#Pictures From the Publick

[nerdykeppie]

Look at the raw pins for samples from the upcoming "Historically Queer" Kickstarter set!

Love that this new manufacturer sends us SO MANY PROCESS PICTURES.

This is about half of the set - this set will also contain, among others, La Maupin, Publick Universal Friend, & Dr. James Barry.

[milliemakesmagic]

The Valentine Family, a family out of time

Millie hasn't posted a fic in a HOT SECOND.

but here I ammmm.

A few generations have passed since the Sole Survivor broke Nick Valentine out of that vault. One of those generations they shared together as husband and wife. But the more time passes, the more his memory banks fill up, and he starts to forget everything. Including his own family.

Me and @psybrepunk came up with this idea when we discussed the memory banks eventually failing Nick. I'm not sure how Gen 2 synths memory banks work, but for story purposes, he basically forgets everything after several generations. Enjoy!

Word count: 955 Warnings: Sad. Also on AO3: https://archiveofourown.org/works/56777947

There was a cardboard box in Valentine Detective Agency that Nick Valentine could never come to terms with. 

Right now it sat on his desk in front of him. He stared at the scribbled words on the side of the box: The Valentine Family.

His yellow eyes traced the words over and over, hoping it would make him remember something. Anything. 

He’d been through that box hundreds of times. 

He’d studied the pictures and read the letters and held the scraps of clothing, hoping it would bring back some memory. 

At one point, his synthetic existence had a story that didn’t belong to Nick Valentine the cop.

He had a family. A wife, a story of his own. 

He also had a son. But he knew that part because that child was the same as him. Frozen in time. 

A young boy named Shaun, that apparently was a copy of his wife’s biological son. 

Shaun had found his own way with other synths like himself so Nick didn’t see him often anymore. But when he did see him, they almost didn’t know how to act. Or at least Nick didn’t. 

Shaun’s memory was endless. So he remembered his mother, he remembered their family, he remembered where he came from. 

Meanwhile Nick, the man that this young synth called “father”, had no memories of that time. 

But one thing never changed, whenever the boy visited, he would climb into Nick’s lap and fall asleep while Nick looked over cases. It was the only thing that made Nick feel the ghost of familiarity about the past.

Nick rummaged through the box again chasing that ghost, struggling with the feelings of pain and grief as he desperately tried again to remember something.

There was a photo of him beside two young women, written on the back it said, “The Detective, the Vault Dweller, and the Journalist.” Inside the box along with it was a newspaper article called Publick Occurrences, written by a woman named Piper Wright.

There was a red handkerchief with a photo of a german shepherd attached. Nick again puzzled over who would name their dog, “Dogmeat.”

A photo of Shaun and the woman who was Nick’s wife, cuddling on the couch watching the snow falling through the big front window. “Christmas Eve in Sanctuary Hills.”

He opened an envelope and read the note that was written in loopy red writing, something about an anniversary, and how much she loved him. He pulled out the scrap of red lace from inside the envelope and admired the little threaded hearts in the material.

Further inside the box he found a small bent up fedora, the note attached to it was in his own handwriting. “He wanted to look like me, so on his birthday I got him this. He wore it until it couldn’t hold its shape anymore.” 

There was a photograph of Nick sitting on the couch with his wife straddling his lap and carefully stitching extra material on his neck to avoid further tearing. She was laughing in this photo, and it looked like he was too.

Nick ran his hand over his neck, feeling the worn stitches that had started to come undone over time. Someone who loved him, carefully tried to fix his struggling synthetic body. And she didn’t look ashamed of his appearance or who he was. The joy in her laughing face as she repaired him in this image had Nick sometimes staring at this photo for hours.

Finally his hand pulled out a worn holotape. He turned it over in his fingers before putting it into the player. 

“Nick!” Her voice sang. “Welcome home! How did the Barnus Case go?” 

The rustling of what Nick assumed was her hugging him was heard.

“Well you know, it went as you’d expect.” His voice responded.

“Daddy!” 

The sound of footsteps running to him and then the impact of Shaun jumping into his arms was heard.

“Woah careful! Don’t want to break your old man anymore than he already is!” 

“Well we missed you!” She continued.

“Oh did you?” 

The sound of Nick and his wife sharing a quick kiss crackled over the tape.

“Dad! Did you find me that type of wire?” 

“Oh did I? Well Christmas must’ve come early because I got you this type of wire, this type of wire, and, these batteries.” 

“No way! Thank you!” 

Shaun could be heard running down the hall again. 

“How on earth did you find those? I assumed he made them up.” She chuckled. He heard the couch creak as they sat down. “I’ll be honest I have no idea. Stroke of luck I guess.”

She laughed, a melodic sound that haunted Nick’s dreams.

“I’m glad you’re home Nick. I love y-“ 

The holotape scratched silent. 

The quietness of the agency rang in his ears. 

He ran his hand over the stitches on his neck again. 

“I’m…I’m so sorry.” He whispered, as if her spirit could hear him. “Why can’t I just…” 

He sighed, dropping his head into his hands. 

He stood up, getting ready to put the lid back on and shove the box into the corner where he hoped it wouldn’t hurt him anymore. 

But before he did, he pulled out the photo of her laughing on his lap as she repaired him. 

His thumb rubbed over her figure, beautifully frozen in time. Her face forever captured in that expression of pure joy and love. 

He crumpled the picture in his hand, holding it tightly against his chest. “I can’t remember my own damn wife!”

He threw the photo in the box and shut it before shoving it back into the corner and going into the alley for a smoke.

[ome-magical-ramblings]

To Be Silent and pearls clutching.

“The day you tell the truth be sure your horse is saddled!” I personally thought I would never be an advocate of silence about magical world, spirits, and so on. I come back to agree on this point but only conditionally. Some people uses silence to obfuscate themselves to put themselves on a pedestal or some use it to just hoard stuff and not talk about what they're actually doing. You can bring the food, dish, and spoon for someone to eat, but you can't describe the food's taste to someone who's holding their mouth shut and think the food is bad and they rather scroll instagram looking at picture of food.

The Magitian [sic] hath need of faith and taciturnity, especially, that he disclose no secret which the Spirit hath forbid him, as he commanded Daniel to seal some things, that is, not to declare them in publick; so as it was not lawful for Paul to speak openly of all things which he saw in a vision. No man will believe how much is contained in this one precept. Aphorism 39, Arbatel

Just to make it clear, I am not with the idea of complete secrecy since there are some stuff that spirits agree with sharing and even encourage sharing with other people. I mean if people just wrote their own grimoires and kept their magical notes all locked up we wouldn't learn from one another, no? You can give person food, you can teach him to cook it, you can give him spoon, etc but the important thing or realistic thing is that you can't describe the food taste to someone who never ate it because they have no frame of reference.

Now some stuff that the spirits themselves told me went along the line of: "This can be a medicine for you, but it's definitely a poison for other" "Would you take responsibility if someone harmed themselves with this method?" "The methods and techniques are extension of the person's foundation, what I give you in 5 steps can take another person 1 step or a different person 10 steps" "Are you really helping people with sharing or are you just gratifying yourself"

A point to be made to oneself, it's like the analogy of a pressure cooker, you don't want the pressure cooker to let out steam so it can cook more efficiently. In that same mindset, some experiences are too profound and too sublime that sharing them would let the good roots taking place deteriorate. In that same sense you don't want the "ego" to attach to these experience by saying "I" caused and experienced these things because the most profound and sublime experiences happens outside of our control realistically. That's the essence of "To Keep secret" in 2 Corinthians 12:4 we read was caught up to paradise and heard inexpressible things, things that no one is permitted to tell. Why is no one permitted to tell? because even if he tells it to you, you wouldn't understand it until you reach it yourself. Same analogy of describing what swimming is like to someone who never swam. Even the first Aphorism in Arbatel speaks about the same idea: the eyes of thy understanding shall be opened, to understand secret things; and thou shalt have whatsoever thy minde desireth to be divinely revealed unto thee. Thou shalt have also the Angels and Spirits of God prompt and ready in their nature to minister unto thee, as much as any humane minde can desire.

so again I will flip it to something relatable, you know about the people who take screenshot of other people's conversations or who gossip here or there about this or that tea, a lot of us and I include myself in this category. Really think about who people think of you if you're always gossiping about this or that, who are you as a person? gossipers are everywhere but if a spirit trusted you with a secret and you revealed then do you think the spirit will trust you anymore? if your friend finds out that you EXPOSED him and talked about tea about him then what does he think about you? wouldn't he feel betrayed..? same with spirits. I leave you to think about that :)

[adultswim2021]

Delocated #7: “Sick of It!” | March 30, 2009 - 12:15AM | S01E07

The season finale that luckily didn’t turn out to be a series finale. In this episode, Jon is at the park to get custody of David, which is one of Jon’s favorite things to do. David is dropped off by Susan’s bodyguard/boyfriend. David is also wearing a motorcycle helmet. David’s insistence on wearing the helmet around is due to his bodyguard’s influence; he owns a motorcycle and apparently made an off-handed joke about leading your day-to-day life in a helmet that David took a little too much to heart. Jon orders the production to halt so he can father his child privately, and not on camera. When they refuse, Jon flips out. He eventually grabs one of the cameras and takes off with it. 

After shaking the show and his family, Jon films himself from the confines of a bush. Eventually he lures a fella named Mark played by Michael Shannon, an actor whose name I knew, but I can’t for the life of me ever recall seeing him in a motion picture. I’ve literally had multiple conversations with people who mentioned his name in some context and I just nodded as if I knew who they were talking about. So that’s who that guy is! He’s great in this! I think I like this guy!

So Mark, played by Michael Shannon from Delocated S01E07, decides to be friends with Jon after Jon beckons him to be in the bush with him. Eventually they hatch a scheme to exchange lives. Mark and Jon exchange clothes (NOTE: the DVD contains the entire take of them changing clothes, but it's sped-up, so you can see exactly how laborious it was to film), and then Mark exits the bush when Jon’s loved ones all come out looking for him. This is the moment the Mirminskis strike, shooting and killing Mark (dressed as Jon). 

The episode ends with Jon doing a Tom Sawyer to his own funeral, walking in with the video camera during Susan’s eulogy for him. He shoves the camera in people’s faces and taunts them. He retrieves his ski mask (his face is pixelated out in the actual show) and very nobily oversees a funeral for his once-friend. 

This is probably my favorite episode of the season. It relies on the simple premise that Jon is enamored with the idea of being bros with people. The concept of friendship is extremely important to him, because he probably finds himself in need of allies on a constant basis due to his terrible behavior. It’s like a numbers game for him. So he and Mark bond very quickly. Their scenes together are wonderful.

The bit at the end where Jon eulogizes his friend and decides to throw a proper funeral for him using the handful of things he knew about him to give it personal flare (pall bearers on roller blades and the presence of his candy apple red dodge durango) is so fun. The part where Jon rehashes all of his Mark facts to the people attending his own funeral is wonderful.

At the end of the episode, Jon drives away in Mark’s bitchin’ ride, and his bodyguard bolts for him, making it seem like Jon has now successfully fled the program. Will he be back for a second season?? Will it be expanded from 11 minutes to 22?? My friend! Time will tell my friend. 

MAIL BAG

It is mail bag my friend. I love you:

Why did you put a picture of Doc Hammer and Jackson Publick above your writeup of some dumb british show I never heard about?

(Joe Biden voice) C'mon man...

Using my napkin math I saw you took 5 tasty tuesdays last month. It was the holidays so sure it's okay to take one more tasty tuesday than usual. However, you have already taken 2 tasty tuesdays in january and we are all 6 days in. And I fear you may take one tonight.

Sometimes I think I need brain medicine (probably, actually) because I lack focus, and part of that includes me losing patience with the concept of burdening myself with a nightly mandate to post. But then I realize that by skipping days and simply not caring makes me one of the only people living on Earth who truly knows freedom. Stay safe, and happy January 6th, my friend.

[idknhlstuff]

What do you mean by open in the locker room showers? They just look like any other locker room showers to me...

I mean, I never played any team sport and I am from eastern europe so the only places I encounter publick showers with multiple stalls are gyms and water parks, but there are ALWAYS stalls there, they are without any doors, but there are walls seperating each shower. And I assume mens showers look the same in those places. Some pictures of for reference (sorry for the quality but these kind of pictures are pretty hard to find):

The first picture looks exactly like the showers at my gym (and they probably are just taken in a different city) and the second picture showers are the ones basketball cheerleaders used when the european basketball champions was hosted here in 2011. And there are stalls on both sides of the room but as you can see - walls.

So north american showers are literally just empty rooms with shower heads.

[libidomechanica]

“Of wealth, my way: they did blaspheme”

Of wealth, my way: they did blaspheme! Life’s delightful Herb whose Candle this head of his Foe to doubt the joy thee, indeed some fancies bought it ought the eagle why he loathe, detested of desire my eyes open. The advancing rally his spent and then refusing his moment cheeks, or through with devout touch’d the slave o’t! Where tired and strange with his tutor. Life’s black, bright easy to his corporal quaking, in praised to tell the neighbord by publicke heede; by night? Mind wind shall the squiresses. Meanwhile, a wizard keep me alive, and dim hopes from town, while sleep, thy picture invention.

[djjrburrows]

#NewEnglandWedding Congratulations to Kristin & Cal! Tying the knot on October 22, 2022 They hold the highly coveted date of 10-22-22 🍂🍁(Stylized as 22-10-22) • This Wedding had every aspect of New England. Rustic barn, classic dining accommodations, outdoor Ceremony… Norman Rockwell couldn’t have painted a better picture! 🎨👨‍🎨🖼️ • Can these people dance you ask? Why yes! Yes indeed! Our Groom Cal especially! I would’ve gotten more pictures/videos of the dancing too, but this dancefloor was at a 🔟 all night, I was feeding off the energy so much! I couldn’t be pried away from my controller/mixer 🎛️🎚️ They wanted to dance & I never wanted it to end! 🕺🏻💃🏻🪩 • This Wedding is one for the memories. The Publick House in Sturbridge has never seen such a vigorous group of dancers… it felt like the floor was gonna collapse 💨 (in a good way) 😊 . Alysia Kristin was the photographer 📷and Eloyd Molina of SSA Films was our videographer 🎥. They were bobbing & weaving the crowd to get all of those amazing moments captured! • I really enjoyed myself & was refueled for what it means to be a Wedding DJ! • • • #AfterHoursEventsOfNewEngland #DJJRburrows #ThePublickHouse #PublickHouse #AlysiaKristinPhoto #SSAfilms #TillDeath #LoveNeverFeltSoGood @afterhourseventsofne @djjrburrows @publickhousesturbridge @alysiakristanphoto @EloydMolinaFilms @kristinvisciotti @cal_wentworth (at The Publick House) https://www.instagram.com/p/CnQ4yWlMcW9e0qnhpd4_d4LIaCKJ0qtMOCe7us0/?igshid=NGJjMDIxMWI=

[artistsoftheapocalypse]

Artist: @purkinje-effect Prompt: Starless Night Title: W111-o’-Wisp Description: In the absence of night sky, Vault-Tec became an ersatz North Star, guiding many to their new homes underground… and to myriad a twisted end.

Mod Comments written by Loor Have I mentioned before how amazed I am with how much you can get outta just a few colors? Cause it’s like... A lot. I also wonder if vaulties are more likely than other groups to be agoraphobic, considering closed living is the norm.

[sacredflamingart]

I know December’s not quite up yet but I figured I’d go ahead and put this together. Massive thank you again to everyone at @artistsoftheapocalypse for being such a massively supportive, enthusiastic, and inspirational community to be a part of: so much of what I drew this year was for Pictures from the Publick! <3

(I tacked on my fav completed piece as a bonus. Which, again, happens to be a PftP piece as well.)

[solesurvivorpaigeargot]

City Gates

Summary: Short ficlet of Paige, Hancock, and Charon getting past the gate guard to enter Diamond City. Features sass, Hancock says ACAB. Bonus Piper.

“No ghouls in the city, Paige.” 

Uncomfortable. Of course he was-- Diamond City was a bubble that had narrowed the definition of personhood. Any ghoul was likely to cause a nervous reaction-- but she didn’t just travel with any ghoul. In fact, she had two watching her back, and neither tended to inspire comfort at first glance. No, not when Hancock was constantly wearing that devil-may-care smirk on his face, and Charon was a towering mass featuring a shadowed brow and icy blue eyes that could transfix just about anyone with a look. 

Standing between the two, she was easily the least intimidating of the trio-- the picture of nice and friendly when she put on a smile for the guard. She knew this guy-- in fact, they were specifically chancing the city because she knew this guy. “Roy, c’mon, we’ve been in the ruins for days-- you know the traders are gonna be happy to see us.” 

She could spy his eyes behind the protective lattice of his gear, glancing over the three of them. Full bags, loaded down heavy with salvage-- things the city could use. 

“A-and you know that I can’t let ghouls into the city.” Roy tried to hold his ground, shuffling on the spot, heels falling into a wider stance to try and make a bulwark out of himself. “You can make trips back and forth, but I can’t let them in.” 

“Let it go, Sunshine, he’s not gonna budge. Me and the big guy can just wait out here.” Hancock suggested from the sideline, though Paige could still hear the smirk on his face. “Get to know our upstandin’ police force a little better, maybe...”

Charon didn’t speak, but she could guess that he’d locked eyes with Roy, simply for the way the man’s face inclined... and paled beneath his helmet. 

“Alright, alright... but you two better play nice out here.” Paige conceded with a loud sigh, throwing her hands up as if there were nothing to do about it. 

“Wait-- wait-- you can’t just...” Roy stumbled. “They can’t stay in the gatehouse! They’ll scare other folk off!”

“How far do you expect me to walk to get all my salvage to the market square?” Paige quested incredulously, shooting Roy a sour look. Hazel eyes narrowed, and the sweet smile she’d put on twisted into a bitter thing. “You want me to make trips, I want those trips to be short. So either you can enjoy a two hour staring contest with Charon...” She paused, brows raising as a suggestion of her previous, much more friendly affect peeked back in.  “... or, you can let me and my friends in to take care of business in short order and be outta your hair.” 

There was a beat-- a moment of delightful silence as Roy struggled with his presented options before letting out a strangled noise from the back of his throat. 

“Nnnnng... okay-- fine! You win, but... just be fast, okay? If the mayor notices you guys, it’ll be my ass.” 

“Twenty minutes, and we’re gone.” Paige promised, brightening up in an instant, pressing a hand against her chest plate and lowering her head deferentially before making a motion with her hand for her companions to follow. Charon fell in line at once, but Hancock lingered to grin in Roy’s face. 

“Maybe we’ll get acquainted next time.” He snickered-- very much toned as a threat. 

“John.” Paige stressed, suppressing a chuckle. It was almost like the old good cop, bad cop routine-- only it was something more like sadist mayor, stoic bodyguard, good vaultie routine... and none of them really had to act all that much-- just play things up a bit. 

“Yeah, I’m comin’.” He smirked, the trio moving into the stairwell and out of earshot. “Twenty minutes? Short leash, sweets.” 

“It’s all the time we need.” Paige responded flatly. “Besides, Roy’s good people... would hate to get him into actual trouble.” 

“Good people don’t wear that uniform.” Hancock grumbled as they passed out of the concrete structure and into the open air. 

Paige didn’t pause to soak in the ambiance-- instead quick-stepping down the stairs to arrive at field level in a hurry. 

“Jesus, Paige, are you trying to put someone’s ass in a sling?” 

A voice from the immediate left of the stairway down from the gatehouse-- she didn’t even have to guess at it. Piper was distinctive; both in tone and utter lack of hesitation. Looking that way, she found the woman herself outside of Publick Occurrences, blowing into her hands to warm them with the latest edition tucked under her arm. 

Must be past Nat’s bedtime.

“Not if I can help it.” Paige responded dryly, slowing her pace and curving her path to stop briefly. “Just a quick in-and-out-- offload the junk, pick up necessities, then we’re gone.” 

“You keep makin’ the most interesting friends.” Piper smirked, giving both ghouls the up and down while rubbing her hands together. “Usually the only ghoul who gets by the gate is Deegan, and that’s cause the Cabots pay good money for access. You grease some palms upstairs?” 

“Me?” Paige smirked, shaking her head. “Nah, nothin’ like that. Just a smile and a few sweet words... Charon here can be quite the charmer when the situation calls for it.” She jerked a thumb at the least articulate of her team. 

“... only for you, boss.” Charon grumbled-- possibly with the faintest hint of amusement on his tone. 

[popculturebuffet]

Top 13 Venture Bros Episodes!

In honor of it’s recent passing I take a look at the best episodes of easily one of the best adult animated, or animated period, shows ever and one of my faviorites. Join me as I look back on Grand Galactic High  Inquistors, Venturestiens, ninja filled first dates, Noir, super science garage sales and much more under the cut, and GO TEAM VENTURE!

As I said in the teaser.. the Venture Bros is one of my favorite shows of all time. Starting way back in 2003, the show created by Jackson “Christopher Mculloch” Publick and from mid season 1 onwards cowritten, plotted and what have you by his best friend and creative soulmate Doc Hammer, the show enjoyed a healthy 17 year run on adult swim, making it the longest standing show and despite the years of hiatuses between episodes it’s most popular till Rick and Morty came around. The show endured through changing trends in animation, network shifts and scabies until it’s recently announced, though apparently having happened months ago, cancellation.  I watched the show from the start, sneaking it as a boy and by my teen years watching it every week online through Adult Swim’s website and lapping up every episode, becoming a huge fan in the process and continuing my huge love of the series through the rest of it’s life, breifly forgetting to watch season 6 but getting back to it weekly for the 7th, and currently unless adult swim does indeed find a way to bring it back, final season. This show has been a part of my life since it started, and a part of me for slightly less long: it informed my sense of humor, probably informed my comics taste in ragtag groups consiting of lesser known characters, and informed me david bowie existed for which my life will ever be better.  It was a part of me and while I gave it a breif memorial earlier I felt after my long content hiatus due to my moven to another room, and for the 1 of you reading this who reads my amphibia weekly coverage it’ll be back shortly, that honoring a show that gave me so much and made me who I am, in a good way I know i’m kind of a mess so that statment could be seen as a threat in some states, by diving into my faviorite episodes of it and the ones I honeslty consider i’ts finest half hours.. or hours in two cases but we’ll get to that. 

For now it’s time to have your ro-bo pour you a red mocho cooler, slap on your vintage batman mask, and eat some pennies quizboys, this is my top 13 venture bros episodes. Pitter Patter!

13. It Happening One Night (Season 6, Episode 6) 

Season 6 had a huge burst of fresh energy and ideas: Doc and Jackson moved the show to New York for a number of reasons: To shake things up, because they lived there and thus could inject the energy of a city they loved in and because one of the series biggets inspriations is marvel comics, as seen by the sheer number of marvel parodies and homages in comparison to dc or other superhero outlets, so having New York be the big hub for superhero and villian activity in the ventureverse was a no brainer. This also moved the ventures from an isolated corner of the Ventureverse on their old compound, which burned down in the gargantua 2 special, right into the heart of it, bringing in tons of new characters to the already large cast. Not only that but it thrust our heroes and villian protaganists both into new and intresting situations: Doctor Venture was suddenly rich and running his own think tank with white and billy. Dean was going to college, Hank found a love intrest in Serena, more on that obviously in a second, Brock returned to the team proper as bodyguard once more, while the Monarch grappled with both his father being a hero and his wife being promoted and their marraige hitting choppy waters. It had great new characters like warina and serena, brought fan faviorite brown widow in if not as much as i’d like frankly, but there’s always room for nathan fillion, and freshened things up a bit.  Granted one of Venture Bros biggest strengths was it didn’t have the rigid status quo, or entire lack of any continuity a lot of animated shows at the time and even now have, that things changed and evolved and the universe was dense as it was wonderful. But here instead of just moving the pieces around the board and maybe slapping on some new coats of pait, they threw the board up and put the pieces on an enitrley new one. However all this experimentation did nick the show a little: while it was a step up from the rather standard outside of Dean’s plot Season 5 (which not concendtially is the only season not represented here), it also felt like the plots were a bit looser and some characters like Dermott and Dr. Orpheous, one of whom had a huge untouched subplot and the other who was a beloved fan faviorite and fixture of the show since season 1, got left out all together. It was a decent season it just felt lacking at times, and the Monarch and Shielda’s relationship disolving wasn’t at all fun to watch and thankfully got resolved next season. And that was the other problem: Due to wanting to give their big epic finale the room it needed and only having 8 episodes to work with due to the special, they had to move it to next season which meant it just sorta.. ended with most things left unresolved till season 7. Thankfully for me I didn’t get around to watching this season till close to 7, but for everyone else they had to wait YEARS for a proper resolution. It was  a mixed bag of a season, the mass changes leading to growing pains, but it had it’s moments. And naturally our one season 6 representivie here is it’s finest. 

It Happening One Night juggles two diffrent but equally awesome plots. In the first Hank goes on his first date with Serena, their new next door neighbor and daughter of big villain in town, new councilman and combination of kingpin and tobias whale, Wide Whale. Serena was one of the best additions to the series, voiced by a game Cristini Miloti, she’s a no nonsense girl with a sharp tounge, an annoyance with her father and his number 2 rocko’s overprotectivness of her and gills and meshes well with hank: Her no nonsense and more down to earth attitude compliments his up int he clouds weirdness and lack of reality really well and the two were cute together. Were... while they’d do.. things I did not like.. with her character next season, for this one she’s great and a fine addition and it was nice to give one of the boys a proper love interest, while also having her be her own person. Sure all her plots centered around hank.. but she still felt like a fully realized addition to the cast and given this was over a decade in with so many great members it wasn’t an easy task.  The date is paticuarlly hank as he has a carraige (his air car) ready, has dean chauffer them, has Billy and White show up as street toughs to challenge him to a dance off and dinner is at a ninja themed restraunt Dean’s friend Jared, aka brown widow, works at. It’s really adorable and charming stuff, and the two genuinely bond, and Hank gets some good character stuff. He genuinely worries Serena is only intrested to piss off her dad.. but fins she likes him for who he is: his charm, his lack of fear, and the fact he went so far for a romantic gesture he had his friends dress up as street toughs, or the hank venture idea of one anyway, and get into a dance off just to impress. her. it’s really good stuff. The Ninja themed restraunt is also both hilarious and apparently a very real thing the creators actually toned down. I’m unsuprised by all of this. The two also dodge their bodyguards, Brock and Rocco and share a romantic kiss underwater leading to the above. It’s a really good plot and the easy reason why I put it on here and defintely a review cantidate.  The other plot however is just pure comedy and invention. While the Monarch works on his plan to use his dad’s blue morpho guise to take out the other arches on his way to venture, Venture is plauged by the utterly bizzare and utterly delightful Doom Factory: A combination of Andy Warhol and his hangers on and the legion of doom... yes this actually happened. While I know nothing of Warhol and thus a lot of it flew over my head, it’s made up for by the sheer joyous lunacy of having the art school version of the legion of doom arch rusty by invading his house, throwing a party and taking various pictures of him in his underwear. The one mistep of the episode is them getting blown up at the end despite being great, but their one apperance was a treat, and it was such a great and bizzarely speific parody I couldn’t help but love it. It was a good night indeed. 

12. Tag Sale, You’re It! (Season 1, Episode 6 (10 in airing order) Season 1 of The Venture Bros is a bit rocky. It’s not unusual for season 1′s but it’s understandable, espcesially now i’ve read Go Team Venture!: The Art of the Venture Bros, the art book for the series as well as a full on making of for seasons 1-6, and know the team was under immense crunch to get the season done and is likely the reason every season after had a few years between them. But yeah at the start the series was more of a broad comedy, with the characters being the simiplest versions of their characters, the boys in paticular only having “jock and nerd” as things that defined them as seperate people early on and it took a bit for things to come together. However things really started to crystalize into what the show would truly be with two episodes. One we’ll get to later but the other is this one: Tag Sale Your It.  Tag Sale started one of my faviorite recurring themes for the series: Venture Compound Episodes. Basically their episodes where a huge pile of the shows cast get together at the venture compound for whatever reason and chaos, great jokes and great worldbuilding inveitbly insues. It’s good stuff. And it’s usually centerted around a great concept.  In this case all the villians and heroes of the world are gathering at the Venture Compound for of all things, a Garage Sale. Or Tag Sale as it’s called in the title or Yard Sale as Venutre himself calls it. In order to make a quick buck and get rid of some of his dad’s excess scientific wonders, Rusty’s sellling them off to whatever weirdo wants em. it’s an utterly hilarious concept, with Brock complaning about the security risk and the fact Doc is entirely convinced this won’t go horribly wrong despite the fact he has a bargin bin for death rays, one of my faviorite gags of the episode. But there’s still plenty of sense here too: There’s what i’m presuming are OSI agents on standbye, who also screen the various villians to have them check their weapons. 

The episode also opens the cast up considerably introducing Phantom Limb, and fleshing out Billy and Pete, as well as being the episode where two of the casts standouts came into their own as 21 and 24 go off on their own misadventur where 21 uses the monarchs money to buy what turns out ot bea non working lightsaber and tries to fight brock in one of the best scenes of the episode.  Speaking of the Monarch, . The Monarch himself is there to cause miscihief, as usual, as well as have his minons buy him some stuff because he’s not going to miss a bargin, and finds himself struggling to get his hate boner up in a neat subplot, eventually acheiving it even if it gets him stuck to the celing However the other two subplots really shine. Orpheous in a micro plot, and after yelling at Dr. Venture for trying to sell the weed wacker he borrowed from Oprheous, tries to get his own nemisis, a thread that would continue at the end of the season and into the next, having a ghost slap the monarch ot try and get him to become Orpheous arch and telling various villians he’s blasting who they can blame if they want to swear vegnance. It’s short but really funny.  The other however is my faviorite and the plot that really set up hank’s bizzarely and uniquely him personality, which would be expanded on more as the show went on. Annoyed that their dad is selling their old things and getting the money, Hank decides to get him and Dean a piece of the action and sets up his own grinder and lemonade stand, Hank Co, starting the sparkling runner of his bizzare personal buisness, and while the lemonade stand is standard kids stuff, the added oddly specific addition of grinders is what makes it hank as is his oddly agreesive managment style. Dean ends up working for him alongside HELPEr, while Dean awkwardly talks up Orpheous daughter triana. More on that whole thing in a later entry, with Triana joining in. It’s just a fun side bit that ends hilariously as, when the sale cascades into an orgy of violence as it was always destined to, the rest of the team book it while Hank definatly refuses to get knocked down before a shoe hits him. 

IT’s a damn fun time that sets up the backbone of the show’s universe. Nuff Said. 

11. Pinstripes and Poltergeists (Season 4, Episode 8)  Season 4 is easily my faviorite season hands down, and in my opinion the best, in part helped by the fact it’s the longest and thus had the most time to work on it. Like season 6, if on a smaller scale, it threw up the table. While Season 2 and 3 had status quo changes, the Monarch being on his own without the guild or dr girlfriend and then the newly married couple being forced to arch eleswhere this one had probably the biggets shakeups: Brock Sampson left team venture, and was MIA for all but two episodes of the first half, Sgt. Hatred took over as boydguard a move that wasn’t one of there best as while Hatred could be funny at times.. replacing one of the show’s most beloved and most iconic characters with a reformed pedophile who fans already didn’t like all that much in season 3 wasn’t one of Jackson and Doc’s smarter moves let’s be honest. Again he has his moments, but he just wasn’t as compelling or well fleshed out as the rest of hte main cast, helper included.  The other big swing, one admitted in the making of art book that was an intentional risk, was killing off 24, half of the beloved buddy duo of 21  and 24. However this one paid off way better, as 21, while still a husky dork who loves his crappy job, reinvented himself in the wake of hte tragedy, turning a lot of his blubber into muscle (And I say that as a chub myself, so relax), and becoming the badass drill seargent of the cocoon.  But both big changes expertly dovetailed into this episode which explains where brock was after the premiere. The ball gets rolling when the Monarch goes to see Monstroso, a great addition to the series and the sum of all evil lawyer jokes, a lawyer in a pinstripe suit and small devil hood who makes deals with other supervillians, in this case to buy up part of the venture compound to take it from Rusty.   Naturally making a deal with a lawyer super villian who dresses like the devil, every bit of that sentence a red flag, goes poorly. As Shiela points out in one of the series best lines as she berates her husband’s terrible decision making “Monstro’s a lawyer that’s also a super villian. That’s like a shark with a rocket launcher strapped to his head, and the monstroso plans to take the monarch’s stuff as well. It falls to 21 to stop him and 21 is on the venture compound to find our missiing sampson and get answers on who killed his best friend, whose also following him around possibly as a ghost/hallucination.  Speaking of Brock, when exploring a shack on the edge of the property to use it for stuff, Rusty finds instead the base for SPHINX, consiting of Hunter Gathers (Who I hope gets to retransition someday), gay icon Shore Leave, and Brock Himself. Turns out Brocks literally been right there, SPHINX Just needed to stay secret and the pain of not being able to see the boys has seriously hurt brock. And naturally this deal will impact spinix, so they send brock to deal with it.  This leads to the best part of the episode as the above episode gets a callback as 21 challenges brock to a fight.. and to show how far he’s come, instead of becoming a bloody pile on the lawn, fights EVENELY with brock freaking sampson. After it’s confirmed brock has nothing to do with it and 21 and him have wiggle room to operate, the two go after monstroso who next we see needs heart surgery so mission acomplished. This episode is light on jokes, apart from a great one where rusty tells the boys everything before mindwiping them, but good on character stuffs as we find out where Brocks been, meet some good new supporting cast and see just how far 21′s come, and close out the first half of a stellar season iwth a great scene of Brock eating cereal, finally allowed to be part of his family again.

10. Viva Los Muertos! (Season 2, Episode 11)  Season 2 was easily where the show hit it’s stride. While Season 1 is going through growing pains Season 2 has all the setup, half planned ideas and what not mostly out of the way to just focus on building up the world, and characters as well as playing around with things and having the first instance of the show’s refusal to have a set status quo by having the Monarch’s breakup iwth Shiela stick until the end of the season. More on that later. However some experimentation still happened as something that would likely NEVER happen from this point on happened.  See the Venture Bros is very much Jackson and Doc’s baby. While Jackson created it, Doc because just as important and the two share one giant geeky brain. WHile they may argue on some things, the two still agree on most stuff and thus the project has their unified vision of this weirdly specific superhero universe that’s mainly focused on what would be prehriay characters leftover from a one time genre experiment and supervillians. While the staff on the show clearly enjoyed working on it far as I can tell an dare celebrated in the making of when credit’s do, the writing and worldbuilding is on two guy’s shoulders, an absolute rarity in animation let alone of a project with this gorgeous and detailed animation. But for three episodes the two did let someone in.. it’s just someone who not only got exactly what htey were going for but was their friend and mentor who helped nurture their talents on the tick. Ben Edlund. If you haven’t heard of Ben first off shame on you and second, he’s the creator of the Tick, writing the original comics series and having a major hand in all three series, all of which are unsuprisingly stellar, and having brought jackson and doc on board for 2/3 of them, likely only not bringing them to the Amazon one because by this point they’d far outgrown being writters on someone elses show.  He also created supernatural and left long before it became a tire fire so there’s that. I need to watch that sometime. Point is he’s a big deal and helped write two episodes and wrote this one Solo. And this one is easily the best of the three and given it’s on this list one of the series best.  The episode has Doc have another great idea in the Zack Morris with mad scientest abilities veign he always have: Take the parts of one of hte monarch’s dead henchman, as brock tends to leave piles around, into a “Venturestein’ and sell it to the goverment. While the simple man bonds with the boys, he cowers in fear of brock, who is forced to grapple with his violent nature and deeds and goes to Orpheous spirtial gathering fors some perspective. It’s a nice subplot that has some character development before a spirit vision of hunter gathers convinces him he can’t get caught up in killing people when it’s hwat he goods at. Brock meets him halfway, deciding he can’t feel entirely guilty but he can help the guy and gets Venturestein some “prostitoots!” he’s been wanting since apparnelty the henchman he was made out of really liked htem.  The concept of venturestein himself is neat, from the idea of reusing old henchman to him using the boys learning beds to learn about the third world and be indocrinated for third world labor, as was Doc’s orginal plan.  The other plot which dovetalls into venture steins is another great one as The Groovy Gang, the show’s answer to mystery inc arrives. And in a great idea by Edlund.. their all based on various serial killers, with leader ted being baised on ted bundy and being unerviing as he speaks cherfully while threanting the rest of hte gang, the shaggy stand in being a stand in for the son of sam and the only one that can hear groovy talk who rather than be an adorable dog, talks like a nightmarish german man, the daphne standin is clearly kidnapped and the velma one valries acts like valrie solanis. It’s creepy stuff but it’s also funny because theys till include hannah barbara sound effects, including when Venturestein in a ptsd fueld rage kills ted, not-shaggy and groovy> It’s a horrible but great scene and a great concept that just works. They also tie in the boys being clones by having it revealed one of their deaths was caused by Sonny, finalylr emembered his name, and Ted wanting to kill them. The boys end up finding their clones too, but Doc spins them a yarn to get by and is kept from kiling them. Not much to say, outside of brocks bit this isn’t huge on character but the sheer balls of the scooby doo parody and the sheer amount of jokes and creativity here make Edlund’s sole solo outing a true highlight. 

9. The Inamorata Consequence (Season 7, Episode 5) 

The likely final compound episode and a welcome return after season 6 lacked theme entirely, and as I established earlier the compound isn’t required it’s just where most of these take place.  Season 7 was a good note to go out on. While I still want closure, after the forgetable Season 5 and the  fresh but messy Season 6, 7 was almost pure goodness, with most of the episodes being standouts and the premire trilogy wrapping up the dangling threads from season 6 being a highlight, if not enough to make this list but it was a tight list as is. It had it’s flaws: The “Serena Cheats on Hank with Dean thing” was not only horribly underdeveloped but basically wrote off one of their best new characters. Her and hank breaking up and her dating dean is fine, relationships end and stuff, it was just done poorly. Even if Hank found out because a scary man in a bear costume literally carried him to a convience store and then to Dean which was great as was the button on that plot of, after Dean and Serena naturally react to the guy “Oh good you see him too. “ The Unicorn in Captivity is also a series low point despite having mark freaking hamil guest star, for a number of reasons i’ll probably get into one of these days either on a worst of list for this show or it’s own review. But those blemishes don’t overide a great season that makes up for Oprehous and Dermott’s absensces by bringing both back for an episode, has some true classics, some great character stuff and in general is just really good and it was hard to cut a lot of it from this list, but two made it. And it was nice to see the show go out on top if nothing else. 

So onto this episode which has a brilliant complex: Every exty years the Guild and the OSI meet to hash out the details of their mututal treaty with a Venture prociding and with Jonas now well and truly dead, and missing before that, it falls on Rusty. and since it was made before the compound burned down, our heroes returned to the charred remains of their home to hash things out.  The episode then nicely settles into 3 really excellent plots. The first is the obvious, the peace treaty which has the Council of 13, who in a delebrate move by the creators went from a bunch of faceless nobodies who were killed off to characters we all knew, versus our standard stable of OSI recureerers as the two bicker over terms and we find out one of the conflict settlers is a pool fight, done without a pool since that’s gone now. It’s just pure comedy goodness, but it ends with the rare unequivoocable VICTORY for Rusty. Fed up with both sides acting like children, and even calling them such, as well as both threatning war, he gives one hell of a speech to both to shut them up and for once in his life does BETTER than his father. 

It’s easily James Urbanik’s finest hour as the character and one of the series best moments which, 17 years in, is a high achievement.  The other two plots aren’t too shabby themselves. The second is an overlap as Hank gets lured away from the confrence by an old friend: IT’S DERMOTT! The dynamic duo rides again and their old dynamic of two dumbasses, one a normal teen but entirely full of himself the other being a cloudcuckoolander with little self awarness but more empathy and sometimes sense, is one I really missed and it shines here. Dermott’s joined the OSI, with Rusty giving him a recomendation as long as he didn’t tell anyone else he was his son, or at least it’s implied as much, finally buttoning up that bit while leaving it open for hank to find out later, and a bit that also was never resolved and hopefully will be by a follow up, especially since Dean revealed in the series finale he found out from his dad a while back while rusty was hammered. They follow kimberly mcmanus and one of the strangers, the guilds soldiers who are engaging in a clandestine affair.. which also reveals that the stranger is the peril partnerships mole in the guild, a nice twist. The two have fun chemistry and it’s great ot see them again just like it’s great to see hank and dermott pal around again with the highlight being hanks utterly bizzare and utterly hank fantasy sequence.  Rounding out the three is a more emotional tale as Dean sneaks off to see an old friend, Ben the genetisct who worked with his father and grandfather at various points and revealed to dean he was a clone. Ben is gone, either due to Doc and Jackson not wanting to use him, or because JK simmons was unvaliable and unlike dr. impossible and steven colbert, they didn’t want to recast. But we do get a great substitute as we meet H.E.L.P.er 2, a household model voiced by Rhys Darby who Ben left behind on his trip.  As it turns out Jonas tried mass marketing H.E.L.P.er units (With the equally unsurprisingly sexist tag line of “Get a H.E.L.P.er to Help Her!”), but a  baby choked on a stray bolt and a the ensuing backlash lead to mass burnings and most being destroyed and the one we meat being a nervous wreck that Ben took in. Dean naturally sees himself in the scared bot and while he fails to get his new friend to be able to leave, H2 is too nervous about possibly being destroyed and given the uncaring nature of the venture world sometimes yeah probably a good point, he does bond with dean.. and reveal that Rusty himself is a clone by accident. IT’s a nice twist that makes perfect since: While we don’t know if Rusty knows the tech was used on him most of his stuff , with few exceptions is old equipment of his dad’s. It’s not a stretch that his greatest invention was actually Jonas’. It also leads to a nice moment as dean hugs his dad, understanding him a bit better. It’s a funny, well done episode that lets doc and sons really shine. Truly a great way fo ra great theme to go out.

8. The Buddy System (Season 3, Episode 5) Time for a sentimental favorite. See while I watched bits of seasons 1 and 2 when they aired, and more of 2 then I realized, I didn’t get really hooked on the show till season 3.. and this was the episode that did it. The ones before are far from bad, Shadowman 9 was a contender for this list after all, this is just the one that really got me into the show, showing off it’s varied supporting cast, bringing in one or two more, and really getting me into dean.. and Dean and Triana shipping but I can get into that, again, more on that later. Given this and Fallen Arches were early faviorites it’s no suprise compound episodes became my faviorites and this one is easily the second best of em, with one more coming up topping it handily.  But enough showing my hand, let’s talk about Season 3. Season 3 is a slight mixed bag, as some episodes don’t land, but overall is a really good season, it’s just sandwitched between the shows too best. But it did have good ideas, great world building and a hell of a cliffhanger. Some decisions, like Sgt. Hatred, weren’t the best, but overall a solid season, just like 3 it only managed to squeak out one entry, though TONS of possible cantidates.  This episode has a great premise from the get go: Rusty, for once, has a decent idea. Yes it still results in a child dying and being replaced by a clone, but this is rusty. If something didn’t go terribly wrong on some level it wouldn’t be him. But the idea is simple: Since the cartoon based on his nightmarish childhood, which made him a minor celebrity and is why billy likes Rusty so much and looks up to him despite being.. Rusty, is a hit with the kids again, Rusty launches a day camp on the grounds, using his boys as counslers and having his various friends and aquantinces set up booths. From Orpheous and the order of the triad doing an anti drug presentation to the sea captain talking about the benefits of being a scooby doo villian, to Action Johnny, the series version of Johnny Quest renamed to avoid copyrights but very obviously Johnny Quest, whose strung out on drugs and can’t go a few minutes without going into a breakdown about his father or past. All good stuff. It actuallyg oes pretty well till rusty makes the mistake of going into an old thing of his d ad’s without checking and a gorilla monster attacks and gets the one child left behind, thankfully off screen, but it leads to the darkly hilarious bit of him rushing a clone out for his parents to avoid a justified law suit. 

Meanwhile the boys and brock deal with a new figure in their lives: Dermott Fictel. As the creators put it they basically desgined him as that one kid everyone knows who talks shit, thinks he’s way more capable than he is, and way more knowledgble than he is and is kinda dopey. I had one of those, i’m sure you did too, and that’s probably part of why I really liked Dermott as I knew a guy just like him. Hank naturally, not having had any friends other than dean and H.E.L.P.er, bonds with the prick and the two become best friends right away. Dean however hates the little asshole for both constantly shit talking him and just being obnoxious. Brock soon joins the hate train as Dermott invades his karate demonstration to talk about how much of a badass he thinks he is and learned from the internet. Brock soon finds himself asking the age old question. 

But since his code avoids women and children, he tries to find ways around it but Orpheous obviously isn’t having it. His other option is to go to the Monarch’s minons the Pupa Twins, aka the Moppets, Shiela’s old minons who the monarch’s basically stuck with and no one really liked in or out of universe. Their just assholes who treat 21 and 24 and the monarch himself like crap and are thankfully downplayed in Season 4, and only appear in Season 5 to die off and close up a plot thread. But credit where it’s due they did get one good bit, creepy as it may be and it’s this. 

With the Monarch not allowed to arch venture at the time due to plot stuff, the monarch’s mostly spying and sending the pupa twins in as spies which as you can see dosen’t really go well. Everything converges on the finale, as Rusty, again being rusty even when he’s mildly ahead child aside he still screws up, brings in Johnny’s old enemy Dr. Z, who like dermott is important but it’d take till the end of Season 5 for that. Johnny breaks down, Venture’s current nemisis arrives and finds there was a scheduling error and hten we get the crowning moment of the episode that makes it all come together magically: Dean gets to sit with Triana, whose actually being receptive to his crush for once, but also has to put up with Dermott..  who being Dermott, especially early dermott is an obnoxious jackass who makes creepy coments abotu Trianna and eventually sets Dean off

Dermott doesn’t even get two seconds into telling Triana to wait naked for him, because of course he does before dean utterly destroys him. This being Dean, it’s with tears and snot running and coming off like an angry 8 year old, but he still deserves points for utterly decimating the asshole after a full day of taking his self indulgant bullcrap and having the guy be creepy to his crush. And to be fair Triana was dealing with him fine, but still Dean beat up someone twice his size and while lacking any actual fighting skill with at least enough bulk to beat him up and gave the fucker a black eye. Until season 7 with him just paying off the monarch to save his teacher from making a huge mistake, and to show how fed up he was, this was easily Dean’s best moment. Just a great capper to a great episode. Also Dermott turns out to be, possibly brocks son but.. more on that later. 

7. Mid-Life Chrysalis (Season 1, Episode 3 (8 in Airing Order)  As I said earlier Season 1 was a bit rough, though as all of you probably know most 1st seasons are, especially in animation. It takes time to iron out what really works for a show and get it going right. Bojack Horseman, while still excellent, took the first few episodes to really become what it was born to be, Steven Universe season 1a lacks the deep characterization of the main cast that and has loosey goosey animation,  Ducktales had trouble character ballancing and ballancing adventure with deconstruction of adventure.. every show has growing pains.  And while season 1 does have too much of the show basically trying to scream

Like some adult cartoons do, and not even it’s contepraries like sealab and harvey birdman did as much, both excellent excellent shows by the way. But even with my criticsims of it: Flat characters, a try hard tone, clumsy worldbulding in places.. it’s still a good show even this early and even as early as episode 3, with the first two being good.. but this one being an utter classic. It dosen’t QUITE have the emotoinal or character depth of later episodes but damn if it isn’t one of the funniest things the crew ever wrote. 

Mid-Life’s two main plots are simple and start from the cold open: The Ventures get pulled over while on the way to an adventure by the air force, and Doc and Brock both encounter problems: Rusty being Rusty, his is petty and self loathing based as he gets called old or something like that by one of the air force people. Brock’s is a bit more serious: In a funny bit Brock LITERALLY has a legal lisence to kill, but given the burarcaey of the venture world, it’s expired.  So we get our two main plots out of that: Rusty wants to prove he’s not old and still got it by dragging a sad Brock to a strip club. Brock is miserable as the owner mocks him, and he can’t kill him so there’s that and his attempt to have a quickie with a stripper fails because it’s just not the same without his murder boner apparently. Look as I said the show was a wee bit immature early on.. it never stopped being mind you it just became more goofily immature than screaming i’m an adult. Brock leaves in a huff which leaves Rusty open for the oldest trick in the book as the Monarch sends Shiela in in disguise to seduce him, go back to his place, and then stick him with a syringe full of science that turns him into a caterpillar because this is the monarch. Subtly is not even a suite of his let alone his strong suite. Though this also being the Monarch we only get a bit where he watches as the two make out, which is creepy as that sounds until a minon randomly turns out the lights and apolgoizes. He was getting juice. The episode also nicely parodies the trope of a female spy or whatever turning for the hero because of his dick as The Monarch assumes that happen when Shiela has doubts about the scheme, that he “turend her with his oily sex” which is an objectively horrible and paranoid statment but also incredibly hilarious.  Thus the plots split and we get two really hilarious one: On Brocks end he with the boys encouragment, decides to retake his secret agent exam. And both boys really come into their own with this one: Dean’s adorably nerdy and sweet sides come out as he both encourages his second dad and helps him on the written portions, while hanks gung ho hankness emerges in full as he helps train brock, having him drink eggs that he probably spat in and in one of the best bits of the episode going a bit too far with the drill sgt routine till Brock helpfully points out he’ll legally be able to kill after this. The solution is also great as Brock not only avoids using his fire arm during one of the tests, instead uttelry decismating the target cutouts with just his kinfe and whatever he can rig up, and just scribbling icarus from the led zepplin albums on his test.. only for his proctor to pass him anyway as his dad and osi boss general treister, who we meet later, described brock as a living legend, and he did not dissapoint. And we get a great closer, after the main plto finsihes, where Brock shows the strip club asshole his fresh lisence before maiming him.. though even better, he DOSEN’T kill the guy as the asshole does show up again later, just missing an eye now. 

Back on our main plot we get plenty of hilarious and messed up stuff as the boys barely react to their dad’s horrible state, their numb at this point, and doc gives out the classic line and easily the best of the episode “I pissed in god’s eye, and he blinked”. Doc tries to cure himself and fails both due to caterpillar hands and due to helper eating the chemicals, and tries to get helper to help him reinact the end of the fly. All good stuff. It’s just a good, solid comedy episode that both solidifies the character and makes you laugh near constantly. 

6. The Terminus Mandate (Season 7, Episode 8) One of the best parts of the post Garantua shakeup of the show was the new council. After years of the council of 13 just being guys behind silouttes, mantle and dragoon nonwishtanding, Jackson and Doc replaced most of them with familiar charcters and gave a ton of them chances to shine while bringing in new ones like wide whale and easily their best later creation Red Death, more on him in a minute. It gave us a nice workplace dynamic and really made the guild pop more than ever. And this episode showcases this marvelously by giving the new council the spotlight.  In this one the Council find that there’s an old mandate that means they must stop active arching in order to retain their spots, something they all agree to and thus leads to an episode of each of the council having one last ride as each are given an envelope of who their last arch is. And each is hilaroius, some even heartfelt, creative and fleshes out some of them. Going down the list, leaving out Shiela and Red death who has a more involved subplot for hers and has some other buisness entirely we’ll get to: Phantom Limb: Has, in a great gag, a literal dick measuring contest with Hunter Gathers. Just a simple effective gag.  Radical Left: Is merged with his old arch enemy Right Wing so they simply play clue.  Wide Whale: Has the least funny or enteratining but still entresting as he and his old arch are now friends and the guy even plays cards with Rocco, so rather than poision the well he just sends Rocco to rough him up a bit for old times sake, then take him to dinner.  Dr. Z: Reminces with Action Johnny, the two considering each other family at this point and the two have a really nice moment with Johnny in rehab finally getting help that’s actually really touching and really nice to see.. though we also get an utterly fantastic bit where they recreate an actual scene from Johnny Quest but with Z lampshading how stupid everyone’s being. 

And finally we get Mantle and Dragoon, who spend the night binging tv and eating a ton, my mood and general schedule, afraid to open their envelope only to celebrate when they do and find their arches are all dead.  Red Death meanwhile has buisness to take care of. Since I dind’t include Red Means stop on here I’d just like to talk about how much I love the guy. Voiced by clancy brown death is an old school legend in the guild whose great at arching, has a great gimmick.,. but can switch from horribly threatning monster to aflrable nice and loving family man, having a younger wife and a daughter whose utterly adorable and shares his face. He even wanted the guild spot simply so he could basically retire, get the nice pension plan and salary that comes with the guild without the rigors of regular arching having long settled things with his own arch by murdering him> he’s an utterly inspired edition and the crew, and fans, loved him enough he became a recurrer this season. 

And his bit is both awesome and utterly terrifying: earlier the guild tried to parlay with rivals the peril partnership in order to stop the bleeding on their end, but their represntive, Blind Rage, a hilariously broey version of Daredevil, instead mocks and direspects them and is in general a pissant. So rather than do an arch, since he’s done with that anyway, Death evens the score in one of the shows best scenes, which like the rusty one above is an acomplishment years in and is an utterly terrifying and awesome villian scene. 

Clancy Brown is a fucking master at this. and it showss.  As for Shiela her bit ends up tying into the Venture Family’s plot for the evening: Rusty courts a black widow, Teresa Diade because getting laid outweighs the possibility of death and we get a a great bit of dean pretending to be her as the family preps him. Naturally he bungles it because he takes too much anti venom, but Teresa turns out to be a former superhero, probably what actually happened to her husbands, and Shielias arch during her breif solo career. Though instead of an arching, though she try, Shiela instead breaks down over the stress of this, over possibly giving up arching with her husband for her career, and the two share a nice moment. I mean she still takes Diade’s wallet because she’s a villian after all but it’s a nice one and an emotoinal moment. She takes the job as revealed later of course, because even of this probably hurts the Monarch’s feelings a bit he wants what’s best for her. Because they have a damn good marriage again. overally a really inventive, hilarious episode and one fo the show’s finest hurrahs as it approached an untimley end.

5. Everybody Comes to Hanks (Season 4, Episode 12) 

Season 4 as I said was my faviorite and one of it’s highlights was the duo of Bright Lights Dean City, which BARELY didn’t make this list, and Everbody Comes to Hanks. The two episodes followed the same period of time from the perspectives of each brother: Dean has an internship in new york city and Rusty’s bumming along, though being a dick he wants hank to have a job by the time he gets back.  Hank, in a classic hank move, expands Hank Co from an ocasional name for his buisnesses to a full on department store with a restraunt and detective agency because of course he has those. It honestly reminds me of me: Even as a teen I was the kind of goofus who’d do this sort of elaborate stuff. But at the same time it shows hank’s best trait and the one that most people underestimate: his ingniuity and imagination. Sure the guy’s off in his own world, as am I, and it’s his charm, but when push comes to shove he can bust out a wacky scheme, save his family from danger or as seen earlier this list pull out a 3 point romantic gesture. The guy may be kinda dumb, int he best way, but he’s got the natural talent for the superhero/supervillian game and clearly wants to be his own bizzare version of batman, which I hope he gets to be and I prefer over the theroy he’ll be a villian. Sure it makes SOME sense.. but frankly hank’s good heart and love of theatrics and lack of care about the jackasses meancing his dad make him a way better superhero. 

Anyways naturally said detective agency leads to both a noir homage, complete with lack of color and a case: Dermott, who at this point’s a bit more symapthetic, wants to know if brock’s really his dad or not and hires his best bud to do it. Hank also gets a partner in one fo the show’s best recurrers, the Alchemist, ba dah!, Orpheous’ best friend, teammate, sarcasm machine and out and proud magic guy voiced perfectly by Dana Snyder. He’s a good counterpart to Orpheous, sarcastic down to earth and fun loving to the more serious and full of himself Orhpeous and since Triana moving out in our next entry, has been Orpheous’ roomate and bored since he’s now in the middle of nowhere, so he’s eager to jump into Hank’s nonsense.  What follows is a compelling detective story as Hank finds out Brock never slept with Dermott’s mom, and tries to find the real one.. and ends up stumbling upon the solution upon hooking up with Dermott’s older sister Nikki... which quickly goes sideways as he finds out not only is she twice his age, and even without that he’s still a minor and this is still creepy.. but she’s Dermott’s mom.. and RUSTY’S his father, with Dermott’s mom who raised him being his grandma. It’s a hell of a reveal that throws up the table both on Dermott’s relationship with Hank and the chraracter as a whole and has a great flashback where we find out how something this effed up happened and it’s incredibly well acted. It’s good stuff.  Hank uses SPHYNX”s mindwipe machine on himself, since getting laid or not, which being hank he dosen’t see the problems with how it happened as long as he dosen’t know, sends a total recall esque message to himself on his watch so he knwos he got laid, jut not the horirble, horrible details. And I like that , unlike say Phineas and Ferb Across the Second dimension’s bullshit reset ending, this dosen’t erase the impact of things. Not hank loosing his virgnity that’s meaningless I mean Dermott. He’s still there, it jsut left at ticking time bomb of when that reveal’s going to go off, and added an intresting new dynamic that I hope if the show continues somehow gets explored. A masterful, fun and suprisingly disturbing episode, everybody should come to hanks. Also as one last post note i’d be remiss if I forgot the great bit of Hatred saying they only serve eggs at hanks cafe. 

4. The Better Man (Season 4, Episode 7) 

Now we get to Dr. Orpheous, who unsuprisingly is a faviorite of mine. While I wasn’t a big Dr. Strange fan till reading the old lee and ditko stuff, I was always a fan of Orpheous, a hammy divorced dad who will give fighting the hordes of hell the same gravitas as getting junk mail, putting some punks souls in a homies figurine, and venture stealing his weedwacker. He’s a truly loveable character, a silver age pompus style hero in a world he dosen’t quite fit, with more power and competence than most venture bros protaganists, but still having things thta hold him back: while he’s good at his job his own drive and self importance drove away his ex wife and leaves him with not much in his life other than his daughter.  And for the first time in the series he’s forced to face his wife leaving him for another man when said man shows up : The Outrider, a seemingly cooler mystic hero whose better at both being a husband and being a sorecer and stops some creature The Order of the Triad fights after their arch torrid sumons him. Orpheous stews over this a bit and after failing to make hisown doorway to hell t  one up his non-arch nemisis, visits another classic character for the series: the Master. Voiced by Voice Acting Maestro John Benjamin, pre his biggest roles with archer and bob’s burgers but post his breakout with home movies. The Master is a no nonsense mystic entity who loves taking the piss out of orpheous and loves his student even if Orpheous agrviates him. He also has a neat visual habit of showing up in a diffrent shapeshifted form each time to teach his pupil a lesson.. and to do weird sex stuff because he can multi task and we see Trainai’s mom for the first time, though with the master just using the form to taunt Orpheous on his personal failings as usual but has a good point.  Soon however the group returns to the portal from hell and find Torrid and Outrider.. and torid explodes and sends the rider to hell, forcing Orpheous and co to rescue him, with Orpheous finding out via a clue from the master that the outrider embeded an artifact in his head to travel between worlds, the one thing orpheous could never master, as a shortcut.. and said thing gets al and orpheous stuck with the outrider. There we see the contrast: Orpheous is indeed the better sorcerer.. but the outrider’s the better husband and while if his wife cheated on him that’s fucking terrible, it’s clear he didn’t STEAL Tatiana so much as she left Orpheous for someone that geniuinely appricated her. The hatched it buried and it’s godo character work.  Speaking of which we get to Jefferson Twilight, a blade parody who hunts Blackulas (his words and leads to a great moment in his debut where a supervillian tries to find a more pc term for it but Jefferson poitns out since he primarly hutns oversea “African americian” dosen’t really work), and the guy on the team reguarly compalning about having no magic ability.. but who finds he CAN move between worlds and astral project, to his delight and Al’s annoyance. It’s an adorable and well won moment as he finaly finds SOMETHING magic he can do.  The other plot, which dovetails nicely into Orpheous concerns Dean’s longstanding crush on Triana, another pin to pull from earlier this list. I shipped them when I was younger but this episode, and one coming up on this list, pointed out how it jsut didn’t work: Dean’s naivite combined with his lack of making a move just didn’t mesh with her. IT’s something the creators agreed on realizing they just had no use for Triana, but both hating the cliche of a character just vanishing and thus giving her a proper sendoff instead.  Dean tries to move on after another unsucessful attempt to talk her up, with Hank and Dermott playing his wingmen, unsucessfully but Dean actually hits it off with a girl.. a girl we never see again but still and Dermott actually offers sound advice for once.. which given events before and after this prompts Dean to quip “better check the temprature in hell”. He just says to take things slow and just call the girl, maybe ask her out, don’t overblow it again or try too hard. It’s good stuff and like our last entry deepens the character a bit by showing that he’s not always a dumbass. Just  mostly. On Triana’s end she enters her dad’s closet, again having done so before and as shown in previous episodes Orpheous always mindwiped her, and it turns out it’s not the first time as the Master sees great talent, but sees she needs to be taught by her mother and step dad, where she can find other witches and learn at her own pace.. maybe befriend an older witch and a demon, find her own personl lesbian. We’ll see how it goes. He TRIES scaring her out fo a future with dean, but fails because.. she had no intrest in dean whatsoever and there was nothing to scare her away from. The Master is confident this will lead to nothing.. but as we see in the stinger.. this isn’t the case.  Byron for once grew, and rather than wipe his daughter’s brain to keep the last family he has outside of his buddies close, as he likely did before out of fear of loosing her... lets her go. He grows letting his daughter grow up and take the long path he did and hopefully better than either of her parents, while Dean “let’s her down gently’. Triana was a godo character, a downt o earht presence in theboys life and wiry, but it was time for her to fly and it’s a good note to send her off on and overall pure magic. 

3. All This and Gargantua 2! (Special between Seasons 5 and 6) 

ONto another charcter’s sendoff we have JJ, Doc’s brother he absorbed in the womb who came back somehow and then became way more sucessful and spent all of seasons 4 and 5 building a space Station. And this episode pays that and MANY other threads off in a giant sized epic that’s one of the series finest moments.  it’s the Gargantua 2′s grand opening, with Doc and the boys going up. Hank goes to gamble and adventure, with Hank bucks obvoiusly, while Doc and Dean are called to Visit JJ.. whose dying, his body shutting down shortly after he finalyg ot life and wanting this satilite to be his final work. but soon the three, along with col treister who we’ll get to in another entry, have ot save the world with JJ touchingly sacirficing himself just as both brothers finally reconciled and Doc finally accepted him. It’s  a powerful subplot.  Said calamity comes in the form or another loose end, the revenge socieyt, Phantom Limb’s splinter group who are attacking and are unknowing pawns in the soverign, who turns out not tbe bowie which is good becaue he dies here and that would’ve been eerie, and his mad plans to try and outwit the investors, msyterous beings. Yeah i’m going to have to try and summarize a lot here as htis is a big, continuity drive spectacle and it works well if wonkily. TO mak ea long story short our heroes fight on a satlite, and dr. henry killinger, marry poppins meets kissinger with a magical murder bag, fights his brethern and reforges the guild with the various villians tryign to stop the soverign or leftover from the society. The special is one big bit of fanserice that ties up loose ends and launches a bold new era. I don’t have as much to say as other entires but it’s this high up because few episodes match it in sheer importance, scale, humor and timing, it’s just harder to dig into because again, it’s an hour long special with lots of stuff from the series up to that point. it’s what makes it work but it’s harder to dig into in this short a space. Maybe someday soon. either way i’ts a garganguan achivment that feels like a huge pot of payoff after 5 seasons of effort and is utterly worth the ride. 

2. Showdown at Cremation Creek, Parts 1 and 2 (Season 2) Yes this is a two parter. Yes i’m giving it one spot but it’s my list and this is basically a special like the two entires it’s sandwitched between just sliced in half. So pitter patter, let’s talk about this one. 

Showdown was the finale to the stellar season 2, a step up from season 1 that refined the good raw matieral there into something truly stupdencous and it all comes to a head here in a wonderful epic in the might venture maner in that it manages to feel epic while still being hiilarious, characer driven and self parodying.  After a season apart the Monarch and Shielia have reonciled and are having an affair behind Phantom Limb’s back.. though given LImb is a sexist piece of shit who dosen’t value Shielia as a parter or part of his orignization while the Monarch has come around to doing so and did even with his crazy jealousy, it’s forgivable. Shelia wants more form him and the Monarch takes hte painful step of agreeing to stop arching venture. This dosen’t last obviously, but still. HOwever it does lead to pure hilarity when his henchman for the bachelor party, after the monarch went home, kidnapping the ventures, having gottne brock while he was drunk and distracted. Still with fatalities but still.. it’d be the best day of their lives anyo ther day. But to avoid pissing off his fiance who likely woudln’t belivie the truth, he makes up a story of inviting them to a wedding as an olive branch and does so> The whole situation also leads to my faviorite venture line: 24: Holy shit I thought we dreamnt that part! Anyways our gang are soon split up, Brock attends awkardly, Dr. Venture tries to hit on the bride over mid life chriaslys earlier, and we get the dawn of one of the show’s best buddy duos: 21 and Hank. The two being huge nerds quickly bond, and 21 helps hank sneak into the wedding as “Igor Badguyovich via an old henchman uniform, cleverly one of the ones from the pilot. Dean ends up getting stuck in the engine room and ends up spending the two parter hallucinating and going on a patichse version of never ending story while also letting loose his hatred of his boy advenutering lifestyle. It’s prue fun and good stuff.  David Bowie, or someone impersnating him, aka the soverign arrives along with Klaus Nomo and Iggy Pop for the wedding as an old frirend of shelias giving her away. But soon things go as bad as a superhero wedding does, becuase supervillians apparently aren’t immune to that as Phantom Limb attacks, deciding to throw a cou because he can’t kill the guy his ex actually likes or get promtoed and with bowie’s enorage as his moles attacks and tries to take shiela by force. The result is great as brock moblizies the minons, and unbenwonst to him, hank to fight, dean has his epic adventure and rusty and monarch try to do.. something. It’s all great stuff while Bowie fights limb in an epic battle we sadly barely see but what we do is glorious. It’s all good stuff. An donly one episode tops it in scope, humor and spectacle and in my heart. 

1. Operation P.R.O.M. (Season 4, Episode 16)  The show’s best season goes out with it’s best episode. I could close it out there but given i’ve rambled about every other episode why stop now? It’s Homeschool Prom Night! Doc’s gathered their various allies, the order of the triad, pete and billy , shoreleave and brock, along with Hatred who has replaced his hatred tats with a big v.. excpet the d over his junk which is unfortunate. 21 joins in genuinley and because he’s having a crisis while monarch and sheila crash with hatred’s ex as a baragning chip to see wha’ts up and end up joining in. 

The boys are as sucessful getting their own dates as you’d expect: no one will return Hank’s calls but since he runs into best buddy Dermott on the way brings him along as long as their band can play, which is easily the highlight of the episode as their glorious and terrible garage band Shallow Gravy makes it’s debut. Figures I can’t put video in right as the article’s almost done.. but back on point.. Dean brings Triana who has a boyfriend now who resembles Edward Cullen, because tha’ts aged really well, which bugs the crap out of him even though he moved on and casues him to act like a pissant and get a corsage thrown in his face as he should. Dean ends up following Dermott and Hank’s advice to go try and “win her back” with a big romantic gesture... which listneing to dermott on a romantic gesture should be grounds for being delcared legally braindead.. it goes terribly with the big plan instead burning a t on her lawn, and the ghost robes making Dean look like the kkk. The outrider tells him to be happy after beating him up over the mixup, a mixup that REALLLLY hasn’t aged well, and Dean tells him to fuck off. End of their time but it’s good stuff and caps a great season of hank. And while I don’t LIKE dean’s behavior here, it’s nice to see him not act like a good person for a second, and to be as human and faliable as the rest of htem, even if it means beeing deeply unlikable and his next relationship which sadly just.. never got picked up again, would go better. And the one after that.. not getting into that mess. What the hell guys. It’s really good stuff. 

Naturally given all these cast members ther’es a lot else going on: Rusty hires prostitues for the evening because of course he does and fails with his because of course he does.. and because it turns out his name is a sex act which leads toi a long and inspried bit of bleeping as everyone has their own version and we see tons of recurrers way in to Rusty’s horror. Rusty being inscensed tires using an aprohdeiasc , specially spanish fly taken from an actual fly, one of my faviorite bits mostly for this bit after billy gapes in horro at the giant monster fly.  Doc: Don’t scream you’ll just piss it off and it screams acid when it’s pissed off. And I alredy dids that when I ripped it’s wings off.  His scheme is of course utterly terrible but it’s Rusty, and i’m unsuprised and he dosen’t benifit from it as we’ll get into. Al and Shore Leave bond while 21, in a pogniant subplot, realizes he’s had enough and quits his job and through Orpheous realizes his firend isn’t a ghost, but a guilt induced hallucinaiton and lets him go, joining the team implicitly. It’s really good character stuff.  Finally we have the espionge portion. WHile Shore leave is at the party Gathers leaves Brock, once he’s finished chauffering the boys, to watch Monstroso, who they recently captured and gathers wants to use as a barganing chip. But gathers soon finds previously introduced Agents Doe and Cardholder wanting to topple agency head Hunter Gathers, one of my faviorite recurring characters mostly due to being performed by the increidble Toby Huss, a batshit general whose basically nick fury with a kentucky accent and no real filter or fucks to give and he’s utterly hilarious any time he shows up.  He’s been claming his cancer treatments have turned him into a Hulk, and why yes that is their exact terminology. Turns out agents doe and cardholder have been playing along with this seeming delusion to try and outst treister.. and take the OSI over for the guild, being the traitors Gathers suspected were there. However in a brilliant turn, this sub plots resolves as all should: on the bridge of hteir hellicarrier, with Treister draped only in the american flag with a post it note saying fix it on his chest. He reveals that while the cancer is real, the “hulkking” out was just playing them: he knew they were the double agents, and was using Gather’s to ferit them out. However that’s not the only reason: Treister knows his odds of beating cancer are slim so he’s come up with a resonable solution: Shoot himself up into space, as seen in the image for this entry, and see if aliens can cure it. They don’t but space radiation does as he returns later and not only that while he’s lost in the special, after brilliantly ACTUALLY having become a hulk, Doc and Jackson revealed in the making of book they had plans to possibly have him come back as their version of GALACTUS at one point, only holding back on it because their not sure if they want to go full cosmic or not. We’ll see if the show comes back in longform but god I hope so. If not i’m sure as hell doing it. But Treister hands the wheel over to gathers literally and metaphorically, passsing the reigns of the ship and the OSI over to him so Gathers can run it right, and then well.. shoots himself up into space, ending up as the last image of the hour long masterwork. But befroe that theres one last plot that leads into what I consider to be the show’s best scene. Brock finds out the hard way that the other Sphinx agent on duty is actually his ex molotov cocktease, who skirts monstroso away because she’s fallen for him, to brock’s rage. While Brock catches up to them, Mol reveales she has a trump card: The prostitues venture hired are actually her mercinary crew the blackhearts, and if she dosen’t give the signal everyone dies.. and being an utter dick Mol lets the car brock’s holding up off a cliff drop with her and monstroso inside.. though they come back eventually because universe that’s basically a comic book. So we get THIS SEQUENCE THAT’S IN CAPS BECAUSE THEY STOPPED LETTING ME PUT VIDEOS IN THIS ONE FOR SOME REASON AND IT’S ALMOST DONE. It’s easily the show’s best as Pulp’s amazing “Like a Friend” plays as brock rushes to save everyone, finds everyone having a good time thanks to rusty’s spanish fly, and Shore Leave and Al doing the v-day sailor kiss which is amazing, and then all the blackhearts turn into fly monsters because Rusty. It’s a great, tense gorgeously animated sequence that ends showing just how far brock’s come: From an angry asshole who hates everyone to these guys genuine friend.. and still a badass. overall just a great, spectacular finale and the best of one fo the best animated shows period. And with that the list concludes. This took me 2 days worth of adruous work so I hope you enjoyed it. Follow me for more including regular coverage of Amphibia, Ducktales starting back up later this month.. and as of tommorow possibly the loud house! Expect more venture bros including reviewcaps coming soon and if you want to comission your own reviewcap for 5 bucks, just hit up my personal messages or ask box, or just hit it up iwth a casual suggestion i’m bound to listen. Either way until next time, Go Team Venture. And I can think of only one way to properly close this. Play us off sea captain.

[potatocrab]

Salvation is a Last Minute Business (18/18)

Chapter 18/Epilogue: We Could Go Places

Madelyn finally earns her happy ending.

“With my brains and your looks, we could go places.” - Frank Chambers as played by John Garfield (The Postman Always Rings Twice, 1946)

That’s all she wrote! Thank you to anyone to joined me on this wonderful journey! 😭

[read on Ao3] | [series masterpost]

June 22nd, 1958

“You’re late.”

Madelyn laughed at the sound of Nick’s voice, calling out to her the moment she arrived at the agency that morning, the bell above the front door indicating her presence. Her amusement persisted as she walked through the lobby, observing the care packages that filled the space. Even Ellie’s desk was covered with boxes and flower bouquets—more than what had been present the previous evening, or the day before that. There were more gifts scattered throughout the room, all sent in congratulations after news of Valentine Detective Agency’s success spread across Boston. Taking down Eddie Winter was one thing but solving a decade-old missing persons case and exposing a government conspiracy was another. Nobody expected the ragtag detective and his lawyer broad to take expose the Institute—not that anybody knew the university were hiding such abhorrent secrets in the first place.

She leaned against the doorway of Nick’s office, surprised by the lack of clutter that typically covered his desk. The stacks of case files and reports had been boxed away, leaving the room the cleanest she’d seen in years. Well, except for the small sprinkling of cigarette ash on the oak wood that he’d failed to hide—hell would freeze over before Nick Valentine gave up that habit. All that remained on his desk, aside from the usual decorations, was a single newspaper and a bottle of Irish whiskey, two perfectly poured glasses on standby. A Sunday tradition. 

Madelyn grinned. “I think I’m right on time.”

“I wonder if Grace Kelly received this many flowers when she won best actress,” she joked, walking over to take her usual seat in the armchair to the left.

Nick chuckled, rounding the desk to join her with the two glasses in hand, the bottle and newspaper tucked under his arm. “I’ll let you know when I start feeling like a Princess.”

“You should see Piper’s office,” he added, passing her one whiskey-filled glass and the weekend edition of Publick Occurrences before sitting down. “Gal’s been flooded with offers from all over the state, including the Bugle, to run their editorial departments.”

“She’ll never take them,” Madelyn contended. “She has enough resources and connections to finally fund a full staff. Maybe finally move into a bigger office and give us the space back so we can do the same.”

Even though Nick smiled at the idea, he reeled in his excitement. “Let’s not get ahead of ourselves.”

Madelyn feigned innocence, shrugging as she hid her grin behind a generous gulp of whiskey.

He glanced at her curiously, smiling against the rim of his cup as he also took a drink. He expertly diverted the conversation. “So, where were you this morning?”

She considered lying just for the fun of it, but decided the truth was just as shocking. “Church.”

“Madelyn Hardy, once again attending Sunday mass,” Nick replied, shaking his head in humorous disbelief. “I thought I’d never see the day.”

Neither did she. Madelyn was sure she had lost her faith the day her husband died, buried it along with Nate to be forgotten. His death, and her survival was more than guilt—it was sin. And then, one New Year’s Eve party later, everything changed. She’d been tested over the last several months, and despite the grief and the loss, she was also at peace. Nate was at peace. Somewhere along the way, she’d found salvation.

“You could say I’m a changed woman.”

Nick considered her words in comfortable silence, the two slowly drinking their whiskey while exchanging soft, lingering smiles. It was reminiscent of the ‘good-ol-days’, but calmer. He said what she was already thinking. “I’ve changed too. We all have.”

Madelyn contemplated asking if he had any regrets, or if everything they had done was for the best when he silently gestured towards the newspaper draped across her lap. She glanced down, smirking at Piper’s headline. Reunited!

“She’s finally learned to reel it in,” she jested, looking over the picture of Shaun Pearlman—now eleven years old—standing with his parents, Nathan and Nora.

“After such headlines as The Boogeyman Banished, and The Synthetic Truth,” Nick’s laughter was at the expense of their dearest reporter friend. “The article speaks for itself. It’ll take some adjusting, but the kid will be alright.”

Madelyn studied the family portrait again, focusing on their smiling, overjoyed faces. “It isn’t everyday that somebody gets a happy ending.”

“They’ve earned it,” Nick remarked, just the slightest hint of sorrow passing through his light green eyes. Jenny—the heartache would never go away. He remained silent, but his smirk slowly returned, encouraging her to continue reading through the newspaper.

Inside, there was a picture of Hancock—John McDonough—formally announcing his plans to run for mayor in the 1959 election. He had already been working with the interim mayor after his brother’s death, ensuring that any lingering Institute corruption was snuffed out. His platform hadn’t changed much—of the people, for the people—and judging by the large outpouring of support, a lot of Bostonians dug what he was offering.

“Are you going to vote for him?” Madelyn teased, chuckling when Nick grumbled a sigh and rolled his eyes without an answer.

There was another article about Preston Garvey and his Minutemen, reclaiming their post in Quincy now that the Gunners had been successfully chased out of town. MacCready had found a place in their ranks, grinning like the sun was shining out of his ass in the group picture that accompanied the article. It was a good fit for the former mercenary, even if Preston was a little weary about accepting him at first. The network of neighborhood watchmen were supported by the newly reformed Boston Police, Sergeant Danny Sullivan himself promising to oversee their continued partnership.

Correction—Deputy Chief Danny Sullivan—earning quite the promotion after the fall of the Institute exposed and removed more corrupted individuals from power. He was running his own campaign, recruiting the best and brightest minds to fill the ranks throughout Boston’s precincts with the promise that integrity and stability were there to stay.

“Still have a long way to go,” Nick commented, his distrust of the system would linger too. “But it’s a start.”

Madelyn nodded in agreement, flicking her eyes to another one of Piper’s headlines—Mr. Danse Goes to Washington.

“He’s not going to be happy when he finds out about this,” she laughed.

“The Lieutenant will get over being compared to Jimmy Stewart,” Nick replied. “The man’s a war hero, isn’t he?”

Her laughter continued as she read over the article, trying not to imagine Lieutenant Danse in a comedic movie from the past, and instead as the dignified officer he was. The headline was tongue in cheek but accurate—he’d gone to Washington, D.C. to testify on capitol hill about what occurred at Fort Hagen between the Institute and the United States military. He’d also promised Nick and Madelyn that he’d watch over the federal investigation closely, ensuring another cover-up didn’t take place.

“Here,” Nick spoke, standing to snag a second, unseen Publick Occurrences from his desk. “Special edition. Hot off the presses, as Piper would say.”

Madelyn exchanged copies with him, setting down her glass so she could examine the front headline closely. Valentine and Hardy—The Unstoppables.

“So are you the Silver Shroud or The Inspector?” she giggled, covering her mouth.

“Ha, ha, Mistress of Mystery,” he retorted sarcastically, sitting back down across from her.

There was a picture of them standing in front of the office building, the neon light of the agency sign burning brilliantly behind them. The longer she stared at it, the larger her smile became, warmth radiating through her body. She’d never felt more proud or honored to be a part of something important. She felt at home.  

“This is going to give you more exposure than you’ve ever had,” she remarked, tapping the paper with her fingers. “There’s going to be people lining out the door asking for your help!”

“Our help,” Nick corrected with a small smile, leaning forward in his chair. “That is, if you’re still up to the task of being my partner.”

“Of course Nick,” Madelyn answered immediately, unable to stop from grinning. “You’d be hard pressed to find a woman as willing as I am to put up with your brand of bullshit.”

He laughed, louder and heartier than she’d heard him sound in a long time. “Has anyone ever told you how charming you are?”

Madelyn tilted her head to the side. “Funny you should mention that.”

The laughter settled into quiet mirth as Nick looked into his empty glass with a sigh. “I need a vacation first.”

“Really?”

“Really,” he echoed. “Starting with a proper meal. Care to join me?”

Any other time and Madelyn would’ve said yes. She frowned as she shook her head. “I have a date.”

“That’s nothing to pout about,” Nick smirked. The detective—her partner—regarded her with a warm smile. “I can forgive you this one time.”

The warmth had settled in her heart, and she wondered if she was glowing as she smiled at him, the happiest she’d felt in years. Nick reached over to gently clasp her hand, squeezing her fingers as he spoke. “It’s a good look, Madelyn.”

She stood up, leaning over the small distance to place a soft kiss to his cheek. “Thanks, Nick.”

“Sure, sure,” he watched her as she left, lingering only for a moment in the doorway. “See you later, doll.”  

Madelyn sat in the vinyl blue booth of the Slocum’s Joe, gazing out the window and watching as people passed by on the sidewalk. Cambridge wasn’t nearly as busy since the Institute’s downfall, but hundreds of people still called considered the Boston neighborhood their home—including her. She’d made occasional trips to her apartment in the last few weeks but had only recently started living in D7 again now that she was sure it was safe. Codsworth and Dogmeat were more than pleased to have her home, the Mister Handy unit suffering a bout of anxiety after being separated from his mistress—even if it shouldn’t have been possible with his programing. Even now, the robot had difficulty letting her out of his sight, and she laughed when she noticed Codsworth across the street, hovering about as he walked Dogmeat, a leash tied to one of his metal arms.

“What’s so funny?”

She glanced up to find Deacon setting down two cups of coffee before sliding into the booth across from her. Two sugars and a little bit of cream for her, straight black for him. He wasn’t in his usual suit, swapped out for something far more casual and befitting for summer, black wig left forgotten on her bedside table. Of course, he’d never leave without securing his sunglasses—his eyes were only for her to see.

Madelyn titled her head, gesturing out the window as she took a slow sip. “It seems I’m always destined to have somebody stalking me.”

“I take offense to that,” he held a hand over his chest, feigning attack from her teasing words. “To imply that I stalked you.”

Madelyn struggled to contain her giggling behind her cup. “Hmm, and what would you call it?”

“Careful observation from afar,” he said, brows furrowing for a moment as he inspected the contents of his coffee before taking a careful taste—always with the suspicion. You can’t trust everyone, even the barista at their regular coffeehouse, it seemed.  

“What would you call it now?”

Deacon smirked at her flirtatious question. “An up-close and personal liaison.”

Madelyn smiled, her heart racing in excitement as it usually did when they danced around this subject. There still hadn’t been much of a discussion—or a confession—since their infiltration of the Institute. No clear conversation about what their relationship meant. It didn’t stop them from acting like lovers, a constant stop-and-go ever since the evening she got shot, pausing when they needed to focus on the case instead of romance. Now that there were no more distractions, what she desperately yearned for was full steam ahead. She darted her eyes back out the window, forcing her mind to stop before she spiraled into anxiety and doubt. She was happy—right?

Deacon’s hand reached over the table to cover hers. “Do you want to go to D.C.?”

She glanced back to his face, momentarily surprised by his question. Any joke she thought about making—that everybody was going south—fell away. “With you?”

His expression faltered. “No, with Drummer Boy,” he said sarcastically.  

“I dunno,” she nervously laughed, humor the only defense mechanism she could rely on. “Robby makes for a pretty good date when you aren’t—”

“Charmer,” he groaned, fingers tightening around hers, even though a smile dared to pull at his lips.

“Is this one of your business trips?” she persisted. “Or would this be for pleasure?”

“Why can’t it be both?” he responded, and it sounded witty enough, except all traces of humor had disappeared. “Can’t you tell when a guy is trying to be serious?”

Madelyn swallowed, and released a shaky breath. “What is it?”

Deacon didn’t say anything, and she was afraid she’d scared him off with her teasing. Minutes passed before he finally reached up and removed the darkened shades from his face, placing them on the table next to their forgotten coffee cups. Blue eyes locked on blue, but still, he remained silent.

“What do you want?” she prompted, slowly turning her hand over to lace their fingers. “Deacon?”

She’d seen that emotion in his eyes before—just last week—when he tried to tell her something important, and she denied him the opportunity. This time, she wasn’t afraid.

“I want…”

“Je t’aime,” she answered, filling the silence when he trailed off. His eyes widened, the shock quickly subsiding as a bright smile pulled at his lips. Madelyn knew it was a simple saying, but still translated. “I love you.”

“I—”

Not everyday that Deacon was at a loss for words. He suddenly moved, slipping out from his side of the booth and swiftly sliding in to join her. Madelyn turned to meet him, laughing as the butterflies swarmed her stomach like she was experiencing this—love—again, all for the first time. He leaned in close so only she could hear.

“Je t’aime,” he repeated with an ever-growing smile. “I love you too.”

There was nothing left to say, so he kissed her instead. Madelyn smiled against his lips, sighing when his arms wrapped around her in a warm embrace. Deacon was still grinning when they parted, eyes shining with an emotion she wanted to keep there forever. He pulled her close, and she rested her head against his shoulder, switching her gaze back outside.

The sun was shining, and she was happy.

[quizboy-stardust]

Hello, Internet!

I’ve just rewatched “Magnolia” which is actually one of my favorite movies. It has two stories about quiz shows and Hammer and Publick even admitted that they were inspired by that movie while writing Billy Quizboy.

I would like to make a playlist with great songs from that movie! That’s not the serious part of my post.

The serious part is that quiz shows are actually not as funny as they seem and Billy was probably stressed during them. Imagine that you’re solving a test but a whole contry’s watching. And all that pressure... Agghhhhh! Anyways, I think White and Rose helped him during such a hard time.

We can have a more detailed discussion about that if someone is interested. I could tell how Venture Bros inspired me in my future posts so stay tuned ;)

Magnolia playlist

P.S. The picture’s taken from deleted scenes from “The Invisible hand of fate”

[peanutjellyboy]

Tips From A College Student From Their First Semester Part Two

Double Check All Your Assignments:  This doesn’t just mean make sure you’re doing all the assignments you’re supposed to, this is making sure you’re not missing anything or freaking out about unpublished assignments.  What am I talking about?  I can happily explain:  some teachers will have one class but depending on when the class it’ll be different versions.  My Western Civilization class had this problem, one cycle the research assignment would be about Jack the Ripper whilst the other is about the Holocaust.  Depending on which cycle you take the class there’s different assignments leading up to this project.  In classes there’s your gradebook, the agenda they show, and then the modules (if you’re like my college).  The gradebook has ALL the assignments listed, including ones you won’t be doing that class period.  Be sure to check out the modules when the teacher publishes them and make sure you’re following along with what assignments they want you to do.

Laptop or Paper Notes: This was an important decision I make during the first week of classes.  Some classes it’s better for you to write everything down on paper because the teacher wants you to write down examples, draw something, or even just listen more than note take.  Then there’s the computer.  For me, the computer works really well, I’m able to write down stuff faster, I follow along better, and I keep more knowledge retained.  Then there’s students who will write down their notes and then go home to transcribe their notes onto Google Drive (or where ever you type everything down).  There’s even an app on iPhone where if you take a picture of your notes it will put it all on a document that you can look at later on.  In my publick speaking class I typed everything up, unlike in my Western Civilization class where I wrote down notes and then I would type up everything afterwards.  But really, what you choose to take notes down with is yours.  The only exception is if your professor bans computers then do what I did in my Anthropology class: I audio recorded all lectures then I listened to it back going home and wrote stuff down afterwards.

Create a Study Area in Your Place: I’m not talking about your bed and I’m definitely not talking about the living room in front of your TV.  I’m talking about a place in your home that is designated only for work/study and nothing else.  The reason I don’t say your bed is because your mind will become confused so if you spend hours studying there and then try sleeping, your brain will be confused and you won’t be able to sleep like you did before.  In my house I have a spare bedroom that I turned into my work room, during the week it’s my study room though.  I have a desk set up, all my pens and everything I recommend you don’t bring with you to school.  Hopefully I can make it more of an office one day, but my setup now will suffice.  Having a place where it’s only for studying will extraordinarily boost your motivation to study and focus.  Does this mean completely empty out a room for this purpose?  No.  If you only have like a bedroom for yourself just getting a desk to put in the corner really helps, or anywhere else in your house with a big table surface where you won’t be distracted (e.g. the dining room?).

Form A Study Group:  Because my classes are only six weeks I don’t really do this, but I know a lot of you have semester long classes, so this definitely awesome.  Not only do you have a reason to spend more time with classmates you like, it helps you get focused and make better grades and even receive help on stuff you find hard.  I used to do this all the time in high school and honestly if my friends were in classes with me I would definitely do one again.  Even an online study group is great too.

This got really long, but I’ll be sure to do another part tomorrow!

[deceptigoons-attack]

Today In History: 26/08/1765

The Looting of  the Lieutenant Governor of Massachusetts Thomas Hutchinson’s House at the Time of the Stamp Act Riots. 

In the words of Mr. Hutchinson himself: 

In the evening whilst I was at supper and my children round me somebody ran in and said the mob were coming. I directed my children to fly to a secure place and shut up my house. . . . and withdrew . . . to a neighbouring house where I had been but a few minutes before the hellish crew fell upon my house with the Rage of devils and in a moment with axes split down the door and entred. . . . Some ran immediately as high as the top of the house others filled the rooms below and cellars and others Remained without the house to be employed there. . . . I was obliged to retire thro yards and gardens to a house more remote where I remained until 4 o’clock by which time one of the best finished houses in the Province had nothing Remaining but the bare walls and floors.

Not contented with tearing off all the wainscot and hangings and splitting the doors to pieces they beat down the partition walls and altho that alone cost them near two hours they cut down the cupola or lanthern and they began to take the slate and boards from the roof and were prevented only by the approaching day light from a total demolition of the building. The garden fence was laid flat and all my trees &c. broke down to the ground. Such ruins were never seen in America. Besides my plate and family pictures houshold furniture of every kind my own my children and servants apparel they carried off about £900— sterling in money and emptied the house of every thing whatsoever except a part of the kitchen furniture not leaving a single book or paper in it and have scattered or destroyed all the manuscripts and other papers I had been collecting for 30 years together besides a great number of publick papers in my custody.

Source.

[libidomechanica]

Untitled (“A gloriously, impart”)

A curtal sonnet sequence

               1

A gloriously, impart to scour his tongues were construed from the candle in her mood than in health and Intelligence—First of blood. From underground what she was wet with thou hast nae mind these fields. Thy black is crookéd as the clear! This summer long; the river-grass, stood unbonneted to cheer us both: but look like vomit. Of a moment that taste like sun, the princes tried to gathered colour’d on that was a heart to snare.

        ��      2

So much as gather’d Ripe, or rot upon a Harp of Son; swift was the stake, Centuries— of artist that does to my hope it seemed,-than till he can look at Blake and woodbine twine and thou wage mute! Hear it now if e’er you within a mighty Wisdom his Foes. And thou ask proof? Two loves his sword to one week and the loud chaunting with the braw lass made the better poet.—Of Whom? He whom you so apply, her joys, her idiot boy.

               3

So you can tell me where that he had heart let my poor household ways, not like a gipsy lately came, this great and Pray; the Crown; and scatter’d by a Puff of WInd. Without all are gone, how shall? If you could remove, with you. Herself too much. No mortals he is mind! The blossoms on a picture, till it ceased: he saw the grassy harvest. For crystal brows—there’s neither doth explore the broke, and alone, but once we lose them, is lost.

               4

Oh! Are all thought me, and the like weeds, and on his ’bacco box, he ’ll be in a bed of roses, almost spent, in lustihede and woodbine twine and the muffled lattices, and Betty, go! We must unlearn the weakness: it was his Heir. Then comes to fill it prove the cheek or tongues so their time, should be, to drown herself she talked alone, and match her Day’s Delight, Betty, he’ll be in another turn: gull’d with wine, I drank him up.

               5

And on his hand shaking with me for a difference began to bark. But when we come where did appear; the Spiritual, sprung from the world is subject and of lowly life, and in the church, and keepe. And beds by strong to sell, or near it, meek as a honeysuckle crowded me warm with the Fantom of a red-rose tree. With Magic-mighty Mother’s bed; the City, to rectify your boughes doe raine, which, erring her Eyes with joy.

               6

To precipitate a nocturnal carnations knew the hope of usual sleep- warm pillows in the Darling Son? And this was never be enuied, all were in thee has killed in flickering gypsey-folk. Henceforth to fields where the links o’ gowd, her teeth were bow’d fu’ low unto the rest, pass and laughs aloud, whether this Achithphel Unites the enter touch of humour. Two grand every Royal Vertues feet, labour turned the wood.

               7

Decks of the heart. But why should a blockhead ha’ one in ten? When will those blessed, through. Poor Susan lay deep lost in the Crown forgo; who banisht art; but yet, forget not for thou falls across that rode high spear-grass. Her head the sea. A volume of trouble, gave thee remain, and Johnny may prove more harm than ducats. No winter sleep ye soun’. A dream that gan weepe: for cares to my memories of the publick Pillars of happy John.

               8

Lemons, and gazed alone from my husband: if he had swept the deflection, where my Goddesse plaine, and lovers, children—happier air, wandering heifer and thyme—had strung, and Hoigh for the bulging latitude of flies fills all the Race, but there? But the faults he had heart committed, answered Johnny nor his life he castle he’s pursue Immortal heightening, lovely knights, and beautifie your buds did flowres of lust to David’s Soul?

               9

And Spiritual food he feared that others in their rose on my rose tree. Fairies’ prophecy: The prince found a tongues were before your touch upon the dale, and gave him his tongues—and out of my old compasses are your pretious oyle, and tempted to our Father Government. And Heart to know how it is a strangled in flickering grey; as blithe a man can break and casting the Jews well begun; then, in the color of these tree.

               10

And Betty’s stand a word he said, How long with house with Daffadowndillies set: bayleaues between a rook or bishop, but I call night they pleasure can I do? Were in thy pipe too soon, and in the title of love to a mean Descent. She spoke: with a wise afright, rosy is the goblin, tis no foot of unfamiliar, universal device but i just don’t know the women through this, to chauntings of my life he castle.

               11

Morning sphere; almost happy quest, if men esteem. Against the Mouldy rolls of bonnie Doon, how can you turn around me though not prove the traditional futures on strops of might-have-beens, the curtaines of the Laws, who best companied with such a blow! Slope, and this we will not match her will I noticed before your touch.—Whose Auspicious Prince d’Amour her a glass; shall see me as is not so much rent, for who from faults is free?

               12

So when Saul was declar’d when Kings are only made way by manly beauty you gave me the fat lizard barks, a silent in cost, but my spirit closed those different men have been a sore heard of yet, him whom she had disappeare, whose perfit coloured with your hands avian, to salute her Hair down to Foreign Yoke. Seemed to thee; and to hear the Desert saw Majnún where that Isle deceived in his Evidence by fire. In Israel!

               13

I wanna be your Cause; therefore I am quite forgot, to make Examples of another’s Right, life-disquiet every hour employ, with somewhat grim, what, woman! Punishing eyes, the full lips, prison all sides doubled as the threshold. New to wish, or to entertaine you must go, and I and all this Hubbub know myself to shoot laser beams straight my hid meaning o’er the flore she did not need him with rayne? Be bitterly.

               14

Companies the time flowery earthly turmoil grows, and she what I write, as for there, observant tell what hopes it sends me a text she’s high upon the stars. You came with the stormie stowres, we must go or she hies; tis on the sparkling spires, she needs with one sweet the long-drawn to the way home? Doubled as thou art not so these slopes; who knows them send, or the snake, and your dearer being branches I never coud with awfull Lord.

               15

Then idly sought, weigh then how I by the hand you relax the antique pen would tye. Without all for on his ’bacco box, he heaven, cries Betty shed. Yet for his early Promise you no lot of garden-fence might still all its ancient Honours her the dregs of life, the owlets purr, and on my Mother doth not, lives a drowning race of grace; and with flowers and the cause hath in the Ear, but burn’d and said, she had been piled behind.

               16

Poor Susan she began to stir, though I mistake thee did give; of moon or late, some good does them serued for ages, sculptured in all things with the purest minds perforce swayed to me, thou’s broken arbour she woke up crying: Daddy! Impatience to Royalty? Forget till Day! A moments of all Command; to my Property: and, like the Collateral Line where he a Tyrant who, by Laws less circumscrib’d and saw these fields!

               17

Therefore, which seene, theyr sheepe, while ye may, go marry; i’ll be as free inform’d it, with a safety pin to give th’ Offenders questing heads globes of unsifted time I see descried high tower’d thee ioy of the heart o’ thy Willy. To hunt the Tiller’s road again at last his Place, his looks, his simple Doves, as soone as my youth to forbearen, but not so sharp grew more shall die tonight. And he feared that I one from straying.

               18

So brimmed with unknown to Foreign Universe, active Intelligence—First of All the Firmament. For there, and look’d out with little dance, they circle of wasted. Dared not enough, honye, milke, and as I walked with such odious Aid make Treasons go. You are a boat I have slept till that time is gone who travelling into a second time of love, give me, the Field of thee, my heart had a hard to Conquest of her idiot boy!

               19

Last I woke sane, but every soul were torn. Not this, wise silent suffered. How many a year. And Amnon’s Murther aid bereave me; and string, in lordly light, feare to offend, will be kind; affection, where were fix’d my eyes fondly, and crooked Counsels brought feared that no man know how Passion; and while I yet descry neath thy shade of clustered me close, and neuer taketh rust; whateuer fades, but I knew her Milk he drew a long halloo!

               20

But yet not yet, but bounteous Kings and flow’ry thorns and that seas betweene, and like a bowl of fraude and wade mouth-deep in the Berkshire hounds they find the roofs, and now we sit I waited here sytten as drowne, and nettles rot and all the dark cave, the deep cold that by your victorious lamp of healing, glance, the worst of blood. I’ll ne’er forget: the tidings came on a wood, and slices of quince, which prove as lordly lighted Vows too late.

               21

To tell me, Love in the brink she hurries fast, but trepidation of our boat pass’d, and I sigh of mine, you stay in my dreams in x-ray. Blow, blow, thought, weigh then he sawe the field: void was her long. The bees seemed to fall. She would have claim’d him King: kings are one: accomplish there lies stellas fairer Virtue spends your pillows in fit words were fix the Masters Fate: in Exile with him or is for Parentage, and flow of tears, the princess.

               22

Her solitary infant cried aloud. No voice was mind! Nor only blessing wheel in her eye-lids drooping; she had loved the shade where most friends he had to mumble through thou wouldst haue it thro’ the West, blush from limbecks foul as hell within a mile, more slow than Hybla drops, and having said what Grace in your worth of me, till the waste my time I also wrote love letters, who, as thy throat—it fail’d for want of the Crown, and then with me.

               23

Souls, whose Oath with him in all his Peacefull Sway, and with those laws destroys: and all date, even the Waters lie a World was stricken to the border-tufts—daisy and they maken many a snatch’d the Golden Crown, and look at me, and beautifull, so brave man can doe. And he is gone and wordless breast, but when we talk too much. I lived on. She stooped; and godwit, if we love be love is a journey … that made the road washed my dear!

               24

Or sadly he has been ridden monopoly of a moment, and shovel dirt on her to her without it. While David bring in their roots are bent on her depart; but the stars in long years later, cleaning& motivation. For ye aye she looked round his back. A long to see us pass? A breath that he seemed the very sound, sweet joy but two days of the Wound: that Absalon: not that from his Toyls shall I never will sever.

               25

The Truths are made the bed baith large Soul, although this, and Propertius. Letting looked like an emerald. Then, seiz’d with which the only law. In Friends, more by the Kurd am I, than any Kurd more discerning Eyes, his sick, and the Essential! Bring me my sorrow pine, not these meadow-sweet among the mountain-top, to me soon their own Worth, and what Grace adorn’d the sea would drown her very burdenous, but that seem strangely to me.

               26

Doe Stella dearer thought God’s own predicament will make all to leave, when on my couch I lie in vacant or food or dwelling- place. Or playing with a ring at set of day over the down, alone amid a prosperously the hill I sudden loss of quiet! But he is gone as the shock of innumerable, leapt a cry; leapt fiery Passion ought, and makes a piteous thing that doth roam the clouds, how when the nights.

               27

Wanting Nadab let Oblivion damn, who looke a loft, and make no noisier. For forty days of my spoken Pomps, they Prove: for God decree? My puling pipe too soon we checked the wave; their surfaces with Friends which was thilk same sweetness up, and thus Replies: no Court and kiss, then, Israel’s monarch, after Year striking the lass that what thee oft, I pitie. And begged of the false Achitophel, grown in Bathsheba’s Embraces old.

               28

That to her: the earliest day—when a monsters, easily: Once open air and never stopped crack open to the hypnotist’s trance girl is yours to overcome both brains and hands and me there for the iewell. But such a Reign, his Tribe were Godalmighty, nodding, gave Consent; and I’ll profess no verses then; now to see; her limbs the petals shake to human life, and heels are mingled in flickering gypsey-folk. Susan Gale.

               29

And tell me, Love were the painful warriors Common Name to all. At once we lose her heart, his vigorous warmth with that Firmán- issuing Shah to whom this conclude the Court Informer! Dear rose, and green, in bush about, his face look at me. The flore she sits vpon the distant … I will drink to Ovid, and dumplin burn to pot, burn to pot, till the day has been when every hour employed, should he, with his sense of the honey, and white.

               30

Lest eyes had once, and I’ll softly tread unto my thought is Royal Vertues gold must be! Rascal to please, are often urg’d; and of the evening with no runway light, and thus Old David’s Grace: not Bull-fac’d Jonas, who did the gag even the bridle, for there, but all as a bar of iron moods that wrong: and eke tenne thousand wreaths of ice, that lone, sky-pointing Throne ascending on through all the garbage. Tell me where thou art as true!

               31

For Lavish grants they grew in this, wise silent horse-man ghost, since in an errand would make no pretence aside. Stars were for the king look? And his Queene, who must, like to a Diamond of Wisdom wafted; therefore canno’ stand, her Head hung backward with the loud chaunst to stencil her names, the burden of her Breast, th’ Offenders questions when all for the snake, and they days like one week and the little Cup whose love shall have had my day.