#Now can we circle back to that weird thing Evil Wolverine said?

[completeoveranalysis]

[11]

Oh now THIS is gorgeous

Kurogane alone in darkness, framed in trappings of his own room in the world he fought so hard to return too, moon shining brightly overhead, and all he can do is sit awake and think about Sakura in Acid Tokyo specifically. Just incredible all around.

OOOH IT GETS BETTER

The memories split into shards of glass, like they’ve done quite a few times throughout the series. Kurogane remembers a lot of her earlier moments, like Piffle, and Outo, and Jade. But then the lower the page gets the more we transition into Fai doing the same thing, but standing alone above the water, looking down at it in silence. We can see the moon reflected back at him, and we can also see his own reflection looking back. And GOD what a gut punch that could be on its own - a mirror of himself, just like the twin he’s finally put to rest, just like the Sakura he fought so hard to save but failed. And we can see the memories he recalls too - but he’s thinking of times further into their journey, specifically Acid Tokyo and Infinity, and the moments he shared with her where they were their closest. Sakura’s determination, Fai swearing his loyalty to her, and Sakura’s final words of comfort to him as she died the first time due to his curse.

Eventually he DOES look up at the sky - perhaps done dwelling on the moments that hurt him the most, or perhaps galvanised in his own determination to save her even more than before. 

Meanwhile the shards of memory all turn to ones between Sakura and Syaoran, which makes me think Lava Lamp must be on the next page - even though, like, these moments weren’t specifically with HIM in them, I suppose he did second hand live them all the same. Outo and Hanshin and Piffle - oh and Infinity! That one WAS him. 

Lava Lamp’s head must be a mess after all this. 

OOP YEAH THERE HE IS, ALONE ON THE ROOF. WITH HIS BACK TO THE MOON ENTIRELY. And this page is entirely memories of moments between Sakura and Syaoran (Outo, Koryo, Hanshin, Jade, Shara, etc) - specifically not Lava Lamp, though he definitely appears to have felt the moments in the same way. Even though THIS Sakura has turned him down, and left him for the other Sakura. The other Sakura who, specifically, lived through NONE of these moments, and won’t remember any of them at all, and he knows this now, so he must be thinking uniquely of Clone Sakura in this moment. 

Clone Sakura who quite deliberately is not Real Sakura, but based on these memories I’d LOVE to untangle Lava Lamp’s thoughts about who he has feelings for, and how much of them are based on something they didn’t do and moments neither of them shared.

See also: Evil Wolverine is now also claiming that Real Sakura was accidentally incinerated in chapter 1 and doesn't even exist anymore BUT SURELY NOT, RIGHT??? SURELY SOMEONE WOULD HAVE HAD A VISION OF THAT????????

I'm conflicted so I'm pretending he didn't say anything

OOP AND THEN WE CIRCLE ALL THE WAY BACK TO CLOW, AND THE BEGINNING OF THEIR STORY - OR

SPECIFICALLY

REAL SAKURA’S MOMENTS WITH CLONE SYAORAN, WHILE REAL SYAORAN WATCHED, WHICH CLONE SAKURA DOESN’T REMEMBER, AND MAY NEVER REMEMBER, AND MAY OR MAY NOT BE SOUL DEAD, AND REAL SAKURA MAY OR MAY NOT BE DOUBLE DEAD, BUT....?

RELATIONSHIP STATUS: COMPLICATED

[moondustis]

ribs

pairing: lee jeno + reader genre: fluff word count: 1,5k summary: in the middle of all the teenage angst you and jeno had gotten closer than ever. 

you like to think there are things in life one must experience in order to become the person they are mean to be. like a heartbreak, for example or the departure of a loved one. you also like to think that there are people you are supposed to meet in order to really become complete. that’s how you feel about meeting jeno.

it happens on a sunny summer day. you are pushing yourself back and forth on the swing, a caprisun on you hand and a smile on your face. everything feels really peaceful, like a nice day in the park should feel for a 8 year old. until jeno comes to disturb your peace and pushes you off the swing, making you spill juice all over your favorite yellow dress.

that day he calls you egoist for not letting other people use the swing and you call him mean and ugly for pushing you.

back then you didn’t think jeno was someone you were meant to have in your life, of course. you dreaded meeting him with your whole heart and everything about the boy made your little body boil with anger. but the universe had funny ways of working and in the end the evil boy turned out to be the son of a great friend of your mother and both women seemed to want nothing more than for you and jeno to be the best of friends. you were forced to attend regular playdates with him every sunday and no matter how much you cried and tried to fake being sick, you would always end up in the lee’’s household with a frown on your face and jeno pulling at your pigtails.

 it takes a while but at the age of 12 you and jeno seem to finally put an end to your childish feud and become attached to the hip, surprising everyone that had the opportunity to spend more than five minutes with you two and your nonstop bickering.

the friendship blows on your shared interest of an x-men animation that was played on tv every afternoon. you were at jeno’s house, being left there by you mother that had an important meeting to attend and couldn’t just leave her daughter alone without supervision. it had started as usual, you saying something mean and jeno biting back with something even meaner, he always had a smart mouth to him. but by the time your mother came back to pick you up, you were both peacefully sitting on the couch, eyes glued on the television, while the x-men were on random mission, and excitedly commenting on how cool it was.

it became your thing for a good year. all you two would talk about was mutants and even ended up dressing as wolverine and rogue for halloween. but like most things at that age, it was forgotten when you found a new obsession. but even then, jeno stood by your side. a comfortable presence in your life and by the time you were both seventeen you had experienced everything a person could imagine together.

you experienced his awkward puberty and attempt to be a skater boy. he had experienced your first period and your quick but very weird obsession with a certain boyband. you told him about your first kiss immediately after it happened and he stole alcohol from his parents, so you two could get drunk for the first time on his basement (and proceed to have the worst hangover ever).

in the middle of all the teenage angst you and jeno had gotten closer than ever and like a cliche adolescent romcon, you ended up falling head over heels for your best friend. one day jeno was there being his gross teenage self and the next you were thinking about kissing his lips under the moonlight and holding his hand. but you never dared to tell him about your feelings. too embarrassed and scared of what they could do to your friendship. you had watched him date other people and would hear about his romantic escapades more often than you would like. but none of that would ever hurt as much as being like you were right now, in his bed with him so close to you and your heart so full of hidden feelings that you felt like it would burst out of your chest.

you two were cuddling in his bed, like you had been doing since middle school after class. he felt warm against your skin and you could feel his chest move with every word he said. it was comfortable, something so natural that you couldn’t imagine not doing it.

he was talking about college and his plans for the future, how he wanted to move to a big city and work on his dreams. the pain of thinking that you could end up not being a part of that future was minuscule compared to how your whole body ached for his happiness, for him to be able to do everything he wanted.

“do you think we’ll stop being friends if we attend different universities?” you muttered and at the same time it was just a stupid thought, because your bond with jeno was too strong to break, it made sense. you and him had never been apart from each other, since the capri sun incident he had been a constant in your life and it scared you to think what distance could do to that. 

“of course not, stupid.” jeno replied, gentle as always. “we have phones for a reason. we already text most of the time, i doubt that would change.”

you can’t help but sigh in relief. glad that where you were always too emotional and guided by your heart, jeno was rational and tried to make sense of things.

 you both settle in a comfortable silence after that and jeno’s hand find their way to your waist, rubbing soothing circles on it as if he can sense your troubles. the entire house is asleep and the only sounds you can hear are the wind outside and the clock signalling it’s midnight. 

“don’t you think this weird?” he says, getting you out of your thoughts and when you give him a confused look he continues. “us sharing a bed and cuddling?” 

“of course not! we have been doing it for ages.” you reply. it’s a half lie, of course. you have fallen asleep in his arms imagining that you were actually lovers many times. 

“yeah, but we are almost adults now. it should be weird.” always the voice of reason.

it should, you think, and sometimes it is. but hell if you would let a piece of your friendship end. “it doesn’t mean anything. we just enjoy each other’s companies, that’s all.” you reason, doing your best to avoid his eyes.

“but what if…” he starts saying and knowing jeno the way you do, you can tell he’s gathering his strength to say something. “what if i wanted it to mean something.”

for a moment you think your mind is playing tricks on you. you think you are actually sleeping, that this is just another one of your silly dreams where jeno says the words you want to hear the most. but it’s not a dream and the way jeno looks at you, when you finally stop trying to avoid his eyes, makes your heart twist inside of your chest.

“please say something.” he pleads. you didn’t even notice you had stayed inside your thoughts for so long, just staring at him. his voice sounds slightly sad, like he’s sure you don’t want the same thing as him. it’s funny, you think, how he knows you so well but has no clue about this one thing that is about to change everything.

you had always been better with actions, having a hard times putting your heart on your words and never being able to say the right things. jeno knows this better than anyone, so you know he understands the moment you move closer to him to press your lips softly against his.

it’s a short kiss, just a brush of lips, but it’s enough to leave the both of you with stupid smiles on your face. he moves his hands until they’re holding yours tightly, as if he’s saying he will never let go. “i’m sorry i never said anything.” you don’t mind. “i was too scared that it would ruin everything and that you would hate me.” impossible. you don’t think you could ever hate him.

“it’s okay, i was scared too.” you say and he lets out a silly laugh. of all the times you had imagined this moment going, it never went like this. it usually involved a lot of tears and arguments, sometimes heated kisses. but it had never been this comfortable, with jeno’s hand holding yours and his smile making you feel like you’re floating.

when he kisses you again you let go of everything else. tomorrow will still come and you’re still scared of what it’ll bring with it. but jeno is by your side and, as always, that’s enough.

[bilgisticallykosher]

Reminder that I’m totally down to give specific warnings or descriptions or help people navigate through the video if anyone needs.

Warnings (aside from the obvious): Long post, lots of caps lock, long rambling with a large degree of incoherence. I titled this “me screaming at the new video” in docs. I was real accurate.  It took me over 2 hours to watch this thing because I kept pausing to not shut up. This is 5 pages in docs.

Okay, JUST looking at the cover, I-  are those tentacles? IS this a new side? Octoside? I can already hear all the names were going to give him. Oliver, Octavio, October wait no that’s already a Sanders shorts. Okay, intrusive thoughts, that's… Roman’s already a supplier of those. Fandom agrees, “Don’t think about your naked Aunt Patty.” So, maybe Depression? Anger? Or, is it Roman still, after all? Because I see the word Creativity there. Or tentaclereativity. So it’s still Roman, but I’m convinced that his opposite is Virgil, although I’m also sure that they implied Pride in the Halloween episode. Something about “proud of it” and then they said “let’s table that discussion for another time.”

Ugh, Roman’s been doing so wonderful on his own. He’s just been owning up to insecurities, and it’s been great. This is going to be highly related to him. Although, Patton looks like the one trying to block him out? Roman’s concerned, Logan’s miffed, Virgil is angry, and oh my god is that a MOUSTACHE OKAY I’M WATCHING. 

Content warning, oh my gosh, they were not kidding. Does that seriously say death and blood and gore? I’m just getting more hype. I mean, intrusive thoughts, I’m sure nothing will permanently, physically happen to them.  (Goodbye Fresh.) 

Dark circles under Thomas’s eyes, implication of sleep deprivation, or something with Virgil?

“The human connection will make me feel more like a person,” I came here to have a good time and honestly I’m feeling so attacked right now. Credits! Great job everyone! I know everyone worked real hard on this. 

Okay, Thomas in his robe, very reminiscent of Excepting Anxiety. Blasé attitude, too. Hmm, trouble sleeping (tires), overstating ‘everything going wrong,’ definitely seems like Virgil’s territory. 

Woah there he is. He’s, he’s really angry? And Patton’s voice is strained. What is happening, does Patton know……whatever, or WHOever? Yeah, he’s shifty eyed. He knows. Virgil definitely knows, and it’s not him. Oh man oh man. Oh, confirmed, they’re in on trying to avoid the conversation. GREAT TEAM WORK, PAT! Doing great, buddy. 

Roman’s rhymes are amazing. Definitely misery, though. Alright, so Thomas is having thoughts that make Virgil act up, and either he’s telling Patton, or Patton knows because of emotions. 

Roman’s so much better at summoning than Logan. And Logan knows?! Ooh, sore spot for them here. Patton oh noooo. That’s easy for you to say? 

I love the idea that, 1, Logan Falsehood’d as a reaction and an example on purpose, and 2, that he’s got a limit of one per day. 

ALRIGHT! I’ve got it. They don’t want Roman to know because he’s going to, intentionally or not, expand on whatever the thoughts are. He’s Creativity and dreams, it’s what he does and he’s not going to be able to help it, intrusive thoughts, this IS Roman-centric! Poor boy. (Kraken, sushi. Those tentacles mean something. Also the tentacle represents the C, I understand the title image now.) Yeah, they don’t want him inadvertently going into daydream mode. 

I have never seen this movie. These are freaking top-notch jokes, though. WOAH, THOMAS. Not good. Really not good. I’m still hype. Oh, is that the sort of death mention that

Television: [has hands]

Me: [strangled squeaking noise] 

Okay, I’m having, okay. Okay. Okay. I’m fine. I just. I need. Okay. I’m fine. Need a moment. Freaking out, in, a good way? I just. Really unexpected, even though I saw the hands. Oh my gosh. Can the others see him????? Because they’re looking at Roman they should see him. I didn’t know I could make that noise, but apparently I can. And I can hold it. And make it slowly go higher pitched. Okay. Okay. I’m fine now. Maybe. Okay. Hypening.

OH THEY CAN okay, oh dissonant voice. What sort of overdramatic staff is this dork NO ROMAN. 

THE DUKE?! WHAT!!! Getting heavy Warfstache vibes, btw, and why does he have a grey streak? Virgil and Logan are unconcerned about Roman, so I guess he’s fine. 

Is this a song? What is his outfit, omg. His mustache is fabulous. His eyes are kinda ringed.  in purple? 

What is happening, oh my god. Oh here’s the religious commentary, I guess. This is fine, I’m okay with this. But he’s playing Adam AND Eve himself. Dramatic dork confirmed. Oooh, you lack imagination. He IS Roman’s opposite, dang. I was so sure it was Virgil. Also YES green’s my favorite color! 

Hahaaaa! Tiny little aunt Patty naked post-it! Patton’s so distressed, Virgil ANGERY. A to Z is incredible. I missed some lyrics there; I’ll catch it when I watch it with captions the next five times. I mean, uh, no, I’d never… ten times. Nice blood spatter! What is he doing to them! What’s with the size thing? Is that a thing he can do? Or creative (heh) liberty due to song? 

SNAKE how’d I not guess that from Adam and Chava SNAKE IT’S SNAKE!

I don’t get the hand image. What is that? So far kind of the same sort of vibe from Deceit and Duke- oooh, both Ds. The whole, own up to who you are, stop lying to yourself. 

“You’ve got a fiend in me!” “Squeak!”

Oh, oh no, he’s really not quite like Deceit. He’s saying that these things make Thomas evil. Definitely not a Deceit thing to do. 

EDITING PRAISE! YOU GUYS. You guys are incredible, you did such a good job. 

“I’m your Creativity!” Officially calling those things fart trumpets. 

Oh, is he actually Creativity? Okay I’ll roll with it. Oh my gosh it’s only ten minutes into it and I can’t shut up. Virgil is so uncomfortable. 

Never bring [Jeffery Dahmer] up again got a GREAT face from Duke. Oh man. Is that true about him trying to repress those thoughts?

WHITE BEAR that episode of Black Mirror might make more sense now. 

Impressive hair blowing from Virgil, that’s the hair blowing equivalent of what Dr. Horrible did with his fingers in Brand New Day. 

Patton called Roman handsome, and I knew that second most handsome prince bit in the last episode was something he’d say, not just him trying to be all lawyer-y! (Ooh, foreboding music…)

Honestly, Logan was, if anything, even more chill about lying in CLBG, and Deceit in general (his scales are quite smooth). By comparison, he’s going off on the Duke. OOH, I KNEW THAT ABOUT THE WORD DORK! 

Ohhh my gosh the costumes are opposites! I, almost realized that, about color theory, and then forgot about the sash. And those shoulder pads are massive, Duke! Did you steal Roman’s puppet chin to make those? 

Joan! Haha, I love it, definitely something they would do. Interesting, you can hear an overlay of Joan’s voice, and Duke’s voice. Why can’t the Duke do it as well as anyone else? What did Virgil realize during the twin explanation? Hey, Cayin and Hevel, more Genesis. 

Did he mention friends and family? Oh my gosh, self-immolation is terrible, I looked it up. Like, uh, suicide for a public purpose, or to make a point? 

Laugh! Dork laugh! There’s the implication of them knowing each other. 

Oh, okay, okay. So, Virgil’s anxious, because in and of itself, whatever it was that he was thinking/obsessing over was bad. His anxiety is, well, cognitive distortions. That’s why everyone’s all bothered. Yeah, point to Logan on that oh my god, what is that camera angle, I love it.

Duke is JP confirmed. Ripped off nipples. JP from Wade’s (lordminion777) circle of friends, salty boys. That’s still their official name, right? Anyway, he’s JP.

Oh, I saw dripping off of that hand. That sequence is getting longer every time. 

Who are those, I don’t recognize them? “I’m about to smash the Hulk” you guys I think I love the Duke a little bit a lot. 

Patton, no, that’s- Patton! “That’s what repression is?” Ooh, tense Virgil moment with Logan. Yet, also touching? 

“Well THAT can’t be where the bar is.” !!!

Weird Duke blink during religion talk. It’s so funny looking at this though a Jewish perspective. It’s similar, but just a little off. And we don’t do the 7 deadly sins thing. 

Figuratively! 

Wait it’s coming from Virgil?! Uh, uh, anxious about being a bad person, subconsciously projecting it onto Thomas?

Patton too?! Oh, wait, yeah, this comes back to repression that makes sense. Oh my gosh, Logan. ! Can the Duke do the Deceit silence thing oh no, no he can’t. Close. Teeth are an improvement I think. 

Hey isn’t there an incorrect quote about Virgil drinking shampoo? 

Remus?! Oh my gosh are you KIDDING me? A new side, PLUS his name? Oh, oh that’s so clever, Roman. Rome was founded by Romulus and Remus. So clever! And definitely butt trumpets, from earlier, because AVPM’s Lupin had butt trumpets. 

Oh, direct shot and reaction at Virgil not hiding anything. And okay, I’ve changed my mind like 10 times, but I think I get it now. Haha, Logan! It was like a pop quiz! And Thomas cursed!

The scream darkened the room, that was awesome. But nobody cared. Ah, secretly a Patton and Virgil arc! 

Oh my god, Patton had a look of realization when Virgil was listing off things, is he going to tell him to not skip the callback?!

[Sad poopy noises.] Logan’s on fire today! Yes! 

Oh, he’s gone? Ha, nope! Oh it got worse, haha!

Patton, control, it’s happening! Oh, wait no. 

Virgil really used to fear him? And, oh, what were those exchanged looks during “just like old times”? Logan and Patton, and maybe Roman figured it out? Does Virgil know that? 

Roman! 

Nerdy Wolverine. Ahh, cool! Dukey problem! Oooh return of “I don’t like him.”

What, brother?! So that’s an actual thing now? But okay, alright, I guess Logan’s thing from before. NOPE EVERYTHING’S FINE NEVER COMING BACK. Romaaaaan.

Dark sides? “Others.” Oh, Thomas for sure doesn’t know. Oh dear. OH MUSIC it’s swelling oh my gosh, he’s going to tell, he’s going to tell.  Gasp! He told, and oh, so sad, and oh no he’s just sinking out?! My poor baby little precious oh I immediately see why Patton had a problem with coddling him.

Oh, oh Thomas is so confuddled. There’s going to be so many angst fics. I will read them all. 

Alright, actually a hilarious ad.  Way to incorporate intrusive thoughts into it! END CARD holy- REMUS! Oh the deodorant. And again. Nice knife, he’s going to- yep, deodorant. Oh he’s done, but he’ll have another- yep. What the heck is it, actually? 

THERE’S A SNAKE IN MY BUTT! PFF that’s going to be some fics also. Officially: I love Remus. 

Final thoughts; I’m in love, I was so wrong about “they wouldn’t throw a new side or plot relevance at us with all these warnings,” everyone freaking outdid themselves, this must have happened so soon after Selfishness vs. Selflessness, I love him, I really dug a lot of that humor, my taste in music is way worse than anything Remus threw at us (ask me about that), WHAT WERE THE THOUGHTS with the dripping hand bit, S v. S part 2 is definitely the next one, and I freaking love this video. 

[eddycurrents]

For the week of 27 August 2018

Quick Bits:

A Walk Through Hell #4 focuses largely on flashbacks to the case the agents were working before whatever’s currently happening happened and...I’m not really sure of anything that’s going on. I think that’s kind of the point, unsure as to how everything is supposed to connect and what any of it all adds up to. Great art from Goran Sudžuka and Ive Svorcina, though.

| Published by AfterShock

Beyonders #1 is off to a great start. Between this and The Lost City Explorers, it seems like AfterShock right now has pseudoarchaeology stitched up and it’s wonderful. Paul Jenkins, Wesley St. Claire, and Marshall Dillon kick this one off with a wee bit more crunch, though there’s a very interesting upheaval this issue that will make you wonder what’s going on.

| Published by AfterShock

Blackwood #4 brings this series to an end and it is dark. Very dark. Evan Dorkin, Veronica & Andy Fish have crafted a wonderful horror story here, with some interesting twists, and one hell of an ending.

| Published by Dark Horse

Bone Parish #2 takes a deep dive in to some of the foundational moments of the Winters clan, even as they begin to deal with the fallout of one of their dealers dying from an overdose. This is great stuff. The art from Jonas Scharf and Alex Guimarães is incredible. Great detail and atmosphere, perfectly bringing to life the premise and characters from Cullen Bunn.

| Published by BOOM! Studios

Brothers Dracul #5 circles back around to the beginning of the story, as we reach the end of this interesting retelling and interpretation of the intersection of both the historical and legendary story of Vlad the Impaler, from Cullen Bunn, Mirko Colak, Maria Santaolalla, and Simon Bowland. There’s an interesting twist here that certainly paints Vlad’s action in a different light, and I hope we see it followed up upon in a second series.

| Published by AfterShock

Cyber Force #5 is a nice change of pace as Bryan Hill, Matt Hawkins, Atilio Rojo, and Troy Peteri introduce us to another old familiar face. This incarnation of the team definitely is taking its time to be brought together, but when the storytelling is as entertaining and the artwork is as gorgeous as this, it doesn’t really matter. To note, though, this is not the kind of decompression that feels empty or padded, it’s just fleshing out characters and their lives more than what we’ve seen before.

| Published by Image / Top Cow

Daredevil Annual #1 presents a standalone story of Misty Knight’s days as a detective and her first meeting with Daredevil. It’s good. It feels a bit more like a pilot for a Misty Knight series than necessarily a Daredevil tale, but, as I said, it’s good. The art from Marcio Takara and Marcelo Maiolo is nice. I really like Takara’s style which gives me hints of Phil Hester, Jim Mahfood, and Tomm Coker.

| Published by Marvel

Dungeons & Dragons: Evil at Baldur’s Gate #5 is another fun one, with a focus this issue on Boo. I’ve really enjoyed this series, with Jim Zub giving the party a bit of a breather between larger adventures and giving a great look at them as individual characters. Great art, too, including this issue from Francesco Mortarino and Jordi Escuin.

| Published by IDW

Edge of Spider-Geddon #2 gives us a view into another alternate Spiderverse, circling back around to SP//dr, and giving us a new twist on the power and responsibility rubric and VEN#m. It’s nice to see Lonnie Nadler and Zac Thompson play with more technological horror, with some incredible artwork from Alberto Alburquerque and Tríona Farrell.

| Published by Marvel

Euthanauts #2 is a thing of beauty. Nick Robles and Eva De La Cruz are seriously delivering some of the best art in comics right now with this series. The page layouts, character designs, use of colour, and incorporation of lettering choices from Aditya Bidikar, just elevate the storytelling immensely. Not even to mention how Tini Howard is making the weird science seamless in the dialogue. This is great.

| Published by IDW / Black Crown

Exiles #7 concludes the Old West-ish arc with cowboy T’Challa. Drop dead gorgeous artwork from guest artist Rod Reis. His depiction of the ultimate villain here shows some nice influence from Bill Sienkiewicz.

| Published by Marvel

Extermination #2 brings the fight to the school, even as the team (and the reader, although it’s not a bad thing) is still confused as to what is really going on. I love this, the tension that Ed Brisson, Pepe Larraz, and Marte Gracia are building is palpable, and the hints of kid!Cable’s actions are chilling. Also, the art is just phenomenal. 

| Published by Marvel

Harbinger Wars 2 #4 is kind of the end to this, but the ramifications and fallout are all supposed to appear in the Aftermath issue. That being said, Matt Kindt, Tomás Giorello, Renato Guedes, Diego Rodriguez, and Dave Sharpe go all out for the spectacle in this final confrontation between Livewire and X-O Manowar. It is still kind of insane how Capshaw could possibly consider what GATE and OMEN have done as being “good”, especially in light of Palmer going absolutely batshit insane, but it does lead to interesting set-up for future conflicts.

| Published by Valiant

Hillbilly: Red-Eyed Witchery From Beyond #1 begins the next adventure of the black-eyed tramp. I get a bit of a Beowulf vibe from Eric Powell’s set-up and I’m interested to see where it goes. This series sees Powell passing on the artistic duties to Simone Di Meo, Brennan Wagner, and Warren Montgomery and it’s an interesting visual shift from the washes of Powell’s own work in the original series. I quite like Di Meo’s style, which reminds me a bit of James Harren and Troy Nixey.

| Published by Albatross Funnybooks

House Amok #1 is something I’m not sure I can describe. It’s kind of a family drama, but if that family were all collectively sharing a hallucinatory experience or delusion. It’s a very interesting concept that’s only partially revealed by Christopher Sebela, Shawn McManus, Lee Loughridge, and Aditya Baker, but it leads to a very compelling start here. Gorgeous artwork from McManus and Loughridge.

| Published by IDW / Black Crown

Hunt for Wolverine: Dead Ends #1, like all four of the Hunt for Wolverine mini-series, is kind of a bit of treading water. I cannot say it or any of the previous series are bad, taken on their own separated from this “event”, they’re usually quite good, but as a whole it’s kind of disappointing. It’s a search for Wolverine that kind of comes up empty, acting as a prequel to the return of Wolverine, despite already having returned in Marvel Legacy and hopped across numerous different titles, before apparently being used for evil, as per throwaway bits in the fourth issues of those previously mentioned minis that didn’t necessarily connect with the plots of those minis. It feels a bit scattered and unnecessary, unfortunately, especially when it comes to comparing notes, coming up with the organization we already knew was behind it, and a bit of hand-waving mystery and grandstanding that still tells us a whole lot of nothing. It’s sound and fury. All of which is a bit of a shame because I otherwise generally enjoy the work of Charles Soule and Ramon Rosanas.

| Published by Marvel

Isola #5... Just look at the artwork. Karl Kerschl and Msassyk just keep delivering page after page after page of beauty.

| Published by Image

Jessica Jones #2 reaffirms that this is one of the best things that Marvel is currently publishing, with the next two chapters in this story. Kelly Thompson’s dialogue, narration, and banter throughout this issue is spot on, propulsive, and funny as hell when it needs to be, but what elevates it is that this isn’t your typical talking heads approach. The characters are doing stuff, like hunting sea monsters, instead of sitting at a desk or whatever. It’s a refreshing change that overall just makes this all the better. Not to mention Mattia De Iulis’ stunning artwork. It’s slick and polished with a line style that somewhat reminds me of Paul Gulacy and a bit of Rick Mays, and an approach to shadow and colour similar to Frazer Irving. This is a great series that really shouldn’t be missed.

| Published by Marvel

Judge Dredd: Under Siege #4 wraps up this entertaining series from Mark Russell, Max Dunbar, Jose Luis Rio, and Shawn Lee. I really like Dunbar’s take on Dredd and the Russell’s idea of people creating their own law in the absence of law is an interesting philosophical counterpoint to the idea of man naturally sliding towards a state of chaos. Even the mutants striving for society is an interesting challenge to the typical idea of things falling apart.

| Published by IDW

New Mutants: Dead Souls #6 concludes the series with Illyana putting the pieces together for what actually has been going on, it isn’t a pretty picture. This has been a great series from Matthew Rosenberg, Adam Gorham, Michael Garland, and Clayton Cowles and the revelations this issue are heavy. The implications for the X-universe is huge and I want more.

| Published by Marvel

The New World #2 essentially reveals itself as a romance comic, amidst the ultraviolence and social engineering. Didn’t really see that coming, but it’s an interesting move. Trippy art from Tradd Moore, Heather Moore, and Ludwig Olimba.

| Published by Image

Paradise Court #2 continues to be an entertaining horror comic from Joe Brusha, Babisu Kourtis, Leonardo Paciarotti, and Taylor Esposito. This gives us the part of the story where our protagonist is experiencing the horror and everyone else is telling her she’s just imagining it, but it’s still well told and well illustrated.

| Published by Zenescope

Rick and Morty vs. Dungeons & Dragons #1 is about as perfect a crossover of two properties as you can get. Morty trying to get into D&D because he thinks it will get him laid is the perfect in to the world of the game and the cartoon, perfectly blending the two for fans of both without alienating or diminishing either. Jim Zub, Patrick Rothfuss, Troy Little, Leonardo Ito, and Robbie Robbins are faithful to both and in doing so deliver a wonderful beginning to this story, that also educates along the way.

| Published by IDW & Oni Press

Runaways #12 is easily one of the best issues in what has already been an exemplary series. Rainbow Rowell, Kris Anka, Matthew Wilson, and Joe Carmagna focus here on forgiveness, acceptance, and second chances, with some truly beautiful character work between Gert & Victor and Nico & Karolina. If you don’t have a giant grin on your face by the end of the issue, I question your humanity.

| Published by Marvel

Submerged #2 is still weird, very weird, but there’s some really good bits in here demonstrating some of the emotional manipulation that family members sometimes employ. Beautiful, ethereal artwork from Lisa Sterle and Stelladia.

| Published by Vault

Venom: First Host #1 is somewhat strange to see in light of where Donny Cates and Ryan Stegman have taken the character, but this limited series from Mike Costa, Mark Bagley, Andrew Hennessy, Dono Sánchez-Almara, and Clayton Cowles serves as both an interesting addendum to the symbiote’s history and as a continuation (and likely capstone) to the previous creative team’s run. It’s pretty decent.

| Published by Marvel

Web of Venom: Ve’Nam #1 is a one shot fleshing out the backstory of Rex Strickland and the SHIELD experiment that bonded the early symbiotes to soldiers set loose during the Vietnam War. It’s an entertaining tale with some nice guest stars and sweet art by Donny Cates, Juanan Ramírez, Felipe Sobreiro, and Clayton Cowles. I particularly like the scratchy, faded look in the art to make it look a bit “old”.

| Published by Marvel

X-23 #3 is great. Mariko Tamaki has nailed the characters and the art from Juann Cabal and Nolan Woodard is incredible. The page designs alone elevate the storytelling immensely.

| Published by Marvel

The X-Files: Case Files - Hoot Goes There? #2 concludes the second of this new approach of a series of mini-series and it’s...weird? Funny, but weird. Definitely taking a page out of some of the more outlandish episodes of the series, where you question whether or not what you saw happened actually happened. Still, it’s entertaining, which is all that really matters. Fun from Joe and Keith Lansdale, Silvia Califano, Valentina Pinto, and Shawn Lee.

| Published by IDW

X-Men Blue #34 looks like it largely serves as a capstone to Cullen Bunn’s work with Magneto over the past four years or so, as he winds down his run here and continues to tidy the characters up a bit before he’s done and hands the reins off to the next band of storytellers. It feels like there’s a lot more here that he would have like to have told, but what we get here is still excellent. The hints at the next stage for Magneto and mutantkind are intriguing. Great art from Marcus To and Matt Milla. 

| Published by Marvel

X-O Manowar #18 gives an interesting transition from this flashback of Aric’s pre-Shanhara life to his return to Earth, focusing on how ideas, people, and culture keeps changing. Matt Kindt delivers a pretty chilling reaction to it. All with some nice artwork from Trevor Hairsine, Brian Thies, and Diego Rodriguez. 

| Published by Valiant

Other Highlights: Deadpool: Assassin #6, GI Joe: A Real American Hero #255, KINO #9, Marvel Two-in-One #9, Mighty Morphin Power Rangers: Shattered Grid #1, Modern Fantasy #3, Moon Knight #198, Ms. Marvel #33, Red Sonja #20, Rick & Morty #41, StarCraft: Scavengers #2, Star Wars: Lando - Double or Nothing #4, Star Wars: Poe Dameron Annual #2, Star Wars Adventures #13, TMNT: Bebop & Rocksteady Hit the Road #5, Wayward #28, X-Men: Grand Design - Second Genesis #2

Recommended Collections: 2021 - Volume 1, 30 Days of Night, Big Trouble in Little China: Old Man Jack - Volume 1, Black Cloud - Volume 2: No Return, DuckTales Classics - Volume 1, Eugenic, Factory, Femme Magnifique, I Hate Fairyland - Volume 4, James Bond: Hammerhead, Judas, Killer Instinct, Stray Bullets: Sunshine & Roses - Volume 2

d. emerson eddy is not the very model of a modern major general. Nor a scientist salarian for that matter.

[mimssides]

The Lie of Black and White: 2/9

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Remus was throwing some ugly vases against the wall in his room. Their shattering sound always managed to inspire him. And he was in need of some good ideas. Just something fun and juicy. Some light-hearted arson or poisoning.

Arson? That usually wasn’t his go to. Why had he been thinking of arson?

Only now Remus realized that he had stopped throwing vases and let the one in his hands fall down to the floor and stumbled backwards to his bed. Sloppily, he sat down and blinked several times. His vision was weird. The wall was blurry.

He blinked some more. He felt a water drop fall on his hand.

Was he crying?

Pain ripped over his right arm and he felt something like agonizing guilt in his guts. His breathing got quicker. His eyes flew all over his room, rested on the door in the corner of the room. He ran to it.

There was dust on the door knob. Of course. He hadn’t tried to open it since Roman had closed it all those years ago.

He tried to open it anyway.

It opened.

Remus wept. Everywhere. Lying unfinished pictures, poems, scripts. Scattered on the floor. Some edges were burnt. A clay statue was smashed. The air was thick and the big golden framed mirror was glowing on the wall.

Roman had left the portal into the imagination open.

Remus ran outside. To the dining table in the living room.

Oh Roman, thank God you don’t have a moustache. Otherwise between you and Remus I wouldn’t know who the evil twin is.

Oh Roman, thank God you don’t have a moustache. Otherwise between you and Remus I wouldn’t know who the evil twin is.

Oh Roman, thank God you don’t have a moustache. Otherwise between you and Remus I wouldn’t know who the evil twin is.

Oh Roman, thank God you don’t have a moustache. Otherwise between you and Remus I wouldn’t know who the evil twin is. Oh Roman, thank God you don’t have a moustache. Otherwise between you and Remus I wouldn’t know who the evil twin is. Oh Roman, thank God you don’t have a moustache. Otherwise between you and Remus I wouldn’t know who the evil twin is. Oh roman thank god you don’t have a moustache otherwise between you and remus i wouldn’t know who the evil twin is oh roman thank god you don’t have a moustache otherwise between you and remus i wouldn’t know who the evil twin is ohromanthankgodyoudon’thaveamoustacheotherwisebetweenyouandremusiwouldn’tknowwhotheeviltwinis

The snake. Sitting on a chair, talking to nerdy wolverine. Stopping. Staring at him. A small movement from his lower eyelid.

Popsicle said something from the kitchen. Maybe even shouted. Remus didn’t hear it. He bolted towards Janus and grabbed him by the collar. Pulled him up from the chair, as if he didn’t weight as much as a feather.

Now popsicle screamed something and nerdy wolverine stood up. Remus didn’t care. His arm hurt more. He had finally recognized which kind of pain it was. He finally recognized the burning sensation of his brother’s flames.

“What have you done to Roman! What have you done!?!”

Remus didn’t sound mocking nor dramatic. He sounded desperate and enraged. Janus had never heard him like this. Had never seen him cry like this. Had never thought he would actually be able to fear him. And yet now he did.

And at once, Remus dropped him and stared angrily at Patton, who had stepped forth probably to try and stop Remus from doing anything harsh.

“Remus! Clam down”, Janus tried to get Remus’s attention back “I did nothing to Roman! I haven’t sseen him in days! I don’t-”

Before Janus could end, Remus turned around and rushed past him back to the hallway leading to their rooms. With no much thinking Janus went after him, so did Logan and Patton.

Just as Janus was able to see around the corner, he noticed Virgil rushing out of his room and blocking Remus’s way. Virgil had a scared look on his face, yet seemed determined to stop him and was about to shout, as Remus simply jumped against the wall, over Virgil’s head and sprinted further towards Roman’s room.

And at that point the other sides started sprinting. Somehow, Janus got in front of the group and was first to reach Roman’s door and first to see the mess that his room was. The first to see Remus crying, pacing in circles in front of the glowing mirror and muttering, whispering, spurting things. He stepped inside and Logan pressed forward, looking around in utter disbelieve.

Patton and Virgil were still behind them and Janus heard Patton utter a loud gasp. He could almost see how tears formed in his eyes.

“What the fuck!?!” Virgil half-screamed and the other sides flinched at the creepy echo that had come with Virgil’s words.

It made Remus turn towards the group. Suddenly he was still. He stared at Janus, then Patton. The tears were still running down his face.

“He’s burNING!” Remus squeaked pained and a paper behind him evaporated in flames.

“Remus come back to your senses!” Janus demanded and tried to step in front of Logan, who was still closest to Remus.

But as the word ‘senses’ had fallen, Remus’s eyes lit up and his whole focus shifted towards Logan and just like that Remus grabbed his arm and bolted towards the mirror. He was too strong for Logan to fight against and the whole move had been too unpredictable for him to anticipate. And so, Logan was dragged into the imagination and Janus, Patton and Virgil stood back in Roman’s room in quiet shock.

That was until Virgil rushed forth about to follow them blindly, before Janus and Patton held him back.

“What – We – We need to get to Logan! What do you think will the mad man do!?” Virgil hissed agitated towards Janus.

Latter only shook his head and quickly exchanged a look with Patton before he turned his attention back to Virgil. Remus and Virgil had always had a weird relationship even before Virgil had left him and Janus behind. At times it was as if they were partners in crime, at times it was as if they were cellmates. The more anxious Virgil grew the more bizarre and gruesome Remus’s illusions and acts got.

And right now, that Logan was in Remus’s hands Janus could not risk Remus getting any more gruesome. He couldn’t risk Virgil getting too close to him.

“I don’t know”, Janus admitted and took a step backwards towards the mirror, “but he will get more random the closer you are to him! And like that I won’t be able to do anything anymore! Especially not in the imagination. It is their territory, Virgil. It is their land and we certainly won’t stand a chance against Remus’s craziness in there, if you make him anymore mad.”

Then Janus turned his head towards Patton and held onto the side of the mirror.

“I’ll go in and get them back. Sstay here and take care of him. Will you?”

Patton was shaking, his eyes uncertain and his breath unsteady. But his words sounded true as he said: “I will. I trust you.”

And with that Janus jumped inside the mirror into the imagination. It felt like falling for an infinity but was over with the blink of an eye and Janus landed wobblily on his feet. And before he could even start to begin taking in what he could see, he was overwhelmed by the smell of thick and heavy smoke. Janus blinked and his eyes stung. Only after a few seconds of adjustment he managed to truly open his eyes and found himself standing in front of a wall of fire. Just fire.

He was frozen. Remus could not be right. He could not. Be. Right.

Janus shook himself out of his state and looked away from the wall and finally found Logan standing only a few feet away from him. He seemed to be uninjured, if a little unsettled, but Janus would take whatever he could get at this point. Quickly he walked over to him and soon saw Remus wandering along the fire wall, forth and back, both hands pressed against his skull.

Logan saw Janus approach out of the corner of his eye and turned slightly towards him.

“Are you unharmed?” was the first question out of Janus’s mouth and Logan just nodded.

“Well, at least one thing is all right then. Did he say anything concerning this…”

“Catastrophe? No, he did not. He has been mumbling incoherently since he has gotten here and as much as I want to say that such behaviour is quite usual for him, I know that this is cannot be usual for him”, Logan responded and pointed towards the still wandering Remus.

Janus just stared at Remus, then back to Logan, gulped and waved for him to get closer towards the Duke. Logan followed and they soon heard Remus mutter: “Fire. Burn. Blaze. Flame. Bruise. Blister. Blood. Red. Red. Orange. Orange. Sun. Campfire. Witch burning. Burnt flesh. Burn. Burn. Burn. Pain – Pain! Blister. Fire. Fire. Fire. Fire. Fire. Fire. Fire. O p p O s I t e!”

An association game?

“Water?” Logan blurted out and Remus immediately turned towards him with a big smile.

“Water! Rain! Rain clouds!” Remus screamed and immediately the sky went grey and clouds formed to pour down to the earth.

The flames didn’t go down but it stopped the fire from spreading and steam rose up into the sky. Within moments the sides were wet to the bone and Remus turned towards the two others. Meretriciously, he watched both for a moment before his focus went back to Logan and he made a step towards him.

Logan let him approach. He wanted to ask Remus, what was going on but was not sure how well Remus could even understand his questions at this point. He seemed to be absolutely delusional and his eyes were red from crying. This was an absolute mess.

“Can you hold my hand?”

Logan rose his eyebrows as high as it was possible for him and asked Remus simply: “Pardon me?”

“You make sense! I need to make sense to think and to find Roman. If you hold my hand, I will make sense. Please. We need to go. Now. He’s getting worse”, Remus pledged with the lowest voice he could muster to utter.

Logan didn’t understand what was happening. Not completely at least. He was aware that Remus’s state certainly was linked to what was going on with Roman and that Roman probably was the source of this ridiculous fire, since it was his half of the imagination which was burning. What he did not understand was the fact that of all sides Remus decided to trust him and ask for his help. He was so far out of his territory of expertise that it felt almost ridiculous to think he might be of any help in here.

But here Remus was the Duke. He knew how this world worked and quite honestly after looking at the fire wall again Logan decided he might as well just listen to him.

“Very well”, Logan said and held out his hand for Remus to take it.

Remus grabbed his hand and started walking, while Logan looked back over his shoulder to Janus who stared at him flabbergasted. Logan just shrugged and then focused on the path in front of them.

And so, they followed Remus through the pouring rain. Minutes passed and the two sides felt slowly how the imagination started pulling on their nerves. Things here didn’t follow the laws of nature or some sort of coherent concept. What was believed to be true, would be true. What was believed to be wrong would be wrong. There were no rules, no sense, no time and neither Logan nor Janus liked being part of such world. It just didn’t fit their mindsets.

And naturally, there was also the fact the humongous fire was burning next to them and it seemed not to stop. This fire which probably was Roman’s doing and made them question, how greatly they had underestimated Roman’s mental state. They both had assumed that it wasn’t too good; the Prince hadn’t come to their dinners, but ate alone in his room. He hadn’t come out to present his ideas, didn’t sing and didn’t smile anymore. But he had done his part for Thomas and it had been decided to let him have his privacy and not fester him too much. In hindsight, a decision they should have thought through more thoroughly.

Thunder. Logan flinched and quickly looked around to look where the sound had been coming from.

Thunder.

Go away.

Remus stopped. Logan looked around hysterically. Where was this voice coming from? It couldn’t just be projected through the sky- Unless it could since this was imagination and Roman had seen Lion King about a million times and loved Mufasa speaking in the clouds.

So, he looked up but found nothing. Instead, Logan suddenly felt how Remus let go of his hand and started running straight towards the fire. Janus next to him shouted for Remus to stop but at once shut up as they both realized that there was something standing out of the fire. A glass surface. Logan and Janus exchanged a look and followed Remus, who had already started to knock against the glass wall.

The heat was blazing and even though they both were able to just heal themselves, in case they were burnt, neither had the urge to get closer to the flames. They didn’t understand how Remus could be so close to it and not show any signs of pain or exhaustion at all.

And then they were close enough to see through the glass. It was a gigantic glass dome, within flames burning just like outside of it. Only that in the middle of the construct sat a white character. With a red sash.

“Rooman!”

Remus’s voice was shrill and dry.

Nobody understands. How much… it hurts.

“Stop being dramatic! Stop! Stop! Stop!”

I can’t do this any longer… I can’t…

“StoP! If I can, you-”

Remus stopped. He turned around. His eyes again on Logan. Filled with desperation. And –

Hope.

“I forgot”, Remus laughed and scratched his head maniacally, “I forgot, I don’t know why, but I forgot and – I need to remember! I need to show him, Logan! I need to remind him too, to make him stop! Will you help me? Please?”

Logan just gaped at him for a solid twenty seconds. He was unable to do anything. He had no power in here. How could he possibly help Remus resolve this situation?

But if he didn’t try, he would surely be of no use at all.

And so, Logan fought off his paralyzed state and got closer to Remus.

“What do you need me to do?”

Remus smiled desperately and waved him towards the glass dome. Janus just walked beside them, holding up his cape, which he had conjured to be longer and fireproof, to shield the two other sides.

“Just put your hands on my back. I need to project something onto the dome, so Ro sees it. I’ll need to focus pretty hard so please don’t go away. Stay.”

The monotone tone of Remus’s voice scared both Logan and Janus but there was no time left. Swiftly, Logan positioned himself behind Remus and laid his hands on his shoulder blades while Remus carefully held his hand onto the glass.

Nothing happened at first. Then there was a static through the crackling of fire. Then there appeared a light, a projection on the other side of the glass dome.

And a sob. The projection showed one of their rooms out of Thomas’s childhood. Judging the angle, it was the view from a child sitting on a floor. Their gaze fell down on the floor and another sob made the whole frame waver.

It was one of them. It was a memory.

More crying. Louder. Heavier. Pained. The view got black as the boy blinked and was fogged when he opened his eyes again.

Logan felt himself gulp. Janus felt a cold shiver running down his spine.

 The scene seemed to never end, seemed to get mushier, more desperate. The crying didn’t stop, the pain got deeper and more chaotic.

 Then white. The boy blinked. White and red. A red sash. Roman. Merely eleven it seemed.

 “Remus?”

 His voice was so high. So childish.

 “Ree?”

 Remus sobbed harder. The scene shook. There was a shoulder. The scene grew steadier. Roman had hugged Remus.

 “It’s them, isn’t it? They fight all day long, so they must be screaming at you at night, aren’t they?” Child Roman said so softly.

 A nod. A little wail.

 Remus answered: “D says I – I – I overdramatize what they say! Says that I shouldn’t do what I’m doing! But – but-”

 He cried more.

 “I know. This is what you do. This is what you are for. You give Thomas’s fears and doubts form”, Roman said for him.

 “Yes!”

 Remus’s view had cleared a bit. Roman kneeled in front of him and held his hands. His eyes were filled with so much adoration and sadness.

 “Does it hurt Thomas? Am I bad? Should I not be? Are they right? Should I just die?”

 Roman’s eyes were also filled with tears.

 But on his lips, there was a smile.

 “And take me with you? No, thanks I wanna live and we both know that Thomas wouldn’t stand a day without me.”

 “Yeah”, Remus sniffled and watched his brother put on this faulty self-confident smile.

 “And if he cannot stand a day without me, he couldn’t stand a day without you either, dummy. We need your shouting just like we need my singing and Logic’s curiosity.”

 “But- But why? How am I helping now?”

 Roman frowned in frustration. Irritated he put his hand on Remus’s shoulder.

 “Ree, you’re awful, right?”

 “Butthole!”

 Remus hit his brother in the chest and Roman yelped and then sighed impatiently.

 “Not like that! I mean you feel awful, right?”

 “Oh, yeah I feel like cow dung.”

 “Yeah, and that means Thomas is feeling awful too! And nobody of the others can see that as clear as you do! This is why you need to show them all the things you show them.”

 “Why can’t you just tell them that Thomas isn’t feeling happy? You’re not good either”, Remus replied.

 Roman’s smile faltered a little before he caught himself and shrugged.

 “No, I’m not but Morality and Logic won’t listen to me. I’m not there to warn them but to be brave and talk to people and give Thomas energy and motivation. And to dream. They think I’m just dramatic. So, I can’t make them listen to me. But you can be loud and bizarre and gross! You can make Morality snap and then Logic is going to realize how bad it really is and will finally accept that we need to talk with Mom and Dad!”

 “But…” Remus voice was weak as he spoke. “What if I unsettle Thomas so much that he can’t talk to them anymore?”

 “Then I will be brave! I will ask Logic to let me take the lead and he will let me because I’m brave enough to talk over stupid Fear!”

 There was Remus’s laugh. He pulled Roman in another hug. Roman laughed too. The moment held on for a long time.

 “But”, Roman carefully pulled back and sternly looked Remus in the eyes, “I can only do that with you. I need you. We all do. You are essential for Thomas.”

 For a second Remus said nothing. A last sniffle.

 “And you’re my and Thomas’s hero.”

“And you still are!”

Logan finally tumbled backwards, as the projection faded away and fell on his backside while pressing his hand against his mouth to silence his crying. Janus had dropped his cape and starred at Remus in utter horror. They had almost got him killed. They had almost killed Remus, without even realizing it. Without ever noticing how bad he was.

But Remus didn’t care. Not about the pain he had been through nor the many times he had been ignored. He only cared for the glass dome that finally evaporated and sloppily ran towards his twin in the middle of the flames.

Remus’s skin was burning. He smelled cooked flesh, ashes and smoke. Almost tasted the roasted air, as he fought through the flames on his way to Roman. Roman didn’t move, when Remus reached him. His clothes were burnt into rags, the visible skin was red and blistered. It didn’t look like Roman anymore.

Fiercely, Remus grabbed him under the armpits and dragged him backwards out of the heat. Roman didn’t move, didn’t flinch, didn’t protest. When Remus dropped him outside of the fire, he just flopped on the ground. He would have hit his head had Remus dropped himself on his knees and caught him messily.

“Ro. RoRo! Come on! Look alive! Look alive dangnabbit!” Remus cursed weakly and cradled Roman closer to his chest.

And in that moment Remus felt how Roman’s clothes changed and a weak arm being thrown around his back. Remus laughed and pushed him into a more upright position, while Roman started to hold him more ferociously and press himself against Remus. Remus let out another chuckle and felt how Roman started to cry against his shoulder. He didn’t mind. He didn’t mind at all.

Slowly Logan and Janus got closer. The rain was still pouring down and the flames finally started to falter and in the nearby forest, which had been spared from the fire, silhouettes moved in the shadows. Janus kept an eye on them while Logan quietly approached the brothers and waited for Remus to look up and notice him.

It took Roman a while to stop clinging to Remus. But no one dared to say anything about it and in all honesty Logan and Janus were just relieved to have a little time to calm down themselves. It had been so overwhelming to register what had just transpired and neither felt comfortable enough to console the Prince in this very moment.

As Remus eventually felt Roman slightly let go of him, he leaned back and tried to catch Roman’s look. His eyes were red from crying. His bottom lip still shivering. Remus cracked a smile, ignoring that he himself was still crying from the whole situation.

“Hey shit face”, Remus greeted Roman who promptly giggled, which led to him having a coughing fit.

Finally, Remus felt how the tears stopped running down and grinned towards Roman, while patting his back a little too hard.

“You asshole!” Roman blurted affectionately and scratched his nose. “But thanks for – yeah. Who from the others came with you? I can’t think right now.”

Roman still sat with his back turned towards Logan and Janus and Remus immediately realized that his brother might be not too happy with who had chosen to come with him. But they were there and he wasn’t going to tell Roman something else.

“Microsoft turd and J. I only brought the brain with me though”, Remus confessed and held Roman’s shoulders, which for everybody visibly stiffened by the mere mentioning from Janus name.

Logan and Janus heard Roman audibly gulp before he nodded and straightened his back.

“Makes sense. They couldn’t leave Virgil back on his own. That’s okay. It’s okay.”

Remus grinned. Roman shivered and so did Janus. The rain had made the air quite chilly and his fire-y brother as well as his coldblooded bastard friend didn’t like chilly that much. But with the fire still burning behind them he didn’t trust to stop the rain quite yet.

“Mind to put the fire out now?”

“Oh, yes. Yes, of course!” Roman said as if he had only now realized what was going on and tried too fast to get up, so that he almost fell down again had Remus not caught him in time.

“Sorry”, Roman mumbled and turned towards the fire. With a slight wave of his hand the flames went out and with an additional snap the rain stopped just a second later.

With a twist Roman turned towards Logan and just like that Logan’s clothes were dry as if it had never rained at all. It was the same for Remus and Janus, just that the latter didn’t get a look from Roman.

“Is it possible for us to get back to the mindscape, Roman? This environment is …” Logan inquired stiffly, while crossing his arms in front of his chest.

Roman gave him a weak nod, looked over to Remus only to then notice that there were silhouettes standing in the forest. Slightly panicked, Roman shook his head, guiltily shot a look over his shoulders to the ashes and then to Logan.

“We’ll – You – Give me a moment. I need to fix this mess”, Roman said and conjured a little camp side with a fire place and materials in order to rebuild a small town.

Then Roman took a deep breath and wandered wordlessly towards the forest, where now one of the silhouettes had stepped out. Remus recognized her. The stout, blond woman was the general Ren of Roman’s castle guard. She was an impressive nemesis to him and his people.

“Your Royal Highness!” Ren said and bowed for Roman, who held up his hand to stop her.

With a quick glance he found other citizen of the nearby villages and towns hiding in the shadows and then addressed his general: “General. Are our people safe? Did you manage to evacuate everybody?”

“We have a few people left missing and I haven’t heard from all my men yet, but as of now we know of no casualties yet, Your Highness!”

Roman suppressed a relieved sigh and told Ren calmly: “Perfect. Go and look for shelter over there. You should find enough resources for everybody for at least a week. Treat the hurt and let the tired rest. Also distribute the food I’ve provided. It should be enough for a while. As I am now, I can’t help you with the reconstruction quite yet. As soon as I can, I’ll be back though.”

“Thank you, Your Highness! Thank you so much! We will do our best with our work and will make you proud! You can count on us!” Ren exclaimed happily.

Roman smiled slightly, bowed his head and said before going back to the other sides: “I know. You have never let me down before.”

His face fell the moment he turned away from his subjects. His expression was pained and he motioned for the others to wait. Logan furrowed his eyebrows and Remus glanced over to the tree line. Janus just observed Roman, who still avoided eye contact.

As soon Roman was in reach, Remus put his hand on his brother’s shoulder and muttered: “I can’t teleport us right to the exit. But I can get us closer. That sounds like a plan?”

Roman only nodded and stared to the ground. Logan and Janus got closer to the twins and with a snap Remus teleported them back into the direction from where they had come before. Roman looked around. No subjects in sight. He let out a pained groan and Remus immediately went to support him. To Roman’s surprise Logan soon stood next to his side and as careful as he managed to helped him stand upright. Slightly confused he observed him, noticed his eyes being red and a certain unsteadiness in his look. He decided to let it go and just let the two help him out for the next few minutes.

They didn’t talk as they walked back to the portal into the Mindscape. They didn’t know how to start talking about what had happened or focus on what would happen next. And so, they reached the portal with no plan whatsoever on how to explain to Patton and Virgil what had just gone down.

“You go first”, Remus said to Logan and Janus.

Logan hesitated but let go of Roman and stepped in front of the waiting for Janus to join him.

Janus watched Remus for a moment. He stood there so straight and seemingly lucid. He had rarely seen him portray anything but silly grossness and tonight he had seen him being everything but gross and silly. He knew that Remus didn’t tend to lie. He knew that he was not a deceiver. But he wasn’t so sure if that was true at this very moment.

“If we go first the portal closes and you’re stuck in here.”

Janus clicked his tongue, nodded and reluctantly walked over to the portal. He exchanged a look with Logan and then both stepped through.

For a moment the imagination was silent. Remus just held on to Roman and the both simply stared at the glowing portal. If they wanted, they could just close it. Stay here and never face the others again. Roman knew that he was tempted to just do that. To just back down for eternity.

“Are you ready?”

Roman hated Remus’s voice, the tone he used, the way he put so much more emotion in every word than he ever could. He hated it that it made him want to try.

“No, but I’ll never will be and we might as well just get started”, Roman answered and pushed them both towards the portal.

Remus smirked and felt relief wash over him, as they stepped through the portal.

[moondustis]

palace/curse

pairing: min yoongi + reader genre: fluff word count: 1,5k summary: “in the middle of all the teenage angst you and yoongi had gotten closer than ever and like a cliche adolescent romcon, you ended up falling head over heels for your best friend. one day yoongi was there being his gross teenage self and the next you were thinking about kissing his lips under the moonlight and holding his hand.” inspired by the song ribs by lorde.

you like to think there are things in life one must experience in order to become the person they are mean to be. like a heartbreak, for example or the departure of a loved one. you also like to think that there are people you are supposed to meet in order to really become complete. that’s how you feel about meeting min yoongi.

it happens on a sunny summer day. you are pushing yourself back and forth on the swing, a caprisun on you hand and a smile on your face. everything feels really peaceful, like a nice day in the park should feel for a 8 year old. until yoongi comes to disturb your peace and pushes you off the swing, making you spill juice all over your favorite yellow dress.

that day he calls you egoist for not letting other people use the swing and you call him mean and ugly for pushing you. back then you didn’t think yoongi was someone you were meant to have in your life, of course. you dreaded meeting min yoongi with your whole heart and everything about the boy made your little body boil with anger. but the universe had funny ways of working and in the end the evil boy turned out to be the son of a great friend of your mother and both women seemed to want nothing more than for you and yoongi to be the best of friends. you were forced to attend regular playdates with yoongi every sunday and no matter how much you cried and tried to fake being sick, you would always end up in the min’s household with a frown on your face and yoongi pulling at your pigtails. it takes a while but at the age of 12 you and yoongi seem to finally put an end to your childish feud and become attached to the hip, surprising everyone that had the opportunity to spend more than five minutes with you two and your nonstop bickering.

the friendship blows on your shared interest of an x-men animation that was played on tv every afternoon. you were at yoongi’s house, being left there by you mother that had an important meeting to attend and couldn’t just leave her daughter alone without supervision. it had started as usual, you saying something mean and yoongi biting back with something even meaner, he always had a smart mouth to him. but by the time your mother came back to pick you up, you were both peacefully sitting on the couch, eyes glued on the television, while the x-men were on random mission, and excitedly commenting on how cool it was. it became your thing for a good year. all you two would talk about was mutants and even ended up dressing as wolverine and rogue for halloween. but like most thing at that age, it was forgotten when you found a new obsession. but even then, yoongi stood by your side. a comfortable presence in your life and by the time you were both seventeen you had experienced everything a person could imagine together. you experienced his awkward puberty and attempt to be a skater boy. he had experienced your first period and your quick but very weird obsession with a certain boyband. you told him about your first kiss immediately after it happened and he stole alcohol from his parents, so you two could get drunk for the first time on his basement (and proceed to have the worst hangover ever).

in the middle of all the teenage angst you and yoongi had gotten closer than ever and like a cliche adolescent romcon, you ended up falling head over heels for your best friend. one day yoongi was there being his gross teenage self and the next you were thinking about kissing his lips under the moonlight and holding his hand.

but you never dared to tell him about your feelings. too embarrassed and scared of what they could do to your friendship. you had watched him date other people and would hear about his romantic escapades more often than you would like. but none of that would ever hurt as much as being like you were right now, in his bed with him so close to you and your heart so full of hidden feelings that you felt like it would burst out of your chest. you two were cuddling in his bed, like you had been doing since middle school after class. he felt warm against your skin and you could feel his chest move with every word he said. it was comfortable, something so natural that you couldn’t imagine not doing it.

he was talking about college and his plans for the future, how he wanted to move to a big city and work on his dreams. the pain of thinking that you could end up not being a part of that future was minuscule compared to how your whole body ached for his happiness, for him to be able to do everything he wanted. “do you think we’ll stop being friends if we attend different universities?” you muttered and at the same time it was just a stupid thought, because your bond with yoongi was too strong to break, it made sense. you and yoongi had never been apart from each other, since the capri sun incident he had been a constant in your life and it scared you to think what distance could do to that. “of course not, stupid.” yoongi replied, gentle as always. “we have phones for a reason. we already text most of the time, i doubt that would change.” you can’t help but sigh in relief. glad that where you were always too emotional and guided by your heart, yoongi was rational and tried to make sense of things. you both settle in a comfortable silence after that and yoongi’s hand find their way to your waist, rubbing soothing circles on it as if he can sense your troubles. the entire house is asleep and the only sounds you can hear are the wind outside and the clock signalling it’s midnight.

“don’t you think this weird?” he says, getting you out of your thoughts and when you give him a confused look he continues. “us sharing a bed and cuddling?” “of course not! we have been doing it for ages.” you reply. it’s a half lie, of course. you have fallen asleep in his arms imagining that you were actually lovers many times.

“yeah, but we are almost adults now. it should be weird.” always the voice of reason. it should, you think, and sometimes it is. but hell if you would let a piece of your friendship end. “it doesn’t mean anything. we just enjoy each other’s companies, that’s all.” you reason, doing your best to avoid his eyes. “but what if…” he starts saying and knowing yoongi the way you do, you can tell he’s gathering his strength to say something. “what if i wanted it to mean something.”

for a moment you think your mind is playing tricks on you. you think you are actually sleeping, that this is just another one of your silly dreams where yoongi says the words you want to hear the most. but it’s not a dream and the way yoongi looks at you, when finally stop trying to avoid his eyes, makes your heart twist inside of your chest.

“please say something.” he pleads. you didn’t even notice you had stayed inside your thoughts for so long, just staring at him. his voice sounds slightly sad, like he’s sure you don’t want the same thing as him. it’s funny, you think, how he knows you so well but has no clue about this one thing that is about to change everything.

you had always been better with actions, having a hard times putting your heart on your words and never being able to say the right things. yoongi knows this better than anyone, so you know he understands the moment you move closer to him to press your lips softly against his.

it’s a short kiss, just a brush of lips, but it’s enough to leave the both of you with stupid smiles on your face. he moves his hands until they’re holding yours tightly, as if he’s saying he will never let go. “i’m sorry i never said anything.” you don’t mind. “i was too scared that it would ruin everything and that you would hate me.” impossible. you don’t think you could ever hate yoongi.

“it’s okay, i was scared too.” you say and he lets out a silly laugh. of all the times you had imagined this moment going, it never went like this. it usually involved a lot of tears and arguments, sometimes heated kisses. but it had never been this comfortable, with yoongi’s hand holding yours and his smile making you feel like you’re floating.

when he kisses you again you let go of everything else. tomorrow will still come and you’re still scared of what it’ll bring with it. but yoongi is by your side and, as always, that’s enough.