#we love more references to earth's destruction that hit way too close to home (just kidding it gives us anxiety but that speech was GOOD)

[bumblingbabooshka]

Watched episode one of SNW, in love with everyone. Two thoughts only: If I was about to have sex with my hot Vulcan wife and my boss called me to go into work I’d simply quit. If I was running for my life after being abducted by aliens and Uhura said “Hi~!” to me I’d also completely forget about any danger and talk to her about whatever she wanted.

[highqueenofelfhame]

destruction of gov’t property.

this wasn’t supposed to be angsty but whoops, there it is. It was just after lunch when the naval guard showed up to her office. She was halfway through a new manuscript, curled up in her favorite chair for the job with her shoes kicked off on the rug. The morning had been slow and easy, not many people in and out of her office to bother her while she read. But then the young man from the military had shown up and asked her to come with him, and the morning had begun a slow descent into her personal hell. 

The entire way to the base, he didn’t say anything. When she asked what was going on, he merely said he wasn’t able to tell her but she would find out as soon as they got to the base. The entire way there, her heart had been thundering in her chest like drum beats before an ancient war. 

As she walked down the hall she kept her fingers tightly wound together to keep them from shaking. They were cold and clammy; her mind was completely blank. Nesta refused to let her mind wander, to think about anything at all that might have gone wrong today. He was fine. Cassian was —

“Hey, sweetheart.” His voice behind her was enough to make her knees feel weak as she spun around to face him. Cassian’s arms were around her waist and her own fell around his neck before she even saw his face. Nesta had never been so happy to see that insufferable, smug grin when she pulled back to look at him in the year that she had known him. He ducked down and pressed a chaste kiss to her lips as he took her hand and began leading her the rest of the way down the hall.

“What’s going on?” 

“My superiors,” he said the word with an eye roll, “Needed to have a word with you.”

“Your superiors?” Again, that harsh drumming in her bones. What on earth could Cassian’s superiors want with her?  She stopped him, turning to place a hand on his chest. “What did you do?” 

Cassian didn’t have time to answer her, though, because a door was opened across the hall and Rhysand stepped out. Like Cassian, he was dressed in camouflage fatigues and a white t-shirt. It took quite a lot for her to not roll her eyes, to avoid the greeting she usually gave her sister’s fiancé. It tended to be a short, clipped, and downright snarky thing. But if Cassian was referring to him as his superior… No. Maybe she shouldn’t if she was there on some official capacity. 

“Nesta.”

“Rhysand,” she said, entering the office and standing awkwardly in the middle of the room for a moment before Azriel motioned to a chair for her to sit behind. He was behind the large, mahogany desk and Rhys took up post leaning against the wall behind the door. Cassian stood behind her, his thumbs drawing not-so-comforting circles over her shoulder blades. It was quiet for a beat before she quietly asked, “What’s going on?”

Azriel cleared his throat almost uncomfortably and Nesta looked from Cassian to his adoptive brother, then to Rhys. Her heart was still thrumming away, getting more and more anxious by the second. There wasn’t a single thing she could think of that would result in this. 

“On behalf of the Navy of Velaris, it is my duty to inform you, Nesta Archeron, that you are receiving a warning for the destruction of government property.” The words started to dim out until they were muffled, like she was underwater. She looked at her boyfriend, really looked at him and took in the grim expression on her face as he tapped the side of his neck where the wisps of a bruise she’d left behind with her mouth was only just exposed. Look at him until the edges of her vision went white with anger as it sunk in that this was a stupid, immature joke. Rhys, she expected this from. Cassian, sure. But the fact that Azriel was even in on the joke, when they had included other people on the base that likely knew what was happening in this room brought everything to a screeching, grinding halt. All it took from Nesta to shut Azriel up, to get Rhysand to keep his snorts of laughter to himself was a single hand that she held up. 

“You are all assholes,” She said, nostrils flaring as she stood, throwing the door open so hard it slammed into Rhys’ body. Then she was storming down the hallway, the heels of her shoes an angry echo in her wake. 

“I told you she wouldn’t find it as funny as Feyre did,” Cassian said somewhere behind her, glumly. It dug further under her skin that he seemed to know she wouldn’t like the joke but he’d done it anyway. It didn’t take long for him to be jogging down the hall after her, grabbing her hand and trying to pull her to a stop. Nesta, however, jerked her hand from him and stumbled back a few steps, a single finger held out before her. 

“I will see you at home,” was all she offered him, shaking her head in disbelief before storming out through the doors. A few low whistles and the sound of someone clapping Cassian on the back followed her out. 

~*~

She was chopping bell peppers when he got home from the base that afternoon. The dull thud of the blade hitting the cutting board was all she focused on when he unlocked the door to her apartment and slipped inside. They were perfect slices, as perfect as the stab wound she could cut his heart out with for being such a blind moron. 

When he entered the kitchen, he placed his keys on the counter and moved to stand behind her, hands sliding around her waist. Nesta kept chopping her vegetables carefully though, not acknowledging him beyond tilting her head away from him when he moved to kiss her cheek. With a sigh, he settled by pressing his lips to her shoulder. She wanted to shrug away from that, too. 

“Sweetheart,” he sighed, “It was meant to be funny. I did it to Feyre a few years ago when it happened to Rhys. Rhys thought it would be funny to get you back.” 

And Nesta remembered it, the prank call she got from Cassian as a verbal warning. They had all laughed about it, teased her for weeks. But what took this from being a funny joke to not being funny was the half hour car ride where she’d been scared something had happened to him. What made it not funny was them not telling the kid that drove her what to tell her when she asked. What made it not funny was the stark realization that she was in love with him, and she wasn’t sure what she would do if something had happened. If Cassian had been broken into pieces that she couldn’t pick up, what would happen then? Her eyes stung; it might have been the onions or her emotions. 

“I’m not some bitch that can’t take a joke,” she said softly, laying down the knife and turning to face him. “I can take the joke.”

“I know y —”

“What I couldn’t take was the silence in the car on the way to the base. Or that that kid couldn’t and wouldn’t answer any of my questions. What I couldn’t take was walking down the halls wondering if I was being taken to Rhysand’s office to be told a training exercise or whatever went wrong and we needed to plan a funeral.” Tears, hot and burning, raced down her cheeks and neck, disappearing beneath the collar of her shirt. “You scared me, Cassian.” Her voice was barely above a whisper, his fingers were brushing her tears from her cheeks. He kept trying to meet her gaze but she kept her eyes on his chest, eyes falling to his heart. 

Cassian sighed then, pressed his forehead to her hers and closed his eyes. Finally, hesitantly she let her hands fall to rest against his chest, fingernail scratching at the fabric of his t-shirt. “I wasn’t thinking,” he finally said. 

“I know you weren’t,” she huffed a laugh, letting him press a kiss to the corner of her mouth before she turned back to making dinner. “You never are.” 

Cassian’s fingers slipped into her hair, tugging it all over one shoulder so he could press a kiss to the nape of her neck, the curve of her shoulder. “How can I make it up to you?” He asked, bending to kiss between her shoulder blades over the t-shirt she wore. Nesta shrugged a shoulder, eyes closing as he kissed the side of her neck, her ear, her jaw, until he was spinning her back to face him and capturing her lips with his own. 

“I’m sure you’ll think of something.”

[firenationember]

Destruction, Everywhere (OC Fic)

5/?

Author’s note: I’m sorry for using a gif and a picture, I know it looks clunky. They’re both needed for reference, for something I don’t describe in the fic lol Draya and Zuko spend most of this chapter in water and I imagine Draya wearing something similar to what Katara’s wearing except black, at least in style. So like Mai’s top, but with straps. And Zuko probably looks very similar to how he does in this picture. I had to explain that because I wanted it to be clear that they’re not running around naked. Okay enjoy lol

Previous Chapters

I always had a hard time separating my emotions from my firebending, and that especially became true with Zuko around. Since we were all so focused on Aang’s training, it seemed like there was never time to relax anymore. Things became particularly tense when Zuko started having trouble with his firebending, his flames becoming less and less visible the more he tried. I became so overwhelmed, having to step in as Zuko’s “co-teacher” and being “the flame to his bending” as Sokka would say (always earning him a swift kick in the shin), that eventually my firebending began to suffer too. An aggravated Zuko was trying to teach us a new move, at this point only being able to produce steam at his palms, which caused him to yell about my stance being wrong; Aang was, of course, able to copy him with ease and I became so upset I stormed off.

I figured the best thing I could do was find some water, a huge perk of training on land and not in the air temple, for a swim. Katara liked us to have what she called “bath night”, where she’d have Aang and Sokka pair off while Toph and I would pair off further upstream to, you know, bathe. Her and I would alternate with Toph, knowing the small earthbender needed baths more frequently, knowing she liked to have what she called “a healthy coating of earth” cover her skin. Katara can act like such a mother sometimes that I forget we’re close in age. I was always relieved when Katara would ask me to pair up with Toph, because with her around I always felt safer. Besides, she wouldn’t be able to ask questions like Katara would. I realized early on into my adventure with Team Avatar that being in the water helped calm my emotions in a way I never knew possible and I grew to love bath night.

I found a small alcove after walking for what felt like ages, a small waterfall adding to the privacy of the spot. I removed the top layer of my clothing, quickly washing and wringing the fabric out and hanging them up on a nearby branch before stepping into the water. I didn’t particularly like wearing long boots over my pants or that heavy robe, especially while training for hours on end, but I couldn’t let the others see the scars that riddled my torso,  legs and arms. I had to wade through enough pity from them as it is, especially now.

I stood in the water, only about hip high, and shut my eyes taking deep breaths as I listened to the trickling falls. I started to move my hands in the air the way I’d seen Katara do a million times while practicing with Aang. I was gliding through the water, movement coinciding with my breaths, a cool glow from the flame growing in my hands, for what seemed like hours. I was so lost in thought that I almost caught Zuko on fire off when he said my name.

“Draya?” My eyes shot open as I turned around, a ball of flame leaving my hand and flying towards Zuko. He was easily able to dodge it; it gave me enough time to scrabble behind the falling water, which was just big enough to hide behind.

“What are you doing here Zuko? I thought it was clear that I wanted to be alone.” I said, refusing to accept the fact that it would be impossible for him to have not seen the scars that showered my whole body. I could see Zuko’s warped image in the waterfall, barely making out his movements as he removed his shirt and flung it over the same branch my clothes were hanging on. I quickly turned my head, hearing some splashes before they stopped in front of the falls.

“You’ve been really upset lately, and I just wanted to make sure everything was okay. I know it’s… a lot, training the Avatar and-“

“I’m not training the Avatar Zuko, you are, remember? I’m training with the Avatar, alongside you. And I can’t even seem to do that right.” I tried to say the last part of the sentence to myself, but it was Zuko’s sigh that proved I failed to.

“You are a great student, and an even better teacher Draya. I just want you to feel okay with your bending again. It’s a part of who you are.” I laughed, the coldness even surprising me.

“I know what I am, Zuko. I’m a firebender. I’m a trained… distraction. A distraction of destruction.” I chuckled weakly, finding humor in the parallels of my life. “It’s not my bending I’m ashamed of. It’s…” I didn’t know how to finish that sentence. Zuko peered around the waterfall, his eyes never leaving my face.

“Can we sit over there and talk? Away from this outrageously loud water?” I smiled and nodded. I waited for Zuko to find a spot to sit, settling on a rock that was deep enough to hang his legs over. I crouched in the water, low enough to wrap my arms around my legs, and took a deep breath before submerging my head. I enjoyed the cool of the water washing over me, preparing myself, not ready to tell Zuko about my scars; quickly realizing how guilty I felt for being able to hide them in the first place. I stood up and waded towards Zuko, pausing in front of a rock a few feet away from him. “Waterbending moves? Someone must be taking notes during Katara’s lessons.”  Zuko was looking away, clear he wasn’t sure what to do in that moment. I took that chance to pull myself up onto a rock next to him, crossing my legs and resting my hands in my lap. I looked up, relishing his side profile as he watched the cascading water a few feet away. His skin was glistening from the water as the sun hit us, and his feathery black hair looked as if it had fallen into place without any effort from him. I don’t think I’ve ever seen him so… serene. He closed his eyes, as if he were soaking in the sun, and I looked down at my lap as I spoke.

“Once I started traveling with them, I would try some of her techniques and… I don’t know. If I could describe the way the fire felt in my hands when I’m in the water I would. It’s unlike anything else. It helps me feel in control of my bending, actually in control, when it starts feeling a little too overwhelming.” I had never said this out loud to anyone, and seeing Zuko relax as he sun bathed, seeing the soft expression he had, urged me to keep going. I opened my mouth to continue, quickly biting my lip to stop myself.

“Draya, it’s okay. You can talk to me.” The honey in his eyes have clearly seeped into his mouth, a sweet kindness trickling in his words. I took a deep breath as I watched Zuko open his eyes and turn his head to face me. I gazed at Zuko’s face as he noticed the scars that licked my skin, the stripes of red blending in together so well that it’s hard to make out where they begin and where they end. His once confused expression turned into a melancholy gaze of understanding, this time turning his face away to help hide his own scar with his dark hair.  “The day you were going to leave, you said they taught you how to be… are those… did they…” Zuko’s voice trailed off as he looked away, anger and disgust contorting his once soft face.

“I’d have to fight them in training, one after the other without any breaks in between. If they were able to capture me, they were supposed to… pretend like they have to get information out of me about the army’s plan. Even if I never said a word, they’d use their bending against me.” A small, sad smile found its way to my lips as I stared at my marked arms, lifting them into the air in front of me. “Getting burned gives you a different appreciation of the bending art, actually realizing what these movements really do to someone else. Getting burned repeatedly, well… that appreciation can begin to morph.” I traced the scars on my left forearm lightly, realizing it’s been so long since I’ve really looked at them, before quickly crossing my arms and hugging my body as I brought my knees up to my chest.

“I’m sorry you had to suffer through that. I can’t even begin to imagine the pain you had to endure.” Zuko shifted on the rock he was sitting on and slid closer to me. It was clear on his face that he was considering what to say next, opening and closing his mouth slightly as he thought. I held my breath as I realized how close he suddenly was, looking at my own hands instead of him. “I’m beyond enraged that my father would make you… make anyone, suffer through something so…”, Zuko stopped talking as soon as his voice started wavering.

“My mother always said that firebenders did nothing but destroy. Destroy homes, destroy forests, destroy lives. She came from a family of firebenders, not a bender herself, and she always voiced her disgust for the art.” I can still hear my mothers voice ringing in my head, and I knew the only way I could make it stop was by saying it out loud, letting it escape. “She ran away from her family when she was 19, finding refuge in my home village after traveling for weeks. She met my father not long after, a Northern Water Tribe warrior sent to do… something. That part was never clear. Anyway, she used to say she would pray to the spirits that she would never have to carry a firebending child. She thought for certain that meeting my waterbending father was a sign they had heard her. ‘What a disappointment it was when you realized you could firebend.’” I felt a hot tear fall down my cheek, as my mother’s words hung in the air. I quickly wiped it away with the back of my hand and tried to laugh, realizing I’ve never told anyone this before. “All my life the only thing I wanted was for her to love me, to accept me as I was… her daughter, a firebender.” I watched as Zuko listened to my words, watching the rippling water as I spoke.

“It was cruel and wrong what your mother said to you, even worse how she treated you. After what my father put you through, it’s easy to understand why you feel the way you do about firebending.” His hand fell into the water, and I could see him scooping it up and pouring it out, repeatedly. It was obvious he was nervous to say what he wanted to next. I waited, holding my breath, until Zuko spoke. “My father gave me this scar, right after your general left the palace with your group, actually. He challenged me to an Agni kai for speaking out of turn during a military meeting that I begged my uncle to let me sit in on, and the only reason he agreed was because I promised I’d stay quiet. But how could I say nothing when the General was talking about sacrificing an entire division, as a distraction, all because they were new…” As Zuko realized what he was saying, he quickly turned to face me. “I’d stand up to him a thousand times over if it meant stopping him from trying to use new recruits as bait. It didn’t stop him, but that doesn’t mean I won’t keep trying.” He started to reach his hand out towards me, hesitating before bringing it back to his side and dropping it in his lap. “Growing up we learned that the Fire Nation was the greatest civilization in history, and those soldiers loved and defended our great nation. The same great nation that was planning their murders.”

“I wasn’t a soldier, Zuko. I was just a kid whose village was invaded and burnt down; a kid who had to train with the same Fire Nation army that kidnapped me so I could pretend to be some twisted version of a soldier. I spent years training in private with Fire Nation soldiers, traveling from city to city as their prisoner, doing what they called training; years before they even considered putting me into the war. I wasn’t a tool for them, Zuko. I was just a toy. A shiny, distracting toy. And I endured burns every day as a reminder, wishing they were planning our murder instead of just our torture day in and day out.” I remember the other kidnapped children who trained next to me, some lasting longer than others, no more remaining from my village after long.

“After Aang defeats the Fire Lord, and we take down Azula, everything will regain balance. We can build a better world, one without the dark and painful tactics of the past. We as a nation need to learn from our mistakes and educate others to do better. And, Draya?” Zuko pauses, finally getting the courage to grab my hand, holding it tight in his. I looked up to find his golden eyes already looking at me. “You’re safe now. Nobody will hurt you again. And my father will pay.” He squeezed my hand when he finished his sentence and I felt a wave of relief flood over me. I couldn’t find the right words, so instead I pulled Zuko close, hugging him tighter than I’ve ever hugged any one before.

“Thank you, Zuko. It’s clear just how genuine your heart is, and I’m so glad to call you a friend.” His arms tightened around me before letting go, smiling down at me. He asked if I could show him some of Katara’s waterbending, so we spent the rest of our time talking while we waded through the water. It was surprisingly the most comfortable I’ve ever felt around him; I finally felt like I belonged somewhere.

Chapter 6

[pinelife3]

The Silence of the Girls

Pat Barker’s newish (August 2018) book The Silence of the Girls (TSOTG) recounts the final months of the Trojan War, as told by a slave woman. The obvious companion piece to TSOTG, and the key text Barker is responding to, is The Iliad, but Barker doesn’t pull out the way Homer did:

The Iliad only covers a few weeks in the last year of the war and does not include the famous Trojan horse or the actual defeat of Troy: at a high level, The Iliad covers Agamemnon’s lady troubles, the plague, Achilles’ sulking and decision not to fight, the death of Patroclus, Achilles’ return to battle, the death of Hector, the abuse of Hector’s body and Priam’s visit to Achilles.

TSOTG covers these events (also starting in media res - more on that later) from the perspective of Briseis. Our protagonist, formerly the wife of a king, was taken during the sacking of a city neighbouring Troy and was given to Achilles as a prize - like all of the women in the Greek camp, she is a slave. Barker and Briseis continue on after the burial of Hector to include the fall of Troy (no mention of the horse though...) and the rape and destruction which followed including the fate of Astyanax, the Trojan women being handed out as prizes, and the Greeks eventually setting off to return home.

I mention the famous events from the Trojan War above, but in TSOTG most of these happen off screen (out of our protagonist’s line of sight) and are reported to us as gossip spreading around the Greek camp. The reader is stuck in the camp with the women and doesn’t see any of the excitement and action on the battlefield (except for when Briseis climbs on the Myrmidon ships to see the battlefield in the distance). The reader is also privy to a lot of ‘girl talk’ amongst the women as they discus their experiences with the Greek soldiers: who’s pregnant, who’s beloved, who’s in favour. So despite hitting the same broad plot points, we are kept away from the iconic set pieces of the war, and instead get a tour through the backrooms where women do laundry, pray, and heal the injured soldiers. 

When we studied Wide Sargasso Sea in high school, it became part of an interesting conversation on high-lit fan fiction: Jeans Rhys reveals the mysterious mad woman in Rochester’s attic, and she shows us how he drove her mad. More than a hundred years after Jane Eyre was published, Rhys, a Dominican author, chose to get into it with one of the stodgiest pieces of English literature out there. She introduced new themes of colonialism and undermined Rochester as the Byronic hero. I don’t think anyone will read Barker’s text that way - Homer’s works and the Bible are so canonical that referencing or interacting with them feels like it doesn’t count as fan fiction (has anyone ever argued that Paradise Lost was fan fic?). Because Barker is a serious author with a Booker Prize on her shelf, they call TSOTG a ‘retelling’ rather than fan fic, but what is more fan fic than recounting a famous story from another character’s perspective? 

For reference: Stephanie Meyer has done this twice to her own novels. She retold Twilight from Edward’s POV in Midnight Sun and wrote a gender flipped version of Twilight called Life and Death: Twilight Reimagined. From Wikipedia, it seems like a pretty straight-forward find and replace job: Life and Death tells the story of 16 year old Beaufort Swan who moves from Arizona to Washington to live with his dad - on his first day at school, he meets the beautiful and mysterious Edythe Cullen... 

^^ It’s fun to laugh at Twilight but remember this: Bon Iver recorded a song for the soundtrack. The New Moon soundtrack also featured Death Cab for Cutie, Thom Yorke, Grizzly Bear and a bunch of other bands with legitimate indie credibility (Pitchfork still gave it a 5.4) - why did they agree to be on this soundtrack? They must be getting approached for this kind of work all the time and New Moon’s budget was not huge - only $50 million so it’s not like they would have been offering obscene cash. Probably a mystery for another time...

Most of Barker’s works deal with war in some capacity. The only other book of hers which I’ve read is Regeneration. In that book, Barker riffs on historical figures, places, events, and literary works as she explores the impacts of WWI on returning English soldiers suffering PTSD. There are a lot of complicated ideas moving around and bumping up against each other - it’s like she’s playing a 20 string guitar or jamming out on a 40 piece drum kit or something: she’s just super masterful and it’s a good read but also interesting to look at how she achieved it technically. It’s a super satisfying book to explore and think about and probably my favourite war book (maybe tied with Slaughterhouse 5).

In TSOTG, she’s still interested in war, but now she’s looking more closely at the impacts of war on women. In a way, TSOTG seems kind of blunt and stupid in its handling of war compared to Regeneration. Barker is so focused on proving that women had it bad during the war and trying to deromanticise the Greek warriors, that she depicts all the men (except Patroclus and Achilles) as childish brutes: they’re capricious and proud, they’re rough and inconsiderate, they take offence easily, they eat messily and they drink too much. We never see them in action on the battlefield, so the one thing they’re good at is hidden from us: we don’t get to admire their magnificence but when they die, the women make fun of their shriveled cocks. Of course, we see this through Briseis’ biased eyes (fair enough given her situation), but what she reports of their behaviour is pretty bleak. No one has a rich interiority: they just fuck, shit and fight. It seems like Barker’s argument is that the men must be assholes because they rape their slaves. But we know that’s not how it works: the men raped their slave women because that was the cultural norm but beyond the raping they were average guys. In fact, the raping and slaving made them average. Not heroes, not assholes. Just 1100BC guys.* 

(*This isn’t ‘boys will be boys’ - if anything it’s historical relativism. I’m not saying it’s average because they were guys, I’m saying it’s average because it was a long time ago. Remember, Jesus was a radical thinker with all his wacky ideas about compassion and love - and he was still more than a 1000 years away. The Greeks were very advanced in some ways, but their culture relied on slavery - at a point you need to accept that that was their normal (bad by our standards, yes) and engage with them on their own terms otherwise you’ll never get anywhere in a conversation about their values.)

Barker retells this astonishing passage from The Iliad about three quarters of the way through TSOTG - just to set it up, Achilles killed Prince Hector and has been desecrating his corpse (dragging it behind his chariot) as vengeance for the death of Patroclus (Achilles’ closest friend). In ancient Greece, it was believed that you couldn’t pass on to the underworld until you’d had a proper burial. Beyond being disrespectful, the abuse of Hector’s body torments his family because it means Hector cannot pass peacefully to the afterlife. Growing desperate, Hector’s father King Priam has snuck out of Troy and come to the Greek camp to beg Achilles to return Hector’s body:

Priam found the warrior there inside ... many captains sitting some way off, but two, veteran Automedon and the fine fighter Alcimus were busy serving him. He had just finished dinner, eating, drinking, and the table still stood near. The majestic king of Troy slipped past the rest and kneeling down beside Achilles, clasped his knees and kissed his hands, those terrible, man-killing hands that had slaughtered Priam's many sons in battle. Awesome - as when the grip of madness seizes one who murders a man in his own fatherland and flees abroad to foreign shores, to a wealthy, noble host, and a sense of marvel runs through all who see him so Achilles marveled, beholding majestic Priam. His men marveled too, trading startled glances. But Priam prayed his heart out to Achilles: "Remember your own father, great godlike Achilles - as old as I am, past the threshold of deadly old age! No doubt the countrymen round about him plague him now, with no one there to defend him, beat away disaster. No one - but at least he hears you're still alive and his old heart rejoices, hopes rising, day by day, to see his beloved son come sailing home from Troy. But l - dear god, my life so cursed by fate ... I fathered hero sons in the wide realm of Troy and now not a single one is left, I tell you. Fifty sons I had when the sons of Achaea came, nineteen born to me from a single mother's womb and the rest by other women in the palace. Many, most of them violent Ares cut the knees from under. But one, one was left me, to guard my walls, my people  the one you killed the other day, defending his fatherland, my Hector! It's all for him I've come to the ships now, to win him back from you - I bring a priceless ransom. Revere the gods, Achilles! Pity me in my own right, remember your own father! I deserve more pity ... I have endured what no one on earth has ever done before - I put to my lips the hands of the man who killed my son." Those words stirred within Achilles a deep desire to grieve for his own father. Taking the old man's hand he gently moved him back. And overpowered by memory both men gave way to grief. Priam wept freely for man-killing Hector, throbbing, crouching before Achilles' feet as Achilles wept himself, now for his father, now for Patroclus once again, and their sobbing rose and fell throughout the house.

(Not sure about this translation but it’s the best I could find online)

So this scene plays out beat for beat in TSOTG, and it’s very moving and well done (well done by Homer originally - and Barker renders it well too), but Barker wants to make it about the women so in response to Priam’s famous line ‘I kiss the hands of the man who killed my son’, Briseis thinks: "And I do what countless women before me have been forced to do. I spread my legs for the man who killed my husband and my brothers.” Is she an asshole for thinking about herself in this moment? I understand what Barker is trying to do: elevate the suffering of the women to the same platform that the men have always had. But this is graceless. It’s not a competition. 

Another element I found frustrating was the suggestion in TSOTG that the Greeks regarded Achilles’ close bond with Patroclus as unusual - characters are scornful of Achilles’ relationship with Patroclus and make snickering jokes about them being gay. This is disappointing because I am sure Barker did her research and therefore she must know that ancient Greece was probably more accepting of homosexuality (at least between men) than society is today. The only whisper of controversy around their relationship was the ancient equivalent of the ‘who’s the bottom?’ question: the Greeks would have been curious about who was dominant and who was passive, but wouldn’t have raised an eyebrow at Patroclus and Achilles being together.

Frank Miller also choose to make his ancient Greeks homophobic in 300 and Alan Moore, always happy to play the expert, was quick to point out the mistake:

There was just one particular line in it where one of the Spartan soldiers—I'll remind you, this is Spartans that we're talking about—one of them was talking disparagingly about the Athenians, and said, ‘Those boy-lovers.' You know, I mean, read a book, Frank. The Spartans were famous for something other than holding the bridge at Thermopylae, they were quite famous for actually enforcing man-boy love amongst the ranks as a way of military bonding. That specific example probably says more about Frank's grasp of history than it does about his grasp of homosexuality, so I'm not impugning his moral situation there. I'm not saying it was homophobic; just wasn't very well researched.

Anyone with even a passing knowledge of ancient Greece would be familiar with their permissive attitudes toward homosexuality. Why did she choose to do this? I know she’s not homophobic because Regeneration sensitively observed the suffering of gay men, for example that minor speech impediments (lisps, stutters) manifested in men who were repressing their homosexuality. I don’t understand this choice from a woman who wrote maybe the best war book of all time.

TSOTG wraps up with a reflection on memory and the stories people want to hear:

I thought: Suppose, suppose just once, once, in all these centuries, the slippery gods keep their word and Achilles is granted eternal glory in return for his early death under the walls of Troy...? What will they make of us, the people of those unimaginably distant times? One thing I do know: they won’t want the brutal reality of conquest and slavery. They won’t want to be told about the massacres of men and boys, the enslavement of women and girls. They won’t want to know we were living in a rape camp. No, they’ll go for something altogether softer. A love story, perhaps? I just hope they manage to work out who the lovers were. His story. His, not mine. It ends at his grave... Once, not so long ago, I tried to walk out of Achilles’ story - and failed. Now, my own story can begin.

Through the sickening dramatic irony, I can pick out three points Barker is trying to make:

Achilles looms large, but Briseis is her own person and deserves her own story

This is the untold true story of what really went down during the Trojan War - the people aren’t ready for this heat but I, Pat Barker, will bring it to them regardless

This isn’t a love story, but if it were, it would be the authoritative and definitive Trojan War love story

Point 1: Briseis deserves her own story

As I mentioned earlier, TSOTG begins in media res - meaning unlike in Troy, we don’t see what the gang was doing before the fighting kicked off, the catalysts of the war, the journey from Greece, etc. The action begins mid-way through the war, mid-way through a day, mid-way through a battle as our protagonist, mid-way through her life, peers over the parapets watching the Greeks disembowel her countrymen. So TSOTG begins as Achilles enters Briseis’ life and ends just as he leaves it - it begins in media res because no one would want to hear about her boring ass life before incandescent Achilles walked into it. Briseis is most interesting when she’s talking about Achilles, watching him from afar, describing their awkward encounters, analysing his behaviour - sure, the story is from Briseis’ perspective, but she’s always looking at Achilles. Is Barker arguing that we should care about Briseis outside of Achilles? She can’t have it both ways! She can’t complain that no one cares about anything but Achilles and then tell a story centered around Achilles, make Achilles the most interesting character and - in a particularly weird move - allow him to narrate some chapters in the second half of the book. 

Point 2: This is the grittiest telling of the Trojan War that readers have ever had to grit their teeth through

The suggestion that this is ‘the untold true story of the women of Troy’ is totally bogus - exploring what the Trojan War cost women has been done. Euripides wrote the The Trojan Women in ~415BC, some 600+ years after when the Trojan War is estimated to have taken place (if it took place at all). It’s a tragedy which focuses on the Trojan women (Hecuba, Andromache and co.) as they process the death of their husbands, and learn what their fate will be (i.e. which Greek they will be gifted to). As with TSOTG, the action happens off-stage, out of the women’s line of sight and is reported to them by men as they come and go from the stage. It is a relentlessly horrible play: the centerpiece is the murder of Hector’s baby son Astyanax (Odysseus throws him from the walls of Troy) and the women’s response to this terrible news. 

It seems like Barker also takes issue with modern narratives glossing over the rape, slaughter and slavery that occurred during the war - but even Troy (by no means an unromantic movie) makes these elements pretty explicit:

In the clip above, the Myrmidons have brought Achilles the newly enslaved Briseis in case he would like to rape her. The slavery and rape threat elements are there. Is Barker saying that she wants to see the rape? Does this scene somehow read as romantic because he chooses not to rape her? Rape is being used more and more, especially in TV, as a way of creating realism in fantasy shows - and people do seem to have an appetite for it (see: Game of Thrones, Outlander). So her suggestion that modern audiences want a sanitised version of the war doesn’t work for me. 

Point 3: This isn’t a love story. It’s about rape. But also... don’t you just love Achilles?

Quoting from Briseis’ final words again:

No, they’ll go for something altogether softer. A love story, perhaps? I just hope they manage to work out who the lovers were.

Sounds pointed. Barker is implying someone out there got the lovers wrong. It can’t be Troy because they went with the Achilles/Briseis angle too, so is she referring to Madeline Miller? Miller’s 2011 novel The Song of Achilles is a love story focused on Patroclus and Achilles (disclosure: I haven’t read it). As I mentioned earlier, Barker, going against all evidence we have about ancient Greece, chose to make her Greeks homophobic. She does touch on Achilles and Patroclus’ famous intimacy, but frames it more as some kind of preternatural closeness which goes beyond brothers or lovers. In Barker’s defence, Homer never explicitly said that Achilles and Patroclus were lovers, but the suggestion of it is certainly part of the canon. I had a high school Classics teacher who scoffed at Troy because she thought Achilles should have been banging Patroclus instead of Briseis. 

Also: since we’re talking about a ‘rape camp’, were there really many lovers?

For a feminist take on The Iliad, this book has some weird gender politics. Achilles rapes our protagonist - a lot. He’s childish, he has mummy issues, he’s abrasive and fussy - but we want Briseis to win him over! We want Achilles to notice her. He’s so magnetic, even if you write him as a spoiled pig, he’s still Achilles. He’s the coolest guy in school. He’s the rower with big shoulders. He wears his hat backwards. He comes to school on Monday with a black eye. He doesn’t know anything about computers. He says he likes Hemingway. He smells good without deodorant. His socks never stay up. If you walk beside him in a hallway, you can feel heat radiating from his body. His pouting and brattiness play into his magnetism somehow. I honestly think Barker might have fallen into the same trap as high school girls throughout history: we just love a bad boy. Want a glimpse into the terrifying mind of teenage girl? When I was 17, I dumped my high school boyfriend because he wasn’t enough like Achilles or Hector. People are romantic about the Trojan War, but that doesn’t mean they want a love story. 

[arrowdaily]

On Arrow, Oliver Queen (Stephen Amell) is still behind bars and unable to protect his family, his team and his city in the way that he’d like to. Meanwhile, Felicity (Emily Bett Rickards) is getting in deeper when it comes to tracking down and dealing with the growing threat of Diaz (Kirk Acevedo) once and for all, and Curtis (Echo Kellum) goes undercover on a mission for ARGUS with Diggle (David Ramsey) and Lyla (Audrey Marie Anderson).

During this one-on-one interview with Collider, which was held at the Warner Bros. Television offices in Los Angeles, actor Echo Kellum, aka Mr. Terrific, talked about the changes of season 7 and what new showrunner Beth Schwartz brings to the show, what it’s like to be living his dream of becoming a superhero, getting to be a part of Team ARGUS, whether Curtis prefers to be in front of the computer or out in the field, the dynamic between Curtis and Felicity, what’s it meant to him to work with Emily Bett Rickards, how Curtis feels about the new Green Arrow, his involvement in the upcoming “Elseworlds” crossover episode, and his dream mission for his character.

Collider: I love the trio of Lyla, Diggle and Curtis. What were the Team ARGUS scenes like to do? Echo Kellum: It’s definitely fun to work with Audrey [Marie Anderson] and David [Ramsey]. They are absolutely extremely talented and professional, but they’re also just so much fun and down to earth and silly. It’s always such a pleasure to work with them. It definitely feels different. That’s the thing I love about our show. You can really mix and match some pieces to get some different dynamics and gold, in a lot of aspects. In season 4, I had never worked with John Barrowman until the last two episodes. It’s so funny that you can have an entire season and never see the actors, and then come in together and have these fun, interesting scenes with each other. It’s really cool.

Is it fun for Curtis to feel like he’s the one who’s sort of in charge of the mission because they’re relying on him to guide them? EK: Yeah, it’s really fun! I always love Curtis when he’s focusing on tech and that aspect. I always love him being in the field, too, but it’s nice to switch it up and have him be in charge, in the van and on computers, and telling them what to do.

Do you feel like Curtis is much more comfortable with hanging out in a van with computers than he is going out in the field and fighting as Mr. Terrific? EK: Just based on seeing his trajectory, going out into the field, I would have to say that he’s probably more comfortable in the van. There are less punches being thrown his way, so that’s always nice. But I really do feel like he was coming into his own in the field, too. If he had a preference, it probably would be behind the computer with tech. He can send the T-Spheres out.

When you think back to when you first signed on to be a part of this TV series, is where you’re at with the story and character now, in season 7, anything like you could have imagined? EK:: No way! You can think many different things, but until you’re actually thrust into it, you just don’t have the perspective. It’s interesting. But I really love where the characters went, and I love what the writers have done for them. It’s a blessing, just to get to see how it all has been playing out, over the last four years. There’s definitely been a lot of surprises, along the way, but I think they do such a good job with the show. I do my job, but then I get to go home and look at the rewards from the hard work that we’ve put in, and see how much the fans love it and reach out. It’s been really cool.

As someone who’s clearly a fan of this type of project, did you have any hopes or expectations when you signed on, and did you meet them? EK: Yeah. What’s funny is that, before I auditioned for this show, a couple of best friends and I had come up with this thing, called Let’s Take Over Hollywood. Basically, what that meant to us was working out every day, writing as much as we could, and really giving in fully to our careers. I went to the gym and was going hard and was like, “We’re gonna be superheroes!” And then, I booked this show. They said, “Well, he has the potential to be Mr. Terrific,” and I was like, “That’s pretty sweet!” And then, when it actually started happening, I was like, “I can’t believe it! This was a game plan of mine, two years ago, and now it’s actually happening and coming into fruition. This character is really dope!” It’s still very surreal. I look back now and I’m like, “Wow, that’s part of my life!” This is all still a shock, and I pinch myself. It’s one of the coolest things in the world, coming up and getting picked on for being a nerd, my entire life, to having the privilege to show people what I saw, as a kid. To get beat up and then rewarded for the same thing is really cool. I’m just in a constant state of shock that I even get to do this in my life, and to get to do it with such a cool character on such a great show, and run by a great studio and network is like all of the cherries on top. I’m just so grateful. And I’ve got a super suit. I literally have a suit that will forever be tied to me. That’s so cool, that I will be in the echelon of the DC comics lore.

As a fan, do you ever think about how you’re a part of the show that launched all of the other DC shows, and that you also get to have crossover episodes that bring everybody together? EK: That is never lost on me. It’s very surreal. I’m still very close with my best friends, from when I was nine and ten years old. We still talk, almost every day, and every once in awhile, we’ll be like, “Dude, life is nuts!” This is really, really, really, really not something we thought would ever happen, getting to be on a comic book show for the comic books we used to read, as kids. I’m so fortunate, and I’m so thankful that I get to be in this position in life, where little kids get to look up to this character and say, “I wanna do that!,” or “I wanna act!” That’s the most amazing thing. That’s what I saw as a kid, watching people on TV, like Will Smith and Jim Carrey, when I said, “I wanna do that!” The fact that there might be a group of four friends out there who love comic books, watch the show and go, “I wanna act!,” that is one of the dopest things in the world.

Are you a part of this next crossover? EK: Yeah, I did get to be a part of the crossover. It was really cool. It definitely has a different feel, and it’s awesome. It was really awesome to be on set, during this crossover, and get to work with everyone, to get to see Grant [Gustin] and Stephen [Amell] like I’ve never seen them before, and to get to work with John Wesley Shipp. It was the coolest. I feel like this whole interview is just me saying that I’m blown away and can’t believe my life, but it was just one of those moments where you have to take it in and be like, “Woah, this is my life. This is what I do.” It was very, very awesome to be a part of the crossover this year.

Without revealing any spoilers, was there a specific stand-out moment for you? EK: Absolutely, there was a moment. The biggest moments for me were when I got to work with John Wesley Shipp. I can’t really go into detail on what was happening in the scene, but I had to keep reminding myself to stay in the scene and not get lost in working with him.

It seems as though the team is pretty spread around this season. Everyone has the same bigger goals, but all of the characters also have their own things going on. Has that been an interesting shift for you? EK: Yeah. If you look at the first part of last season, especially before we split up, there was a lot of team stuff. Especially when Diggle was Green Arrow, we were all heavily teamed up. So now, to be in these different pockets is a very interesting perspective. I really like it, though. It’s nice just to mix it up sometimes, but we definitely still get to play with each other, which is great, and have those team aspects. It’s nice to be in your own zone and have the different dynamics with the characters.

With Felicity seemingly willing to go to any lengths to get Diaz, is Curtis starting to worry about her? EK: How traumatizing is it, everything she’s been put through with Diaz? Her husband is in jail, and this guy is still trying to terrorize her. She’s off, trying to live her new life with pink hair, and this dude is still coming at her and William. The thing is that she’s just tired of running and tired of being chased by this guy. She wants to be proactive and take him down. Sometimes when you’re blinded by revenge, it might not work out best. She almost left John hanging on the train. I get that aspect of enough is enough. That will create some friction between her and Curtis, for sure, but in the end, he will support his friend. They all know that Diaz is a problem and they want him off the grid, not creating and sewing confusion and destruction in the city. Curtis will go about it the traditional way of using ARGUS and the police. They’re all supporting the same mission, but they have different ways of going about it, which they definitely will discuss with some tense back and forth conversations.

Because we’ve really gotten to know Curtis through his relationship with Felicity, what’s it been like to have Emily Bett Rickards to share this experience with? EK: It’s been amazing! She really set the tone for what the show was, when I came on. I remember when I first booked the role and I was watching it, I was like, “Oh, man!” It’s a little intimidating to go onto a hit show because you feel everyone is gonna be like, “Don’t look me in the eye, and also refer to me as Mr. Amell!” But then, when I got on set, Emily treated me as if I had been there from the beginning, and that’s how everyone is. Everyone is super accepting and loves working with each other. It was a very amazing moment to work with her and see how down to earth she was, and the rest of the cast. I literally love working with her. She’s a really great person, and really funny, too. Everyone is so funny. We laugh so much on set, and they’re screaming at us like, “Actors!” We’re like, “Sorry!” When you have fun on set, that really comes through on screen. You can see that people really enjoy each other, and we do that. That’s what I learned from Emily.

What can you say to tease what’s next, after this week’s episode, especially for Curtis? EK: Definitely, you’ll see Curtis getting into the field in some different ways than you ever have. He’s gonna be going undercover with ARGUS in some capacities. Whether he’s 100% on board or not doesn’t matter, he definitely will do what he can. You’re also gonna see him really struggling with the consequences of last year and what he wants to do, in terms of either getting back out into the field or chilling at ARGUS. There will be some really interesting things happening for him, in the future.

How does he feel about where things are at now? EK: He’s definitely torn. A part of him definitely enjoys being at ARGUS, and a part of him misses being more active, out in the field, doing what he can to help the denizens of Star City. I think although he is torn, he’s probably landed on the side of doing what he can while abiding by the plea deal and running the innoventions department at ARGUS.

How does Curtis feel about the new Green Arrow vigilante? EK: He definitely doesn’t agree with everything that the new Green Arrow is doing. There’s a part of him that thinks, if the person is doing the right thing by the citizens, that maybe it’s a good thing, but he also wonders what’s going on with this person.

At the beginning of this season, when they clued you in on the general idea of where things would be headed, did they tell you who the new Green Arrow is? EK: Nope! They stopped telling me secrets about the show, a long time ago. I used to give out way too many spoilers. I spoiled who Prometheus was before the show ever aired, and no one caught it, thankfully. I posted a picture of the whole cast, and Josh Segarra as Prometheus was right there. I posted it online, and then one of the people in the office was like, “I don’t think you can post that picture.” I was like, “Oh, my god, I’ll take it down!” Nobody ever saw it, but now they know not to share stuff with me, so I have no idea. I’m definitely curious. I think that what Beth [Schwartz] and her crew are doing is some really fun stuff. People are in for a great time this season.

What’s it like to have a new showrunner in season 7, with Beth Schwartz taking over? EK: It’s always nice to switch it up and get a fresh pair of eyes on it. Obviously, Beth has been in the trenches of the show. She started off as an assistant and now she’s so showrunning, so she has a personal feel for the show and knows everything about the show. She’s such a brilliant study of all that comes into this, and she’s done such a great job, jumping in feet first. We’re all really thankful that she is as talented and brilliant as she is, and that she’s breathing a lot of new life into the show. I think people are gonna be really, really happy with where it goes this season.

If you could have Curtis go on any type of mission, what would it be? EK: A mission to get the T-Spheres to have the ability to fly Curtis around the world. That’s the mission I want him to work on. He needs to be flying. We need to work that out. If you could talk to the effects people, Warner Bros. and Beth, tell them that I want to get that in. I wanna fly and go through different dimensions.

[bxebxee]

and what a way to go

Note: written for @jeonalis because i love my college girl <3 Based on THIS THING. Names of gadgets and widgets and places and things cheerfully borrowed from all the nerd stuff I used to love many years ago. Mostly Ratchet and Clank though. I think there was also an unintentional fight club reference, but i’ve never seen the movie and have no desire to do so either. Points if you spot all the random nerd stuff I put in there.

Pairing: Jungkook x Reader Genre: Crack, Sci-Fi, Smut Lite (Diet Smut a.k.a. Lazy Smut) Warnings: it’s crack. it’s (bad, lazy) porn. Ah, actually there’s some physical violence. Word Count: 4225 Rating: BC, for bad crack.

*

“I want you to hit me as hard as you can,” you tell Jungkook.

“Excuse me?” he splutters.

“You heard the woman,” Jimin eggs him on.

“Hit me,” you dare.

*

Good entertainment is hard to come by in the Year of Our Lord 3333. Jungkook warily orders his holo-projector to turn off the hyper-realistic porn of two human women tribbing because it’s a re-run, and he’s used up his free trial of the sensory package. Somehow actually smelling the sex and experiencing mild neuro-stimulating jolts at key points of the adult film really made the whole porn watching experience better. Anything less was just depressing. 

“Did you shut that shit off?” Yoongi asks from outside Jungkook’s bedroom. The door being shut is a clear indication that Masturbatory Events were happening, so the older human boy has learned to not even bother knocking. 

Jungkook heaves a sigh because he doesn’t even have a boner. “Yeah,” he answers glumly. 

“Is your junk tucked in?” 

“It wasn’t out to begin with.” 

The bedroom door opens with a force that only comes from a person seeking to pick a fight. Yoongi frowns at Jungkook’s unmoving, prone figure. “You do know that your holo-projector is still connected to the amplifier downstairs, right?” 

Jungkook bolts out of his bed, face drawn into a comically horrified picture of contrition and shame. “Uh...” And Yoongi’s girlfriend was over too. He’s dead. More than dead. Deader than dead. 

“Lucky for you my girlfriend found it hot and a little bit funny, but seriously...” 

This is mortifying, and Jungkook swears he needs to move out as soon as possible - except he’s still broke and fixing hovercrafts from time to time wasn’t any way to make a steady living. 

“Sorry,” he grimaces, and scratches the back of his head with a sigh. “I’ll... leave you guys to it then.” (He tries his best not to look her in the eye when she leaves. She fucking waves though. Weird.) 

It is 127% because of boredom that he finds himself “borrowing” (read: taking without consent) Yoongi’s mobile airship for the express purpose of hyperwarping to Abraxas-II for a night of wild, youthful revelry. Much to his roommate-slash-employer’s dismay, Jungkook has no qualms about contributing to the statistics of bored young human boys wreaking havoc across the galaxy. If not now, then when? Humans did have one of the lowest life expectancies around, and he wasn’t going to wait until he was pushing fifty-five and seeking cryo-regenification to have a little fun. 

“Warning, impending destruction of Abraxas-II,” the Computer tells him twenty minutes into hyperwarp. “Recalculating.” 

What the actual fuck. Jungkook takes out his limited edition communicator designed in the tradition of old-school, earth-class cellular devices from the early 21st century. Thankfully he still has signal. At least the UMN was doing something good for the galaxy. 

BREAKING: LARGE METEOR IMPACT TO DESTROY “SIN PLANET” ABRAXAS-II - says the headlines. Almost immediately, there are op-ed interviews from Voths and Cragmites who loved to, colloquially speaking, talk shit about everyone else - especially anyone else having fun. Jungkook suspects it’s not some freak meteor because the live feed of the impending destruction shows the “meteor” looks a lot like an intentional laser beam coming from an ominous-looking ship. 

“Changing course to Abraxas-X,” the Computer lets him know in a cheery voice. “Estimated time of arrival: seventeen minutes.”

“Uh, Computer, I think I’d rather just go home,” Jungkook tells the ship’s control mainframe. 

“Unable to execute command. Due to the projected debris fallout from Abraxas-II’s destruction, all routes back to HOME are closed until further notice from the Federation. We Apologize For The Inconvenience.” 

Yoongi will kill him for real this time. 

*

“Did you hear? It’s Abraxas-II this time,” Jimin remarks, wrapping his hand in bandages for the fight tonight. As his “fling for the night” you were allowed in the locker rooms by a creepy looking Agorian guard. 

You roll your eyes because of course you heard about the “meteor” about to destroy another planet. The Federation really needed to get their act together. And where was Captain Qwark when you needed him? 

“Don’t get distracted, baby boy,” you smirk, completely ignoring his question in favor of sticking to a topic you actually cared about - money. “Tonight is a toss-up.” 

You and Jimin played dirty when it came to Abraxas-X’s infamous underground fighting cages. It was a pretty simple scam: Jimin fought based on a pre-determined strategy and you either bet for or against him depending on how it was supposed to go. Sometimes it made more sense to dope up on nanotech painkilers and lose on purpose, and you made sure to bet high and reckless on those days. 

Win or lose, you and Jimin always made sure to come out on top. Sometimes though, Jimin faced odd toss-ups like the one for tonight, V, and you had to bet carefully based on Jimin’s condition. 

“I think it’ll be a win for tonight,” Jimin decides, handing you the vial of unused nanotech. And herein lie the loophole that allowed for your cute little scam: officials only checked the winners to see who’s doping. Never the losers. This made it easy for Jimin to inject, inhale, and rub as much nano into his system on Lose Nights so that he could take a beating and come out normal the next morning. 

“If you say so,” you hum, “And be safe.” 

The Agorian guard opens the door, and Jimin pulls you into a kiss fit for the pay-per-view holo-channels. “Fight’s starting soon, lovebirds.” 

“Thanks for the hot sex, baby,” you laugh at a smirking Jimin, waving as you exit. “I’ll be cheering for you.”

*

Jungkook nearly pisses his pants when he gets to Abraxas-X because it’s the furthest thing from Abraxas-II. For one, it’s fucking cold and snowing, unlike Abraxas-II’s modulated temperature system where it was always tropical year round. He’s ridiculously under-dressed for this climate, but that doesn’t mean he can afford to planet hop until he gets somewhere warmer. He’s running out of hyperwarp fuel, and his communicator’s battery is nearly dead. 

For another, it’s pretty much deserted along the landing site in a scary, dystopian kind of way. 

“Oh fuck me,” he says, but it sounds more like, “Oh-hoh, fuc-c-c-ck, m-me-hee,” because his teeth clack from the cold. 

He has a good seven percent battery left which he uses to shiver his way towards civilization. The first group of parka-adorned humanoids he enounters looks at him as if he’s a fucking Cragmite. 

“What’s up,” Jungkook smiles in what he hopes to be something more winsome and not pained. “Hey, can you guys direct me to the closest Gadgetron vendor? My communicator is about to die.” 

Parka One points to a cave with a fading sign that reads COLOSSEUM, as if the anguished shouts and curses weren’t frightening enough.

“I don’t know if they sell communicators though,” Parka Two tell him. “The guy’s an ex-RYNO dealer.” 

What the fuck was this planet even? 

“Th-thank you.” Jungkook prays it’s warmer inside. 

*

“No Foul.”

You glare at the referee who refuses to call a foul on that shout. That V fighter asshole is very good at getting in potshots that look legal, and you don’t like it one bit. Jimin is getting his ass handed to him on a rusty copper platter, and you’re more than a little pissed off that you just bet a whole week’s income on this. 

V, or whatever his fucking name was, actually has the nerve to wink at you. Apparently he thinks you’re Jimin’s fuck toy, and he’s trying to use playground tactics to piss off your “boyfriend” into making mistakes in the ring. Well, the joke is on you because neither Jimin nor you cared two shits about taunting, and Jimin was still losing. 

Your gaze shifts to your partner in crime who shakes his head. He should have taken the fucking nano. 

You nod slowly while tucking your hair behind your left ear and blink three, distinct times. The message is there: Next round, submission, tap out. It would be a loss for tonight, but at least Jimin wouldn’t be too injured. 

In a fit of annoyance you leave the crowd and make your way towards the exit. 

“You don’t accept bolts?” comes an incredulous voice by the entrance next to Jeff, the Gadgetron vendor. “How could you possibly not accept bolts?” 

“Sorry, my sexy, muscular, human macho man,” Jeff purrs, “It’s either munny, gil, or credits. I don’t live in the stone ages of bolts.” 

You blink when you see a human man fuming at the way Jeff condescendingly refuses to sell him a communicator battery pack. Humans were rare in these parts, so you’re a little taken aback to see one standing at the entrance of the Colosseum wearing nothing but a thin t-shirt and a pair of black pants that looked like they were painted onto his skin. 

“My friend, no- my boss is going to kill me unless I get in touch with him, and I literally only have three percent battery. This Abraxas-II bullshit is really-” 

“Oh honey, everyone is inconvenienced by Abraxas-II,” Jeff smiles, knowing a wallet when he sees one. 

Unfortunately for Jeff, you also know a wallet when you see one too, and that guy with the nice thighs looks like he could do some serious damage in the ring. You want him - for your scam, of course. 

“Oh Jeff,” you call out in sing-song voice, hastily shrugging off your parka and pulling down your top. 

“Whaddya want?” 

“A communicator battery pack,” you answer with a cute smile and a wink in the human guy’s direction. 

“Five hundred credits-”

You give him a long look. “Jeff.”

“Abraxas-II-”

“Don’t,” you warn, balling your fist. 

“Two hundred,” he replies meekly, and you pay him using your card. 

You accept the battery pack and promptly hand it over to the human who’s looking at you in awe. Hook, line, and sinker. And for your next act, you turn away saucily and head for the locker rooms, even though that’s exactly where you came from. You’re pretty sure the pretty boy wouldn’t notice. 

“Hey wait,” comes his voice, and you can’t help but to smile because it’s all so predictable. “Wait, what’s your name?” 

“Like that’s important,” you laugh, shooting him a flirtatious look. “You got your battery. Go make your call.” 

You walk into the crowds once more just in time to see Jimin tap out with a sour look on his face. He looks surprised to see you still here because he thought you would have just left. 

“What the hell is this place?” the human next to you exhales, looking around in awe. 

“Welcome to the Pits of Abraxas-X,” you grin. “People beat each other up here for money.” As if it weren’t obvious. 

“Well fuck.”

*

“Jungkook, Jimin. Jimin, Jungkook,” you make the introductions in a careless fashion as Jimin ices his bruises. You hand him a vial of nano with a frown. 

“Nice to meet you,” Jungkook mutters, eyeing Jimin’s black eye warily. 

“Yeah, whatever,” you brush the niceties aside, “Now that we all know each other and seeing as we’re all in the at-least-fifty-percent-human club, let’s get down to business.” 

“Wait what?” Jungkook frowns, looking at you with a giant question mark on his face. He only followed you in here because he thought you were hot and maybe (just maybe) on the slim chance that you might blow him in some seedy locker room. 

“First of all, you owe me two hundred credits plus tax,” you inform Jungkook who looks like he swallowed a lemon. “Second of all, if you came in here in an airship, you’ll need hyperwarp fuel, which is expensive as fuck on this planet.” 

Jungkook gulps. 

“Oh, unless your boss can wire you two thousand credits of course,” you smile sweetly. 

“Two Thousand,” Jungkook hiccups. 

“Lucky for you I have a plan,” you continue, ignoring the way Jimin groans. “My fighter is going to be out of commission for the pits until the nano’s out of his system, and I’m already in the negatives for this week.” 

“So what’s your plan?” Jungkook asks, already getting a sense as to where this is going. 

“You are the plan, Jungkook,” you tell him, “I need you to play substitute for Jimin for about a week. Can you do that?”

And even you ask him, you’re not really asking him. You’re practically ordering Jungkook to be Jimin’s substitute. The “or else” doesn’t even need to be said because the guy has no other options. He’s stranded here anyway, in desperate need of cash to escape and already two hundred credits in debt with yours truly. 

“I don’t know how to fight,” he sighs glumly, “I’m gonna get beat up a lot, huh?” 

Your gaze drifts to his thighs and his biceps. “Jungkook, I think with a little training you should be okay. But yeah, you’re going to get wailed on.” 

He looks terrified so you amend your statement. “Ah, you’re not going to feel any of it though. You just have to act like you’re in pain.” 

“What?” he gasps. 

You hold up a fresh bottle of nano. “I love biotechnology and messing around with this shit,” you giggle, “Everyone reacts differently to nano, but for humans, it’s found to be particularly good at repairing physical damage. That’s why it’s illegal in most fighting communities.” 

Jungkook lets out a small, choked sound because not only was nano injections illegal in “fighting communities,” this shit was also illegal in five hundredish out of six hundredish planets in the Federation. Whole Planets have outlawed this substance, including his home world. 

“It’s safe,” you guess, “From my experience.” 

And Jungkook does not know what to say because it’s either get beat up by alien uglies without nano, or get beat up with nano. Yoongi would probably tell him to “just say no to drugs” but Yoongi wasn’t the one facing a just-under-five-foot terror in the shape of a human girl. 

“How can I trust you?” he asks, attempting to sound cool. 

And you really have to laugh because he’s too cute. “You don’t get out very much, do you?” you smirk, shaking the tube of nano before injecting it straight into a vein in your forearm. 

“Here we go,” Jimin snorts, watching the two of you share in Prime Banter. Jungkook almost forgot the older human man was even there. 

You let the nano filter through your system, and it’s quick because you’ve done it so many times now. “I want you to hit me as hard as you can,” you tell Jungkook. 

“Excuse me?” he splutters. 

“You heard the woman,” Jimin eggs him on. 

“Hit me,” you dare. 

“Wha- I- I can’t hit a girl!” Jungkook finally spits out. 

“Cute,” Jimin rolls his eyes. “If you won’t, I will.” 

And Jungkook, bless that boy, actually steps in between you and Jimin. “No, dude,” he says in his best strongman voice. “It’s not right.” 

“She has a million little robot things currently filling up her entire body waiting to repair even the slightest bit of damage,” Jimin explains as if he’s talking to a little kid. 

“She is right here,” you remind the boys, tapping Jungkook’s shoulder. He turns around and you promptly wack him across the face. “And she is still waiting for that hit, Jungkook.” 

Jungkook to his credit really doesn’t like getting physical. He was kind of lying when he said he didn’t fight because he did learn some human fighting techniques growing up, and he could hold his own in a bar brawl. But that was always up against human fighters, never stronger, weirder aliens that could potentially kill him. 

You piss him off though. He realizes belatedly that you probably paid for his battery pack on purpose, and he’s beyond annoyed because if there’s one thing he hates, it’s being used.

“You wanna get hit so bad?” he challenges through gritted teeth, and you nod. 

“Go for it, baby,” you tease, crooking your finger in a crude, pseudo-sexual gesture. “Give me your best shot-” 

Jungkook steps back, engaging in a standard stance and rears his leg up to kick you square in chin. The force of the blow has you slamming into the lockers, the loud metallic sound ringing through the cramped space. You’re dizzy and disoriented, but you don’t feel a damn thing other than excited. 

“Oh,” you sigh, mouth curving into a satisfied smile, “Oh, fuck, you’re good.” 

Jungkook doesn’t have a damn clue what to say. 

*

Jimin takes a day to teach him how to play Wounded Warrior in the pits, and you take another day to teach him the ins and outs of Coliseum etiquette, frequently encountered alien species, and about Abraxas-X in general. 

Jungkook is thankful that Yoongi is more worried about him being stranded on a foreign planet rather than angry at his missing mobile airship. 

“Sorry,” Jungkook apologizes for the fifth time. “I really, really fucked up.” 

Yoongi doesn’t disagree. “Yeah, but you’re safe. And you’ll find a way of getting back. Just don’t die.” 

“I’ll try my best,” Jungkook sighs, depressed out of his mind when he hangs up. His first fight is tonight, and while you’ve gone over the plan with him a million times, he still can’t get rid of the jittery feeling that he’s going to ruin everything. 

“You’re actually perfect, you know,” you tell Jungkook. “See, you look really built and like you’d totally kick everyone’s asses. And they’re gonna bet that way. But you’re going to lose, Jungkook. You’re going to take the hits and get on the ground.” 

“Can’t wait,” he deadpans. 

“Good,” you smile cheerfully, ignoring his willful attempts to be sullen, “Because my estimations show that we’re going to make about five hundred credits tonight.” 

Jungkook whips his head towards you from the news. Five hundred? that only meant four nights of this could lead to his freedom. 

“Don’t get too excited, champ,” you tell him as you pat him on the shoulder. “It’s five hundred divided by three.” 

“Three?” 

“Jimin’s cut of course.” You don’t leave your friends out of a cut, even if he did fuck things up with V. 

Jungkook looks like he might cry. 

*

The first thing Jungkook notices about the ring is that it smells bad. It smells like the time when Yoongi’s Markazian ex-girlfriend’s cat-looking pet climbed into the exhaust vent of their repair shop and never came back out. They had searched, and searched for that annoying little beast, and they finally found it from the stench of the rotting corpse. 

Likewise, it smelled like rotting organisms here. 

Jungkook wants to throw up from the smell and from the nerves. The nano is in his system, and it feel kind of itchy and akin to someone tickling him from the inside. His opponent is an eight-feet tall Agorian boxer. Fuck Everything. 

“You can do it, sexy!” you shout from the crowd, playing your part of adoring pit fangirl. The funny thing is that you’re not the only one yelling these sentiments to him. There are other pit girls screaming their love for Jungkook even though this is his literal first time making an appearance. 

To be completely honest, you didn’t blame them one bit. 

The horn sounds, and the Agorian charges at Jungkook. And instead of cowering, Jungkook charges right back, much to your surprise. 

“Oh,” you gasp, eyes widening when he draws first blood, using the same kick he used to hit you with on the Agorian. 

Jungkook’s opponent is unfazed, and sends a killer right hook at Jungkook’s side. The blow sounds painful and like it hit a bone from the nasty crunching sound. You can see Jungkook’s confusion because he heard the sound, and he felt the force from the blow, but there was also a distinct lack of pain. 

The surprise fades nearly instantaneously and you only notice it because you were looking for a flaw in his acting skills. Jungkook launches into the routine Jimin trained him on - rolling on the floor in pain. The referee blows his whistle and it’s all over. 

The fangirls mope around you. 

“It’s his first time,” one of them says. 

“Yeah,” another one agrees. 

“He’ll get better. He has to. I mean look at him.” 

You smirk when you see the referee shake his head and signal to the official that this match is over by TKO. Keep dreaming girls, you think. This is your house. 

*

“Payday,” you smile, handing over Jungkook’s cut of the winnings. 

Jungkook’s eyes go wide at the number. All that for taking a punch to his ribs? 

“Good job out there,” you compliment. “Couldn’t have done it without you.” 

Jungkook wonders if he should even feel proud of this, but it does feel nice to have done something to work towards a goal. 

“I have to say I was surprised though,” you comment, “I didn’t think you’d charge at Ortax the Merciless like that.” 

“Just reflex,” Jungkook mutters shyly. He doesn’t really know why he did it either. 

You wink, and watch as Jungkook’s ears go red in front of you. “It was a nice touch. Got the bets going up in your favor for a short while.” You pause, wondering if you say the next thing on your mind for all of three seconds before deciding that life was too short to play it safe. “It was fucking sexy.” 

Jungkook blinks owlishly. 

“Goodnight handsome. Take your vitamins.” 

*

Jungkook continues the losing for two more days until he’s matched up with V. 

You frown at the match up because you can’t tell what kind of alien V is because he looks so humanoid, but he’s not completely homosapiens either. His eyes and reflexes give everything away. 

“You have to win this one,” you tell him point blank. 

“Are you nuts?” 

You shake your head. “You have to. We lost the shock factor of people betting for you. Now people are going to bet against you, and even if you lose it’s not going to make a difference money-wise. You have to win for us to collect the winnings from tonight.” 

Jungkook swallows. “That means no nano.” 

“Nope,” you confirm. “You go in cold. And you have to win.” 

“Gee, thanks for not putting any pressure on me,” Jungkook sighs. 

You don’t have the luxury of feeling bad because your rent is kind of past due. “Jungkook, let me put it this way,” you start, “If you win, that means you’ll probably have enough money to back to your home planet.” 

“Where Yoongi will murder me,” Jungkook nods. He’s pouting again. 

Your heart warms at how his expression is in direct contrast to how his body looks cut up and bruised from the fights he’s had in the past few days. Jungkook’s handsome, baby face is so incredibly juxtaposed on his toned fighter’s body in the best way possible. 

“You’ll get another thing if you win,” you start, biting your lip and sitting down next to him. 

“What?” 

“I’ll kiss your boo-boos better,” you mutter into his ear. It’s a come-on, obviously. 

Jungkook swallows thickly when he sees your suggestive expression. “Like a blowjob?” he asks. 

“Yes,” you answer, opting for simplicity. 

*

Jungkook wins.

*

Jimin is not expecting this at all. He’s finally recovered from his fight with V, and after getting a text announcing Jungkook’s victory, he supposes a little congratulations is in order for the youngest in your group of scammers. Jimin breaks out the Ogre Killer from his stash of Serious Liquors, and makes his way towards the locker rooms where Jungkook and you would no doubt be high-fiving it up. 

He sees the Agorian guards with their ears pressed against the door when he arrives. 

“Uh-”

“Can you shut up?” Agorian A hisses, ear pressed firmly on the metal. 

“Fuck, I just heard her slurp,” Agorian B giggles. 

Agorian A glares at Jimin. “I missed the slurp because of you.” 

“Slurp?” Jimin questions. Without a word, they unlock the door for Jimin to enter, and he sees you on kneeling on the floor with a mouthful of Jungkook’s dick. 

The younger man’s attention is entirely focused on you, but you manage to make a sideways eye-contact with Jimin. 

“Shut the door,” Jimin orders, glaring at the guards. 

Jungkook gasps when he hears Jimin’s voice, but you pull him back to concentrate on you when you pull away to suck at the tip of his penis. 

“Jungkook was really good today,” you laugh, laving your tongue against the underside of his cock. “He beat V.” 

“So I heard,” Jimin replies, taking a seat on a bench and staring at the image in front of him. “Just to clarify, you texted me so that I could watch you suck his dick, correct?” 

“Correct,” you answer. 

“Correct? What the fuck?” Jungkook moans. You suck him in deep and let him hit the back of your throat. And just to add a little spice, you fake a gag. “Fuck!”

You make him cum in about sixty seconds. 

*

*

*

(Later: “What do you mean you’re staying in Abraxas-X?” Yoongi hisses over speaker. He calms down only marginally after Jungkook tell him he just wired him money for the mobile airship. That wasn’t even the point? This Kid!)

[finsterhund]

Finsterhund’s 2017 Summary of Art (and by extension, the rest of my life)

I’d be lying if I said that 2017 wasn’t an incredibly difficult year for the easily excitable finsterhund but it was also a very productive year for my art. I’m not going to deny that. A lot of issues came about that pushed me really hard, and I did break, but I mended too. I grew stronger in some ways. My writing took a nosedive and I’m not sure how to repair that, but my art, well... this is the first time I’ve ever done one of these. That should speak for itself.

In some months it was difficult to pick which one. I decided against choosing ones that may have been partially rotoscoped (such as my reaction images and most memes) and also because I tend to draw too similar to reference images I use. So no redraws of blurry HoD concept art or stuff.

January: [x]

This was supposed to be the picture for holidays 2016 but I’m a lazy earth boy who must’ve been slacking off because I finished and posted it right on January first! I remember at the time I was really proud of this one, and spent a lot of time on it. It was drawn traditionally and then scanned and digitized in GIMP... yes gimp. Fishy loved it and that made me happy. Nowadays I can pick apart so many flaws, especially in Andy. The lines look so shaky! Maybe I’ll redraw it for January 1st 2018! Assuming I don’t slack off again.

February: [x]

It was hard picking one from this month because I didn’t really like my drawings from then. Here’s art in paint of Red Spot eating a burger. I used to draw him with food when I was hungry for a while. Mmmmmm borger.

March: [x]

This is the month things started to take a nosedive. There was lots of good things happening, but some bad stuff too. A few new problems arose, but at the time the biggest was I found out my birth mom was being evicted and I would have to help her clear the old house. THAT old house. I retreated heavily into my artistic comforts and drew a lot of pictures of Red Spot being comforting and supportive to Andy. Red was created for that purpose after all, and Andy being a character I so closely identify with ended up being the comfort I needed especially then. Despite its crudeness in ms paint I do love this picture and should redraw it in Sai at some point.

April: [x]

The trials I had to face were unreal this month. The Wannabe War(tm) is well underway, and the time to return to the old house rapidly approached. I drew like there was no tomorrow, and these paint pictures were the best. Smoother lines, and more detail. When the time came to face that house things got ugly. Mom hid that my dog Jack had been dead for over half a year and broke the news only when I became distraught when I arrived and he didn’t come when I called him. My fixation on the “monkey’s paw” that was ruining everything I ever wished for started around here, and I kept breaking down. Bad regressing back to before I left that place happened. But something else did too. I DIDN’T. STOP. DRAWING. I drew more and more. Choosing to bring my laptop allowed me to make more pictures. A lot of Red Spot and Andy comfort ones, some mean little immature vent comics, and memes. Lots of memes. I was able to do the job I went there to do and returned home exhausted but VICTORIOUS. My art? Well I think I actually improved a lot then. It was predominantly due to surviving in spite of everything and the sheer volume of cruddy little paint drawings. I didn’t want to pick a mean comic and already had one ms paint Andy and Red picture in this line up so here’s a surprisingly detailed xenomorph queen being licked by a prequel era character who is a massive spoiler. Not only were both characters very complicated to draw, but I’m genuinely shocked I was able to draw an xenomorph at all.

May: [x]

After the painful embarrassment of April I tried really hard to relax. I was still really scared and anxious about the Wannabe incident, but it had more or less turned into a post-arms race stalemate where he wasn’t really doing anything and I just had my weapons of mass destruction pointed at him with my grubby little orange paw over the launch button which is where things have been ever since. My art took a relaxation break, but it was still steadily getting better. Late May I wanted to come up with a reason to actually celebrate my birthday (June 3rd) so I did a silly little “June is International Heart of Darkness month” post featuring Red and Andy sharing a slice of chocolate cake. I went on to say that June 3rd was “International draw heart of darkness fan art” day (real smooth you egocentric mutt) but I thought it’d be a good way to actually celebrate the day but make it about the video game that gave me a reason to live another year instead of about me aging, as I openly hate that I grow older.

June: [x]

A few of my friends drew HoD stuff this month, but a lot of my friends were busy due to jobs, school, life, etc. We used to be a lot more active in 2015 and even in 2016 so this did hit me pretty hard. As a result, I become very frustrated and out of spite decide it’s finally time to test my “new toy.” I don’t remember when Kale actually gave me his old tablet, but in June I finally install its drivers, get a copy of paint tool sai, and draw a lot with it. At first I hate these pictures and go back to paint whenever possible. There’s something wrong with my copy of sai and windows 10 doesn’t like the drivers. But I push myself, and I start to make more pictures of Andy, Whisky, Red Spot, etc. Not a lot of my early Sai pictures ever got posted or even made it past the inking stage, but one night I just couldn’t sleep so I drew Andy cradled in the crook of Red’s wing and got it to the flat colors stage.

July: [x]

I try to calm down. it’s a good month I think. Not much happens. It’s the month I finally give myself a new fursona. I decided that Red Spot isn’t “me” and I can’t use Andy in furry communities so I come up with a solution. It... it’s just Andy as a doberman. It’s a little orange doberman that wears a red bandanna and Andy’s hat... Doberman Andy. But he’s cute, and I can draw him, and so I do draw him. And he helps me get better at drawing in Sai.

August: [x]

The month of the solar eclipse! Me and my friend were going to go down to the US to see it together and... nope... that plan fell through. It makes me a brat, but that’s okay because I can just draw six hundred thousand drawings of Andy. That’ll help me feel better. I ended up having a sabbatical from my blog after some people on tumblr began to bother me and I put up a drawing of Andy’s shoe so nobody could go in. This is an MS Paint picture! Sadly, I’ve stopped really drawing in the program. I like how I did Andy’s face even if his hat and hair weren’t the best.

September: [x]

I return from my sabbatical and begin to spam my tumblr with Andy drawings I’m making in paint tool sai. The quality and style of Andy in these pictures varies drastically as I try a whole manner of new things. At one point I make a post that has five color pictures of Andy in it. It’s slowly becoming difficult to pick which picture I wanted to put here. Not because I didn’t like any, but because I liked too many. SMOL Andy was probably my favourite of the bunch. I made him more chibi and cute than I normally do. It was on accident but I thought he was too cute to go back and make him more on-model.

October: [x]

I was supposed to do an Andy version of Inktober but I guess the extreme amount of Andy pictures was a September thing because I burned out relatively quickly. I had some drama involving a prototype disc and also ended up having to pay way too much extra money every month until further notice but it’s a relatively calm month all things considering. The way I drew Andy in this art isn’t particularly stellar, but I love what I did with Red’s mouth and nose. I wanted to show that the way I draw Red improved too.

November: [x]

My chronic pain gets worse for no good reason, I get a very disturbing creeper threatening me online, and I’m generally depressed, but I’m drawing. That’s good. I start a new revolutionary technique when I rely almost entirely on the cinematics as reference and don’t reference other cartoon styles whenever I can when it comes to drawing Andy. I enjoy the result. Drawing him in a cute penguin-themed suit made my day. It was so hard to decide which one to pick this month. I loved so many of them.

December: [x]

Like November, but somewhat better I think. I’m still drawing Andy a lot, with Red coming along for the ride too. This one I tried to draw Andy in a more Disney-like style. I love how I did his face and freckles. The drawing of Whisky from the same post is great too. I look at a lot of my newer drawings and feel genuinely pleased with the result. I think I actually am improving, and whilst I think it is due a lot to getting sai and a tablet, it can also be because I’m becoming more skilled and getting more practice as well. Lets hope the new year brings us smooth sailing, lots of fun, and happy times our way. HoD will be 20 in 2018 and I’m ready to bring the subject of my love and joy a great two decade celebration.

[ael-xander]

Ti'taris Awakening Chapter One “I can’t miss it! I can’t. Just can’t!” The woman raced to unlock the door. Hearing the click, she opened the door, slamming it shut behind her while grabbing the remote on the table by the door. Clicking a button, the large flat screen television flared to life. Tossing her briefcase, Lysse kicked off her shoes followed by vaulting over the back of her sofa, until she landed on it. Music reached her ears as an opening sequence of an animated character fought against evil incarnate. Sighing, the young woman reclined against the sofa. “Made it, just in time. Today’s episode is the climax in the battle between Namorian and Ephram. Go Ram!” Sucked into the storyline, Lysse spent the next hour living the classic battle of good versus evil. Throughout the show, she spoke encouragement, made comments, and reacted to the twists and turns in the episode. As the show came to the ending, Lysse gasped. “You can’t leave it like that! Oh hell, I’m going to have to take a day off of work next week! No fucking way." The credits played, reminding Lysse that she left a mess upon her arrival. Shaking her head, she picked up her shoes and put them in the nearby closet and moved her briefcase to her home office. She hesitated a moment, her eyes glancing at the computer, but decided it was better to not even be tempted. There wouldn’t be a hint of the next episode for at least another couple of hours. With a rueful sigh, Lysse went to her bedroom and changed her clothes. What was it about Ti’taris Awakening that seemed to call to her soul? It was just a cartoon, but there was something more than that. The setting was outstanding, so real, but at the same time, there was something about the lead character, Ephram. His voice was pure rough silk and brandy; his looks were pure bad boy with a hint of platinum. She knew the voice actor, Devlin Roarke, and though he was handsome, his natural voice wasn’t the same as he did for Ephram. The joys of working in the media industry were she got to meet the people who did the voice work for many cartoons, commercials, and such. When she heard the concept behind Ti’taris Awakening, Lysse had been simply amazed and negotiated its serial in the US. The company she worked with had taken her advice to heart and now they were reaping the rewards of the merchandising as well as the children and adults watching the program religiously. Even she couldn’t help but be pulled into the world of Ti’taris. Having read the background and the character bios, Lysse found herself almost seeing the world as she worked and lived helping the show to become its own reality. For a while, she put it down as preproduction jitters, but now, now she was completely and utterly hooked. Lysse busied herself, making her meal, poring over her work on a couple of contracts dealing with two upcoming films, one of which dealt with a live action version of Ti’taris Awakening. She chuckled remembering hearing Jacob Stevenson saying, “Tit ahris” for the name instead of “Tee tahris.” Correcting him hadn’t helped much, but he was going to stay to the original storyline as much as possible. Of course, she wasn’t able to answer the only question he had. “Who created this show?” That was the ultimate question. Who created the show and managed to produce such an absorbing critique of humanity, of good versus evil? Try as she might, Lysse couldn’t get behind the mounds of legalese and roadblocks thrown in her way. Normally, she could get around anything, but this remained out of her reach. Just when she thought she was getting close, things would suddenly close up. Her eyes strayed towards her computer then to her watch. He’d be on. Maybe, just maybe he’d give her another clue to finding Ti’taris Awakening’s author. Before she realized it, Lysse stood before the computer, booting it up. Sitting in her chair, she logged online quickly, signing into her messenger system while putting her email client to work. Lysse scanned her emails, deleting the junk before catching sight of a name. Stopping, she smiled. He had written her early this morning. Lysse, Just wanted you to know I’m not sure I’ll be online tonight. Work is beyond unbearable. Keeping the thought of talking to you as a reward if I can beat back the savage beast to his chamber. Have you considered my offer? I don’t want to rush you, but to be honest, I’d love to finally meet in person. Your safety comes first though, so whatever you deem best. Always, E. Mikkelson. Softly, she caressed the screen. He always signed it with his initial. A half smile crossed her face. She knew it was because he was afraid people would equate him with the character Ephram as they shared the same name. Over and again, she told him not everyone would make that comparison, but he told her of the times he had with others who did. She couldn’t blame him for his reluctance, but since most people referred to the character by his nickname, Ram, she didn’t think it was an issue. Yet, it touched her to see him sign his name, including his last name as an act of faith. Maybe it was time to meet him in person. Deciding that it was time once again to creep out of the shell of seclusion she wove around her, she replied. She was off this weekend and if he were willing, she’d love to meet him somewhere public, like the local bookstore. They could get a drink, talk books and go from there. Hitting the send button, Lysse closed her eyes and released her breath. Fear curled around her heart briefly. She wasn’t much to look at, fairly plain actually. What if she wasn’t like he expected? Too late now for regrets, Lysse. Just deal with it. Finishing the rest of her email, Lysse prepared to log off when her messenger showed Ephram logging on. E_Mikkel: Lysse, you there? Lysse_Astarte: I’m here. You okay, Ephram? Things go okay at work? E_Mikkel: Something like that. Just recovered enough to get online. How was your day? Lysse_Astarte: ☺ Almost missed today’s episode, but got there in the nick of time. Did you see it? E_Mikkel: Saw the last 45 minutes of it. Was quite spectacular. Amazing sequence with how Namorian managed to grab Mara and cut Ram’s arm. What do you think are the consequences that Namorian raved about? Lysse_Astarte: *thinks * Honestly, I’m wondering if he’s talking about the way the war is tearing up the lands. The more I watch it, the more it reminds me of here with our environmental versus big business. Yet, at the same time, it’s different. We know the earth can renew itself given a chance, but when you give the land and its people no breaks, no time to heal, then in a way, you destroy the foundations. E_Mikkel: I thought so too. What I found interesting is that Ram thinks by ridding Namorian, all things will be settled. Lysse_Astarte: Yeah. Unfortunately, it’ll take more than just stopping Namorian before that happens. He’s also got his followers and the generals who have control of their areas. But getting rid of the head will make it easier to negotiate peace from a position of power. I only hope that Ram realizes that death alone won’t stop the destruction of Ti’taris. He needs to also begin a campaign to rectify the wrongs done on both sides. E_Mikkel: What do you mean by that? *lifts brow* Lysse_Astarte: I mean Ram’s army has done wrong too. Yes, it’s in the name of peace, justice, and balance, but they’ve still done wrong. If they don’t rectify the errors and harm they’ve done, then they’re just as guilty of lording over the peoples of Ti’taris as are Namorian and his henchmen. But by going back and making tithe to the land, just as Galzora asked, then it would be the first step to showing they’re not of the same mold. E_Mikkel: Great point, Lysse. I hadn’t considered that aspect at all. Since Galzora is the Soul of Ti’taris, she would know how the land feels. Lysse_Astarte: More importantly, I think she’s a physical manifestation of the land and the people. Just as Mara is the heart of the Llewadaghs and Van is the head of the Tuathas, Galzora is the living representative of Ti’taris, letting Ram know what the land expects of him when he rules. E_Mikkel: ☺ You’re damn good at seeing this, Lysse. Too bad you’re not an advisor to the show. I see you got my email. Lysse_Astarte: * blush* Yes, I did. I’d love to finally meet you in person. Are you available this weekend? *bites lip nervously * E_Mikkel: Yes! Are you sure you want to do this? Lysse_Astarte: I’m sure. Just worried once you see me that you’ll regret it. E_Mikkel: *taps Lysse on head * No, remember you’ve shown me your picture before. You’re beautiful and I’d be honoured to be hanging at your side. Lysse_Astarte: Flattery will get you most anywhere that chocolate won’t. How about Patterson’s Bookshop around 2? E_Mikkel: Sounds like a plan. I’ll be in jeans, hiking boots, and prolly my Ti’taris Awakening t-shirt. I’ve got short spiky almost black hair, brown eyes, and a crooked grin. Lysse_Astarte: *tilts head and grins mischievously * You sure you’re not— E_Mikkel: Lysse Myrlene Astarte! Don’t you dare imply that! Lysse_Astarte: * giggles * Whatever do you mean, Ephram? E_Mikkel: Playing coy won’t work, Madame. I know exactly what you were implying. Lysse_Astarte: Well, dammit, Ephram, the description is one we hear all the time about Ram. What did you expect? *    *    * That was the question- what did Ephram expect? He rubbed his bandaged arm, looked at the instant message (IM) with a ragged sigh. Running a hand through his spiky hair, he tried to figure out why on some level it bugged him that she tried to equate him, even playfully, with Ephram on Ti’taris. Uh, because it’s true, asshole? Because you need her to help you save your world and in turn save hers? E_Mikkel: Not sure, perhaps that you’d think me different? Lysse_Astarte: You are different, Ephram. Very much so. But you used the exact same description that Galzora did in the third episode in describing him to Mara. I was just teasing, Ephram. I’m sorry. ☹ Ephram cursed. He’d forgotten that Gal had described him exactly that way when Mara and Van had asked about him. That was one of the problems in having a special recorder that taped and rotoscoped everything into anime form to be sent to the shadow world known as Earth. E_Mikkel: No, I’m the one who’s sorry. I had totally forgotten Galzora’s description. Trust me when I say my description is unintentionally like Ram’s. Lysse_Astarte: You sure you’re not mad at me? E_Mikkel: * hugs you tightly * I’m sure. I’m just a bit on edge dealing with work and a pain in the ass competitor. Lysse_Astarte: * hugs back * That sucks, Ephram. Tomorrow will be better? E_Mikkel: I can only hope. What about you? Lysse_Astarte: I’m catching up on the end of the workweek. Just some things to straighten up and then get the contracts for the T.A. movie into the right hands. After next week, I’m on vacation. Whooo hooo! E_Mikkel: Congrats, lady. What you doing for your vacation? Lysse_Astarte: Not sure. Prolly hang out here at the apartment. Depends on how I feel. E_Mikkel: Too bad you couldn’t come spend time with me while I go gallivanting around. Lysse_Astarte: That’s right, you’re going away for a couple of weeks. * pouts * I’ll miss our conversations. E_Mikkel: You wouldn’t if you come with me. * winks * Lysse_Astarte: * shakes head* You flirt! I bet you say that to all the women you know. I don’t know if I could leave and not be available by phone or computer. Not with the movie deal like it is right now. E_Mikkel: Once we meet, think on it, okay? It’d be fun having a friend around while I do my play job. Lysse_Astarte: I’ll consider it. It does sound more fun than sitting home alone. Ephram smiled. This woman wasn’t easily persuaded, but from the moment they met via email, chat, and through his lawyers, he knew she was special. It was only when she got him the coveted TV airtime on a major network that he realized she had something special, perhaps even a gift of power from Ti’taris. Then he saw her picture and knew their fates were linked beyond the two realms, Reality and Shadow. How could he explain when they met that she lived in Shadow and that Ti’taris was the land of Reality? Would she even believe him? Hell, he was the spitting image of his anime character, as he never thought he’d ever see a person from Shadow. Yet, he was going to go into the Shadow world to meet the beautiful Lysse and try to convince her to come save his world and hers. Ram knew that if they failed and Ti’taris fell, it would be only a matter of time before Earth fell as well. Lysse dying was unacceptable. The idea tore at his soul, knowing he would do anything to save the woman. Thus, Ram lived with the dilemma of knowing that heavy lays the crown of rulership. Men had died for him, women had longed for him, and he only knew pain and suffering would worsen if he lost. But Galzora promised him that she from the other land would be the key to victory, if only he could have her trust. Time was running out and now he had to get her help. They talked a while longer on other things as Ram took notes on the changes wrought by his war with Namorian. These helped him to keep on target, not to mention that Lysse’s advice had proven sage on many occasions, none of which, when seen by her and the viewing audience even hinted at Lysse that there was something more going on. Finally, he sent her to bed, promising to see her on Saturday. Leaning back in his chair, he let out a sigh. “Let me guess—Lysse is playing hard to get?” Van asked as he entered Ephram’s room. “No, in fact, we’re meeting on Saturday. It’s just hard knowing I’m still deceiving her.” “Look Ram, if there were another way, we’d have done it. I don’t like that we’re lying to a Shadow person either, but we have no choice. Not until we meet her and get her to Ti’taris.” Ram’s dark brown eyes took in the grey eyes of his best friend, Van Sethos. “I’m wondering if she’s a full Shadow person, Van.” “What?” “There’s something about her that radiates unusual, even among the Shadow People. Even the half breed lawyers we have noted it.” Van’s pale brow lifted under his long bangs. “You think she’s part Ti’tarisian?” Ram nodded. “Yeah, I do.” “That could complicate things.” “Or make them better.” “Yeah.” Van squeezed Ram’s shoulder. “We’ll muddle through this. Watching her on the cams has been interesting. She’s not the usual type I’d go for, but there is something very inviting about her.” Ram growled. “Yeah, but she’s not your type. Remember that.” “Jealousy already? The mighty Ram has fallen.” “Fuck off, Van. It’s not that.” Van chuckled. “As you say, Sire. I’m heading to bed. The guards are up and doing their rounds. We should be okay for the night.” “Thanks, Van. See you and Mara in the morning.” “Night, Ram. Get some sleep.” Ram never let his eyes wander from the monitor as he keyed in the code that pulled up the special remote recorder that allowed him to watch over Lysse. His body tightened as she crawled naked into bed, her body pale against the navy blue sheets and matching comforter. Every night he could, he watched her while she fell asleep, sometimes waking up to an unbearable pressure as their dreams merged, causing him to seek a hands on relief to the sexual tension she brought to him and his life. He had a feeling tonight would be like none other. Their dream bond seemed to be even stronger after she watched the latest episode of Ti’taris Awakening. Hopefully tonight he could convince her in the dreams that he needed her to come with him and to give him trust when they met. Without it, both their worlds would be doomed.

[sinceileftyoublog]

Joan Shelley’s Natural Bridge

BY JORDAN MAINZER

The truth is often somewhere in the middle. On her fifth solo album Like The River Loves The Sea, Kentucky folk singer-songwriter Joan Shelley fades back and forth between sweet devotion and ultimately independent realism, whether looking at the seasons of a relationship or the changing earth that’s a muse for so many of her songs. Inspired by her home of Kentucky, recorded in Iceland, sounding like Laurel Canyon--Shelley has never been more attuned as she is here to the topography of place and how it affects how we live our lives.

Yes, many of her previous songs, like “Cost of the Cold” or “If The Storms Never Came”, explicitly reference “the elements.” But Shelley’s never written a song like, for instance, “The Fading”, political, philosophical, and spiritual at once. It’s a song about taking solace in nature fighting back against humanity. “I’ve been a resident of Kentucky under the power of Mitch McConnell my whole life,” Shelley told a sold-out crowd at the Old Town School of Folk Music on Sunday, eliciting many a groan. Her clarification that “he can’t take away the beauty” is two-fold. If you’re an optimist, you might think that she means one man doesn’t have power over the stunning forests and caves of the state. But Shelley defines beauty in the song as the very destruction brought upon by Mother Earth. “I saw the river / Thick with mud / Break through the banks and run / And I confess I liked it / I cheered the flood / When the water hit the wall and won,” she sings triumphantly. There’s beauty, too, in friendship--Shelley wants to be “holding my dear friends and drinking wine” when the end of the world comes, and on the studio version, she gloriously harmonizes with beloved Louisville native Bonnie “Prince” Billy--but the acceptance of existence as a finite entity is a mode of thought that prepares one for the inherently lonely death of all things. 

A similar wavering occurs on the aptly titled “The Sway”, which Shelley describes as her “wedding slow dance song”. “Here on this night / Here on this floor / Everything I will call mine / I want to rot with yours,” she sings with uncharacteristically corporeal character. She then envisions a life with another person, “The pain will crack / The fence will break / But you got the key to my door,” before clarifying, “We were only made / For one sweet romance / And then we fade.” Or, as she sings on “Cycle”, “We were always good friends / But we left it all on the floor / These strange cycle romances.” The studio version’s quivering strings add to the unease of the track; live, it was bolstered by Nick Macri’s bow playing on upright bass. And she introduced “Any Day Now” as being “Concise and sad like Dolly [Parton]”, entirely universal: “Any day now you could get that feeling / That your leaving time has come.”

Indeed, Shelley’s songs are multi-layered to the point that sometimes, she can give context live that’s entirely different from what appears on the page. “High On the Mountain” she dedicated to Eastern Kentucky miners, but the song comes across as more personal, combining the location with the relationship that once thrived at the location: “Osage Orange tree here just the same / I could stare at her thorns for hours,” she introduces, before revealing the association: “Thinking of the last time and place / When the bed wasn’t mine but ours.” For the most part, though, the tying thread in Shelley’s songs lies in devotion in the face of hardship, but not smothering collectivism. “No one taught you to pull in close / When danger was near / All your tender parts exposed / Out there in the clear,” she sings on “Coming Down for You”; her harmonies with BPB’s Will Oldham on the studio version and with Nathan Salsburg and Daughter Of Swords’ Alexandra Sauser-Monnig live provided a strong, unifying force with enough room for the individual parts to wander on their own. 

The balance is best achieved on the album’s “Tell Me Something”, when Shelley declares, “I can meet you under the weight of any storm” but concludes after an intimate moment that “I’m telling you now / What I told you once before / I’m gonna get my way.” It’s not an act of selfishness. Shelley doesn’t aim to hurt and is aware when she has unintentionally done so on “Teal” when she sings, “Like a glimpse into cold, dark space / Where I go when I’ve been short with you / And bad with words / And I have hurt the tender things around me.” Live, drummer Spencer Tweedy used drumsticks on the song, hitting the snares with purpose as opposed to his gentle, subdued brushwork that pervaded most of the set, as if to exemplify the seriousness of the tune. But no, really, Shelley knows what we do, too, about creating music, enacting change, or even promising yourself to someone else: that making another person or each other better is as much about individual self-actualization as it is for the good of the collective. The river doesn’t serve the sea. It loves it and thereby flourishes itself.

Album score: 8.3/10

[jayfromriverside-blog]

Comics I read this week: 9/9-9/13

Hey all, here’s a smattering of some of the books I read this week. Some interesting issues out this week, but also some disappointments:

Saban’s Go Go Power Rangers #23

There were two driving forces behind my moral development as a child: Batman and the Power Rangers. It was more than a little disappointing to grow up and find out that you couldn’t just punch bad people and that solved things, but when Boom Studios started this Power Rangers comic, it reminded me of why I loved the Power Rangers in the first place.

I would definitely recommend this series to anyone who was a fan of the Rangers at any point, or who is looking for a good new Action book, but it comes with a caveat: This series is not easy to jump into, for 2 main reasons.

Though this is the better series, it’s not the first Power Rangers comic that Boom Studios currently has going, and unfortunately the first series goes further in depth on the larger Rangers Universe

The stories from each of the 2 Rangers books often reference or call back to elements from each other. This often means that keeping track of plot elements or continuity can get confusing between the 2 books if you’re not following along closely.

If you’re still interested in hopping into these comics, here would be the reading order I would suggest: start with this series (Go Go) for issues #1-20, as it covers the origins of the Rangers and their first year. Then start the mainline book, Mighty Morphin’ Power Rangers. After you’re all caught up there, you should be good to jump back into Go Go without any issues, and can even hop between series with toooooo much confusion. 

Into the actual meat of this week’s issue: while the mainline series is much more focused on a grander Sci-Fi narrative, this series has a lot of the “monster-of-the-week” feel of the show. That’s definitely on display in this issue, where action and monster bashing take center stage. But what this comic has over the show is character depth and long-term story telling. The characters in this comic feel fleshed out and are evolving like real people, and while it’s definitely still fun, it doesn’t skimp out on the drama either. 

If you’re looking for a fun throwback to childhood with a little more emotional oomph for your mature soul, definitely give this book a go.

Justice League Odyssey #13

I’m genuinely surprised every time a new edition of this book comes out, cause I’m half expecting it to be quietly cancelled every other week. But hey, I’m not gonna complain, cause as much as the changes in art have been less than great, I’m still excited to see the Justice League Z-Team struggle with cosmic cleanup duty out in the Ghost Sector.

For anyone who hasn’t read this book and doesn’t feel like starting from the beginning, you could get away with hopping on now. It would be safe to say that the first 12 issues were the first arc of this comic, and that #13 is setting the groundwork for the second big arc. With the destruction of the Source Wall way back in No Justice, the Ghost Sector has been left as almost a wild-West out in deep space. If you’re a fan of Dex-Starr, Jessica Cruz and some other cosmic outcast characters, I’d hop on now and see if this book is for you.

For anyone currently reading this book, some minor opinions and SPOILERS AHEAD:

So Jess stayed dead for way shorter than even I thought. But hey, revival at the hands of the Omega Radiation that killed her only to be imbued with Omega Beam shooting fists seems almost poetic. I’m interested to see what the new cast of outcasts has to bring to the table in terms of opposing Darkseid and assaulting the Ghost Sector, especially now that our original team has been almost entirely converted into NEW New Gods. But it’s a welcome evolution of Jessica’s character to see her taking charge and leading a team, and more Dex-Starr in my life is always appreciated. 

On a less story focused note, the art in this new ark is good so far, but man, fuck whoever did the flashback sequence with Cyborg. On a page with his face popping up at least 5 or 6 times head on, you couldn’t remember or decide if his cybernetic side was on the left or the right? It flip flops every panel so that it’s facing away from the reader. It’s overall a minor thing, but c’mon, it’s not hard to keep that straight.

The Flash #78

I’m just tired at this point. 

The Flash’s mythos being re-written to have such an emphasis on the forces is just... really boring. The force users are pretty one-note characters and though Barry’s musings on life and trying to outrun Death are interesting, the rest of the chapter and this story arc haven’t been nearly as much. The art isn’t bad, but it’s not enough to save this title. If you’re gonna stick around for the Flash ride, have fun, let me know when it gets interesting again.

Young Justice #8

I think I mentioned it last week, but similar to Justice League Odyssey and the Terrifics, I think it’s a great idea for writers to take some of the smaller teams in the DCU out of the greater narrative and put them (effectively) in their own worlds. Better yet, Brian Michael Bendis seems to be having a ton of fun taking this young team on a multiverse-exploring adventure. 

While his work with Alias and Daredevil are some of my favorite books, I think Bendis does his best work when writing younger heroes. He seems to understand how to write entertaining young characters while making them believable, and most importantly not making them grating. 

If you need anymore convincing to get this series, and you maybe don’t fully trust Bendis after the pretty terrible years he’s had of late, then John Timms’ art should swing you. Timms has managed to strike a great balance between cartoonish modeling and dynamic action paneling which is difficult enough, but he’s also been switching up his art styles as the team goes from world to world. The guy is on top of his game right now and it’s perfectly complimenting Bendis’ universe-hopping story.

I don’t want to spoil this issue too much, but the team find themselves on Earth-3, the home of the Crime Syndicate, and face off against evil versions of themselves. While this issue was wall-to-wall action from the start, it managed to have some good character moments peppered throughout, and it looks like it might the start of the next micro-arc. This book has been great so far and only looks like it’s going to get better.

Batman Universe #3

I feel like I can’t judge this book fairly. 

I love pop-art, I’m a sucker for a good Batman story, and lighthearted superhero stories are exactly what I need to breakup the self-serious tones of a lot of the other superhero books I read. This book by Bendis and Nick Derington hits every single one of those beats. 

If you’re looking for a self-serious Batman book you’re looking in the wrong place; but if you’re looking for a book where Batman jokes with Green Lantern about how much he likes dinosaurs before being transported through time, then you’ve got a lot of fun ahead of you.

On a side note, DC put a huge amount of faith in Bendis giving him this series, Action Comics, Superman, Naomi and Young Justice. Aside from the main Superman book, which has been horrendous in every sense of the word, he’s been writing some of the best stuff he’s done in years. Not quite on par with his Daredevil or Ultimate Spider-Man runs, but still some really great stuff.

Detective Comics #1011

Last we left the Caped Crusader, he and a bunch of his billionaire friends were stranded on an island, with Bruce teamed up with a pair of crotchety WWII fighter pilots and his rich friends held captive by Deadshot. Basically we’re in a “Deadliest Game” scenario with Batman and Deadshot hunting each other on a remote island. It’s kind of like all the parts of “Arrow” that people have told me are actually good. I don’t know, I haven’t watched that show, it looks like hot garbage. 

Anyway, this 2-issue story was always just a stop-gap while Mr. Freeze (or the writers) figured out how to use the new technology boost from Lex Luthor. While I always appreciate a visit from Deadshot, as he’s one of Batman’s more under appreciated villains in my opinion, this story was pretty paint by numbers. That doesn’t mean it wasn’t fun, just that it was always the stuff coming next that felt more compelling. 

Event Leviathan #4

This book has been pretty interesting so far, but seems to have the fanbase pretty divided. I’ve seen a lot of comments on the latest issue claiming that nothing has actually happened in this story so far, and that we’re just watching Bendis spin his gears in search of a story. Maybe I’m a sucker for a good noir, but I would say that this story has had its share of action at the start, but unlike a lot of comics, it’s a slow burn story. I’m not nervous yet, as Bendis has experience with noir and has shown he can do it well.

I’m not saying that this book doesn’t have its problems: the art, while objectively impressive, is hard to parse out the details in some of the darker scenes with all of the texture filters thrown over it. Similarly, though I have faith that Bendis has an idea where this story is going, the last issue didn’t really make a ton of sense (until a little later in this issue, but at the time it wasn’t wholly believable).

Batman #78

It seems that so many people have soured on Tom King at this point that I’m in the minority saying that I’m still enjoying his run on Batman. I’m not saying it hasn’t been without its faults, I was gutted just like everyone else when issue 50 came out and tore a chance at tangible change in the Bat-universe out from under us fans. But King’s writing and storytelling, though self-indulgent at times, has been largely good and in clear pursuit of a single goal: to tell the story of Batman being broken, like he’s never been broken before. 

As fans we need to remember that the man was handed the reins to 100 issues of Batman and said he was going to tell 1 story. Not an event that would inform the rest of his run, but 1 singular story told over 100 issues. It was a herculean task and it was always going to be a slow burn, but we’re in the endgame now with City of Bane in full swing and Batman just beginning to look up from the pit he’s fallen in. He’s been physically and emotionally broken, shamed himself in front of his family and been discredited amongst his peers, and ultimately forced out of his own city. So let’s see the way back.

Ok, so this wasn’t a bad issue, but it wasn’t the right issue. I’m a huge fan of how Tom King has written Bat/Cat, and when combined with Clay Manpi’s art and paneling this issue feels like I’m watching a classic James Bond movie. But while watching Bat/Cat reconcile their issues that originally tore them apart was long overdue and felt great, this was not the right time for this issue. 

After being left on the cliffhanger of Damion being captured and ALFRED POTENTIALLY KILLED, seeing Bat and Cat talking at an island retreat was just too far removed and casual. This has probably been the biggest issue I’ve personally had with King’s run: timing. But it seems like it’s all kicking off in the next few issues, so let’s see where this all finally ends.

[powerdiary]

Shay’s Return

Power Diary Entry 180 - Feb. 12th

I would have loved to jump into this whole sex / human trafficking debacle, however this weekend end up being a whole lot of friend time. And since I have been focusing my diary entries on my dating life and superhero /super team life. I have neglected to tell you about my friends.

Yeah, that's right, I still hang out with my friends. When I am not with the PBs I'm spending most of my time with Remmie. Yeah, Bip my suitemates girlfriend. Unlike her boyfriend she is much more energetic and a bit crazy and I kind of like that. We like to learn choreography and play video games together. Occasionally Wally joins the mix, but honestly he spends far too much time with his girlfriend. I love the guy, don't get me wrong and he will always be one of my best friends, but it's like all we do is make videos together and then he's gone. I can't complain about pretty much having a room to myself, but I miss the kid too.

So, as you can see with two of my best friends being in pretty serious relationships, I don't feel bad about constantly being out and about doing superhero work or being with Conner. That was until Shay texted me a couple weeks ago. A while back (when I was sleeping in me Ex car) Shay had text me and was acting incredibly weird. Over the past few months she was having dreams about her and I fighting crime together.

"It's like you are Multiman, but in a completely different and super crappy outfit" She told me. "But it's so weird because the dreams don't seem odd. It's like they really are happening. Do you think I'm getting a super power?"

I wasn't sure how to feel about this. Shay's memorizes of our past superhero team up was resurfacing. At this point there was a whole slew of people who knew my secret Identity so I felt bad keeping it from her, but everyone that did know who I was had some sort of power or means to protect themselves. Shay was just your average girl. I told myself that I could keep up the lie since we were miles away and our weekly skype calls were fairly short. However, last week she broke the news to me that she was going to study abroad. Shay was going to take two weeks off of school to spend time with family before heading to Europe. Shay was coming back home.

With everything going on in my life I had completely forgot Shay was going to be back in town. That was until she knocked on my dormitory door to surprise me this weekend. I was halfway dressed in my multiman outfit when she knocked. I quickly kicked it under my bed and greeted her at the door.

We hugged and I invited her in. I had to text the PBs that I wasn't going to make any training sessions the whole weekend and I put my focus on Shay. We went to eat and got caught up on school and boys and politics. When we got back to my dorm Remmie was hanging in the common room with Bip and barged into my room when she heard me come in.

The minute Remmie and Shay saw each other there was animosity. Why? I don't know. Maybe it was a girl thing but Remmie invited herself to hang out with us for the rest of the day and Shay refused to leave when things got uncomfortable. I felt bad because Shay had been gone for so long that Remmie and I had all these inside jokes and Shay just sat there and watched.

I bet your wondering why I'm telling you all this. Well ,there is a reason, just stick with me. While looking up this youtube video I was dying to show the girls. Remmie does her squeal of glee and ask me if I am cosplaying now. Confused, I turn around and she is holding up my Multiman outfit. I snatch it from her, but the damage had been done by that point. Shay stared at me wide eyed as she put it all together.

"You." was all she got out before she slouched over and groaned. When Remmie asked her what was wrong, Shay said her head felt like it had just been hit by a train. I took the opportunity throw my super suit in the closet. Remmie offered to get Shay some Advil, but Shay said she just needed to go home and rest. She waved a quick goodbye to us and ran out of my room.

The way Shay looked at me it was like she remembered our past together. But I wasn't certain and I refused to bring it up. I didn't realize how complicated things were going to get the next day when Conner, and Camron were going to meet Shay.

Sunday Conner wanted to do a friends day so that his high school BFF Camron could meet my high school BFF. I was a little apprehensive since Shay had left my dorm room the night before in such a haste, but everyone seemed to be hitting it off. With so much craziness going on in politics recently, it was easy to find a common ground and spark debate. Camron and Shay had changed the conversation to the upcoming Beauty and the Beast movie when my watch began to buzz.

Camron knew what it was and shot me a worried look. Conner groaned at the noise, he was under the impression that my watch gave me alerts about Multiman sightings. He thought I was a superfan, trying to catch a glimpse of Multiman. It was a great excuse for Conner since it explained why I would leave at a moments notice to see if I could ever meet "the greatest hero on earth." However, the last thing I wanted was Shay even thinking about Multiman, not after last night.

"Hey, Julian," Camron called out to me. "I left my water bottle in the car do you mind coming with me to grab it." It was nice that Camron was trying to give me an excuse to leave, but everyone knew that was a weird request. Why would I go with him to his car to help him get his waterbottle?

"Just use one of the cups here. I don't think it very serious, no ones going to die if you don't have your water bottle." I tried hinting to him that the alert was not anthing the polic couldn't handle.

The day continued with little instances like that where Camron would try and help me cover up any hints that I was Multiman. Even though there was times when he'd slip up and say too much. Like once during a round of Catan, he mentioned that everyone should watch me closely because I'm a cheater when it comes to games. Conner raised an eyebrow at Camron when he said those and asked him how he knew that.

There was a time earlier in the day when we were at the Art museum and Camron dropped his cola and it come pouring across the table and I stopped it from falling on my lap with my telekenisis power. Camron made sure to throw napkins my way first so that I could hide the fact that most of the water was piling up near me. And when we were hanging in Conner's dorm after Catan, my power of the day, elastic body was acting funny and I had not noticed that when I was reaching for my drink I had missed and stretched my arm halfway across the table. Camron had to pretend to fall as he came out of the bathroom and toward us to take the attention from the table to the other side of the room.

I felt so relieved when the day was over and I got to go back to my dorm. Shay drove me back to school. As soon as I got on the highway, Shay turned to me and said, "Are you going to keep lying to me or not?"

My mouth got dry and my heart began to pound in my chest. I had no  idea what she was referring to, but I had a strong feeling it was about my powers.

"Julian I'm not an idiot." Shay said as she began telling me how when she got to Boston she felt like there was something missing, there was something off about her. She ignored it at first because she thought it was because she was starting a new chapter in her life, but then when people asked her how her summer went before college, she could barely remember anything. When people asked her about Multiman and if she'd ever had met him, she'd get these headaches. So, she got curious and did some research on Multiman and everything she found on him from the last summer was all new to her. She hadn't remembered anything even the huge stories about a huge gang shooting on the beach.

She then looked into recent news and sure enough everything began coming together. "So I know you're Multiman. And I know you did something to me."

"I couldn't lose you like I lost Mikyle." I said in a whisper.

"But you could booby trap my brain to self destruct when I think on Multiman?" She shoot an angry side ye at me.

"That wasn't supposed to happen. It was just your memory. You were only supposed to forget."

"Who are you to make these choices for me? Don't I have a right to my own memories? You didn't just take my memories Julain, you gave me these.... these" Shay groaned in pain. "These headaches. Everytime I have them I see you. I get this flashes from the past - these things I don't remember doing." Shay pulled into the parking lot at my school. "Fix me." She demanded. "Give my memories back."

"I..I.. Can't. I don't have that power anymore. I haven't had that power since I last used them. I can't fix it."

Shay took a deep breath and gripped the steering wheel really had. "Get out." She said. "Get the fuck out of my car."

I held back tears as I watched her drive away. ............I can't believe what I did to her.