#victor is the real monster and i will die on this hill

[chiyune]

uhhhh

[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

[prurientpuddlejumper]

A Deep and Rapid River, Ch. 8 [18+]

<- Chapter 7 | Chapter 9 ->

Summary: PANIC.

Bess’s face is paper-white, her irises like pin-pricks in her eyes. She stands frozen in the doorway, unable to comprehend what she was utterly unprepared to see upon entry.

“B-Bess?” you stammer stupidly, also barely processing the reality of the situation.

The noise was enough to snap her out of her paralysis, and, like a rabbit freed from a snare, she turns and bolts.

She only makes it a few paces from the door, into the yard, when she staggers to a halt, breathing hard, muscles shaking, her hands clenching into fists. She roars like a lion—a savage, feral battle cry summoning courage she doesn’t have—and charges back into the barn. In one swift motion she crouches, still running, and snatches the pitchfork from the floor.

Brandishing the weapon at the enormous monster pinning you to the wall, she screams, “LET GO OF HER, YOU FREAK!”

She was ready for a fight that she knew she might lose. She wasn’t expecting the horrific brute to just stand there, slack-jawed. She wasn’t expecting you to shriek and throw your arms around your attacker, protecting it.

Her eyes drift down to your legs wrapped around his waist. Your bodies intertwined. Undressed.

Her tight-lipped grimace of fear evolves into a different kind of wide-eyed dread. This wasn’t an attack. Her rescue attempt wasn’t wanted. This was… what the fuck was this?! She drops the pitchfork and runs, and this time she doesn’t come back.

You feel your whole world spinning.

Nothing is real.

You can barely see.

It feels like you’re being strained through a narrow tube, squeezed like an apple in a cider press. You are vaguely aware of some pathetic whimpering noises, which you realize are coming from your throat.

The creature pulls out his flaccid cock from between your legs, and a flood of cum shocks you awake.

“Oh my god, oh god, oh fuck!” you repeat on loop as he sets you down, pacing as soon as your feet hit the floor. “Fuck. Oh my god.” She saw you—she saw you doing that! With your skirts around your waist and—you barely have time to be humiliated (though apparently embarrassment and terror can coexist, evidenced by your burning-hot face) because more importantly she saw him!

The look on her face. She was horrified. Horrified by what you were doing. What did she think was happening? Some kind of satanic ritual? Some dark witchcraft with a demon or evil spirit? That’s what everyone thinks, isn’t it? That you were being haunted by dark forces—and now they’ll know it’s true! All those suspicions and rumors confirmed tenfold!

Stupid!

You shouldn’t have been so quick to try to defend him from her—if you played along and acted as if he were attacking you, he could have escaped and you could've…

Could have what? Salvaged your own reputation and destroyed his once and for all? No. Your body moved on instinct anyway. Even rationally knowing she posed no real danger to him, you couldn’t let her threaten him without jumping in the way.

“Maybe she will understand,” the creature suggests. This time he is the voice of reason, placing a steadying hand on your shoulder to stop your pacing and muttering aloud. “The girl is your friend.”

You bark a cynical laugh. “Did it look like she understands? Maybe—maybe—if I could explain, but she’s gone. She—” Oh god. Your parents. She must have run straight to the house and told them what she saw!

You risk a peek outside, and glance up the hill. They aren’t storming down from the house at this very moment.

“They hitched the mule to the cart this morning, to bring jugs of milk to town to sell,” the creature explains. In your panic, you’d forgotten. One blessing on this cursed day.

“Bess must have run home, then. At a full sprint, that means we have about five minutes until the whole town is alerted, and about five minutes after that until they break down the barn door with torches and guns.” Finally you’re starting to think again, to plan. “What do we do?”

He clenches his jaw. He had hoped that your promise could come true. That you might be able to introduce him to others, and this time, with your aid, he would not be driven away. Though it was an accident, perhaps being seen by your friend was an opportunity.

But from experience, he knew you were right. That girl was certain to scream ‘monster’ to the entire town, and the hunter who had just sighted him not an hour before would validate her tale, and would be all too happy to learn where the vile creature was living. Any chance of a cordial introduction was ruined. His greatest concern now was your safety—being discovered as his ally placed you in grave danger of being hurt by a mob intent on killing him.

“We must run.”

“But where? There’s nowhere to go! We can’t just show up in a neighboring town—we’ll have the exact same problem, only worse, because I’ll be a stranger to them too.”

“Before our meeting, I wandered for many months in the wilderness, away from the persecution human eyes. The desert mountains and dreary glaciers were my refuge. The caves of ice were a dwelling to me, and the only one which man does not grudge.”

“Are you joking? We can’t just run away into the woods—I’ll starve! You might be fine, but I…” You’re breathing too fast, too shallow. The edges of your vision start closing in again. He takes your shoulders, enveloping them in his warm hands

“Food will be more plentiful now, berries and edible greens more abundant. Mousserons are growing. I will take care of you, I swear it.”

It isn’t terribly convincing, at least not to your panic-addled mind. You imagine yourself huddled and shivering on a floor of damp leaf litter, unable to feel your fingers. Goosebumps rush down your arms just picturing your freezing state. Feverish. What if you get sick?!

He senses the nightmares swirling before your eyes, and knows his words have done nothing to reassure you. There’s one more card he has yet to play which may yet abate your fear, though he is loath to admit it. “I know a place we may find shelter. Perhaps a home.”

“How? Where?”

“Geneva. Victor Frankenstein.”

Your eyes snap to his. “Your father? But, you despised him. He abandoned you. What makes you think he would help us now?”

“When I was first given the spark of life by his hand, I arose an uncoordinated, senseless mass of flesh. Endowed of all my present hideousness yet lacking any sign of intelligence, I must, in my infancy, truly have been a horror to behold. My creator could never have imagined I would ever find myself a companion so lovely.

“Such negligence on his part is why I hated him. To create a being capable of sensitive thought, who desired only to be loved, and was too ugly ever to be loved. Why must he have made me able to feel such longing!—such intense emotion!—yet deny me the possibility of companionship? For the maddening solitude he abandoned me to, I wished to inflict upon him suffering matching my own.

“Yet now, any reason I held for anger against him is dissipated. You make me happy to have been created. If the sorrow of my creation is the price to be paid for finding you, then I would happily pay it again. Therefore, for your sake, I can put aside resentment to beseech his aid.

“Perhaps his horror will have diminished now that I can petition myself to him rationally, and have a beautiful, charming mate to attest to my character. He is a scientist. He cannot be so prejudiced against me, whom he created, that he would not be moved by our tale.

“If he is not, regardless, I will not be so easily abandoned this time. He owes me a debt, as a father. He must help. He will help.”

A flicker of hope ignites inside you. If you have a destination—a benefactor—towards which you can run, then perhaps you won’t die like a lost lamb separated from the flock. You nod in understanding. Frankenstein may not willingly offer hospitality, but he will be convinced to give it one way or another—and if your daemon is willing to confront his past for your sake, then you must at least be willing to try.

“OK. I can pack all the supplies I’ll need to survive for a few weeks… warm clothing, blankets, food, what coin I have… and we’ll figure it out from there!”

Yes. This could work, this could really work!

Your spirits kick into high gear. “Hurry—we must hurry! How much time have we wasted talking? You are in the most danger if you are seen. I’ll pack a bag and meet you at my hiding spot behind the boulders in five minutes. Go!”

He kisses you quickly on the lips, and you both dash away to your respective tasks.

 ********

 Your feet pound up the creaky wooden staircase to your bedroom. Your home is small and rustic, but built large enough by your ancestors (out of wood from the surrounding forest) that you were afforded your own private room. It was a bedroom meant to be shared by many siblings, but you were the only one to survive past childhood. Heat filtered up to it from the cast-iron stove through loose floorboards, though on the coldest nights you slept in the kitchen.

It is dark for midday. Even after you throw open the shutters, you need to light a tallow candle to locate your belongings, and start shoving them into your pack. The sky outside is overcast with gray, foreboding clouds.

You look around for the last time at all of your needle-pointing hanging from the walls, charcoal drawings of birds and flowers sketched longingly on a winter day, and pages and pages of writing hidden under the mattress, bearing far too much of your heart to be found. It was a room full of yearning to leave, but it was yours. And you were leaving.

You squish the mass of fabrics down to make room for hardtack, carrots, cheese, and a jug of water you intend to steal from the kitchen. Less space is freed up than you hoped. You pull out a blanket that would have only gotten soaked and moldy the first time it rained anyway.

Will this really be enough to survive? It will have to be, you tell yourself as you sling the straps over your shoulders. It’s time to go.

The sound of voices and hoof-beats drift in through the walls. A jolt shoots through your chest. They were too close. If you ran out the door now, they would almost certainly see you. Shit. You weren’t an especially fast runner, you’d never lose whoever it was in a fair race. You pray they’ll head straight down to the barn looking for the creature, who should already be safely waiting at your meeting place. Then, once they’ve passed, you can slip out quietly and disappear into the trees.

The door opens.

Your hope is crushed beneath the threshold.

Is this it? Are you going to die? Is a mob going to pull you, screaming, heels dragging, from your home and burn you as a witch? Your breath catches in your throat, and you try to swallow but find that you can’t. All you can think is, I don’t want to die.

By a strange miracle, your terror is short-lived. There are only a handful of voices, not an angry mob, and two of them are your parents. Maybe they hadn’t heard yet. Maybe your best friend didn’t stir up a riot to hunt you down and kill you. Maybe, somehow, it was going to be OK.

They call your name. “Are you here? Come downstairs, we have a matter of urgent importance to discuss. Immediately.”

Maybe not.

You finally swallow the lump in your throat, and, tucking the bag behind your bedroom door, slowly descend the creaky stairs.

Your mother and father both have their arms crossed, and a different, yet equally stern expression upon their faces. Your father looks as though he could skin you alive and but would be too annoyed by the effort. Your mother looks at you disapprovingly, but with an odd smile threatening to show in the wrinkles at the corners of her eyes and mouth—as if she had just won a game you had forced her to play.

As you continue down the stairs, a third person comes into view. A young man with sandy blond hair. Ferdinand. Hairs raise on the back of your neck. What the hell is he doing here? The look on his face is almost the same as your mother’s, except his smile is unrestrained, vicious.

“Hello, darling! Wonderful news. We’re getting married!”

[ichorhalf]

                  ❛                        &    when    you’re    left    alone    at    the    feet    of    the    gods    ,    you’ll    turn    &    see    the    trail    of    destruction    left    in    your    path    .    ❜

                                         if  you  can  tell  ,  i’m  not  making  nearly  as  much  as  an  effort  as  i  did  with  dana  but  nonetheless  ,  this  bastard  is  here  i  guess  idk  what  to  tell  u  but  i  DO  be  hatin  him  haha

〔 RUDY    PANKOW,   TWENTY    -    THREE,   CIS    MALE,   NONE 〕╰    JONAH    WESTCOTT    just    came    over    half - blood    hill .    you    know ,    the    child    of    DINOYSUS    who    was    claimed    seven    years    ago ?    i’ve    heard    chiron    say    that    he    is    INTUITIVE    &    VERSED ,    but    if    you    ask    the    aphrodite    kids ,    they’d    say    they’re    NEFARIOUS    &    EXECRABLE .    i’d    say    they    remind    me    of    raising    a    glass    of    tinted    liquid    toward    a    nemesis    before    the    battle    ,    unlawfully    taking    a    crown    that    doesn’t    belong    to    him    -    he    crowns    himself    a    victor    ,    a    kiss    traded    with    chaos    in    the    shadows    on    a    reddened    campfire    &    sacrifices    made    with    a    bloodied    smile    -    he    plays    war    just    for    the    crimson    ,    especially    since    they're    AGAINST    THE    NEW    CABINS   .

❛   𝖈𝖍𝖆𝖕𝖙𝖊𝖗   𝖔𝖓𝖊   ╱  𝐚𝐛𝐫𝐢𝐝𝐠𝐞𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭  

𝑭𝑼𝑵𝑫𝑨𝑴𝑬𝑵𝑻𝑨𝑳𝑺

full  name  :  jonah  matthew  westcott

nickname(s) /  alias(es)  :  u  choose

age  /  dob  :  twenty  three  /  may  ,  seventeenth

hometown  :  juneau  ,  ak

current  location :  long  island  ,  ny  /  camp  half  blood

ethnicity :  caucasian

nationality  :  american

gender  :  cis  male

pronouns  :  he  /  him

orientation  :  graysexual  ,  grayromantic

religion :  polythestic

face  claim  :  rudy  pankow

language(s)  spoken  :  english  ,  ancient  greek  ,  some  latin  ,  some  norwegian

speech :  informal  ;  he  speaks  like  he’s  always  picking  a  fight  ,  like  there’s  so  much  malice  &  anger  behind  his  words  it’s  impossible  for  him  to  speak  correctly  .  slurred  words  are  a  constant  ,  half  spoken  &  half  coherent  they’ll  fling  from  his  lips  like  blades  before  he  even  has  a  chance  to  stop  them  .

hair  :  blonde  &  bright  ,  though  he  usually  has  them  hidden  underneath  a  baseball  cap  (  since  ,  he’s  got  one  in  every  color  -  thanks  ,  mr  .  d  )  to  hide  the  fact  that  he  can’t  manage  his  hair  .  always  messy  ,  always  looks  like  someone’s  just  held  his  hair  in  front  of  a  leaf  blower  -  it  doesn’t  matter  how  often  he  fixes  it  ,  it  goes  right  back  to  being  messy  .

eyes :  crystalline  blue  ,  backed  by  something  that  can  only  be  described  as  pure  wrath  .  joyless  &  often  angry  ,  the  only  glimpse  of  happiness  &  entertainment  stem  from  watching  him  watch  chaos  unfold  .

height  :  six  feet 

build  :  broad  &  athletic  ,  swimmer’s  body  .

tattoos  :  none  .

piercings :  none  .

scars  :  one  single  long  scar  that  runs  from  the  back  of  his  left  ear  down  the  side  of  his  neck  -  big  &  ugly  ,  it  wasn’t  received  in  battle  as  many  perceive  ,  but  in  an  accident  that  happened  just  feet  outside  of  camp  .  

clothing  style  :  messy  &  boyish  ,  beachy  as  if  he’s  adopted  the  persona  of  poseidon  .  always  seen  in  board  shorts  (  no  matter  the  season  )  &  some  form  of  colorful  button  up  ,  it’s  apparent  he  doesn’t  take  too  much  pride  his  appearance  -  since  ,  jonah  knows  he  can  get  away  with  a  lot  just  for  being  conventionally  attractive  .

usual  expression  :  written  in  wrath  ,  he’s  seen  too  much  &  lived  through  too  much  to  ever  close  his  eyes  &  dream  normally  .  he  hurts  more  than  he’ll  ever  let  on  ,  misses  too  many  people  that  have  died  protecting  him  &  it’s  evident  in  the  way  his  features  rest  when  he  thinks  nobody’s  looking  .  underneath  his  anger  &  his  unearned  confidence  rests  a  lot  of  pain  that  he’s  never  learned  to  resolve  .

distinguishing  characteristics  :  a  crooked  grin  -  signature  when  present  antagonizing  another  camper  ,  eyes  that  look  like  they  can  kill  (  which  ,  he’s  convinced  they  can  but  it’s  not  a  real  power  )

𝑹𝑼𝑴𝑰𝑵𝑨𝑻𝑰𝑶𝑵𝑺

exterior   :  absolutely  ruthless  ,  it’s  been  quietly  established  around  camp  not  to  talk  to  jonah  unless  you’re  in  the  mood  for  a  fight  .  he’s  got  a  problem  with  everyone  ,  even  the  nicest  &  kindest  of  demigods  .  a  lost  son  of  maybe  ares  ,  he’s  always  on  the  search  for  a  fight  or  an  argument  ,  anything  where  he  can  yell  &  spit  on  his  opponents  in  a  constant  search  of  letting  go  of  pent  up  anger  .  a  loss  of  morals  ,  he’ll  actively  go  against  the  grain  just  to  cause  a  ruckus  ;  byproduct  of  abandonment  issues  &  daddy  issues  ,  he  looks  to  eris  &  strife  as  leading  points  in  his  life  .

interior   :  so  angry  he  can’t  put  it  into  words  -  he  doesn’t  even  dream  like  normal  demigods  do  ,  but  he  doesn’t  dream  as  mortals  do  either  .  constantly  stuck  in  this  anger  he’s  never  learned  to  get  rid  of  ,  he’s  always  learned  to  act  out  &  lash  out  onto  others  before  ever  turning  inward  . 

𝑪𝑯𝑹𝑶𝑵𝑰𝑪𝑳𝑬

this  is  not  gna  be  pretty  i  spent  too  many  brain  cells  on  my  app  .

trigger  warnings  :  a  lot  of  death  ,  blood  ,  SOME  not  cool  descriptions  of  death

he’s  born  on  a  warm  day  in  juneau  ,  his  mother’s  the  bringer  of  spring  with  a  halo  of  golden  hair  that’s  wrapped  around  her  head  .  she  loves  him  ,  tells  the  bloodied  baby  in  her  arms  that  his  father  loves  him  too  -  but  jonah  never  gets  to  know  .  robbed  of  memory  ,  he  doesn’t  remember  being  grabbed  from  limp  arms  as  his  mother  meets  thanatos  -  the  first  of  many  deaths  that  he’ll  cause  .  cursed  by  a  god  that’s  supposed  to  love  him  ,  he’s  left  with  an  uncle  who  sees  a  dead  sister  in  him  ,  but  his  aunt  tries  to  love  him  anyway  .  she  wants  kids  ,  her  husband  never  wanted  any  -  jonah’s  a  blessing  in  disguise  .

&  oh  ,  is  he  loved  .  aunt  marjorie  picks  him  up  from  practice  &  wraps  his  sore  ankles  ,  gives  him  snacks  on  the  way  to  school  &  convinces  uncle  jeff  to  take  him  fishing  .  life  is  good  ,  even  if  his  guardians  always  share  a  hesitant  look  when  he  talks  about  the  griffins  flying  overhead  or  the  cyclops  who  ran  past  the  school  .  they  know  that  his  mother  attracted  a  god  ,  the  life  of  the  party  ,  of  course  only  she  could  attract  godhood  .  they  wrap  him  in  their  arms  every  night  &  recite  prayers  to  gods  he  can’t  pronounce  ,  kiss  him  goodnight  before  they  retreat  to  their  room  .  he  can  hear  them  boarding  up  the  house  every  night  before  he  goes  to  bed  .

ten  years  old  on  a  fishing  trip  when  uncle  jeff  falls  overboard  .  nobody  believes  jonah  when  he  says  he  was  pulled  over  by  a  creature  with  impossibly  long  teeth  ,  or  that  jonah  closed  his  eyes  &  heard  his  uncle  pop  before  disappearing   -  a  misuse  of  power  ,  aunt  marjorie  explains  that  accidents  happen  .  but  ,  she  doesn’t  try  to  anger  him  much  after  that  ;  she  doesn’t  have  to  worry  ,  she  looks  the  wrong  way  at  a  monster  on  the  way  to  the  airport  &  jonah  watches  as  she’s  flung  so  far  into  the  woods  he  can’t  see  her  disappear  .  he  emerges  from  the  wilderness  with  so  bloodied  &  dirtied  they  think  he’s  responsible  ,  but  it’s  not  human  blood  that’s  found  on  him  .  they  don’t  know  what  it  is  .

the  mainland  awaits  him  ,  several  years  jumping  from  family  member  to  family  member  before  finally  -  a  cousin  in  new  york  when  he’s  fifteen  .  noah’s  cool  ,  he’s  in  his  twenties  &  cleared  out  an  entire  room  to  take  care  of  him  &  jonah  finally  remembers  what  it’s  like  to  be  home  &  happy  .  the  eve  of  his  sixteenth  birthday  ,  he  discovers  a  series  of  letters  from  family  members  over  the  years  -   they’re  all  dead  .  uncle  jeff  ,  aunt  marjorie  ,  aunt  kelsey  in  oregon  ,  aunt  janice  in  wisconsin  .  his  story  unfolds  before  him  ,  he’s  dangerous  ,  the  son  of  a  god  -  &  suddenly  ,  he  knows  the  name  of  the  gods  marjorie  &  jeff  used  to  say  .

he  begs  noah  to  take  him  to  camp  half  blood  ,  tells  him  he  doesn’t  want  noah  to  die  either  .  his  cousin  is  cool  ,  laughs  &  reassures  him  that  the  westcott  lineage  is  strong  ,  that  they  can’t  be  wiped  out  that  easily  -  but  after  pressuring  &  pestering  ,  he  finally  agrees  to  bring  jonah  to  camp  .  minutes  down  the  road  ,  noah’s  car  hits  a  patch  of  black  ice  &  jonah  doesn’t  remember  anything  but  waking  up  with  a  healing  scar  &  notice  of  his  cousin’s  death  .

dionysus  claims  him  the  instant  they  meet  ,  admits  his  paternity  expecting  gratefulness  but  jonah  only  moves  into  his  cabin  by  throwing  his  things  .  over  the  next  few  years  he  grows  into  ...  a  gremlin  of  a  camper  .  deadly  behind  a  short  sword  ,  deadlier  behind  his  words  .  fights  with  camp  during  the  war  (  barely  ,  almost  spent  the  whole  thing  at  camp  instead  )  &  when  lyssa  admits  secession  from  camp  ,  almost  joins  her  -  but  chooses  to  stay  around  to  cause  as  much  havoc  as  he  can  before  leaving  .

[eddycurrents]

For the week of 11 November 2019

Quick Bits:

Batman & The Outsiders #7 throws some further ramifications of Ra’s al Ghul and his minions meddling with Duke and Sofia. Some particularly disturbing transformations going on with Duke that should be interesting. The level of intrigue that Bryan Hill is keeping in the story is gripping.

| Published by DC Comics

The Batman’s Grave #2 is another excellent issue. A little more packed with action than the first one, allowing Bryan Hitch to cut loose with some of the sequences. Also, I’m loving the humour that Warren Ellis is giving us between Alfred and Bruce. That acerbic wit is something we’ve seen from Alfred a lot and Ellis just nails the voice.

| Published by DC Comics

Battlepug #3 is more fun from Mike Norton, Allen Passalaqua, and Crank! Some really nice stuff here as Bryony cuts loose on Nobody’s Ponies. I absolutely love the mix of traditional sword and sorcery storytelling with rather over-the-top humour that basically lampoons it at the same time.

| Published by Image

Black Cat Annual #1 is a fun tale of a heist on the Maggia by Black Cat and Spider-Man from Jed MacKay, Joey Vazquez, Natacha Bustos, Juan Gedeon, Brian Reber, and Ferran Delgado. It features the usual humour and action that we see in the series and I quite like how the artists are broken up each following one particular aspect of the story. Though it’s all one narrative, it gives a nice differing feel to each part.

| Published by Marvel

Black Hammer / Justice League: Hammer of Justice #5 concludes what has been an excellent series from Jeff Lemire, Michael Walsh, and Nate Piekos. Ultimately, this has reminded me of the old JLA/JSA crossovers of old, and just feels great as an overall story. Plus the possibility of seeing a sequel.

| Published by Dark Horse & DC Comics

Black Panther and the Agents of Wakanda #3 begins “God Loves, Moon Kills”, another two-parter for this series, from Jim Zub, Lan Medina, Craig Yeung, Marcio Menyz, Federico Blee, and Joe Sabino. I love this story format, giving us essentially quick-hit missions dealing with a problem and then moving on. It’s yielded some pretty tight storytelling and some fascinating situations.

| Published by Marvel

Black Stars Above #1 is another incredible debut for Vault, with Lonnie Nadler, Jenna Cha, Brad Simpson, and Hassan Otsmane-Elhaou delivering an incredibly deep and unique horror story. It centres around a young woman in a family of fur traders, as the trade itself begins to die in Canada, and it’s impressive as to how real the characters and their struggle feels. The artwork from Cha and Simpson is exquisite.

| Published by Vault

Buffy + Angel: Hellmouth #2 continues Buffy and Angel’s descent through hell. It’s much more cerebral than you’d expect, with the demons trying to get into Buffy and Angel’s respective heads in order to manipulate and destroy them. Plus, a rather interesting surprise. Jordie Bellaire, Jeremy Lambert, Eleonora Carlini, Cris Peter, and Ed Dukeshire are doing some great work with the core of this event.

| Published by BOOM! Studios

Collapser #5 somehow gets even stranger in this penultimate issue as Liam creates a “perfect” world to run away from the problems he’s having in the real world. The real world bleeding through and a revelation of his girlfriend’s true intentions just ratchet up the strangeness further. Mikey Way, Shaun Simon, Ilias Kyriazis, Cris Peter, and Simon Bowland are just doing amazing work here.

| Published by DC Comics / Young Animal

Detective Comics #1015 takes an interesting turn as Nora decides that she likes being a villain. Through this, Peter J. Tomasi is definitely showing an interesting side to Mr. Freeze, emphasizing again that he’s a rather conflicted villain, only doing the various heinous actions to save his wife. Who now doesn’t need him.

| Published by DC Comics

Doctor Mirage #4 features more incredibly beautiful, inventive artwork from Nick Robles and Jordie Bellaire. The visual storytelling as Shan faces the Embalmer is just incredible. Magdalene Visaggio, Robles, Bellaire, and Dave Sharpe continue to deliver magic with this penultimate issue.

| Published by Valiant

Edgar Allan Poe’s Snifter of Terror: Season Two #2 is another entertaining issue. The lead tale from Tom Peyer, Greg Scott, Lee Loughridge, and Rob Steen has traditional EC Comics horror vibes, as a scientist tries to communicate with our worm overlords. In one of the comics back-ups Mark Russell, Peter Snejbjerg, and Steen revisit the world of the breakfast cereal monsters. And there’s the usual prose pieces, poetry, and Hunt Emerson’s Black Cat. 

| Published by Ahoy

Event Leviathan #6 concludes this series from Brian Michael Bendis, Alex Maleev, and Josh Reed. How much you enjoy it will hinge on how much you enjoy Maleev’s art and the realization that most of this tale is about moving one person off the board and the reveal of Leviathan to set up further stories. Also, Bendis paints a Batman who is ridiculously terrible at hiding his secret identity.

| Published by DC Comics

Fallen Angels #1 is the final new first issue of this first wave of “Dawn of X” titles and in many ways it’s more personal than the other X-titles, even Excalibur, delving into Psylocke (the former Kwannon, not Betsy Braddock) and her past. Bryan Hill, Szymon Kudranski, Frank D’Armata, and Joe Sabino deliver an interesting story with hooks on the darker side of the X-world, including some ominous bits from Magneto and Sinister, but I question the inclusion of X-23 and Cable. They don’t exactly seem to fit the roles they’ve been put into here.

| Published by Marvel

Family Tree #1 is a phenomenal debut from Jeff Lemire, Phil Hester, Eric Gapstur, Ryan Cody, and Steve Wands. This first issue perfectly captures that insidious nature of family drama mixed with creeping terror and body horror as a bizarre plague begins spreading across America.

| Published by Image

Far Sector #1 is one of the most impressive debuts I’ve read in a long time. NK Jemisin, Jamal Campbell, and Deron Bennett create a rich new world in the City Enduring and a compelling character in the new Green Lantern, Sojourner Mullein. The murder mystery that ties everything together is just the icing on the cake. Incredible world-building here and drop dead gorgeous artwork. Do not miss this.

| Published by DC Comics / Young Animal

The Flash #82 is part one of “Rogues’ Reign” from Joshua Williamson, Rafa Sandoval, Jordi Tarragona, Arif Prianto, and Steve Wands. It features a Central City taken over by the Rogues, transformed into their own personal playgrounds, as the Flash is nowhere to be found. It’s not bad, but the amount you’re going to like it may be relative to how much you’re also enjoying “City of Bane” and the recently concluded similar arc involving the Trickster.

| Published by DC Comics

Folklords #1 is off to a fantastic start from Matt Kindt, Matt Smith, Chris O’Halloran, and Jim Campbell. It starts off with a precocious kid in a fantasy world who’s been having visions of what essentially amounts to our world, whose quest sets out a rather draconian lockdown on their society when the Librarians rein in everyone from illicit action, like finding the Folklords. Highly recommended.

| Published by BOOM! Studios

Forgotten Home #2 reveals more about Jannada, its history and society, and how an unjust queen was brought to rule through racial warfare. Love the artwork from Marika Cresta and Matt Emmons.

| Published by Vices Press

Gideon Falls #18 unleashes the Laughing Man on reality in part two of “The Pentoculus”. Jeff Lemire, Andrea Sorrentino, Dave Stewart, and Steve Wands are beautifully unfolding this twisted and horrific flower of a story.

| Published by Image

Gotham City Monsters #3 adds another element of DC lore to the series as Melmoth claims a particular prize. I really quite like how Steve Orlando, Amancay Nahuelpan, Trish Mulvihill, and Tom Napolitano are pulling together disparate bits of Gotham and beyond to craft this story.

| Published by DC Comics

Guardians of the Galaxy #11 is the penultimate issue of this series from Donny Cate, Cory Smith, Victor Olazaba, David Curiel, and Cory Petit. It’s basically a big fight between the remaining Guardians and everyone else. It doesn’t go so well.

| Published by Marvel

Hawkman #18 takes a somewhat different approach to Hawkman’s infection than what we’ve seen of the others so far. Rather than being a dark reflection of Hawkman’s own desires, he’s taken over by an Earth-3 incarnation in Sky Tyrant. Robert Venditti, Pat Olliffe, Tom Palmer, Jeremiah Skipper, and Richard Starkings & Comicraft instead use that to play the spirit of our Hawkman against.

| Published by DC Comics

Hit-Girl: Season Two #10 is part two of “India”. The artwork from Alison Sampson and Tríona Farrell is impressive, given an amazing level of detail to bringing Mumbai to life. Brutal and rich in colour.

| Published by Image

House of Whispers #15 takes a new twist as the Corinthian finds the House of Watchers, takes over, and everything changes. Nalo Hopkinson, Dan Watters, Dominike “Dono” Stanton, Zac Atkinson, and AndWorld Design kick off some new terrors as even Erzulie’s status quo is upended, and we get another guest appearance of John Constantine’s homecoming.

| Published by DC Comics - Black Label / The Sandman Universe

Invaders #11 pushes deeper into Steve and Namor’s history and relationship, as Steve refuses to give up on his old friend. There’s some very heavy, very good character work here as we head into the final issue. Chip Zdarsky, Carlos Magno, Butch Guice, Alex Guimarães, and Travis Lanham continue to astonish at the incredibly high bar they’ve set for this story.

| Published by Marvel

Justice League Odyssey #15 is a fun tale from Dan Abnett, Will Conrad, Rain Beredo, Pete Pantazis, and AndWorld Design. Jessica Cruz leading a rag tag band of villains (and Orion) against Darkseid and the previous JLO turned evil is unfolding as a very entertaining story with some interesting twists. Also, Dex-Starr is awesome.

| Published by DC Comics

Morbius #1 isn’t a bad start from Vita Ayala, Marcelo Ferreira, Roberto Poggi, Dono Sánchez-Almara, and Clayton Cowles. This first issue is largely just action as Morbius sets out on his quest to cure himself, again, but it’s not bad. The art from Ferreira, Poggi, and Sánchez-Almara is very nice.

| Published by Marvel

Oblivion Song #21 continues the slowburn investigation and reconnaissance of the Faceless Men’s base, as Marco tries to map it out and discover where they’re holding all of the people who decided to stay in Oblivion. Gorgeous artwork from Lorenzo De Felici and Annalisa Leoni as we see more of the Faceless Men’s technology.

| Published by Image / Skybound

Psi-Lords #6 does a bit more world-building as we find out more about the Psi-Lords and the Starwatchers, even as the four Earthers are beset by the other Marked in a bizarre farce of a trial. Fred Van Lente, Renato Guedes, and Dave Sharpe are telling a pretty great sci-fi adventure tale here. It largely stands alone in the greater Valiant universe framework and deserves more attention than its getting.

| Published by Valiant

Punisher: Soviet #1 is another welcome return to the Punisher by Garth Ennis, stepping back into Frank’s adventures like he never left. Ennis, Jacen Burrows, Guillermo Ortego, Nolan Woodard, and Rob Steen deliver a brutal and bloody beginning as Frank chases down someone who everyone seems to think is him.

| Published by Marvel / MAX

Reaver #5 is a fairly impressive spotlight for Breaker as he does what he really didn’t want to do again in order to help his “friends”. Justin Jordan, Rebekah Isaacs, Alex Guimarães, and Clayton Cowles present a number of twists and surprises in one of the most brutal issues yet.

| Published by Image / Skybound

Ronin Island #8 sees the remaining islanders largely stand together as they try to both stand up to and flee from the Shogun’s soldiers and madness. With a terrible occurrence that looks like it’s going to cause even more problems for the survivors. Giannis Milonogiannis and Irma Kniivila’s art continues to be everything.

| Published by BOOM! Studios

Sea of Stars #5 very nicely puts the pieces together as a disconsolate Gil has been captured and basically given up thinking Kadyn dead is brought to the world where his son is about to be gutted. Jason Aaron, Dennis Hallum, Stephen Green, Rico Renzi, and Jared K. Fletcher are telling an incredible story here and this issue throws even more twists at the reader.

| Published by Image

Seven Days #2 unfolds some of the fallout of people learning that they only have seven days left, as the superhero community is enlisted to try to stop whatever the shiny harbinger things are. Gail Simone, José Luís, Jonas Trinidade, Michelle Madsen, and Saida Temofonte are continuing to build an intriguing story here as we get more and more of the breadth of the Catalyst Prime universe.

| Published by Lion Forge / Catalyst Prime

Superman #17 is kind of a housekeeping issue from Brian Michael Bendis, Kevin Maguire, Paul Mounts, and Dave Sharpe, acting as a prologue to “The Truth”. A bit of reflection on the Unity Saga, Event Leviathan, and Year of the Villain.

| Published by DC Comics

Tales from the Dark Multiverse: Blackest Night #1 might well be the best of these one-shots yet. Tim Seeley, Kyle Hotz, Dexter Vines, Walden Wong, Danny Miki, David Baron, Allen Passalaqua, and Tom Napolitano give us a bleak look at a world where Sinestro chose not to share the power of the White Lantern light and essentially everything fell to Nekron and the Black Lanterns. It’s a very unique take on the zombie apocalypse on its own, made more interesting as a fallen Sinestro, Lobo, and Dove try to save this universe. The art from Hotz, Vines, Wong, Miki, Baron, and Passalaqua is perfect.

| Published by DC Comics

Trees: Three Fates #3 continues to build up the weird atmosphere from last issue, then turns around and focuses on more of the gritty aspects of Oleg, Mik, and Nina. Gorgeous artwork all throughout from Jason Howard and Dee Cunniffe.

| Published by Image

Triage #3 shifts to Commander Marco’s reality as the group flee from the Hunter. I really like what Phillip Sevy and Frank Cvetkovic have been doing with this story. Great high concept, but the interpersonal relationships are where it’s really at.

| Published by Dark Horse

Usagi Yojimbo #6 is a beautiful updating and embellishment of the very first story of Usagi from Albedo by Stan Sakai and Tom Luth. This single issue story really captures the spirit and magic of all of Sakai’s stories, wonderfully portraying his mix of action and folklore.

| Published by IDW

Vampirella/Red Sonja #3 explores more of what the Russians were doing in regards to Drakulon and more. More very nice humour from Jordie Bellaire in the interactions between Vampirella and Sonja.

| Published by Dynamite

Wonder Woman #82 begins “The Wild Hunt” from the new creative team of Steve Orlando, Kieran McKeown, Scott Hanna, Romulo Fajardo Jr., and Pat Brosseau. It very much continues on from the plot threads and elements of the previous run, continuing to build on the current conflict between Wonder Woman and Cheetah.

| Published by DC Comics

X-Men #2 is pretty damn great, going back to the big and wild ideas bringing new elements into the X-universe, all while Cyclops gives some of the strangest parenting. Jonathan Hickman, Leinil Francis Yu, Garry Alanguilan, Sunny Gho, and Clayton Cowles give us a new mystery with the arrival of Arakko and the first of -|A|-’s missing original horsemen.

| Published by Marvel

Other Highlights: Age of Conan: Valeria #4, Agents of Atlas #4, Catwoman #17, Doctor Who: The Thirteenth Doctor Holiday Special #1, The Dollhouse Family #1, Elvira: Mistress of the Dark #10, Firefly: The Sting, Future Foundation #4, Ghosted in LA #5, GI Joe: A Real American Hero #268, Girl on Film, Go Go Power Rangers #25, Harley Quinn & Poison Ivy #3, History of the Marvel Universe #5, Marvel Action: Spider-Man #11, Midnight Vista #3, Moonshine #13, Runaways #27, RWBY (print) #2, RWBY (digital) #6, Savage Sword of Conan #11, Star Wars #74, Star Wars: Jedi - Fallen Order: Dark Temple #4, Star Wars: Target Vader #5, The Unbeatable Squirrel Girl #50

Recommended Collections: Babyteeth - Volume 3, Dark Red - Volume 1, Fallen World, GLOW - Volume 1: Versus the Star Primas, Justice League - Volume 4: The Sixth Dimension, Savage Avengers - Volume 1: City of Sickles, Star Wars: Age of Resistance - Heroes, Star Wars Adventures - Volume 7: Pomp and Circumstance, Wonder Twins - Volume 1: Activate

d. emerson eddy can hear the scratching at the walls of reality.

[actuallylorelaigilmore]

A - Z (Fandom ‘Come At Me, Friend’ Meme)

WELL THEN *cracks knuckles* HERE WE GO 

(all 26 letters behind a cut bc this is very long)

A - Your current OTP(s)/OT3(s)/OTX(s)

As of this hour, my top OTPs are Penelope/Schneider from ODAAT and Joyce/Hopper from Stranger Things. But I have endless numbers of them, even within each fandom.

B - A pairing you initially didn’t consider but someone changed your mind

Jean/Alice from TDBM. 

C - A ship you have never liked and probably never will (be nice)

Um…hmm. I’m such a multishipper, I don’t spend a lot of time thinking about my NOTPs. I’ve never been onboard the Keens from The Blacklist, though. Not even a little. I only enjoyed Tom in his original villainous state.

D - A pairing you wish you liked but just can’t (again: be nice)

A couple of my spouse’s faves, I really wish I liked too, especially Sam/Josh and Mal/Simon. I don’t like one of the characters in each very much, so I’ve never been able to get into them–even though I understand them, and have had fun writing them…I just don’t love them too.

E - Have you added anything cracky/hilarious to your fandom, if so, what

Yeah, mostly graphics, though. I don’t think I’ve ever written crackfic. I did New York Times Minus Content edits for TDBM, a ton of those. Also Sext Message Error sets for Lizzington and for Josh/Donna. And Welcome To Nightvale sets for iZombie and Lizzington. And OTP Bot sets for Lizzington.

And this isn’t EXACTLY crack, but my original tumblr claim to fame was this Hamilton/TWW crossover that got reblogged by Lin himself.

F - What’s the longest you’ve ever been in a fandom

Mm, the first time I actively joined a fandom was Buffy, and I was about 14 when that started for me…so as of this year I’ll have been in that fandom for 20 years! But I’ve been a fangirl literally my whole life, I just didn’t really join fandoms before the internet, and I started using the internet more in junior high and HS.

G - Do you remember your first OTP, if so who was in it

Lou/Joey from Brotherly Love, or Claire/Trevor from Cupid (original run), or Dharma and Greg, or Allison/Wade from CryBaby, or Idgie/Ruth from Fried Green Tomatoes. I was a shipping prodigy, and the couples I was obsessed with as a literal child blur together a bit in the timeline, so I’m not completely sure which came first.

H - What is your favorite source text for fandom stuff (e.g., tv shows, movies, books, anime, Western animation, etc.) 

TV shows.

I - Has tumblr caused you to stop liking any fandoms, if so, which and why

The Aaron Tveit fandom made me uncomfortable watching BrainDead before I even had the chance to decide if I liked it or not. Most fandoms I love, though. I prefer to ignore the drama and focus on the people I actually like. 

J - Name a fandom you didn’t care/think about until you saw it all over tumblr

SO MANY. Parks and Rec, TDBM, Stranger Things…a significant portion of my watchlist comes from this hellsite by now–I have friends with good taste.

K -Say something nice about someone in any of your fandoms

@mossdonnatella is in a lot of my fandoms. She is a much better fic writer than she thinks she is!!

L - Say something genuinely nice about a character who isn’t one of your faves (chars you’re neutral on are fair game, as are chars you dislike)

I really ended up disliking Jacob a lot, on Grace and Frankie. But I will say that in the beginning he is very respectful of Frankie’s boundaries and tries to be patient with her, and I did like that.

M - Say something genuinely nice about a ship that you don’t ship (or its shippers, or anything related to you)

I don’t actively ship Jancy on Stranger Things after seeing S1 (I don’t really ship Steve/Nancy either, though…I think I mostly just ship Nancy x happiness) but the moment when her mom knocks on her bedroom door and they reach for each others’ hands instinctively? That is a damn fine understated sweet connection moment and I really enjoyed and believed it.

N - Name three things you wish you saw more or in your main fandom (or a fandom of choice)

Okay since a lot of my top fandoms are for shows that ended a long time ago, I’m going with One Day At A Time. In fic or in canon, I want to see a lot more of Schneider being Penelope’s BFF and her confidant. I want more serious!Schneider moments bc it turns out the actor rocks at them, and I want to see Pen really get to move on from Victor as her kids get older, I want real confirmation that she’s finally past any possibility of reconciliation with him bc she deserves SO MUCH BETTER.

O - Choose a song at random, which ship or character does it remind you of

Randomizing my music gave me “Quiet” by MiLCK feat. GW Sirens and Capital Blend. 

Sample lyrics:

Cuz no one knows me, no one ever willIf I don’t say something, take that dry blue pillThey may see a monster, they may run awayBut I have to do thisI can’t keep quiet, no A one woman riot

Despite the mature meaning behind the lyrics, and probably because I’m watching Stranger Things right now, it reminds me of Eleven, the tiny badass fighting her way to freedom.

P - Invent a random AU for any fandom (we always need more ideas)

Alright, I’m gonna invent one right off the top of my head right here and now since you asked. Um… a One Day At A Time AU in which Penelope meets Schneider not as her landlord but as a patient, once she becomes an NP. Doctor/patient “okay if you won’t stop asking me out then get a new doctor so I can say yes” fluff ensues.

Q - A ship you’ve abandoned and why

Lizzington. I’m technically still writing fic for it bc I have a chapter fic to finish, but I haven’t watched the show in years, I avoid content for it, and have no interest in it anymore besides the phantom limb feeling of having been so invested in a ship for that long and making friends around it.

R - A pairing you ship that you don’t think anyone else ships

Well, since I mentioned it earlier, I think I’m the only person ever to watch the scenes Bud and Brianna have together in Grace and Frankie and think “that should really be a thing.” 

Also…Kate/Donna from The West Wing. Based entirely on one scene.

S - Show us an example of your personal headcanon (prompts optional but encouraged)

I genuinely don’t understand this question, sorry. What’s an ‘example’ of my headcanon, and how does that relate to prompts? If somebody wants to explain this to me, I’ll answer it. 

T - Do you have any hard and fast headcanons that you will die defending, about anything at all (gender identity, sexual or romantic orientation, extended family, sexual preferences like top/bottom/switch, relationship with poetry, seriously anything)

Yep yep yep. Andy was the leak, not Toby, and that is the hill I will die on always. I’m sure I have others, but that’s the big one.

U - 5 favorite characters from 5 different fandoms

Toby Ziegler (TWW), Alice Harvey (TDBM), Lorelai Gilmore (Gilmore Girls), Jim Hopper (Stranger Things), and Spencer Hastings (from what I just saw of PLL with @actuallylukedanes). 

V - 3 OTPs from 3 different fandoms

Luke/Lorelai, Gilmore Girls. Parker/Hardison/Eliot, Leverage. Joyce/Hopper, Stranger Things.

W - 5 favorite ships and 5 kinks you like best for said ships

Josh/Donna (TWW), Donna in control. Matthew/Alice (TDBM), hurt/comfort sex. Alvareider (ODAAT), “whoops are we kissing wait do we like each other?”Jared/Miss Parker (The Pretender), conflicted kisses up against wallsI’m having trouble thinking of a 5th one but I used to really like Lizzington angry!sex bc damn that ship was angsty

X - top 5-10 characters who are yoUR PRECIOUS BABIES AND YOU WILL DIE DEFENDING THEM

Eleven, Toby Ziegler, Schneider, Lena Luthor, Logan Echolls, literally every main character on The Good Place.

Y - What are your secondhand fandoms (fandoms you aren’t in personally but are tangentially familiar with because your friends/people on your dash are in them)

Game of Thrones, Agents of Shield, Doctor Who (though I finally have started this one!), Jane the Virgin, The Worst Witch, and lots more…I like learning about fandoms secondhand. 

Z - Just ramble about something fan-related, go go go (prompts optional but encouraged)

Every single one of these tiny Stranger Things children in S1 is the epitome of epic friendship and I love it. Mike jumps off a cliff to protect Dustin and Dustin’s willing to get his teeth cut out to protect Mike and Lucas offers a sincere apology when he’s wrong, something most adults still suck at, and Will tells Mike the truth even when he would benefit from lying and Eleven chooses death to save them all and they are beautiful and perfect and I love them.

[the-rolling-libero]

Starshaper

If you’ve got the endurance for a grand prix qualification,” Victor said, wagging a finger, “you’ve got the endurance for a little hike.”

Victor trotted ahead, noticeably light on his feet compared to Yuri, who had the privilege of carrying a thirty pound backpack.

“Mphff hur murrph,” Yuri said. “Hrrmp mannan rumph hum.” He yanked down a scarf that appeared to be slowly eating his face. “This thing is going to strangle me,” he said, confirming Victors suspicion of the scarf’s malicious vendetta.

“Which means you probably won’t die of exhaustion,” Victor chirped back.

“It’s close.”

“You know, short hikes are typically a mile or two. We’re going on five.”

Victor feigned surprise. “Are we? Well, then it can’t be too much farther.”

Despite his complaining (muffled by nefarious neckwear), Yuuri trudged onwards, his boots crunching snow under every step. Victor slowed to Yuri’s pace. “It’s actually just over this ridge,” Victor said. “I wouldn’t push my star pupil too hard just before their big day.”

Yuuri’s response was lost to the woolen clutches of his scarf, but the line of tension threading through his body escaped as a long sigh. Victor was sure that the tension wouldn’t leave for long. It never did. Every day saw Yuri drawn tighter and tighter, a quivering bowstring drawn back by competition. In a week everything would be different; his arrow spent, the string lax once again, Yuri could unwind.

Of course, Victor imagined that certain future conversations would be rather stressful in their own way. But they wouldn’t be having those for some time.

They crested the ridge and Victor felt Yuri’s gaze.

“It’s ours,” Victor said.

“No,” Yuri breathed. One look was all he needed to go scrambling down the side of the hill, tension lost to the coil and slide of freshly fallen snow. Victor followed after in an easier pace, careful of the icy slope.

Waiting for them at the bottom of the hill was a small wooden building painted– perhaps overenthusiastically– a color that could only be referred to as exuberant blue. It was a like the platonic concept of blue had drawn a self portrait of itself while on an incredibly improbable amount of ecstasy. It was a cheery color, despite its rather revolving door attitude towards rehabilitation. Victor caught up to Yuuri at the bottom of the slope. “It’s very–” Yuuri started. “I mean, it’s lovely. It’s just quite– I don’t know how to say it, but, it just strikes me as--” “Blue?”   Yuuri shot Victor a relieved glance. It was impossible not to notice, of course, but for some reason visitors always seemed unwilling to comment on it. The color might seem unseasonably joyful perhaps, like a mariachi band at a funeral, and perhaps people felt like it was committing some sort of social egress to mention it-- like pointing out the fact that someone had hired a mariachi band for a funeral. “Do you like it? I chose it myself,” Victor said. “Of course you did.”

Victor looked it up and down once more before opening the door. They stepped inside.

“When did you have time to do this?” Yuuri asked, gesturing at the entry hallway. He stomped his boots, removed his hat, and extricated himself from his scarf with some effort.

“Well, I imagine the decor was decided a long time ago. This kind of blue doesn’t just happen overnight, you know.” Victor did the same, shrugging off his jacket and hanging it on the pegs by the door.

“I’m just amazed that you managed to rent a cabin in such a short time.” Yuuri laughed. “I mean, did you know the plane was going to get canceled? There’s no way you could have booked this in advance.”

“You’ve caught me. I can see the future, and I put my powers to use in the ultimate realm of real estate.”

“Victor,” Yuuri groaned. “How much did this cost last minute?”

Victor turned to face Yuuri. “Not. One. Cent,” He said, tapping Yuuri on the nose with each word. Yuuri’s face flooded with color. “I own it.”

Victor grinned knowingly and strode out of the hallway and into the kitchen. Yuuri sputtered right behind, questions rattling off his tongue like fireworks on New Year’s Eve-- constant, loud, but essentially all the same.    

“How has this never come up?” Yuuri inquired as Victor walked to the counter. “Why do you own a cabin in the middle of the woods?” Yuuri pushed as Victor rummaged through the cabinet. “What kind of tea is that?” Yuuri asked as Victor held up a box for appraisal.

“Mint. Do you want some?”

“Well, yes, but--” Yuuri started.

“Fantastic. I’ll put the kettle on,” Victor continued, absolutely disregarding Yuuri’s frazzle and taking no small delight in it.  

“Are you running some sort of double life?” Yuuri asked.

Victor feigned confusion. “I don’t think I have the time, frankly. I spend so long skating that any double life I led would be severely neglected.”

The water bubbled happily on the stove. Rather than freezing in the lake outside, this water considered it self lucky. It was nice and toasty in the coziest little pot that it had ever been in. Why, it was quite warm. Actually, distressingly warm-- enough to call it hot-- and it was still getting hotter. It was burning, respite unlikely, escape impossible, the only way out was as steam, and oh, god, hotter and hotter--

The kettle whistled.

“Sugar?” Victor asked.

Yuuri shook his head dumbly. After a long moment he recovered himself and tried a different angle. “Why didn’t you just tell me that we were going to the cabin? Why all the mystery?” He asked.

Victor shot Yuuri a bemused look. “I just wanted it to be a surprise, is all.” He handed Yuuri his cup of tea and settled down at the table by the window. It only had two chairs, and since Victor was occupying one of them it seemed the logical move for Yuuri to take the other.

“It would have been a lot easier if you’d just told me,” Yuuri insisted, sipping his drink. “I was half-convinced I was going to die from hypothermia.”

“Your scarf would’ve gotten you first,” Victor muttered. “What’s wrong with a little suspense?”

“You could be a crazy axe murderer taking me out to the woods to kill me. There’s a difference between suspense and potential murder,” Yuuri replied.

“And my taking you to a conveniently isolated cabin in the woods steered you away from that assumption?”

Yuuri just smiled into his tea. “I’m willing to be murdered so long as I’m warm when it happens. That’s really my only requirement.” Victor followed his gaze out the window and noted that the snow had finally taken that difficult but necessary step that all young precipitation must take, and was indeed drifting resolutely down towards its future on the ground. The clouds had been threatening snow all day, so it came as no surprise to Victor. Yuuri, on the other hand, watched the snow fall with quiet reverence.  

“If you’re looking to die warm, ice skating was probably a poor career choice,” Victor said.  

Yuuri shrugged, his eyes never leaving the window. “How many conveniently isolated cabins have you got tucked away?”

“Just the one. It’s a family home, a--” he paused, his eyebrows drawing together. “I’m not sure there’s a word for it in English. In Russian, this place is called a ‘dacha'. It’s something like a beachhouses to an American, a place where people go to get away from city life.”

“I see,” Yuuri said.

“It’s normally more of a summer home,” Victor continued to explain. “But I thought that we could use a break, and since we were in the area anyway it seemed like the natural choice.”

“It’s lovely.” Yuuri’s voice was soft as he said this, softer than the unbroken snow outside, softer than the dark-swabbing clouds shedding their burdens, softer even than the sunlight that fell like pale blush across his cheekbones and hands. Yuuri himself was so soft, from his stomach to his eyes, and Victor adored it. Tension did not come naturally to Yuuri.

If Victor was being honest with himself-- which he made a point of doing only very rarely-- he would say that of course he had brought Yuuri to the dacha to unwind. He would explain that Yuuri needed a break more than Georgi needed Tinder, and that the dacha was a place separate from the outside world, an asylum of the kind that only Russian woods could provide. He would then, quite calmly, mention to himself that his tea was boiling hot and that he had burnt his tongue.

Victor set down his tea so quickly that some of it sloshed over the sides, scalding his hand in the process. He hissed a quick breath and set to cleaning it up. Yuuri’s contemplation of the snow broke with the sound and he silently took a napkin to clean up the mess that Victor was attempting to mop up with his shirt.

Yuuri sipped at his tea.

“You’re a monster,” Victor said. Yuuri cocked his head to the side. “Do you not have tastebuds?” Victor asked. “Or nerves?”

Yuuri just smiled that soft smile of his and took another sip of tea.

“So,” Victor said, ignoring the gut feeling that Yuuri was inhuman. “We have until ten tomorrow to do whatever we like. That’s when we’ve got to leave for the plane.”

“I didn’t bring anything to do. I’d rather stay inside, since I don’t want to--”

“Yes, yes,” Victor waved a hand. “You don’t want to get sick before a competition.” He leaned across the table to take Yuuri’s hands in his, his eyes gleaming. “It’s a good thing that the dacha has a full stock of board games. How do you feel about Jenga?”

---

“I hate Jenga,” Victor groaned, lying prostrate amongst a forest of toppled blocks. “I forgot how much I hate Jenga.”

---

Yuuri smiled once more to try to comfort Victor, but he was making little progress.

“A picnic would’ve been very nice if it weren’t...you know, freezing cold and dark. And the food is still good inside,” Yuuri said.

“I just thought it would be fun,” Victor sniffed. “We always used to have picnics next to the lake in the summer.” He picked at a stalk of broccoli with that forlorn look he always got when his plans didn’t work out.

“You’re not a practical thinker. It’s okay.”

“Victor pushed around the food on his plate. “You’re not upset that we can’t have a picnic?” Victor asked.

“I certainly wasn’t expecting one. It’s more than enough for me that someone made me dinner.”

 Victor scrutinized Yuuri for a few long seconds before he went back to his meal, munching much more contentedly now. Yuuri was still more wound up than Victor thought he ought to be, but after a decadent afternoon of doing absolutely nothing, Yuuri was making progress. That thought made his decidedly subpar pasta seem gourmet.

“After dinner, are you going to tell me what was in that backpack you forced me to lug up a mountain?” Yuuri asked. “And tell me, perhaps, why I was the one carrying it?”

“Because I, my dear, am retired.”

Yuuri’s face tightened and Victor began to regret having mentioned that little fact. The question of retirement lurked behind Yuuri’s eyes like a grim reaper. Or a cataract-- and Yuuri’s eyes were bad enough without either of them.   

“In the bag, you’ll note, are some things. And food for today, but that’s irrelevant,” Victor said.

“Food,” Yuuri said, gesturing pointedly with his fork, “Is very rarely irrelevant. And what are ‘things’?”

“Things are things that will be relevant.” Victor pushed his plate towards Yuuri so that Yuuri could finish his meal. “Even more so than food.”

“I’m looking forward to it, then” Yuuri said. “Are you sure that you’re done?”  

“There’s more in the kitchen if I want it.”

Yuuri’s eyes gleamed, and Victor couldn’t hold back a laugh. “No katsudon, I’m afraid, but what my food lacks in quality, I make up in quantity.”

Yuuri chuckled too and the conversation moved on, a quiet to and fro of comments and  smiles and laughs. It was the kind of conversation that you don’t remember for the words, but for the feelings that weave the words together. Together they spoke a tapestry of warmth, comfort, and maybe even a little bit of love. It was always hard to tell with these things.

“If you’ll come outside, I’ll show you what was in the bag,” Victor said once they had finished their meal.  

“Not another picnic?” Yuuri said, a question in his voice. “We should probably clean this up first.”

“No!” Victor protested. “No work! No cleaning! Relaxing only.”

“I thought this was for both of us to relax, Victor,” Yuuri replied, a calm counterpoint to Victor’s consternation. “If I don’t take care of this, I’ll be stressing about it all night.”   

“Watching you work is stressful.”

Yuuri rolled his eyes and stood. “Let me get the dishes to the kitchen. We can finish cleaning up after you’ve shown me whatever you decided to saddle me with.”

“I’ll allow it,” Victor said, like it was a great concession on his part.  

They gathered their plates and cups and silverware and piled them (somewhat precariously) in the sink. When all of that was done, Victor turned to Yuuri and grinned. “Give me ten minutes, then come outside. You’ll see what was in the bag.”   

“You and your suspense.”

Victor flashed another open-toothed smile and dashed from the kitchen.

A few beats passed and Victor reappeared. “I forgot the bag.” And then he was gone.

---                       

Victor was a performer. Even in the years before he took to the ice, he had been anxious to arrange things into something that other people wanted to watch. A mess of piano recitals, school talent shows, and-- of course-- skating, gave him the confidence to perform things that would break a less experienced performer. It was how he kept his shows fresh, interesting, daring.

He had no idea if this would work, but performers do not let their nerves show. Nerves kill a show like nothing else-- Yuuri would know.

Ouch. Victor winced, but replaced his smile with practiced grace as he saw the front door open. Any second now and Yuuri would round the corner and see the lake. He’d see it exceptionally well, thanks to the lights that Victor had scattered along the shore. They cast a soft golden glow on everything, a warm contest with the lancing moonlight.

In the center of it all was Victor, as always. Victor was walking on water. That feat was made less impressive by the fact that the water was frozen, but still.

Yuuri approached Victor with quick, loud steps. The valley was quiet, the summer symphony of insects dulled to a low murmur. Victor could hear everything-- which made Yuuri’s silence even louder.

Yuuri reached the edge of the shore, where Victor met him.

“You had me carrying lights?” Yuuri asked.

“Not just lights,” Victor said, presenting him a pair of well worn skates. “Come skate with me.”

Victor could see the question in the tilt of Yuuri’s head, but Yuuri went with it, lacing up his skates without comment. He hesitated for a moment before stepping onto the ice.

“This is very pretty,” Yuuri said finally. “But I don’t understand. If you wanted to practice, we could have just gone to a rink in Moscow, and you wouldn’t have had to go to all this trouble.”

Victor took Yuuri’s hand and led them out onto the ice. He gave a few lazy strokes, skating backwards to face Yuuri. “I don’t want to practice with you. We’ve practiced as much as anyone can expect and you’re going to get any better before the competition.”

Yuuri’s face was blank. “Your confidence astounds me.”

“You aren’t going to get any better, but when you perform, you will be the best. I chose golden lights tonight because I am confident that you’ll win something to match.”

This was turning into professional talk, which was exactly what Victor was trying to stay away from.

“Because of this fact,” Victor continued. “I don’t want to practice. That’s just skating. I want to skate with you, in a way that I never can as your coach. I want to hold your hand and skate around and around in ridiculous, pointless circles and have it be fun because it’s with you.”

“Oh,” was all Yuuri said. “Okay.”

Mittened hands clasped tight, they skated. They skated in lines and skated in circles, skated as people and as a pair of puffed breaths. It was Yuuri and Victor on the ice, skating the way that only they could skate but the only way that they never did. They skated across night-black ice, the lines of their skates drawing constellations in the sky’s reflection. Every turn was a slice of the clouds, every scrape a smudge in the moon; for once, Victor Nikiforov was not a star, but a starshaper. They both were.  

Victor tried new tricks and slipped more than he had since he was a teen, half the time managing to drag Yuuri down with him. Yuuri laughed and played along, even trying a few himself.

“What was that one?” Yuuri asked as Victor tried to recover from something that looked like it had been based off a drunk antelope. Victor had ended up as drunk antelope generally do when they encounter ice, splayed on all fours and resolving never to do it again.

“It’s Yakov’s ballet,” Victor said. He wobbled back up to his feet to shoot Yuuri a blinding grin.  

Yuuri snorted. “Needs more anger. More passion.”

“More eros?” Victor replied slyly.

“God, I hope not. I don’t even want to imagine what Yakov’s eros would look like.”

Victor, who had managed to get up by this point, almost fell again from laughing. “We could always ask Lilia. She and Yakov were married, you know. I’m sure she’s got all sorts of dirty details for us. What do you think he’s into? Do you think he brings skating into it?”

“I think I’d prefer to forget this conversation ever happened,” Yuuri declared. “And maybe bleach my mind a little bit.”

“Maybe that’s for the best.”

Yuuri let himself run out of momentum and come to a slow stop. Victor pulled up alongside him.    

“I’m not sure that it would be,” Yuuri said. “I don’t want to forget this.”

“You want to remember Yakov’s eros?” Victor joked. Yuuri smiled quietly, but he shook his head and put his hands into the pockets of his coat.

“I don’t want to forget anything about this, all of this. Even the ridiculous parts. You didn’t have to do all of this for me, but you did and I’m grateful. You know what I want, what I need, better than I do.”

Victor traced the tracks of their skates with his eyes, watching the lines loop and cross, meeting again and again until it was hard to tell who made them, until it didn’t matter. “You deserve the world, Yuuri, but I can only give you so much of it. So I’ll do what I can.”

Before Yuuri could respond, Victor flitted away to the edge of the lake, where he scooped up a light in the crook of his arm. He looked to make sure that Yuuri was following before he skated to a new part of the lake, somewhere beyond the lanterns’ gleam.

Victor gestured at the ice. He was already sitting, the lantern on his left casting a glow across his features.

Yuuri sat.

“We’re going to have to get to sleep soon if we want to catch the plane tomorrow,” Yuuri said. Victor watched him shift and fidget, clearly uncomfortable with the sudden lack of movement. He could understand that. Ice skating was an addiction, a monster that only grew the more it was fed. But the air was clear and honest, and there would be no better time.

“Yuuri,” Victor said. “Are you ready for what tomorrow may bring?” There was no competition tomorrow, but they would arrive at the Grand Prix finals, and there was no telling what the atmosphere would be like once they did.

“It’s not like it’s the first time I’ve been,” Yuuri said, but his jacket puffed up around his head as his shoulders hunched in. “I’m not exactly green.”

“No, you’re not. Neither am I, though, so I know that every year is different. Different competitors, different commentators, even different crowds-- they can all make the atmosphere almost unbearable for a skater.”

“Thrilled to hear it,” Yuuri said. “But it’s not like knowing any of that is going to help.”

“I know,” Victor replied. The cold bit at his cheeks but he refrained from pulling his scarf up. He needed Yuuri to see his face, to know that he was being open with him in this moment. It was what Yuuri needed, too.

Neither of them said anything for a few moments, and Yuuri seemed to sink deeper into himself, like he wanted to drift, ghostlike, through the ice. Victor understood the feeling. Part of performing was pretending that you didn’t, but Victor understood. Yuuri was no performer. He was an artist, and he had never learned to check his insecurities at the door. It was what made him such a good skater. That vulnerability, that fear-- though it weighed him down on land, the second he stepped into the rink, it transformed into genuine emotion, and every performer turned into a charlatan.

 “I also know,” Victor continued. “That you can win. Nobody is going to want to go after you, Yuuri, because every star pales next to the sun.”

“We both know that, at best, I’m a minor astronomical body, the kind that people can’t even see in the city.”

“Then it’s a good thing that we’re not competing in astronomy.” Victor’s attempt at humor got a lukewarm reception. “But really, you’re going to shine out there. I believe that wholeheartedly, and I’d like it if you did too.”

Yuuri let out a long breath, watching it curl and twist in front of him.

“You know, I wasn’t joking earlier when I said that your confidence astounds me. I mean, I was being sarcastic then,” Yuuri said, “But I mean it. Your ability to believe in something is what makes you amazing.”

“My confidence?” Victor asked.  

“You have this kind of confidence that everything will work out in the end, and once you start believing in something, you seem absolutely confident that you’re right. There’s no room for doubt,” Yuuri explained. “And I mean, I guess things always have for you, you know? Everything’s worked out.” Though he bit his lip, he didn’t wait for Victor to respond. Now that he was talking, he couldn’t seem to stop himself. “You were a prodigy, then a star, then a five time world champion, and then you retired on the basis of-- what, a five minute youtube video?-- because you had such confidence that I could become something more than I am.”

Victor resisted the urge to interrupt; he sensed that the words Yuuri said held more weight than the sum of their letters.

“That’s not really how things work for me,” Yuuri said. “I saw you standing on the lake ice just fine, but I couldn’t even bring myself to try. I couldn’t believe that it would hold me.” The fabric under Yuuri’s hands bunched as hands became fists. “All I’m trying to say,” he continued. “Is that I find you utterly remarkable, but I’m afraid that I’m going to be the one to bring my reality to the strange, magical Nikiforov world where confidence is enough. You believe in a world with wings, Victor, but I can’t. I’m on the ground, and I’m still afraid that the ice will crack.”  

Strangely enough, Yuuri’s eyes were dry. There was nothing monumental about Yuuri’s assertion, no rush of tears or strangling doubt, just a quiet statement, said with full confidence of their veracity. This was what Yuuri actually believed.  

“Hey,” Victor said. “Can I see your glasses?”

Yuuri looked up, confused. “I suppose,” he murmured. Probably not quite the response he’d expected. “Here.”

Victor slid them over his nose despite the chill they carried. “These are awful,” he declared.

“Because you can see without them,” Yuuri said. “They’re fine for me.”

“No, I mean they’re genuinely awful. But if you spend your time looking in the mirror with these on, I suppose I can understand how you might have an inaccurate picture of yourself,” Victor said. “The Yuuri I see when I wear these is-- well, he’s always questioning himself, and he’s seen himself fail enough times that he doesn’t want to try. He’s a little off balance in every situation and can never quite think of the right thing to say, and he’s afraid. He’s doubtful. He’s made himself forget how victory feels so that he never has to miss it.”

Yuuri snatched his glasses back and held them in his mittened hands. He didn’t put them back on.

“Don’t pretend that I’m not all of those things, Victor. It’s not just the glasses-- it’s me,” Yuuri said, scowling.

“It’s you,” Victor agreed. “But your glasses, they only show you the Yuuri that you see if you’re nearsighted.”

Victor slid closer to Yuuri and wrapped his arm around his shoulders.

“If you’re like me, you look at the big picture. Not just actions, but patterns,” Victor said.

“Everything you pointed out was a pattern.”

“Hush. I’m being metaphorical.”

Yuuri squinted, his jaw set, but his mouth stayed closed.

“When you’re right up close it’s easy to pretend that you’re a failure because you’re afraid,” Victor started. “But in the long run, I’ve seen a Yuuri that’s more than his doubt. Even when you fail, you get back up again and keep trying, keep seeking out that scent of something more, something bigger than yourself.”

“That’s not difficult. Most things are bigger than me.”

“And it’s not because you’re small, Yuuri. It’s because you’re capable of becoming something greater than all of us.”

“Victor, I--”

“You got your chance to monologue. My turn,” Victor countered. “Let me tell you what I see when I look at you without your glasses.”

Yuuri leaned into Victor’s side. “If you want.” He sagged into the warmth, the support that Victor provided.

“I see someone who knows what it’s like to fail and knows what it takes to succeed, and uses both so that he never stops learning.” Victor tilted his head against Yuuri’s. “He takes his fear of falling and sends it into a jump, a combination-- he takes the horrific and makes it beautiful. And no matter how doubtful, how scared he is, I see a Yuuri who steps on to the ice. He doesn’t know whether it will hold him or not, whether he will plummet to the bottom or send him scrambling to some unfamiliar shore, but he does it anyway,” Victor said. “You don’t need my confidence to succeed, because you’re willing to take a chance.”   

“It doesn’t feel like it,” Yuuri said. “Victor, this is my last chance. If I don’t make it perfect, then I’m going to have wasted your whole season.” Victor met Yuuri’s eyes and was reminded just how fragile skater’s hearts tended to be. The look in those eyes made Victor’s own heart crack, just a little bit.

“There’s nothing that you can do to convince me that you wasted my time,” Victor said. “Even if you lose to Yurio. Even if you place last. Even if Pchtit’s hamsters skate better than you do in the Grand Prix finals, I will have spent my season in the best way I possibly could.”

“Trying to get a dime-a-dozen skater to become something that he’s not?” Yuuri asked. “I appreciate your kindness, Victor, but I know you would’ve taken this season if you were competing.”

They were lucky the valley was quiet. If it weren’t Yuuri might have missed what Victor said, muffled as it was. “I wouldn’t be so sure of that.”

Yuuri sat abruptly upright, shaking of Victor’s arm to face him.

“I’m not an idiot, Victor. You don’t need to say things like that to make me feel better.”

“I’m not.”

“Then you’ve never seen yourself skate.” Even in the snow, Yuuri’s voice was the coldest thing around.

“I’m well aware of my skill,” Victor said.

“Then how can you even pretend that you wouldn’t have won?” Yuuri shot back. “Demeaning yourself isn’t going to make me feel any better.”

For the first time, it was Victor who looked away.

“Tonight was the first time I’ve had fun skating since I was your age,” Victor murmured. “Four years, and I haven’t had fun skating.”

“But your shows--”

“You have to love skating to be good at it. It will take and take and give you nothing in return, and you still have to love it. I couldn’t. I didn’t want to skate competitively because it was no longer something that I chose to do-- I only did it because I didn’t want to let myself down. I convinced myself that if I waited for long enough, I could find someone who could help me have fun again.”

“Victor,” Yuuri said, softer now.

“And I have. So you can’t convince me that this year was a waste.”

Yuuri rested his forehead against Victor’s. Their breath intermingled in the space between them, little as that was. “Look at the two of us,” Yuuri said. “Skaters are so dramatic.”

“Occupational hazard,” Victor replied.

The night was warmer when it was just the two of them. Like this, the world seemed smaller, contracted to Yuuri’s face and smile and easy, soft eyes. Victor hadn’t planned this bit, spilling his own feelings, having to be comforted by the one that he was trying to help. He always got more involved than he meant to when Yuuri was involved.

“We should get inside,” Yuuri said.

The night would not getting any darker. The had been daylight surrounded to the irrelevant machinations of the heavens. The earth seemed to insist on rotating, despite how inconvenient it was to a particular pair of ice skaters.

Out here, it was easy to forget who they were. The valley tucked them into their own little world, full of hot tea,puffed breaths, and wandering hands, a memory made to live in. It wasn’t perfect; the house was strangely blue, the ice a little thin, but their laughs were the loudest the world had to offer and it was enough.

“We really should head in,” Yuuri repeated.

“We should.” Victor looked towards the house, then back to Yuuri.  

They didn’t.

[gokinjeespot]

off the rack #1296

Monday, January 13, 2020

 I knew my dad had an older brother living in Edmonton but I've never met him. I was introduced to him recently when my cousin sent me a picture of Uncle #2 taken while he visited with him and his other cousins there. I showed my dad the picture of his brother and his face lit up in a big smile. He hasn't seen him in decades. Uncle #2 is 91-years-old now and he and dad are the only surviving children from grandpa's first wife. I was glad that I gave my father that moment of happiness.

 Harley Quinn & Poison Ivy #5 - Jody Houser (writer) Adriana Melo (pencils) Mark Morales (inks) Hi-Fi (colours) Gabriela Downie (letters). The trail to the Floronic Man leads the ladies to Manhattan's Central Park where they are met with a surprise. No, it's not Batwoman who guest stars this issue. It's a great cliffhanger to next issue's finale.

 The Immortal Hulk #29 - Al Ewing (writer) Joe Bennett (pencils) Ruy Jose, Belardino Brabo & Cam Smith (inks) Paul Mounts (colours) VC's Cory Petit (letters). Roxxon sets a trap for the Hulk and it works. This is where monsters dwell. The scene with Betty and Bruce in the cafeteria was great.

 The Dollhouse Family #3 - M. R. Carey (writer) Peter Gross (layouts) Vince Locke (finishes) Cris Peter (colours) Todd Klein (letters). We catch up with Alice as an adult while the flashbacks to the past shows us some weird creatures in a cave. The dollhouse makes a couple of appearances in each point in history but we don't learn much more about it. It's still really creepy though. The last page came as a total shock. I like this DC Black Label book.

 Excalibur #5 - Tini Howard (writer) Marcus To (art) Erick Arciniega (colours) VC's Cory Petit (letters). This is the payoff issue for the first story arc and I'm out of here now. My biggest complaint about this book is that I find myself wondering what the heck is going on as I'm reading. I feel disconnected with the action because of the different locations and all the mutants involved. There's a major change to a major hero so you may want to stick around to see where that goes.

 Young Justice #12 - Brian Michael Bendis (writer) John Timms (art) Gabe Eltaeb (colours) Wes Abbott (letters). It was nice to see Warlord even though he was only in 4 pages of this massively dialogued issue. This book had just as many heroes running around and different locations for action as Excalibur #5 and yet not once did I feel confused or disoriented. I loved how all the Wonder Comics heroes were brought together. Especially that Miguel, the Dial H for Hero kid changed into a Miles Morales-like super hero at the end. This 12-issue run was Fun with a capital F.

 X-Force #5 - Benjamin Percy (writer) Joshua Cassara (art) Dean White & Rachelle Rosenberg (colours) VC's Joe Caramagna (letters). There's plenty of force this issue as Domino and Forge go to rescue Wolverine and Kid Omega. This new thing where every mutant can be resurrected if they die has me wondering when I'm going to get tired of writers killing characters just for shock value. Plus, the mutants can't lose now. So what if you die on a mission? I'm afraid I'm going to get bored with these characters again until the next big change.

 Catwoman #19 - Joelle Jones (writer) Geraldo Borges, Aneke  & Inaki Miranda (art) FCO Plascencia, John Kalisz & Laura Allred (colours) Saida Temofonte (letters). Selina comes to the rescue of family and friends and is partially successful. I like the new costume.

 Black Cat #8 - Jed MacKay (writer) Dike Ruan & Annie Wu (art) Brian Reber (colours) Ferran Delgado (letters). What a great issue. The Cat and the Beetle go on a heist and we get some background on Felicia's life. It was fun until the last page when things get serious.

 Conan Serpent War #3 - Jim Zub (writer) Luca Pizzari (art) Frank D'Armata (colours) Vanesa R. Del Rey (art James Allison sequence) Jean-Francois Beaulieu (colours James Allison sequence) VC's Travis Lanham (letters). There's a mysterious force manipulating everybody in this story and I'm staying with it until I find out what it is.

 Star #1 - Kelly Thompson (writer) Javier Pina with Filipe Andrade (art) Jesus Aburtov (colours) VC's Clayton Cowles (letters). Kelly's name in the credits made me give this a try. I'm not a fan of super villains being the star (har) of their own books but there are two women also in this comic book that I really like. If they're not enough to keep me reading then the God of Mischief certainly is.

 Daphne Byrne #1 - Laura Marks (writer) Kelley Jones (art) Michelle Madsen (colours) Rob Leigh (letters). This is another creepy comic from the same imprint that puts out Basketful of Heads. It's 1886 in New York and Daphne is a very intelligent young lady who doesn't fit in with the others at Miss Farrow's School for Girls. Her mother is a patron of a psychic who claims to have communicated with Daphne's dead father. That may be a hoax but her dreams seem to be all too real. I miss seeing Kelley Jones's art on the racks so I hope to keep reading this book as it comes out.

 Ruins of Ravencroft: Carnage #1 - Frank Tieri (writer) Angel Unzueta (modern day art) Guiu Vilanova (flashback art) Rachelle Rosenberg (colours) VC's Travis Lanham (letters). I saw the ads for this and didn't think I would be interested but I liked the art when I flipped through it so took it to read. Other than being connected to Carnage from the title I didn't know anything about this comic book, but seeing Misty Knight on the second page meant that I had something familiar to anchor myself. And then Mayor Wilson Fisk shows up. Ravencroft is New York's version of Arkham Asylum and it was a major location during the Absolute Carnage story. It's being torn down to be rebuilt and this issue gives us the history of the evil ground that it's built on. This establishes that the Venom and Carnage symbiotes have been around since forever because the history starts in the early 1400s. I don't know where this series is going but I liked it enough to want to check out the next instalment hitting the racks January 15, Ruins of Ravencroft: Sabretooth.

 The Clock #1 - Matt Hawkins (writer) Colleen Doran (art) Bryan Valenza (colours) Troy Peteri (letters). Again, it was the art that prompted me to pick this off the rack. I first appreciated Colleen's art in 1983 when she put out "A Distant Soil". I loved her detailed pen and ink work in black and white. Here she is in colour and it still moves me. Her expressions really convey what the characters are feeling. The story is about a cancer epidemic and the threat to the world's population seems credible. I'm going to follow young scientist Jack to see how he saves the world.

 Marvels X #1 - Alex Ross & Jim Krueger (writers) Well-Bee (art) VC's Cory Petit (letters). I really liked the first Marvels series by Kurt Busiek and Alex Ross showing the Marvel U through the eyes of regular people. This latest story features a young super hero fan named David trapped in his house after what seems to be the worldwide Terrigen Mist event when Marvel tried to make the Inhumans a big deal. David's entire family is lost and now he's off to New York City to find his heroes. I liked the kid so I'm going to follow his adventures.

 Miles Morales: The End #1 - Saladin Ahmed (writer) Damion Scott (art) Dono Sanchez-Almara (colours) VC's Cory Petit (letters). This $4.99 US one-shot really is the end for Miles. He lives to be a ripe old age and goes down fighting. I would only recommend this for collectors of all things Miles.

 Deadpool #2 - Kelly Thompson (writer) Chris Bachalo (pencils) Wayne Faucher, Livesay, Al Vey, Jaime Mendoza, Victor Olazaba & Tim Townsend (inks) David Curiel (colours) VC's Joe Sabino (letters). I don't find Wade's new role as King of Staten Island, where monsters dwell, to be very interesting so I'm not going to read anymore of this. Much as I like Chris Bachalo's art, it's not enough to keep me coming back every month.

 20XX #2 - Jonathan Luna & Lauren Keely (writers) Jonathan Luna (art & letters). We find out what newly minted Sym Meria's power is and how she's going to cope with it. The developments with the East Side and West Side gangs and Meria's new friend are interesting enough to make me want to read the next issue of this black and white book.

 Fallen Angels #5 - Bryan Hill (writer) Szymon Kudranski (art) Frank D'Armata (colours) VC's Joe Sabino (letters). The team is set. Psylocke leads X-23, young Cable, Husk and Bling to Dubai to fight the super villain Apoth. The foreshadowing on the last page ratchets up the anticipation for the next issue.

 The Amazing Spider-Man #37 - Nick Spencer (writer) Ryan Ottley (pencils) Cliff Rathburn (inks) Nathan Fairbairn (colours) VC's Joe Caramagna (letters). Now that Absolute Carnage is done, it's time for Peter Parker to get back into the swing of things. He's testing a new device called the Clairvoyant that can predict what might happen in the future. I predict it's going to screw up his life big time down the road. The one thing I'm excited about is that a plotline that was put on the back burner is now cooking with gas. Kindred is back and he's hinting at how he's going to confront Spider-Man. As big a Spider-Man fan that I am, I still have no clue who this new super villain is.

 Batman #86 - James Tynion IV (writer) Tony S. Daniel (pencils) Danny Miki (inks) Tomeu Morey (colours) Clayton Cowles (letters). Let's welcome the new writer. He's got a tough act to follow but he starts his first story off very well. Batman gets wind of something big going down in Gotham City and has to deal with paid assassins gathering for nefarious purposes. There are major changes to get used to, the least of which is that Alfred is gone. Same with James Gordon, and the new Police Commissioner was a surprise. I probably would have continued to read this book because the art is so nice. Selina in the LBD at the fund raiser, MeeOwww.

 Savage Avengers #9 - Gerry Duggan (writer) Patch Zircher (art) Java Tartaglia (colours) VC's Travis Lanham (letters). Conan holds his own as Doctors Doom and Strange battle Kulan Gath. When Stephen is felled by sorcerous venom Doctor Doom comes to the rescue. The amalgamation of the two Doctors was a fun surprise. If would be cool if the Iron Mage stuck around after this story.

 Joker: Killer Smile #2 - Jeff Lemire (writer) Andrea Sorrentino (art) Jordie Bellaire (colours) Steve Wands (letters). The doctor is out, of his mind that is. The Joker has gotten into Dr. Arnell's head in this psychological thriller. I don't imagine that things are going to end well for the good doctor in next issue's finale. Thanks to Doug for lending me his copy to read after we sold out on the racks.

[tessatechaitea]

New Titans #108

I can't believe we had to wait 108 issues for Marv Wolfman's take on the trauma of rape!

The advertisement on the inside front cover is for the movie Blue Chips and I've never hated past everybody more. Shaquille O'Neal starring in a movie directed by William Friedkin with the tagline, "In your face." Maybe I'm judging this movie too harshly simply because my first thought was, "What fucking world were we living in where we decided Shaq needed a movie career?" But then, he's playing a basketball player in this movie so he probably nailed the role. I'm sure there's no difference between the way he performed his role and the way he answered press questions after a game. And I guess he was kind of funny and charming, so what Hollywood bigwig wasn't getting on the horn and yelling at casting directors, "Get me Shaq! I've got a script here for a basketball movie and he'd be perfect! Also maybe throw this genie script at him!" Anyway, the Internet and Roger Ebert seem to think this movie wasn't too bad so maybe this isn't a hill I should die on. Not that I haven't died on a whole slew of hills that weren't worth dying on. Maybe not as many as Deathstork fans but I've still had my share. I don't remember any of those hills because I purge my memory of all the times I acted foolish so that I can continue to believe I'm the epitome of the perfect human being. Also, maybe I shouldn't trust Roger Ebert's judgment as much as I do seeing as he began his review with this word: "Alot". Unless that indicates he despised editors too in which case I'm back to being his #130,503,227th biggest fan! The issue begins with Starfire visiting Councilwoman Alderman in an insane asylum. Kory is dressed in torn rags because fuck you. You don't deserve a comic book that makes sense if you stuck with New Titans this long! My first thought was, "Is this a nightmare?" But I skipped ahead a few pages so that I wouldn't write a bunch of shit that didn't matter when it was revealed to be a dream and I don't think it is a nightmare. My second thought was that Kory broke in to confront Alderman but Kory mentions things the guard said to her, and references waiting for the guards to open the door leading to Alderman's cell. So she went through the proper channels for a visit and nobody seemed to care she was barefoot and wearing a torn sheet that was skimpier than her superhero costume. But then I remember this is a comic book from 1994 and even when a hot female character is dealing with the trauma of rape, the artist still must cater to the male gaze. You know how many comic book drawings of dead female heroes I've jerked off to?! I mean, obviously it's zero! That was meant to be hyperbolic and satirical!

So sexily satirical!

Comic book fans think they have it rough now, what with Tom King portraying Batman as a man who might actually have to deal with the psychological trauma of his entire life in ways other than beating criminals nearly to death. Back in 1994, we had to deal with poor misunderstood and tormented Raven turning into a rape monster just like her father! It was a hard lesson! Thankfully, the only people who had to learn it were the assholes who still kept buying The New Titans after the Wildebeest story arc. Nightwing arrives to save Starfire from more trauma induced by Alderman's ranting. He appears in full costume because men are allowed to be dignified. Although, technically, with the way artists draw characters in spandex, Nightwing looks more naked than Starfire. Starfire yells "Kynasf'rr!" and blasts through the wall, leaving Nightwing free to think about how Alderman said he was always second to Batman. I mean, Kory's pain is terrible and Alderman taunting her about a possible Trigon pregnancy is terrifying but second to Batman?! Below the belt, crazy lady! Phantasm makes an appearance to say, "Trigon's seed has returned to Earth!" So now I'm thinking about Trigon's ejaculate, so thanks for that, Marv Wolfman! You dirty pervert!

Based on these two articles on the front page, I'm guessing nobody at the Globe knows what "landslide" means.

Beast Boy and Dr. Sarah Charles have a grieving session while packing up Victor's things in whatever space Victor kept his things. Garfield decides to remember things so that Marv Wolfman can show that Garfield has learned a lesson about inspiration and hope from Cyborg. Gar says, "Only [Cyborg] never complained. He just kept going on, even after what happened to Sarah Simms. Even after he realized he was going to die. He just took things as they were and changed what he could and accepted what he couldn't." Maybe I'm the one remembering things wrong but I felt like Cyborg was constantly complaining! He was constantly angry at his dad for turning him into a machine. He was constantly upset at his robot life because it didn't allow him to fuck his romantic partners. He was always saying "Booyah!" because what else is there to say when your body is a constant and painful reminder that you'll never again be human and you're bound to live a life of loneliness? I mean, I could be remembering wrong. And anyway, this plays much better. You want the dead guy to have left some kind of meaning filling the void his presence has left. Also, Garfield needed this moment to grow the fuck up. It reveals too much about my inner character so I won't discuss the scene where I identify too strongly with Pantha's grousing about the Beast Boy/Dr. Charles scene just before Red Star almost beats the shit out of her. Those two are definitely about to fuck, right? Roy Harper discovers that his bosses at Checkmate have found a non-Dayton Industries corporation to begin design Titan weapons systems and that corporation is run by Alexander Luthor. Not Lex Luthor! Alexander! The one with red hair and the beard. The one that was fucking Supergirl. But not the real Supergirl! The Supergirl made out of slime or computer data or something. I don't have a real clear memory of these post-Death-of-Superman Superman family histories! And finally, Starfire travels to South America — the Tamaran of Earth, I guess? — to undergo Kynasf'rr. I don't know what that is but I bet it's sexy. New Titans #108 Rating: B-. I almost gave this issue a C+ which is worse than a B- but feels more positive because our perceptions of things, as humans, can be fucking stupid. I was hoping for Marv to really plumb the deaths of Starfire's tragedy but instead he just scripted a few pages of Starfire nearly naked while Alderman tries to convince her to let Raven rape her again. Marv doesn't even spend much time on the Titan's grief over Cyborg since he had to deal with a bunch of Titans' bureaucracy over their current leadership and membership problems. This seemed like an issue where Marv could have really flexed some emotional writing muscle but he spent only a few pages superficially glossing over the Titans' grief and pain. The Letters Pages! Jeff DeMos of New York, NY, gave me a good laugh when he wrote, "Why is there a periodic need to overhaul a character that will 'change (them) forever?' Has Cyborg really become so boring and dated? Has he exhausted all possible storylines?" Why, yes and yes, Jeff! Thanks for asking the truly important rhetorical questions! The editor's response to those obviously rhetorical questions was another good laugh: "Cyborg never became 'boring or dated.'" Ha ha! I suppose that statement is true if you consider Cyborg has always been boring and dated which means he could never become those things!