#Vulcan Raven on the background

[katich-pigeon]

a Death mark

[robinsnest2111]

got Jacksepticeye's Metal Gear Solid let's play on for background noise and ough does it feel nostalgic as hell...

Snake, Meryl, Otacon, Revolver Ocelot, Liquid Snake, Vulcan Raven, Psycho Mantis, Sniper Wolf, Decoy Octopus, Grey Fox, Mei Ling, Johnny, all the others.... <3

[bigskydreaming]

Ok so everyone and their mama is being resurrected on Krakoa and so many people in marvel have gone through the revolving door that is death. So please tell me just one little thing. Where is Irene Adler? Is she still dead? If not, then why is she only just now being brought back? Why is one of the most iconic imo queer couples still suffering? #GiveMystiqueHerWife #LetMyWLWBeHappy #BringDestinyBack

She is still dead, but she hasn’t been forgotten - this is actually a long-running subplot Marvel laid down, though I’m with you in wanting them to Get To It already. My guess is we’ll start to see more building towards this particular plotline once X of Swords is done, though it won’t actually be the NEXT major storyline. Just a hunch, but my bet is the next focal storyline the X-books concentrate on after X of Swords wraps up is the conflict brewing with the Children of the Vault, after Darwin, Laura and Synch got taken prisoner by them in one of the earlier issues of the core X-Men title. 

Alternatively, the next major focus is going to be on what’s brewing under the surface with Vulcan (though its also possible these are going to be one and the same. Gabe’s stories have always been linked with Darwin’s more than anyone else, and given that he’s front and central to whatever’s front and central with whatever’s coming with the CotV, it wouldn’t surprise me if our next face to face with Gabe’s ‘dark side’ ties into that same story. Ugh, Gabe going all Emperor Vulcan again and teaming up with the Children of the Vault....now there’s a scary thought. But dammit, just let Gabe be good, I’m so tired of this ‘there’s something just innately dark and evil inside of him’ crap, bleh. BUT I DIGRESS).

But anyway, the thing with Destiny is actually an ongoing subplot. Back in Powers of X, it was explicitly ‘decided’ by Moira, Xavier and Magneto that they were actively going to try and keep any precogs from being resurrected on Krakoa, including - and ESPECIALLY Irene - because basically, they’re afraid of the precogs, and the fact that there’s no hiding from them Xavier’s big secret.....for all his big talk, he doesn’t actually know what the HELL he’s doing. The thing they’re hiding from everyone else is that they actually already TRIED the Great Krakoa experiment at least once before, or at least to some degree, though we do know they’ve done at least some things differently this time around. 

But that was the future shown in Powers of X, where Moira ended up living 1000 years into the future before dying and resetting the timeline....and coupled with the fact that the three of them believe that they’re now on the LAST of Moira’s predicted eleven lifetimes, this is their last chance to ‘get it right’ so to speak, and to find a way forward that allows the mutant race to survive and flourish past any of the endpoints Moira’s previous lives and foreknowledge have shown....

Basically, the fear seems to be that if everyone else on Krakoa knew this background for how they came up with all of this and the futures they’re trying to avoid, as well as the fact that quite simply, they do not know if the course they’ve charted this time is going to be any more capable of circumventing the doom they keep butting up against lifetime after lifetime....this would undermine all faith in them and what they’re doing, and fracture the tenuous alliances that so far have everyone from the X-Men to Apocalypse and Sinister and Selene all working side by side. 

They ‘built’ modern Krakoa according to blueprints gleaned from actual knowledge of the future.....but they’re afraid of competing blueprints getting in the way of the road they’ve taken everyone down and derailing their own plan of action. Especially if everyone else were to find out that for all their confidence, they can’t say with certainty the road this time around is going to actually lead where they’re trying to go....and that in fact, they actually have a track record of a good half a dozen previous attempts where they got it disastrously wrong.

So even though Xavier explicitly promised Raven that he would resurrect Irene in exchange for her cooperation and her place on the Quiet Council.....he, Magnus and Moira have been shown meeting in secret to say that they are actually deadset against that happening. But Raven is no fool of course, and she’s suspected from the start that Xavier’s just playing her, and he has no intention of ever resurrecting Irene. (I mean, she was married to the man once, after all, as blergh as that Bendis-bite was. I may think it made for a spectacularly shitty and pointless story, but just saying, few people know how much shit Xavier is full of better than Mystique does). 

So we’ve been treated to scenes of Raven brooding deep in her underground Krakoan lair over a glance of wine and an angsty look at Irene’s old mask, vowing “I’ll get you yet, Xavier, and your little dog too,” because idk, why pass up a good Wicked Witch of the West allusion when its right there. Mystique works hard for her Brand, let her enjoy it.

She definitely knows the game that’s afoot, and she has no intention of letting Xavier get away with it. So she’s very clearly scheming on how to circumvent him and get the Five to resurrect Irene without Xavier’s help....but that’s easier said than done. She either needs leverage to force his hand, while still probably not knowing for sure WHY he’s stalling or trying to avoid bringing back Irene, and thus having no way to judge exactly HOW deadset against it he is, and thus how great of leverage she’d actually need to pull that off...or else, she needs a telepath she can trust (or y’know, trust that she has them securely in her pocket) but who also is strong enough to take Xavier’s place in the resurrection/brain download process....as well as needing access to the Cerebro archives where the back-ups of everyone’s consciousnesses are stored. 

(Incidentally, part of how Xavier’s been stalling here is he’s claimed once or twice that he only has back-ups stored of mutant consciousnesses from the point when he started actually preserving them, and Irene died BEFORE he started doing this so he just doesn’t have her in Cerebro, but this is pretty blatantly a lie. He brought back Petra and Sway, after all, and they very definitively died LONG before David killed Irene on Muir Island back in the day).

But yeah, I’m as impatient as anyone to see Irene back in action in all her chaotic cryptic glory, and for Raven/Irene to finally fucking rise the way they deserve. And oh holy hell is Raven’s wrath going to be an absofuckinglutely beautiful thing once she finally has her proof that Xavier - her ex-husband, lol, oh X-Men soap opera tangles - has been lying and scheming to keep her wife dead all this time. Like she’s literally said the words “I will burn Krakoa to the ground,” and I mean, its Raven. When she talks about razing Rome to ashes, she’s not joking. The woman does not bluff. She lies, she deceives, she steals, but she never ever fucking bluffs. There’s a big storm coming here and this particular one’s name is Hurricane Raven, not Ororo Munroe. I want it, and I want it nooooooooooow, lol, but I can’t actually claim that this has been overlooked by Marvel rather than just allotted a time table that isn’t to my liking because - 

OH I DON’T KNOW ITS NOT LIKE WE HAVEN’T ALREADY BEEN WAITING FOR THE RETURN OF IRENE ADLER FOR 84 BAJILLION FUCKING YEARS ALREADY, LIKE LOGAN HAS LITERALLY GONE TO HELL AND BACK A DOZEN TIMES SINCE IRENE FIRST EXITED PURSUED BY BEAR AND JEAN’S ASCENDED AND DE-PHOENIXED SO MANY TIMES DEATH HAS BASICALLY HANDED HER A PUNCH CARD THAT’S REDEEMABLE FOR ONE FREE RESURRECTION AFTER ITS ALL FULL AND C’MOOOOOOON. 

I mean.

WILDSIDE is back. After dying in Neverland in Tieri’s Weapon X run, RICHARD FREAKING GILL was brought back to life before IRENE FUCKING ADLER, I would simply like to express my undying HOOOOOOWWWWW??? to that. 

BUT.

I.

DIGRESS.

Ahem. Sorry, I just have very strong opinions on the subject of Irene, lololol. And well, everything. I probably have strong opinions on kumquats and I can’t actually recall at the moment if I’ve ever even eaten one or if I’m just particularly fond of that word and the saying of it. Look, you get what I mean.

Anyway, yeah. We’re getting Irene back eventually. There’s absolutely no way we’re not at this point. Even my cynicism can’t pretend otherwise. They haven’t just left Chekhov’s gun locked and loaded sitting on the mantlepiece here, they commissioned an entire arsenal of Chekhov’s guns and renamed them Irene Adler’s guns in her honor and left them all gift-wrapped on the front porch. Its coming. Its just not. Here YET. (Cut to me being a five year old on a long car ride are we there yet are we there yet are we there yet how bout now - )

So yeah. That’s the scoop, the skinny, the shit(ake mushroom) on this particular subject.

Incidentally, on a related note, I am still of the opinion that pretty much all of Powers of X was one giant red herring, and the real direction all of this is building towards, with Moira, with the Five and the resurrection protocols.......ultimately, I think its all really been about IRENE’S machinations from the start, and Moira and Charles have actually been marching to the beat of HER drum ever since the very first time Irene and Moira encountered each other way back in Moira’s fourth lifetime.

Basically, I think it allllllllll really comes back to the fact that....

Irene Adler is a beautiful fucking liar who lies as only Raven Darkholme’s One True Love possibly can, and she played Moira like a fiddle from Day Fucking ONE.

Full theory on that can be found here:

https://bigskydreaming.tumblr.com/post/188290623176/so-house-of-x-2plot-hole-or-lie-when-destiny

[newx-menfan]

X-Men #1 Review

*Spoilers* 

 The issue starts with Scott remembering Xavier giving him the ruby quartz glasses as a teenager, (And slightly looking like James McAvoy...) when Scott was in the foster care system and talking bout 'blindness'. (Foreshadowing coming up!) 

 Back in the present, a team is attacking the Orchis base. 

 Lorna and Magneto bond over ripping off the ceiling (you know, it's the little things...).

 The evil scientist and evil soldier debate about deleting all the data but the evil scientist chooses instead to have them inject themselves with a serum that turns them into super smart gorillas (because there's an unsaid rule that comic books CANNOT not have an evil gorilla SOMEWHERE- seriously, it's a tradition...), and Magneto deals with them while the rest of the team look for captive mutants.

 One of the captives is a mutant/post human from the future who tries to mind control them before teleporting away. There is mention of her being from the Vault; harking back to Mike Carey’s X-Men Legacy (does this mean Indra pops up again??) They decide to wait on the council's decisions on whether to chase after her and instead focus on the other captive mutants. 

 The children are on Krakoa and Cecilia Reyes is checking on them (also apparently psychic therapy has been brought back to the X-schools...which...honestly...thank GOD!).

 Storm seems too happy to Cyclops to fight for Krakoa/wearing herself out, (Honestly I think Storm's just happy to hopefully no longer be the background diversity in X-Books and possibly get character development again...but whatevs Cyclops...) and Magneto is living up the celebrity thing (in his defense-he IS a fashion icon, though...). 

 Scott talks with Lorna and mentions Havok (just let Lorna be single and away from your s***** brother, Cyclops!) and talks about how much he believes in Krakoa. 

 Back at Orchis- a ton of people died, evil scientist/Devo is pissed and Omega sentinel is kind of already over her story arc. Girl scientist whose husband got killed gets mentioned and her bad decisions, but Devo takes the blame. 

 We see Cyclops new pad! (Some one totally copied Black Bolt on the whole moon thing just to piss of the Inhumans...) Cyclops has some bonding moments with Corsair. 

 Back at Orchis, Devo's revealed to...dun dun dun... be blind! and used technology to gain enhanced vision (foreshadowing complete.).  

 Also girl scientist whose husband died is shown to be alive and PISSED. She didn't attend hubby's funeral because she was working on a top secret project- using a crystal to bring back her husband!

 Opinions: 

 While it APPEARS a lot happened from the summary- honestly not a lot really did. 

 This issue was the standard pilot issue, in my opinion. Setting up the plot without a lot of characterization and explaining background from Powers/House of X. 

 Still not 'WOWED' by any characterizations in this book past the classic X-villains and Emma. Everyone just kind of feels 'blah' and while not as bad as previous x-events where the dialogue felt interchangeable; it still feels a bit disappointing considering how gripping all these characters can be... 

 So far the main big bad of this series are also a bit bland-hopefully Hickman finds some way to make the Orchis plot point more interesting... 

 Is Hickman just admitting Logan/Jean/Scott are in a poly relationship? Not that I have a problem with it- honestly that's a WAY better choice than the overplayed triangle; but I did find it amusing Logan seems to be living in the Summer's pad... 

 Still really missing 'Rightclops'...like this Cyclops isn't BAD, but I don't care for some of the naïveté. 

 Marvel still trying to make Vulcan a thing (🙄 seriously if we're going to fixate on overpowered characters- there's so many better options than white bread Macalienwhitebread...Like I 'd take Adam instead because at least he's highly entertaining!) 

Somewhere Nate Grey is crying in a corner watching this BBQ... 

 Still hate Baby Cable with a thousand suns... 

 Poor Rachel is still the blacksheep 😢...

 Really want Hellion standing outside Cyclop's house with a boom box and a tee-shirt that reads 'I was right' with the whole technology angle/Omega Sentinel ... (If Hickman gives this to me-I will make a meme praising him as the next 'Stan Lee'). 

*I kind of skipped the whole ‘Children of the Vault’ shout out in my original post, honestly because while I love Mike Carey’s run I was kind of ‘meh’ on them and really my only excitement around them being mentioned is Indra. 

 Theories: 

 Mystique is going to be blamed for the crystal/Krakoa thing, although I don't know if it was actually Raven smuggled something on the last mission...

Obviously the mystery mutant/possible Child of the Vault is going to be the Daenerys to Xavier’s Bobby B and pose a huge threat of revealing that the X-Men’s future is always super F*****!

[kinetic-elaboration]

November 4: Notes on Exiles

Completely random notes on Exiles, my fic for the latest round of Chopped:

In this universe, magic exists, but magical people are a minority, and most non-magical people are wary of them, at best. Being ‘magical’ is a difficult to define concept: it is inherent--one does not choose to practice magic and suddenly ‘become magical’--but some people’s magic looks more like learned skills than natural traits.

Bellamy and Clarke founded Arcadia (named after the traditional home of faeries) with the intention of creating a safe place for magical people to live, together, without fear of discrimination or violence. But the community is the first of its kind and still a little rough.

Some notes on their powers:

Clarke has the power to heal (I don’t conceive of this as a like ‘bam, I’ve swished my hands and you’re cured,’ so much as like an advanced ability to bring people back to health but, yeah, it’s vague) and is also more immune than average to disease herself.

Bellamy is telepathic, but I think of his telepathy as similar to, like, Vulcan touch telepathy from Star Trek, first because I always loved Vulcan touch telepathy and second because it’s not as creepy. Why is Bellamy telepathic? Because he’s the strong and silent type lol also it seemed right in the moment.

Miller is super fucking strong. (This is also canon.)

Jasper makes potions (he’s a chemist!!) and Monty has a super-green thumb and can grow magical plants. Again, these look like skills, but they’re not. Because I said so.

I realize Harper isn’t even in this story but I had this idea that maybe she can fly. I don’t know why. I just thought that was a nifty image.

Octavia I’m not sure about and obviously she didn’t come up in the fic itself. She might be a fairy. Because she was going to be a fairy in a chopped fic I was going to write in April but didn’t, because I made Raven a werewolf instead. She would be, of course, a half-fairy in this instance.

Raven’s power is the vaguest in the fic itself, which is a little dumb as she’s my pov character BUT I had a hard time getting it into words for myself. Also plot concerns. Initially I was going to say she made magical objects, and I still think this is her Main Thing. Like supernatural Hephaestus. But I also see her as someone who maybe doesn’t know how to harness her power quite yet or where to channel it--she’s more like Clarke, Jasper, or Monty, in the sense that her magic is tied up in action, as opposed to like Bellamy or Miller or Murphy, who have certain distinct abilities. Like canon Raven, she’s messing around with stuff that is basically defensive, but could still be very violent or actively harmful--like her canon landmines, or the knife she sells Murphy in this fic. She also has magical ability not tied to objects, again, because, plot.

Murphy is a firestarter because, canonically, he was arrested for setting a fire and I like making him fire-obsessed in fics for that reason. Gotta take one minor fact and then just repeat it over and over, that’s how I roll. Also it’s a cool aesthetic. As I was writing, I decided that people who can create fire are considered a bit dangerous even by magical people, because it’s such an inherently destructive and kind of scary thing to be able to do. This possibly contributed to the group accusing Murphy of murder so easily--or at the very least, he thinks it did, if that makes sense.

Even though the common denominator among the delinquents in this verse is that they are magical, not prisoners, most of them have vaguely criminal backgrounds because of how hard it is to be a magical person in their society. Some of them come from places where the use of magic is itself criminalized. Murphy alludes to this in the final scene: that they all have difficult pasts and have done things they regret.

I like this story now more than I did when I wrote it, but mostly I like the general idea and the last two sections. The main reason I wrote the whole thing is that I had the start of it, which I wanted to get down, and after that I knew if I didn’t finish it for the actual competition, it would just sit forever and taunt me, and I didn’t want another thing on my ‘hey I should write the rest of this’ list. Generally, though, of course it’s not as good, written in less than 24 hours, than something written over a longer period, with more planning. I feel like it’s almost an outline, like a better story is hidden within it.

The biggest issue is how Murphy and Raven basically go 0 to 100 in terms not just of attraction, but affection. This is especially jarring on Raven’s end because she’s been complaining about Murphy in every previous scene. I tried to make it semi-clear that she’s not really upset at him--unlike in canon, he didn’t do anything to her specifically, and (like in canon) she wasn’t even in Arcadia when Charlotte died. She’s upset because of what he symbolizes, a threat to the first safe place she’s ever known, and because, not really knowing the extent of her own ability or how best to use it, he reminds her a bit of herself. She’s cultivated an image as someone known for defensive magic but her mother always thought she was dangerous, and she feels guilty.

So when they met before Arcadia there might have been a spark, and when she’s actually with him, they do get along. The potion strips away everything else that’s been clouding her mind and gives her room to develop real feelings. But since we see them interacting for like 2 seconds before they take the potion, this isn’t super clear imo.

Murphy, obviously, has always been in love with Raven, which is also canon, imo (I really do think he had a crush on her going back to S1).

My original idea was, at first, to parallel Murphy’s canon story line for longer, to have the others get sick and then have him earn back trust by taking care of them. But that would take too long, and for what return? In canon he then goes about and starts killing people in revenge and I had no intention of him doing that here. I also wasn’t sure at what point the potion would come in, or how.

I had one vague idea that it would be spilled on them, like ‘whoops, I tripped and fell and all these half-mixed magical brews I was carrying just spilled all over you!’ but that seemed lame and also logistically difficult, especially as the story developed. Is it realistic that either of them, Raven especially, would just take a potion when they don’t know exactly what it does? Eh, I mean... it’s my universe, they’re like 22-ish years old and I say that silly young magical-people do dumb shit and are trusting of other silly young magical-people.

Murphy and Raven first met in a port city in Virginia because the show’s (early) canon is conveniently set in a state I happen to know decently well and I must take advantage of that whenever possible.

[livinginbeauty-net]

  Our campsite tree at Myrtle Beach State Park

“While I nodded, nearly napping, suddenly there came a tapping,           As of some one gently rapping, rapping at my trailer door. Tis some visitor,” I muttered, “tapping at my trailer door —           Only this, and nothing more.”

– adapted from The Raven by Edgar Allen Poe

Deer Lake Park – Burnaby, British Columbia, Canada

Jim celebrated his sixty-fourth birthday on October 4th. And if that wasn’t spooky enough, we were all alone in the woods.

With the temperature in the high 20’s at night and the high 30’s daytime, we were the solitary campers in a large densely forested park during the last a few days before seasonal closing. Shuswap Lake Provincial Park was kinda creepy in a beautiful way.

Shuswap Lake Provincial Park – Scotch Creek, British Columbia, Canada

Shuswap Lake Provincial Park – Scotch Creek, British Columbia, Canada

Shuswap Lake Provincial Park – Scotch Creek, British Columbia, Canada

But good friends, old and new, warmed our rattling bones with home-cooked delights and even met us at a cheerful pub, right across the road from our campground to toast Jim’s Beatle Birthday.

64th Birthday at The Hub

Birthday at The Hub with Laura and Paul.

Pattie is a great cook!

Pilpil! Got the recipe!

Watching the salmon run was the perfect metaphor for an epic Birthday Month. Old age ain’t for sissies! Whenever the futility of life gets me down I will turn to the salmon for inspiration …

Then, we moved south to a slightly warmer climate in Sasquatch Country!

We must return to Harrison Hot Spring in June for Sasquatch Days!

Hiking in Sasquatch country

Jim performed a Vulcan mind-read on the Sasquatch!

Lost in Sasquatch country

Sasquatch live here.

Our campsite beside a natural outdoor stage with amazing acoustics.

Very Sasquatchy, if you ask me.

In a few days, we will be in Port Townsend for my birthday and I will miss the trains in Canada. Trains soothe my mind and put me in a mood to ruminate.

Warming our feet by the fire tonight in our cozy campground on Cariboo Place, we realize how these past twenty-seven months of travel have connected us to the land, our roots, long lost friends and family … and also to some unexpected encounters with the spirit world.

Interested? Pull up a chair and sit for a spell …

Our campsite tree

The Ghost Lights

We’re not paranormal enthusiasts, but now and then, one or both of us have a feeling that a place is, well, invested with an energy – sometimes good and sometimes not so good. Traveling has sharpened our senses, made us more keen and perceptive.

An example of good energy is the ghost lights of Anza-Borrego which stayed right beside us inside our tent throughout a treacherous night of flash floods, making us feel safe and protected. Only a decade later did we learn they were The Ghost Lights. We thought they were angels.

The Monticello Snake Story

After a restful night at Golden Acres Ranch near Monticello where – we had no idea at the time – one in three houses are recorded (in a somewhat legitimate way) as haunted, I felt compelled to stop the rig on a narrow country road to take pics of an intriguing cottage.

A big yeller dog roused up from the porch and raised his hackles. The home’s human occupant promptly emerged from the house and, he – an exquisite orator in the southern tradition – recited, to my delight, a popular regional snake story.

What a gift! I hung on every word. Floridians, in my book, have full rights to all snake stories and this gentleman is a master of the art. But sometimes a house wants to tell its own story like the one in Opelika, Alabama …

Spring Villa

On our way to Fort Pickens from my sister’s house in Tennessee, we’d hoped to overnight near Opelika. We pulled into Spring Villa Park and Campground on the chance they might have space for the night.

Instantly, our eyes fixed on the gorgeous old antebellum mansion and our immediate response was, “What a shame.” Poor thing needs some serious TLC.

At the check-in, a pale middle-aged ranger with a balding head and bulbous eyebags announced in a slow, gravelly baritone that the old house is haunted. Jim loved it. Thought it was an act. “Okay. That’s really cool” he said.

The ranger, unamused, held his weary “this-is-no-joke” gaze.

“So, um. Is the house being restored?” Jim asked.  “No.” replied the caretaker/ranger guy, “We can’t find anyone to do the work. Like I said, it’s haunted.”

While this continued, I took Pico on a walk and observed the other campers who seemed to be excessively goth for small-town Alabama. A lady in a flowing satin-black gown and lipstick smiled and gave me a cheerful, “Hey!” as she decorated her picnic table in black chenille with purple string lights in late-November.

But, too tired to change our minds and more concerned about the basketball-sized anthills than the superstitious southern folk, we opted to stay put.

You see, we’d just come from Costco in Birmingham, and all we wanted to do was properly stash an obscene amount of food, and present our fresh, new rosemary Christmas tree for its first night of the season.

After dinner, we settled down, watched a movie and got ready for bed.

Jim always turns in around 10 pm while I take Pico for his last walk. But on this night, Jim grabbed the leash.

I presumed he was acting in my behalf due to the creepy neighbors. “I want to check this place out,” he said.

I had half a mind to go with him and said so, but then he got in a spooky mood and let loose an Jack Nicolson “Here’s Johnny” imitation. “Sure you don’t want to go?” he said, creeping me out better than I thought he could. I said, “Uh-uh. Not playing this game. But take the phone and may unicorns and rainbows guide you.”

He speed-dialed me and off he went into the sultry Southern night on a Young Goodman Brown escapade/with chihuahua.

Pico de Gallo – a big N. Hawthorne fan.

On digital technology, I listened to their footfall through the deep wet grass as Jim slapped mosquitos off his face.

The squishy walking suddenly stopped!

“What’s going on? I asked. “Gotta ditch the headlamp … Bugs.” Then, squish, squish, squish … on they walked. Presently, Jim said, “I’m at the house.” He said it real important-like – as if he were about to set foot on the moon.

The boards creaked under his weight. Then, Pico sounded urgent warning barks. Several voices popped up in the background, women’s voices!

When Pico calmed down Jim told me the women were ghost hunters using an app to detect paranormal energy. The app told them that a presence was just inside the door. So Jim fastened his headlamp again just as … the door opened! The women screamed and ran.

“Just leave!” I said.

“Hold on,” he said, “It was probably a draft but I’m taking a photo … Sending.” The photo showed the door about three inches ajar from the inside. But what sent chills down my spine and made me scream, “Run!!!” was the shadow-play of Jim’s hand and iPhone which appeared to be a freshly dug grave and tombstone.

A sudden thunderstorm…

… on Lake Ponchartrain drove us off the designated bike lane near Fontainebleau State Park.  We took shelter in a gazebo in an old cemetery.

By all appearances, we were alone. Yet, we both felt we were being watched.

Then … Out of nowhere

(Everything happened so suddenly the details are difficult to assemble)

Out of nowhere, a young man appeared in the gazebo with us – a boy really – blue eyes, brown hair, medium build, wearing dungarees and denim shirt. Just as I noticed the number on his shirt, I spied a work truck, way back in a far corner of the cemetery with a guard and several prisoners around it. Ah, a routine maintenance program. Of course.

We exchanged hellos and his dialect suggested he was from the area. He asked if we wanted to see some bones. Bones? No! We’re just passing by, ducking the weather, we explained.

But he wouldn’t have it. Bones we would see. For mercy’s sake and politeness, we followed the young man, and upon his request, we peered between broken crypt walls to behold the bones he spoke of.

But when we looked up to ask the boy if he knew the name of the deceased, he was gone – vanished – nowhere to be seen or heard and no sign of the old truck and crew.

Natchez

And, oh, where to begin with Natchez? The ghosts outnumber the living so they all just have to to go along to get along.

Kings Tavern in Natchez – the most haunted pub in Mississippi

Boothill

But our most haunting moment was near Mount Moriah Cemetery, commonly known as Boothill where this row of tombstone clouds reminded us of the single row of thirteen civil war graves of unknown soldiers on the Natchez Trace.

Fort Pickens

We could go on and on … Fort Pickens and the bomb removal squad.

The set of LOST?

Savannah

The Old Pirate House

The Haunted “Old Pirates House” in Savannah

and Moon River Brewing Company,

The Travel Channel’s Ghost Adventures featured this brewing company.

Harper’s Ferry

Harpers Ferry ghost stories…

But that’s enough. Now, it’s time to pass the Talking Stick.

Do you have a ghost story to share – one from personal or second-hand experience?

Or just a good travel yarn, perhaps?

We’re dying to hear it.

Let’s see if we can keep this campfire burning through Halloween night!

Nothing like a few ghost stories before Halloween! “While I nodded, nearly napping, suddenly there came a tapping,           As of some one gently rapping, rapping at my trailer door.

[fereality-indy]

If I wrote Teen Titans Rebirth

As some of you know I've been a Teen Titans fan pretty much since I started reading comics way back in kindergarten. And recently I went through and read the first baker's dozen issues of the series Rebirth and I'm not that impressed. First off, like Nightmare52 they seem to be completely glazing over several versions of the team.

And next it's not the Teen Titans, it's Damian Wayne and four others. Let me say this, I'm not a fan of young mister Wayne at all. Tim Drake is my favorite Robin, sorry Nightwing you're a close second. As far as I'm concerned Damian can just go and have his adventures with Jonathon Kent as the Super Sons and leave the Titans alone.

Now that that is out of the way, one of my favorite things about the last run of the Teen Titans (prior to Nightmare52 of course) was the elder Titans (Cyborg, Beast Boy, Raven, & Starfire) taking the next generation (Robin, Superboy, Wonder Girl, & Kid Flash) under their wings and teaching them as they went. I'd have made thjs team along those lines.

So here we go my team:

First off, one of the two in charge of this new team Beast Boy. One of my biggest problems with the new series (other than Damian) is they've turned Gar back into a pranking comedy relief character. He had grown and matured so much prior to Nightmare52, but no he was comedy relief in the toon so he must be now. Don't get me wrong, I loved the cartoon but it doesn't need to dictate how the characters should act in the comics.

Next is Raven. Another favorite who would be great as the cornerstone of the team and as an empath a great teacher. Her relationship with Gar (another thing they are forgetting) hS helped her to open up & not be so dour all the time.

As the final "teacher", Mirage has alot to offer. Trained in a harsh alternate future by someone who was a version of Nightwing (Deathwing, the father of her child), she has significant tactical and hand to hand capabilities to pass on and a desire for a better world for her daughter.

For the first recruit/member I'm going with Misfit. Charlie Gage-Radcliffe is my teams 'Robin'. Like Tim she was able to work out the secret identity of one of the most secretive people (Oracle) in the DC universe and earbed the respect of the rest of the Birds of Prey. Barbara asked her to join the Titans as a way for her to better interact with those closer to her own age.

Zachary Zatara has been a Titan before and didn't like it. But recent events (that would be covered in flashbacks) have caused him to change his mind on the benefits of having a team around. He also begins to study other aspects of mysticism (than those he knows as a homo-magi) with Raven. As a "third generation" hero and someone living up to not one but two names, he fits the"Kid Flash" mold for my team.

Another former Titan, Argent came back to the team because she missed the sense of comradery. Her hard light abilities can potentially become as powerful as a Green Lantern corps ring, but she needs training. As a half alien and a powerhouse she fits in as the 'Superboy' of my team.

Vulcan (formerly Son of)'s last try at being a Titan did not end so good, but he's determined to make this attempt better. His other-worldly ties and mystical background would make him my 'Wonder Girl' for the team.

And finally there's Proxy. Another former Titan, Wendy Harris is ths daughter of the Calculator and the protege of Oracle. Wheelchair bound since an attack by a literal Hellhound during her last stint with the team, she has since become second to Oracle in the superhero info game and now uses her talents to help out the new team. She also babysits for Mirage's daughter while the team is out in the field.

Now would this be a perfect team, no. But they could learn to work great together. And I would cycle in former Titans (Tim, Conner, Dick, Kory, Victor, etc) in as guest teachers once in awhile. Would the team change? Yeah, eventually I'd love to bring in Rocket, Bombshell, Mas y Menos, Solstice, a new Dial H holder (based more closely on the Chis King & Vicki Grant incarnation than the more modern uses), Spoiler, etc. As for the storyline I'd do the first two or so issues with the recruitment/training/personality clashes as the focus with a couple of panels showing various minor Titans villans (Mighty Endowd, Mad Mod [last seen actually working with Argent's original Titans group], Michael "Disruptor II" Beldon, Kid Crusader, Haze) being kidnapped/assaulted/murdered. Proxy puts two & two together after the death of Haze and realizes that someone is targeting enemies of the team. The investigation would lead to the discovery that Deathwing (former Titan in the same future as Mirage and the father to her daughter) has taken over the leadership of tbe Terror Titans (Dreadbolt, Persuader, Copperhead, and new members Cricket, Dodge, & Panara). Eventually they would find out that Deathwing is working for Brother Blood & the Church of Blood and again working towards the goals of Trigon.