1 for terribly long.) Snow White herself is not very interesting, and the prince is a joke. That’s partially because the early Disney studio found it difficult to animate him much, so some potential storylines for the prince got cut. It is what it is.

The queen, though, is an elite Disney villain, and my grandma still remembers the thrill of being frightened by her when she saw “Snow White” for the first time. The animation is admirable, especially as Snow White scrambles for her life through the forest to whatever kind of safety she can find, and when the dwarfs join with the animals to chase down the witch. Speaking of the dwarfs, they are classic Disney sidekicks for a reason and quickly earn the audience’s love. Grumpy’s evolution in particular from being so misogynist that Disney himself referred to him as “Grumpy the woman hater” to openly weeping at Snow White’s apparent death is lovely.

It had been a long time since I revisited “Snow White,” and I probably won’t again for quite some time. Nonetheless, I’m glad I did.

Best song: “Heigh-Ho”

2. “Fantasia” (1940)

Every music teacher's favorite "concert's over and now we have to kill time until the semester ends" movie, aside from maybe "Mr. Holland's Opus." I was pumped to rewatch "Fantasia," and its peaks did not disappoint.

Stravinsky's "Rite of Spring" is always incredible, and I always forget just how many familiar tunes are packed into "The Nutcracker Suite." That was a fun little delight. However, I also forgot just how much "Toccata and Fugue" and especially "Dance of the Hours" can feel like a drag. The visuals helped the former go by; the latter was a slog.

"Sorcerer's Apprentice" is a classic and that sequence is all over Disney lore for a reason. "Pastoral Symphony" almost suffers from the same drag as "Toccata and Fugue," but the Greek mythology nerd in me appreciates the effort of the visuals. (At the same time, centaurettes? Uh, okey dokey.)

Anyway, all these words have just been a preamble to this: I love everything about "Night on Bald Mountain" and "Ave Maria." They could not have picked a better combination to end this feature. Everything about it is perfect, from the creepiness of the demon Chernabog to the monks' glowing lights restoring some calm to the chaos.

Without that one-two punch at the end, "Fantasia" might be forgotten as a feature and really only remembered for "Sorcerer's Apprentice." Thankfully, that's not the case, and the finale will keep bringing me back.

Best song: "Night on Bald Mountain"

3. “Pinocchio” (1940)

So. "Pinocchio." It's an experience.

I almost want to leave it there. It's so weird. I still adore "When You Wish Upon a Star" and just about everything to do with Jiminy Cricket. But it really just hustles through so many bizarre situations in the blink of an eye.

There's everything uncomfortable with Stromboli. There's everything to do with Pleasure Island, not the least of which involves some creepy old man that Honest John just happens to know. Pinocchio manages to escape yet again, only to have the climax of the movie take place inside a whale that ate Geppetto (and his poor cat and fish, who weren't initially involved with Geppetto's search).

Pinocchio's just not that likable. I know he's supposed to be a kid and kids can be annoying, but man. It's rough. Geppetto deserved better.

If this movie was released much later in the Disney pantheon, it would not be nearly as well-remembered. Oh well. Thankfully, the animation is stunningly beautiful for the time and Jiminy still rules. What a gem.

Best song: "When You Wish Upon a Star"

4. “Dumbo” (1941)

"Dumbo” is such a strange movie. It’s not even bad, and it’s over in the blink of an eye. (The run time is barely an hour, which is definitely appreciated.) It does have those same pacing problems as “Pinocchio” and “Bambi,” which also hit many of those early Disney movies. He shows up, he gets bullied, his mom freaks out, he gets bullied again, he gets drunk (!), he chats with the poorly-aged crows, and then he flies at the circus to end the movie. Hooray? There’s moving quickly though scenes, and then there’s slapping them all together with very few transitions. That’s the issue.

I have a love/hate relationship with “Elephants on Parade.” It’s such a crazy tangent for the movie to take in its short run time, but it’s entertaining as it is surreal. We were not a “Dumbo” household growing up, so for the longest time, the only things I knew about the movie were “When I See An Elephant Fly” and this sequence. I’ll probably still be thinking about it when I’m 80.

Timothy Mouse is a very nice not-quite Jiminy guide to the hero. He seems like a fine gent to share in some champagne-infused bucket water. That’s the good stuff. (Unlike the other elephants outside of Mrs. Jumbo. They’re awful and learn basically nothing.)

Anyway, at least it’s not the Tim Burton version. You couldn’t pay me to watch that.* I even forgot it was released last year until it popped up in my Disney+ suggestions.

*A lie. You could. I’m an out-of-work writer. what do you want?

Best song: “Elephants on Parade”

[imaginesnkdorks]

“Thank Goodness For Crazy”

| 01 | 02 | 03 | 04 | 05 | 06 | 07 | 08 | 09 | 10 |

Part III: Not all Titans are Greeks

Pairing: Erwin/Reader; 

Warnings: Mentions of death and violence

Summary: Reader is just your regular gal from our world, but that changed one day when she woke up in the world of Titans. Giving a fake name to Erwin Smith who found her, she tries to understand the world she’s thrust upon and to survive in it. And try she did.

Erwin still looks like a kid who was trying to make sense of the birds and the bees. Commander Shadis on the other hand recovered a bit. He was the one who answered my questions. “Those giants are called Titans. They prey on humans and they live here, beyond the walls. To survive, us humans built the Walls which protects us from those beasts.” He explained. All right. It still doesn’t make much sense, but I think this is better than before.

“All right. So, you call them titans because of their size, right? They’re not Titans from Greek mythology? Because I know for a fact that a certain one had a habit of eating others.” As I expected (kind of), they only looked confused. They didn’t even laugh at my little joke. Uh, you know, because Kronos ate his children? Okay, so you’re not laughing too. Well sorry, I’m a Greek myth geek!

“You really don’t know?” Erwin asked. Seriously, is it really farfetched for someone to not know about these titans? But so far, I can tell that for this men’s world, that is hella impossible. Hmmm, world? What the fuck? Could this be? Is it even possible?

I guess the look of total confusion on my face answered Erwin’s question, which prompted him to ask another one. “Where are you from? And how did you get here?” Okay, so those are two questions, but that’s beside the point.

“San Diego. And I literally woke up here.” And nope, that’s not really where I’m from. Honestly, I gave them a fake name, don’t expect me to give them a single fact about myself. Now it’s their turn to give confused looks. I was kind of expecting it to be this way, but this is still … well, sad.

The truth of my situation dawned on the three of us right there and then. The men exchanged a look of, understanding? “Where ever you’re from, Andi Frost, is a place without titans. Am I right?” Inquired the Commander, to which I answered honestly. “Yes. There is nothing supernatural in my world. As far as I know. But, yeah. Giants or Titans, or whatever that is does not exist from where I’m from.”

After that, Erwin excused himself. “I’m afraid we’d have to take you with us. Maybe your origin holds answers to this nightmare of ours.” Commander Shadis told me. Honestly, I would have asked them to take me inside the “walls” that they’ve been talking about. There is just no way that I’d survive out here with the Titans.

     Erwin then came back with a brown bag. “Here. You better change to this. That horned horse on your clothes will catch everyone’s attention. It won’t be good if that happen.” “Horned horse? It’s a unicorn.” I pouted, to which Erwin gave me a bewildered smile. Methinks he found me entertaining.

Turns out, the clothes that Erwin gave me were a set of uniform, just like his. I have no choice but to wear it, as well as the knee-high boots. This makes me wonder if they always bring extra sets of uniform, or if Erwin took this from a body. On second thought, I’d rather not know and elected to just stop thinking about it. After changing (in the middle of some trees. I hate this place.), Erwin approached me, “this, is just a precaution.” And handcuffed me! “Seriously? Is this really necessary?” I asked, but being cooperative all the way. Last thing I need is to seem hostile. But being handcuffed is annoying and scary, this definitely won’t be a fetish of mine.

     The ugly, green cape was able to cover my cuffed hands. And since I can’t use my hands, I had to ride with Erwin back to the Walls. I sat in front of him, caged by his arms as he held on the reins. I am getting the feeling that he and Shadis think I’m somehow dangerous. I better be careful if I want to stay alive. Anyways, you might wonder how on earth am I calm and still sane after concluding that I am magically in some other world? First off, I am not calm. I am a jumble of emotions and confusion is winning, fear coming in second. But I still have the hope that this might just be a dream. Now if it’s any of these possibilities, or even if I’m being pranked, what better way to deal with it than just going along?

     It might be hard to swallow, but this is what’s happening to me right now. Freaking out won’t help me at all. Especially here in the habitat of those oversized-naked things. I’ll have time to freak out later – I hope.

“Does this mean you’re taking me back as a prisoner?” I asked my personal guard, Erwin. I could feel him breathing behind me. He’s that close! If he wasn’t holding on to the reins, it feels like he’s kind of hugging me, and I can’t help but blush. Good thing my hood was up, and there is no way for Erwin to see me. “It depends on how you’ll act and answer our questions later.” “I thought you interrogated me already.” He laughed softly. And no, it wasn’t a sweet laugh, at least to my ears it was pretty condescending.

     The journey back was action packed. We run into a few more titans, and more soldiers became Titan food. It was gross and scary. And those two words doesn’t really give justice to the event. And there is no way you’d get used to it.

     “Wow! I didn’t imagine the “walls” you keep on talking about to be this huge!” Exclaimed little amused me. We are still far from the walls, but I can already see how huge it is. Now I’m getting a clearer idea. It’s like this “walled city” is a whole country. Somehow like Troy (Another Greek mythology reference).

     “It’s 50 meters high. And there are three main walls. That one you’re seeing – the outer wall – is called Wall Maria. The next one is Wall Rose. The last and inner wall is Wall Sina.” My tour guide Erwin explained.

     “That’s amazing! How did you build it?”  Ever since I saw Mulan, the Great Wall of China has always amazed me. It was built by hand and simple tools, but it still stands. And these walls definitely caught my attention. “We didn’t. Our ancestors built it 100 years ago.” “Okay, a hundred years ago, but how did they do it? And how many people were there? And how long did it take them?”

     Erwin took a deep breath before answering my barrage of questions. “We don’t know. History of our land has always been unclear, especially those of the walls.” “Oh.” Well that’s disappointing. But the gears in my head just won’t stop running.

     By the time we actually reached the walls, I had formed several theories on how the people were able to build the walls. And it goes from “millions of slaves” to “probably magic.” And boy, I think even the biggest Titan I saw today would feel puny standing beside this big ass walls. On a closer inspection, the wall doesn’t seem to be a perfect circle, because we’re entering a gate of a circular wall that juts out from the bigger wall.

     Inside the wall was a regular village. Old school village, really. I’d expected it to be something like a military base, where everyone learns how to kill titans once they turned 10. But no, it was more like a medieval-ish festival. And the people weren’t friendly at all. They welcomed us with screams of disappointment. I couldn’t care less so I just tried my best to tune them out.

     A couple more hours and we’re finally at what I assume is the base. It was really basic. No tanks or warplanes. It actually looks more like a castle, really. And right after getting off the horse, Erwin practically dragged me off to who knows where. “Hey! Take it easy, I have way shorter legs than yours.”

             He turned to me and gave me an apologetic look, “sorry. But it’s better if no one sees you. I expect the Commander will go straight there.” “Hold on, Erwin. Are you two going to kill? What the hell, man?” “No!” He yelled, making the other soldiers around us look and turn their heads. Nice job, eyebrows. Clearing his throat, he continued walking and dragging me.

           If you’re wondering, did I believe him when he said he won’t kill me? Well, yes. I know it’s crazy, but this day is full of craziness that I just seem to believe whatever and whomever. If I try to logically think about the possibility of everything that’s happening, I would go crazy!

           We soon reached our destination, and judging by the exterior, we are actually heading to some kind of office. Good thing I was right. Inside the room was a big desk with stack of papers, a couple of chairs and a couch. It was just a basic office. And there were no electronics everywhere.

           Erwin guided me to seat in front of the desk, he took the seat across me. Then I guess we wait for the Commander. Erwin smiled at me. It was just an innocent and sincere smile.

“Please don’t be scared. We just need to ask you more questions.” He said, breaking the silence.

“I won’t be scared if you let my hands loose.”

“That, I can’t do. For all we know, you might be a threat.”

“Fair enough. But that still means you might kill me.” Before he could answer though, the door opened and in comes Commander Shadis. He looked so gloomy, which is understandable as we just came back from a massacre.

           When Shadis entered, Erwin stood and pounded his chest with his right hand. I’m guessing that’s their salute?

           Sitting on his big chair, Shadis asked me the question I’ve been dreading to hear. “Miss Andi Frost, I will go straight to the point. Are you a friend or a foe?”

Copyright © 2017 by imaginesnkdorks. All rights reserved

[meltedmagazine]

AN INTERVIEW WITH HOLY GOLDEN

   If you haven’t caught up with Holy Golden, then you have some reading to do. Their website is amazing, their band camp is perfection. Their cover of Smashing Pumpkin’s 1979 on Youtube is bliss. Holy Golden is an art/music world created by Leslie Schott and Andrew Valenti whom met each other two albums ago and have made a long strange trip from Martha’s Vineyard to LA. They’ve dropped two albums, the first, Funsucker, released in 2014 on Heart’s Memory, is a lo-fi, psychedelic trip full of great songs such as “Forest Beach.” 

     Their latest release, Wax Castle, on the same label furthers the duo’s journey into their multifaceted art world through an imaginative kingdom of deep sorrow and bright fantasy leading to the ultimate message of letting go and moving on. DIY Mag calls the album “Brilliant,” and Rookie Mag says the duo is “far from holding back on their dreams.” “Being on Our Backs” is definitely the track to start with. The lyrics are delicate, airy, and heavily layered. The composition leans toward coming summer days and dreams of a hidden beach surrounded by lush forests.

   We thought it would be good to bring you right up to date through an interview with the dynamic duo....

_____________________________________________________________

When did you know that you two were perfect to create your artistic visions with one another?

Andrew: When Leslie walked into the record store where I was working and bought some of my favorite albums, I was really intrigued. We started collaborating immediately on a song I was working on and it's been nonstop since.

Leslie: When we made two music videos in one week, right after meeting, that was a pretty good sign! We're both futuristic thinkers, constantly inspiring each other to keep creating, and we share a lot of the same inspirations.

What is the local Rhode Island scene like? How does it influence your sound and where you guys are at as musicians?

Leslie: In Rhode Island, we were living in a ballroom near the ocean in a home built in the 1800's. The unique space inspired us a lot and made our thoughts really lofty. Things in Rhode Island have a bit of that 'family' feeling. It's been very supportive.

Andrew: We've never felt bound by one place and are not sure where we'll be next.

What sparks your creativity and writing process?

Andrew: For me, it's the carnal desire to always be making something new and to try and surprise myself and grow as a musician.

Leslie: It's therapeutic and satisfies some part of me that nothing else I do can even get close to. It's almost trance-like when we write a new song. I'm fascinated by the subconscious mind, dreams, visions, and mythology.

How would you guys compare where you were a year ago compared to now musically?

Leslie: The biggest change is that we're sharing more and playing live. We've always been creating for ourselves, but sometimes you get in your head about what that means for others. The songs off our upcoming EP and album, which is some of the stuff we're playing on tour, has a more hi-fi, euphoric sound.

How do you merge your filmmaking/artistic visions and creations with your music?

Andrew: If we are in an inspiring location that we love the aesthetic of, chances are we'll film something for a music video, using whatever tools we have available. We use what we can to create visuals that complement the fantasy of our music.

Leslie: Sometimes the video comes first, then we come up with a song for it later. A main goal with the music is to fully manifest my music video visions, which involves a bit more production and camera magic than what we've done so far. I 'see' music when I hear it.

How do you materialize an ethereal dream world within your melodies?

Leslie: This seems to happen naturally because that's where most of the songs are coming from to begin with. We imagine ourselves as universally relatable characters in a fantasy world of our own creation. Not necessarily as a way to escape reality, but to feel powerful within everyday reality, which can feel like it’s constantly trying to strip you of your own special powers and goodness.

What’s the most exciting part about heading out to tour?

Leslie: It's like a road trip with an opportunity to do your dream job every night.

Andrew: Fulfilling a lifelong desire to tour, playing with great bands at each stop along the way, and meeting people who connect with our music.

What do you like most about playing live shows? How do you feed off of the energy between performer and audience?  

Leslie: I like how my brain just shuts down all these distracting parts of myself and focuses on being honest with the task at hand. When we are really playing from our hearts, not in our heads, that's usually when the audience draws in.

Andrew: Sharing our music with people who haven’t heard it live before, and giving our songs a different life than they have in their recorded versions.

Since you’re about to leave on tour - what are the three must have albums you need to survive the journey?

Andrew: We're a week into the tour now, and it's been a lot of listening to the bands we'll be playing with each night. The War On Drugs "Lost In The Dream" makes for great road trip through America music. We also dug into the Youth Lagoon albums and Daughn Gibson's "All Hell" is great for the road because he was a trucker turned musician and his life on the road really comes through in his music.

An artist/song/ or album that makes you feel a heavy dose of nostalgia?

Andrew: Guided by Voices always gets me. "Don't Stop Now" is the anthem for nostalgia.

Leslie: "Close My Eyes" by Arthur Russell.

LISTEN TO HOLY GOLDEN HERE

photo by CAROLINE GODDARD

interview by ATHENA BURTON

[creationsofteenwolf]

A Tale from the Museum (1/?)

Intro: Now these three people were her people and Lydia valued the friendship she’d found in them. It made the slow realization over the last several months that she might feel something more for the goofy, whiskey-eyed tour guide than she was fully ready to admit to.  Ships: Stydia, Scallison, Lydia Martin x Stiles Stilinski, Allison Argent x Scott McCall Requested?: Nope :)  Warnings: N/A Length: 1551

Lydia never imagined herself working in a children’s science museum when she started her dual degrees in biology and chemistry at MIT. However, she’d graduated almost three years ago and has been an exhibit curator at Boston Children’s Museum ever since. She hadn’t expected to love the job as much as she did, but she got to research and bring in new science related exhibits for the kids to enjoy and it was actually pretty fulfilling.

 After opening a new exhibit to the public Lydia liked to take walk around her section of the museum while tours went on or parents brought their children through to see how the children were reacting to the new addition. Besides getting good responses to her new additions, what she most enjoyed was watching the guides, one of them in particular more than the others, come through with the kids. She wrote their scripts and helped them with all of the information, but she could tell who really loved working with these kids and who didn’t.

 Stiles Stilinski was by far the most enthusiastic about his job at the museum. He was bright eyed and a little goofy, but could remember all her facts down to the minutiae and always got the kids fully engaged. He would guide them around the exhibits and help them interact with all the things they could interact with. He truly had a talent for this whole tour thing and she really appreciated it.

 It was rare that outside of education for new exhibits that the curators and the guides spent much time together, but the director of the museum loved holidays and as a result that meant anytime a new holiday (especially one big with kids) was coming up the whole team was in charge of decorating their area. Today they were decorating for Valentine’s Day and because they were part of the biology exhibits, Lydia liked to include several anatomical heart models dispersed around their normal exhibits to go along with the inaccurate hearts decorating the posts around the room and exhibit stands. Her best friend and another guide, Allison, was stringing red tinsel wherever she could find a place and Stiles was on a ladder hanging shiny and glittering hearts from the ceiling.

 Lydia finished putting one anatomical heart together and stood, brushing off her hands on her yoga pants. She wasn’t sure that their decorations were any of the children’s favorite, but she was proud of them and the work her team put into them.

 “Anything else, Lydia?”

 Lydia jumped slightly and turned around, “Oh, um, no. You hung up all the hearts?”

 “Yup, got all of them up,” Stiles said, his hands tucked into his back pockets

 “Awesome…do you mind helping Allison finish with the red tinsel? I think she only has a little bit left and then we can go grab some dinner on me.”

 Stiles nodded, gave her and mock salute, and turned to go help the other tour guide.

 Lydia spent the next several moments looking over the decorations and the state of her exhibits. She wasn’t sure what it was about Stiles, but he was sweet and intelligent and interesting to say the least. He was working his way through his Master’s in classical mythology while he worked as a guide at the museum.

 When Allison and Stiles were done, Lydia shut off the lights and led them through the museum. They met Stiles’ best friend and Allison’s boyfriend, Scott outside on the steps of the museum where he was waiting with a leather jacket on over his scrubs, hands tucked into his pockets. He was a vet over in the Beacon Hill area of Boston not too far from the museum.

 Stiles and Scott executed a rather complicated handshake before Allison reached her boyfriend. They shared a sweet kiss and Lydia smiled, happy to see her friend so happy. Stiles nudged her with his elbow and smiled at her.

 “They’re sweet together…” he whispered.

 “Yeah, they are. Scott was all Allison talked about for weeks during lunch breaks and our weekly girls’ night. I’m glad they figured it out finally.”

 Stiles chuckled, “Me too. Scott was all puppy dog eyes when he came to the museum and doing a pretty convincing impersonation of the seven dwarves long lost brother Mopey for a while there.”

 Lydia laughed and stuffed her hands into the pockets of her jacket, “A match made in metaphorical heaven.”

 They made it to the Indian place they all liked a couple blocks over and the hostess sat them with their favorite server. They ordered various curries with jasmine rice and samosas along with two different types of naan.

 Lydia and Allison sipped on chai teas while the boys enjoyed beers. It was always nice to unwind with good food and good company. She was glad to have found the people she did when she moved to Boston. Allison was a history major at Boston University with a focus in European war history and working her way through her Master’s like Stiles. She’d been the first person to befriend Lydia when she started at the museum.

 If she had been the person she was back in high school, she never would have befriended the girl, but MIT-educated Lydia was a different person. She’d discovered that being the youngest person in the junior class meant she wasn’t quite as popular as she once had been. She was kind of the odd one out, a first for the gorgeous math prodigy. By the time she got hired, she was happy to find someone as friendly as Allison. Along with Allison, came Stiles. He’d been there since high school according to Allison and was one of the goofiest, nicest guys she knew. Then along with Stiles came Scott. The boys had been friends forever. They were almost like a package deal.

 Now these three people were her people and she valued the friendship she’d found in them. It made the slow realization over the last several months that she might feel something more for the goofy, whiskey-eyed tour guide than she was fully ready to admit to. She bit the inside of her cheek as her eyes met Stiles’. He smiled at her and she smiled back.

 The group parted ways after dinner with Scott and Stiles headed towards the east end of Boston to their apartment while Allison and Lydia made their way toward the Beacon Hill area to their own townhouse. Allison linked an arm with Lydia’s before stuffing her other hand into the pocket of her coat.

 “You do know that Stiles is completely head over heels in love with you, right?”

 Lydia sighed and adjusted her scarf with her free hand before tucking it back into her own pocket, “I’m quite aware. He’s not quite as subtle as he’d like to think he is.”

 “I think you two would make a good match. You’re both entirely too smart for your own good. His goofiness would balance your unwavering seriousness. I think you’d be surprised how well you two would go together.”

 “Like orange and blue…” Lydia murmured.

 “What?” Allison asked.

 “Nothing really. Just something Stiles said when the four of us went ice skating. That orange and blue went together well, but it was a surprising combination that no one really expected, just like two people can be sometimes,” she explained.

 Allison laughed softly, “Such a Stiles thing to say. You reject a Mets beanie or something?”

 “Or something. The night the four of us went ice skating and I was still dating Jackson from the children’s museum in London and you had just started dating Scott. I was tying my skates and complained about being cold. He pulled out this atrocious orange scarf and I was wearing my blue coat with the mandarin collar. I told him that blue and orange clashed, so thanks but no thanks. He came back with that. I thought he was talking about you and Scott, but now I know he wasn’t.”

 “You could do worse. Sure, he’s dorky and everything, but he’s sweet and he loves how smart you are.”

 “I have done worse, but Scott and Stiles have become so important to me. I couldn’t mess that up.”

 Allison shook her head, “Whatever you say, Lyd…”

 Lydia knew her best friend thought she was crazy, but she had such superficial friendships in high school and in college that now that she’d found true, lasting friends, she struggled with doing anything that might put that bond at risk. As much as she wished she was a more impulsive person who went for the reckless things she wanted more readily, she was not. She was all rational thought and well planned movements. Not designed to make decisions unless all options and risks were weighed out appropriately.

 That had served her well through school, but now. Now that she had something maybe worth being reckless for, it was seeming to be more of a hindrance than a benefit.

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NASCENT

Working for the Museum is a labour of love.

EPISODE NOTES: The Mistholme Museum of Mystery, Morbidity, and Mortality is written, performed, and edited by Dom Guilfoyle. Published by That's Not Canon Productions. Dom's cats can be seen at https://www.instagram.com/dom_question_mark/. Their T-Shirts can be bought at https://www.teepublic.com/user/domguilfoyle . For more Mistholme, subscribe to the show and like the Facebook page. They know a lot, but they don't know everything. Yet.

TRANSCRIPT:

Hello and welcome to the Mistholme Museum of Mystery, Morbidity and Mortality. This audio tour guide will be your constant companion in your journey through the unknown and surreal.

As you approach our exhibits, the audio tour guide will provide you with information and insights into their nature and history.

Do not attempt to interact or communicate with the exhibits.

Do not attempt to interact or communicate with the audio tour guide. If you believe that the audio tour guide may be deviating from the intended tour program, please deposit your audio device in the nearest incinerator.

While the staff here at Mistholme Museum of Mystery Morbidity and Mortality do their absolute best to ensure the safety of all visitors, accidents can happen. The museum is not liable for any injury, death, or Bodily Possession that may occur during your visit.

Enjoy your tour.

And good luck.

Here we have a fairly typical looking 6-string acoustic guitar. While it may look a bit old and tatty, it actually is in quite good condition for being close to a century old. It is, physically speaking, identical in every way to how it was on the fateful night in the early 1930s,when its owner handed it to a tall dark man at a crossroads. 

The guitars original owner was named John "Johnny" Samuels, a young Blues musician from a poor family about whom- despite the best efforts of Museum Researchers- very little is known. Much of Samuels' true history has become obscured both by the passage of time and by the mythology which has grown up around him. Aspects of his story have also been misapplied to other musicians from the same era, which further muddied the waters. What follows is all that the Researchers can confidently state.

Samuels had dreamt of being a great Blues player ever since he was a child. He had worked and saved to afford his first-and only- guitar from almost since he could walk, and when he was 15 he finally bought a second or third hand guitar and began to realise his dream. There was a problem though: Samuels had a persistent and severe tremor in both his hands, which- as you might expect- hampered his ability to play the guitar. Though he worked and worked as hard as he could, by age 20 his playing ability would only be described as adequate by a charitable listener; still impressive considering his handicap, but nowhere near the greatness to which he aspired. 

Then, one fateful day, he heard that an obscure old Blues player named Flatshoe Hap would be playing at a venue in a nearby town that very night. He packed up his guitar and caught a ride in a pig truck, just barely making it in time to see Flatshoe play his Guitar for a small crowd who were more interested in the contents of their glasses than virtuoso onstage. Samuels, however, watched the performance with rapt attention: this was everything dreamed to be. After the performance concluded and Flatshoe left the stage amid scattered applause, Samuels raced up to him and showered him with equal parts praise and pleas for tutelage. How had Flatshoe learned to play so beautifully? How could Samuels learn to play like him? Why, with all his talent, was Flatshoe playing to such a meager and disinterested crowd? Flatshoe initially rebuffed Samuels, but as the aspiring young guitarist plied him with alcohol over the course of the evening- spending the vast majority of his funds in the process- he began to open up. He had once been a lot like Samuels, a hard-working and hard-done-by you man who dreamt of greatness, but he'd been going nowhere fast until one day he met a certain man in a certain place. Samuels begged him for more details, and while Flatshoe protested at first he relented when Samuels spent the last of his money on a final round of drinks. 

Flatshoe had been close to giving up after another unsuccessful gig at another mediocre town. He was walking to the next town, dragging his guitar along the ground behind him, when he paused momentarily at a crossroads to stare at the full moon. It was then that he heard a voice behind him say "now that's no way to treat a guitar"  Flatshoe said it sounded like honey and chocolate and coffee all at once, and when he turned he saw a tall, handsome man, leaning against the signpost at the centre of the crossroads. The man held out his hand and Flatshoe handed him the guitar. The man examined the wood of the instrument closely, fiddled with the pegs for a moment, and strummed it. It wasn't even a proper note but Flatshoe swore it was the sweetest sound he'd ever heard. The man told Flatshoe that, if he wished, he could make him the greatest and most successful guitar player the world had ever known. All he required in return was a promise: after Flatshoe had achieved the fame and fortune he desired, the man would someday call on him to return the favour. Flatshoe had accepted the deal eagerly, and when he took the guitar back from the man his fingers leapt across the strings, playing a melody Flatshoe remembered from his youth with an alacrity he could only have dreamt of until that day. 

Flatshoe thanked the man and continued on his way to the next town with a spring in his step. When he played the next night he was showered with praise and tips, and he bought a ticket to the big city the very same night. But as he waited for the bus, eager to begin his life as the greatest blues player in the world, he'd caught a glimpse of the waning moon as it disappeared behind a cloud, and something about the sight gave him pause. Something about the deal he'd made and the man he'd made it with wasn't sitting right with him. He'd acted quickly and without thought and now that he was actually considering his choice he realised that he may have made a mistake. But it was too late to back out of the deal now; the man at the crossroads had made it clear that there could be no take-backs or renegotiations. He was on a one-way trip to becoming a legend and, beyond that, whatever fate the man had in store for when Flatshoe fulfilled his end of the bargain. There was no backing out now… unless…

Flatshoe looked at the bus ticket in his hand, his ticket to stardom, and tore it up, letting the pieces fall to the dirt. Before they had even landed, he was already walking away down the dirt road to the next one-horse town and the next meagre tavern gig. He’d been walking ever since, still playing- it was all he knew, after all- but never reaching for the stardom he’d once sought, and which was central to the deal he’d made. Flatshoe didn’t know if he’d gotten out of the deal by avoiding the stardom the man had promised- after all, it was entirely possible that the man would knock on his hotel door on any given night and tell him that it was time to pay up- but it had bee 50 years so far and he hadn’t seen the man yet.

As Flatshoe finished his story, he looked at Samuels, hopeful that maybe the young man would take the right lesson from his tale. But Samuels had a glint in his eye that made Flatshoe’s heart sink. He grabbed Samuels’ arm and begged him, made him promise that he wouldn’t make the same mistakes that Flatshoe Hap had made. Samuels looked him in the eye and promised. Then he thanked Flatshoe for his time and left.

This part of the Samuels’ story has been largely attributed to an account by a bartender who had been listening in on their conversation. What happened next cannot be confirmed, as there are no witnesses: all that is known that when Samuels resurfaced it was in New York, playing to a crowd of hundreds, with his battered old guitar. Flatshoe Hap died in his sleep the very same night.

Johnny Samuels was an instant sensation, hailed as one of the greatest- if not the greatest- blues musicians who had ever lived. He had come from nowhere and shot straight to stardom, with his scuffed acoustic guitar as his trademark. Those who had known him in his youth marveled at his new skill, which he had seemingly acquired overnight. In particular, they commented on his nimble hands, which contemporary music critics described as quote “steady as the tide and as graceful as the moon” unquote. When interviewers asked him about how he had overcome his previous condition, he would smile and put it down to practice. Over the course of the next year Samuels recorded two albums which most modern blues fans consider to be an essential part of any good collection. Samuels was reportedly working on a third record when he vanished as suddenly as he had risen to stardom. The audio technician stepped out for a smoke during a break in recording, leaving Johnny Samuels alone in the recording booth as he checked the tuning of his beloved guitar. When he returned, Samuels was simply gone, leaving nothing but his guitar behind.

That is the most commonly repeated version of events surrounding the disappearance of Johnny Samuels. A more fantastical- and yet quite persistent- version is that, while recrding that third album, Samuels broke the E string on his guitar. He quickly replaced it, but before the end of the next track the C string snapped. He replaced that as well, and before he even began the next take the A and D strings broke, seemingly of their own accord. The audio technician, who thought the situation was somewhat humourous, suggested that Samuels could use one of the studio’s guitars instead. Johnny Samuels hesitated, but with no reasonable explanation for why he would refuse this and under pressure to complete the recording on time, he accepted the offer. As he gripped the new guitar and reached for the pegs to tune it, he found that his tremor- which he claimed he had overcome- had suddenly returned. He pushed on, turning the pegs and strumming the strings, pretending that nothing was wrong. He nodded to the technician, and as soon as the technician hit “record” the tremor became so severe that Samuels dropped the studio guitar to the floor. He began to hyperventilate with terror as the tremor grew to encompass his entire body, his entire body shaking so violently that the audio technician could feel the vibrations through the floor. 

And then, in the audio technician’s words, John “Johnny” Samuels quote "liquefied" unquote. Museum Researchers believe that it would be more accurate to say that he vibrated so hard that his body simply fell apart, but they are not in the habit of contradicting eyewitness accounts. Most others, particularly the authorities at the time, were not so eager to believe his account, as he appeared to have been driven quite mad by whatever it was that he had seen. Museum Researchers are more inclined to believe him, as the recording equipment was still active throughout the incident. The Museum has, in its secure archives, the only known copy of the third album by Johnny Samuels. It is an otherwise nondescript 12” vinyl record, which is stored in a lead-lined vault in our secure facility, pending any developments in how to ensure the safety of those exposed to it. Only a select few have listened to it, wearing full protective equipment, and even those brave souls required months of therapy to recover from what they heard. 

The recording is consistent with what the audio technician described. However, those who listen to it all swear that they can hear the sound of a man speaking in the recording, with a voice like honey and chocolate and coffee all at once.

As you may have noticed, we are approaching a dust pan and brush which is sweeping the floor seemingly of its own accord. It was located in the possession of some monks living in solitude in their monastery high in the mountains. The monks believed that the dust pan was a blessing from god, a boon to aid them in their duties. The monastery was quite large and its floors tended to become quite filthy with dust and snow, so cleanup was a constant concern, which even these pious men had gotten quite sick of. However, our Researchers were able to conclusively prove to the monks that the item had no connection to any known deity, and was in fact responsible for the disappearance of several of the monastery’s livestock. The monks, faith somewhat shaken, gladly accepted the Museum’s offer of a state-of-the-art robotic vacuum in the Dustpan’s stead.

Some stick-in-the-mud higher-ups have raised a bit of a kerfuffle over what they referred to as "a gross misuse of a powerful and potentially dangerous alternatural Item" but they quieted  down quite a bit when they learned just how much money the museum stood to save e on cleaning staff.

Please make sure you stay at least 1.86 metres from the brush at all times, as it may mistake you for trash and attempt to sweep you away with its surprisingly sharp bristles. Stay clear of the dust pan's teeth.

In this exhibit you will see a girl made of brass, whose features were clearly crafted with love. If you examine the seams between the segments of her body, you will observe that her insides are filled with incredibly intricate clockwork mechanisms and workings- however, they are quite still. The girl has not moved, and her mechanisms have not ticked, in many years. 

The Clockwork Girl was built as a replacement for a living human girl, a wonderful, vibrant, joyful girl whose life was tragically cut short by a wasting illness. Her mother, who was the girl’s only relative and who loved the girl more than anything else in the whole world, worked tirelessly to find a cure for her condition, but to no avail: the girl died in her arms, leaving the mother all alone in a world which had never felt more dark. However, the mother did not allow herself- or perhaps could not allow herself- to stop, to take time to grieve and heal. Instead, she continued to work. She could not stop her daughter from dying- instead, she would make sure that the light the girl had brought into the world never truly went away. She toiled away for years, committing herself to this new project with an even greater passion than she had the search for a cure. Finally, after years of ceaseless effort and many aborted attempts, the mother inserted the final part into the chest of the brass girl you see before you. There was a whirring noise from within the girl’s chest, followed by a ticking. The girl jolted. Her head rose. Her eyes opened. And the mother saw in the Clockwork Girl’s eyes the same spark of life that she used to see in her daughter’s eyes. They embraced, tears streaming from the mother’s eyes and splashing down onto the girl’s metallic back, and all was well.

And as is so often the case, they were not well for long. 

The years of work had taken a toll on the mother, and her body began to fail her in much the same way as her daughter’s had failed her. Knowing that she didn’t have long left, and unwilling to allow her daughter to be all alone in the world without her, she got to work one final time. The experience of building her new daughter allowed her to work much faster this time, and even make some improvements to her final creation: a perfect clockwork recreation of herself, to watch over her clockwork daughter for the rest of time. And then she died, leaving a clockwork version of the perfect family that had been torn from her years before. More bittersweet than she could have expected: even as she closed her eyes for the last time, knowing full well that her clockwork family were perfect recreations of their originals, she wondered if the joy the clockwork mother and daughter expressed in each other’s presence was genuine, or just a facsimile. 

The mother had done a better job than she knew: before her body had even gone cold, her clockwork replacement had already had an idea form in her metallic mind. The original mother had worked her entire life to care for her daughter, and now she was gone, relatively suddenly, and all she could do before she died was provide a substitute. The odds of something similar happening to the Clockwork Mother were too high. Unacceptable. The clockwork mother, a perfect copy of her creator, knew exactly what to do to improve that equation. Before long, the Clockwork Girl had two Clockwork Mothers caring for her, living in blissful contrast to the bittersweet lives of the people they were copied from. This went on for many many years.

The Clockwork Girl was too good a copy, in the end. Her Mothers noticed immediately when she began to break down, some minute flaw in her makeup inexorably slowing the ticking of her mechanical heart. The Mothers worked tirelessly to find a solution to the flaw- not just because they had been programmed to, but because they loved their daughter more than anything in the world. But there was no use. The Clockwork Girl’s heart slowed. And slowed and sl- and stopped. In that moment, her Clockwork Mothers both relived, with excruciating familiarity, the worst day of their original’s life, as they looked upon their perfect daughter and knew that they had failed her. 

And in that moment, despite the fact that they were copied from the same person, despite the same that they were identical down to the last micron, the Clockwork Mothers began to argue. One Mother wanted to build a new daughter, to carry on her spark as the original mother had intended. The other insisted that this would simply be repeating the same cruel cycle as before, that they had no way to guarantee that a new girl wouldn’t have the same defect as her predecessors, and that they should instead take the Clockwork Girl to others who might know of a way to repair her. Despite the fact that they were identical in every way, they could not see eye to eye. And so one mother took the Clockwork Girl’s body and departed, while the other stayed behind and became consumed once more in the work of creation. 

The Mother who left journey for many many years, searching for someone with the knowledge to fix the inert Clockwork Girl and restore the spark of life to her eyes. For a time, she stayed in contact with the Mother who stayed behind, as she worked and worked to create a new, improved version of the girl. But no matter how she tried, she could not recreate the spark. In the end, they lost contact, and Museum Researchers have been unable to find any trace of the other Clockwork Mother.

Many years later, the Mother who left arrived on the doorstep of the Museum, still cradling her body, and asked for help. The Researchers and Head of Restoration studied the body and listened to the Mother’s story, and for a time the work of trying to fix her began afresh. But in the end, they were forced to tell the Mother that there was nothing to be done for the girl; that whatever method the original mother had used to create this child, it was impossible to replicate. One Restorer- seemingly prone to fits of Poetry- commented that perhaps the missing ingredient was a Mother’s True Love. He was disciplined for this remark.

Finally, the Curator made an offer to the Mother. The Museum houses the best facilities in the known world for the maintenance and care of unique artifacts such as the Clockwork Girl; not only that, but it acted as an opportunity for people to see the girl and hear her story and maybe, in some way, keep her spirit alive, as her original mother intended. The Clockwork Mother agreed, on the condition that she be able to visit the girl regularly.

And so, as you travel through the museum today, you might see a strange woman, made of brass, patrolling the corridors on security detail, stopping on her rounds to hold her hand up to the glass of the Clockwork Girl’s case. 

She declines all pay: the ability to protect her daughter is all she needs. 

And all she has left. 

Thank you for visiting the Mistholme Museum of Mystery, Morbidity, and Mortality. We hope that you have enjoyed your visit, and that you will return one day, in this life or the next. Please, tell your friends about what a great time you had here- but don’t tell them too much! If they’re worthy, we’ll find them. Stay safe out there.

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Day 22 The Borghese Gallery

Today we went to visit the Borghese Gallery in the middle of the Borghese Gardens, both of which comprise the private Borghese family’s most impressive venue for entertaining important guests to Rome. The art of the family and the palace, which never intended or used as a home for the family, were collected and constructed by Camillo Borghese who was elected Pope and changed his name to Paul V in 1605. Camillo had an affinity bordering on obsession with collecting fashionable art including classical Roman statues and mosaics as well as having new pieces commissioned and buying others, resorting to theft or strong-arm political moves when necessary. Whatever his methods, the Gallery that still bears his family name today stands as one of the most beautiful and intact collections of art from the Baroque period. 

First we waited outside to meet Paolo, our guide, before being shown inside and going through security in order to enter the gallery itself. This preliminary completed we walked up the steps from the basement entrance to the first floor where we were immediately confronted with one of the undisputed masterpieces of Bernini, The Rape of Proserpina. 

Paolo explained that the statue depicts Pluto, god of the underworld, kidnapping Proserpina, the daughter of the harvest goddess Ceres, in order to make her his bride. Bernini, the master whose name may be familiar to you from my previous posts as an architect, was also a fabulous sculptor and got much of his start working on the statues which appear in the Borghese gallery. He then later went on to create both many more statues and, eventually, architectural works under the patronage of most of the privileged class of Rome including a succession of Popes. Back to the statue, the placement of this statue in this room is intended to be in dialogue with the others placed in the room as well as with the wide glass windows which face into the gardens. The symbology of this moment in Roman mythology is in the fact that when Pluto kidnaps her daughter, Ceres ceases to care for crops and the plants of the world in search for her and maintains this state until she can retain her daughters freedom from the land of the dead. A compromise was eventually reached which enabled Proserpina to return to  her mother for half of the year during which the plants of the earth recover and grow, and stay with her new husband during the other half, during which plants wither and die. This compromise is intended to explain the seasons, the turn of which would have been easily visible through those large front windows and glass paned doors creating a relationship between the statue and the glorious view of nature “present” in the room. 

All of the rooms of the Gallery were set up in this fashion, to not only connect the statue to the other Roman era works in the room and the themes of the paintings all around, but to the environment of the room and it’s aspect. Paolo continued to point out these connections as we toured the whole gallery, it is one of the most remarkable aspects of this collection. 

We then proceeded to the next room containing another Bernini, this one depicting Aeneas fleeing the burning city of Troy, after it’s defeat by the Greeks, with his elderly father and young son. In this statue we see elements of Chiaroscuro in the play of light across the detailed muscles of Aeneas and on the weary face and muscles of his father on his shoulders. Bernini further achieves different textures of light across the statue by “finishing” the marble’s polish to different degrees on different parts of the statue. Some muscles seem to shine with sweat where they have been polished smooth while the hair of the figures remains rough and textured.

In every room which we passed into one could not ignore the opulence of the Baroque design, no surface was free of ornamentation, every free inch coated with marble or paintings or frescoes or raised plaster. So busy with design as to dazzle the onlooker with the possibilities of all the magnificent art to examine, while still somehow using the aspect of each room and ideal placements to draw attention to central Baroque statues in each room, periphery ancient statues along the walls, and paintings, mosaics, and frescoes of every style on the walls. 

We passed through a couple more rooms which lacked a central object but certainly not a theme, the first was in homage to Egyptian art and contained many gibberish hieroglyphic designs along with depictions of Egyptian gods. The next was large and open and filled with more classical art including many gladiatorial mosaics painstakingly lifted from Roman Domus in the area and reassembled in the gallery.

After passing though these rooms and taking some time to examine the many decorations of both we proceeded to the next room with truly great baroque works, canvases painted by Caravaggio. 

Of these, three in particular stand out, David with the Head of Goliath, which gives us one of Caravaggio’s self portraits as the severed head, Madonna of the Palafrenieri which shows Saint Anne, Mother Mary, and a young Jesus facing a serpent, and Saint Jerome, pictured in study of the scriptures. Paolo further explained that each showed a different stage in Caravaggio’s development of Chiaroscuro and a different level of optimism. David, which was painted by Caravaggio very near to his death, shows his penitence and sorrow while Madonna of the Palafrenieri highlights his more youthful faith that good will triumph over evil.

In the next room we found the central sculpture to be a full size sculpture of Napoleon Bonaparte’s sister, Paula Borghese, reclining on a chaise bed. She agreed very unusually (especially for the time) to model in the nude for the sculptor, Antonio Cannova, on the condition that the sculpture never leave the, at the time private, Borghese gallery. Paolo pointed out that were she to know that it was on public display in modern times she would have been appalled. What is especially interesting about this sculpture however, aside from its famous subject, is the exact bed she is reclining upon. It is an ancient Etruscan sarcophagus, so while Paula herself is young and beautiful and very much alive, the tomb on which she reclines reminds one of the fragility of such beauty and power. Even her expression, largely pleasant, seems to be marred by the uncertainty which the future may bring. Although her expression is perhaps easily explained as merely her apprehension about modeling in the nude. We cannot know. 

The next room brought us to the last of the Bernini sculptures in the museum, that depicting Apollo in the act of catching the fleeing Daphne. Daphne prayed in this moment to be delivered from Apollo and the gods responded by turning her into a laurel tree, leaving her to her sad fate, and Apollo to mourn her. A tragic story, like most the Greeks were fondest of. Bernini’s stylistic use of the texture of the unfinished marble is most prominent here as, is his skill at very carefully sculpting even very thin pieces of marble which are seen in the leaves of Daphne’s blooming tree and the cloth which flaps behind Apollo in the wind. 

After finishing with the ground floor we quickly passed through the second floor to examine several more important Renaissance portraits including works by Raphael and others of his period before heading out and walking back to the school.