#or use fantastical sci-fi violence against humans

[ssaalexblake]

And I still think people fail to clock lucy saxon as a failed moment of class commentary. She didn’t give a single shit if normal people suffered, because if her rich upperclass english ass was dealing out the hurt then it was a non issue to her. The second the master victimised her, she hated him. She hated him because he hurt Her. She shot him because he hurt Her. Not because he did all those other things, That she rejoiced in. She was complicit and even an active perpetrator. 

She’s a dark mirror to the Doctor’s companions just as the master is a dark mirror to the doctor. The doctor and their companions save the world Together. The companions take credit. And so, flipped on its head, Lucy should take the blame for her part in what was done and ten painting her only as a victim is a robbing of her agency and a total defanging of any commentary on how the upper class treats the rest of us. As in, everything goes so long as it doesn’t hurt Them. 

Why did they think we had to be on team lucy to get a kick out of her shooting the master? Her motivations for doing so are absolutely sound Without her being portrayed as an innocent or even slightly sympathetic. What she did was absolutely abhorrent, her being victimised was also wrong and while I cannot tell you how unimpressed I am by simm’s straight up domestic violence phase, I also contain the ability to know that that was wrong Without reducing her as a character to anything But the victim. That’s a whole other issue in itself for reasons outside of class commentary. 

She was english old family rich, used to a certain status in life because of it, and got a meal ticket to continue this. It went wrong. It went wrong only when it hurt her. How very typical of the behaviour of that class of people. They didn’t need to Say anything about class in this story, they just needed to not paint her as merely a victim and it would have spoken for itself.  

[audiofictionuk]

New Fiction Podcasts - 15th September 2024

BIRCH Audio Drama As we work on getting this series off the ground we wanted to share the audio story for our PILOT episode. So make a like a tree and give it a listen. In this post-apocalyptic animated series, trees are sentient beings fighting against the humans and other nefarious threats for control of the dwindling water supply on earth. Birch, the head of this GREEN PIECES resistance is a NY street cop of a plant, born of references and bathes in bad-ass-ery, but will he have what it takes to bring down AVERAGE JOE... Well, will he punk? https://audiofiction.co.uk/show.php?id=20240907-01 RSS: https://anchor.fm/s/f999a544/podcast/rss

Bond Beyond Blood Audio Drama Evelyn Green, a hard-hitting journalist, and Thomas Wright, a detective-in-training, become unlikely partners as they investigate the peculiar deaths of ex-detectives Frank and Lilah. Listen along and piece together the mystery as they fall into the chaos of the supernatural! This audio drama podcast is a mystery thriller with supernatural horror aspects that takes place in the American South. This series is also a sequel to Bond Beyond Death, but you do not have to have heard the previous show to understand this one fully. https://audiofiction.co.uk/show.php?id=20240904-04 RSS: https://feeds.captivate.fm/bond-beyond-blood/

All At Sea Audio Drama February is the captain and lone sailor of the Zenith, a longliner traversing the Pacific Ocean. But time is wrong, the sea is empty, and the world is quiet. ALL AT SEA is a microfiction podcast about being lost at sea at the end of the world. https://audiofiction.co.uk/show.php?id=20240908-01 RSS: https://feeds.acast.com/public/shows/all-at-sea

The Tear Stained Throne Audio Drama The kingdom Duimouire is ruled by the Skien family, Queen Simone and King Tobais. A family that has been deemed the ruler of this land for one hundred and six generations. But when Queen Simone struggles to conceive an heir to the throne her entire world shifts at the possibility of her losing her crown. Her best friend, Lady Crestfield tells her about a healer across the West Sea who is rumored to have the ability to heal any illness. After much debate Simone sets off on her journey to find this healer, the weight of her unsteady future on her shoulders. But little does Simone know, there are https://audiofiction.co.uk/show.php?id=20240907-02 RSS: https://anchor.fm/s/f62f8f40/podcast/rss

ApocaPodcast (SciFi D&D style TTRPG) Audio RPG ApocaPodcast is an actual play, role-playing game podcast that follows the lives of three survivors in the imaginary Post-Apocalyptic SciFi world of Toprak. Most of what you’re going to hear will be live improvised role playing. We will be using the ABC role-playing game engine. ApocaPodcast aims to be a “family friendly” podcast by avoiding foul language and adult themes. However, there will be plenty of “fantasy violence” from fighting fantastical beasts that might tear someone to pieces, to the well-placed exploding head shot against a humanoid creature. https://audiofiction.co.uk/show.php?id=20240909-01 RSS: https://anchor.fm/s/992b4208/podcast/rss

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Momento Talis Audio RPG A group of four nerdy friends who love to play TTRPGs. Follow along as we delve deep into the Fairelands of Candela Obscura. https://audiofiction.co.uk/show.php?id=20240725-06 RSS: https://media.rss.com/momentotalis/feed.xml

The World After Amazon: Stories from Amazon Workers Audio Book The World After Amazon is a collection of 9 short speculative stories, written by rank-and-file workers at the corporation that has transformed the way we read and so much more.Amazon's sci-fi propaganda tells the story of a company using cutting-edge technology to deliver a utopia of cheap consumer convenience. But its workers pay the price, toiling in dystopian conditions to create a future that will exclude them. What happens when those workers reclaim the radical imagination and their power to tell their own stories?The World After Amazon can be ordered in print or read or downloaded online for free, and is also available as a podcast and audiobook. https://audiofiction.co.uk/show.php?id=20240904-05 RSS: https://www.spreaker.com/show/6259126/episodes/feed

Goons & Runes: The Nightmare Sun Campaign (DND) Audio RPG The Nightmare Sun is a D&D 5E homebrew campaign set on the Plane of Notierdes. Set in the year 1316, the PCs begin as a batch of surviving mortals contending with a world that has seen the apotheosis of Demon Lord into the sole Overgod of the Planes. Following this unholy reckoning, demons and undead have flooded the Planes and driven all other creatures to near extinction. Mortals eke out survival in the fringes of the wilds or live in absolute servitude to indulgent demons or undead rulers. However, even in this world cast with eternal twilight, there are those who struggle to carve their own destinies. But will you join them as they rise above the bleak world or simply bear witness to their doom? https://audiofiction.co.uk/show.php?id=20240831-03 RSS: https://feed.podbean.com/goonsandrunes/feed.xml

Wicked Dames Audio Drama When Violette and Elisabeth Fischer’s mother goes mysteriously missing in 1942 Berlin, they are presented with an unthinkable decision; kill a Nazi or risk the truth of their mother’s identity falling into enemy hands. In the wake of their mother’s mysterious disappearance and surviving their first trial, the innocent teen sisters team up with a serial killer moonlighting as a lounge singer, a Jewish girl in hiding, and the privileged daughter of a Nazi sympathizer to take down a Nazi General and save their mother. But little do they know, they’ve waded into a thick web of lies and betrayal. https://audiofiction.co.uk/show.php?id=20240910-01 RSS: https://anchor.fm/s/f7a53208/podcast/rss

SNPR: Supernatural Public Radio Audio Drama A scripted comedy podcast series! Supernatural Public Radio, or SNPR, is a Peppermint Bottle Production. It's a short-form audio comedy about a local radio station, WKUG99, and its newest reporter, Salem Woods. Salem has to cover the occult and the uncanny for newbies (like himself).  https://audiofiction.co.uk/show.php?id=20240912-01 RSS: https://feeds.buzzsprout.com/2400822.rss

Words from Friends Audio Book Ever wished you were friends with a bunch of brilliant, talented writers who could bring you stories from a range of genres? Well, now you are. Words from Friends is a podcast which presents two short stories centred around a new theme every episode; from romance to thriller to science-fiction-neo-classical-coming-of-age dramas, we've got it all. So, pull up a chair and let this team of brilliant storytellers make you feel write at home. https://audiofiction.co.uk/show.php?id=20240806-02 RSS: https://anchor.fm/s/f85f7e38/podcast/rss

Firebreaker Audio Drama Coronation Presents "Firebreaker: The Legend of George and the Dragon". Starring David Henrie ("Wizards of Waverly Place") and Elizabeth Tabish ("The Chosen"). Welcome to the world of Firebreaker, an exhilarating audio drama that takes you on an adventure of courage, friendship, and sacrifice. Join us as we delve into the captivating legend of George and the Dragon, a story that has inspired generations. https://audiofiction.co.uk/show.php?id=20240710-02 RSS: https://anchor.fm/s/f773e108/podcast/rss

Murder Matrix ( English Thriller podcast) Audio Drama A fiction suspense thriller audio series that'll urge you to put on your detective shoes and tag along the story's characters to find the mystery beyond the maze of 7 episodes. You can tune in every week for a fresh episode and a new case with an intricate connection between them. https://audiofiction.co.uk/show.php?id=20240906-01 RSS: https://www.spreaker.com/show/6288898/episodes/feed

Uf de Spur - de Umweltkrimi vo Züri Audio Drama Anna und Lukas arbeiten beide auf der Redaktion des Regionalboten. In ihrer Freizeit gehen sie gerne auch mal zusammen in die Natur. Auf ihren Spaziergängen und über ihre Arbeit stossen sie immer wieder auf seltsame Vorkommnisse, denen sie auf die Spur gehen. Da sind verschwundene Tiere, verfaulte Lebensmittel auf der Strasse, ein umgestürzter Mobilfunkmast und seltsame Zeichen bei einem verlassenen Haus. Der Mensch interagiert seit eh und je mit der Natur. Dabei kann es zu Konflikten kommen, wenn das sensible Ökosystem zu sehr gestört wird. Arten verschwinden, das Ökosystem wird instabil und gefährdet wiederum die Gesundheit von uns Menschen. Viele Konflikte können verhindert werden, wären sie den Menschen bewusst, denn Lösungen sind vorhanden. Mit diesem Podcast möchte das Amt für Abfall, Wasser, Energie und Luft des Kantons Zürich Umweltkonflikte ins Bewusstsein rücken, die wenig bekannt sind und aufzeigen, was jede und jeder dagegen tun kann. https://audiofiction.co.uk/show.php?id=20240910-02 RSS: https://feeds.captivate.fm/uf-de-spur/

Pulp: Chilling Tales Served Cold Audio Book There is a dimension beyond the mundane, a realm where the ordinary twists into the extraordinary. A place where shadows conceal secrets and the unexpected and bizarre lurk around every corner. Welcome to Pulp. https://audiofiction.co.uk/show.php?id=20240910-03 RSS: https://feeds.buzzsprout.com/2403232.rss

DS Billings Mysteries Audio Drama Detective Sergeant John Billings has risen swiftly through the ranks to become one of Scotland Yard's youngest detectives, but in his private life he struggles with the demons of loneliness and morphine addiction. In these full length mysteries he will lead you on a thrilling journey into the darkest recesses of Victorian society. https://audiofiction.co.uk/show.php?id=20240910-04 RSS: https://feeds.acast.com/public/shows/ds-billings-mysteries

The World Savers Audio Book From the makers of Super Smash Cadens and Caden’s Creepy Capers, this podcast series follows the adventures of the superhero team The World Savers as they try to put a stop to their nemesis, Dr. Maniacal, and many other foes. https://audiofiction.co.uk/show.php?id=20240905-03 RSS: https://anchor.fm/s/e897cdac/podcast/rss

Wave Makers Audio Plays Audio Drama Monthly anthology series of audioplays in a variety of genres https://audiofiction.co.uk/show.php?id=20240909-03 RSS: https://feed.podbean.com/wavemakersaudioplays/feed.xml

[gretchensinister]

Book Recommendations 2023!

Hello from someone who read 111 books this year! Time for favorites and recommendations!

Favorites:

Babel: Or the Necessity of Violence: An Arcane History of the Oxford Translators' Revolution by R. F. Kuang: I read this back in January 2023 and when I did I was like, “Did I read my favorite book of the year already in January?” Well, I did. In a world where the British Empire solidifies its power with silver infused with magic based on translation, a Chinese boy becomes an Oxford student and then has to decide what he’s going to do in the face of this system. Absolutely fantastic. (Also scratches that “school story + magic” itch that we’re all supposed to pretend we never liked.)

A Deadly Education by Naomi Novik: This one was pure fun, about students in a magical school with reasons for “no adults” and “high risk of death” that I was down with for the world. Main character has been foretold to be the most powerful evil wizard in the world. She doesn’t want this.

Just Mercy by Bryan Stevenson: This is a nonfiction book by a lawyer who is working against the death penalty, and I highly recommend it to everyone who wants to know more about WTF is going on in the current US criminal justice system.

Creature: Paintings, Drawings, and Reflections by Shaun Tan: Art, highly charming art of creatures and monsters.

Dealing With Dragons by Patricia C. Wrede: This is the first book of the series The Enchanted Forest Chronicles, which I loved as a child and decided to reread this year. It’s about a princess who decides to go work for a dragon as the dragon’s princess, because it’s better than being wooed by a stupid prince. Fun, earnest fantasy. Also Kazul (King of the Dragons, she/her) please call me I love you.

Translation State by Ann Leckie: Things I really liked about this were that it included people in widely varying strange situations trying to figure out their futures. And one of the people doing this was a middle-aged adult. Also involved one of those Advanced Sci-fi Intimacy situations with two other people, which I always enjoy hollering about.

Revelations by Mary Sharratt: This is a novel about Margery Kempe, a medieval mystic, her life, and her travels, taking the work of Julian of Norwich to other communities in secret. This book really stood out to me because I found it really showed a deep understanding of the era it depicts, and the characters really feel like they have the framework of their time. I’m not a medievalist but I think I have read more than average about the European middle ages and that’s what I’m basing this opinion on. I thought it was very beautiful and very human.

The Wordhord by Hana Videen: This is a nonfiction book about Old English with chapters on topics like “health and the body” “travel” “occupations” etc. The idea is to examine what we can tell about the lives of Old English speakers based on the words they had. A significant amount of Old English vocabulary is included. Made me want to start putting Old English puns in the next thing I write but maybe I recovered from that.

Other recommendations:

Jesus and John Wayne by Kristin Kobes Du Mez: Do you want to know WTF is going on with the Christian Right in the United States? This will help.

Readme.txt by Chelsea Manning: Another book that I felt helped me understand a little more of WTF is going on re: the military/security culture

The Stones are Hatching by Geraldine McCaughrean: This is a book I read as a kid and missed a lot of because I didn’t know about a lot of traditional British faeries/creatures. I think anyone interested in folk horror as a genre would have fun reading this. It didn’t go on my favorites because the main character’s older sister is treated fatphobically to a degree that taints the overall book for me.

Hench by Natalie Zina Walschots: This is a fun book about a woman who makes a living as a henchperson for supervillains. After she gets injured by a superhero, she starts analyzing the actual cost of superheroes to the world, and this work leads her to working for one of the world’s top supervillains. I think this isn’t in my favorites because...IDK, it’s like...it felt vaguely like a reply to one of tumblr’s endless writing prompt posts? It’s good, and I know I have no room to talk about the tumblr style or whatever, but there’s a certain vibe...I don’t know how to describe it. I really do still recommend it.

NOTE: Reading is my main form of entertainment. I’m not keeping up with movies, videogames, TV shows, comics, etc. I have no qualifications with these recommendations except that I am a person who read 111 books this year.

[themosleyreview]

The Mosley Review: The Creator

There was a brilliant storyteller in the 80's that crafted a story that nobody believed could come true. It sparked a bit of fear in the real world and slowly over the course of 40 years, we've come to the point where it actually is coming true at a terrifying rate. That genius created a film franchise and an iconic character known as The Terminator. Sure, James Cameron's revolutionary tale is a bit far fetched with time travel being a factor, but it does paint the picture of humans becoming their own destructor. Well, here we are with another film that paints a very bleak, scary and emotionally driven possibility of what could happen. The sci fi genre is known for tackling the themes of advancement in technology and showing how quickly mankind uses it and then demonizes it. This film does that and asks that question of what is the difference between humanity and robotics? If we make them to be like us, feel like us and live like us, are we the enemy for trying take the lives we've created even if they're robotic in form? That is only a fraction of the many layers this film fantastically tackles in a brilliant and satisfying way. What I really loved is the integration between human and machine and how it reflects the earlier years of our genocidal history against ethnic groups. The real villain was not only technology, but humanities desperation for control and superiority. All of this is conveyed beautifully from a stellar number of characters and all their layers of humanity on display.

John David Washington leads the film as Joshua and he does an exceptional job. The amount of heartbreak and pain the character goes through in just the opening minutes of the film, set the stage for the eventual growth of the man. He truly became disconnected from any form of emotion to the robots in the film and for good reason. Its a classic emotional journey of forgiveness the character goes through and it felt more real thanks to Washington's stellar performance. Madeleine Yuna Voyles as Alpha-O was outstanding and through her eyes, you start to see the horrors of war. I loved that she was constantly and quickly learning what it is to be human even though she is not. Her chemistry with Joshua comes to life mid way through the film when there is actually a moment for them to connect. The power of her performance comes from the innocence in her eyes in the middle of the violence around her. Gemma Chan was fantastic as expected and brings the heart of Joshua to life as Maya. I loved the scenes we got with the two of them together and even though they were short, they were impactful. Ken Watanabe was awesome and strong Harun. His fighting spirit and willingness to protect the lives of his fellow cyborgs made my heart heavy. Allison Janney was intense and strong as Colonel Howell. She represented the always on mission and brutal nature of a soldier that can't see past the violence. She knew what she was doing was rough, but it was her programming in a sense. I liked that her and Joshua had at least one bonding moment that showed that she does have a heart. Ralph Ineson was cold and cunning as General Andrews. The typical high ranking military characters are always portrayed as the ultimate enemy and here he was just that. He took pleasure in the killing of the cyborgs and that's what made him even more menacing. Now another character in the film was not human at all, but its presences was ever looming. The NOMAD was terrifying and acted as the constant reminder of time running out and immediate destruction once activated. I was instantly on edge as soon as its light blue targeting out line was activated.

The score was equally looming, intense and emotional and it is all handled by legendary composer Hans Zimmer. He really knows how to evoke the feeling of pain and love in just a few notes and I loved every minute of his score during the latter half of the film. Visually, this film was stunning. I loved the Vietnam War feeling the sweeping shots brought of brutal human and cyborg alike violence that could make anyone feel uneasy. This is a darker world that is reminiscent of films like Blade Runner, Terminator and even Apocalypse Now. The visual effects were some of the best I've seen in so long and it reminded me of the seamless work of District 9. There are problems with the conveniences of characters showing up in certain places and some scenes were a bit disjointed in the editing. At times it felt like there was another plot point missing and there was a bit of rushing to the next scene that sometimes took me out of it. There really isn't that much space for down time in the film which helped with the tension, but the film could've benefitted from a short breather at times. Other than all of that, this was another fantastic entry into the sci fi genre that not only speaks to the current technological climate we're in right now, but acts as yet another painting of what our society could turn into. Gareth Edwards has directed another stellar film and I can't wait to see what he does next. Let me know what you thought of the film or my review in the comments below. Thanks for reading!

[backofthebookshelf]

Horror Recs for Magnus Fans, Part the Second

Last time I did this I was assuming that anyone who was listening to a horror podcast already knew some horror, but I have since learned that this is not the case, so there are a few more classics in here, as well as some more of my faves.

For anyone and everyone who listens to TMA: Sarah Monette's Kyle Murchison Booth stories, many (though not all) of which are collected in The Bone Key. Queer information professional would very much like for ghosts and monsters to leave him alone, does not get what he wants; can't resist the impulse to help out people who are more fucked over than him anyway. I love Booth so much, he deserves much better things than he gets.

For Web stans: Blindsight by Peter Watts, a sci-fi horror novel about free will and consciousness. Lydia Nicholas named this as one of her favorite books in the first Assistant's Round Table; I respect her for it, but I read this once and it gave me an existential crisis. Highly recommended, but make sure you've got a palate cleanser.

For jonelias fans and/or fans of the Corruption: Candyman (1992). With bonus folklore & urban legend meta! Kissing bees into your (potential) lover's mouth in order to convince them to become a murderous spirit of vengeance just like you! "All you have left is my desire for you"!!! It's extremely sexy, is what I'm saying, in all the best ways. (Trigger warnings for violence against children and a fair amount of gore, in addition to the aforementioned bees.)

If you love the no-holds-barred social commentary of season five: The Ballad of Black Tom by Victor LaValle. No, I will not shut up about this book until absolutely everyone in the world has read it. It's short! You could read it in an afternoon! This is Lovecraft's "The Horror at Red Hook" from the point of view of a black musician and hustler who's hired to help out with the ritual, and it's incredible. (If you're enjoying Lovecraft Country, absolutely do not miss this.)

If you miss the standalone statements of season one and two: the works of the early 20th century cosmic horror and ghost story writers: M.R. James, Algernon Blackwood, Arthur Machen. Machen has a tendency to get pretty eugenics-y, and they're all either misogynistic or don't have women in their stories at all, but goddamn do they do atmosphere. ("The Magnus Archives" is named after James's "Count Magnus," Jonny's favorite M.R. James story.)

For Stranger fans and those who love unexplained mysteries: The Twisted Ones by T. Kingfisher, a Southern horror (not a Gothic) about a woman who goes to clean out her abusive grandmother's house to sell it only to find that there are things other than his wife that her grandfather was afraid of, and for good reason. Features hot competent neighbors, extremely practical reactions to terrible monsters, and a Very Good Dog (the dog does not die).

For Lonely bitches: "The Horla" by Guy de Maupassant, the story I use to describe my depression to people. That's a pretty good content warning, honestly.

If you loved the "Am I still human?" plotline: The Monster of Elendhaven by Jennifer Giesbrecht, a grotesque little novella about monsters in (dysfunctional) love. I'm a bit iffy on the ending, but honestly landing the ending of horror is so tricky that I'll almost never discount something just because I'm iffy on the ending. The body horror and emotional repression throughout make up for it.

If you crave the supernatural adventure series starring Gerry Keay: The Sandman Slim series by Richard Kadrey - modern noir, so gritty you can feel it in your teeth, featuring all kinds of monsters, demons, curses, and narrowly-averted apocalypses. Not as misogynistic as noir can get, but it is noir so there's definitely a bit of that (but definitely not as misogynistic as Jim Butcher). Trigger warnings all over the place; this is B-movie horror in book form.

For Distortion fans: The Haunting of Hill House by Shirley Jackson. Bears almost no resemblance to the Netflix series of the same name, or any of the movies based on it; this is a twisty psychological novel with a profoundly unreliable narrator and a lot of repressed queerness. Michael/Helen would be right at home in Hill House. (Content warning for suicidality.)

If you want your horror to make you cry: El Orfanado, directed by Guillermo del Toro; a family moves into a house that used to be an orphanage, that is, of course, haunted. This is a tremendous distillation of the way that horror movies are so often centered around women not being believed, so content warning for gaslighting (and for harm to children); I saw this movie once and entire scenes are embedded in my brain in full color. (Honestly you can't go wrong with any Guillermo del Toro movies; he's fantastic.)

If you want your horror to make you cry, but make it gay: In the Flesh, two seasons of a zombie TV show tragically cut short (yes, it ends on a cliffhanger, I’m sorry). Uses zombies as a metaphor for homophobia, but also includes actual queer people. Content warning for small-town-typical homophobia and tragic gays. Please come yell with me about Simon Monroe, I love him so much.

For Slaughter fans: The Shining by Stephen King - look, look, I know. He's not great. He needs an editor. The movie is all kinds of fucked up. But this book is one of the most raw, personal horror stories I've ever read, and it's got an excellent combination of supernatural influence and real-life mundane fear of addiction and personal weakness that really grabs you by the intestines. Again, an iffy ending, but it's worth it for the slow descent into paranoia and madness.

If you just want to try to find some authors to read: The Borderlands anthology series, paperbacks from the height of the 80s horror boom; there are so many different kinds of stories in here that I can pretty much guarantee you that you won't like some of them but you might well find something new to fall in love with. A lot of these writers are out of print but readily available at used bookstores or for pennies on Amazon.

As always, let me know if you liked any of these or if you have a specific need: it is no longer my job to recommend books and media to people but it is still my very favorite thing to do and I will be obnoxious about it forever

[battlestar-royco]

here is part 2 of my sci fi recs masterlist! again, i could’ve gone on with even more recs but i decided to draw the line here. this set for the most part errs on the darker side, thematically, visually, conceptually etc. i personally find it super thought-provoking and intriguing but that’s just me. i highly recommend reading the tw under the cut if you’re thinking of watching, especially the matrix and space gothic slides. please view at your discretion <3

part 1/2

If you like WLW (um idk why I only made this slide based on identity; it just kinda happened lmao but I think it works):

Siren: (tw: parent loss, grief, thalassophobia) a mermaid surfaces in a cove town looking for her lost sister. Polyamorous relationship between a man, a black/indigenous woman, and the mermaid!!!! Environmentalism! As a person who has thalassophobia, I didn’t find this too hard to watch. There aren’t that many underwater scenes, thankfully.

Black Mirror: San Junipero: (tw: grief, but otherwise none that I recall; it’s pretty lighthearted) two women meet in a beach resort in the 80s and fall in love. Interracial wlw!

Orphan Black: (tw: suicide, infertility, rape implication, VB, language, drug use) a woman realizes she is one of several clones and uncovers an elaborate corporate conspiracy. This is one of my personal favorites with great rep of complex women of all ages and bodily autonomy. Several central queer characters and a black male secondary character!

Starfish: (tw: grief, a few jump scares and brief monstrous imagery, blood) after the death of her best friend, a young woman breaks into the deceased’s apartment and discovers a chain of music tapes that could save the world. Weird, subtle, and experimental. Not to sound like a surfer but you kinda have to allow yourself to be in the vibe. The main character and her friend were definitely a thing imo.

Annihilation: (tw: body horror, VB, disturbing imagery) a team of women scientists explore an anomaly that rapidly mutates genes. There are canonical and coded wlw and multiple (light-skinned) POC in this but the rep is short-lived. I put it on because although it should’ve been more ambitious with the casting, I think it breaks *some* ground for Hollywood sci fi with the all-woman team and more than one WOC. Wack ending though.

Mad Max: Fury Road: (tw: rape implication, violence) I think everyone knows about this one but: in the apocalypse, a woman breaks 4 younger women out of a harem. A badass car chase across the desert ensues. A bit light on plot/worldbuilding, but sooooo cool-looking and very thematic!!!!

If you liked STRANGER THINGS:

It: (tw: VB) don’t actually watch this lmao I’m serious. It’s really stupid, and not in a funny way. But I do think Stranger Things was inspired by this story overall. The modern It films are better but they’re also really kjslsklskls stupid? Stephen King in general is obsolete imo.

The Thing: (tw: VB) an alien that can take the form of others wreaks havoc on a scientific facility in Antarctica. It’s dark and vibey, but I feel like it’s just Alien in Antarctica with truly terrible special effects tbh?? Others feel differently. It’s also classified as sci fi/horror, so stay away if you’re easily scared! Not too good on representation.

Super 8: (tw: some language) a group of preteens witnesses an alien-caused train crash as they’re filming a home movie. Not diverse but I definitely think it inspired a lot of sci fi for the 2010s, ESPECIALLY Stranger Things. Not too scary either!

ET: (tw: it’s been a really long time since I watched so I don’t remember but it’s rated PG) I think everyone knows what this is about!

Alien: (tw: VB) truckers in space discover a deadly evolving alien. One of my favorite movies of all time! I love the aesthetic and the mood and worldbuilding so much. Ellen Ripley is one of the first Final Girls in the horror genre. I personally found this more of a sci fi than a horror movie but I’d say stay away if you’re nervous!!

Terminator: (tw: VB) a deadly android is sent to kill a woman who’s destined to birth the man who saves the world. Terminator 2 is way better imo because it centers on Sarah rather than the dudes saving her and trying to kill her. But it’s still worth a watch, you know, for the culture.

If you liked CONTAGION:

War of the Worlds: (tw: blood) pretty straightforward aliens come to Earth to take over. Sorry to rec another T*m Cruise movie but I really like the alien design and the apocalypsey feel of this one. Baby Dakota Fanning is in it too!

Falling Skies: (tw: VB, body horror, rape) alien invasion yada yada but the alien lore gets more interesting as it goes on. It’s kind of cheesy and yeah maybe I did discover it by looking up the iCarly boyfriend (and what about it??) but it’s nice to have on in the downtime. An Asian woman co-stars.

Knowing: (tw: blood) school students unearth a time capsule that contains a sheet from a girl who predicted all the tragic world events between 1959-2009. This is NOT a good movie but it’s SO hilarious to me because of the acting and contrivances. Fun to group-watch!!!!

10 Cloverfield Lane: (tw: VB, emotional abuse) a woman wakes up in a bunker to a captor who tells her that the world has fallen to alien apocalypse. I think this movie elevates the original Cloverfield in pretty much every way. Again, super tense and moody. The conflict revolves around whether or not the captor is being truthful.

Train to Busan: (tw: extreme VB and disturbing imagery) a man and his daughter are on a train when a zombie hops on at the last minute. It’s Korean with an all-Asian cast; Choi Woo-shik co-stars. I definitely wouldn’t watch if you’re scared of blood and gore. It’s very gross and violent.

12 Monkeys: (tw: ableism, violence) a man from the 2030s is sent back to the 1990s to prevent the plague that will end the world. I think the aesthetics of this are really cool but otherwise it’s not a favorite. But I think it appeals to people who like apocalypse and time travel stuff!

If you liked THE MATRIX:

Strange Days: (tw: rape, sex, nudity, VB, racism, police brutality) memories can be saved to hard-drives and sold on the black market for exorbitant prices. Very problematic and triggering presentation of rape, but young Angela Basset stars and there’s a condemnation of police brutality that’s still relevant 20+ years after its release.

Upgrade: (tw: ableism, VB, fridging) a disabled man installs an AI in his spine to help him move and investigate the murder of his wife. The premise is glaringly ableist and I feel weird even recommending it tbh but it’s got great visuals and a few good twists.

Altered Carbon: (tw: VB, weird interracial body switching, uhhh I haven’t finished this one IDK) in a society where human bodies are interchangeable, a man wakes up in a new body after 300 years of his mind being dormant. A Latina woman co-stars, two Asian characters in a subplot, a few other POC here and there as well. I think season 2 stars a black man.

eXistenZ: (tw: VB, anti-Asian racism, general weirdness? IDK it’s hard to describe. There are guns made out of bones and weirdly sexual visuals.) after someone tries to assassinate her, a video game designer and her bodyguard must play through her virtual reality game in order to save the only copy of the game.

Minority Report: (tw: VB, eye removal/insertion) all crimes are predicted and criminals reported before they are committed. The main character is preemptively accused of murder. This one is really white but it was one of the first movies that got me into sci fi. Early 2000s Colin Farrell <3.

If you liked WESTWORLD:

Humans: (tw: uncanny valley, objectification) androids are household helpers and public assistants throughout Britain until one day they start developing consciences. It hits a lot of the themes of Westworld without all the unnecessary pretentiousness, “edginess,” and “grittiness,” and it stars Gemma Chan and Colin Morgan!!

Blade Runner 2049: (^) an android is ordered to find and kill a human/android hybrid. It’s not without its issues but it’s one of my favorite movies of all time, right up there with Alien. So beautiful, so thematic, so thought-provoking (to me, anyway. I know a lot of people thought it was way too slow).

Ex Machina: (^) a man is invited to a private estate to help test the intelligence of an android. It’s kind of predictable imo but you know Oscar Isaac and Sonoya Mizuno are in it so we have to stan, and so is Domhnall Gleeson, for the SW fans! I like how isolated and quiet it feels.

I Am Mother: (tw: blood, gaslighting) after an extinction event, a young woman is raised by a lone android in a human repopulation facility until one day a woman knocks. It starts off slow and a bit generic, but I’m obsessed with the 2nd and 3rd acts of this movie---good acting, dialogue, and fantastic visuals. It has that same isolated feel as Ex Machina with only three characters, all of which are women/woman-coded!!!

If you liked ALIEN (space gothic):

Battlestar Galactica (2004-2008 reboot): (tw: genocide, war, colonization, VB, uncanny valley, rape, infidelity) space opera that follows humanity as it fights the ever-evolving and powerful enemy of their own creation: androids named Cylons. Um? I  L O V E  THIS SHOW SO MUCH and I truly do think it’s everything sci fi should be. There is a really unfortunate Miss Saigon-esque romance plot in season 1 and a lazily-written love triangle involving a black woman in season 3, but otherwise it’s one of my all-time favorites and I highly recommend. It’ll spin your mind and tug your heartstrings for years.

Black Mirror: Men Against Fire: (tw: genocide, war, nudity) soldiers in the near future protect citizens from mutant zombies, but one soldier starts experiencing strange hallucinations in the field. This is such an underrated Black Mirror episode starring a black man. There’s brief objectification of a black woman but it’s very anti-military and it has an interesting sterile aesthetic that reminds me of Alien.

High Life: (tw: rape, black holes/space anxiety, very disturbing) prisoners are given the option to join a space expedition and serve as experimental subjects en route to a black hole. Please please stay away if you are triggered by sexual violence of any kind. There’s almost no physical violence in this movie but it’s psychologically haunting imo.

The Faculty: (tw; VB, drug use) high schoolers discover their teachers are being possessed by an invading alien race. I LOVE THIS MOVIE LMFAOOOO. The cast is SO wild---Elijah Wood, John Oliver, Usher, Salma Hayek, Josh Hartnett??? And I’m probably forgetting more. The combination of the cast, the terrible dialogue, and shitty special effects is PEAK comedy imo. But bear in mind it’s bloody!!

Prometheus: (tw: body horror, VB, uncanny valley) a crew of scientists heads on a deep space mission to find the aliens who created the human race. A prequel to Alien, but I kind of view it as its own thing. Despite the plot holes, I love this movie too! It was one of my sci fi gateways and the visuals are stunning. It’s pretty gory though so if that’s not your thing stay away.

Life: (tw: extreme VB) a lesser Alien, but it provides all the space gothic tropes (jokey crew, shots of space, really pretty spaceship, everyone dies, creepy alien) with a well-known cast---Gyllenhaal, Reynolds, etc.

The X Files: (tw: a few episodes contain 90s racism, sexism, queerphobia etc but you can skip them) a lot of people have watched this so I barely have to explain, but it’s one of my favorites. Two FBI agents investigate multiple aliens and get involved in government conspiracies along the way. A good gateway!

A Quiet Place: (tw: child loss, VB, tension) I think most people know what this is about too. Alien apocalypse with aliens that hunt by sound. The daughter in the family is deaf, and so is the actress who portrays her. The representation of deafness was critically acclaimed.

[ahs-source]

Happy Friday! Welcome to this week’s Fanfiction Friday! Thank you to those who submitted these fantastic works for this week’s Fanfiction Friday. Let’s celebrate these wonderful works that you can all read while in quarantine! Please stay safe!

A Killer Time (Tumblr Post) by SisteroftheMoon (AO3) / @guiltyfiend​​​ (Tumblr) Relationships: Xavier Plympton x Female Reader | Tags: Smut, 1980s, Skating, Murder, Violence, Canon-Typical Violence | Completed (1/1 Chapters) | 8077 words | Canon Divergent

It’s the 80s, and your crush Xavier Plympton offered you a job at the skating rink where he works. The only problem is, it’s in the middle of nowhere, and you’d be leaving late. You should be on edge, what with the murders of teenage girls happening with alarming frequency in your town, but you’re too blinded by Xavier’s shiny cross earring to pay it any mind.

Be Your Love (Tumblr Post) by HadesRuinsEverything (AO3) / @hadesruinseverything​​​ (Tumblr) Relationships: Michael Langdon x Female Reader | Tags: Drinking, Mildly Dubious Consent, Sexual Tension, Mild Smut, Angst, Sharing a Bed, Drunken Confessions | Completed (1/1 Chapters) | 2954 words | Canon Divergent

Drunk grey attempts to seduce Michael with surprising results.

Dancing With a Stranger Part 1 + Part 2 by @myluciferiscody​ (Tumblr) Relationships: Michael Langdon x Female Reader | Warnings: au!, language, seductive-boi, unprotected sex, oral (female and male receiving), other smutty goodness | Completed (2/2 Parts) | 7028 words | AU / Michael as Owner of the Hotel Cortez

An AU where old!Michael where he’s not the antichrist but is the owner of the Hotel Cortez

Love Is A Battlefield (Completed) by The_Golden_Dice​​ (AO3) Relationships: Xavier Plympton x Female Reader | Tags: Sexual Content, Explicit Language, Pre-Canon, Developing Relationship, POV Female Character, Canon Compliant, Depression, Suicide, Ghosts, Original Character Death(s), Alternate Universe - Post-Canon, Angst with a Happy Ending, Fluff, Religious Content, Porn With Plot, Psychological Trauma, Canonical Character Death | Completed (12/12 Chapters) | 21162 words | Pre/Post-Canon Divergent

The year is 1984. You're a broke student living alone in L.A., plagued by your problematic relationships with a false friend and a disturbed ex.

You meet Xavier Plympton, an aerobics instructor with a dark past, at the gym where you’ve taken a reception job. You quickly develop feelings for him, and you learn to your relief that he likes you too.

Soon a deadly series of events befall you and the people in your life. Overwhelmed by tragedy and with your blossoming romance cut short, you are left a wreck.

Six years later you discover that while Xavier is dead, he hasn’t quite departed. You soon realise that if you are to be with him and finally achieve true peace and happiness, you must take your own life and become a Camp Redwood ghost.

Regular (Completed) by EmWrites4 (AO3) Relationships: Michael Langdon x Female Reader, Duncan Shepherd x Female Reader, Jim Mason x Female Reader, Xavier Plympton x Female Reader, Richard x Female Reader | Tags: Smut, Apocalypse, underage boy sex, Fingering, Oral Sex, Sex, Fluff, Angst with a Happy Ending | Completed (1/1 Chapters) | 2281 words | AU / Canon Divergent

Reader, an average, everyday woman, finds herself saved from the Apocalypse and living in Michael Langdon's Sanctuary. She manages to enrapture the antichrist, much to her own surprise, and navigates insta-love and sex with him, with a little help from his not-so-helpful friends.

The Singularity (WIP) by Chekhovs_Power_Loader​​ (AO3) Relationships: Michael Langdon x Mallory | Tags: Cyberpunk, millory, Sexbots, Science Fiction, Alternate Universe - Science Fiction, Apocalypse, Antichrist, Satanism, Robotics, Power Dynamics, Power Imbalance, Set in near-future London, Biometric scan, Light Choking, Prosthetics, Futuristic, Loss of Virginity, Vaginal Fingering, Vaginal Sex, Multiple Orgasms, Robot/Human Relationships, Artificial Intelligence | Last Updated: 2020-01-05 (3/5 Chapters) | 12619 words | AU / Cyberpunk / Sci-fi

Mallory gets an unusual birthday gift from her godmother Cordelia: a sexbot that's not quite what it seems.

Sci-fi AU. It's time for the Robocalypse.

Such Selfish Prayers (Completed) by TinyRubySeeds (S_Kassandra180) (AO3) Relationships: Michael Langdon x Female Reader | Tags: Pale!Demon Michael Langdon, Established Relationship, BDSM, Dom!Michael Langdon, (Bratty) Sub!Reader, Slight Blasphemy, Role play (With some Dubcon overtones), Bondage, Whip play, Spanking, Knife and Blood Play, Vaginal Fingering, Rough Sex, Aftercare, Proper and Improper Aftercare, Sex as after care, Body Worship, little bit of praise kink, touch of angst just a touch | Completed (3/3 Chapters) | 19879 words | Canon Divergent

A seemingly uneventful Friday night alone changes entirely when you find a certain Pale Demon waiting for you...

sweet serial killer (Completed) by gelukstraan (AO3)  Relationships: Michael Langdon x Mallory | Tags: Pirate AU, siren au, Mentions of Smut, dark themes, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Mentions of Rape, plot heavy, Murder, Treasure Hunting, Slow Burn, Mermaids, Angst, Enemies to Lovers, michael is a dumbass, Historical References, Angst with a Happy Ending | Completed (9/9 Chapters) | 34099 words | AU / Pirates + Sirens

His voice dripping like honey, the feeling his voice brings similar to the stained red velvet jacket he is wearing. “So, finally I’ve got you where I want you.”

The Pirate/Siren AU where Michael is the feared Pirate Captain, and where Mallory is a Siren who needs to eat hearts to survive.

this is where you start to pull me in (Completed) by iridescentrey​​​ (AO3) Relationships: Michael Langdon x Mallory | Tags: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Rape Roleplay, Consensual Non-Consent, Outpost!Michael, Fluff and Smut, Plot What Plot/Porn Without Plot, Light Dom/sub, Dirty Talk, Blood Kink, (a little), Vaginal Sex, Cunnilingus, Anal Fingering, and some things I probably missed, inappropriate use of magic, Idiots in Love, they pretend they're not soft but they are, so in love it's disgusting, Michael is a little fucked up but we all love him, enjoy the filth, read the author's note for context and warnings | Completed (1/1 Chapters) | 7517 words | AU / Canon Divergent

Her sleep is deep, serene, her chest rises and falls in a steady rhythm. He can almost feel the elusive impression of her dreams when his mind brushes against hers, barely a caress. There’s something else in there as well, gossamer-thin threads of a spell intertwined with her joints, carefully crafted, wrapped around her entire body like a cage.

War In Heaven (WIP) by shecomesincolor_999​​​ (AO3) / @midnightontheearth​​​ (Tumblr) Relationships: Michael Langdon x Original Female Character | Tags: Fluff, Eventual Smut, Eventual Sex, Good versus Evil, non-canon, Masturbation | Last Updated: 2020-03-15 (3/? Chapters) | 7684 words | Canon Divergent

Satan’s reign in Hell was parallel to that of God’s in Heaven, both having legions of believers upon the Earth. And when Satan sends his son Michael Langdon to earth, God sends his daughter. Their parallel is the ultimate war of good versus evil.

Who wants to hear a joke? (Completed) by ​​​SophieGraceJ (AO3) Relationships: Michael Langdon x Mallory | Tags: Joker au, joker 2019 au, michael is the joker, mallory is batgirl, zoe is fem batman, madison is catwoman, myrtle is alfred, cordelia is lucius, john is commissioner gordon, omg this is terrible haha, this is part 1there will be more, Eventual Smut, Violence, Alternate Universe, Crossover, millory | Completed (Part of the Life is a comedy series) | 3007 words | Joker 2019 AU

These people, dressed in their expensive clothes, pretending to care about the welfare of people different to them. Pretending to want to change the city for the better. They had eight years to do so, yet no one had stood up to the challenge. Not until Zoe.

The lights seemed to dim. Nothing was beautiful anymore.

It was all false. A façade.

And in her dark thoughts, she saw him. The orange suit. The green hair and painted face.

Thank you to those who sent in these works! Please continue sending submissions to ahs-source.tumblr.com/submit or through the Tumblr mobile app to continue celebrating the writers in the community!

Previous FF Fridays: 1 | 2a + 2b | 3 | 4a + 4b | 5

[praise-the-lord-im-dead]

@jurakan @theamiableanachronism here's my list so far!!

Genre fiction:

Clarkesworld:

1,000 to 22,000 words

10c / word for first 7,000 words, 8c / word after that.

Guidelines: sci-fi and fantasy. Well-written, non-political, no automatic eye-rollers.

Three Crows:

1,000 to 4,000 words

$25 per story

Guidelines: gritty horror, sci-fi and fantasy. Ambiguous morality and Slavic settings are both pluses.

Lightspeed:

1,500 to 10,000 words

8c / word

Guidelines: anything goes! (Sometimes submissions are closed).

Fantasy & Science Fiction:

Up to 25,000 words

7-12c / word

Guidelines: anything goes, preference for science fiction and humor. A read-through of an issue is suggested.

Additional: no simultaneous submissions, they will respond in 8 weeks.

Cricket:

600-6,000 words

Up to 25c / word

Guidelines: any and all genres, but it must be immediate and character-driven, acceptable and wholesome for children, and fun.

Analog:

Up to 20,000 words

8-10 c / word

Guidelines: science fiction where science of some kind is a key element of the plot, in which dynamic characters shine against the fantastical background.

Ares Magazine:

1,000 to 10,000 words

6c / word

Guidelines: sci-fi, fantasy, horror, mythology, pulp adventure, alternative history. No fan fiction.

Additional: no simultaneous submissions or multiple submissions. You’ll hear back in 8 weeks. Occasionally closed for submissions.

Asimov’s Science Fiction:

1,000-20,000 words

8-10 c / word

Guidelines: studies of human existence with strong, relatable characters. Genre can be bent, but no sword and sorcery or graphic-ness.

Additional: no simultaneous submissions. Usually gets back in 5 weeks.

Giganotosaurus:

5,000-25,000 words

$100 per story

Guidelines: intersectional sci-fi and fantasy.

Pseudopod:

1,500 - 6,000 words

6 c / word

Guidelines: horror. Dark, weird, and brutal. All fiction is meant to be in audio form, so no lollygagging. Everything from literary horror to shock value insanity is all good. Genre definitions are for the birds.

Heroic Fantasy Quarterly:

1,000 - 10,000 words

$50-100 per story

Guidelines: unapologetically heroic sword and sorcery.

Additional: only open to submissions in March, June, September and December.

Beneath Ceaseless Skies

Under 15,000 words.

6 c / word

Guidelines: they are fantasy setting nerds and will die for original worldbuilding. Close pov, clear style preferred.

Fiction Vortex

They seem fun but dear lord is their idea for a thing complicated. Look into if I want to write for something as opposed to happily submit my writing elsewhere. Apparently pays $300 flat rate tho.

Aurealis:

2,000-8,000 words

A$20-A$60 / story

Guidelines: sci-fi, fantasy and horror. No horror without supernatural elements, and no derivative works.

Fusion Fragment

2,000 - 15,000 words

3.5 CAD c/ word

up to $300/ story

Guidelines: Science fiction and science fiction subgenres--anything that vaguely resembles scifi, with a preference for the bizarre and an emphasis on quality in style.

Additional: submissions through Moksha. Simulataneous submissions are fine.

Translunar Travelers Lounge

up to 5,000 words

3c / word

Guidelines: FUN stories. Gleeful romance, swashbuckling, intrigue, with plenty of hope and life and joy. Friendships, healthy marriages, equality.

Apparition Lit

1,000 - 5000 words

3c / word, minimum of $30.

flat rate of $30 for poetry.

Guidelines: 'Send us your strange, misshapen stories'. Proactive characters, odd setting, emotional depth and weight.

Additional: an odd and lengthly list of submission steps, make sure to follow those to the letter. Only open to submissions 4 times a year.

Arsenika

up to 1,000 words

$60 / story

$30 / poem

$100 / art

Guidelines: no fan fiction, horror is okay. They seem to be focused on spec fic.

Anathema

only open to queer/poc/indigenous people.

Fiction: 1.5-6k words

Non-Fiction: 1.5 - 3k words

Poetry: under 100 lines

$100(CAD) / story

$50(CAD) / poem

$200(CAD) / cover art

Guidelines: once again, only open to submissions from marginalized groups! including it on this list in case I ever share it.

Grimdark Magazine

up to 4,000 words

7c (AUD)/ word

Guidelines: Must be grim and dark. (They love Joe Abercrombie, for reference) Medieval fantasy or sci-fi.

Metaphorosis Magazine

1,000 - 10,000 words

1c / word

Guidelines: sci-fi and fantasy, beautiful writing, engaging characters. Bonus points for vegan worlds (i.e. no leather goods, meat, or labor animals). No present tense. No overdone tropes. No labeled timeframes. Minimal narration.

Additional: anonymous submissions. don't paint your name everywhere.

Lackington's Magazine

1,500 - 5,000 words

1c (CAD) / word

$25 (CAD) / interior illustrations

$40 (CAD) / cover art

Guidelines: punk, spec fic, all things odd. 2nd person is a hard sell, though, because they see a lot of it. They like stylized prose.

Flash Fiction Online

500 - 1,000 words

8c / word original

2c / word reprints

Guidelines: No hurting women. No hurting men in the ways women are traditionally hurt. 2nd person is a hard sell, as is Evil Human Race, Being Preachy, hiding the mc's name, ending on a identity reveal, sad stories, gory stories.

Strange Horizons

under 5k words preferred, up to 10k

10c / word

Guidelines: they love diverse perspectives, and complex, nuanced stories about political situations. All stories must have spec-fic elements.

Fantasy Magazine

up to 7,500 words

8c / word

Guidelines: fantasy and dark fantasy! They don't have any gripe lists yet.

Nightmare Magazine

1,500 - 7,500 words

6c / word

Guidelines: horror and dark fantasy.

Uncanny

750 - 6000 words

10c / word

Guidelines: speculative fiction. They want intricate, experimental stories with beautiful prose, strong emotions and challenging themes.

Albedo

2,500 - 8,000 words

.6 c / word + print and pdf copy of the magazine issue.

Guidelines: thoughtful, well-written genre fiction. Genre-crossing fiction is also accepted.

Leading Edge Magazine

1,000 - 15,000 words

1c / word

Guidelines: This is a BYU magazine, all stories must adhere to mormon sensibilities (not really a problem anyway?) They just say they're looking for 'fiction', but there's a dragon on their icon so they might do some genre fiction?

Liminal

100 - 6,000 words

6c / word

Guidelines: stories that are strange and unsettling, sharp-edged and evocative. Stories should linger in the mind and evoke emotion in the reader.

Daily Science Fiction

100 - 1,500 words

8c / word, possible anthology royalties (nonexclusive)

Guidelines: Shorter stories are preferred. Character-driven is awesome, but by no means a must. Anything gripping and fun will do -- no horror or erotica, please.

Aftermath Magazine

1500 - 5000 words

2c / word

Guidelines: End-of-the world stories to raise awareness for environmental efforts. They want to celebrate the beauty of the natural world, while it still exists.

The Arcanist

1,000 words or less

$50 / story

Guidelines: Sci-fi and fantasy with strong characters, evoking strong emotions.

The Dark Magazine

2,000 - 6,000

6c / word

Guidlines: Horror and dark fantasy (they don't want graphic violence tho).

PULP magazine

1,000 - 15,000 words

2c - 8c / word (shorter stories get more money)

Guidelines: Solid stories of all genres, accessible to all readers, with balanced emotional weight.

LampLight Magazine

up to 7,000 words

3c / word

Guidelines: Dark fiction. Think The Twilight Zone.

This is by far an exhaustive list--I'm still researching! But hopefully it's helpful?

[comicteaparty]

Webcomic Recommendations

Check out this plethora of webcomic recommendations archived from Comic Tea Party’s Webcomic Recommendations Channel!

Nutty (Court of Roses)

Children of Shadow: Ashes https://spiderforest.com/comics/children-of-shadow-ashes/ Genre: Anthro/Horror/Urban Fantasy Trigger Warnings: Rated Mature for blood, gore, and intense scenes Reasons: Some of the most lovely pencil work I've ever seen, well-rendered animal art and a compelling world!(edited)

Heirs of the Veil https://spiderforest.com/comics/heirs-of-the-veil/ Genre: Drama/Urban Fantasy Trigger Warnings: Rated PG-16+ for transphobia, dysphoria, mental illness, blood, trauma, body horror Reasons: Absolutely gorgeous artwork, really compelling illustrations of the lgbt experience

Aloe https://spiderforest.com/comics/aloe/ Genre: Adventure/Drama/Sci-Fi Trigger Warnings: Rated Teen for violence and blood Reasons: I'm normally not into sci-fi but this comic is so bright and colorful, I really love it a lot. Also the main character is non-binary!

Millennium https://spiderforest.com/comics/millennium/ Genre: Adventure/Fantasy/Sci-fi Trigger Warnings: Rated PG-13 for Mild Violence and Mild Language Reasons: Lovely art, fun characters, and an engaging space world! I love it so so much.

Sombulus https://spiderforest.com/comics/sombulus/ Genre: Adventure/Comedy/Fantast Trigger Warnings: Rated Young Adult, no warnings Reasons: An absolute blast, super fun story and characters, with a nice long archive too!

Arbalest https://spiderforest.com/comics/arbalest/ Genre: Fantasy/Horror Trigger Warnings: Rated Mature for partial nudity, blood/gore, sex, themes of abuse Reasons: A really compelling story in a non-traditional narrative style, and super spooky to boot.

And finally, to top this off, I'll drop in my own comic as well! Court of Roses https://spiderforest.com/comics/court-of-roses/ Genre: Adventure/Fantasy/Comedy Trigger Warnings: Rated Teen, for Fantasy Violence and Alcohol Use Reasons: Because this is my comic and it's my pride and joy and I love my bards a lot. :3

AntiBunny

Dead Winter http://deadwinter.cc/ Genre: Zombie Apocalypse Trigger Warnings: Violent Reasons: Well it's a straightforward zombie survival comic. What's impressive is how well the artist has studied comics as an art form and put thought and purpose into every panel.

HiddenElephant

http://welcome2earth.webcomic.ws/ Snarky alien crashes onto Earth. Not enough people are reading it in my opinion.

snuffysam (Super Galaxy Knights)

Super Galaxy Knights Deluxe R: http://sgkdr.thecomicseries.com/ Genre: Action, Comedy Trigger Warnings: Blood, Dismemberment Reasons: A recommendation for @Goobatron . It's my comic. The creator is me. Super Galaxy Knights is a story about Mizuki Sato, who goes on adventures through a strange world, making friends along the way. The dialogue is like... 70% banter, 30% total non-sequiturs. The art style uses 3D models, in like a weird cel-shaded style that's meant to be reminiscent of games like Wind Waker and Dragon Ball FighterZ. And there's also a bunch of animated panels/pages. There's also a ton of really strange characters. Like there's a dude whose power is that he always wins knife fights. There's a wizard who shrinks hot dogs and carries them around in capsules. Etc. One warning - the early pages are a bit rough-looking. Some have been redrawn recently, but others haven't yet, so it can be a bit jarring to go back and forth between styles.

Cap’n Lee (Flowerlark Studios)

Clockwork http://www.clockwork-comic.com/ Genre: Fantasy / Drama CW: Some language and violence Clockwork is a comic about Cog Kleinshmidt, a moody teenager with an uncanny talent for repairing machinery. He feels he’s a nobody, but is swept into the turbulent world of politics, and is forced to learn magic in a world where magic is strictly forbidden. The art in this comic is incredibly polished and lively, and the characters are all instantly endearing. The writing is also top-notch. The first time I read it, I was completely sucked in after only a few pages. It’s currently on hiatus while the creator prepares the next chapter, but it’s well worth the wait.(edited)

Moral_Gutpunch

Micheal Morbius: Freelance Vampire http://freelancevampire.thecomicseries.com/ Genre: Drama, comedy Trigger: mentions of death and violence, talk of abusive relationships, mention of rape. It's all in dialog. Micheal Morbius, from Marvel comics, struggles to adjust to a as normal a life as a vampire can have. He helps a friend get back on her feet, he goes through therapy, and he's visited by Spider-heroes, this time a new one. Meanwhile, a true monster lurks int he shadows. The art isn't good, but the story and dialog are worth it. It's my comic. I hope after I get a few more pages going people will enjoy the story. It's a story I've been wanting to write for ages and I figured I'm not going to write for Marvel anytime soon (yes, I checked copyright law, Marvel allows this). Dedicated to Stan Lee.

Pakky

The Boy Who Fell http://boywhofell.com/ Genre: Drama, Adventure, Action, Comedy TW: Violence, blood, fighting, ptsd, suicide, death Synopsis (from the website): The Boy Who Fell revolves around an innocent, softhearted and almost-spineless boy named Ren who suddenly finds himself in Hell after accidentally falling off a school rooftop. He is then forced to partake in a tournament full of powerful and vicious beings in order to attain his only way of going home: an all-powerful wish from the ruler of Hell himself. As the story progresses, lines between allies and enemies are blurred, dark pasts are revealed, political issues come to light and all the while, Ren slowly realizes that in order to survive this journey, he might have to give up the very things that make him human I love this webcomic and have been following this artist for over 10 years now and recommend their work to anyone who will listen haha! Super long running webcomic with a well developed storyline and world.

Shizamura 🌟 O Sarilho

Broken http://broken.spiderforest.com/ Genre: Horror Trigger Warnings: Military, death, monsters Reasons: Broken offers a very interesting twist on the concepts of fairies, presenting you with a fairy general on the battlefield fighting against corrupted abominations. The concepts and worldbuilding here are very interesting and the battle/action scenes are great. Often makes use of animation and some HTML/CSS for extra effect. Of Magic and Muses https://xiicomic.com/magic-and-muses/ Genre: Magical Girls, mystery Trigger Warnings: There's a big monster at some point? Reasons: It's a magical girl story! Except nobody knows what's happening, the powers the girls get are maybe not of a friendly nature and they wear armor? The escalation of events is suberb. It has a large (and growing) cast, but each character has their own unique personality, making them super easy to follow and love. Ghost Junk Sickness https://www.ghostjunksickness.com/ Genre: action, sci-fi Trigger Warnings: violence, limb loss, death Reasons: There's a lot to be said about this comic! I really like the characters, who are deeply flawed and charming and make a lot of mistakes (the main duo having an especially interesting, yet sorta problematic dynamic). The worldbuilding is interesting and quirky to match. The mysterious bounty The Ghost is a looming presence, and apparently we'll be learning more about them soon. Super exciting and fun action scenes too!

Desnik

https://monsterhead.net/ Genre: LGBT+ American rural occult fantasy Trigger Warnings: Animal death, mild body horror Reasons: The author/artist is an OC-loving member of the LGBT+ community, and her work deals with self-love in the face of weird circumstances. Love the colors, Carter is an appealing and relatable main character, and the worldbuilding is something I've never seen before.

LadyLazuli (Phantomarine)

http://www.phantomarine.com/ Genre: Fantasy, Supernatural Trigger Warnings: Death, Mild Body Horror, Mild Violence, Mild Language Reasons: ...This is my comic! (edited)

Phantomarine is a spooky-but-sweet fantasy webcomic about a ghostly princess and her perilous journey across a haunted sea, hoping to save her soul from a devious, shapeshifting death god known as the Red Tide King. Expect all manner of maritime mysteries – monstrous sea creatures, sacred lighthouses, strange afflictions, accursed marauders, feuding gods, grand sea battles, and a heaping helping of humor in-between.

eliushi [Keyspace]

https://tapas.io/series/KEYSPACE-A-Winged-Tale/ https://www.webtoons.com/en/challenge/keyspace-a-winged-tale/list?title_no=322364 Genre: YA Science Fantasy, LGBT+ Trigger warnings: Mild body horror/violence/monsters, death Reasons: My comic Blurb: Florence thought her idyllic life living with the winged beings would last forever. However, when her mother disappears from a mysterious expedition, she fears for the worst. Through exploring hidden laboratory tunnels beneath the forest, facing Machines from a century-long war against humans, and seeking guidance from the Lost people from a civilization gone by, Flo and her winged friends must piece together the past in order to save all those they love.

Shizamura 🌟 O Sarilho

O Sarilho https://www.sarilho.net/en Genre: Post-Apocaliptic/Sci-fi Trigger Warnings: War, military, death Reasons: I make it Short description: A small team goes on a mission to enemy territory to find the remains of an ancient satellite and they end up finding a lot more. There are computers and dams and electricity-worshipping future romans (edited)

GGY

Tile: Over 8 Miles https://tapas.io/episode/859067 Genre: Drama, Comedy, Slice of Life Reasons I make it: Cause its fun and I enjoy sharing the existence of my characters and their life outside my brain

Emma (Friends or Lovers?)

Dreamwalker Felix by KT and TK https://tapas.io/series/Dreamwalker-Felix and https://www.webtoons.com/en/challenge/dreamwalker-felix/list?title_no=182487 Genre: Fantasy/Supernatural Trigger Warnings: There's some body horror in there Reasons: The art is just beautiful, and it has tons of funny moments Friends or Lovers? by yours truly https://tapas.io/series/friendsorlovers and https://www.webtoons.com/en/challenge/friends-or-lovers/list?title_no=49520 Genre: Romance/school slice of life Trigger Warnings: Mentions and depictions of bullying Reasons: It's my comic, so I'll just quote a reader: "Your comic is more accurate to real teens in love in high school than most. It's really good stuff"

keii’ii (Heart of Keol)

Earth in a Pocket http://earthinapocket.spiderforest.com/ Genre: Retro Sci-fi, Iyashikei Trigger Warnings: none Reasons: This comic posted its final page very recently! It's a relatively short read; very gentle and hopeful without being cavity-causingly sweet. The creator has put together such a heartwarming story that I've been adoring for a while. One of my faves, now complete!

renieplayerone

O Human Star https://ohumanstar.com/ Genre: Scifi, Robots, Drama TW: Dysphoria, Depression Reasons: The characters are so well written and emotional, plus I love the simplistic color palette. They get across the journey of self-discovery in such an interesting way.(edited)

carcarchu

Arcane Flames https://tapas.io/series/Arcane-Flames Genre: Fantasy Trigger Warnings: death? Reasons: I've been following kutty sark for many years now and I've really been looking forward to this comic which I'm pleased to say even exceeded my expectations. Fantastic art and the tone of the story is just lovely, i adore al'vis

Eightfish (Puppeteer)

https://sfeertheory.com/ The art is incredible. Every character, even the background ones, is full of personality. I love a good underdog story, and Luca's speech in chapter three made me scream into my hands and tear up. I can't recommend it highly enough

Tantz Aerine (Without Moonlight)

http://secondcrimeanwar.thecomicseries.com/

The Second Crimean War is a powerful and fun story in an alternate 1990s decade in Ukraine. The art is black and white and improves in leaps and bounces as you move on in the story! The story itself draws you in from page one. There's suspense, there's (black) humor, there's atmosphere and adventure. Highly recommended if you like war/action/suspense.

varethane

Have you ever read Nasty Red Dogs? https://nastyreddogs.com/

oh golly, haha

yeah, it's a fun and twisted and surreal little tale, the early parts especially are like walking through a really bizarre dream that if you describe it, it ought to be called a nightmare, but at the moment you're in it, it doesn't FEEL like one lol

the creator also does a comic called Feast For A King, which I think is more well-known but I haven't read yet (will at some point tho): https://feastforaking.com/comic/

kelly-zine

Title: Zyra Slash Genre: Sci-Fi, Comedy, Slice-Of-Life TW: None (for right now at least, it just started!) Reasons: I love Alex and their characters so much! ZS is a project I’ve been following and chatting with them about for a long time and it’s amazing to see it come to fruition. I think you’ll like it too. (Note that it’s on hiatus at the moment!) https://www.webtoons.com/en/challenge/zyra-slash/list?title_no=373763

keii’ii (Heart of Keol)

Title: Ark https://www.arkcomic.com/ Genre: Fantasy, Drama, Anthro TW: violence (nothing heavy yet, but my Spider Senses are tingling) Reasons: A 1920s-inspired, extremely believable fantasy setting. Hints of racial tension and a possible war brewing on the horizon. It's pretty early in the story, so hop in and claim the front row seats for this gorgeously illustrated comic! (edited)

Joichi [Hybrid Dolls]

Tamberlane https://www.tamberlanecomic.com/ Genre: slice of life, heartwarming, Anthro It has a cast of colourful characters. Charming story of a clumsy bat named Belfry who adopts a little human. Various animal neighbors to love

Joichi [Hybrid Dolls]

I found one of the Chinese webcomics I use to follow, is now on Webtoons. They rename the title to: The Emperor's New Body because it's about body swapping and has interesting depth while some silly hijinks https://tapas.io/series/the-emperors-new-body(edited)

trinketfox

May as well rec my first ever favorite webcomic! Warrior U! https://warrior-u-thecomic.tumblr.com/ It's so expressive and funny that I've always wished it would become a show on cartoon network or something. Only the first few pages are still up on this tumblr since the official site is down, but all chapters are on the artist's gumroad!

It's an episodic comedy fantasy that goes from page-long gags to full episodes. Reccomended for it's humor and a really fun art style.

SteffieMusings

Nebula Beings https://tapas.io/series/Nebula-Beings Genre: Sci-Fi, Fantasy, Horror/Thriller Trigger Warnings: Violence, scary imagery (especially in chapter 7), talks/implied past abuse Reasons: It's a fun series and the two main characters learn to overcome challenges during their travels.(edited)

Eightfish (Puppeteer)

http://humoncomics.com/elftaken-1

Very short comic about the fae!

shadowhood {SunnyxRain}

For anyone who wants really strong character development/plot/art in general, I’m recommending Heir’s Game https://www.webtoons.com/en/drama/heirs-game/list?title_no=1445 For slapstick humor and characters with strong platonic bonds I give you Waffles and Pancakes https://www.webtoons.com/en/slice-of-life/waffles-and-pancakes/list?title_no=1310 And because why not, and if you like Victorian romance with a cute bickering couple, I give you Miss Abbott and the Doctor https://www.webtoons.com/en/romance/miss-abbott-and-the-doctor/list?title_no=707

LadyLazuli (Phantomarine)

Encephalon Genre: Sci-Fi, Horror Trigger Warnings: Blood, Gore, Strong Language A rescue crew sent to an abandoned space station comes face-to-face with a bio-computer experiment gone horribly wrong. A sci-fi webcomic with body-horror elements. Very creepy stuff! It's just getting started, but after seeing the rest of the story in thumbnail form (my IRL friend is the making it), it's going to AWESOME places. Please check it out! https://encephalon-comic.com/

Joichi [Hybrid Dolls]

This is: Mirror Mirror for 'Brain' short story contest entry. The 1st ep caught my eye and I'm invested in it https://www.webtoons.com/en/challenge/mirror-mirror-b/list?title_no=427186(edited)

carcarchu

https://www.lezhin.com/en/comic/freak Genre: fantasy Trigger Warnings: violence? Reasons: sakon's art is brilliant and incredibly consistent. season 1 is now available to read for free!

sagaholmgaard

Genre: Supernatural, urban fantasy, slice of life Trigger Warnings: Maybe abusive parents? idk i feel like it will be explored in the future Reasons: I love the art style and the latest chapter have some CHAOTIC ENERGY and im living for it!! https://tapas.io/series/bygonesbe

GGY

Just got back from hiatus! If y’all are interested in some slice of life + comedy drama I’d like to share my webcomic Over 8 Miles: https://tapas.io/series/O8M/ep39

carcarchu

Veni Vidi Vici https://vevivi.blog.fc2.com/blog-entry-1.html Genre: slice of life, comedy Reasons: reading this comic feels so comfy and it reminds me of being in roman studies class again. you can really see the love and care that Ruby has put into this comic and her passion for ancient rome is really on full display in this work

Joichi [Hybrid Dolls]

This is the comic books for Cafe Suada I used to read way back. It's a fun slice of life about a teahouse shop keeper rivals with a coffee shop manager https://tapas.io/series/Cafe-Suada The artist used some traditonal tea staining for the textures. The story inspired me to draw my own slice of life series(edited)

sierrabravo (Hans Vogel is Dead)

The Strange Tale of Oscar Zahn https://www.webtoons.com/en/fantasy/the-strange-tales-of-oscar-zahn/list?title_no=685&page=1 Genre: Paranatural Investigation with just a dash of Cosmic Horror Kinda spooky, some light/fantasy violence From the website: Follow the journey of the world's greatest paranormal investigator - Oscar Zahn. Friend to lost souls, enemy of evil, he may lack a body but that doesn't mean he's missing a heart! The art is INCREDIBLE, the tone is really fun with some neat Hellboy vibes, it's complete and it's a good binge read. I really enjoyed it!

carcarchu

Short story about a cat, make sure you've got tissues ready https://akimiya.tumblr.com/post/129049384624

boogeymadam

just caught up with wychwood and it's such a huge treat!! there's some amazingly fun worldbuilding, a lot of intrigue about how the protagonists came to have the powers they do, and the motives behind the things that made the world the way it is * _ * it's also got soooo many pretty derelict environments, cool creature design and fun training montages! http://wychwood.sevensmith.net/comic/1

Yung Skrimp (Carefree)

I started reading Cloven Hearth, it’s interesting and has a really cool art style

https://twitter.com/ruinationcomics/status/1254126660007399425?s=21(edited)

carcarchu

Hana and Mr. Arrogant https://www.ciayo.com/en/comic/hana-mr-arrogant Genre: romance Reasons: Easy breezy read, with nice art and a super likeable heroine! Nothing we've never seen before, but delivered with genuine heart that makes it stand out

LabsZach

This one esp, with the greenery shifting into dirt, roots, and mushrooms, and how it compliments the figures on it is just aces. https://www.webtoons.com/en/challenge/cloven-hearth/touch-of-the-divine/viewer?title_no=396780&episode_no=14

boogeymadam

recently binged malverav's comic Love and War and it is sooo satisfying, about 2 competitors in a medieval tournament involving jousting, archery and more! The banter between Svanhildur and Marinelle had me grinning a lot. Also, it's a wlw rivals-to-lovers romance aka a GREAT kinda love story!! (my favorite kind ) it's on tapas https://tapas.io/series/Love-and-War/info

carcarchu

cronaj's sports comment got me thinking about this and how damn good it is https://tapas.io/episode/968762 Genre: Sports, drama Reasons: it's insanely creative and the art is so intense, i found it extremely memorable and powerful to read(edited)

carcarchu

Came across this stunning webtoon today. It was originally published on taiwanese webtoon and the author has decided to tl into english to share with a wider audience https://www.webtoons.com/en/challenge/intertidal/list?title_no=371176 Really gorgeous traditionally drawn comic and a lovely poetic writing style

carcarchu

the winner of this year's eisners awards for best webcomic. definitely worth checking out! https://friedricecomic.com/

[latter-day-saint-nick]

Here‘s a list of all the books with queer protagonists I’ve read this year. While I do actively seek those out, there are several books on here that I didn’t know had queer themes when I picked them up from the library and then I was pleasantly surprised by lesbians. I‘ll avoid spoilers except when discussing trigger warnings.

 Kaleidoscope Song by Fox Benwell

Neo, a South African teenager, is obsessed with music of any kind. Her love of music brings her together with the singer of a local band and they have a passionate relationship that they must keep secret. The descriptions of Neo‘s life and her tendency to hear music in everything are beautiful and dynamic. The author included a list of the songs Neo is listening to throughout the book, so I was introduced to a lot of cool music from South Africa and other places. TW: Corrective rape and Bury Your Gays. This is a book by a queer (albeit white British, rather than black South African) author writing about a very real problem that exists within our communities, so it feels different to when a cishet author kills off a queer character just for shock value. I still can‘t help feeling that he could have made the same point without having the character die – just have her be injured. Still, I loved pretty much everything else about the book, so it gets a tentative recommendation from me.

The Mermaid’s Daughter by Ann Claycomb

25-year-old opera student Kathleen tries to cope with the constant pain in her feet, nightmares about having her tongue cut out, and desperate yearning for the sea. With the help of her girlfriend Harry she delves into her family history to uncover the secret of a curse spanning generations of women. What’s nice about this book is that Kathleen and Harry’s relationship is accepted by all their family and friends without question, so if you want to read a nice wlw fantasy story with no homophobia, this one’s for you. TW: Some discussion of suicide, but nothing too graphic.

The Miseducation of Cameron Post by Emily M. Danforth

A teenage lesbian is sent to conversion therapy by her religious aunt. This is basically a coming-of-age story as the title character comes to terms with her identity and the death of her parents. It’s considered an important work of LGBT YA literature, so I really wanted to like it more than I did. Most of the first half of the novel deals with Cameron’s everyday life in her small town in Montana, which was, to be honest, rather boring to me. The pace of the story picks up a bit once she gets sent to conversion therapy, but even then it’s slower and less eventful than I would have liked. But since it is a popular book, that’s probably just me. I did like that the two best friends she makes at the therapy camp are a disabled girl and an indigenous boy, two types of people that are not often represented in queer fiction, so that’s something. TW: Conversion therapy and self-harm.

Proud by Juno Dawson

This is a collection of poems and stories about queerness aimed at a YA audience, and each one is a pure delight! These stories detail moments of joy and pride that make you feel happy and hopeful about being queer. They include a high school retelling of Pride and Prejudice with lesbians, a nonbinary kid and his D&D group on a quest to disrupt the gender binary at their school, a magical phoenix leading a Chinese girl to find love, and gay penguins. All stories, poems and illustrations are by queer writers and artists. Seriously, I cannot recommend this collection enough!

Spellbook of the Lost and Found by Moïra Fowley-Doyle

An Irish magical realist story about three girls who perform a spell to find things that they have lost. The spell appears to have wider consequences than they expected, bringing to light things that should have stayed lost. This book has three narrators, two of whom are wlw. It treads a nice line between fantasy and reality, and has some pretty good plot twists. Also, there’s a crossword at the end, which is awesome. More books should come with crosswords.

Ancillary Justice, Ancillary Sword and Ancillary Mercy by Ann Leckie

A space opera trilogy set in the distant future about the embodiment of a ship’s AI who seeks revenge against the ruler of a colonialist empire who destroyed her ship and killed her beloved captain. This is not beginner’s sci-fi, as it is very complex and intricate, but if you’re fine with a bit of a heavier read, you’ll be rewarded with some very interesting concepts. What makes this series queer is that the Raadch empire has no concept of gender and uses female pronouns for everyone. This makes every romantic relationship queer by default, whether we are aware of the characters’ sexes or not. I found it particularly enjoyable when Breq, the protagonist, tried to communicate in different languages that have gendered pronouns, which she had to navigate carefully in order not to offend people. She tries to look for outward clues of gender, such as hairstyles, chest size, facial hair or Adam’s apples, but even then often gets it wrong, because these things are not always consistent. That is just a great depiction of how arbitrary ideas of binary sexual characteristics tend to be. Also, I guess technically Breq is aroace, but since she’s not human, I’m not sure if she can be considered the best representation, though she is a very likeable character that I enjoyed following.

The Gentleman’s Guide to Vice and Virtue and The Lady’s Guide to Petticoats and Piracy by Mackenzi Lee

These books are a lot of fun! They’re historical adventure stories with a bit of fantasy thrown in, featuring disaster bisexual Henry Montague, his snarky aroace sister Felicity and his best friend Percy whom he is secretly in love with. In the first book, the three teenagers are sent on a tour of Europe for various reasons, but they quickly abandon the planned route when they get embroiled in a plot involving theft and alchemy. The second book details Felicity’s further attempts to become a doctor, which leads her to reunite with an old friend and chase a tale of fantastical creatures.

The Spy with the Red Balloon by Katherine Locke

Technically I read this one late last year, but whatever. I just wanted to put it on the list to have an excuse to talk about it. It’s about two Jewish siblings with magic powers who are recruited during World War II to take part in a secret project to fight the Nazis. Both siblings turn out to be queer: the brother is gay and demisexual, while the sister is bisexual, and they each have a love interest. This book is an independent prequel to The Girl with the Red Balloon, which takes place in East Berlin during the time of the Wall, and is just as good, albeit not as gay.

We Set the Dark on Fire by Tehlor Kay Mejia

This book tends to be classified as fantasy, because it takes place in an alternate, Latin-American-inspired world, with a distinct history, culture and religion, but there’s no magic at all, so I’m not sure it counts. But I digress. The country of Medio is built on classism and acute xenophobia. But by hiding her status as an illegal immigrant, Daniela, a girl from a poor background, manages to rise to the top of her class at her elite finishing school and become the first wife of one of the most powerful young men in the country. But her new comfortable status is threatened when she is pressured to join a group of rebels who fight for equality. At the same time, she also finds herself falling for her husband’s second wife. Obviously, this book’s political message is very topical, but beyond that, it’s just a very good story, with a well fleshed-out fictional world and great characters. This is the first in a series, with the sequel, We Unleash the Merciless Storm, coming out in February.

All Out: The No Longer Secret Stories of Queer Teens Throughout the Ages by Saundra Mitchell

A very nice collection of short stories about various queer teenagers in different historical settings, from a medieval monastery to an American suburb on New Year’s Eve in 1999. Most of the stories are realist, but there are a few ghosts and witches to be found in-between. What I found particularly notable about this book is that it featured several asexual characters, which you don’t often see in collections like this. I definitely recommend it.

Under the Udala Trees by Chinelo Okparanta

This is a thoughtful, heart-warming life story about a woman growing up during the civil war in Nigeria. After Ijeoma, a Christian Igbo girl, is sent away from home, she finds her first love in Amina, a Muslim Hausa. Even after they are found out and separated, Ijeoma doesn’t quite understand what’s so shameful about their love. Still, as she grows older, she attempts to fit into a heteronormative society while also connecting with the things and people that make her happy. TW: Homophobic violence, including an attack on a gay nightclub. The novel makes up for this by having a remarkably happy ending.

The Watchmaker of Filigree Street by Natasha Pulley

A young man in Victorian London finds a mysterious watch on his pillow, with no idea how it got there. This sets into motion a strange series of events, which leads him to a lonely Japanese watchmaker, to whom he finds himself increasingly drawn. This is an unusual novel that treads the line between historical fiction, fantasy and sci-fi. Most of the characters are morally grey and have complex motivations, but are still likable. I just really enjoy stories that take place in this time period, particularly when they are this thoughtfully written and don’t just take the prejudices of the past for granted.

If I Was Your Girl by Meredith Russo

A YA book about a transgender teenager, written by a transgender author. After her mother decides that she is not safe in her hometown anymore, high school senior Amanda moves in with her dad in a town where nobody knows her and she can try to go stealth. But even as she is making friends and experiencing romance for the first time, she constantly worries about what will happen if her secret comes out. It’s a fairly standard story about being transgender, really, but as it comes from a trans author, it feels a lot more personal and less voyeuristic than these stories tend to be when coming from a cisgender perspective. Amanda is a sympathetic and compelling character. TW: This book deals with a number of upsetting themes, including transphobic violence, being forcibly outed and suicide. There is a flashback to Amanda’s pre-transition suicide attempt, which I found particularly triggering. I also wish she could have come out on her own terms, instead of being outed in front of the whole school by someone she thought she could trust. It is still a pretty good book, but it can be very upsetting at times.

As I Descended by Robin Talley

A loose retelling of Macbeth that takes place in a boarding school in Virginia and involves two queer couples. The supernatural elements of the play are amplified in a wonderfully creepy way, and the characters are complex and realistic, so you understand their motivations, even when they do bad things. TW: Out of the five queer characters in the novel, three die, two of them by suicide.

A Day in the Life of Marlon Bundo by Jill Twiss and EG Keller

A charming picture book about the Vice President’s pet bunny who falls in love with another boy bunny and wants to hop around at his side for the rest of his life. This book was written as a screw you to Mike Pence, but even so it is a genuinely nice kid’s book that deals with homosexuality and marriage equality in a way that is appropriate for young children. The illustrations are incredibly cute as well.

Palimpsest by Catherynne M. Valente

A very strange, surreal tale about four people (most of whom are queer in some way) exploring a magical city that you can enter in your dreams by sleeping with someone who has been there before. I wanted to like this one more than I did, because I really love Catherynne Valente’s Fairyland books for children. But while some of the dreamlike imagery is cool and pretty, I found a lot of it weirdly uncomfortable, along with the frequent sex scenes.

The Pearl Thief by Elizabeth Wein

15-year-old Julia is home for the summer at her parents’ ancestral mansion in Scotland and gets involved with a plot about theft, disappearance and possibly murder. She also has her first crushes – on a man working at her parents’ estate and a young Traveller girl, respectively. This is a prequel to Code Name Verity, which has the same protagonist, though her bisexuality isn’t really alluded to in that, which is why I’ve kept it off the list, even though it is an excellent book. The Pearl Thief is pretty good as well, though it is a bit strange to read after you’ve already read Verity and know that this carefree teenage character is going to grow up to be a spy in World War II and be tortured in a Nazi prison. Do read both books, though. They are great.

Gut Symmetries by Jeanette Winterson

A young scientist falls in love with the wife of the man she’s having an affair with. There’s speculation about quantum mechanics and interconnectedness, all wrapped in very poetic language. To be perfectly honest, I really didn’t get it, so I have no idea what any of it means. But at least the main character is bisexual and polyamorous (and possibly genderfluid – I’m not sure).

Queer Africa by Makhosazana Xaba and Karen Martin

A collection of short stories by queer African writers, discussing themes like love, sex, marriage, family and homophobia. The attitudes towards queerness in these different countries varies. In many of them, homosexuality is illegal, even though same-sex relationships used to be respected before the interference of Western colonialism. In any case, these stories are an interesting and oftentimes beautiful examination of queerness from a non-Western point of view, some joyous and some tragic. TW: The second to last story is about incest.

[racefortheironthrone]

Thoughts on House of X #6

The penultimate issue!

While You Slept, the World Changed:

Before I get into the content, let me say that I think Hickman et al. really brought it with their two final issues, which are some of the best of the miniseries. 

Showing Hickman’s love of circular storytelling, we flash back to the speech from the very first page of House of X #1, where Xavier announced the formation of Krakoa. The always-frustrating timeline is cleared up a little: Xavier’s speech happened a month ago, although we know from that same issue that work had been going on on Krakoa for “months” before the announcement - more evidence that the schedule was important.

Despite this all of this preparation, Xavier takes a moment before the speech to ask Moira and Magneto to join him for this “leap of faith,” which requires “total commitment.” (Which is interesting, given Namor’s questioning of same.) Moira agrees quickly, but then hangs back and watches, as is her wont (as we’ll see in Powers of X #6). 

By contrast, Magneto makes a significant shift from his earlier pledge of unrelenting accountability to burying the hatchet completely (I love how “all the anger at the other’s relentless ideology and unyielding persistence” so perfectly describes both men) and promises his complete support (and possibly more, depending on how you interpret the hand-on-hand-on-shoulder panel) going forward. That’s a big moment for the two of them.

And then we get Xavier’s speech in full, which I’m going to do my best to annotate. 

“Humans of the planet Earth...I am the mutant Charles Xavier and I bring you a message of hope. ”

The first thing I’ll note is that we’re already seeing a rather significant change in Xavier’s behavior: for decades, Charles Xavier refused to come out of the closet as a mutant even when asked directly, and only did so in New X-Men when possessed by Cassandra Nova. Here, he’s straightforwardly describing himself as “the mutant Charles Xavier,” putting his group identity before even his name.

Secondly, there’s an interesting tinge of classic sci-fi in the way that Xavier addresses “humans of the planet Earth” - it’s very reminiscent of The Day The Earth Stood Still - and I wonder whether part of this has to do with the so far largely unspoken Krakoan ambition of beating humanity to the Moon, to Mars, and the stars themselves.

“In the coming days, you will learn of several far-reaching pharmaceutical breakthroughs that have been discovered by mutant scientists. These drugs extend human life, heal disease of the mind, and will prevent - or cure - most common maladies. Influenza, Alzheimer’s, ALS, many cancers...gone. Overnight. These drugs will make life on this planet...better. Remarkably so.”

First, this is very much of a part of Hickman’s technocratic futurism from his F.F run, which I have to imagine often leads to a bit of frustration with the editorial mandate not to use super-science to make the world unrecognizable.

At the same time, I’m all the more convinced that the point of this proffer (in addition to buying U.N votes and diplomatic recognition) isn’t to mess with human biology - I think the drugs actually do what’s advertized, rather than mind-controlling people or activating the X-gene - but rather (according to what we learn in Powers of X #6) to dull the drive to achieve post-humanity, solving humanity’s problems but leaving the source out of their hands. This is a theme that featured quite heavily in the finale to Hickman’s Transhuman.

“All this...we have made for you. In the past they would have been a gift. Something freely given by me -- to you -- because I believed it would create harmony between our two peoples. That was my dream -- harmony -- but you have taught me a harsh lesson: that dream was a lie. You see, all I ever wanted was peace between humans and mutants. All I ever wanted was to love you and for you to love us.”

Here’s a great example of how comics can use text and imagery in different ways. Visually, what this page shows us is different levels of humanity: ordinary people in a hospital room, who see Xavier’s speech as a message of hope, the promise of deliverance from disease; a board room full of businessmen who probably see either opportunity or competition, depending on their market position; and a situation room of national security types who represent human power structures that have always viewed mutants as a threat.

At the same time, I think the text is an answer, if not a rebuke, to those fans who’ve been decrying Charles Xavier as acting “out of character” or spinning conspiracy theories about how it’s actually the Maker or the like. This is clearly the same Charles Xavier, who has come to change his mind about his vision of society, because he’s seen how humans have responded over again. (I think it also gets at one of the problems of grounding the X-Men in a “dream” of harmonious co-existence when genre conventions prevent that dream from ever coming to fruition. Especially given how the serial nature of comics leads to repetitions of “anti-mutant hysteria,” it’s not surprising how much of the fandom have shifted to a “Magneto Was Right” perspective.)

“We wanted to save you -- and we did, many times -- but in return, all you did was stand by while evil men killed our children. Over 16 million of them. So there will be no gift...for you have not earned it. We will -- however -- let you pay for it. In return for two things, we will provide you with the means to have a better life. One without pain or suffering and full of hope -- and it will cost you so little.”

Here, instead of constrasts, the text and images are working in concert, with the art giving pointed examples of whom Xavier is referring to - pointing to the Avengers as “stand[ing] by while evil men killed our children” (given that the Avengers tend to specialize in threats to the planet, but have had a decidely mixed record when it comes to threats to mutants specifically, to say nothing of the fallout from the Scarlet Witch’s actions), or the Fantastic Four as having “not earned” his “gifts,” given that the FF haven’t exactly been at the forefront of applying scientific advancement to specifically mutant concerns. Similarly, Doctor Strange was willing to brave the dangers of hell to bring the city of Las Vegas back from the dead, but didn’t do the same for the victims of Genosha.

At the same time, it becomes clear that what Xavier is getting at isn’t just direct complicity in anti-mutant violence, but the broader systemic problems of human apathy towards anti-mutant violence. (Although, to be fair, he’s bringing this up as, essentially, emotional blackmail to justify his economic policies and his political demands.)

On a different topic, it’s interesting that Xavier is offering something of a utopia for humanity - “a better life...without pain or suffering and full of hope” - but may instead be planning to put humanity inside a walled garden where they will be cared for but kept out of mutant-kind’s way.

“First, you must accept the island of Krakoa as the nation-state of all mutants on this planet. We will happily go through the same process as any newly formed nation with the U.N, but there is an expectation that our sovereignty will be recognized. Second, all mutants -- by birth -- can claim Krakoan citizenship. And with that citizenship, we expect a period of amnesty. So that those who have been singled out as criminals -- or punished and imprisoned by humans -- can overcome man’s bias against mutants.”

So here we get Xavier’s main political ask: international recognition of Krakoan sovereignty, mutant citizenship, and amnesty for mutants in prison.

It’s clear from his tone, however, that Krakoa is going through the “same process as any newly formed nation” mostly as a formality, with “an expectation that our sovereignty will be recognized” - both because humanity needs what Xavier is offering and the unspoken fact of mutant power.

One thing that caught my eye is that the citizenship/amnesty isn’t just a one-for-one copy of Israel’s law of return; given the heavy focus on human judicial system’s “bias against mutants,” it also borrows heavily from the 1966 platform of the Black Panther Party, which called for “freedom for all Black men held in federal, state, county and city prisons and jails,” because they had been denied a trial by jury of their peers.

“From this day forward, mutants will be judged by mutant law, not man’s. These are our simple demands, and they are not negotiable. In return for making our lives better, we will do the same for you. And if you find yourselves asking, who are these mutants to think they can dictate terms to us? We are the future. An evolutionary inevitability. The Earth’s true inheritors. You closed your eyes last night believing this world would be yours forever. That was your dream. And like mine...it was a lie. Here is a new truth: while you slept, the world changed.”

Here’s where we get a firm statement of mutant-kind’s manifest destiny, although how accurate a description of “evolutionary inevitability” it might be is up for debate, given what we learn about Moira’s Sixth Life in the next issue. No wonder that Magneto is eating it up, but Moira seems more ambivalent.

One important thing to note: as the art demonstrates, ORCHIS is very much in operation when Xavier makes his announcement. Rather than being a response to a more militant and separatist Krakoa, their motivations are much more driven by eugenic fears of demographic replacement, which is way less defensible. 

Quiet Council of Krakoa Infographic:

In the wake of Powers of X #6, we now have to ask ourselves whether the (un-elected, possibly temporary) Quiet Council is, if not a Potemkin government (this would be a bit much, given what they get up to in this issue), but perhaps not the only locus of authority on Krakoa.

In addition to continuing the naturalistic themes of Krakoa, I wonder whether the Autumn/Winter/Spring/Summer designations suggest a kind of rotating chair system for a council in which all are supposedly equal...but who is primus inter pares? Xavier is acting as speaker, setting out the agenda and moving the action along, but he’s not the only voice in the room - a sign that he is sharing power to a significant extent.

So let’s talk about the membership of the Quiet Council:

Autumn: here we have the three ideological leaders whose ideas have led to the formation of Krakoa (although Apocalypse’s contributions are less public), and potentially Moira’s exes (although we never learn whether Moira was romantically involved with Magneto in her Eighth Life). 

Winter: is “where we parked all of the problem mutants” other than Magneto. Mostly, this seems to be on the basis of both necessity and “better inside the tent pissing out than outside the tent pissing in.” One question I have is whether Exodus, as someone who used to basically worship Magneto, is a vote that Magneto can count on, since clearly he and Sinister aren’t on the same page, and Mystique is very much on her own.

Spring: here is Emma’s quid-pro-quo, and a recognition that the economic and foreign policy might of the Hellfire Corporation has to be represented within the governing structure of Krakoa. Given the structure (down to the very seating), I have to think that Xavier and Magneto had always planned for the third vote that Emma demanded. It’s also quite notable in later deliberations how limited Sebastian Shaw’s influence is on the Council. 

Summer: as we might expect, given who’s extending the invitations, Xavier gives three seats to “my children,” which gives Xavier at least four votes that he can count on - although Ororo, Jean, and Kurt clearly have their own minds and priorities. As the Krakoan national project continues, counting votes will only become more important.

Speaking of which, we can’t forget about Krakoa and Cypher. While not formally one of the twelve, they are nonetheless a powerful influence who have a voice if not a vote on the Council. And ultimately Krakoa’s voice is quite loud, because the whole enterprise cannot happen without its consent.

The Great Captains:

So here we see the division of civilian and military government, with the “great captains..assum[ing] the responsibility of defending the state” during “times of conflict or war.” 

The more curious question to me is what counts as a “state-related excursion” - it would seem to cover X-Men missions like the one at Sol’s Forge and at the ORCHIS facility in X-Men #1, but does it mean that Kate Pryde wouldn’t be in charge of her own vessel if Bishop steps on board? Does it cover X-Force clandestine operations, or would plausible deniability be important? Who does X-Force report to?

Cyclops as first among equals makes sense, although it does raise a question of what happens when you have two other captains in the field.

So Bishop makes sense as a head of whatever the name of the agency in charge of resurrection-related investigations is (possibly X-Factor), but I was surprised to see him show up in Marauders #1.

I wonder what Magik’s role as a Captain is supposed to be, especially since it seems she’ll be heading off to space in New Mutants. Down the line, I’m going to guess she’ll be involved in Krakoa’s version of Inferno, but what’s her intended role supposed to be?

Finally, what’s Gorgon’s role as Captain supposed to be.

The First Laws of Our Nation

Before I get into the content of this section, I want to talk about the beautiful panelling here that starts wide, shrinks down to the nine panel grid as the political debate intensifies, and then opens up again once the decision is made. 

Similarly, I like the use of the two key symbols: the X of the chairs and the sigil on the ground (secular authority), Krakoa’s face looming over them all like a heart tree (spiritual authority)

Given what we learn in Powers of X #6 about why various council members was chosen, describing three of the four seasons as “family, friends, and allies” is highly ironic.

Sabertooth is removed from watery confinement - which, if Krkaoa can just hold people in water bubbles for an extended period, why isn’t that the punishment used late? - and Kurt sets an appropriately Biblical tone by noting that “our first bit of business is the oldest kind on this planet...judgement.” (Appropriately for Kurt’s themes, the judgement in question also centers on how to punish the first murder in this new land, and ends with exile.) Also, for those of you keeping track of how much Krakoan justice accords with human conceptions of justice, I will point out that Sabertooth comes out of the bubble threatening his judges/jury, which is never a good look for a defendant.

So let’s talk about the trial:

One of the things that jump out to me immediately is that it’s interesting seeing Magneto in the role of an idealist - “this is the establishment of a nation...and I would have it be one of laws.” - whereas Xavier’s acting as the pragmatist, acknowledging that “I cannot say everyone here best represents the ideals of what any society should be based on,” but that they have to do the best with what they’ve got. Ultimately, I think this is a tension at the heart of all national projects.

Meanwhile, we get precisely three speakers in before conflict erupts: Sinister is a camp shit-stirrer who (publicly, anyway) really only partakes in the meeting to poke at Xavier and Exodus. Meanwhile, showing how little bloc voting there will be in the “problem mutant” camp, Exodus goes right for direct threats, prompting Sinister to propose criminalizing “mutant-on-mutant violence” (again, the political resonances here are obvious), not because he believes murder is wrong but because he’s enjoying trolling Exodus.

Showing how much Krakoan technology and the...unique worldviews of the Council members are going to produce new forms of political philosophy, Aopcalypse opposes Sinister’s motion, because he doesn’t think it should be “a crime to kill someone who cannot be killed,” since killing mutants is now a non-lethal way of testing them for social Darwinian worthiness. 

This clearly does not track with Storm’s morality, and in a rare moment in HOXPOX where we get to see Jean Grey operating as a forceful political presence, she uses Storm’s interjection to pivot to an appeal to “the highest of ideals” (perhaps aiming her words at Magneto as well as her fellow X-Men) that it should be the “highest crime...killing someone who cannot come back.” (This is more in line with her more recent appearances in X-Men: Red.) Thus, the Second Law of Krakoa is established...without actually taking a vote. It seems that the Council operates on the basis that any proposal not actively objected to becomes law, which I imagine the political scientists out there have some thoughts on.

Before the law passes, Mystique raises the question of self-defense against human aggression (which fits her first X-appearance nicely). Showing how much his earlier views have shifted now that he’s operating in the context of a mutant nation-state, Magneto distinguishes between “murder” and killing “done in defense of a nation,” and while that question is formally tabled, it does suggest an exception for formal armed conflict at least in the founder’s intent.

Supporting my theory that he’s going to be the de-facto Chairman or Speaker, Xavier not only drives the agenda (although he’s not alone in this, Magneto is definitely acting in this capacity), but also makes sure to “call the question,” deciding when proposals become law as long as no one objects.

Another point wrt to the justness of this process: well before he’s found guilty, let alone sentence is passed, Sabertooth threatens murder and cannibalism against his judges...which isn’t a persuasive defense against murder charges (even if he’s just threatening the murder of mutants...which isn’t legal AFAWK, just not as illegal as the murder of humans.)

A nice bit of character work, and another rare rmoment where we see Jean’s power in action, Emma and Jean collaborate to silence Sabertooth’s ranting. 

With the Second Law established, and Sabertooth’s trial technically in abeyance, the Council moves on to “any new business.”

As we might expect from a neoliberal robber baron, Sebastian Shaw calls for “property rights, wealth, currency,” to be legislated for next.

In an interesting turn of events, Doug Ramsey interjects that “Krakoa is alive. Not a place, or a biome -- a person.” Krakoan (real) property rights will have to have a decidedly non-capitalist orientation, because as we see further in Marauders #1, in addition to not having rights in the land, you have to ask for Krakoa’s consent in order to build grow a house.

In a development I didn’t see coming, Storm takes the position that  that mutants can still own property, but “it has to be...out there...in the world. No one has said we have to run from it.” This is somewhat more capitalist than I might expect from Storm, but it does make sense that someone with her particular entanglements in the wider world would take a less isolationist position. This raises an interesting question: if mutants own property in a sovereign nation, and they decide to plant Habitat flowers on their property, does that make that property now part of Krakoa?

Doug’s position gets supported by Exodus (in a characteristically religious tone), and Xavier once again calls the question, creating the Third Law of Krakoa. For those of us keeping track of the colonial theme, it is interesting that this largely European-led nation state has taken a legal position on land ownership that’s much more associated with indigenous peoples. 

Befitting her role as the true power in the Hellfire Trading Company, Emma Frost tables the discussion of economic legislation, due in no small part to it impinging on Krakoan diplomacy and international economic policy.

With a decidely mocking air aimed at her son, Mystique shifts the agenda from the secular to the sacred. After a moment’s thought, Kurt who fires back with the original “manifest destiny” out of Genesis (the first creation), and we get the First Law: “make more mutants.” In addition to continuing the very horny feel of the issue, this law raises a set of interesting questions about Krakoan attitudes with regard to the right to choose, access to family planning services, and sexuality - although as Hickman has pointed out, the implications of an egg-based system for (re)growing people point in completely different directions. Why assume Krakoa will follow human social mores in any area?

With the fundamental laws established, the Quiet Council can now decide how to apply them to Sabertooth:

In an example of how subtly powerful agenda-setting can be, Xavier makes the question of voting guilty or not guilty a question of “making an example...that no one is above mutant law” or “giving you one last chance.” Fitting his somewhat collectivist bent in Powers of X #1, he frames this question not in terms of the civil rights of “Mr. Creed,” but in terms of how the decision “benefits our new society.”

While it doesn’t quite settle the post facto question, Magneto argues that Sabertooth’s killing of the Damage Control guards violatted the “strict instructions” he was given when Magneto dispatched him on the mission, making it not merely a question of the First Law but also of obedience to the chain of command. Apocalypse, who knows something about managing an aggressive workforce, agrees.

Sinister and Exodus, for once, are on the same page, and while Mystique ultimately goes along with the emerging majority, her body posture and dialogue suggests a degree of internal conflict - after all, she was the one leading the mission, so some responsibility falls on her shoulders.

Turning to the X-Men side of the room: as befits his spiritual role, Kurt feels shame for not turning the other cheek, Jean takes a moment but is more assured, and of course Storm has no problem with a bit of divine judgement.

Continuing the trend of divisions among the Hellfire Club, Emma is all about getting rid of Sabertooth, while Sebastian goes along with the emerging consensus because he doesn’t care. 

And once again proving that a defendant representing themselves is always a bad idea, before all the votes are in (and we don’t know whether Krakoan juries require a unanimous verdict) or the sentence is given out, Sabertooth threatens familicide of the Quiet Council. Not exactly a strong argument for leniency, since Sabertooth hasn’t exactly been pleading innocence at any point. 

Finally, Doug asks Krakoa to bring the hammer down, and Sabertooth is dragged down to hell put into an oubliette. As Xavier explains, “we cannot send you back into the world” (because Sabertooth is a serial killer who can’t restrain himself, and Krakoa just promised the world it would hold mutants accountable for their actions), they won’t jail him because “we tolerate no prisons here” (this seems a technicality), they won’t kill him, because seemingly the “resurection protocols” are non-optional (which is interesting, given what we learn about Destiny in the next issue), and so they “exile him.”  

One interesting question: given the resources available to them, why is it necessary to leave him “aware but unable to act on it” rather than have him be unconscious during stasis? My guess is that Xavier wants to motivate Sabertooth to “redeem” himself down the line. 

And then finally, we get Xavier’s concluding statement, where I think Hickman’s views on nation-states (“it’s distasteful, I know, this business of running a nation”), the proper attitudes one should have about holding and exercising political power (”I pray we never get used to it...never grow cold from it...never learn to love it”), and even parenthood come through.

Just Look At What We’ve Made:

But in the meantime, the council emerges to what almost everyone has analogized to the Return of the Jedi celebration: not only do we see bonfires and fireworks and a riot of color everywhere, but we see mutants flying around, using their powers, for the first time really feeling that they can live as mutants without fear for their lives.

As the Quiet Council walk down the steps, we see some of the reasons why and the consequences: the Five party as one, but near them we see the formerly dead raising a glass with the living. And echoing Magneto’s earlier statements about how Krakoa will change the way mutants see their own powers, we see Siryn and Dazzler combining their powers for the purposes of culture rather than warfare or high tech.

Xavier’s final message is that the Quiet Council will work like hell to ensure that the next generation of mutants “sleep in soft fields of lush green, staring at the stars and dreaming of a future where they hold those stars in their hands.” Once again, a sign that Krakoa’s manifest destiny lies in space, a common theme of Hickman’s from his FF run. As this happens, we see three of the O5 goofing around (I’m surprised how many people didn’t notice that Bobby had frozen Warren’s drink while he wasn’t looking), and Exodus leading storytime with the children as Sinister watches in the background.

But that’s not what people are really here for - as nice as it is to see Broo and Synch and Skin and Pixie, what people really care about is the Jean/Logan/Scott panel. As the now infamous architectural diagram in X-Men #1 makes very clear, this is not a case of a mere open marriage: the most famous romantic triangle in X-Men history is now a throuple, founded on the principle of beer and tummy rubs. 

Almost as exciting for much of the fandom is the next page, where Jean goes to make peace with Emma while Scott hangs out with Alex. One of the big questions going on is what Emma’s role is in the polycule, since she doesn’t seem to be living at the Summer House. My guess is that Emma is “part of it” (to quote David S. Pumpkins), but may only be with Scott, and definitely would refuse point-blank to share communal living quarters with Logan. We will have to wait for more evidence to be sure.

And so we end with Xavier and Magneto looking out over the celebration, taking a moment to feel (rightly?) proud of “what we have made.” And yet, all is not well, because Apocalypse, the third ideological force who (through Moira) helped to create Krakoa, broods on what he lost when Krakoa was born.

Krakoa Infographic:

With Krakoa now extant as a nation-state, we get one more infographic...that shows us that there is a Krakoa Atlantic to go along with Krakoa Pacific. This points to an important truth about this new polity - it would be a mistake to see Krakoa as an island nation like Genosha or Utopia, because the nation of Krakoa exists wherever the physical entity of Krakoa exists. It’s in the Pacific and the Atlantic, it’s on the moon, it’s on Mars, it’s everywhere a Krakoan flower has been planted. Which makes it a post-geographic power.

So what’s on Krakoa Atlantic?

The Pointe is one of Xavier’s Cerebro back-up locations, so that an attack on Krakoa Pacific won’t destroy the database. 

Danger Island is the X-Men’s new and expanded training facility.

Transit allows for instant transportation between Pacific and Atlantic to allow the X-Men to respond to a threat to either island or cradle, and possibly a final keep to fall back to if everything else is lost.

And finally we get one last map of Krakoa (All), and there’s a lot we don’t know about these locations:

The House of X and the House of M are Xavier and Magneto’s residences, and the location of one of the Cerebro “cradles.”

The Arbor Magna is the big tree where the Resurrection system is located in/on.

The Arena we don’t know anything about, but from the name it suggests that it’s a combat-oriented location, either for training or for entertainment purposes. 

The Akademos Habitat is almost certainly Krakoa’s educational facility that Jean mentions back in House of X #1, but the fact that it’s a Habitat is interesting, because a Krakoan Habitat is a ”self-sutained environment” of its own that is “part of the interconnected consciousness of Krakoa,” and I had thought that having a Habitat on Krakoa itself, as opposed to one out on the moon or Mars would be redundant. My guess is that this is meant to provide an additional layer of safety to the next generation of mutants.

We saw Transit back in House of X #1, this Transit location is the Grand Central Station for Greater Krakoa, linking all gateway locations together. Yet another sign that, for Krakoa, their nation has a different conception of distance. 

The Oracle is, I would guess, probably one of the Krakoan Systems, most likely either Sage’s or Beast’s part of the system.

I don’t know what the Grove is supposed to be, but given its proximity to the Akademos Habitat, I think it’s supposed to be a living space, possibly just for the young and possibly not. 

The Cradle, it turns out, is just a cradle.

The Resevoir could be that lagoon we saw back in House of X #1, which would make sense if the Wild Hunt is a nature preserve, because animals love to congregate at watering holes.

The Carousel’s name suggests it’s an entertainment facility. 

We know what Bar Sinister is from its last appearance; it turns out that Sinister recreated his little island Edwardian eugenics nightclub on Krakoa. Interesting that it’s locsated so close to Transit; maybe Sinister wants to be able to make a quick getaway.

Speaking of the fruits of faustian bargains, it turns out that the quid-pro-quo for becoming the economic engine of a nation is that the Hellfire Trading Company gets a whole Hellfire Bay to itself as its headquarters. 

Red Keep is almost certainly Kate Pryde’s new pad, which is conveniently ocean-ajacent for our newest mutant pirate privateer queen.

Blackstone is Sebastian Shaw’s Gilded Age “gentleman’s” club.

The White Palace is naturally Emma’s boudoir, complete with buzzsaws and spikes. 

The unnamed location 18 is clearly Moira’s No-Space.

[briangroth27]

Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark Review

I really enjoyed Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark! While I preferred Goosebumps as a kid, the three Scary Stories books were also an ever-present part of my childhood and I can vividly remember reading them by flashlight with the lights off. The vast majority of my early knowledge of urban legends came from the stories in those books and they certainly helped build my love of spooky things in general as well as the “kids encounter the supernatural” sub-genre of horror/sci-fi specifically. I haven’t read the books in years (though I still have them), but this movie made me want to revisit them because it’s so good!  

Full Spoilers…

Scary Stories is anchored by very strong performances from its teen cast. The main kids do really well with the material they’re given, crafting protagonists that touch on standard teen archetypes but that are also fleshed out, especially Zoe Margaret Colletti (Stella) and Michael Garza (Ramon). Stella is the most well-rounded and explored character in the film, and Colletti displays a huge range of emotion! She capably led the movie and she clearly has a bright career ahead of her. I liked that Stella was the most into horror and nerdy things among her friends, but no one treated that as weird even in this film’s era (girls have always been into nerdy stuff too!). The one thing I wanted more of in terms of her character was why “everyone said” it was her fault that her mother left. Feeling responsible for the absence of a parent is a common childhood misconception, but it seemed weird to frame it as something the whole town would be telling her without also giving a reason for it (though it did give her a connection to Sarah’s own persecution by the entire town, even if only in Stella’s mind). It was really cool of the movie to draw Ramon as the mysterious outsider kid rather than some troubled/tough white kid. That lent the movie a fresh feel while also touching on the racism of the period (which is still in full force today; one of many grounded horrors the movie dabbles in that are very much as relevant now as they were in the film’s 1968 setting). Garza brought an effortless coolness to Ramon that felt appropriately period while also acting as a great mask for his fears. Ramon and Stella’s budding romance was sweet and cute too.

Auggie (Gabriel Rush) and Chuck (Austin Zajur) were no slouches either, providing most of the film’s comic relief while also capably playing real terror and friendship. The two of them and Stella felt extremely natural as friends since childhood and Ramon also effortlessly blended into the group; these four kids’ chemistry was fantastic! At first I wished we'd gotten more personal connections between Chuck and especially Auggie’s fears and their personalities: most victims here face stories pulled from their established fears and anxieties, but Chuck and Auggie’s initially felt more random. A personalized connection to the stories the book used against them after “reading them” would enhance the scares and illuminate their characters, and after thinking about it more I think I may have an idea of what they're going for. I could buy Auggie as a hypochondriac, so eating a toe would be horrifying, and he seems to be the most afraid of spooky things among his circle of friends, so maybe his story is attuned to him, but just felt generic because of the more generalized nature of his fears. Chuck’s story is based on a recurring nightmare he has, but I think it’s more personal than that. The Pale Lady (Mark Steger) could be punishment for Chuck’s objectification of women via his pen, but I’m wondering if perhaps that pen is a front (given how quick to show it off he is, to prove his interest in it) and he’s secretly gay. He scoffs at Auggie’s attraction to Ruth (Natalie Ganzhorn), he’s attacked by the book in a mental hospital (homosexuality was classified as a mental illness in 1968), and his nightmare calls its red room (which turns out to be the entire building when the alarm lights come on) “an evil place” (conversion therapy is torture). I think the Pale Lady is a manifestation of conformity and traditional relationships being forced onto him (or rather, forcing him into their narrow definitions by literally absorbing him): she’s everywhere and he can’t outrun or escape her.

Chuck’s sister Ruth also got some solid depth: though initially introduced as a stuck-up and cliché popular teen, they quickly had her stand up for her brother. The fact that both of them annoyed one another but they still raced to help each other made their relationship feel very real. That she’s helping continue the search for him at the end of the film instead of being condemned to insanity forever or something is awesome too! Tommy (Austin Abrams) was the only teen character that was really written as one-note, but it was a frightening note, both because of the violence and racism he exuded and the fact that he could easily be a modern radicalized teen, filled with all the same kinds of hate, rage, and eagerness to go off and kill people in a pointless war that you can find online nowadays. Now that I think about it, Chief Turner (Gil Bellows) was also written fairly single-mindedly and he was also a villain. I wonder if that’s intentional: these human villains don’t have redeeming qualities or sympathetic backstories, so their racism and ugliness is fully on them. Of course, continuing to embrace racism is always fully on the racist, but this film isn’t even trying to make excuses for why they might be like that. I think the movie’s saying there really isn’t anything more to people who are this consumed by hate and ignorance. There’s no point in trying to reason with them because they’re exactly what they present to the world (except they’re not strong like they pretend: they’re just scared straw men). 

The movie’s main villain, Sara Bellows (Kathleen Pollard), does have more layers to her than these human ghouls: despite being “evil,” she’s presented as (initially) being a victim whose only crime was trying to warn the town about mercury poisoning in the water. After taking her revenge on her family for committing and torturing her, Sarah’s decline into unfocused rage parallels Stella’s inability to let go of her feeling that she drove her mother away nicely. I wonder if part of Sarah’s reason for attacking the kids just for finding and taking her book was because she thought they’d lie about her too; it’s when Stella promises to write and tell her story faithfully that she relents, after all. Skimming through the books again after seeing the movie, I realized I’d forgotten they were written to help you scare the people you were reading to, so I liked that Sarah telling stories tailored to her victims was her method of vengeance and that Stella had to help tell her story to end the terror. Those are cool ways to honor the structure of the books.

The film has a great mix of jump scares (some of which did work on me), gross-out imagery (Auggie and that toe, man!), body horror (Tommy’s fate was brutal and painful-looking!), and real-life terror (Ramon running from the draft resonated with me a lot; even as a kid growing up in the 90s, being drafted to go die in some war was a major fear of mine). It was sobering to see just how many of the societal problems of the late 60s (racism, pollution, white boy rage/toxic masculinity, useless wars, the wealthy screwing over everyone for profit, no one listening to women, etc.) still haven’t been solved today. I do wish the movie were a little scarier, but the overall tone is wonderfully spooky (and decidedly “fall,” which was great), while the comic relief breaks up the tension nicely. The design of the monsters is very cool, with some of them looking like they walked right out of the books. The pacing is brisk, the directing, writing, and score are all solid, and the actors all bring their A-game. Sarah Bellows’ book was a good way to weave the original series’ stories together and I really liked that our heroes don’t just forget or ignore what they’ve been through and walk away from the terror at the end of the movie. Instead, Stella, her father (Dean Norris), and Ruth are actively headed off to rescue Chuck and Auggie. I love that, like in the real world, you can’t just let evil fester: you’ve got to stand up and protect each other. Ramon also goes off to face his fears, enlisting in the army, but that was a lot more somber: I didn’t get the sense that he’ll be coming back (though I hope he will!).

I’d definitely watch More Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark and hope we get another movie (and a third one, if they want to go that far)! I love this spooky 90s literature renaissance that’s going on and I’d like to see it continue (please give me Goosebumps 3 and a show about The Adventures of the Bailey School Kids while we’re at it!). In the meantime, get your Halloween season started early, because these Scary Stories are definitely worth a trip to the theater!

 Check out more of my reviews, opinions, and original short stories here!

[joshbentley-blog1]

2018, A Year in Film

Much like my love for music, I use the end of the year to compile a list of my favorite films, films that affected my life and altered my perspective and appreciation for the arts. Here are a list of motion pictures that I consider impactful in some shape or form, transformative to a degree, and worthy contributions to the medium. Enjoy.

Honorable mentions:

Roma

Alfonso Cuarón’s return to Earth since 2013′s Gravity finds itself in 1970s Mexico, backdropped by the political turmoil of the time and laced with the mundane yet subtly beautiful comings and goings of every day life. It is an intimate and sincere look into the struggles of surviving day by day, but also a gorgeously emotional ode to the resilience of those entrapped by the life’s unprejudiced judgement.

Director:  Alfonso Cuarón

Distributor:  Netflix

Genre:  Historical drama

Isle of Dogs

Wes Anderson returned to the beloved medium of stop motion animation this year with Isle of Dogs. His previous work, Fantastic Mr. Fox, was a charming and quirky story of a fox father trying to provide for his den in the midst of a heated human versus animal dispute. But where Fantastic Mr. Fox lacked substantial depth (not a bad quality by any means), Isle of Dogs builds a narrative of love and hope, eloquently animating the unimpeachable love humans and dogs so equally share. The set design, animation quality and Wes Anderson quirks are all at their very best. A must-see for any Anderson fan, or appreciator of stop motion animation.

Director:  Wes Anderon

Distributor:  Fox Searchlight

Genre:  Stop motion animation / sci-fi / dystopian

Sorry to Bother You

Directorial debuts were bountiful this year, and one such standout is Boots Riley’s Sorry to Bother You. An apt and absurd social commentary, with enough laughs to punch through the somewhat dark depths it veils. The film starts off vanilla enough, but you soon find yourself in the midst of a dark, fever dream that won’t end. The phenomenal writing and cast make this original an extremely hard film to forget.

Director:  Boots Riley

Distributor:  Annapurna Pictures

Genre:  Absurdist / dark comedy

Top 10:

10. Disobedience

When New York-based photographer, Ronit (Weisz), learns of her father’s unexpected passing, her past life and all its troubles are brought to the forefront. Returning back to the Orthodox Jewish community in London in which she grew up, Ronit is faced with various extremes. From the turmoils of having to explain herself to the Jewish community, to the re-kindling of her relationship with Esti (McAdams), to facing her own faults and desires, Ronit’s life is crumpled and staggered. Disobedience is a heartfelt and organic story of love finding a way through all the dark and uncertainty.

Director:  Sebastián Lelio

Distributor:  Bleecker Street

Romance:  Romantic drama

9. You Were Never Really Here

A heroic yet traumatizing narrative finds Joaquin Phoenix’s Joe in the midst of unfolding the inner workings of a crime ring that stretches further than anyone could have comprehended. Joe is a former military and FBI operative, now a hired gun whose job it is to rescue trafficked girls. Director Lynne Ramsay expertly maneuvers the chaos and violence of the film, often subverted our expectations in various means. Phoenix gives one of his best performances to date, and Jonny Greenwood’s original soundtrack is the icing atop the cacophonic cake.

Director:  Lynne Ramsay

Distributor:  Amazon Studios

Genre:  Psychological thriller / crime drama

8. The Old Man & the Gun

If (500) Days of Summer were all grown up is how I would begin to describe this story. But The Old Man & the Gun is much, much more than a simple romantic comedy. Much like the director’s project from last year, one A Ghost Story, David Lowery once again explores the fabrics of time and how they shapes us as a species. The story is a contemplation on time’s inevitability and its relationship with our feelings of love and yearning. Beautifully backdropped by an America long passed, Lowery’s film finds two characters especially intertwined, strung together by the fickle hands of time itself. Robert Redford and Sissy Spacek have undeniable chemistry, and it is this chemistry that acts as the driving force of the film. Redford’s swan song is one to be seen and remembered dearly.

Director:  David Lowery

Distributor:  Fox Searchlight

Genre:  Biography / romantic comedy

7. First Reformed

A deep meditation on faith and all the uncertainties it brings with, First Reformed is an imaginative and exhausting look into the vitriol we have brought upon ourselves, and how God and Man meet at such an abyss. Reverend Toller, once a chaplain in the Armed Forces, now resides and serves in an old Dutch Reformed church, serving a diminishing congregation and existing in the shadow of the neighboring megachurch, Abundant Life. Toller is forced to deal his own morals and understandings, while also supporting those in his congregation. As his service becomes increasingly darker and more difficult, Toller looks deep within himself and looks to God for an answer, any answer.

Director:  Paul Schrader

Distributor:  A24

Genre:  Drama

6. Eighth Grade

Bo Burnham uses his directorial debut to discuss the Internet in its current context. From his discussions on the A24 podcast, Burnham wanted to find a proper medium for such a discussion, because many who try to judge the Internet and its culture do so miserably. It is understandably difficult to critique such culture without sounding tone deaf, but Burnham executes it to perfection. What better way to critique the Internet than by doing so from the perspective of an eighth grader, a person who has grown up in the shadow of the digital age? Elsie Fisher is a breakout star, nailing the timid courage of her character. Through excellent and organic performances and modern comedic writing, Eighth Grade is a coming-of-age story unlike any other.

Director:  Bo Burnhma

Distributor:  A24

Genre:  Comedy-drama / coming-of-age

5. Annihilation

2018 was admittedly a weaker year for science fiction, but one project that rose above the rest was Alex Garland’s Annihilation. Garland’s no stranger to science fiction or horror, having tackled the genres in 28 Days Later, 28 Weeks Later, and Ex Machina. But with Annihilation Garland is able to capture horror rooted in science, incomparable to any other film. Based on the novel by the same name from author Jeff VanderMeer, the story follows a group of scientists venturing into a quarantined zone known as “The Shimmer.” Once inside, the scientists are faced with the supernatural horrors they studied from afar. Garland’s work is immense and vivid, deserving of so much more praise than it has received.

Director:  Alex Garland

Distributor:  Paramount Pictures & Netflix

Genre:  Science fiction horror

4. The Ballad of Buster Scruggs

The Coen Brothers are no strangers to the subversions of classic film. Their tangled narratives, inconclusive conclusions and ponderings on the workings of humankind have made them standout directors, enemies of conventional filmmaking and pioneers of darkly comedic explorations of humanity.

"A song never ceases to ease my mind out here in the West. Where the distances are great, and the scenery monotonous."

The Ballad of Buster Scruggs, the Coen Brothers' first true western since 2010's True Grit, is anything but monotonous and certainly a welcome addition to the genre. Additionally, it is a triumphant return to form for the Coen Bros. Buster Scruggs is unlike most films, and again finds the Coen Brothers subverting the western genre, in its anthological form. Six vignettes tell the tales of settlers, outlaws, cowboys, and every sort of man and woman in between in the days of old, when the West was formed, and includes every bit of gruesome and grim detail.

It is not secret the Coen Brothers are adept at macabre storytelling, and are avid explorers of what makes man tick and humanity tremble. Their iconic dark, dry humor, their gritty and off-center storytelling, and their classic subversions of film are all present in Buster Scruggs. But while Coen films of past contained these elements (e.g. Hail, Caesar!), I have felt that their recent works have lacked that classic Coen charm. That snappy dialogue, the witty banter between characters, the intricate storytelling, all have been present in their works, but not since A Serious Man have I felt the Coen's magic this potently. That is now, not since Buster Scruggs.

The film's characters and stories do not overlap. But the themes and lessons certainly do. The opening ballad of one gun-slinging, guitar-strumming cowboy, Buster Scruggs (aka 'The San Saba Songbird'), is a gruesome musical. Full of shootouts and gore, it perfectly sets the tone for how the remainder of the film will play out. Tim Blake Nelson is charismatic, ruthless, and quick as a whip in this vignette. And I would have adored an entire film devoted solely to his character. But the Coen's first subversion comes when our hero is gunned down in the street by a faster gun.

Near Algodones, New Mexico, we find James Franco's outlaw. Robbing a bank, he is retaliated against by a surly old man covered in pans. This vignette feels shorter than its predecessor but is equally humorous and grim. The third story, Meal Ticket, gives us a glimpse into the harsh realities that faced early western settlers. And how making a living does not always coincide with morality and ethics. Liam Neeson and Harry Melling gel so well together but share few pieces of back-and-forth dialogue. I've seen some criticize this vignette for straying from the classic "western format," but to me it perfectly captures what it meant to live such a life.

All Gold Canyon is among my favorite of the stories. Its beautiful shots, wide takes of a beautiful canyon, and the juxtaposition of a man searching for riches in the mud while the true riches of nature are set behind him. It's a simple story, but it leaves the viewer wanting more from Tom Waits' prospector character. One of the view stories to end happily (in a sense), I found All Gold Canyon to be a masterful work of minimalist storytelling.

The Gal Who Got Rattled is my favorite of the six stories. Zoe Kazan, Bill Heck and Grainger Hines have excellent chemistry and play off each other so well. Straying from the deep west, we are drawn northwards, on the Oregon Trail. The simple yet dangerous treck is beautifully captured by the Coens here, and the story envelops you in its charm. And finally, The Mortal Remains ends our journey. A story laced with symbolism and metaphors, it's the Coen Brothers at their peak. The skeletal format of this vignette is much like the morals explored in No Country and A Serious Man, and I found myself wondering how the story could possibly end. And then it does. The final subversion of the film is this vignette's untimely end.

The Ballad of Buster Scruggs may lack continuity in terms of character arcs and storytelling. But what it certainly does not lack is character, masterful writing, expert characterization, and a deep understanding of what captivates us as viewers. The Coen Brothers understand that sometimes, simplicity is best. There is beauty in minimalism, and I believe Buster Scruggs is a excellent envisioning of such a statement.

Directors:  Joel & Ethan Coen

Distributor:  Netflix

Genre:  Western / anthological film / dark comedy

3. Hereditary

They say the devil is in the details, and so such phrase would better describe Ari Aster’s debut, Hereditary. Perhaps the phrase shouldn’t be taken metaphorically though, instead literally; the film finds a family thrown into tragedy after a Satanic occult ritual, long in the works, begins to root itself in the foundations of the family.

Aster uses the story to burrow into our pysches, to strike fear and discomfort into the viewers. He does so not only expertly, but in such original fashion as well. Sure, Aster’s influences can be indentified and picked apart by an experienced viewer, but his crafting of a narrative and his fleshing out of the characters is so unique and a welcome take to the horror genre, Hereditary feels like an entirely new breed of horror.

The film begins with the funeral of the mother to Annie Graham (Toni Collette). As guests pour in to the congregation, it is clear that Annie is shocked with the occupancy. She states in her eulogy that her mother was a very private and secretive women, and that she is shocked to see so many unfamiliar faces here to pay respects to her estranged mother. Once home, Annie and the rest of the family unwind to a disturbing degree of comfort. Annie does not seem shaken by her mother’s passing, as she begins clearing out boxes that belonged to her mother. As she is exiting her studio however, a vision of her mother briefly appears in the dim and dark corner of the unlit room. Annie steps back, wondering if what she saw was real or a fabrication of her mind. Thus, begins the Grahams’ descent into darkness.

Following the funeral, Annie’s only daughter Charlie expresses her worry over the loss of her grandma. Stating, “Who’s going to take care of me?” Charlie is at a loss. Annie comforts her saying of course she will take care of her, but Charlie responds by asking what will happen when Annie is gone.

Later, Peter (Annie’s son) asks if he can go out and visit friends at a party. Annie lets him go but on one condition, that he takes Charlie with him. Charlie begins having visions of her own, and begins tinkering and creating absurd and deformed sculptures. An obvious introvert, she is reluctant to agree to go to the party with Peter, much to the chagrin of Annie. At the party, Peter finds a group of friends to smoke marijuana with, leaving Charlie by herself. Alone, Charlie gets into trouble and her and Peter rush home. An unfortunate incident occurs en route, which only propels the darkness further.

Annie becomes desperate for answers and substance to her mother’s reclusive and secretive life. She finds hints of the truth through old belongings and an old friend of her mother. Visions keep recurring and stranger forces begin to act on not only Annie but Peter as well.

Soon, the family is tumbling down a slope of despair. Séances, rituals, occult castings begin to mount and the demons and darkness begin to unleash. The film is a gripping and horrifying look at what is perhaps most universally frightening, family.

Director Ari Aster is unafraid to explore and highlight the grotesque and grim. He utilizes shocking imagery and beautiful lighting to display these horrors front and center, while still relying on subtle scares to keep the audience in suspense. Not only is the film adeptly disturbing, its characters are compelling and interesting. None are thrown by the wayside, and the spiraling story’s success is hinged on the characters we come to love. Toni Collette gives her greatest performance to date, and Alex Wolff proves he can handle a broad array of material. Milly Shapiro is excellent as Charlie, rivaling Elsie Fisher for young breakout star this year.

The magnificent blend of cinematography, acting, writing, and horror imagery Hereditary the best horror film I’ve seen all year, and certainly one of the most gripping stories I have ever experienced.

Director:  Ari Aster

Distributor:  A24

Genre:  Supernatural horror / disturbing horror

2. The Favourite

It is often the case that period pieces take on a serious tone, dramatic takes on the facts and legends of old. Think Phantom Thread or Lincoln. Not too common are period pieces that extrapolate on the well-known, but also leave plenty of room for creative freedom from the production team. Even more rare are such projects that include elements of absurdity and dark comedy.

But it would not come to anyone’s surprise to find out that such a project exists at the hands of director Yorgos Lanthimos. Best known for his previous works, The Lobster and The Killing of a Sacred Deer, Lanthimos is almost Wes Anderson-esque or Tarantino-esque, in the marks he leaves in his films. His style is so distinct and his directions very much his own.

The Favourite follows suit, and Lanthimos’ quirks and trademarks are found throughout. From the monochromatic color palette to the dry, darkly comedic dialogue, the film is familiar in a way. But also true is that the film is nothing like Lanthimos has ever done before. It is grander, more gruesome, diabolical in a way, biblical in scope. His first film for a major production studio perhaps led to a grander scope, but I believe that this was a logical next step for the director. From The Lobster it was apparent that Lanthimos was willing and more than capable of tackling a monolithic project such as The Favourite, if given the right assets. It is inspiring to see such a film come to fruition.

The film finds three women in the royal court of Queen Anne:  Abigail Hill, Sarah Churchill, and Queen Anne herself. Churchill (known in the film commonly as Lady Marlborough) has serviced the Queen for quite some time, prior to Ms. Abigail Hill‘s arrival. Both as a political aid and as a lover, Churchill finds comfort and immense power in her role beside Queen Anne. Everything seems to be going well for the court; the Queen, while certainly inept, has the confidence of her subjects and the war with France is going better than expected.

But then Abigail Hill arrives. A cousin of Sarah Churchill’s, Abigail travels to the court in hopes of working under both the Queen and her senior, Lady Marlborough. Hill begins as a lowly servant, making meals and cleaning sections of the palace. But not soon after, she advances the ranks, eventually rivaling Churchill in terms of power and influence on the Queen and all of Britain. The two cousins turn on each other, a once subtle love quickly turns to angst and hate.

The relationship of the three women dips and ascends throughout the film; there are periods of immense joy and respect, but also grim and violent progressions of guilt, lust and jealousy.

All of these emotions are so vividly captured thanks to the unique cinematography and direction. Camera angles are unconventional, using low-lying cameras to peer upward towards the characters, or highly placed lenses creeping above the Queen and her court. All of these placements give the sense that the viewer is spying on the characters, that we are sneaking into their lives unbeknownst to them.

It is the performances of the three leads and the unique cinematography that gripped me so powerfully upon my initial viewing. Olivia Colman (Queen Anne), Rachel Weisz (Sarah Churchill) and Emma Stone (Abigail Hill) are all superb talents, free the stretch their acting chops and creative imaginations to bring such life to their characters. But the supporting cast is equally brilliant. In fact, no elements of the film come off as ill-planned or weak. The film is like a well-oiled machine, perfectly in sync and precise to a scary degree.

Director:  Yorgos Lanthimos

Distributor:  Fox Searchlight

Genre:  Historical comedy-drama / period piece / romance

1. Burning (버닝)

It has been quite some time since I have felt this looming questioning of morality, this cutting sense of dread from a motion picture. Burning is a Korean psychological thriller by Lee Chang-dong, and tells the story of three individuals caught in the unforgiving hands of lust. An ineffable sense of desire lurks throughout the film, as the three characters find themselves and their relationships with each other engulfed in tragedy. Love and desire quickly transforms into decay and wrath.

Lee Jong-su (Yoo Ah-in) is a part-time delivery man, who one day finds an old schoolmate working outside a department store. Shin Hae-mi (Jun Jong-seo) asks Jong-su out to drinks and the two quickly become entranced by one another. Hae-mi asks Jong-su if he remembers her from their shared past. He does not. She informs him that they attended middle school together, lived in the same village, and that Jong-su once called her ugly leading to her receiving plastic surgery. Still, deeply infatuated and perhaps a tad remorseful, Jong-su helps Hae-mi by looking over her reclusive cat while she travels to Africa in the hopes of some soul searching.

Hae-mi eventually returns to Seoul, this time bringing back a friend she met while in the airport, Ben. Ben and Hae-mi bonded over their shared heritage and nationality, being the only two Koreans in the airport at the time. The trio goes out for hot pot and drinks, where Hae-mi states in a drunken stupor that she felt incredibly lonesome while in the Kalahari desert. She describes a bittersweet lonesomeness that only such a vast expanse of desolation could bring. Jong-su seems unphased, almost detached from such a stark statement from a normally bubbly individual. Ben, looks noticeably concerned but then says he has never understood why people cry, he has never shed a tear himself. The three leave shortly after.

Time moves on, and Jong-su eventually moves back to his hometown to take over his father’s farm, as his father has come into legal trouble. Hae-mi and Ben become ever closer and Jong-su appears to remain detached from Hae-mi from the exterior. Deep down, Jong-su feels heavily for Hae-mi, eventually expressing his love for her to Ben at his farm.

Darkness sets in when one day Hae-mi does not respond to Jong-su’s calls. From there on out the story becomes a mysterious and incredibly riveting tale of love and the dangers of desire and inaction.

Yoo Ah-in is incredible as Jong-su, and nails the detached and perplexed characterization. Steven Yeun steals every scene he is a part of, reminding me of Heath Ledger’s Joker or Anton Chigurh (Javier Bardem) in terms of menacing presence and subtle malice. But for me, the standout actor is Jun Jong-seo and her portrayal of Hae-mi. She embodies the character perfectly, and I felt for her character throughout the film. Hae-mi is clearly struggling to find her own way and desperately wants to find courage and power in some shape or form. I can relate to that struggle. Truly, this film is carried by its characters and the beautiful performances by their respective actors.

So many other elements come together to make this film a success though. The cinematography is masterclass. Using wide lenses to capture the claustrophobic chaos of downtown Seoul and the vast and desolate disconnect of the Korean countryside, cinematographer Hong Kyung-pyo is able to capture the diverse beauty of Korea. He uses intimate close ups and handheld camerawork to create cutting scenes of tension and discomfort, drawing the viewer into the experience, emboldening the story of Jung-su and Hae-mi. A wide variety of long takes and tracking shots are utilized as well, forcing the viewer to pay attention and highlighting the characters in an organic moment.

Perhaps my favorite scene of the year, and certainly my favorite scene of the movie comes about half way through the runtime. It involves Miles Davis’ song, “Générique,” and a particular character’s tribal, rhythmic dancing. It’s a beautiful moment of reflection in the film and still runs through my head.

I will refrain from discussing the film anymore, as I strongly believe this work is best experienced with as little knowledge as possible. Lee Chang-dong, Yoo Ah-in, Jun Jong-seo and Steven Yeun, and the rest of the production team have created something incredibly raw and thoughtful here. It is more than apparent that an immense amount of care went into making this story and adaptation of Haruki Murakami’s Barn Burning a triumphant success. What I love about this film is, in a way, it made me feel a connection to my home country in such a profound and unexplainable way. I haven’t seen many Korean films, but Burning was able to kindle a connection in me that I haven’t experienced with other Korean films before. For these reasons, I can decidedly say that Burning is my favorite film of 2018.

Director:  Lee Chang-dong

Distributor:  CGV Arthouse (Korea) & Well Go Entertainment (USA)

Genre:  Psychological thriller / romantic drama

[ayellowbirds]

42 Webcomics Keshet Reads

I was recently reminded that I currently read a lot of webcomics, or have done so in the past. Here’s an incomplete list, linking to the first page where i can (which will usually mean the worst art). Organized thus:  Title, Author. Genre. Format (long-format stories, short-format & single-page stories, or mixed). Description.

The Adventures of Dr. McNinja, by Christopher Hastings. Comedy, Parody, Action. A man from a long line of Irish ninjas has devoted his own life to saving lives as a doctor, disappointing his family. His staff includes a sentient but non-speaking gorilla receptionist, and eventually a boy sidekick who grew a fabulous mustache out of sheer determination. Recurring threats include fast food mascots, ghosts, wizards, ghost wizards, and a disease that turns people into giant lumberjacks. Completed.

BACK, by Anthony Clark and KC Green. Comedy, Adventure, Absurdity, Weird West. Long-Format. A cowgirl comes back from the dead with no memory of who she was or how she died, and is told by a trio of “Cool Witches” that she has to bring about the end of the world—though what exactly that means remains a mystery. Consistently excellent visual storytelling from masters of sequential art; at least one WLW pairing among the characters. 

Bite Me!, by Dylan Meconis. Comedy, Horror, Historic Fiction. Long-Format. A young woman becomes a vampire amidst the chaos of the French Revolution. Featuring immortal angst, a Jewish werewolf, and sacré bleu, the chickens. Completed (website can be slow to load).

Broodhollow, by Kris Straub. Horror, Weird Fiction. Long-Format. By the creator of the original creepypasta that inspired Channel Zero. A young man abounding with neuroses and compulsions comes to a strange little town in order to settle a late relative’s estate. Themes of unreliable memories and differences of perception.

Chainsawsuit, by Kris Straub. Comedy. Short-Format. Three-panel gag comic.

ChaosLife, by A. Stiffler & K. Copeland. Slice of Life, Autobiographical. Mixed-Format. The life of a queer couple and their pets: humor, lgbt issues, mental illness (K. experiences paranoid schizophrenia), cats, and occasional puppets.

Crunchy Bunches, by Scott Warren. Comedy. Mixed-Format. Cereal mascot parody focused on snaggle-toothed feline mascot Munchy and his friends. 

Dead Winter, by Allison Shabet. Action, Horror, Comedy. Long-Format. Zombie apocalypse story with occasional partially-animated scenes, and a relatively low focus on the actual zombies. Infrequent updates, but has a Patreon with weekly content.

DRIVE, by Dave Kellet. Sci-Fi, Comedy. Long-Format. Humanity has taken to the stars, led by a second Spanish Empire that controls the secrets of FTL travel. When the crew of the Machito recover their science advisor and accidentally pick up a mysterious amnesiac alien at the same time, they become embroiled in intrigue that affects the whole of human space and beyond, caught between secret police, mind-controlling invaders, and a species dedicated to invention who have a grudge against humans.

El Goonish Shive, by Dan Shive. Adventure, Sci-Fi/Fantasy, Superheroics, Slice of Life, Mad Science. Long Format. Difficult to pin down, once described as “the most squeaky-clean fetish comic online”—lots of characters undergoing fantastic transformations of their bodies. Starts out weak but gradually grew into one of the most progressive webcomics out there as the creator started to really think about the meaning of someone wanting to transform from a nerdy boy into a busty girl. I’ve said more about it, here. Significant LGBT content, including canon gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender, genderfluid, and asexual characters.

Family Man, by Dylan Meconis. Historic Fiction, Horror, Romance, Libraries. Long-Format. A learned man of Jewish ancestry takes a position as a lecturer at a small Christian university in the middle of nowhere in the Germanies of the 18th century, and falls in love with the daughter of the head of the university—who has some secrets relating to her mother’s family  On hiatus as of July 2017.

Freefall, by Mark Stanley. Comedy, Sci-Fi, Furry. Long-Format. A larcenous alien and his naive robot pal living on a human colony world acquire the services of an uplifted humanoid wolf as their ship’s engineer under less-than-legal circumstances. As time goes on, the crew becomes caught up in the struggles and politics of the artificial intelligences of the colony. Binge-reading page here, colored strips here.

Girl Genius, by Phil & Kaja Foglio. Gaslamp Fantasy (Not-Steampunk), Action, Comedy, Mad Science, Alternate History. Long-format. A young woman discovers that she is the latest in a line of mad scientists including the vanished heroes of Europa as well as some of its most terrible villains.

Goblins, by Ellipsis Hana Stephens. Fantasy, RPGs, Action, Body Horror. Long-format. A tribe of goblins go from being mere MOBs to taking levels as adventurers themselves, facing ambiguity about alignment, morality, and the place of "monsters” in a world that seems to favor humanoids. Can get very gory at times. Light LGBT content including a prominent gay male character; transgender creator.

Goodbye to Halos, by Valerie Halla. Fantasy, Adventure. Long Format. Forced through a gateway to another world for her own safety, Fenic finds herself in the “run-down queer district” of a city of animal people—and spends a few years coming into own identity as a trans lesbian, forging a new life. But the reasons she was forced into this world are catching up to her, and she’ll need to turn her protective streak towards defending herself. Heavy LGBT themes; often not safe for work. The only work i can think of where a trans girl’s underwear bulge is treated as a completely nonsexual and innocent thing.

Grrl Power, by Dave Barrack. Superheroes, Sci-Fi. Long Format. Probably Not Safe For Work. Comics nerd Sydney Scoville winds up becoming a superhero herself after circumstances force her to reveal her powers and join up with an agency providing training and oversight. While consistently funny and clever with the use of powers, it can be very centered on the male gaze; the art starts out being pretty . I actually first started reading it because I recognized one of the characters from years prior when the artist was posting softcore smut to furry websites.

Guilded Age, by T. Campbell & Phil Kahn, art by John & Jason Waltrip and Erica Henderson. Fantasy, RPGs, Action, MMOs. Long-Format. A group of adventurers face off against threats to their world—such as the CEO of the company that programmed their world in the first place. Strong themes of intrigue, the nature of violence, and the concept of good and evil in fantasy settings. Completed, now running extras & side stories, including annotated repeats of the original pages.

Gunnerkrigg Court, by Tom Siddell. Fantasy, Sci-Fi. Long-Format. A young girl attends a strange boarding school specializing in matters of the supernatural and obscure, making friends with classmates, a ghost, robots, psychopomps, living shadows, fairies, and eldritch horrors in the form of silly woodland creatures while exploring the mysteries of the school and her own ancestry. Shows remarkable art progression; the style of the first storyline is unrecognizable from the present. Especially rewarding if you’re into alchemy. LGBT content, including prominent WLW characters. Warnings: unreality is a recurring theme, and there is a bit of “suicidal” fairies desperate to be reincarnated as humans. Boxbot is rubbish.

Johnny Wander, by Yuko Ota & Ananth Hirsh. Autobiographical, Fantasy, Humor, Mixed-Format. A mix of slice-of-life autobiographical pages, and short stories, including the longer format “Barbarous” and “Lucky Penny”.

Kevin & Kell, by Bill Holbrook. Comedy, Slice-of-Life, Furry. Mixed-Format. Extremely long-running strip (daily updates since September of 1995). In a world of anthropomorphic animals where predatory species can legally & without repercussions hunt & consume other species, a businesswoman wolf (Kell) and her uncommonly large rabbit husband (Kevin) make their blended family work in spite of social stigma against predator/prey relationships. Far more light-hearted than it sounds, though it often touches on social issues and drama. Light LGBT content from some minor recurring characters.

Kill Six Billion Demons, by Abbadon. Fantasy, Metaphysical, Martial Arts. Long Format. A college student’s attempt at heterosexuality is interrupted by the arrival of a legendary king of all reality. Thrust into a battle over the greatest power of all worlds, Allison faces devils, angels, and the city at the center of the 777,777 universes. It’s a lot to take in. Occasionally not safe for work. Frequent LGBT content, including WLW.

Love Me Nice, by Amanda Lafrenais. Comedy, Hollywood. Long Format. Set in a world shared by cartoon characters and ‘real’ people (think Roger Rabbit), where TV star Mac T. Monkey Jr. struggles between his irresponsible instincts and his attempts to build a life as an adult and a relationship with fellow protagonist (and manager) Claire. Some LGBT content; infrequent updates. Occasionally Not Safe For Work. 

Manly Guys Doing Manly Things, by Coelasquid. Comedy, Videogames, Parody. Mixed-Format. The staff of a temp agency for “ludicrously macho guys” tries to help the protagonists of video games, TV, and movies deal with their testosterone-addled brains in a constructive fashion. Occasional LGBT content—mostly MLM, naturally. Keep an eye out for the fluffy little velociraptors, and Mr. Fish the Gyarados. On indefinite hiatus since June of 2018.

Narbonic, by Shaenon K. Garrity. Comedy, Sci-Fi, Mad Science, Gerbils. Mixed-Format. Comp Sci. grad Dave needs a job. Helen B. Narbon, cute blonde mad scientist with a gerbil fixation, is hiring. Story arcs feature action-packed forensic linguistics, a worldwide conspiracy of guys with the same name, rodents uplifted to sentience, time travel. Some awkwardness around gender transformations, light LGBT content. Completed, with author annotations.

Nedroid Picture Diary, by Anthony Clark. Comedy, Absurdity. Short Format. Short comics that very quickly come to focus on the antics of the anomalous ursine orb Beartato and his friend/roommate Reginald, a bird who is just terrible. 

Not Drunk Enough, by Tess Stone. Supernatural, Action, Horror. Long Format. A survival horror styled webcomic by a creator with a history of exceptionally dynamic page composition and lettering. Expect lots of magnificently weird body horror.

O Human Star, by Blue Delliquanti. Roboticist Al Sterling died. Al Sterling woke up an android body mimicking his own. As he reconnects with his former partner-in-several-senses, he explores a world that remembers him as one of its greatest innovators. Major themes of identity, the definition of humanity, and gender and sexuality. LGBT themes including MLM and transgender characters. Warning for some discussion of self-harm.

Outsider, by Jim Francis. Sci-Fi. Long Format. Beautifully-illustrated science fiction story that is painfully slow to update. If you watched a lot of 80s and 90s sci-fi anime, you’ll get the vibe that this has—including its arguable weak point of being centered on a man who finds himself among an alien race dominated by warrior women. 

Patrik the Vampire, by Bree Paulsen. Supernatural, Slice-of-Life. Long Format. The unlife and history of an exceptionally awkward vampire and the mortals around him—book club, knitting, coffee shops, violent murder. Some LGBT content.

Poppy O’Possum, by I. Everett. Fantasy, Furries. Long Format. A single mother in a world of animal people where only opossums lack magic, Poppy just wants to settle down in quiet and safety with her daughter Lily. The world has other ideas—but fortunately, Poppy is mind-blowingly strong. On hiatus. Some LGBT content.

Questionable Content, by Jeph Jacques. Slice-of-Life, Comedy, Sci-Fi. Mixed-Format. Starts out focusing on indie rock fan Marten and his robotic “anthroPC” Pintsize. As the art evolves, so does the subject matter, focusing more and more on the rest of the cast and topics like the nature of personhood and identity for artificial intelligence. Eventually comes to feature significant LGBT content, including bisexual and transgender characters in the main cast.

Rae the Doe, by Olive Brinker. Comedy, Slice-of-Life. (Mostly) Short Format. If Garfield was a transgender doe and wore clothes and also there weren’t any jokes about Mondays or lasagna and the comic was constantly assumed to be autobiographical in spite of its creator frequently asserting otherwise and the comic was still genuinely funny. But otherwise just like Garfield, really.

Selkie, by Dave Warren. Sci-Fi, Slice-of-Life, Comedy, Drama. Long-Format. Former adoptee Todd becomes a father himself to a strange young girl who turns out to be a refugee from a secret underwater civilization. While the public gradually becomes aware that humans are not alone, family forms and is redefined as secrets from both Todd and Selkie’s past are revealed and dealt with, and kids confront issues of inclusion and exclusion. Also, for some reason two of the kids from Evangelion are Todd’s neighbors.

Skin Deep, by Kory Bing. Fantasy, Coming-of-Age, Monster Girls (and Boys). Michelle discovers the secret world of mythical monster people after a small medallion unlocks her own heritage as a sphinx—supposedly long-extinct, according to the other monsters. Michelle must explore who she is and her family history while also trying to avoid completely upending nonhuman society and maintaining secrets within a culture already used to the use of magical illusions and transformations. Light LGBT content.

Skin Horse, by Shaenon Garrity.  Comedy, Sci-Fi, Mad Science, Zombies, Canadians. Mixed-Format. Set in the same universe as Narbonic (see above), “Skin Horse” follows an organization of  the same name dedicated to providing social services to beings only recognized by the secret shadow government—staffed by a patchwork zombie bioweapon, a talking sled dog, a cross-dressing pansexual psychologist, and a receptionist in the form of an immobile Victorian robotic weapon of mass destruction, all overseen by a sentient swarm of bees. Frequent LGBT content.

Something*Positive, by RK Milholland. Comedy, Slice-of-Live, Parody. Mixed-Format. Very long-running comic that gradually grows from a dark and misanthropic sense of humor into a dark and misanthropic sense of humor with a warm and gooey center. Earlier comics can be pretty weak and handle many subjects very poorly (the first strip, linked above, features an abortion “joke”); gradually improves.in terms of LGBT representation to the point that it’s one of the better webcomics in that regard. I might recommend skipping ahead in the archives to the current decade (the “1937″ and “1938″ are strips flashing back to the previous generations).

Spacetrawler, by Christopher Baldwin. Sci-Fi, Comedy. Long-Format. The naive but brilliant alien race known as the Eebs are enslaved by interplanetary society at large, depending on their servile nature to maintain the high standard of technology and transportation across the void of space. A group of utterly incompetent aliens come to Earth to seek help in freeing the Eebs... and generally fuck everything up for the best with their terrible choices of sample humans. Currently in the midst of a sequel series focusing on new intrigue and antics, including a talking, murderous kangaroo.

Spinnerette, by Krakow Studios. Superheroes, Comedy, Sci-Fi. Mixed-Format. A grad student develops spider-themed superpowers—including extra arms—and attempts to navigate both concealing her transformation, and becoming a superhero in a world where super-powered vigilantes and criminals are a fact of life. Not Work-Safe due to suggestive artwork including improbably form-fitting costumes over improbably large bosoms. Recurring LGBT content.

Val & Isaac, by @tredlocity​. Sci-Fi, Fantasy,  Comedy. Mixed-Format. A space mercenary, her wizard buddy, and the cyborg fish girl who keeps all their technology functional, occasionally featuring their shapeshifting assassin friend Space Dread. Major LGBT content, including WLW and MLM, and a prominent transgender character.

Vattu, by Evan Dahm. Fantasy, Worldbuilding. Long-Format. Born to the Fluters of the grasslands, Vattu finds her traditional subsistence lifestyle torn away as a multi-species empire asserts a claim over her people’s lands. A fantasy epic with several major arcs; see also the creator’s earlier completed works Rice Boy and Order of Tales.

XKCD, by Randall Munroe. Science, Parody, Comedy. Short Format. Stick figures and scientific silliness. Make a point of checking the alt-text of each comic by moving your cursor over the strip. Early pages are much more along the lines of experimental sketches; link above directs to a random comic in the archives. Some comics are more along the lines of interactive games!

Yet Another Fantasy Gamer Comic (YAFGC), by Rich Morris. Fantasy, Comedy, Parody. Mixed-Format. Not Work-Safe. The inhabitants of a world heavily based in Dungeons & Dragons go about their lives as monsters, humanoids, and soul-searching mixes of the two. Begins with a romance between a beholder and a goblin, gradually builds up to battles between nations and the gods themselves, while also finding time to explore family, loss and love, and whether kobolds count as sapient. Moderate LGBT content including recurring gay & bisexual characters (it’s a very large cast); new readers guide here.

[joonbird]

Lonely Hearts Club

➭ “In this world, currency is not money but life, and those who cannot repay their debts have no choice but to submit for the Separation - a procedure in which the soul and mind are extracted from their bodies, leaving behind nothing but an empty shell. Jeon Jungkook is an underground tattoo artist hiding from the outside world. She has been waiting her whole life to be Separated. They were never supposed to meet - let alone fall in love.”

- or -

“Two lonely hearts collide.”

pairing: jungkook x OC, (+ some yoongi x OC)

genre: tattoo artist au, angst, smut, dystopian/sci-fi AU

wordcount: 18k

❀ 4 / 8 of my oneshot requests ❀

** warnings: this is v angsty and dark!, named OC, thigh riding, tattooed!jungkook, violence, character death, heavy themes

It’s almost funny, she thinks, how much words can fucking hurt.

Her body is pressed in a tiny concrete space, pressed against a wall. It is dark in here, the air thick and damp. Her muscles are cramped and aching for relief… but it doesn’t hurt.

Not as much as what they’re saying, anyway.

“She’s a freak,” A voice floats down. “Did you hear that her own mother left her? I would too, if that was my kid.”

A chorus of sniggers, a few chirps of agreement that crop up, and a slash of pain raw and visceral in her chest.

“Where the hell did she go?” The voice is exasperated, she hears the sound of a small foot being stomped on the ground. 

“She’s probably hiding in the bathroom,” Another voice responds impatiently. “She went there last time to hide from us. Let’s go get her.”

“Rina,” She hears a small voice speak up, hesitation lacing her words. “Are you sure... are you sure doing all of this is okay?”

A beat of silence. 

She doesn’t breathe, she doesn’t dare to. She starts to pray, to beg, that maybe just maybe they’ll stop, reconsider, think things through, see her as a human and not as a-

“She’s getting Separated,” The voice says bluntly, disdain twisted around that word like it is the ugliest collection of letters on the planet. “It’s not like she’s going to remember any of this anyway.”

Her heart sinks.

The voices fade off, her classmates walking away, their attention spans spent.

She stays curled up in the furnace space, tears pricking in her eyes. She doesn’t want to cry, she doesn’t want to be weak. She wants to be fierce, untouchable, strong… but she just can’t. Not like this, not when her body aches, when her head is stuffed to the brim with those words, when her heart is clattering around painfully in her ribcage.

Maybe they’re right, she thinks, as she hugs her knees tighter to her chest, folding into herself even more. Maybe it hurts so much because it’s the truth.

It all started when she turned ten and everybody her age had fresh, raised tattoos on their wrists. While they had rosy pink barcodes, protected in a film of clear cling wrap, her wrist stayed untouched.

No one really noticed at first. It had only been a fleeting observation of hers – that she hadn’t received one of those stamps on her wrist like everyone else – but soon, other people started to notice. It all began as questions, fired at her incessantly. They were questions to which she didn’t have answers. Where is your barcode? I don’t know. Are you going to get one? I don’t know. How come you don’t have one? I don’t know. 

The questions became harsher, angrier, louder. She ignored them, because that was what she was good at, pretending they didn’t matter and that nothing mattered. She detached and disassociated until the questions were so loud that she couldn’t block them out anymore. 

She had always been a bit different. It that had never been a problem, until she was too different. Soon, her differences were the only things people noticed- doubt and whispers escalating into full blown isolation, like she had a disease and no cure. 

She had left school early one day, her throat raw from holding back tears and her palms littered with tiny red crescent moons from how hard she had dug her nails into the clam of her palm. She had been stopped by a correctional officer – a POD – (Police Operations Droid) an artificial life form that had the consciousness of a human implanted in. She recalls with clarity how the government agent had eyes that gleamed a little too sharply and movements that were a touch too erratic. He wasn’t human but he wasn’t unhuman... he was something unnatural in the middle of the two. He didn’t have a barcode either, but he wasn’t the same as her. He had scanned her blank wrist as per procedure and then reported in a metallic tone, “Seperation pending.” 

She doesn’t remember a lot of her childhood, because time never slowed down for her no matter how many times she wished that it would. But she does remember falling to her knees, a tiny figure with knees marred with carpet burn. She remembers begging her parents please, I want a barcode. Please take me to get one. Please. 

Two days after that, her mother left.

“… I suggest you all take plenty of notes today, because this course material will definitely be in the final examinations.”

The class groans, a collective sound. She glances up, her teacher Corvus stands there with a smile pasted on his face, pointedly ignoring the classroom’s complaints. 

“I’m so fuckin’ sick of studying,” One of the boys sitting near her grumbles. “I already know I want to be a POD, so what’s the point anyways?”

The boy beside him murmurs in agreement. “It’s bullshit.”

“Complete bullshit. What are we even studying anyway?”

She looks up, stares at the holographic board, which now reads History of the Separation. She compresses the feeling of discomfort that is beginning to work its way up her spine after she reads those words, she tries to ignore everyone craning their heads over to look at her, curious for a reaction. She’s used to it, after all.

At fourteen, all she wanted was for it to stop – the words, the casual jab of fingers against her ribs and ragdoll pushes of her body. Now, at eighteen, it’s so much worse. It’s like she doesn’t exist – no one cares, no one sees her as a real person. No point in getting close to someone who isn’t going to exist in a few years, right? She soaks it in, the ache in her chest and a craving so deep that it leaves her shaky, a craving for a different life.

“So as we all know, in 2021, scientists and engineers found a way to harvest life from human bodies, and that this life energy could be transmitted between agents. After this discovery, human life expectancy was increased tenfold, and a new currency was formed – Life. As we all well aware, Life is measured usually in hours and in specific rare occasions, years. Life was then decreed to be the universally accepted form of currency as opposed to what was being used before- something called money.” Corvus taps expertly at a button on the holographic screen and an old photo of money pops up, papery notes and small strange silver and gold metallic circles. “Back then, currency in the form of money was either physical – you could quite literally carry it in your hands-” the classroom titters in amusement at that idea “- Or you could transfer it and access it electronically.” 

He waves a pointer finger in the corner of the screen, and it clicks over. “Our currently today isn’t exactly like that. You can’t hold it in your hands, or access it via the Internet. How much life someone has left can’t exactly be searched up on Google.” The class laughs again. “So of course, the barcode system was set up.” He smiles, lifts a wrist. There, stamped on his skin is a small barcode, uniform strips of black ink. “A barcode system so that I can pay with my life currency if I need to. So that I am paid by this very institution. So that the authorities can check my life balance, if need be. My barcode is unique to me of course, and is with me for life… unless of course I choose to be Separated. Which brings us to the most important part of this unit. The Separation.”

He clears his throat, claps his hand, the room dims a little further until it is plunged into darkness. She rolls her eyes at the theatrics of it all. Tries to disassociate, detach from the feeling stirring inside of her belly. Hides her wrist in between her knees as she reads over those words again, The Separation.

“Of course, with his new currency in place, it wasn’t long until scientists realized that just as you can take a surplus of life away from one agent and add it to another… you can completely drain an agent of human life and replace it with the life essence of another. More or less, put your life into another body. In that way, you can have a second chance of living, enjoy a better quality life. Developers called this process the Separation,” A small smile twists at his lips, “And it was an innovation. Most people save up their entire lives to be able to transport their selves into a new body. It’s a fantastic thing, a real feat of humankind. Before the Separation, before the extraction of life was even possible… our lifespans ranged between the sixties and the on rare cases, hundreds. It seems barbaric almost, doesn’t it?” The room is filled with murmurs of agreement. 

“It’s amazing,” He concludes, rocking back on his heels with a self assured smile. “I have a retirement plan set up to save for a Separated body when I am in my two-hundreds. And most of you kids, well, you can start saving now, and who knows… potentially live through several Separated bodies. The possibilities are endless! It’s really quite amazing.”

He claps his hands and the room is filled with artifical light. “Right, so your assessment today for the Separation is to write a-”

“But what about those who are Separated? Do they have endless possibilities? Is it really quite amazing for them too?”

The voice, dripping with sarcasm, cuts through Corvus’ words. The room lapses into silence. She turns in her seat, her back twisting to see the owner of the voice.

It is Min Yoongi, a new transfer at her academy, having only been here a week from a smaller country town north of this city. He has platinum blonde hair, and dark eyes that are flat and unimpressed. His mouth is turned downwards in disdain, his arms crossed tightly across his chest. He doesn’t notice everyone staring at him with stunned eyes, either that or he doesn’t care.

“And excuse me if I’m mistaken, but shouldn’t we question whether having life as a form of currency is ethical to begin with?”

He is speaking calmly, his words imbued with just the slightest tinge of condescension. His frame is lean, he is draped in his seat, his eyebrow quirked, and there is something bold and imposing and defiant about him. The chatter has died into silence. Yoongi raises an eyebrow and smirks. It’s not a lot, but it’s something. And it’s enough to have Corvus’ face quietly seething with barely masked irritation. 

“I don’t know what you’re insinuating… but there are panels held every annum to assess the system and to assure it’s all legal and safe-”

“I didn’t ask whether it was legal and safe, I asked whether it’s ethical. Whether it’s right.” Yoongi interrupts bluntly. 

The teacher bristles. “Well yes, people who opt to be Separated at twenty five as per procedure, or even a later age have that decision entirely up to them. Having the option to be Separated is a win win for everyone involved, those who choose to be Separated receive a generous payout-”

“What about those who can’t consent to Separation?”

Suddenly, the air is thick with a tense silence.

“Excuse me?” Corvus asks in a quiet, dangerous voice. 

She feels like she can’t breathe, her chest locked. Her eyes flicker over to Yoongi, who is completely undeterred. 

“Anyone under the age of 18 can have their life sold and be legally bound to a Separation without giving their explicit consent, right?” He doesn’t wait for confirmation, he just continues on. “So if they can force this procedure onto a specific group of people, what’s stopping them from doing it to others as a punishment? As a weapon? Onto any of us if we don’t do exactly what they want?”

The room falls into silence. An uncomfortable, static silence. Then the lights flicker off, for a moment the room is elapsed in pitch black and then the room is alight, back to being filled with that artificial glow.

“That’s preposterous.” Corvus says in an icy voice. “We are living in an ideal society, this is the most harmonious time in human history.” His eyes hone in on Yoongi’s. Yoongi stares back defiantly.

“Harmonious for some people, sure.” He murmurs stonily. “But if you ask me, this world is a lot more fucked up then we realize.”

She can’t breathe.

“A word of advice... Yoongi, was it?” Corvus’ words is sharp, his voice a butcher’s knife. “Focus on your future. Not on those who don’t have a future.”

There is a millisecond of tension and then the teacher’s face smooths over, he straightens. “Class dismissed.”

She sits there, her wrist still pressed between her knees. She stares down at her lap and the words are bouncing around in her head at an erratic pace she can’t control. 

If you ask me, this world is a lot more fucked up then we realize. 

Her heart is pounding in her chest for a reason she doesn’t quite understand, a hollow hammering in her lungs and it’s that same awful feeling she had when she was just a kid with reddened knees, sinking into the floor with tears streaming down her face, pleading for-

“Hey,” She hears a voice and she turns to see Yoongi there. 

He is a bit taller than her, he cranes his neck down to look at her, a hand reaching up to brush some hair away from his eyes. “You alright?”

She blinks up at him, jumps a little. Some of his hair falls in his eyes again and he doesn’t smile at her, but his eyes soften. “Sorry, I didn’t mean to startle you. It’s just that um, everyone’s left.”

She glances up, sees the empty classroom. Oh. 

“Oh um, thanks. Yeah, I’m fine.” 

“Okay, sure.” He responds in a tone that indicates he doesn’t fully believe her but he’s going to accept her answer as it is. “Jesus fuck did you see that guy’s face? I had him, he couldn’t even come up with an answer.” He drawls, satisfaction glinting in his eyes. He smiles at her, a grin that shows his gums and he looks younger like that, softer somehow. He reaches up and brushes some of the hair out of his eyes. It falls back over his forehead again.

“I’m Yoongi, by the way.” 

Her heart is still pounding in her chest.

“Oh. I’m…” Her name, her real name, is there on the corner of her lips. She swallows it down. She looks at him, the boy with the fire in his eyes, the boy who is overflowing with confidence and a steady self assurance. She thinks about her own life, about who she is. Who she wants to be.

“I’m… I’m Wren.”

Yoongi is a contradiction in the best possible way. 

He is quiet, utterly unreadable except for a sardonic twitch of his lips and a tilt of his head… until suddenly something inside of him clicks his eyes are flickering embers, his words cutting and his chest trembling. He is distant and unreachable, close to no one by choice, his eyes as cool as ice to everybody who meets them… until his eyes meet hers and they melt like liquid amber.

Wren isn’t sure what exactly drew Yoongi to her side that day, or the days that followed after. They started talking, spending pockets of time together. She quickly learned that Min Yoongi had a knack of being a patronizing, know it all asshole when he wanted to be, but that he was also dry and sarcastic, and sometimes so uncharacteristically sweet that it caught her off guard. She never knew what to expect with him. He had everything - a family inheritance of life hours, a stable home. He had everything yet he wanted her.

The first time he kissed her – her first kiss – he had completely taken her by surprise. It was night time, late enough so that only a skeleton crew of PODs were nightwatching the streets, allowing Yoongi and Wren to seamlessly slip in the shadows. They would stay up until dusk the cloak of night allowing them to be the self labeled ‘prince and princess of the city’ (Yoongi always intercepted with ‘royalty is a totally fucked up concept, I’m against any unfair system of hierarchy. But I’ll make an exception just this once’). 

There was one place in particular, an old, abandoned building inside a construction site. So old that there wasn’t technology fused into the walls, there were doors you had to open with doorknobs, and old posters and pictures faded yellow pasted on the walls. 

They were sitting there, and they were talking, light and useless conversation when Yoongi leaned forward. He was right there inside her sphere of personal space, so close and so intimate. She didn’t draw away, instead she leaned forward and then they were kissing.

Wren knows what they share is a contradiction too - two unlikely people clinging together, their relationship marked by rushed kisses and hungered touches and the mutual loneliness of being an outsider – Yoongi by choice and her by force. Still, whatever it is that keeps them together, contradictory or not- it is the first time she has ever felt that she might amount to something, that she has something to believe in. That even with the knowledge that she is going to forget about everything, that her mind and her memories are going to be captured like lightning in a bottle… that maybe this and him makes it worth it.

Yoongi is the first person she sleeps with, he fucks her slowly and carefully at first, and then she asks for more of it, more of him. He relents, he fucks her hard and deep until she is shaking with release and it feels like every nerve ending of hers is alive. With Yoongi she is in complete control of her body, her body is hers and hers alone. She loves that about Yoongi, the way his eyes linger on hers and his hand sits on her waist, how it feels with his breath on the back of her neck and his moans stuttered in her ear, just for her. She’s there and she’s real and her body, her heart, her mind are tangible entities... with Yoongi, she isn’t temporary. 

Yoongi doesn’t kiss her often, but he does brush his hand along her cheek, her jaw, and his eyes get sad and dewy when his fingers get to the blank skin on her wrist. Often he lays his wrist beside hers, and she can see it right there- his barcode, strips of lacquered black ink against alabaster skin, and then her wrist, bare. No barcode, no identity. She watches, as Yoongi pulls his wrist away and withdraws. He doesn’t speak but she can hear the thoughts flickering through his mind when he looks at her wrist.

One day, when they’re sitting in her tiny apartment, he whispers in her ear.

“I’m scared.” His eyes flicker up to hers. “Twenty five is in four years, but still, I…” His voice trails off and he shakes his head violently. “Fuck, I don’t know… I don’t want you to be Separated. It’s so fucked up, it’s… it’s…” He swallows hard. Runs a hand through his hair and Wren realizes it’s the first time she’s ever seen him look so uncertain, so unsure of himself.

“I know.” She whispers. “God, I wish…” She doesn’t dare let herself finish that sentence. 

She runs her fingertips over Yoongi’s fingers, over his knuckles. Bites down hard on her bottom lip until it draws blood, coppery to taste. Looks at the boy in her bed with sheets around his waist and a petrified look on his face.

“I’ve known that I was going to be Separated since I was eight, Yoongi. It’s okay. I’ll be okay.”

She raises her eyes and meets his stare. He looks so sad – his face is raw, open, and she can see his lips trembling with words that are on the cusp of being said.

And even though he doesn’t speak, he doesn’t say the words aloud, he holds her close and presses his lips to her forehead, as Wren clutches Yoongi close and prays with eyes squeezed shut.

Wren remembers. She thinks she’ll always remember it- like it’ll always be stamped underneath her eyelids, there every time she rests her head and closes her eyes. 

The worst part about memories, she thinks, is how dimensional they are. She can remember everything about that night. When her eyes close it isn’t just the events, rolling out and around in her head on an incessant loop... but it’s also what the air tasted like, stale and thick with humidity, it’s the feeling of the threadbare cotton sheets she had clutched in her sweaty palms. 

She can remember the way her body curled into itself with knees hugged tight to her chest as if that gesture alone would grant her some semblance of solace. She remembers that feeling deep in her chest unfurling and unraveling, the first time in her life she ever really felt dread, thick and heavy and cloying.

Wren had unfolded like a leaf when she heard it, footsteps racing to her room. The click and the slam of her door, the tiny indentations the doorframe left in the wall. And this – the next few minutes are what she remembers sharper than everything. Seared in her mind in streaks of black and grey.

Her mother, flinging her body at her. Arms that encircled her a little too desperately, and then her head tilting back as a loud, keening sob ripped from her lips. 

Wren had been so confused- her head tilted to one side as she stared up at her mother. She placed a palm, a tiny palm on her mother’s cheek and it was like a small starfish and she whispered, “I’m sorry mama,” and she didn’t even know why she was saying sorry. It just seemed like the right thing to say.

Wren’s mother turned and her mouth fell open and one word fell out of her mouth, contorted in anguish. “Please.” 

Wren’s father stood in the doorway, and her whole life he had always been so strong and tall, a willow tree with a steady trunk that she flocked to. But in her dreams his head hangs low. He isn’t crying, his face is blank. His body is broken.

Wren will find out later that this was the night her father’s debts rose to the surface. That he had accrued a debt that consisted of years and years of life, years that outweighed even his own. Wren’s father was sentenced to be Separated, and told that his next of kin was going to be Separated too. It was according to the government, the only viable and efficient way to repay his debts. It was the fairest way.

“The fairest way?” Wren’s mother had whispered woodenly. “How is this fair?” 

The debt collectors had been lurking like shadows with their fists tightening around her father’s neck, tighter and tighter until his body broke. This was fair, this was policy. This was their way of not only getting what they were owed back, but also sending a message. This society is ruled by order. We are balanced, we are fair, this is the ideal world. Everybody lives longer. Except for you, and except for your daughter.

Wren hadn’t known then. She didn’t have a concept of life, of debt, of what was right and what was wrong. She didn’t understand that during her tenth birthday, she would not be getting a barcode tattooed on her wrist. She didn’t know that on her twelfth birthday, her mother would leave in the middle of the night with no words or goodbyes, her absence leaving behind a gaping hole in Wren’s heart. She didn’t know that on her sixteenth birthday her father would be separated and that she wouldn’t cry, in fact she wouldn’t feel anything but a throbbing ache in her chest and the memories of her mother’s arms tight around her and the cotton sheets bunched up under her body.

She didn’t know any of that then. So, in all of her dreams, and on that night at eight years old, she turned to her mother and repeated those words, “I’m sorry mama.” Her mother who was still crying, her shoulders shaking so hard that it almost looked like she was laughing. Behind them, her father sank to the ground and hung his head so low in his hands that the tips of his hair brushed the floor. 

Wren wakes up with a start, her face dotted in sweat. It takes her a moment to adjust, to settle her fraying nerves. I’m here, I’m still me. She sits up in Yoongi’s bed, whispering the words aloud. “I”m here, I’m stll me.”

Still, her heart flutters uncontrollably in her chest like a hummingbird's wings. She gets up, walks out into the hallway. The automatic lights hum on as she sits down on one of the kitchen counter stools, it adjusts its height automatically. She glances up at the clock, it’s nearly midnight.

Four years, sixty two days. Wren closes her eyes and tries not to think about it. Still, the clock ticks on. She opens one eye, looks at the time. 12:02.

Four years, sixty one days.

Wren wonders idly where Yoongi is. She’s shaken, wanting nothing more than his arms around her waist, his lips by her ear. As if on cue, she hears the beep of a scanned barcode outside the door.

“Hey,” Wren sighs, watching as apartment door glides open, Yoongi barreling in and shoving the sleeves down on his sweater. She yawns, begins to gather her hair up in her hands. “Where were you all day?”

Yoongi doesn’t respond, striding over purposefully. “Wren,” He says, and his voice is quick and excited, “Check this out.” She stops, her arms fall to her sides and hair spills back over her shoulders.

Yoongi has on his arm right above his barcode, ink. Wren gasps involuntarily, seeing the puckered skin on Yoongi’s arm, the black lines that runs over his skin. It’s beautiful – a clean geometric pattern that swoops over his arm and disappears around his elbow. It is understated and striking and so utterly Yoongi that it takes a half minute for her to properly register what it is that she is looking at.

“Is that a tattoo?”

Yoongi nods, he’s practically bouncing on his toes. She gapes. 

“How the hell did you get a tattoo? They’re illegal for God’s sake!” Her voice lowers into a hiss. 

Yoongi shrugs, unfazed. “I did some digging around at work, heard from a guy who heard from another guy about this tattoo artist. His place was a bitch to find, next to some gaudy brothel that was PODs only and no humans allowed, called iPod, how fucking cheesy is that-”

“Yoongi, tattoos are illegal.” Wren interrupts him, “You can get in serious fucking trouble, you know.”

“Trouble?” Yoongi scoffs and for a moment Wren hates him, she hates how reckless he can be, how invincible he thinks he is. For a moment they stand there, staring at one another stubbornly. 

Yoongi weakens, he takes a step towards her. “I was careful, Wren. I’m not a complete idiot, you know.” 

She gazes at him and sighs. “You’re at least fifty percent idiot.”

His face melts into a smile and it’s one that she hasn’t seen on Yoongi’s face in what feels like weeks. He steps closer to her, his fingers interlacing with hers. And then he kisses her, long and slow and that right there is definitely something that hasn’t happened in weeks. They pull apart but Yoongi stays close, his lips close to hers. They’re still nearly touching and his voice drops to a whisper.

“Wren there’s… there’s people out there who are against what the government does. They’re against the Life currency system, against PODs, against Separation. They want to do something about it, take action. They… they want me to help.”

Wren feels a sharp snap of panic.

“It’s legitimate. Half the reason why I went and got this tattoo today was because I wanted to talk to the guy who did it, some guy a few years older than us. Apparently he knows stuff about it, he didn’t say much, I tried bringing it up with him after the tattoo because he barely spoke a word to me before that… though Jungkook, that’s the name of the guy by the way, he kicked me out pretty quick the minute I mentioned the rebel organization but I mean that’s gotta be confirmation it’s legitimate right-”

“Yoongi, a rebel organization?” Wren’s voice raises a few decibels and she immediately lowers it, her hands trembling. “Are you stupid? That’s the worst idea I’ve ever heard.”

Yoongi reels backwards. His face flashes with hurt and then he crosses his arms over his chest, inhaling deeply. 

“Look, I know it sounds… it’s a lot, but it’s something, you know? It’s better than this, what life is like now-”

“What life is like now? What are you talking about Yoongi? Life is fine now-”

Yoongi interrupts with a dry laugh, she ignores him pointedly, presses on.

“Besides do you have any idea how damn risky all of that shit is? Do you know what they do to people who try and resist? They get punished, Yoongi. Fined all these life hours-”

“Who gives a flying fuck about hours?”

“-or imprisoned, or God knows what else. Yoongi, you could… you could die.”

Her cheeks are flushed and the words are tumbling out in rapid succession,

Yoongi just stares at her and shrugs, a tiny drop and fall of his shoulders.

“And what’s the alternative? Sit around and wait for you to be Separated?”

A heavy silence hangs between the two of them. It’s like a glass wall has been shattered, and Wren stares at him with betrayed eyes.

“I know… I know you hate talking about it but it’s the truth Wren. It’s going to happen and I know you keep saying you’re fine with it-”

“Yoongi, don’t-”

“But I’m not fine with it, I don’t want to lose you, I can’t lose you, not when I, not when I-”

“Yoongi I said fucking don’t-”

“Not when I’m in love with you.”

There it is, the unspoken bombshell. 

They stare at each other and Wren feels like she is falling, a lump in her throat because she is so scared, so bone numbingly terrified to admit to herself that she is in love with Yoongi too.

“I’m going.” She stands up shakily, her eyes brimming with tears as she walks towards the door. Yoongi opens and closes his mouth, stands up too. 

“Wren, I’m sorry. I-”

She whirls around. “Yoongi I – I can’t right now, please, I’m-” Her words are tumbling out in panic because she has ten thousand things floating around in her mind, about this rebel organization, thoughts wrapped around feelings of fear and panic and most of all, most unfamiliar of all... a twinge of hope.

“Okay.” Yoongi interrupts quietly. “Okay. Just…” He swallows. “What else am I supposed to do?” 

He lifts his wrist, scans the screen near the door so that it glides open for her. Wren stays still for a moment, staring into his eyes.

“I don’t know, Yoongi.” She whispers, before she turns and walks out.

The streets are dark outside, there are less PODs on late night watch than usual so she takes a moment to stop still in her tracks. It’s rare for it to be this quiet – no glide of cars, the only sound the eerie hum of the artificial lights and occasional beep from a nearby scanner.

She doesn’t want to be scared. She doesn’t want to be scared of the threat that has been dangling over her head her entire life, the constant fear of getting too close to feeling human when she knows she’ll have that humanity ripped away from her at twenty five. She doesn’t want to be scared to live, to discover who she is when this world has told her she doesn’t have an identity. She doesn’t want to fill herself full with emotions and memories when she is a shell waiting to be given a more permanent host. 

She doesn’t want to be afraid of her life. She wants to reclaim it.

She straightens, and she turns sharp on her heel. She almost runs to Yoongi’s apartment, she doesn’t pass a single POD on the way. A twist of fate, a sign. Her heart knocks in her ribcage as she approaches Yoongi’s building.

She runs up all eight flights of stairs because she doesn’t have a barcode to scan at the elevator. The moment she steps into his hallway, something twinges in her chest and she hears a faint ringing in her ears.

It’s like a siren. A warning, a prickle over her skin and a sudden feeling of dread. She doesn’t know why. The hallway is quiet, still. But something feels wrong. Misplaced. 

She walks down the hallway and then she sees it. Yoongi’s door – wide open. The scanner that sits outside is smashed, jerky holographics playing on the wall and a robotic voice repeating “Identity - unrecognized. Identity - unrecognized.”

No. It feels like something is broken inside of her, and she is filled with cold waves of shock and fear. She walks towards Yoongi’s home, and then she sees it. Four PODs, there in the entrance of Yoongi’s home. Tucking things into evidence bags – the photographs he took and kept scattered around his house, his favourite black sweater. His coffee mug that he had permanently glued to his hands at any time of the day before 12PM. 

But she barely registers any of that. Because there, in the middle of the room is a white sheet covering a body.

Everything cracks, splinters into fragments and she falls to her knees. 

Her knees throb from the sudden impact and the PODs continue to do their job, not even looking up at the crunch of her body against the ground. 

A police officer, a human one, approaches her. He’s talking about freak accidents and unmotivated murder and looking for his barcode to transfer his life hours to his next of kin, but it all feels wrong. 

Wren can’t blink, she can’t breathe. She is staring at the white sheet, at the arm that is peeking out from underneath – the barcode she knows better than any other, and the fresh tattoo sitting above it.

The police officer is asking questions, talking in a tone that is monotonous and calm. But she can’t hear him. 

All she can hear is that warning siren, getting louder until it drowns everything out altogether.  

The night before Wren’s twenty-fifth birthday is a cold one. Bitterly cold in fact – the air is restrictive and numbingly icy, like a vice of cold has locked around her throat, rendering her constantly breathless. Wren thinks to herself as she walks that this is one thing she definitely won’t miss, the fucking cold.

It is early in the morning, so early that the sky is an eerie shade of translucent blue, a muted contrast to the buildings that tower above her head, each gleaming a different shade of grey.

She is on the opposite side of the city, her city, with not much to go off of but whispers and hearsay about this so-called tattoo artist. A brothel called iPod. A man named Jungkook. She doesn’t exactly know why she is here, slinking in between alleyways looking for a metaphorical needle in a haystack yet here she is. 

She turns down her fourth alleyway and sees it. There – the brothel she was told to look for, bright magenta and yellow neon lights. A big ugly sign that says ‘iPOD’ with a retro style photo of some ancient music device similarly named iPod.

‘...iPod, how fucking cheesy is that...’ 

Dark eyes, platinum blonde hair, him crooking his head and looking down at her in the classroom, asking, ‘You alright?’

Her fist curls into a ball, she feels a searing whip of hurt deep in her stomach. A hurt that has been there for four years and sixty one days. She pushes it down, packs it away. Tries not to think about him, tries not to think at all.

Tucked beside it is a nondescript building, with just a large black chrome door. 

She walks up to it, and there, scratched in the metal is a tiny flower. She stares at it, makes up her mind, and her knuckles come down, rapping right on the flower’s two dimensional petals.

There is nothing but silence, the soft patter of rain beginning to fall, a hollow series of laughs from the brothel next door. Wren grabs the door handle and it swings open. Immediately, a device hovers down from where it was nestled in the doorframe and scans her, looking for a barcode or for a POD tag- but of course, it finds nothing.

The door closes behind her, the hallway is dark and dimly lit. Carefully, she works her way down until she sees something blocking her path. It’s just a black curtain, cheap fabric that is fraying where it brushes the floor and gingerly she ducks underneath it. 

Her eyes fall first on the black leather chair that sits in the middle of the room. It is cracked in sections, signs of wear in the white plumes of stuffing that are spilling out of the leather. Wren arches an eyebrow as she carefully steps into the space. 

Her eyes immediately fall on the walls, they are filled with drawings – illustrations and sketches, grey charcoal on creamy swatches of paper. There doesn’t seem to be a theme that ties the drawings together, and she leans closer, her lips pursing. 

There is a sketch of flowers, delicate petals with shading so intricate that it seems as if the plant is about to burst off of the pages. A scorpion ready to strike, drawn with harsh strokes and bleak scribbles. There is a sketch of a woman, older, creased lines in her skin and huge, lonely eyes. 

Wren shudders and turns. There is a window, tucked in the corner of the room and for some reason that she can’t quite decipher, her fingers begin to tremble. 

A man is standing by the window, crooked over the windowpane. He is dressed in a thick black coat that reaches his ankles, a black turtleneck clings to his body underneath. 

He is smoking, and she watches as he brings the cigarette to his lips and inhales, thick plumes of smoke curl around his body and then dissipate. Wren is mesmerized, she hasn’t seen a real cigarette before, and she stares at the crimson red embers flickering to the ground. 

And then her eyes fall on him. 

He is striking, she thinks, the thought slips in and the moment it does, she can’t get rid of it. Once her eyes fall on him, she can’t look away. He has dark hair and dark eyes, fringed with thick lashes. A strong jaw, which clenches in between drags of the cigarette. Eyes that are wide and sweet, despite the harshness in the grim set of his mouth and the lines of his build. 

He seems to sense the stare that Wren is directing at him, he flicks the cigarette out of the window, it disintegrates into ash and falls through the air like flakes of charred snow. He turns, his eyes set on her.

“How did you get in?” He asks in a short, clipped voice.

She ignores the question, dodging around the words like they were never asked.

“Are you Jungkook?”

He folds his arms across his chest, steps away from the window and shrugs off his coat.

“Depends who’s asking. I believe,” He tosses the coat across the leather chair sitting in the center of the room, “I asked you a question. How did you get in? I have special scanners at the entrance.”

He doesn’t look intimidated, just mildly curious. Wren hesitates.

“I’m here to get a tattoo,” She answers instead, “If you have free time. Seems like you do, though.” Jungkook’s lips twitch at that. “And, by the way. Your scanners are broken.”

Jungkook’s eyes widen slightly, he nods, absorbing her words. “Broken?” He repeats softly. “Huh. That’s never happened before.” He cocks his head to one side as if he’s deliberating, assessing her with narrowed eyes. 

“Okay then. A small tattoo’ll cost you 800 hours. Barcode please.” He holds out a palm and hesitation flushes red over Wren’s face.

“I…” Wren swallows, her throat is dry. “I don’t…  I can’t pay with hours. I have cash though, real cash, it’s a bit old but-”

“Cash?” Jungkook’s voice is full of disbelief. “I don’t take cash. No one takes cash anymore.” 

Wren opens her mouth to argue, more negotiations and pleas ready to come spilling out of her mouth, but she sees the steeliness in Jungkook’s eyes and pauses. A moment of hesitation and deliberation, drawing lines in her mind and questioning whether or not she is making a huge mistake… and then her fingers grasp at her sleeve and she pushes up. 

She keeps her eyes on Jungkook, watching him intently for a reaction. She spots it- the tiniest flicker of surprise that dances across his face, the way he blinks a few more times than necessary. 

Most of all is the realization that cracks loud and clear inside of her like a rubber band snapping in half, that he isn’t shocked by her blank wrist, of her lack of a barcode. 

He’s seen it before.

Just as quickly as she catches it, those few fleeting seconds of shock and recognition, he conceals it all – his face smoothening over, his eyes flitting up to meet hers, dark and somber and unreadable.

Wren has a thousand questions, and her eyes lock with his. Something is in the air between them, the lowest of crackling heat, an electric pulse that is just faintly buzzing underneath the surface, like a thin film wrapped around them both. 

“Jesus.” The word rushes out of his mouth and his eyebrow creases and he folds his arms tight across his chest, and the look on his face, the pity creased right there, pinched tight between his brows reminds her so much of him that a sharp ache stabs her in her chest, sour and painful and- 

“Why… are you here?” 

She is jolted out of her reverie and she swallows, hard. She lifts her eyes to meet Jungkook’s.

“I’m here for a tattoo, I already said-”

“You know I can’t tattoo you.”

A silence falls between them, they stand and stare at each other before she straightens.

“Please. Please. I can pay, I just-”

“No.”

“Please. I’m… I’m desperate. I…”

“I said no sweetheart. My answer is final. The exit is-” 

“I turn twenty five tomorrow.”

He freezes. She spots it, a window of opportunity. Zeroes in on it, chases it, pins everything on it. 

”Please.”

He sighs, clenching his jaw in uncertainty. Stares at her, assesses her closely.

“Okay, I... okay.”

She breathes a sigh of relief.

“So what do you want to get, then?”

He clears his throat, rolling up his sleeves as he speaks. His forearms are taut- honey skin and curves of muscle but what pulls at her attention are the lines of black ink that kiss Jungkook’s skin. His forearms, both of them, are intricately tattooed. She recognizes a few motifs- flowers mainly, thick vines and leaves and roses that curl around his forearms and disappear beneath the black fabric bunched around his elbows.

“I…” Her voice falters, whatever courage she had is draining away and disintegrating with each word. “A bird. A wren bird.”

He raises an eyebrow. “A wren bird?” He repeats, the firm line of his mouth cracks ever so slightly into a laugh. “Cliché.”

Wren cracks a smile. Jungkook’s eyes are on her, she can sense it – almost like they’re circling each other, unsure of how much to say, how much to reveal.

“Where?” Jungkook asks. “Where on your body?”

“Wrist.” She taps the spot where her barcode was supposed to be. Where there will be tomorrow.

Jungkook clicks his tongue, nods. “Sit.” He nods at the black chair in the centre of the room and she sits down on it gingerly, watching him. He turns away, walks over to a black box on one of the benches and picks up a few tools, amongst them a needle, before he settles back down by her side. 

“This is how you do it?” She asks, “With a needle?” 

He glances up and nods, a wry smile that is softer around the edges.

“Mm. Old school technique called handpoking. I know there are other underground artists who use technology to tattoo, it’s probably faster that way but…” He glances down at his arms with a faint smile. “You can’t get the lines as delicate that way.”

She looks at his forearms, at the intricacy of his tattoos. She’s never seen tattoos like that, except for of course the one that once adorned his arm. While Jungkook’s are intricate, so full of life and movement, his tattoo was clean and flowing, structured swoops of art on skin. 

Jungkook picks up a swab of damp cotton and swipes it over her wrist carefully.

“They’re beautiful.” She says. “Your tattoos, that is.”

She realizes that Jungkook’s fingers are still latched around her wrist, black ink petals that arch up the back of his hand to his knuckles a sharp contrast against her untattooed skin. Jungkook’s grip tightens, just a touch. His eyes soften, only a fraction. And just like earlier, so quickly that Wren wonders if she is imagining it or not, Jungkook’s gaze lingers for a beat too long on her lips.  

“Let me know if it hurts, alright?” He says quietly, glancing up at her. She nods as his eyes linger on hers and he brings the needle to her skin.

It’s quick – he is fast, expert, so fast. Quick, rapidfire pricks into her skin, she flinches a little at first but quickly adjusts to the feeling. Jungkook stops, his thumb brushes over her wrist.

“All good?”

She just nods and he continues, for a moment the only sound is the sound of him breathing, his eyes narrowed in focus.

“So what does it mean, then?” Jungkook asks gruffly. “The wren bird?”

Wren glances over at him, he isn’t looking at her, and she takes a moment to drink him in. The careful, concentrated crease in his brows. The earrings that dot his earlobes, the broadness of his chest as he carefully, precisely tattoos her. There’s something about him that she trusts.

“It’s my name.” She murmurs. “Wren.”

“Ah, that’s your name?” Jungkook glances up, his eyes meet hers. “It’s pretty.”

She doesn’t respond immediately, keeping her eyes on him.

“You weren’t surprised,” She says quietly. The pain comes in small pricks but it fades quickly, she stares up at the ceiling and breathes in deeply. Jungkook hums softly under his breath.

“About what?”

“The fact that I’m going to get Separated.”

Jungkook’s mouth twists and he sighs. “Mmhm. You’re not the first. I’ve met people like you before. But no barcode at all, that’s rare.” He shifts a little in place. “How old were you then, when you were contracted to be Separated? Must’ve been young, to not have a barcode at all…”

She stays still, perfectly still. A few more pricks to her skin and her eyes almost fill with tears but she grits her teeth.

“Eight.”

A heaviness falls between them. Jungkook’s hand hovers and he lets out a tiny sigh. “I’m sorry.” Jungkook says finally. 

“Nothing you can do about it.” 

“Nothing any of us can do about it, I suppose.”

They fall quiet, Jungkook’s gaze intent as he continues to press the needle into her skin.

“So. How did you find me then?”

“Someone I… someone I knew mentioned you a few years ago. Said he was looking for you, he got a tattoo from you on his arm.”

Jungkook smiles at this, his lips turning up into a smirk. “Huh, really? Does it still look good?”

Wren wavers, a shuddering breath falls out between her lips before she can stop it. 

“It did.”

Jungkook pauses. He doesn’t look at her, but she can see his hands tremble. 

“I see.”

“He… he mentioned something about a rebel organization. Something about trying to find you to learn more about it. That was before he, before-”

“Is that why you’re here?”

Jungkook’s voice hardens. His face is perfectly still, dangerously still, and a beat of silence passes between them. 

“No,” Wren whispers. “I’m here because…” Her voice trails off. She has so many thoughts, so many emotions, all jumbled and tangled and she doesn’t know how to feel anymore. Why she’s here. “Because I miss him.”

“He’s dead?”

Wren feels an acute, awful twist in her chest and nods. 

She misses Yoongi so much.

Jungkook’s eyes meet hers and she can see it dancing over his features, inner conflict about what to say, how much to share of himself. He’s so distrusting, so guarded, and it feels familiar to her. She must pass whatever test he’s running through his mind because he sighs again, a few more pricks to her skin and then he speaks, so quietly that she almost can’t hear the words he’s saying.

“I don’t know who he was,” He says quietly. “But I’m not surprised to hear about that. Anyone who gets caught in association with my brother and his people face consequences.” 

Wren glances over at him, his face is carefully masked but she doesn’t miss the flash in his eyes and the way his jaw trembles.

“Your brother?”

“Mm.” Jungkook nods. “Big brother. Leader of the fuckin’ rebel organization. Last I heard, the government was actually trying to hunt them down.” He barks out a humourless laugh. “I have nothing to do with them. Not anymore, anyway.” 

Wren feels a pang in her chest, something inside of her wavers.

“Why not?”

“Because my brother…” Jungkook’s voice trails off. “He’s a good guy, he just… he sees the world in black and white. Not too dissimilar to the people who implemented this whole Life system and Separation system in the first place. They see the world one way, that it needs to be perfected, categorized, organized… and my brother thinks that chaos is natural. That there is no such thing as the perfect life.” A muscle in Jungkook’s jaw twitches. “The world isn’t that simple though. Bad people do fucked up things. Good people do fucked up things. You know?”

Wren is quiet, absorbing his words. “Your brother believes in something, at least.”

“Isn’t it better to believe in nothing, if what you’re believing in is doomed to fail?” Jungkook asks, his voice slanting up harshly.

Wren looks over at him. His eyes are pricked with emotion, glassy with tears and then he snaps his head back down, emotions teeming at the surface.

Another beat of quiet passes between them.

“Maybe,” Wren whispers. “But I know what it feels like to believe in nothing. And I can’t imagine there being any better alternative.”

Jungkook is quiet, he picks up the needle again and she feels it pressing into her skin. 

“What if the alternative is losing someone you love?”

A flash of Yoongi, of her mother, of the feeling of her body crooked into a furnace that is cold and dusty and dark. 

“That’s an alternative I’m pretty familiar with.”

The words come out more bitterly than she had intended. Jungkook sighs.

“You and I both, then.”

Wren’s eyes snap up, to Jungkook who is staring straight at her with a pained expression written on his face. He gazes down at her, keeps rhythmically pressing the ink into her skin.

He lets out a sigh. “I was once by my brother’s side you know. Believed in everything he believed, because he was my brother and whatever he said... that was it, you know? Endgame. I would’ve done anything for him.

When he wanted to rebel, to fight back, I was right there with him. I believed in it. How could I not? I never had a father, it was always me and my brother, protecting our Mum, us against the entire God damn world.”

Jungkook’s voice breaks apart, he swallows.

“We were finding all of this shit out about what the government and their PODs were doing, what they were experimenting on. Using Separation as a weapon, experimenting with other ways to use Life and take Life. How to control and use the minds and souls that had been Separated.” Jungkook’s lips twist up, his face darkens. “No matter how close we got, how dangerous it all was, hyung just kept… he just kept going. He thought he was fucking invincible.”

Wren is quiet, knowing the feeling of standing by someone’s side while they burned fierce and bright and hot, unstoppable to a fault. Ignited by someting powerful, unmovable - belief. She looks at Jungkook’s face, hears the sudden thickness in his words and remembers what Yoongi’s body looked like under the sheet, the filling of fear and powerlessness that had consumed her when she had seen it. 

“He died, didn’t he?”

Jungkook is silent. 

“No,” He says slowly. “My mother did. She was Separated. Right in front of us. They removed her mind and her soul and took her catatonic body with them. I thought they were going to kill me and my brother too. I wanted them to kill us. But they didn’t. They left us.”

Wren lets out a soft, choked sound. Jungkook doesn’t look at her.

“I always blamed him. Blamed her. Blamed myself.” He shakes his head, looks down at his hands, at the petals fanned out over his fingers. “I haven’t talked to him in years. That part of my life is done. I’m never going back to it. That night, my family died. My mother died, and so did my brother.”

He shrugs, she can see the pain brimming in his eyes, the muscles clenching in his jaw.

“Jungkook.” Jungkook glances over at her, sees her looking at him. “I’m sorry.”

“Nothing you can do about it.” They stare at one another before Jungkook straightens, stretches out his arms. Stands up, sits beside her on the chair.

“Anyway. All done.” 

“Really?” Wren glances down to see her wrist. There, on the centre of her wrist – clean black lines are flow across, depicting a small bird taking flight. “Thank you. I’ll pay you, I promise.”

“It’s alright, really. Don’t worry about it.”

She glances up at him, her eyes shining. “No I…” She swallows and a smile flickers across her face. “Thank you. For... for giving me something to believe in.”

Like this, it’s almost as if she is a different person – her bottom lip trembling, her face a foreign blend of sadness and happiness. A smile that is happy but painfully sharp around the edges. She looks at him – he is staring at her so intensely that she is about to ask him what’s on his mind, what is the matter, but something stills inside of her.

Silence passes, logically Wren knows it must only be seconds but they feel like so much longer, time stretched out to infinite quantities while her gaze is locked in Jungkook’s. 

He shifts ever so slightly, enough so that his body is closer to hers. Something velvet and dark roars inside of her, like flames are licking at the edges of her insides. It is a sensation she hasn’t felt in so long and she has thousands of thoughts bleeding through her head, thoughts she can’t unpick, thoughts she doesn’t want to - right before Jungkook leans in.

He is close – so close that she can feel the heat prickling off his body and onto hers. Her entire chest is tight, like it is wrapped in the vines inked on Jungkook’s arms, as her reaches up. He brushes his fingers carefully right by her ear, the tips of his fingers grazing her earlobe. 

She shudders delicately as a sudden flash of lust scorches white hot inside of her. His hand travels down to brush her hair carefully behind her shoulder. And then – the tips of his fingers at the base of her head, his fingers knotting into her hair, sending another fresh set of waves rippling through her body. Her thighs clench involuntarily, she squeezes her legs together and lets out a tiny whimper.

Jungkook leans in even closer. His lips are only centimetres away from hers, his eyes heavy and lidded. She realizes with a flare of clarity that she wants him to kiss her, to feel the heat of his body on hers, to feel his hand laced in her hair gripping hard and tugging. The moment her mind has wrapped around that image she can’t let go of it. 

He’s still close- so close, she is lost in the dark depths of his eyes as they stare into her own.

And then his mouth brushes against hers.

It’s barely a kiss, so tentative, so chaste that it doesn’t feel real. Jungkook pulls away and she sees him swallow thickly, and it’s like something ignites inside of her. Like all the tension is instantly gathered into heavy pulses of need, her focus narrowing down and honing onto him – Jungkook, his hand now resting against the nape of her neck, his fingers brushing slow patterns against her skin, his face inches from hers. She lingers on it, on his dark eyes and the look on his face – the way he has to swallow desperately every few seconds, the way his jaw is trembling as he tries to control himself. 

She doesn’t want him to control himself. She doesn’t want to control herself. She just wants.

She chases into him hard and hungry, wanting more. It feels like something desperate and feral and needy has unleashed from inside of her. Her lips crash against his and Jungkook immediately lets out a groan into her mouth, his voice gravelly and his hands winding around her waist and tugging her against him with a muttered “God”. He kisses her, his tongue dominating and intense as she feels her mind go blank. A heavy drum beat has started, a syrupy pulse made up of the most dangerous kind of heat, she can feel it throbbing between her legs, an ache in her breasts from how badly she wants to be touched by him.

He doesn’t stop – he kisses her longer and deeper until she’s gasping for air, ripping away from him as her chest heaves and his lips pluck kisses down her jaw and to her neck. 

His teeth catch on her skin, she lets out a loud moan at the feeling of it- his teeth nibbling into that sensitive spot right underneath her jaw, the pressure of his lips sucking against her skin and leaving behind a small purple bruise. The feeling of him, his lips and mouth and each lust drenched moan against her neck as his strong arms grip her tight to his body. 

She’s letting out pitchy, desperate sounds – stuttered sounds of urgency and neediness, her legs beginning to tremble because all she can feel is the thud between her legs and the wetness beginning to pool fast and messy between her legs.

It’s like their bodies are synchronized – he is as desperate as she is, as full of need. Wren’s breath hitches raw and fast in her throat as Jungkook’s thumbs gripped her hips, digging hard into the flesh as he pulls her hard against him. Even harder. Harder, so that there is a sound of bodies colliding, his fingers laceingin her hair as he let out a moan and a husky “fuck”. She glances up to see him staring down at her. His face dotted in sweat, his dark eyes blown out and so fucking full of keen unadulterated want that it makes her even more dizzy with it.

“I want to fuck you. All of you, until you don’t even know your own name.”

A thrill eases its way through her body. She tilts her head back and lets out a needy moan, an affirmation, and she feels his eyes track down to the curve of her breasts and he reaches up to touch her. His hands lock around one breast and she lets out a whimper at the roughness of it, his fingers find her hard nipple and he pinches hard, enough to have a higher pitched hiss escape from her lips. 

He still has her thigh gripped in his other hand, her body pulled up flush against his. She stares at him, her eyes wide, she is yearning for it.

“Please Jungkook, God, please…” She mouths against his neck, moans into his kisses as his hand massages her breasts and he lets out a choked sound right back into her touches. 

“Fucking hell, Wren. Fucking hell.”

She stares and feels her throat go dry as he reaches up behind his head and in one fluid motion, pulls off his black turtleneck. His hair is tousled, his arms flexing as he tosses the sweater to the ground.

His chest is broad, his shoulder muscles defined. He has a taut abdomen and two small slopes that disappear into the hem of his pants. His arms are tattooed – covered in those intricate flowers and vines. And then there – on his ribs, on the left side of his abs is another tattoo, a panther’s body arched upwards, claws outstretched.

She feels struck by it, by him. How effortlessly beautiful he is as his hands move down to his pants, unzipping and pulling them off until he is standing there in black underwear that cling to the length of his cock, his erect length which is hard and stands tall in his pants. 

“Jungkook,” She whines faintly. He hums, his eyes boring into hers, raking over her body, chest heaving with each labored breath. He’s strong, and even the way he is standing – a natural dominant stance - has her dizzy. 

He steps back to her, wraps her legs around his waist, his fingers locked hard around her upper thigh. He squeezes, hard, and she lets out a desperate whimper. Her eyes flutter up to meet his, and his gaze is dark, intent on hers, before he grasps her chin, his thumb tracing her bottom lip. 

She’s shaky with it, how badly she wants him, and she lets out a small cry, a plea, and Jungkook just hums in response as his hand darts between her legs.

Wren is wearing nothing but a pair of thin black cotton pants, it isn’t much, and certainly doesn’t act as a barrier between her wetness and the feeling of Jungkook’s fingers pressing right there against her sensitive, aching slit. His touch is rough, intense – three fingers, pressed flat against her and he’s rubbing hard, intense circles deep into her walls and she can feel the sensations on her clit and she thinks she might fall into the very earth from it.

He has three of his fingers flat and he presses hard against the fabric of her pants, right there on her sensitive, aching slit. She lets out a sharp moan at how good it feels to have that pressure on her when she’s so full of want, throbbing and aching with it. 

“I want you inside of me,” She pants out, and Jungkook lets out a moan at her words as he wraps his hands around her waist, tugging her in hard until she spills forward against his body. His lips press hard against her throat and she feels him mouthing kisses down her the slope of her neck, his palms gliding down her front to unbutton her shirt. 

He undoes as much as he can, his fingers shaking as he exposes her breasts. He doesn’t tease, he continues kissing down her neck to the dip of her collarbones, his tongue lapping at the skin there. She lets out a hissed mutter and clenches her thighs, pressing as much of her pussy against his waist as possible in desperation to feel something.

Jungkook presses a kiss on the top of her breast. She pushes harder against him, letting out a strangled whimper when she feels the hard bulge in his pants, the friction of it against her soaked panties. It’s torture – how close his mouth is to making contact with her hard nipples, his lips planting slow, intentl kisses right there around it but never quite touching.

“I want all of you,” He murmurs, his words coming out in soft pants of air against her hard nipples. She’s desperate – her hips bucking into him, she lets out tiny mewls at each grind of his hard dick against her wet slit, and just when she thinks she can’t take it anymore, his tongue flickers over her nipple and her body curls.

“Fuck!” The word falls out of her mouth and she tilts her head back as Jungkook latches his lips around her, swirling his tongue over her nipple as his other hand cups her breast. It feels incredible – taking her higher, getting her even more desperate. His tongue, his hands all over her breasts, the feel of his dick against her slit, getting her more and more worked up.

Suddenly he stands, his arms slotting around her waist as he picks her up and settles her on the ground, she sways a little on her feet as he sits down on the chair. He smirks up at her, and she swallows – his tattooed arms tensed, him sitting in just his black jocks and his visible erection, his thick muscular thighs gripping the edge of the seat. 

Standing, she realizes just how much she wants it- her whole body is trembling with it, the throbbing between her legs almost painful. And then he pulls her into his lap, over his knee.

This close, straddling his leg, she sucks in voluntarily for breath. He leans his forehead against hers, smirks. He looks so in control of himself – his hands curving around her ass, his muscular chest rising and falling with each breath, his hard cock twitching in his underwear. 

“Jungkook,” Her words fall out, her voice loose and husky. “Please…” 

She can feel his muscular thigh underneath her wet pussy, and she begins to grind against him. She lets out a tiny whimper at the sensation of it, every rock of her hips creating a new wave of desperate, frenetic pleasure from deep inside of her. 

She ruts harder against his leg, clenching, moaning, frustration blooming in her chest.

“Good girl,” He croons in her ear, his voice is harder, rougher, turbulent with lust. “That’s right, make yourself feel good…”

He thrusts his thigh up a centimeter, enough so that she can feel his muscles tensing in his leg, him pushing himself harder against her. Fuck.

She lets out a broken sound as her eyes flutter back into her head. She is so wet – so wet and sensitive that it feels like she is going to fall apart at any moment, she grinds down harder into his thigh and he lets out a loud sigh. 

His hand snakes to his thigh and for a moment she feels it, his fingers pressing up into her pants and the feeling of his fingertips right there against her slit, and she lets out a whimper as he pulls away. She’s so close to her release but she knows she can’t reach climax like this, even though she wants it so badly that she is begging for it with whimpers and pleads that come falling uncontrollably out of her mouth.

“You’re so wet,” He mutters, his voice shallow. “Fuck, so wet, you’re soaking with it.” His eyes flicker up to meet hers and a ripple of heat works its way up her belly as she nods, whimpering desperately, bucks harder against him and squeezes her thighs together even harder.

“I want it so badly, please,” Her voice is scratchy as her hands work into his underwear and find his cock, wrapping around his thick length. “Please Jungkook, fuck me. Please.”

Jungkook lets out a soft groan. “God…” 

He’s tense, and she begins to glide her hand up his shaft in long strokes. His eyes flash, he moves, picking her up until they are both standing. 

“Come here.” She scrambles up onto the chair, and he is on top of her, behind her. He kisses against the back of her neck, she lets out a desperate moan as she feels his fingers at her underwear, grasping at the fabric and pushing it roughly to one side, too rushed and desperate to be slow, to be careful. 

“Please Jungkook, God, please,” 

She is still pleading for it, and Jungkook doesn’t speak, just groans as his hands tug harder at her ruined underwear and she lets out a pitchy, breathy cry as she feels the tip of his hard cock brush against her entrance.

He thrusts into her, easing into her. She is so soaking wet that he pushes his entire length inside her with ease, until his thick length is all the way inside of her. 

“God, you feel so good,” She moans out, she still has her blouse on, halfway unbuttoned and Jungkook reaches up to cup at her breasts, the other hand supporting his body as he begins to snap his hips and thrust into her.

She was so close before this that she feels like she is going to disintegrate into flames just from this, the feeling of him inside her, the tight ache of her pussy and the feeling of him fucking her hard and deep. She basks in it, the friction as he slides out of her and then back into her at a pace that is hungry. She moans louder, possessively, he grips onto her body and pulls her so that her ass is pressed up against him. She can feel him so deep and so full that tears prick in her eyes. She is so close to the edge, so full of pleasure and satisfaction and so close to it, the release.

He is strong, bold, dominating  – she can feel it in his fingers grabbing her breasts and his voice against her ear, murmuring how good she feels for him, how much of a good girl she is for taking his entire cock so well. His voice is no longer composed and neatly held together, and he holds onto her body as he fucks into her and rolls his hips up until it hits that spot. She rolls her eyes back into her head, her body beginning to shake.

“I’m going… I’m going to…” The words are breathless and he does it again, thrusts inside her again and his fingers fall from where they were wrapped around her to her clit, which is sore and aching. He begins to massage two fingers against her and that’s all it takes for her body to spill forward, and a release that is sweeter than any high she has ever felt before washes over her entire body.

Her moans fade out into soft honeyed whimpers, as he carefully grasps her shoulders and turns her so she lying on her back. He reaches down and yanks off her underwear properly, she gazes up at him through the haze of her orgasm. He is almost impossibly gorgeous, the ink on his arms dancing under the ripples of his muscles as he pushes himself back inside of her.

This time, he slows, his hands reach up to cup her face, he stares into her eyes and rolls his hips up at a tempo that draws more sensations out of her. It feels so good – she is still soaking wet, her body and mind worn out and so overflowing with feelings of satisfaction, but this is something else entirely. 

Him, grinding and riding into her, his jaw clenched as she sees the emotions flicker across his face- lust and want and desire, she reaches up and presses a kiss to his mouth, a long desperate kiss and Jungkook moans into her mouth, thrusts his hips and comes. 

It is intense, sinful in the husky moans that fall from his lips as his body stutters forward, filling her pussy up with his cum. 

He stays like that for a moment, so does she – they are both tired and blissed out, until finally he pulls out and settles beside her.

They lie on the chair, his arm crooked around her shoulders. She folds under his arm with her breath coming out in jagged puffs against his skin, one hand draped tiredly over his abdomen. For a moment the two of them just breathe it all in, their eyes closed.

Then slowly everything starts to piece back together. The smell of the room, warmth and heat in the air, the smell of Jungkook’s skin and hair and the scent of sex. She opens her eyes and cranes her head up to look at him. He glances down at her and he has no guard up whatsoever on his face. His face, so impossibly soft, so open and so beautiful that she feels everything go silent as he leans in and presses a kiss to the corner of her mouth.

They pull apart and the only sound that fills the space is their breathing, slowing and intertwining with each rise and fall of their chests. They don’t speak, they just gaze at each other and even though no words are spoken, she feels like everything on her mind is being said.

“Thank you.” He finally whispers, her voice doesn’t break the silence, shatter it – instead it quietly melts it away. 

His mouth crooks in the corner and he reaches up, brushes hair away from her face, pulls it back over her shoulder to expose her bare neck. 

“What are you thanking me for?” She asks, shaking her head, a self conscious laugh peeking through her words. “Do you thank everyone you fuck on this chair?” 

She reaches out, to poke his shoulder, to detach, to disassociate, but her fingers curl around his collarbone and over the tattoo there, intricate patterns and leaves and stars. Clean and abstract and vibrant all at once.

Jungkook just chuckles, his chest shakes and he holds her to his body a little tighter before relaxing. “No, I just…” His voice fades off in contemplation. “Hm, I don’t know. I was beginning to forget what this felt like.”

She looks at him, he is staring ahead, at the sketches he has pinned up on the walls.

“What, sex?”

He glances down at her, his eyes lock with hers. Her heart quickens, it drops and climbs and she feels like she’s soaring and falling all at the same time.

“No. I feel happy. Worthy. You know?”

Her breathing quietens, they just stare at one another. She can understand that all too well. The feeling that often permeates through her until it feels like it is carved on her bones and written all over her heart, the doubt that creeps in and wraps itself around her… that maybe she isn’t worthy, that she isn’t meant to be happy or fulfilled, that perhaps being Separated really is the best outcome for her.

“When I was a kid me and my brother used to always joke around when our mother was annoying us or telling us off or whatever else, that we were going to get new bodies and run away.” Jungkook murmurs. She is still in his arms, their legs wrapped together. “We used to joke about it when Ria in his academy classes told him she didn’t like him back. We used to joke about it when we didn’t like what was for dinner. We always used to talk about how if our lives weren’t happy enough, that we could trade them in for happier lives one day. I used to dream about it – the perfect, happy life.” His voice is tinged with a blend of sadness. “Some dream, huh?” He sighs. Doesn’t finish his anecdote, holds her a bit closer, tenses slightly.

“I think everyone dreams about the perfect, happy life. I know I did when I was a kid too. Y’know, the whole stupid fucking thing ¬– new body, job as a POD, barcode charged up with all the hours I could ever need, I dunno. Everyone by my side, or even someone by my side.”

“Yeah. Same. Pretty fucking naïve of us, right?”

Jungkook laughs. Wren smiles, and she doesn’t know why she’s smiling when they’re talking about sad, dark, deep heavy shit... but she’s smiling and her eyes meet Jungkook’s and he leans close and kisses her long and sweet.

Jungkook pulls away, stands up, slots his arms underneath Wren’s back, her body folding into his like a piece of origami. 

He stands up, staggering a little before he turns. Wren is a bit disoriented, he can tell by the uneven flutter of her lashes, and he pushes open on a small door in the wall and settles her down on the mattress sitting alone in the centre of the room.

She murmurs a little as he lays her down, turning away to twist open a bottle of water. He pours it into a glass, she sits up blearily as he thrusts it in her hands.

“Drink. It’s just water.”

She arches an eyebrow and takes a sip experimentally. “Just water? No superchargers or supplements?” She says in a wry tone, before she drinks more. “It’s good. Thanks.”

Jungkook nods, she sets the empty cup down. 

“Where’d you get normal water from?” She begins curiously, wrapping her arms around her legs. “I haven’t seen normal water since – hey, whoa.” She stops mid-sentence, her eyes widening as she takes in the walls of Jungkook’s room. 

The walls are low here in this small nook of the building, it’s less of a room and more of a cupboard really – a space so confined that when Jungkook stands his head almost brushes the ceiling. The defining feature however are the walls – three of which are covered in paint, the last wall a huge window. The walls aren’t of the vivid and artificial colour palette that paints their city – instead they are muted, neutral earthy tones, terracotta reds and seafoam blues and buttercup yellows. 

“They’re so beautiful,” Wren breathes out quietly, she sits up straighter and brushes her hair away from her face. “What are they?”

Jungkook is staring at her, his room is dark, illuminated only by the glow from the outside world, the teeming city. Her features are so soft, so delicate – he feels like they are all maginified in this lighting, the way her long lashes blink slowly, her lips falling apart into a perfect ‘o’, the absentminded way her fingers card through her messy hair. She isn’t what this society would deem perfect – a small scar on her cheek by her ear, her features aren’t exactly the traditional definition of pretty, the fresh ink on her wrist… but Jungkook thinks to himself that she’s beautiful. Fucking beautiful.

“Jungkook?” She implores, her eyes meet his and it feels like there is a stutter in Jungkook’s heart. 

“They’re… my mother used to tell me about them,” He says finally, tearing his eyes away from her and to the walls. “These places that used to exist before… before all this. I don’t know how accurate they are,” He continues, a touch ruefully, walking towards the nearest mural. His fingers brush along the slopes of blue, grazing against where the dried paint blends into yellow. “I’ve never seen them before. But she used to talk about them a lot. She’d sit in me and my brother’s room and tell us about all the places she grew up around when she was a child. Before she…” His voice trails off and he feels a dull twist in his chest as old memories are dredged up of her. 

Creased eyes and worn skin, leathery and old but so familiar, her voice soft and dulcet, telling him stories of a place called the beach, where she used to go swimming. Of sunflower fields, where she talked about flowers with withering yellow petals that faced the sun when it rose, how the landscape was bright and flawed and each plant was a bit battered from her friends and her combing past them each day. Places he would never see, a person, his mother, who he would never see again. 

Jungkook had never been one to believe in the afterlife, but this world wouldn’t even give him that much. His mother wouldn’t be an angel, she wouldn’t be there waiting for him in the gates of heaven or hell or oblivion, or whatever it was that awaited him after death. She would be somewhere in the system, government property, waiting to be used as a weapon or as a tool, or worst of all- sitting there forgotten, the only memory of her the peeling sunflowers on his bedroom wall.

He feels arms winding around his waist, he glances down to see slim wrists and fingers that are laced together, he feels a cheek pressed to his back and the feeling of skin on skin. His head hangs forward and he squeezes his eyes tight together, focuses on the sensation of her breath against his spine, waits.

He turns, until he is facing her. He doesn’t smile, his fingers reach outwards and he carefully, slowly, caresses the outlines of her face in his hands. He memorizes everything – the slope of her nose, the set of her eyes, he leans in and presses a kiss against her lips in the hope that the taste and feel of her will stay imprinted in his mind for as long as possible.

He pulls away and stares at her. The city is behind them, the room is filled with an odd aubergine and green glow from the city lights, the ads that gleam bright at all hour of the evening. 

He leans his forehead against hers and their fingers lace together, their bodies pressed together, clutching onto one another with a quiet, teeming urgency.

“Don’t leave,” He whispers. “Tomorrow. We can hide. We can run away.”

“Jungkook…” She pulls away. “I can’t… just run away. They’ll find me.”

“They wont,” Jungkook insists in a low voice. “I’ll protect you-”

“And how long do you think you’ll be able to protect me for before they find us both?” She interrupts, her words slice cleanly through his protests. He falls quiet. “This… this goes so much deeper than just you and me Jungkook. I’ve seen it happen, I’ve seen someone who I lo-” Her eyes flash in hurt and she swallows. “He was killed and I won’t, I can’t let that happen to you too.”

Jungkook opens his mouth but she rushes in.

“...I’m tired of not having a name except for the one I gave myself, I’m tired of not knowing who I am or who I was ever supposed to be…” Her voice trembles and her fingers glide from where they were sitting on his collarbones, ghosting over the ink on his chest down his bicep to his wrist. “Maybe I was meant to be Separated.” She whispers brokenly. She taps the lines there on Jungkook’s wrist, the barcode, and her eyes are watery, full. “We can’t change the future when it’s already been written for us.”

Her words hang in the air between them and Jungkook has ten thousand things he wants to say. He wants to tell her that maybe she’s wrong, that they can hide from the world, that they may be able to slip through the seams, that the future isn’t written in stone. That he thought his future had never been written to include anyone else in it, yet here she is easing her way into his heart no matter how foreign and terrifying it feels. That his mother described running through sunflower fields as the most perfect feeling in the world - ‘in its simplicity, I didn’t have to think about it, it just was’. But he falls silent instead. 

She is crying – tears pooling in the corner of her eyes, her fingers coming up to her cheeks to scrub away at them stubbornly. 

“Okay.” He says instead. He draws her into his arms and he presses his lips to the top of her head.  “Tell me you’ll think about it, though.”

She nods from where her face is buried in her chest. “I’ll think about it.” She lies.

They stay there that night, two bodies entwined, exchanging kisses, touches, caresses. 

Two lonely hearts, two broken souls, who found one another – if only for one night.

Wren wakes up when it’s still dark outside. She sits up in bed suddenly, her face dotted with sweat, and it feels like she’s just had a nightmare – but she can’t remember what it was about.

For a moment she feels hazy, disoriented, and then it hits her – today is the day. The day she has been waiting her whole for. 

She straightens, slowly, taking the time to stretch out her sore limbs. She thinks idly that it doesn’t really matter whether or not she stretches out her muscles, seeing as in a few hours her body won’t belong to her anymore anyway. 

The thought makes her head ache in a dull, funny way.

Wren glances down and sees Jungkook by her side. He is knocked out– he had fought so hard to stay awake last night, tossing and turning stubbornly, but he had eventually succumbed to sleep. 

Wren on the other hand only managed a few hours, if that – staring up at the ceiling and watching the neon lights cast strange figures on the walls. Jungkook had one arm draped over her waist and he smelled unfamiliar – smoky and masculine, like cedar and sage, and Wren had spent time tracing the tattoos on his arms and wishing that she was someone else, anyone else… and not her, a ticking time bomb, a mind and a soul without a home to return to. 

As her fingers had carved softly around the petals of a magnolia flower tattooed around Jungkook’s elbow, Wren allowed the stray thought in that she had been fighting to keep out ever since she spotted Jeon Jungkook standing by that window pane… that in another universe, in another time, she might have really been able to love this man with every fibre in her being.

She carefully eases the arm off of her body – God it’s heavy – and she straightens. The room is still dark and she stands uncertainly for a moment. She is naked, and she covers her body uselessly with her arms, wrapping tight, holding herself together. Jungkook is still sleeping, his mouth parted, his lids closed. He looks so peaceful like this, she thinks to herself, and so beautiful- his hair messy, the curve of his shoulders and the tattoos that look like artwork traced on his skin. 

I could’ve really loved you, Wren thinks quietly to herself. A part of myself does love you, in a strange way.

She doesn’t want to leave, every nerve ending wants to keep her rooted here, in this room with the low ceiling and the paintings on the wall. She wants to sit in between Jungkook’s legs with his arms draped around her body, him telling her stories about his mother, and she even wants to hear stupid little tidbits of his life – dumb things really, like how many people he’s tattooed, or what the stupidest tattoo was that he’s ever had to do, or even God knows, what his favourite colour is. 

She forces herself to walk to the door, and it feels like her body is aflame. She wants to stay. She wants to be loved. She doesn’t want to be alone. But it feels like horrible déjà vu, the whiplash of being in a car accident, the jolting and all consuming memories of the people who have loved her – her father, her mother, Min Yoongi. 

With that in mind, she opens the door and walks out of the bedroom. Her eyes fall on the leather recliner and she drums her fingers against her thigh, blood is rushing in her ears and her heart is going a thousand miles a minute in her chest. 

She walks down the stairs, back through that threadbare piece of black cloth. She keeps going, until she is outside, back on the street- where the air is icy against her flushed skin, the pink that tinged her cheeks draining away. She shivers, she holds herself tighter, she looks up at that grey obsolete building and with a lump n her throat she can’t swallow down, she turns around and walks away.

It doesn’t take long until a small chorus of pods pull up beside her on the street. It’s early – too early for them to be out on patrol – and she doesn’t stop to wonder why it is that they are out at this time of the evening. They glide up soundlessly and one turns to her, joints clicking and a subtle electronic beep as it scans over her for a barcode she knows they won’t find.

“Subject 274,193. Birth name, Inhae Jung. Age, 25 and three hours. Awaiting to be processed for Separation.”  

The status report makes her flinch. She stands still in spot and glances up at the building, from where she is, she can barely make it out. She searches for the big glass window but her eyes find nothing but grey walls. The lump in her throat gets bigger.

“Ma’am, will you please come with us to the nearest Government Dome for your processing?”

The nearest pod, a young man with sharp features and striking good looks steps up to her. He doesn’t smile, because pods aren’t programmed to have emotions. He speaks in a bland tone, but Wren doesn’t miss the way his arms twitch by his sides, at the other pods that have closed in just a centimeter. It’s a threat, a veiled one, but a threat nonetheless.

“Of course.” She murmurs faintly. The Pod nods and then a vehicle glides up on the street beside them, it hovers silently in the air. She’s ushered inside before she quite knows what is happening, wedged between two pods. 

Processing. This is it. She wonders if it is going to hurt. She doesn’t speak, the Pods don’t speak either, she watches one out of the corner of her eye and wonders how sentient they are, just how much of the old mind and soul and essence of self still dwells within these lifeless hosts.

Judging by their blank stares, their rigid bodies, Wren more or less has the answer.

The paperwork is quick, efficient. Wren waits, completely naked, on a steel chair. She has been strapped in, attached by the wrists and ankles, ‘for security measures you see’, and it is cold in this room. Goosebumps cover her arms. A woman sits opposite her on another chair, tapping something into the holographic keyboard that sits in the air beside them, filling in last minute details.

“I’m glad you’re being so compliant,” She says sweetly. “We were beginning to worry. That is quite a debt your father accrued there.” She tuts softly and her fingernails drum down on the table. 

Wren feels her breath hitch in her throat. Panic rising up inside of her like a tsunami, building, escalating. Not now, she pleads, and she doesn’t know whether she’s thinking about the impeding panic attack lapping at her feet, or the Separation itself. Not this, not now.

“But you’ve been kept in pristine condition for the most part. That… thing is no good,” She continues, her eyes honing on the black bird etched on her wrist. “But we can easily laser that off for the next inhabitant of your body if they so wish.” 

She shoots Wren a saccharine sweet. “It’s great news, really. We were beginning to worry that we would have to harvest your brother too. But it seems you’ll pay back your father’s debts in full, so there should be no need.” 

Wren’s heart slams to a grating stop in her chest. Her eyes flicker over to the holographic screen, there, is an image – a boy, a man really, a few years younger than her. A shock of dark chocolate hair, a strong jaw, a barcode hovering beside his face.

“My… brother?”

The woman ignores her, she stands up. She’s dressed in a black sheath dress, her hair is cropped short and she has several jewels dotted in her earlobes. Wren’s eyes widen, her heartbeat quickens, the wave of panic looms larger and taller than before.

“My brother? I have a brother?” She repeats, desperately. The woman picks up the two silver, rectangular shaped slabs from a bench that slides out from the ground between them, she is no longer speaking. She turns off the screen and Wren feels the wave beginning to descend upon her. 

“No, I don’t- I can’t, I don’t want to do this!” her voice rises into a scream and she moves to stand. But she can’t. She struggles uselessly against her restraints and the woman’s face is completely passive as she approaches.

Wren has felt fear and dread a thousand different ways, in a thousand different colours. But this is new. This is fear so raw that it numbs her, her body goes slack, her eyes fill with tears.

“Don’t,” Wren pleads, but the woman doesn’t slow. The metal bars are pressed to her temples. 

Wren has one thousand questions, and the wave is approaching, roaring, thrashing dark waters beneath its surface. She pulls at names and faces in a desperate hurry. 

Her brother, Yoongi, her mother, her father. Jungkook.

Her eyes card down to her wrist, straining from where it is locked in place, the bird trapped beneath. She can only see the tip of its wings. 

The wave is coming in faster now and Wren squeezes her eyes shut. I should have stayed. I should have run. 

Jungkook, she thinks desperately. I can’t forget. I can fight this. I can not forget. They can’t take this from me. 

The metal is cool against her skin. She can hear the woman humming a tuneless song under her breath. 

Wren squeezes her eyes shut, she musters up everything inside of her as the wave finally crashes down over her head.

Jungkook, Jungkook, Jungkook.

And then everything goes blank.

Jungkook has his hands shoved deep in his pockets, his mouth set in a grim line. 

Here, alongside the river, there isn’t a clear footpath – so it feels as if the earth is slipping beneath his feet, small stones crunching under his shoes with every step he takes. The water below is a translucent grey, marred with thick swathes of oil. 

Jungkook sees him, standing there, and his breath sucks in through his teeth and rattles in his lungs.

He reaches the other man’s side and for a moment they stand side by side, staring down into the lifeless water. Both are silent, shoulders touching. 

Behind the river mouth Jungkook can see the city beginning to come to life, and he knows all too well that in mere minutes the pods will start to emerge, and that the air that is so silent and still will soon be thinned out by voices and the monotonous click and whir of machinery.

“So. You’re back in? Really in?” 

The other man’s voice is light, but Jungkook doesn’t miss the suspicion threaded in through his words. Jungkook stays still. 

The water is glassy and Jungkook swallows.

“Yeah, Namjoon. I am.”

The taller man lets out a soft chuckle and relaxes, his shoulders slumping slightly, his hands sliding into his pockets.

“Finally realizing how fucked up the world is?”

Jungkook hums under his breath, ignores the question. “Bit dramatic, don’t you think?”

Namjoon laughs again. A hollow laugh that wavers in the air and Jungkook turns his head to stare at his brother. 

He hasn’t seen Namjoon in years, and although so much has stayed stagnant in the world they both live in, the world they’ve always known– the neon lights that burn artificial light day in and day out, the air always acidic and coppery, the rhythmic beep of scanned barcodes in the background of every memory – so much still, has changed. Namjoon has changed. 

His face is older, his eyes brimming with a fierce determination. Long gone is the naivety and sadness that used to live in the lines of Jungkook’s brothers face- Kim Namjoon is utterly unsympathetic now. Locked on the goal ahead. Ruled by a laser sharp focus.

We really are brothers, Jungkook thinks as he takes in the set of Namjoon’s jaw, the coolness in his eyes. Jungkook wonders if underneath that ironclad front is a heart that feels like his does now – swollen and aching and uncertain.

Jungkook had never been conscious of his heart before- it had always just been an organ pumping blood around his body. But now he can feel it, he can honest to God feel every squeeze and restriction of it right there in his chest, he can feel the radiating ache that seeps through his body and leaves him trembling. His heart and his chest and his bones and his head all ache in unison, and he doesn’t know how to make it go away. It’s why he’s here, he supposes, why he’s here standing beside a brother that he barely knows, hanging onto a moment and a memory of a girl who no longer has any moments or memories to call her own.

Jungkook wonders if that is what spurs Namjoon on as well. If his brother too has a glass heart kept safe and protected in a cage of steel.

“I’m looking for someone…” Jungkook swallows hard. “Someone Separated.” 

“What…? Someone Separated? Why?” 

“Is it possible?”

“I… I don’t-”

“Hyung. Is it possible?” Jungkook’s voice is as sharp as knives and Namjoon doesn’t react. He just looks down at the ground and rubs the tip of his shoe in the soil, the earth is loose and unstable and separates easily, and Namjoon lets out an almost indecipherable sigh. 

“Yeah, it is.”

Something akin to relief washes over Jungkook and he nods once, then twice, as if he is assuring himself, it’s possible, it’s really possible.

“Jungkook, it’s possible, but it’s not easy-”

“I didn’t ask if it’s easy. I asked if it’s possible.” Jungkook says in a short, clipped tone. Namjoon falls quiet. Stops moving. There is a small gap in the earth where he was digging his shoe into before.

“Look. Something tells me there’s more to it than you’re telling me…”

Jungkook’s eyes flicker over, meeting Namjoon’s. The older man has a resigned look in his eyes. “…But you don’t have to explain your motives. As long as you’re with us for real. You are, right?” 

Jungkook swallows. He nods, turns back to the river.

“I said I’m in, so I’m fucking in, Namjoon.”

Namjoon just laughs again and the sound is grating, Jungkook realizes that there’s no humour in that laugh. It’s just there, a sound to fill the silence. 

“Okay,” Namjoon murmurs after a beat of quiet. “I’ll... I’ll go. Got places to be. I’m... I’m glad you contacted me, Jungkook. I... I’m...” His voice trails off. He doesn’t finish his sentence, he stands there.

Then he claps Jungkook’s shoulder and then he is gone. 

Jungkook stays, staring at the river. The sun is rising, and it is an unsetting shade of red– like it was dipped in crimson dust. 

Jungkook doesn’t have long, knowing that when the sun has risen fully, a new day will have started. Yet he stands and watches, watches as the sun bleeds that ruby glow over the horizon, watches as the city begins to flicker to life, all the while thinking about her, the bird tattooed on her wrist, the barcode tattooed on his. 

His lips form her name, Wren, and he whispers it into the air like it’s a vow, like he’s promising to himself with the river and his city as a witness that he won’t forget, that he’ll be back for her, have her back in his arms again no matter the cost. No matter the currency or price that he has to pay. 

His fingers curl into a fist and tears, strange and unfamiliar prick in his eyes, and once again he’s all too painfully aware of his heart- heavy and thudding in his chest. He wonders fleetingly if the tables were turned, if he had the opportunity to have all of this separated and taken away from him – memories of his life, things he had done, ink he had etched into skin and her eyes staring watery and huge into his own… would he? Would he forget? Would he choose to forget her?

I won’t forget, he promises, so fiercely that he isn’t sure if he’s said it aloud or not. “I won’t forget.” He says aloud a final time. 

And then he turns and slips into the shadows before the sun rises, hanging low and scarlet in the sky.

amynote: (I am thinking of potentially writing a sequel to this!!! let me know your thoughts.)  edit 19/04/18: I am definitely writing a sequel! thank you for the feedback!! + wow i really enjoyed writing this story. challenging but so much fun. thank you very much to the person who sent in the original request. I hope you all enjoyed reading ♡

[scripttorture]

Torture in Fiction: Transmetropolitan, Up on the Roof

If you like comic books there’s a good chance you’ll have heard of Warren Ellis’ Transmetropolitan. Along with Watchmen and The Sandman it’s one of the books often cited as showing that Western comics weren’t just for children and could tackle serious themes.

 It’s the story of Spider Jerusalem, a foul-mouthed, blisteringly angry gonzo journalist, set in a sci fi world where matter can be rearranged in your home and people rewrite their genetic code for fun or fashion. This comic is a real favourite of mine, in large part because Spider, with his disgusting personal habits, relentless attacks on hypocrisy and peculiar moral compass is (I think) one of the greatest depictions of a Trickster figure in modern literature. But I’m not here to talk about Tricksters.

 Once again I’m rating the depiction and use of torture, not the story itself. I’m trying to take into account realism (regardless of fantasy or sci fi elements), presence of any apologist arguments, stereotypes and the narrative treatment of victims and torturers.

 In Up on the Roof Spider covers an minority population’s failed secession attempt. The ‘Transients’, people who choose to turn themselves into human/alien hybrids, hold what begins as a peaceful protest against the City’s Civic Centre. When the demonstration turns violent police forces are sent in an a full scale riot erupts.

 Spider runs into the middle of it all, blags his way into a strip club and writes his coverage of the riot from a roof looking down. He presents evidence that people were paid to turn the demonstration violent and graphically covers the violence inflicted by police officers on the local population.

 This coverage leads to the police being called off.

 On his way home a police car pulls up alongside Spider. Four large officers step out. Spider is surrounded and beaten with batons, kicked and punched. Before they leave the police threaten to kill Spider if he ever makes them look bad again.

 Spider, bruised and bloodied, gets up and laughs.

 I’m giving it 9/10

 The Good

 1)      The art. Good Gods the art. Darrick Robertson’s pencil work coupled with the fantastic colour provided by Aiken, Kryssing and Giordano really helps make this story. Comics (and video games) are often accused of glamorising and glorifying violence, showing it like a kind of pornography. The violence in this issue is brutal, horrific and above all it feels very real. The colours and background can be outlandish but it’s more about the emotion conveyed: pain, fear, despair and defiance which shine through.

2)      The art really doesn’t gloss over the physical filth of torture. Blood, dirt and broken bones predominate. This isn’t sexy. It isn’t heroic. It isn’t cleaned or prettied up in any way. And it’s more impactful for it.

3)      ‘Enjoying this? You like the way I describe disgusting shit happening to people you probably walked past in the street last week? Good. You earned it. With your silence.’ Spider’s column, his description of the events unfolding before him, is an incredibly hard hitting piece of writing. Remorseless in its apportioning of blame, not just to the police doing the torturing or the politicians condoning it but the general public who are prepared to let it slide. Spider’s analysis shows torture as a facet of social structures, structures that we support by inaction.

4)      The general structure of the story and the riot are incredibly, frighteningly, true to life. It showcases disproportionate violent responses from authority in a way that’s horribly reminiscent of police responses to minority protests the world over.

5)      Despite the incredible level of technology in this society the torture we see is resolutely and realistically low tech. Beatings predominate, police boots on faces and fingers, batons, fists. There are mentions of incapacity sprays and ‘nerve bomblets’ and a single shot of what looks like Taser use.

6)      The reasons the attack stops are completely nonviolent: ‘So Royce explains that Civic Center got drowned in calls from people reading my column live off SPKF. Real-time public condemnation of the Angels 8 scam jammed up their switchboard. Civil rights groups were all over the cops like pox.’ A rare and realistically handled case of nonviolence being shown as effective in fiction.

7)      The way Spider is attacked is achingly true to life. It reminds me vividly of recent cases of attacks on journalists. The suddenness, the set up and the motivations all ring incredibly true.

8)      There’s no big heroic moment in the scene when Spider is beaten. He isn’t suddenly capable of fighting off four larger, armed men. He hits the ground before he even seems to register what’s happening and curls around himself as he’s kicked.

9)      Spider’s immediate response after being beaten to a bloody pulp is a wonderful combination of realistic resistance to torture and using the aftermath of torture to showcase a character’s personality: ‘I’m here to stay! Shoot me and I’ll spit your goddamn bullets back in your face! I’m Spider Jerusalem and fuck all of you!’

10)  Spider isn’t the only one affected by the attack in the long term; one of the women on the roof with him goes on to become his assistant, spurred on in part by the riot. The overall story comes back to the riot again and again as the plot dives deeper into an exploration of corruption, political ill-will, state violence and the role of journalism in fomenting change.

11)  The narrative tone is resolutely on the side of the powerless and the people suffering.

12) Intentionally or not Spider does exhibit behaviours that could be read as symptoms of torture. He’s socially isolated, shows difficult interacting with people, an addict and often seems to suffer from severe mood swings.

The Bad

 I’m honestly struggling to think of something. The closest I can get to a negative is Spider himself.

 He’s an abrasive, angry and often violent bastard.

 In the course of this issue alone he threatens at least two people with violence and hits several people with a car as he attempts to get into the heart of the riot. In the preceding issue he assaults three people and shoots wildly into a bar.

 Spider is not supposed to be a ‘good guy’ or a character that people should emulate.

 But I don’t think that’s necessarily a bad thing or even a bad depiction of torture. Fiction should have room for characters, even main characters, to do bad things.

 Overall

 There are occasions when the series handles torture badly, it falls into the unrealistic ‘torture leads to accurate information’ trope at least once later on. But this issue, for all its sci fi trappings, is incredibly realistic.

 It shows police brutality, torture as a function of government systems and neatly, engagingly outlines the ways in which we are culpable.

 It shows the pointlessness and cruelty of that violence. And it shows how exposure to that can galvanise people to fight for change.

 It shows the resilience and defiance of victims. It shows authorities targeting people who criticise them.

 And it uses this incident to define much of the rest of the story, turning it into a case study for a larger critique of the injustice and violence within social systems.

 Up on the Roof is a bloody good piece of storytelling and an excellent handling of torture.

Disclaimer