#legend of bear ripper

[solar-satan]

Drawn for a secret Santa exchange this is for all my Latvians out there, the marriage of Lāčplēsis and Laimadot as afficiated by Ziemeļmeita based in the 1980s rock opera.

They always say that tumblr is a place for specific niches

[intrepid-fictioneer-7]

I've come to the conclusion that, in my humble opinion, Higashide is the writer in TYPE-MOON who makes the best ships involving Heroic Spirits.

Which might sound really weird. After all, the central couple in Fate/Apocrypha is Sieg/Jeanne d'Arc, and it's a pretty divisive one. No offense to those who like it, but it's always a dynamic I thought made no real sense narratively and didn't have much chemistry. Sieg on his journey of self-affirmation and personhood didn't need a romance (except maybe with Astolfo, with whom the dynamic is much more fun). Jeanne, the historical figure who rejected a marriage proposal, wore male clothing, and whose famous nickname refers to her celibacy, getting into a romance just never vibed with me (especially when it felt like the parallels/relationship between her and Shirou Kotomine were far more relevant). Add to that the ending copying Last Episode without what made LE have a strong impact, and it makes the whole even less appealing.

But despite that, Apo is also the work where there is the surprising ship of Shirou Amakusa and Queen Semiramis of all people: the semi-legendary Assyrian queen credited with making one of the Seven Wonders of the ancient world falling in love with the young charismatic Japanese Christian who rebelled against the shogunate and failed. It's a very strange crossover ship between two people who never could have met if not for being brought back and it somehow works in being endearing.

(Achilles and Atalanta kinda count I guess, but it's a one-sided ship with little reasoning, that I care so little about, and is eclipsed by the more compelling foils each get, Chiron for Achilles, Jeanne for a Jackie the Ripper-driven mad Atalante.)

Higaside having grown and improved as a writer by the time of FGO, what followed this growth was him not doing a repeat of Sieg/Jeanne, but writing better ships mostly involving Servants. Asterios the Minotaur and Euryale the Gorgon; last Byzantine emperor Constantine IX and fictional Popess Johanna; heck, you can even see the relationship between Mordred and Dr. Jekyll this way (it also works as simple close friendship). Being characters from usually completely different mythologies and historical cultures, there is care done to make it clear why they fall for each other and as a result these couples are very different from one another instead of being the same formula everytime. In a game where a lot of (female) Servants are made to fall for the last Master of Chaldea for sometimes very little reason, these are a breath of fresh air.

For all my problems with her, Sakurai does something similar, though her ships are usually people who canonically were together in their legends: Sigurd/Brynhild, Aslaug/Ragnar Lodbrok, Julius Caesar/Cleopatra, Ozymandias/Nefertari, Tomoe Gozen/Kiso Yoshinaka, etc. They can be one note and there is a repeated thematic tendency of hers of writing "inhuman woman discovering humanity by falling in love", but they tend to be very cute and I easily understand that these people are in love even beyond death, so I root for them to reunite. Higashide also has "canonical" pairings, but the results are more muddled here: Siegfried and Kriemhild are adorable as a divorced couple where there are clearly still feelings, no matter what the tsundere wife says. But Rama and Sita are just...there. I understand the point of their separation, but it's not very engaging and Rama essentially disappeared after the American Singularity, while Sita was yeeted to Arcade. A mark against Higashide, but not as bad as Sieg/Jeanne and overshadowed by the numbers of better ships he wrote in FGO.

And there's Orion and Artemis, where I'm split. Super Orion and LB Artemis was really good and poignant. Orion the teddy bear and ditzy Artemis are a realy bad joke that overstayed its welcome.

FGO prioritizes Master/Servant relationships, both because the last Master of Chaldea is a blank slate for players to self insert into, and also because human×Servant is the type of ship Nasu specializes in (Shirou/Saber, Rin/Saber, Kuzuki/Caster, Caren/Angra Mainyu, and to a lesser extent Bazett/Cu, Yukika/False Assassin, and Ayako/Medusa in FSN; Fate/Extra as a whole; Ritsuka/Castoria in FGO). But even there Higashide made better choices than when he penned Sieg/Jeanne. Charlotte Corday is a surprisingly well-done choice for her archetype, it seems like it's going to be another Kiyohime but no, he actually makes her a good character you get attached to.

And then there is Kadoc and Anastasia. Words cannot describe how much I love them, how their personalities clash and complement each other in the best way, how aesthetically good they look put next to each other, etc. And it's not even just that we got a MasterxServant relationship outside Ritsuka, though that helped.

Basically, Higashide has become my go-to source for good ships, especially intra-Servants ones where Ritsuka is not involved and characters are allowed to not orbit around their Master. Sakurai also provides in that last aspect, but Higashide is doing that and also giving that crossover flavor you see in things like that one Cartoon Network ad with Johnny Bravo and Velma, and that works really well for me.

[thepastisalreadywritten]

By Parissa DJangi

August 18, 2023

Some say he was a surgeon. Others, a deranged madman — or perhaps a butcher, prince, artist, or specter.

The murderer known to history as Jack the Ripper terrorized London 135 years ago this fall.

In the subsequent century, he has been everything to everyone, a dark shadow on which we pin our fears and attitudes.

But to five women, Jack the Ripper was not a legendary phantom or a character from a detective novel — he was the person who horrifically ended their lives.

“Jack the Ripper was a real person who killed real people,” reiterates historian Hallie Rubenhold, whose book, The Five, chronicles the lives of his victims. “He wasn’t a legend.”

Who were these women? They had names: Mary Ann “Polly” Nichols, Annie Chapman, Elizabeth Stride, Catherine Eddowes, and Mary Jane Kelly.

They also had hopes, loved ones, friends, and, in some cases, children.

Their lives, each one unique, tell the story of 19th-century London, a city that pushed them to its margins and paid more attention to them dead than alive.

Terror in Whitechapel

Their stories did not all begin in London, but they ended there, in and around the crowded corner of the metropolis known as Whitechapel, a district in London’s East End.

“Probably there is no such spectacle in the whole world as that of this immense, neglected, forgotten great city of East London,” Walter Bessant wrote in his novel All Sorts and Conditions of Men in 1882.

“It is even neglected by its own citizens, who had never yet perceived their abandoned condition.”

The “abandoned” citizens of Whitechapel included some of the city’s poorest residents.

Immigrants, transient laborers, families, single women, thieves — they all crushed together in overflowing tenements, slums, and workhouses.

According to historian Judith Walkowitz:

“By the 1880s, Whitechapel had come to epitomize the social ills of ‘Outcast London,’ a place where sin and poverty comingled in the Victorian imagination, shocking the middle classes."

Whitechapel transformed into a scene of horror when the lifeless, mutilated body of Polly Nichols was discovered on a dark street in the early morning hours of August 31, 1888.

She became the first of Jack the Ripper’s five canonical victims, the core group of women whose murders appeared to be related and occurred over a short span of time.

Over the next month, three more murdered women would be found on the streets of the East End.

They had been killed in a similar way: their throats slashed, and, in most cases, their abdomens disemboweled.

Some victims’ organs had been removed. The fifth murder occurred on November 9, when the Ripper butchered Mary Jane Kelly with such barbarity that she was nearly unrecognizable.

This so-called “Autumn of Terror” pushed Whitechapel and the entire city into a panic, and the serial killer’s mysterious identity only heightened the drama.

The press sensationalized the astonishingly grisly murders — and the lives of the murdered women.

Polly, Annie, Elizabeth, Catherine, and Mary Jane

Though forever linked by the manner of their death, the five women murdered by Jack the Ripper shared something else in common:

They were among London’s most vulnerable residents, living on the margins of Victorian society.

They eked out a life in the East End, drifting in and out of workhouses, piecing together casual jobs, and pawning their few possessions to afford a bed for a night in a lodging house.

If they could not scrape together the coins, they simply slept on the street.

“Nobody cared about who these women were at all,” Rubenhold says. “Their lives were incredibly precarious.”

Polly Nichols knew precarity well. Born in 1845, she fulfilled the Victorian ideal of proper womanhood when she became a wife at the age of 18.

But after bearing five children, she ultimately left her husband under suspicions of his infidelity.

Alcohol became both a crutch and curse for her in the final years of her life.

Alcohol also hastened Annie Chapman’s estrangement from what was considered a respectable life.

Annie Chapman was born in 1840 and spent most of her life in London and Berkshire.

With her marriage to John Chapman, a coachman, in 1869, Annie positioned herself in the top tier of the working class.

But her taste for alcohol and the loss of her children unraveled her family life, and Annie ended up in the East End.

Swedish-born Elizabeth Stride was an immigrant, like thousands of others who lived in the East End.

Born in 1843, she came to England when she was 22. In London, Stride reinvented herself time and time again, becoming a wife and coffeehouse owner.

Catherine Eddowes­­, who was born in Wolverhampton in 1842 and moved to London as a child, lost both of her parents by the time she was 15.

She spent most of her adulthood with one man, who fathered her children. Before her murder, she had just returned to London after picking hops in Kent, a popular summer ritual for working-class Londoners.

At 25, Mary Jane Kelly was the youngest, and most mysterious, of the Ripper’s victims.

Kelly reportedly claimed she came from Ireland and Wales before settling in London.

She had a small luxury that the others did not: She rented a room with a bed. It would become the scene of her murder.

Yet the longstanding belief that all of these women were sex workers is a myth, as Rubenhold demonstrates in The Five.

Only two of the women — Stride and Kelly — were known to have engaged in sex work during their lives.

The fact that all of them have been labeled sex workers highlights how Victorians saw poor, unhoused women.

“They have been systematically ‘othered’ from society,” Rubenhold says,"even though this is how the majority lived.”

These women were human beings with a strong sense of personhood. According to biographer Robert Hume, their friends and neighbors described them as “industrious,” “jolly,” and “very clean.”

They lived, they loved, they existed — until, very suddenly on a dark night in 1888, they did not.

A long shadow

The discovery of Annie Chapman’s body on September 8 heightened panic in London, since her wounds echoed the shocking brutality of Polly Nichols’ murder days earlier.

Investigators realized that the same killer had likely committed both crimes — and he was still on the loose. Who would he strike next?

In late September, London’s Central News Office received a red-inked letter that claimed to be from the murderer. It was signed “Jack the Ripper.”

Papers across the city took the name and ran with it. Press coverage of the Whitechapel Murders crescendoed to a fever pitch.

Newspapers danced the line between fact and fiction, breathlessly recounting every gruesome detail of the crimes and speculating with wild abandon about the killer’s identity.

Today, that impulse endures, and armchair detectives and professional investigators alike have proposed an endless parade of suspects, including artist Walter Sickert, writer Lewis Carroll, sailor Carl Feigenbaum, and Aaron Kosminski, an East End barber.

"The continued fascination with unmasking the murderer perpetuates this idea that Jack the Ripper is a game,” Rubenhold says.

She sees parallels between the gamification of the Whitechapel Murders and the modern-day obsession with true crime.

“When we approach true crime, most of the time we approach as if it was legend, as if it wasn’t real, as if it didn’t happen to real people.”

“These crimes still happen today, and we are still not interested in the victims,” Rubenhold laments.

The Whitechapel Murders remain unsolved after 135 years, and Rubenhold believes that will never change:

“We’re not going to find anything that categorically tells us who Jack the Ripper is.”

Instead, the murders tell us about the values of the 19th century — and the 21st.

[lettherebemonsters]

Favorite time of year: Fall

Comfort food: Burritos. I freaking LOVE burritos. Oh and pizza and burgers. C:

Favorite dessert: If it’s got chocolate, I’m all over it.

Things you collect: Action figures, purses, Halloween merch, Halloween build-a-bears and Halloween beanie boos. X3

Favorite drink:Diet coke

Favorite musical artist: I have so many lol. But Disturbed definitely tops the list.

Last song you listened to: Devil’s Playground by The Rigs

Last movie you watched: Evil Dead Rise

Last series you watched: Slasher: Ripper

Series you’re currently watching: Fringe 

Current obsession:Clowns lol. Specifically Jeffrey Hawk from Dead by Daylight and Clowntrap from FNAF AR: Special Delivery.

Dream place to visit:Sleepy Hollow, New York. I always wanted to go there during October to see actual Fall weather in New England in the home of the original American ghost story.

Something you want: Good internet access. My wifi stinks. X_x

Currently working on: Reading a pile of books I bought this year lol. Already read through Hex so let’s see if I can get through Echo by Thomas Olde Heuvelt.

tagged by:  @muutos (Thank you boo!) tagging: @sinners-inc, @trapton, @chrchgrl, @squidmanalamort, @treatedblxde, @bastardstandard, @pumpkinstabs, @ask-the-boogeyman, @coravens, @finalslay, @adrenalrun, @swineblood, @mechanicaldance, @wind-the-music-box, @andabuse, @glambear, @idolkills, @michaelaftonvariations, @profanecenser, @skyxfullxofxmuses, @flametethered, @silvcrignis, @disasters-of-dbd, @gliderslain, @arsonistsfirefly, @vhsrot, @memcria, @khaoticcryptid, @lastafton, @dillusionalgrins, @b-eye-sexual , @redeyesupeguy, @fragmcntdstars, @reallivewire, @galactictrek, @my-timing-is-digital, @wizlaptop, @malevxxlence, @greeneyedfaunus​, @judgcmcnt​, @nightlyterrors​, @cfgcdsandmcnsters​, @wrongarmofthelaw​, @queenxfchaos​, @thesongbiird​, @honorablehyde​, @exmortiss​, @merchants-devices​, @buzzingswarm​, @funtimes-n-faz-kids​, @abeautifulmencgerie​, @silversurfingfishx​, @chiropterx​, @gnosticpriesthood​, @demonspriest​, @finalgrrrls​, @it-was-the-boogeyman​, @laebyrinths​, @legends-and-savages​, @envychosen​, @shapecrow​, (and anyone else interested in doing this!)

[thetoxicgamer]

Hylissang on How to Perform Well on Pyke

The Mad Lions' support was "forced" to play Pyke during their second-to-last game of the 2023 LEC Spring Split regular season, to the detriment of their opponents. Zdravets "Hylissang" Iliev Galabov visited the LEC analyst desk following the match against SK Gaming to talk about his outstanding Pyke performance that enabled Mad Lions to defeat their opponents. According to the veteran support the Bloodharbor Ripper “ruins every draft” and it’s not “a good pick” for the majority of the games. Despite saying so, Hylisang’s Pyke is known to the League of Legends community—and for good reasons. Today’s match was the 33rd for the support on the champion, and with 22 wins on Pyke, Hylissang’s win rate on the champion goes beyond the 70 percent mark. In an interview with Dot Esports, Hylissang shared the crucial factors a Pyke player should bear in mind if they do not want to become “completely useless” during a match. “First of all,” started Hylissang, “you need to play around jungle, and also the jungler has to play around you.” By creating a synergy with their jungler, Pyke players “can’t miss much,” especially if this synergy translates on the Rift with the duo roaming around the Rift. In order to “not get scaled, not get bullied,” and “start losing fights,” the team should play around the Pyke and the bot lane in general. But also, according to Hylissang, the Pyke player should create the right opportunity for the bot lane to fight and win in the laning phase, as he did in the game against SK today. But most of all, the Pyke players should be aware of their direct opponent: “I think also if have a ranged support that is not very mobile and does not have great defensive tools, like Lulu, you can go all in, but you have to know what you’re doing. Otherwise, you will lose.” Hylissang and Mad Lions have yet to lock their spot in the Group Stage of the 2023 LEC Spring Split, and considering the positive performance of the support on Pyke, LEC fans might see the champion again in their match tomorrow. Read the full article

[cantarella-if]

I know it's spoilery but can you please tell us what you have planned for the second and third books? Will there be more murders in the museum or will we finally be able to get out?

Well screw it, I rarely keep with my plans so why not?

You will absolutely not be stuck in the museum by the time of Cantarella 2: Malediction. In fact, the last two books of the trilogy will take place abroad and you will have the opportunity to uncover two historical mysteries.

MAJOR SPOILERS BELOW BECAUSE I'M FEELING GENEROUS

Malediction is set in Egypt and revolves around Smenkhkare, a mysterious pharaoh that may or may not have been a legend. Dr. Jackson gets to help Riordan explore a tomb that has just been uncovered that bears Smenkhkare's name.

The final book, Vindication, is based on a project I did for college based on the idea that Alexander the Great was reburied in the tomb of a Catholic saint in Europe. There's a lot of action in this one and Henry romancers will really be fed well.

At least, those are my current ideas. Who knows what can happen between now and publication, especially since I only have scene snippets right now.

Other potential ideas I have that could replace these include:

Tracking down the tomb of Cleopatra and Marc Antony in the sunken city of Alexandria.

Was there a real King Arthur? (this is a nod to @kal-down who writes @the-kingshound. Check it out if you haven't already!)

Who was Jack the Ripper?

The Man in the Iron Mask that some believe was the twin brother of the King of France.

The Princes in the Tower mystery

[shootertron-stuff]

Having the idea that bodice rippers featuring Imperial Space Marines are very very popular across the galaxy.

It's a genre with conventions and recurring tropes.

Warnings for general horny noncon stuff, Rogal Dorn/Sigismund:

Such as Imperial Fists geneseed pussy (they need pain to ovulate), Space Marine obedience programming, and Ultramarines using olive oil as lubricant.

Outside the reach of the Imperium, stories where Chaos Marines seduce Imperials are particularly popular. Often there is mpreg.

Within the Imperium it's other Loyalist chapters who are the rapey love interests. Marines Malevolent, Minotaurs, Black Templars...oh those Black Templars feel the need to breed.

A notable novel of the sort is called "For All Mankind", detailing the story of Bartholomaeus, an Imperial Fist kidnapped by Black Templars during the Feast of Blades, lured away with the promise of seeing ancient artifacts dating from 30K.

Oswald von Otto, Sword Brother, is keenly interested in his Imperial Fist captive due to his resemblance to Rogal Dorn.

Bartholomaeus and other captive Sons of Dorn are made to bear Black Templar children for the sake "of all Mankind" and replicate the legend of Rogal Dorn being impregnated by Sigismund. They are subjected to many tortures in the name of holy communion with the God-Emperor.

One of the most iconic moments from the novel is when Bartholomaeus is tasked with slapping Oswald, re-enacting Rogal Dorn disowning Sigismund.

In the end, the nonbeliever Bartholomaeus accepts the Emperor as a god and leads a prayer of his fellow converts.

As the novel has detailed descriptions of the inside of a Black Templar warship, it's suspected it was authored by a chapter serf or aligned soldier.

[vln-vibes]

Of Legends, Fairy Tales and Folklore

AKA A MariBat, Ever After High inspired AU

In the World there are certain stories that are universally known. They're known as Legends or Fairy Tales. Every knew the big stories; The Classics of Grimm Tales - Snow White, Sleeping Beauty, Goldilocks and the Three Bears etc etc. They even created a new celebration for such stories; Legacy Day. It was a rare event that everyone wished to see; the day the Stories and Legends pledged to follow their story to the tea, no games, no divergence, a perfect recreation through and through. But there were other Legends that began to emerge like those of the Miraculous; The Miraculous were items blessed by the gods of the universe and they always played out the same stories. The Ladybug and the Black Cat would always retrieve the stolen Butterfly, it was always stolen back from the guardians after. The Ladybug would recruit other heroes to aide in their journey and become the next Guardian. The Ladybug and the Black Cat would get together and live their happily ever after.

However people were often unaware of the Folktales- divergent stories that took a split with each incarnation. They began with the story of Bruce Thomas Wayne, an aristocratic boy who lost those dear to him at a young age. His story should have ended that day, he would live his days reclused in his castle, never to see the light of day... However that was not how his story went. He took his mourning and channeled it to create a new Legend. He became the  Batman, a champion against the evil of the world to ensure no one would be destined for a tragic ending. Then came Richard John Grayson.  The day his world came crashing he was destined to become the Talon, a weapon for the Court of Owls and Gotham’s dirty aristocrats; Bruce saved him from a miserable ending and the story of Robin was born. Batman and Robin became folktales; to show that not everything was set in stone, that there were multiple paths to a single beginning. Jason Peter Todd, Timothy Jackson Drake and Stephanie Brown all took on their own incarnations and versions of Robin; each unique in their own way but maintaining their mission to rid the world of its tragic endings that were deemed to be destiny. Along the way came the tales of Batgirl, Batwoman, Black Bat, Spoiler and Signal.

Damian Wayne-al Ghul was one such spirit who was saved. His destiny was to become the ultimate weapon for his family. A culmination of the greatest of the world. When he was at his perfect state he would become the vessel for the Demon. His destiny would not be kind. The story of Batman and Robin were what brought him hope, the small amount he allowed himself. When he finally left the dreaded compound, he was finally able to see that he didn't have to be a weapon for his grandfather. Thus the story of the Fifth Robin began.

Each person selected to be a Story or a Legend was born with a mark, one which would represent their role in the story. When they reached the age of 10 they would wake up to find a blank book, one which only they could read and could never be lost or destroyed. Marinette Dupain-Cheng did not know what to think when she saw the Ladybug mark over her heart, she ensured no one could see it as she knew it would be important for later in her life. The book that appeared when she was ten told her snippets of her story, she could never know too much lest she face unforeseen consequences. 

 "The young Ladybug was loved by all.... Ladybug knew what this moment meant, after all she knew since she was a little girl... The Ladybug and the Black Cat were loved by all, regarded as the best in history... She was abandoned by her friends, all quick to leave her for the next big thing... Ladybug knew she could not deny destiny... Ladybug fell for ..." 

 Marinette did her best to be a good friend, always accommodating, always compassionate and always willing to help her friends.... She never wanted to lose them. When she met Adrien Agreste she thought something clicked, as though he was her destiny to meet. She had felt the same when she met Chloe, Kim, Alix, Max, Nathaniel,(maybe Nino) but something felt different, something she could not place her finger on. The day she found a small black box in her bedroom she knew what it meant, after all she had known since she was a little girl. The day she met the small Kwami she could not help but think that she was hiding something, her eyes looked saddened before smiling and introducing herself.

As soon as Ladybug made an appearance on the rooftops along with Chat Noir everyone was talking about Legacy Day. The Parisians couldn't help but see when their Ladybug would finally announce their Legacy day. Everyone wanted their favorite heroes to get a reassure Happily Ever After.

The Folktales or Justice League , honestly they had no idea who came up with the name, did not know how much progress Ladybug's story had made. "No one truly knows how different each story of the Ladybug is" Diana, the Princess of Thymescara, and current Wonder Woman explained to Batman and Superman, a new folktale with unprecedented beginning, "My mother was once Ladybug, but to be the Ladybug there is always a price. Each and every one is cursed with a robbed happily ever after, a fact many ignore. My mother, after retrieving the Butterfly, was betrayed by her Black Cat; he wanted my mother to be his happily ever after, when she refused he murdered her, its how she was chosen to be Queen of Thymescara by the goddesses. Jeanne d'Arc was burned at the steak for refusing to sign the Storybook of Legends, they accused her of being a witch and of terrible crimes, that she had deceived them and was not the true Ladybug. Even those that signed did not live happy lives after the story was done... I can't help but want to save this Ladybug from the same ending" 

 Adrien Agreste was always told he was born for greatness. His mother and aunt said so the moment his cat mark came out. They wondered which tale would be his or if he and Felix would play their tale; The Twin Rings. He knew he would be getting his happily ever after so he put up with his father's ridiculous standards, the overbearing work and overly sheltered life. Someday, he knew, he would get to see the real world, make friends, he'd get his happily ever after. The moment he met Ladybug he knew it was heading for the right direction. Meanwhile Plagg is sure that Adrien is a cat but not his Black Cat. He of course can't really do anything about it and ever since his mother passed, Adrien's father locked up all their Books. Because Adrien technically knows they're in his father's safe its not considered lost so it can't reappear to him; he has no clue about his story but he thinks it’ll all play out in the end. Ladybug liked Chat Noir but she did not want him to be her happily ever after... she was beginning to doubt if she would even get one. The more time she spent as Ladybug, the greater her magic and her ability to read the past tales of Ladybug. They all began so grand and courageous but... the closer they got to the ending the more tragic she began to find them. Even those that signed the storybook of legend would eventually fail to protect the butterfly, thus the cycle continued. Tikki does eventually confess about the thing with Ladybugs and Marinette isn't surprised, its actually something all Ladybugs end up realizing and just strive forward with it. A few did try to change the story but by that point it was too late; Tikki has hope Marinette still has time to change or decide to stick with the story. With the introduction of "Lila Rossi", the supposed granddaughter of the one Pied Piper of Hamlet and Ermellina, not to mention she was destined Fox of the Miraculous; the Ladybug began to feel her friends move away... they no longer needed her. Or that was what she believed. As it turned out her classmates who had their own Book and story were aware of a wolf in sheep’s clothing who would try to destroy their stories. Many chose to play along with her, to see how it was possible for her to change stories while other stood firmly on their ground and had unknowingly allied themselves to the Ladybug, the test for their own stories.  What they don’t realize is that Lila's actually a Page Ripper, like a dream-eater except for stories, she lives off of or just enjoys destroying stories because she knows hers will end with her being stuck with a terrible ending, in her opinion. She refuses to realize that she only get the terrible ending because she began to destroy other stories.When she saw Marinette she recognized her as definite main character for a Story and began her vendetta against her At this point she already has Ryuuko, Viperion and Queen Bee as her permanent holders, she made a mistake of choosing Alya as the Fox (one her book warned about, and now Alya thinks its supposed to be for Lila.) In reality she has no clue who or if there is even a person who was meant to be the Fox in this version of the story or if she's just supposed to give it to whoever she deems worthy. The Kwami tell her not to worry about it and just choose allies she is sure about. She does eventually recruit other temporary holders but she’s unsure if she could trust them after Rena Rouge.  Everything began to change once more when they ventured to Gotham, the city of Folktales as it was home to the Batman. Their class had been enraptured by the newest story Lila had come up with, about convincing a story to finally follow their destiny and sign their storybook of legends, when she was called out for the fact that it was not her call to make... No one had to follow any so call destiny or story. "Do you not understand! Without the stories the world will fall apart!" she had yelled out 

"And I believe you have no clue where you are. Here, no one has to follow their stories, everyone is free to make their own decisions and create their own version of their story" "And how would you know!" some angry yells began before he took out a book, it was a deep emerald green, easily mistaken for black at a glance, with golden details and cuffs, at the center was a ruby gem, in cursive the spine said 'Damian Wayne' where it once said Ibn al Xu'ffasch That was how the young Ladybug was introduced to the concept of Folktales and met the young Robin. 

 Selina Kyle, the Catwoman, knows that she at some point gains a protege but it should have happened some time ago (around the time one of her old friend’s passed away), she's not sure how she feels about that.  Marinette isn’t sure if she want to sign the Storybook of Legends, truly no one on her team is, but the Parisians are getting persistent. Even city officials are breathing down her neck and she can’t help but think of Jeanne.

Damian's story of Robin begins to transition into a weird mix about becoming a cat of some sort and of breaking a curse.

All anyone is sure of is that

The End is just the Beginning

[katerdaddy]

Strange Magick Chapter 1

Steve always knew he had magic. His family was full of it. The Harrington's past was full of dark magic and curses and cold. Lots of cold.

His grandmother was the one who had Harrington's family history engraved into Steve's brain.

Victor Harrington and their coven had bewitched England to believe in Jack the Ripper. To bring the fear of witchcraft off of them at push the publics eye to a killer. A human.

Anne Harrington was hung in Salem. She was torturing her neighbor Sally Hargrove with a puppet. A lock of Sally's hair was woven amongst the strings. Multiple pins sticking from the puppet. Annes last words were a curse. Cursing that the Hargrove and Harrington families would  be connected through hate and blood. With a Harrington always bringing the downfall to a Hargrove. Forever.

In 1745, Lilian Hargrove found the devils mark on Marie Harrington. Marie was covered in moles. Just like Steve. His mother said it was hereditary and a sign of his heritage. Lilian, Instead of revealing to the town of Marie's witchcraft, befriended her. Some records said they were more than that. That they were lovers. Marie seemingly went insane months after that and killed Lilian in her sleep. Then Marie killed herself. Lying beside Lilian. Thats all Steve ever knew. Their family didn't talk about it. He'd asked his grandmother once about Marie and Lilian. She shook her head, bouncing the young boy on her knee.

“We don't talk of such dark things Bambino, the Harrington Curse is a powerful one. Full of mystery. Best to leave it alone."

His grandmother was Italian, her parents fleeing from america when the rumors started to grow about witchcraft. In the early 1930's his grandmother met a young man. Charles Hargrove. She poisoned his tea before she'd ever gotten the chance to really know him. She'd told Steve that the day he'd met a Hargrove was to not hesitate. To fulfill the curse as quick as he could.

She'd told him about the bond and ties the curse had over them. What it would feel like when he'd finally found them. A Hargrove.

He'd feel a pull, a tug against his aura. A Hargrove's aura was always blue. A Harrington's was red. He'd hurt. His body would hurt until A Hargrove was dead.

His father had cursed a Neil Hargrove back in high school, making him miserable and angry until he dies of old age. Therefore torturing himself and the rest of his family the rest of his life.

Steve was the Harrington to complete the curse for this generation in their family. He was the witch to kill the Hargrove boy.

Steve was homeschooled, His parents deciding that he would get farther in his witch studies if he wasn't juggling between math and how to draw and correct a sigil.

But Steve wanted to go to school. So when high school rolled around, Steve begged them. They sighed and agreed. His father at first shook his head, a Harrington had no need for anything but magic and curses. But his mother shook her head saying how Steve still needs to be a functioning member of society. His mother won in the end. And in Senior year. Steve met him, Billy. He'd felt the pull. He saw the aura. He knew he was staring at a Hargrove.

And he was beautiful.

All tanned skin and muscle. Blue-grey eyes hidden behind dark long lashes. And a head full of curls down to his shoulders. And freckles. God he had freckles.

Steve was in the woods. Because of course he was. He was in the middle of a spell. Because of course he was.

And Billys car roared down the trail. Stopping right before he hit a tree. Music was blaring from the speakers and from the windows. He was smoking.

Billy stumbled out of his car. Slamming the door shut behind him. He was breathing heavy, blood dribbling down his nose. He seemed to be muttering something behind his cigarette.

He looked angry and Steve. Well, Steve was dumb enough to move from his half drawn sigil to check on the boy.

If he was going to kill him someday. He could try to be nice now.

"Hargrove?" He called out. Billy's head snapped in his direction. He blew smoke out of his mouth, eyes watery and anger ridden on his brows.

“Who's asking?" He spat examining the boy who just walked out from behind a tree.

He had thick dark brown hair that seemed to touch the sky with its hight. It was impressive to have that much volume. Matching his hair was his eyes. Wide and chocolate brown. Something that could only be compared to a dog. From what he could see, he was pale and splattered with dark moles.

‘Pretty.' Billy thought, his eyes grazing over the boy and his black clothes.

"Um.. I'm asking. Steve...uh, Steve Harrington."

That name sounded farmiliar.

“You've got to be shitting me..." He muttered, remembering back to Neil. His father who always mentioned the Harrington name. Damning them to hell and back. Something about their ancestors or whatever.

“I'm sorry?" Steve asked, body tilting so that he could see Billy through the rest of the trees.

Billy chuckled, Dropping his cigarette to the forest floor and snuffing it with his boot.

“You're a Harrington?"

Steves nose wrinkled, eyes on the cigarette.

"That's not good for the environment."

Billy rolled his eyes, stuffing his hand into his pockets, looking bored. Acting like there wasn't any blood dripping down and out of his nose.

"And you're testing my patience. Are you a Harrington?"

The boy crossed his arms. Glaring back to the other.

"Well that's what I said. So, yeah."

He felt that tug, saw their auras clash. Battling each other silently.

And for the first time in the five minutes of meeting him, he hurt. Just like his grandmother said.

It felt as if someone was slowly turning a knife around in his chest.

And shit. It hurt.

He almost collapsed from the sudden pain, but his eyes were caught on the boy a few feet ahead of him, clutching his chest.

In the same place Steve had felt the curses pain.

“What the fu-" Steve sputtered before collapsing to the ground, clutching his chest.

He looked to his right and saw Billy in the exact spot he saw him before, except he too was on the ground clutching his chest.

The pain soon became too much to bear. He screamed, gripping the floor below him.

He didn't remember when he passed out. Just remembered waking up, and lifting from where he laid. Billy was still on the ground, lying motionless. The only sign that he was alive was his breath heaving in his chest.

Steve didn't hesitate, he didn't know how long he'd been out. Didn't even know what time it was.

So he went back to his sigil. Cleaned up a bit and high tailed it home.

His mother had greeted him at the door.

They were home surprisingly.

"Steven, where were you? Your father and I were worried sick."

His mother shook her head, her brown curls moving with her.

“Sorry Mother, I fell asleep."

She frowned, arms crossed.

"In the woods? You weren't hex'd were you?"

Steve shook his head, trying to make his way to his room, not needing a talk from his mother who's rarely ever there anyways.

"No mother, just tired."

He heard her sigh, already imagining her getting prepared to cleanse the house.

“Thank god. It's not a good day for hex's..." Steve heard her mother mumble right before he closed the door.

It wasn't a good day for hex's. But it seemed like a good day for a curse to come to fruition.

Billy woke up on the forest floor. Dazed and confused and sore beyond belief.

He'd heard the rumors and legends that followed the Harrington's. Whispers of the occult and pagan worship that seemed to follow them.

After what he'd just experienced in the woods, Billy knew one thing for sure. The Harrington boy had opened Pandora's box and he now couldn't close it.

[superonceuponawholock]

Ebay Store updated for Black Friday Shopping!

I updated my ebay store for Black Friday, If you see something you like make an offer and I will combine shipping if you buy more than one item.

http://www.ebay.com/usr/jessicalynndrake

Autographed Books

Sewing The Rainbow: The Story of Gilbert Baker and the Rainbow Flag

Two Boys Kissing  signed by David Levithan

Hold Me Closer: The Tiny Cooper Story by David Levithan

Sucks to be me The all true confessions of Mina Hamilton Teen Vamprie Autographed Kimberly Pavley

 Funko Pops

Funko Pop! Tee Black Widow Marvel Collector Corps M T-Shirt New in bag

Black Widow Movie Alexei 620 Marvel Collector Corps Brand New Exclusive

Taskmasker Funko Pop Pin from Marvel Collector Corps Black Widow Mystery Box

Doctor Who Books (All are Hardcovers and like new, except one which has some light wear to the cover and prices is lower than the others.)

Doctor Who: The Women Who Lived

Doctor Who: The Secret Lives of Monsters

Doctor Who: Time Trips

Doctor Who: The Day She Saved The Doctor

Doctor Who: Wooden Heart by Martin Day Doctor Who - Forever Autumn by Mark Morris Doctor Who: Sting of the Zygons by Stephen Cole Doctor Who: The Last Dodo by Jacqueline Rayner Doctor Who WISHING WELL Doctor Who Martha in the Mirror, Justin Richards DOCTOR WHO Snowglobe 7 MIKE TUCKER Doctor Who: The Eyeless by Lance Parkin Doctor Who: Sick Building by Magrs, Paul VG Doctor Who - The Many Hands by Smith, Dale Doctor Who Adventures Magazine Doctor Who Adventures Issue 9 with Dalek poster  

Comic Books and Graphic Novels

Love is Love

Luisa Now And Then

Rick and Morty Presents Birdperson

Thor #1 Funko Pop Loki Variant (FCBD Free Comic  Book Day Mystery Box)

X-Men Vs Dracula #1

City of Dust 1-5 set by Steve Niles

Batman and Robin #1

After Watchmen What’s Next All Star Superman #1

After Watchmen What’s Next Batman Hush

After Watchmen What’s Next Green Latern Rebirth

Spider-Men Classics #3

Detective Comics 854 First Batwoman

X-Men Gold #30 Wedding issues Colossus & Kitty Gambit & Rogue

All New Invaders #1-5 Marvel Comics

Invaders #1-6 Marvel (2019) Comics

Doctor Who The Road to the 13th Doctor (Titan Comics) #2A 2018 BN

Doctor Who #2 Film Lovers Almanac 1926 Sliver Scream

Angel #1 Boom! Studios 2019 Buffy the Vampire Slayer NM

Wires and Nerve: Volume 1 by Marissa Meyer Lunar Chronicle Series Hardcover 2017

Owly The Way Home & The Bittersweet Summer  TPB Vol 1 First edition

Owly: Just a little blue  TPB Vol 2 1st edition

Owly: Flying Lessons TPB Vol 3 1st edition

 Adult Coloring Books

Doctor Who Coloring Book

Colour Me Good Benedict Cumberbatch

Color and Activity Book for Librarians: Or anybody who has worked at a library

 Other Books

Harry Potter A Journey Through A History of Magic

Or Give me Death: A novel of Patrick Henry’s Family (Great Episodes)

The Zombie Survival Guide: Complete Protection from the living dead

An Abundance of Katherines

Let it Snow: Three Holiday Romances

The Vampire Watcher’s Handbook: A Guide for Slayers

I am Not a Serial Killer

Portrait of a Killer: Jack the Ripper Case Closed

Librarian Stereotype: Deconstructing Perceptions

Alice in Zombieland: Through the Zombie Glass

The school for good and evil number 1

Ever After High The Storybook of Legends Book 1

Ever After High Wonderlandiful World Book 3

The Road to Woodbury: Walking Dead Series Book 2

Lost Souls: A Park Avenue Novel Book 3

Wires and Nerve: Volume 1 by Marissa Meyer Lunar Chronicle Series Hardcover 2017

Owly The Way Home & The Bittersweet Summer  TPB Vol 1 First edition

Owly: Just a little blue  TPB Vol 2 1st edition

Owly: Flying Lessons TPB Vol 3 1st edition

 Parenting Books

What to Expect When You're Expecting

Cheap Psychological Tricks for Parents: 62 Sure-fire Secrets and Solutions for Successful Parenting

 Comic Book Art

Witchblade Original Art By Keu Cha Comic book Artwork

Boone Original Artwork By Jeff Johnson Comic Book Artwork

Po-Po Original Artwork By Jeff Johnson Comic Book Artwork

Sharon Carter Original Artwork By Andy Smith Comic Book Art

Natasha Romanoff Black Widow Original Artwork By Sean Chen Comic Book Art

 Halloween Costumes (All Costumes wore once and like new)

Adult Princess Bubblegum Dress Adventure Time Costume

Princess Bubble Gum Crown

Adult Finn the Human Adventure Time Costume

Adult Batman Spirit Halloween Costume (Batman vs Superman)

 Collectible Stamps, Coins, & Postcards

2012 London Olympic Games 50p Sports Collection card. Uncirculated Gymnastics.

2012 London Olympic Games 50p Sports Collection card. Uncirculated Hockey

THE ROYAL MAIL - PHQ CARD NO. 324 ( 2 ) - MYTHICAL CREATURES – 2009

Royal Mail 2009 Presentation Pack #428 MNH Mythical Creatures

Royal Mail British Mint Stamps - Magical Realms - Pack No. 453 Voldemort HP

 Limited Rare TY Beanie Baby

Britannia the bear with Tush tag and box, with errors Brand New.

[booksociety]

hi!! I love your blog and your recommendations, so I was wondering if you could recommend me some books (preferably ya or new adult) with a extroverted/open/confident main character? (an example is hazel from hazel's guide to not dating though they don't all have to be quirky or anything) I feel like I've read a lot of books with an introverted or shy or insecure mc and i'd like to switch things up a bit~ thanks!!

Hi! Thank you so much 😊 Most of our recs ended up being YA, but we hope you find something that catches your interest!

Young Adult

Across a Star Swept Sea by Diana Peterfreund (Anna)

Alienated by Melissa Landers (Vee)

Bring Me Their Hearts by Sara Wolf (Isabel)

Children of Blood and Bone by Tomi Adeyemi (Marisa, Julia)

Divergent by Veronica Roth (Vee, Franzi, Alex)

Etiquette & Espionage by Gail Carriger (Ania)

From Unseen Fire by Cass Morris (Anna)

Illuminae by Amy Kaufman & Jay Kristoff (Kat, Anna)

Lady Midnight by Cassandra Clare (Franzi)

Legend by Marie Lu (Ania, Alex)

Rebel Belle by Rachel Hawkins (Kat)

Serpent & Dove by Shelby Mahurin (Isabel, Franzi)

Spinning Silver by Naomi Novik (Isabel)

Stalking Jack the Ripper by Kerri Maniscalco (Ania, Isabel)

The Awakening by L.J. Smith (Teona, Vee)

The Bear and the Nightingale by Katherine Arden (Isabel, Marisa)

The Gentleman’s Guide to Vice and Virtue by Mackenzi Lee (Elle)

The Lightning Thief by Rick Riordan (Marisa)

The Winner’s Curse by Marie Rutkoski (Isabel)

This Savage Song by Victoria Schwab (Ania)

Throne of Glass by Sarah J. Maas (Franzi)

To Kill a Kingdom by Alexandra Christo (Ania, Alex, Julia)

Trickery by Jaymin Eve & Jane Washington (Isabel)

Truthwitch by Susan Dennard (Anna)

Warcross by Marie Lu (Isabel)

New Adult

Red, White & Royal Blue by Casey McQuiston (Elle, Lu, Mels, Marisa, Julia)

Rhapsodic by Laura Thalassa (Vee)

Adult (Bonus)

A Darker Shade of Magic by V.E. Schwab (Ania, Franzi, Mel)

Magic Bites by Ilona Andrews (Isabel)

The Hating Game by Sally Thorne (Isabel)

The Lies of Locke Lamora by Scott Lynch (Marisa)

- Alex

[solar-satan]

A childrens book cover I found for the legend Lāčausis (bear ears) which inspired Andrejs Pumpurs to write the epic Lāčplēsis (bear ripper)

[queen--kenobi]

Offering

Sequel to this

It started with a simple offering.

You’d heard the legend of Candyman. Everyone had after Helen Lyle. People talked about her the same way they talked about Jack the Ripper or Ted Bundy. You couldn’t talk about Helen Lyle without talking about the legend that started it all; it was a part of her very being now. People disagreed on whether or not she took the mythos too far, got too deep into it, or if she had been possessed by the Candyman. They all agreed that the murals were key, though. Murals and mirrors. Some believed that the mural triggered some sort of psychosis while others claimed that was how he possessed her.

You didn’t particular care either way. All that you cared about were how beautiful the murals were. They had started cropping up everywhere as soon as Helen Lyle’s story went national. No matter where they were drawn, no matter the medium used, no matter the quality, they were all beautiful to you.

They called to you.

One was near where you lived. You passed it every day, on your way to work or school or to the store. It was a little hidden, but you knew it was there. You had found it by accident one night. A strange accident, but an accident nonetheless. Apparently, you were having a particularly... strong episode of sleepwalking and had made your way over to the mural in your sleep. Your significant other at the time found you during a frantic search of the surrounding area. You were found in front of the mural, kneeling in front of it with an expression of awe on your face. You apparently had been crying as you sat there, almost weeping.

You hide the fact you went back to the mural every single day. It shouldn’t have been a shameful thing; it obviously called to you in some way. Why else would you have gone there in your sleep? Still, something felt wrong about it. As if you were worshiping a murderer. Not that you saw it that way. You knew the story of Daniel, knew how it went. You were simply paying your respects to a man who died for love. A man who had died an unjust and cruel death for love. The thought of it made your blood boil and your jaw clench. Silently, you wished that you could have been there so you could see who did it and dish out a well-deserved punishment. Perhaps something even crueler than what they had done to Daniel.

Eventually, you felt as if you should leave something at the mural. Something like that was a place to pay respects. Often, you thought of vigils after someone was murdered. Specifically, you would think of all the people, some who might not have even known the victim, leaving roses and candles and a myriad of objects at the place of the murder. You felt that, even if he was a ghost who committed atrocious acts, that you should leave something. Children got teddy bears, fireman often got crosses with their names, some people even had buildings named after them. Why shouldn’t Daniel get the same? He deserved it as much as the others. In his own way, you felt him to be a hero. 

People didn’t die for causes like love anymore. People died for senseless reasons, whether it was being attacked or defending someone. The people who committed these murders often had fame or glory or revenge on their mind; they thought it was their golden ticket into the history books. 

This man had died for love. For the crime of loving someone. While unjust and terrible, that sort of death felt... You didn’t know the right words. It felt different, at the very least. He didn’t die for country or for fame; he died for a woman. And not in the awful way that many men had done before. This felt like true love, something that had only existed inside fiction as far as you were concerned. 

You took your time thinking of what to put there. You looked at candies and box of chocolates, but none seemed right. You looked at sweets, but everyone did sweets. The same with candles. If you were going to do this, you were going to do it right. You were going to leave something that meant something more.

The idea came to you in the middle of the night. People did the murals in his honor, so why couldn’t you do something similar? He had been a painter, so you knew the arts were a good place to start. You didn’t want to do a painting or a drawing; you art wasn’t good enough for someone as talented as him. So you settled on a poem. It was a short poem, but you loved it just the same. When you eventually gathered your confidence, you went to the site of the mural and began carefully painting your words beside it. You fought to keep your hands steady as you did so. You didn’t want to ruin the poem with shaky handwriting.

After you finish, you step back to inspect your handiwork. It looks... nice. Far better than you expected. You let out a sigh of relief, shoulders lowering and eyes closing for a brief moment. A wave of contentment washed over you. Now, you might not be as fascinated, as captivated, as you were before this moment. Perhaps this was all you need to do. You take a deep breath and head back home.

Your dreams are strange that night. You don’t remember much other than they feel so vivid and real.When you wake up, you lay in bed for a few moments, staring at the ceiling. Eventually, you had to move. Slowly, you shift and roll out of your bed, shuffling towards your kitchen. You make the coffee almost on autopilot, lost to the world around you as you try to remember your dream. 

The world comes crashing back when you see it. Your coffee mug slips from your hands and shatters against the floor, coffee sloshing all over the tile. You can’t find it within yourself to care. You’re shaking, hard.

Beside your coffee pot is a small, yet beautiful, painting.

It’s a painting of you from last night as you wrote the poem on the wall. You look so ethereal in it that, for a moment, you don’t realize it’s you. It seemed like an angel of some sort. Hesitantly, you step over the pieces of the shattered mug. Your hands shake more than they have in your life as you hesitantly reach towards the painting to pick it up. Once you have it in your hands, you take a moment to examine it carefully.

It’s beautiful. 

“Thank you.” You manage before holding the painting close to your chest and beginning to cry softly. 

“Thank you.”

[ghosstkid]

things i’ve been thinking about; hickey’s carnivale costume edition 

Could be a stretch but just hear me out So the first time I watched the Terror and saw Hickey’s costume, without hesitation I was like “Oh is he dressed up like Spring-Heeled Jack or Jack the Ripper?” He’s dressed up like a proper gentleman which is really emphasised by his top hat. It doesn’t really seem like a costume at first glance but the carnivale and carnivalesque is all about dressing up as something you aren’t and reversing roles and expectations. This also applies to the stories about Spring Heeled Jack who first showed up in 1837. He’s this strange, demonic creature but on the surface, he’s a proper gentleman. It’s the same thing with Jack the Ripper when he was active in the late 1880s (which is well after the expedition but bear with me here). Witnesses who claim to have seen him thought he was a proper gentleman. People were freaked out at the idea of someone so unassuming being so cruel. Seeing Hickey in that proper suit and top hat just brought to mind all of these images and stories and I think it has a lot to do not so much with the violent actions and choices that Hickey makes but rather how enigmatic he is. No one knows who Jack the Ripper was and no one really knows if Spring Heeled Jack was just a story or a real person playing a joke and using an urban legend to do it. It’s like how we don’t really know who Hickey is. At first glance, he’s a proper gentleman but underneath.... well... 

[thecomicsnexus]

THE WILD STORM #19-24 MARCH - SEPTEMBER 2019 BY WARREN ELLIS, JON DAVIS-HUNT AND STEVE BUCCELLATO

SYNOPSIS (FROM DC DATABASE AND COMIC VINE)

In her London flat, Jenny Mei Sparks is telling her three new friends the story of her life over a few bottles of beer. It is a tale of adventure, righteousness, improbable encounters with famous people, and quite a lot of sex. She has been talking for thirteen hours and has still only gotten to 1955. By that year, she had joined Skywatch, a secret organization founded in the 1930s to guard against potential alien invasion. To that end, they needed a forward base on Mars. Their technology was formidable, their mission noble in theory... but Mars was a boring wasteland, and its lack of a magnetosphere meant that most of Jenny's crewmates developed cancer from stellar radiation exposure.

The mission had swiftly built its bases underground, shielded by the red dirt of Mars, but the base was also boring, and when Jenny came home, she left Skywatch, judging it to be "full of maniacs"... and to have only gotten worse since then. Skywatch has a set of agreements with IO, the shadowy intelligence masters, which mean it has to remain hidden, but as time goes on, the current leader of Skywatch, Henry Bendix, becomes more eager to use his technology to reshape Mars and Venus... and Earth. Jenny was sure a tipping-point would come, and it did - when Angie Spica used a jetpack suit made of IO and Skywatch tech to stop an IO assassin, in full view of a crowd, from killing Jacob Marlowe, a billionaire alien. Jack Hawksmoor interrupts, saying she didn't mention that. Jenny grins cryptically, and reaches for another bottle...

Elsewhere, the television news has gotten peculiar. Speculation about the New York Jetpack Incident. A report on a freak meteor strike which seems to be affecting the weather. A segment on the urban legend of the "billboard ghost girl". A segment on a serial killer dubbed the "Highway Ripper". A man speculating about a secret space program. An interview with Voodoo, where she describes her artistic side as a separate entity, her "daemon". And a news report about a township of fifty people, vanished in what the only eyewitness describes as an alien abduction...

In a large bed in a nice house, two men are watching that last segment on a phone screen. They conclude that it might be the work of Skywatch, who they escaped from together, but that if it is, something has made them brazen. One, dour as midnight, insists they must remain hidden, but the other, smiling like a Greek god, lists the actions of the dour one which have forced them to fight in the past. They will fight again this time, armed by preparation and buttressed by their love.

In the IO headquarters in New York, Jackie King is going over the estimates of Angie Spica's implants, wondering how she got it through IO's normal scanners. Ignoring a request that she attend a meeting, she orders an underling to prepare a report on their earlier DDOS on the Skywatch headquarters and whether they could replicate it.

Shen Li-Men is in the Hospital, the bardo realm where her predecessors as the Doctor reside. She says she has spoken to Jenny Mei Sparks and now she needs to know about the aliens. When they answer cagily, she insists that she cannot do her job unless they comply. So they tell her the tale.

Once upon a time, there was an alien planet called Khera. On it, the dominant species formed a society which bound together five sub-species in a caste system. The Kherans search the galaxy for life-bearing worlds with tool-using natives, with the goal of conscripting those natives as "clients", or slaves. Due to the chaotic nature of the universe, tool-using natives are hard to catch before they are wiped out by chance or foolishness. The goal of the Kheran rulers is something called "forward escape" - to take their whole society from this plane of existence to one where life is easier to sustain. A Doctor has never learned how this would work, but it requires living beings, serving in free will. Once, a Doctor seduced John Colt, a Kheran soldier, and while he was sleeping read his mind to view what, mechanically, this would entail - a vision of Earth marked by three massive fire pits.

However, when the Kherans arrived, they discovered that they were not unopposed. They called these rivals "The Other", once. Now they are known as "The Daemon". The goal of the Daemon is gently inspire, shepherding humanity forward with a modicum of balance so they can escape extinction. Aiding them in this vocation is a device of theirs - the Shaper Engine, a machine that Li-Men saw in a metaphor in a vision. One of the things the Shaper Engine does is empower specific humans to serve as a defense mechanism - like Jenny Mei Sparks.

The interference of the Daemon stymied the Kherans' efforts enough that they fell to internal bickering. A faction of the Kherans tried to influence the culture of the Middle East by appearing as wise but fearsomely-visaged powers, recorded in legend as cherubim. Emp chose a different tactic - he gathered a cabal of underlings, scuttled the alien ship, and vanished in the ensuing explosion. The Kheran homeworld assumed the mission to be a failure, and wrote Earth off. Emp has hidden inside society ever since, pursuing his "Main Project" - to raise human technology to the level where it can petition to join the Kherans as equals.

Today Emp pursues this mission using his resources under the alias 'Jacob Marlowe'. He sees far, but not far enough. He never grasped the reasoning of the Daemon. He did not anticipate that the marooned Kherans would spread competing philosophies and religions across the world, primed to oppose him. He did not anticipate how strong, or how strange, the humans could become. And he knows nothing of the Shaper Engine.

To conclude, the Doctors tell Shen Li-Men that a portentious storm is coming, a storm that may end the world. The Doctor that will have to oppose it will face a burden that no previous Doctor has ever had to bear, and that Doctor is her. And yet, they have an unbiased assessment of her skills and her compassion, which, with fortitude and spite and maybe a few friends, may be enough to see her through.

Skywatch intensifies its preparation for war, increasing its attacks on the planet. For some of these conflict zones, Skywatch’s greatest threat is not IO or conventional forces, but the people who escaped from its own experimentation camps. And the four people in London whom it knows little about, but who are preparing to take steps to alter the balance of the world.

The experimental subjects code-named Apollo and Midnighter have broken cover. Combat-optimized superhumans are now loose on the Earth.

Jenny Mei Sparks has assembled a group of misfits and exiles, to stand against a corruption that covers the world and orbits above it.

The storm of accidents, deaths, mistakes, confusion and anger has led to this. Miles Craven has lost his grip and Henry Bendix has lost his mind.

IO has betrayed the world, and Skywatch wants to burn it. The only people in the middle are Jenny Mei Sparks’ ragtag team of wounded orphans of the secret world.

REVIEW

These last six issues are more action packed (it is a third act after all), and in general it feels like a pilot for The Authority (curiously enough, the next book announced was WildCATS but it was cancelled. May be re-solicited eventually. WildStorm has a very complicated history with runs that get cancelled, with the most obvious one being The Authority by Grant Morrison.

Anyway, the visuals and the story are very tight, and this is an amazing story to read. It just, takes you two years to get the whole thing. I feel like in the last 12 issues, I got more about the properties I knew more, and that may be the reason why I liked the last 12 issues more.

As I said in a previous post, this is a very long prologue, but a high quality one. Think of it as the “Man of Steel” for a new universe (the John Byrne one, not the one that made you stop reading Superman).

I had problems in the past with the way Apollo and Midnighter’s relationship was portrayed. At least, during the New 52/Rebirth era. I felt it pretty real in this run, or at least is more similar to what I experienced in real relationships. Their differences are big, but at the core, they shouldn’t get in the way of their love.

Voodoo was a gratuitous character throughout these 24 issues. She barely did a thing. Same with the way Michael Cray ended up dying in the last issue. He did have his own mini-series that I didn’t follow, but considering that Deathblow had a “healing factor”, I suppose he is probably not dead.

This story felt very sober sometimes, replacing super-heroes with regular people with powers, it’s a nice interpretation when every book around you has spandex and shiny armor.

There is spandex and shiny armor here too... but you know what I mean.

I give these issues a score of 9.

[leviloveslemonpledge]

hi! Idk if you’re taking requests are not but if you are I’d like to make a request where the reader gets kidnapped by Kenny because Levi and the reader have been friends since they were kids and secretly have feelings for each other. I LOVE YOUR WRITING

I am so flattered!! I hope this lives up to your expectations and that you like it!

“Hey, have you two ever heard  of Kenny the Ripper?”

“Yeah, but I thought he was just an urban legend.”

“No, he’s real alright. I grew up with him.”

“Very funny, sir. This isn’t really the time to be making jokes.”

Only, he wasn’t joking. You stare at Levi’s stern profile from your perch by the chimney. Moments ago he’d been focused on the wagon, what is he bringing this up for? And how had he not mentioned this Kenny person in all the years you’ve known each other? Lost in your thoughts, you don’t notice the man silently crawling up onto the roof. 

“Nifa!” Levi shouts to warn her while launching himself towards you. A loud percussive sound rings through your ears as Nifa’s brains get blown to tiny, bloody bits. You watch in horror as her lifeless corpse slides off the roof. 

“Hey! Y/N!” He grabs your chin and turns you away from the gruesome scene. “Focus.”

Behind him you notice a tall, lanky man reloading what appears to be a large gun attached to ODM gear. Levi takes a protective stance in front of you, pushing you back closer to the chimney.

“Levi, it’s been a while. Still a runt or have you grown some?”

Levi let’s out a low growl and nudges you further back as the man approaches. He fires off another round aimed directly at Levi’s head, which he easily evades. You, unfortunately, aren’t so lucky. A large chunk of debris from the chimney strikes you on the side of the head with enough force to knock you unconscious. You tumble down onto a tall cart below, blood covering your face and the right side of your uniform.

Levi’s eyes widen slightly, but he has little time to check on your condition, and from where he’s standing, it definitely doesn’t look good. His glare intensifies, old hatred for the man who abandoned him rises to the surface, intermingled with newfound rage at the massacre of the soldiers under his command and his oldest friend. 

“Well, shit, did I just kill your little girlfriend? Too bad, let’s not let it spoil the reunion. Let me get a good look at ya!”

Levi’s anger erupts in a roar, followed by a blade being thrown at high speed towards his target. “Kenny!”

More and more soldiers show up, all equipped with the same weapons and ODM gear, and Levi quickly realizes he’s being overwhelmed. He sends a pained glance in your direction, taking in your broken state for what might be the last time, silently apologizing and hoping you’ll somehow end up alright, before taking off in a desperate escape for his life.

You open your eyes a crack, not quite fully conscious but in the process of getting your bearings when you notice there’s a gun to your head.

“This one’s still breathing, sir. Should I take care of it?”

“Hang on, Caven, I think we might be able to have a little fun with this one.”

When you open your eyes again, you find yourself in a dark room with a low burning fire, sitting across from the man who killed your team. Ignoring the throbbing pain in your skull, you immediately spring into action... only to realize that you are not only heavily restrained, but also completely unarmed. 

“Shit.” You set your jaw and glare at the soldiers around you as you assess the situation. You’re on your own. Unarmed. Outnumbered. Possibly presumed dead by those remaining from your team. And yet for some reason, you’re still alive. You’re wanted for something, but what that is is unclear.

“What do you want?”

“Well, hi there, I’m Kenny, nice to meetcha. Your manners are kind of shit, aren’t they? Didn’t anyone ever teach you to say hello? Here I thought we could have a chat.”

“You’ll have to excuse me, it’s not every day you watch your comrades’ heads being blown off and nearly dying yourself. It’s been a bit of an off day.”

“You really shouldn’t be dragging the past with you, that’s just petty.”

Closing your eyes, you summon all your patience. He wants to chat, fine, you’ll chat.

“Alright, we’ll do things your way. Hello, I’m Y/N, though I can’t really say it’s been nice to meet you. What did you want to talk about?”

He lets out a low chuckle and a big, goofy grin spreads across his face.

“See? Was that so hard? Now we’re getting somewhere. I’ll ignore the sass, for now, it works on ya.”

He scoots closer to you. The blonde woman in the corner, the same one who pointed a gun to your head earlier, advances towards the two of you ever so slightly, her hand carefully positioned on her weapon, ready to strike. No funny business, then.

“So now...” He leans in, face a few mere inches away from your own, eyes ablaze with reflected light from the fire, his grin ever growing. That, combined with what you assume is an impending interrogation make him appear like something straight out of a nightmare. Still, you refuse to back down or show any fear. You stare him dead in the eye, mentally preparing yourself for whatever comes next. 

“You and the runt, huh? I can see why he likes ya, but why is a pretty girl like you hanging around with a shrimp like him for?”

You blink twice, mouth agape, opening, and closing but no words coming out. This is definitely not what you were expecting. He starts to laugh, nearly falling over himself in the process, and you feel your face grow hot. 

“Shit, don’t tell me it was supposed to be a secret!”

“I... we aren’t... we’re friends.”

He stops laughing, suddenly serious, and squints at you.

“You mean after all this time neither of ya have had the guts to tell the other how ya feel? Well, shit, that just ain’t right. You’ve known each other for how long? Twenty years? More? Damn it.”

He lets out a deep breath and mumbles some kind of apology to... Kuchel?

“Listen up, kiddo, because I’m only going to say this once. That boy loves you. He’s always loved you. He may not have said it, but damn is he ever obvious with his actions. I know I’m hard on him, but he’s a good kid, a real catch. He’s strong, too. He’d make ya real happy.”

He hides his face with his brimmed hat, or tries to, but you can see a lot of muddled emotions in his eyes. Pride. Shame. Sadness. Regret, perhaps. His and Levi’s relationship must be...complicated. Maybe that’s why he’s never brought it up before.

“Alright, alright. That’s enough of this old man blabbering on. You’re probably sick of it by now. Go on, get out of here.” He stands. “Let her loos, Caven.”

“But, sir...” She scowls at you, raising her gun.

“You really gunna make me repeat myself, Caven?”

“No, I just think this is a bad idea.”

“Yeah, well, nobody asked you, did they.”

Her grip tightens around her gun, then she holsters it. She forces an empty burlap sac over your head and lifts you to your feet by your armpits. She drags you unceremoniously through all manner of twists and turns, before finally removing the sac and releasing you in the middle of the city. You wander aimlessly, searching for something familiar, your dizziness only making your disorientation worse.  

“Captain!”

Levi doesn’t even bother to look up from his conversation with Dimo Reeves. 

“What is it?”

“It’s Y/N! I found her wandering around outside!” Sasha guides you through the dimly lit warehouse, towards the small group clustered around the bonfire. Levi rises, not sure how to respond to Sasha’s words. It isn’t until you walk into the light and he sees your face that he feels relief wash over him. He quickly crosses over to you, shoving Sasha out of the way to take your face in his hands. He examines you, runs his thumb over your cheek, anything he can to prove to himself that this is real; that you’re alive and relatively unharmed. The tenderness you see in his eyes erases any doubts you had about what Kenny said. You bring your forehead to his, taking full advantage of this moment: his skin, his smell, his warmth, his touch... Slowly, tentatively, you close the gap between your lips, half of you expressing all the pent up feelings you’ve been keeping to yourself for so long now, and the other half completely terrified that he’ll push you away. Instead, he pulls you closer, accepting your feelings, reciprocating them. You’re alive. You’re back. He has a second chance to tell you everything he’s ever wanted to say, and do everything he’s ever wanted to do. He relishes the feel of your body against his, thankful that someone he thought he lost forever was able to come back to him.