#╭ ⁞ ❏. narrations / abraham lincoln.

[tqyzilla96]

I would just like to show my silly steam review of TSPUD (yes, my steam account is Abraham Lincoln. I think it's absolutely hilarious)

[historiavn]

@apurekindness liked this post for a starter.

“I’ve got blood on my name.”

[historiavn]

“The Fourth is what we Americans call the anniversary of our declaring independence from England. Unfortunately, some folks get a little bit … heavy handed with the celebrations.”

╰► @wolfvirago

"... What's the Fourth and why are there scary explosions everywhere?"

Local awoo is confused.

[historiavn]

THE WARMTH FROM HIS DIVINE companion’s hands was welcome indeed, bringing Abraham much needed comfort in the midst of a particularly dark hour. Abraham let out a quiet sigh, his troubled gaze flickering upwards whilst he pondered this new information.

    “I see.” He said softly, carefully placing the pen with which he’d previously been fiddling onto his desk. “Is it …. Is it all souls which exist and are divinely remembered forever, or is it just the souls of those who follow your religion?”

continued from this open starter as a new thread.

╰► @withinycu

[wrishwrosh]

hey, i find your posts about historical fiction pretty interesting, do you have any recs?

anon this is the most beautiful and validating ask i have ever received. absolutely of COURSE I have recs. not gonna be a lot of deep cuts on this list but i love all of these books and occasionally books do receive awards and acclaim because they are good. in no particular order:

the cromwell trilogy by hilary mantel. of course i gotta start with the og. it’s 40 million pages on the tudor court and the english reformation and it will fundamentally change you as a person and a reader

(sub rec: the giant, o’brien by hilary mantel. in many ways a much shorter thematic companion to the cromwell trilogy imo. about stories and death and embodiment and the historical record and 18th century ireland. if you loved the trilogy, read this to experience hils playing with her own theories about historical fiction. if you are intimidated by the trilogy, read this first to get a taste of her prose style and her approach to the genre. either way please read all four novels ok thanks)

lincoln in the bardo by george saunders. the book that got me back into historical fiction as an adult. american history as narrated by a bunch of weird ghosts and abraham lincoln. chaotic and lovely and morbid.

the everlasting by katy simpson smith. rome through the ages as seen by a medici princess, a gay death-obsessed monk, and an early christian martyr. really historically grounded writing about religion and power, and also narrated with interjections from god’s ex boyfriend satan. smith is a trained historian and her prose slaps

(sub rec: free men by katy simpson smith. only a sub rec bc i read it a long time ago and my memory of it is imperfect but i loved it in 2017ish. about three men in the woods in the post revolutionary american south and by virtue of being about masculinity is actually about women. smith did her phd in antebellum southern femininity and motherhood iirc so this book is LOCKED IN to those perspectives)

a mercy by toni morrison. explores the dissolution of a household in 17th century new york. very different place and time than a lot of morrison’s bigger novels but just as mean and beautiful

(sub rec: beloved by toni morrison. a sub rec bc im pretty sure everyone has already read beloved but perhaps consider reading it again? histfic ghost story abt how the past is always here and will never go away and loves you and hates you and is trying to kill you)

an artist of the floating world by kazuo ishiguro. my bestie sir kazuo likes to explore the past through characters who, for one reason or another (amnesia, dementia, being a little baby robot who was just born yesterday, etc), are unable to fully comprehend their surroundings. this one is about post-wwii japan as understood by an elderly supporter of the imperial regime

(sub rec: remains of the day by kazuo ishiguro. same conceit as above except this time the elderly collaborator is incapable of reckoning with the slow collapse of the system that sheltered him due to britishness.)

the pull of the stars by emma donoghue. donoghue is a strong researcher and all of her novels are super grounded in their place and time without getting so caught up in it they turn into textbooks. i picked this one bc it is a wwi lesbian love story about childbirth that made me cry so hard i almost threw up on a plane but i recommend all her histfic published after 2010. before that she was still finding her stride.

days without end by sebastian barry. this one is hard to read and to rec bc it is about the us army’s policy of genocide against native americans in the 19th century west as told by an irish cavalry soldier. it is grim and violent and miserable and also so beautiful it makes me cry about every three pages. first time i read it i was genuinely inconsolable for two days afterwards.

this post is long as hell so HONORABLE MENTIONS: the amazing adventures of kavalier & clay by michael chabon, the western wind by samantha harvey, golden hill by frances spufford, barkskins by annie proulx, postcards by annie proulx, most things annie proulx has written but i feel like i talk about her too much, the view from castle rock by alice munro, the name of the rose by umberto eco, tracks by louise erdrich

[kimtiny]

I have started to read Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter each day after work and so far here are some of my thoughts;

1. Teenage Abraham Lincoln is EMO ASF

2. The movie is not a good adaptation but I still like the way it tells the story

3. Since I watched the movie first I was expecting Will Johnson to appear any second but he didn't bc he's an original character from the movie. I got Torieled.. :(

4. I didn't like Henry in the movie and I still find him an asshole in the book (at least from the narrator pov)

5. Talking of the Narrator, I was super involved in his life for no reason I forgot what the book actually was about for a second.

6. This book is gore btw, not like it describes terrible acts of torture (yet) but the actions are told in such a gruesome way I just can imagine the scene.

7. The Narrator mentioned there was books about Lincoln's sexuality... erm... Speedcoln maybe?? Gay Lincoln please!!!!

[historiavn]

HONESTLY, ABRAHAM HADN’T EXPECTED TO ENTER INTO POLITICS — let alone be elected to the thrice-damned presidency — EITHER. But Lady Fate had a STUBBORN TENDENCY towards enforcing her will, and so Abraham Lincoln was inaugurated as the PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES. Amidst what ought to be a joyous occasion lurked the DARKENING SKIES of a divided nation both polarized and paralyzed by an ANGER left to fester for far too many generations. Just a few weeks afterward, this anger erupted into full-blown CIVIL WAR.

    It was now December of 1862, and with the Civil War about to enter its second bloody year, Abraham was EXHAUSTED. Forgive him, then, for not being too thrilled by the sudden appearance of Henry Sturges — the man would be yet another task to add to his plate.

Thus, a MELANCHOLIC sigh escaped Abraham’s lips as he glanced up from the mountain of paperwork present on his desk. He set down his pen while his gaze flickered upward toward his old friend and mentor, HAUNTED eyes meeting the vampire’s own.

“ I’m scheduled to meet with Secretary Seward and the other folks in my cabinet in about thirty minutes’ time, but please, do take a seat. ” Abraham gestured towards the chair across from his own, CURIOSITY getting the better of himself. “Pray tell — what is it you need? ”

╰► @fragmcntdstars

@historiavn ( abraham lincoln ) sent “what are you doing here?”

         there's  a  tone  in  the  question  that  henry  can't  quite  place  ,  although  he  supposes  that  abe  had  his  reasons  for  it  .   he  never  questioned  the  other  man's  reasoning  ,  although  henry  had  made  it  his  business  (  or  maybe  even  a  hobby  )  to  keep  his  nose  as  thoroughly  into  abe's  business  as  possible  .  maybe  that  wasn't  the  best  thing  to  do  ,  in  retrospect  ,  but  abe  wasn't  the  most  steadfast  friend  he'd  ever  come  across  .   the  man  couldn't  listen  to  the  rules  that  henry  had  given  ,  even  if  they  were  given  with  good  reason  .   well  ,  they  were  given  with  good  reason  at  the  time  ,  even  if  the  reasoning  at  the  core  was  selfish  .

         he  needed  someone  to  assist  him  ,  but  it  required  that  he  kept  their  focus  as  much  as  possible  .   unfortunately  ,  or  fortunately  ,  abe  didn't  listen  to  he  crucial  part  of  his  rules  .   the  business  of  vampire  hunting  ,  regardless  of  whether  one  was  a  vampire  or  not  ,  left  little  room  for  any  outside  attachments  .   the  lack  of  attachments  meant  ,  statistically  ,  it  was  easier  for  them  to  pick  up  &&  move  to  a  different  location  ,  or  make  sure  that  their  ideals  were  more  concrete  .

         henry  hadn't  expected  that  abraham  would  enter  into  politics  ,  or  even  become  the  president  . 

         “  what  ?   can  i  not  visit  you  at  your  home  ?  ”  he  asked  ,  making  sure  that  he  kept  his  distance  &&  stuck  to  the  proverbial  shadows  .

         honestly  ,  there  weren't  a  lot  of  shadows  that  he  could  readily  find  at  the  white  house  .   he  felt  the  name  was  a  little  on  the  nose  ,  but  he  wasn't  going  to  bring  that  up  .   okay  ,  so  he  might  bring  that  up  ,  but  on  another  occasion .   in  this  moment  ,  there  was  business  to  attend  &&  he  didn't  want  to  stay  there  any  longer  than  he  needed  .   “  i  need  to  speak  with  you  ,  if  you  have  time  .  ”

[emeraldspiral]

So from what I understand, the initial pitch for Invader Zim was that the main source of comedy was Zim thinking posing as an elementary school student was the best use of his time as a spy and making leaps of logic based on his lack of cultural knowledge. And we did certainly see stuff like that happen in the show, but I think over time there was a shift to more episodes focusing on the Zim/Dib rivalry or things going on in space that didn’t feature the skool setting at all or didn’t revolve around cultural misunderstandings to drive the plot. IDK if they did more of that in the comics, but here’s some ideas I feel were missed opportunities. Not including anything obvious like “skool dance” episode, or “forced to work with Dib on a project”.

1 - An episode that’s just Zim and Dib narrating short stories they wrote for a creative writing assignment. It might be low-hanging fruit for them to both write the same story of a real incident between them from either of their perspectives, or a self-insert wish-fulfillment fantasy about defeating one another. I kinda like the idea of Dib writing the kind of story he himself would enjoy, like a noir-style detective story with a supernatural twist or gothic horror ghost story. Zim would just copy a story told to him by GIR, which itself is a mangled retelling of something that happened on TV that neither of them actually understand, but no matter how ridiculous and nonsensical the plot was he’d read it like it was Shakespeare.

2 - Similarly, an episode that’s just Zim giving an oral presentation on a historical figure or event, but he gets a ton of stuff wrong due to misinterpretation, or mixing up factual sources with like, a historical fantasy. Like if he read TF2 lore and told the class that stairs were invented by Abraham Lincoln.

3 - Zim gets an exam/report card back and finds out he’s performing poorly, which makes him question whether he’s learned anything at all from all the time he’s spent gathering intel. He decides to put his plans for conquest on hold to spend more time studying, except he’s not studying anything actually assigned by the skool and nothing he learns is on his next test or useful for conquering the humans.

4 - Alternatively, Zim is warned that because of all his absences and poor performance he’s at risk of being expelled. Dib mocks him for it at the first, but then decides he’d rather not have to worry about what Zim’s getting up to all day while he’s stuck in class, so he decides to help Zim break into the server room for the skool’s computer system so they can change his report card, but because this is Zimworld the security system is ridiculously over-the-top and the stakes are a like a Die Hard movie.

5 - The skool needs a team to represent for an academic decathlon. Zim signs up because he wants to show off his superior intellect and Dib joins the team to keep an eye on him (and prove his superior intellect). Zim and Dib are the math and science experts while their other teammates specialize in different subjects but everyone except Zim at least knows enough about the other subjects to mostly get the answers right if they’re forced to answer something outside their specialty. Unfortunately all the questions Zim and Dib know the answers to go to their less science-minded teammates and they get stuck with all the insane questions about skinning moose and other lectures from Ms. Bitters that they didn’t pay attention to.

Either that, or they keep getting quizzed about pop culture trivia they don’t know because they don’t keep up with mainstream television. Zim ends up getting a question right that wins the game however because he remembered it from some insufferable show GIR watches constantly and everyone treats him like a fucking genius for it. Dib meanwhile is treated like an idiot for getting all the stupid pop-culture questions wrong.

6 - The class has to read some classic lit out loud and Zim’s over-the-top dramatic narration leads to him being asked to audition for the skool play. Zim scores the lead role and gets way too into method acting. To the point where Dib can’t even tell if he legitimately thinks he’s the character or if he’s just doing it to mess with him.

7 - Zim joins a skool club and quickly usurps the club’s leadership and rules over the other members with an iron fist, twisting it from its original purpose into just being a club dedicated to serving his whims/messing with Dib. It all falls apart for some stupid reason like one member leaving and forcing the club to dissolve because it didn’t have enough members or some forms not being filled out correctly or budget issues forcing a bunch of clubs to shut down. Meanwhile, Dib tries to start a paranormal club but can’t get any members and gets kicked out of every other club he joins for trying to steer it away from whatever its original purpose was to make it about the paranormal.

8 - Baseball/team sports episode. Zim and Dib are both actually pretty decent so their team begrudgingly puts up with them. They let their rivalry get in the way at first and don’t pay any attention to the skool’s rival team talking trash about their skool. Even when it turns into an 80s cliche where the skool will actually be closed if they don’t win the game they don’t care because it is a shit skool and if it closes they’ll just go somewhere else. It’s only when one of the rival team members interrupts Zim and Dib in the middle of their own little pissing contest that they finally get their act together and start strategizing with the rest of their team. They win and finally get a taste of what it’s like to be appreciated momentarily for carrying the team until everyone else finds out their shitty skool is staying open because of them.

9 - Some Yu-Gi-Oh/Magic-type card game becomes really popular and Zim decides to get into it to blend in and find a way to exploit it to gain power over the humans. Dib naturally gets in on it too and they get way too serious about it. It either becomes an over-the-top parody of Yu-Gi-Oh and its hyper-realistic holograms and battle arenas that turn card games into genuine life-threatening experiences for participants and audiences alike, or it satirizes the satanic panic by having some kind of reveal that all the cards are actually possessed by real supernatural spirits and the games are part of some nefarious third party antagonist’s plot to overrun the world with demons or something.

[crepes-suzette-373]

Another conspiracy theory posting.

It has been mentioned that the Nerona in Imu's name might be a reference to Nero. Or perhaps specifically, a painting titled "Pochodnie Nerona", which depicts Christian martyrdom.

Now, if this is correct and not coincidence, this specifically makes Jupiter's naming choice very very strange, because his name strongly alludes to Saint Peter the Apostle.

Jupiter's full name was Shepherd Juu Peter. Peter is Peter directly. The "juu" is written in kanji like this: 十. Literally it means the number 10, but it's also the shape of the cross. Cross-shaped objects, including the Christian cross, is referred to in Japanese as "juumonji", or "the shape of the kanji juu".

The Bible narrated that Jesus left a personal message to Peter alone. The wording may vary depending of the translation, but one of the forms used says "shepherd My sheep".

Apostle Peter was, according to tradition, executed by the order of Nero.

I've seen some comments in the fandom suggesting that someone among the Gorousei might actually be a turncoat, and I'm not sure what the existing theories were, but I wonder if this means that Jupiter is the one.

Certainly there's a few things about him that makes it feel like he's the odd man out. His beast form is not a "traditional Asian folklore beast", but a Western one. Possibly a relatively modern invention, even, since I wasn't able to find anything like a "sandworm" in older mythology. Far as I can tell, this was based on or adopted from Dune's sandworms.

The other Gorousei's faces were very very similar to their real life inspirations. Venus being based on Gandhi and Mercury based on Gorbachev is so dead-obvious it's not even funny. Jupiter's supposed "reference" was Abraham Lincoln, but unlike the other 4, the resemblance is not intuitive. I'm even personally of the opinion he doesn't look like Lincoln at all. There is the entire possibility he's not actually based on a real person at all, and if so, that's singling him out as different again.

And now for the wild guess that is mostly based on conjecture. I previously wrote that by the zodiac alignment, Jupiter's "beast" form should have been a dragon. You can stretch it and suppose that "sandworm" maybe counts as a "dragon" somehow (because wyrm and worm sounds similar), but unlike the other 4 this is not really intuitive either.

I have posted a couple of times saying that I have this theory that maybe before the World Noble Tenryuubito established themselves, there were a race of "real dragons" who may have lived on Red Line alongside the Lunarians. Maybe Jupiter's strange naming and his zodiac alignment hinted that he is actually a real dragon, and he's been hiding his true form to avoid being hunted.

It's not yet really explained why Lunarians are hunted, but it's not entirely off base to make a conjecture that: 1) there could be other ancient races on the red Line, and 2) they might have been hunted just like the Lunarians were. In which case, hiding one's identity is necessary.

Not to mention the strange scar he has on his neck. Sure, Saturn has a scar too, but the scar being on his neck really makes me wonder. I half-jokingly theorised that maybe he was the dragon Ryuuma cut down all those years ago.

The wording says "cut down" 斬り捨て. While this tends to imply "kill", this does not actually directly mean kill. It's just slashing the opponent with a critical blow. This still leaves the slimmest chance of the opponent being able to survive the strike.

The direction of the diagonal scar also is consistent with a standard samurai slash. Or any right-handed sword slash, even, since Zoro's scar from Mihawk also goes the same direction. I'm not entirely serious with this theory, but it's not impossible.

[historiavn]

    @frxncaise    said;     # b

╰►  SOURCE:    Send “#b” and I’ll shuffle my music player, and use my favorite line from the next song as a starter!

HIS GRAY GAZE REMAINED LOCKED UPON the document spread out on his desk. This E.MANCIPATION PROCLAMATION was the most important endeavor which he had undertaken in his lifetime, so why did he hesitate?

    With a trembling — not from anticipation, but instead from the sheer number of hands that he had shaken at last night’s NEW YEARS reception — hand, Abraham beckoned Angélique forward. “All I need is just a pen, and then this document will be signed.” He said softly, somewhat surprised that his voice did not shake. “Will you please acquire one for me?” I know I was born for this.

[historiavn]

ABRAHAM KNEW FULL WELL THAT Penelope was not close with her mother, but he still could not avoid the pang of GUILT which pierced his chest as she spoke. He may not be responsible for the existence of the Soul Bond between himself and Penelope, and yet, a persistent feeling lingered in him that he was somehow responsible for the estrangement between Penelope and her mother. It was irrational, and yet, it existed. Self-hatred is a strange phenomenon indeed.

  “I’m glad you heard from her.” Abraham’s voice was soft, his words GENUINE. He made no mention of dowries, for the young lawyer was the type of man to be utterly unbothered by society��s widespread fixation upon wealth. “Is she well?” Penelope’s mother might indeed still hold a bitter grudge against him, but she was still meant to be his mother-in-law — of course he would inquire about her wellbeing nevertheless.

╰► @bcbliophile

@historiavn Abe & Penelope

"Mother wrote-- she sends her congratulations on the wedding" a month later and with no reply to her invitation, she supposed she was still holding a grudge for Penelope running away in the middle of the night to be with her soulmate. The redhead in question was sitting at her own small desk in his office, going through her correspondence while he worked, she found she liked spending her days close to him when she was able to. "She will be sending my dowery along shortly, I am sure" not that she needed it when she brought her Whisteldown money with her.

[rmstitanics]

WEBWEAVE: With Malice Toward None

WITH MALICE TOWARD NONE is a new musical currently in development that recontextualizes the well-known narrative of Abraham Lincoln’s presidency by focusing on his struggle with mental health. Narrated by the Robert Todd Lincoln of 1922, this musical is a complex commentary on the issues of mental health, leadership, and historical memory.

FEATURING QUOTATIONS AND IMAGES PULLED FROM Tumblr, Pinterest, And There Was Light: Abraham Lincoln and the American Struggle (Jon Meacham), Joshua Wolf Shenk, The History Channel’s Abraham Lincoln docuseries, The Psychic Life of Abraham Lincoln (Susan B. Martinez).

[cantsomeoneelsedoit]

Ch 52: To You, From Me

Rip: "Want me to pick you up, too?"

Latla: "I hope no one tags me in this..."

And that boy's name was Abraham Lincoln.

This chapter is all about Akira/Anno Un. For plot purposes, UU focuses on how his manga helped the Negators, but there are surely a lot of regular people who love it, too--Fuuko's mom, for one! It holds the record for the longest-running shoujo manga for a reason.

Andy and Tatiana both enjoyed it before they knew about its importance, too. It stands on its own as a story even if the reader doesn't know that it predicts the future, because it's a great story! Fuuko told Top that it was the "gold standard for long-running shoujo manga" and both she and Tatiana were SHOCKED that a young person like Top hadn't heard of it. I wonder what the normal fans would think if they learned its true purpose!

I just realized that if little Akira hadn't been a manga fan, he might've done something else with the story he saw, like make it into a movie or children's books or a spoken word album or an interpretive dance or something. Or even just kept it to himself! And if that had happened, there's a chance that Fuuko would've never known about it, Juiz would've never put the puzzle together, and the people who needed to hear the story might not have ever encountered it.

But the fact that the object he picked up was a G Liner seals the deal. It's for drawing manga! It's like God/the Author/whoever put it there was gently nudging him to make this story into a manga instead of any other medium.

The flashback continues in narration boxes while the current story moves ahead. Rip is running along Autumn's claw while Latla and Bunny get in close.

"Despite that, he never gave up on life, in part because of his mother's desire for him to stay alive. But the other reason...."

TOZUKAAAA!!!! Yes!! I love this!

He had to have a close relationship with a good parent or else the manga may have never happened. What if Akira hadn't overheard her hopes for him? Or if she'd given up on him?

It's all set up so perfectly! And Akira having a loving parent is the key to all of it working out. He wrote all of it with her in mind, even the title! And it did find its way to her, though Anno Un was too late to meet her in person.

I just love that he prefaces the fact that the characters kept him alive with "AND HE HAD A WONDERFUL MOTHER." It's nice to see that.

That's a lot to put on a kid! Poor Akira!

If the bad ending was that the world ended because Fuuko died, it's probably bc killing God is only possible with her Negation abilities and personality, but also hear me out: (ch 16⬇️)

Fuuko's death may have broken Andy, too, and with him weakened, Victor would come out to try to kill Juiz, and then who knows who would ride the Ark!?!

The one-shot contest Akira won was likely in the 70s, judging by the name of the magazine, so by now he's had like 30 years of drawing these characters and writing stories for them. He's their #1 fan! He loves them! How could he not? He doesn't want to see them defeated.

(And that's the difference between Anno Un and God/The Author in the UU-verse. Anno Un knows they're real and wants to help them. God may or may not know the characters are sentient, but only wants to see them defeated...)

Akira found a loophole to his ability by manifesting Anno Un to do the work for him! Has he just been following Anno everywhere all these years?

It seems like Akira may have taken out his soul with Soul Caliber and put it into Anno Un, but I still have questions:

If Akira's body was without a soul, then was his body just hanging out unnoticed somewhere like Fuuko's was when she was in the book?

How did Akira's soul get back into his body at the end of this chapter?

If you have theories, please send them!

Meanwhile, Andy and Rip begin the main attack on Autumn in a very wicked double spread

Hit 'em with the double moons! Without Rip, they couldn't have pulled this off!

The pen shattering as a punishment for changing the future is just cruel! Did God just expect him to live with that knowledge and not try to change it? Or was God afraid of what else Akira might tell them now if he could?

Latla swoops in on her broom-cycle with Bunny and Fuuko and Bunny grabs the core as Andy sets up a Volcano Unluck Bullet.

All of those pieces had to work together and maximize the way their skills could combine for Autumn to be captured. But now that Latla has the core, will the Union be able to get it back?

Awww, that's what Fuuko told Cap'n Andy at the cabin in the book! It makes sense that Andy would be the one to reach out to Akira. He knows what it's like to lose people and how alone Akira must feel.

In the anime, the voice actor for Anno Un, Akira, and the narrator are all the same person, so these narration boxes are Akira's voice speaking and talking about himself in 3rd person.

And we finally see Akira as an older man. He hasn't been acknowledged by another person in so long! Granted, Andy calls him "Anno," which is probably just how it has to be since no one can know about Akira. Still, a fist bump is a fist bump.

"To You, From Me," was a phrase that summarized Akira's feelings toward his mom, but it's also what Andy is giving back to him. Akira's ability forced him to live in a situation where he could only GIVE, never receive. He gave advice. He shared his work. He gave life to a drawing, then gave that drawing his name, his soul, and his fame.

But he couldn't receive things from others because no one could perceive him. Andy's fist bump is the first thing he's received in so long! I wish The Union could find a way to contain his ability and let him live a normal life, like what happened with Tatiana, but his requirements are so strict that there probably isn't a way around it. Still, it would be fun to see him stick around.

Masterpost

[charlesoberonn]

“Good morning, everyone, and welcome to Unreliable Narrators Anonymous. Anybody want to start us off and tell us about themselves? Yes, you, with the eyepatch.”

“Thank you. It all started when I found out my real dad was Immortal Pirate Abraham Lincoln...”

[historiavn]

NOT EVEN THE PRESIDENT IS IMMUNE from consequence, and as Willie’s condition continues to worsen, this fact is more clear to Abraham than ever before. Surely, his boy’s illness must be some sort of karmic punishment from God — perhaps it was a TAUNTING REPRIMAND for the role that Abraham has played in the demise of countless fellow Americans, in a war that grows bloodier by the day.

Whatever the reason for Willie's current predicament may be, one thing is for certain; it is tearing Abraham apart. He's never really turned to religion voluntarily before, but after tucking Willie into bed and watching the child fall into a fitful slumber last week, feverish DESPERATION overcame his heart. He couldn’t bear to watch his son suffer any longer, and so, had uttered a PRAYER to God — any god, really, who could hear his feverish plea.

Standing there upon the porch of the Executive Mansion looking disheveled to an almost PATHETIC extent compared to the admittedly handsome stranger, Abraham found himself struck by a PECULIAR thought;

Could this man be the answer to his prayers?

It is a laughably preposterous idea, but Abraham has nothing to lose by permitting the stranger’s request. Nodding is a Herculean effort, but he does so nevertheless with a slight smile that does not quite reach his haunted eyes.

“Of course, of course.” Normally, he would view this stranger with some wariness, but this is no ordinary situation. “Please do feel free to come in, Mister…” He trails off mid-sentence, realizing belatedly that he did not know the man’s name.

╰► @audaciiae

@historiavn

Apollo can't say for certainty exactly how he feels about the States. These days he tends to go where people need him, where a small contingency of those who worship him exist. They're few and far in between, but it's enough to keep him going, enough to keep him living. He's never really feared death, but these days it feels closer than it ever has.

Despite that, he still helps people, and this war has brought more of a need for people with medical knowledge than ever. He's brought plenty back from the brink of death, people in awe and falling over themselves, asking how he could ever perform these things. He never says how, of course, just that he's very good at his job.

This is how he finds himself at the White House, brow furrowing as he stares at the door. There is death here. He can sense it. Someone has been praying for help from God, for any god who might be out there, and has received no answer...until now.

He knocks on the door, waiting, waiting, waiting, and finally smiling up at the President as he opens it. Apollo always looks so disarming, even disguised as a human. There's something off, uncanny, a beauty far too unnatural for any man. "Hello, Mister President. I heard your boy is ill. May I come in?"