#deborah strang

[california-112]

The X-Files | S02E12 'Aubrey'

[romanoffs22]

The way they would be such perfect friends 😭😭

Like I need them to meet 🥹

[daylennemelendez]

Synopsis

The story takes place at around Halloween where the young ghostbusters notice something more than strange affecting their neighborhood on a somber evening. Moreover, they realize a sinister force has breached the firehouse‘s internal control systems according to Dr. Spengler, their mentor. In addition, the sinister force causing the breach is none other than Lilith. Her vile existence intruded the firehouse when the group noticed the level of psychokinetic energy surpassed out of the other demons they encountered. The young ghostbusters struggle to protect their home but failed until they sought help from Dr. Strange and Madame Meredith. They fled the firehouse as fast as they can even though their defeat wasn't tragic when their firehouse is damaged. Dr. Spengler was passed out after confronting the Red Death Army while protecting the containment grid. All hope is lost for the young ghostbusters crew, but fortunately, they found the Avengers at the Abbey along with the Midnight Suns. With both Koza’rai and Lilith on the rampage in summoning the evil Chthon and Ivo Shandor, merging both to become one known as Ivo Chthon, it’s up to the Young Ghostbusters and the Midnight Suns to work together to desist the looming threat.

Characters

There are 32 characters in the roster: 16 from Young Ghostbusters and 16 from Midnight Suns

Young Ghostbusters

Egon Spengler III (voiced by Roger Craig Smith): the leader of the young ghostbusters crew who wields his signature weapon, the proton fist, and fights for justice. He also wields a ghost sniffer, though it acts as a riding crop rather than detecting for odors the spirits left. His tertiary weapon of choice is the psychokinetic defibrillator, which can zap his ghostly opponents as well as exorcising the possessor spirit from their human hosts. He was bullied by a devious group of kids led by Baxter at Hunter College High School before becoming a ghostbuster when he met Peter, Ray, and Winston at the lockers. His fascination with the paranormal was inspired by his late idol, Dr. Lori Fischer. He underwent a physical transformation by taking aerobic classes -as well as dojo and kickboxing classes from Venkman- and handed his fungi collection to his older counterpart in exchange for a new hobby. Moreover, he readopts the bad boy persona but on his own terms. After a few years apart from paranormal action and traveling across the globe to encounter minor entities, he reunited with his mentor and older counterpart from the original timeline, Dr. Egon Spengler, to whom he has a close bond, is a with throughout his days as a ghostbuster. It is also revealed that he published his first book called Paranormal Phenomenon 101 featuring Egon Spengler III, an autobiographical novel about his experiences and adventures with the paranormal.

Deborah Dodgers (voiced by Kari Wahlgren): the young ghostbuster of love and cousin of Egon Spengler III and the only female of the group. She moved to New York City to become a ghostbuster like her cousin after witnessing the death of her mother, Taylor, by the hands of her evil sister Yesenia. Every night, she writes letters to her father Patrick on how her life in New York was throughout her adventure. She is the hostess of her hit paranormal series, ‘Paranormal Diaries’, with her fellow ghostbuster Winston Zeddemore III manning the camera. Deborah wields a set of proton whips crafted by Dr. Spengler and Ray Stantz III can use her green slime tethers to glue herself into safer places without drenching herself in black slime. She also uses her PKE meter app from her iPhone to detect any form of paranormal activity. Deborah dated Peter Venkman III, though his cockiness towards women made her jealous. At the time of her huge birthday party at Hunter College High School, Deborah met her favorite superhero Spider-man in person, along with the other Marvel heroes and the late Stan Lee. Now, she and Spider-man will cross paths again to save New York and the world from the evil Lilith and Koza’rai before things expect to be worse, much worse.

Ray Stantz III (voiced by Aaron Dismuke): the brains of the group -as well as the young ghostbuster of wisdom- and former investigation correspondent for the Daily Bugle, the same newspaper company where Peter Parker worked as a photographer. He is also a genius gadgeteer who invents sufficient ghost catching weapons for the team, for he shares the same jargon as his current mentor, Dr. Spengler. Prior to his immense popularity in his ghost-busting adventures, Ray met Egon Spengler III at their first period biology class during freshmen year. He heard a sign of domestic paranormal activity affecting their school when a ghost crept in their classroom. Years later, he met the young Egon again at the museum while covering an investigation of the incident for the Daily Bugle; it’s until he got fired after explaining what transpired on the night of the encounter though he has his fellow young ghostbusters by his side. Ray uses his ghost facts book to garner deeply on the subject correlating to his spectral encounters. Moreover, the information he has sought displays on his ecto-scouter, and the schematic composition consists within the locations he and the other young ghostbusters were consigned. He wields a bow and has a set of arrows emitting proton energy tied to his quiver that is attached to his proton pack; in addition, he can contact his tactically armored ecto-drones to assist him into the battlefield as well as restraining them with their capture streams.

Winston Zeddemore III (voiced by Khary Payton): the tough guy and only black male of the team as well as the young ghostbuster of kindness. He met Egon, Peter, and Ray at the lockers of Hunter College High School when confronting a paranormal threat with Dr. Fischer. During the team’s hiatus, he began working as a cameraman for Paranormal Diaries, a hit paranormal web series, with fellow ghostbuster Deborah Dodgers. The two have gotten in a strong relationship since the moment Peter introduced him to Deborah. In addition to this, Deborah and Winston discovered the two Egons and Ray at the museum during the ghost janitor incident. Thanks to the reunion of the young ghostbusters, their hit paranormal web-series surpassed a million views. He wields a ghost trimmer and a ghost duster ray gun to disable fast flying spirits. Much to his fascination with the paranormal world, he joined in with his fellow young ghostbusters on missions Dr. Spengler disclosed during the Gozerian scepter era.

Peter Venkman III (voiced by Max Mittelman): the comedian of the group and former leader of the group - not to mention the young ghostbuster of courage. He met Egon on his way to school on the first day. Most of the time, he insults Dr. Spengler unnecessarily, which also demeans the other young ghostbusters, which can lead him into trouble. Peter is considered cunning and evasive towards the demons and specters he encountered due to the gravitational flux skates on his feet. When the young Ghostbusters arrived at Salem, he spurned the choice of shelter. Dr. Strange and Madame Meredith chose but later accepted it after Egon III told him they have no choice but to desist Lilith. Most of the time, he gets what’s coming to him by becoming the bait. He worked as a security guard for an elementary school, much to his boss’ chagrin over the ghost stories he shared with the children and slacking on the job. Wielding a proton mini-gun, Peter will blast and pave his way to victory for his fellow young ghostbusters and the midnight suns.

Dr. Egon Spengler (voiced by Hugh Laurie): He was a parapsychology professor like his colleagues Dr. Venkman and Dr. Stantz until they we’re evicted from their offices as the university discontinues its branches for the kids’ activity. The trio established a paranormal company called Ghostbusters, which helps the citizens who are tormented by troublesome spirits or demons. He has a sincere connection with Caridee when he entered the young ghostbusters universe in the midst of the Crymson strife in New York City. Dr. Spengler learned from the multiverse that his original counterpart was killed by Gozer at the farmhouse. In addition, his sacrifice is not in vain, for it saved not only the future of his grandchildren and daughter Callie but for his comrades and the other citizens. He serves as the de facto mentor of the young ghostbusters and provides them with dangerous ghost hunting missions. With his green buddy Slimer by his side to aid him in combat against his enemies, Dr. Spengler will join the young ghostbusters and the midnight suns alongside thwart Lilith’s forces from terrorizing the entire globe.

Jason Briggs (voiced by Matthew Mercer): He was another classmate of the young ghostbusters in their high school. The spirit of Zuma, who was once possessing the young Egon, emerges from the shadows and dashes toward Jason. Moreover, Zuma leaves a permanent mark on his right forearm, for the spiritual energy within the mark indicates he is chosen as well as gaining its spiritual powers. Dr. Spengler assumed the role Zuma played in the possession reveals a connection with the living, for she attaches herself to Jason despite some restraints that he stated. Now, as a ghostbuster outside of the force, Jason occasionally assists Dr. Spengler and the young ghostbusters on dangerous ghost-busting missions while possessing Zuma’s spiritual powers.

Madame Meredith (voiced by Carol Bach y Rita): She is a gypsy woman who helped the young ghostbusters before their final battle against Zakudir and Ivo Shandor; in addition, she possesses a unique gift of magic compared to the other magicians. She has a sincere connection with both divination and the paranormal, and Meredith can manifest her spiritual powers such as levitation to determine whether the paranormal commences its escalation. Madame Meredith portends the fate of the city by asking the young ghostbusters to imagine themselves confronting the spirit face to face before the prediction happened. She discovered the book of Shandor, which grants her magic powers prior to her first encounter with the paranormal and mystical practices, for it runs through her bloodline. Now, Madame Meredith will be assisting the young ghostbusters with her supernatural magic and keen knowledge.

Hasuhide Takimata (voiced by Johnny Yong Bosch): he is the older brother of Saya Takimata and younger brother to Yomi Takimata. He met the young ghostbusters and Dr. Spengler during the paranormal eclipse era, helping his sister overcome the horrors of her alleged demon stalker claiming to be their archenemy, Zakudir. With the cunning edge technology he crafted, such as ghost-trapping bolas and other high-tech weapons, Hasuhide can tackle dangerous apparitions and demons with the latest gadgets he crafted to propose his ruse such as his yo-yo shaped traps. Hasuhide improvises the gadgets he crafted when he was tackling various yokai back in his home in Mie. In addition, he advocated the students from Dream Academy, the school where he graduated from before the blackmailing incident, for he and the principal worked together to put an end to an sinister force responsible for the involvement in the scheme. He has a certain connection with a ghost of the sister of a classmate whom he knew. In comparison to his sister, Hasuhide can determine if the ghosts or demons were plotting their vendetta against the young ghostbusters crew.

Mei Hua Yu (voiced by Trina Nishimura): She is a psychic medium and a spirit fighter who possessed the power to encounter the spirits face to face. Mei Hua possesses the kind of psychic ability that allows her to attack her enemies, similar to that of Jason Briggs and Madame Meredith, for she senses paranormal sensations occur at every angle. Mei Hua Yu can summon her psychic chakram to help thrive against aggressive spirits and demons that attempt to conquer the world. In addition, she can sense emotions from spirits in the midst of the storm. Combining her psychic powers with martial arts, Mei Hua Yu became the most powerful psychic fighter ever to live on the planet.

Blue Stormhawk (voiced by Daniel Lujan): he’s a shaman inspired by his uncle Powatoan Hahn, and he inhabits the knowledge for demonology according to his deceased maternal grandfather, who was a renowned spiritualist who communicated with the dead. Blue Stormhawk inherits a spiritual connection with his grandfather when he died from an unknown illness. He gains the ability to communicate and confront the spirits using his shamanistic ways regarding his family lineage. He wields a secondary weapon that allows him to conjure good and bad spirits to assist him in combat and in performing his busterality.

Raoul Webber (voiced by John Burgimeier): he is another classmate of the young ghostbusters who has an experience with the paranormal beginning at the opera house where he confronts the Phantom of the Opera and enemy, Nino Erickson, saving his childhood friend Dana Christine. In fact, Raoul possesses the knowledge of his adversary more than Christine’s friends had witnessed, for it betides him at the expense of the opera house. During the rescue of Dana Christine, Raoul, alongside Deborah and Ray, discovered her at the clemency of Nino Erickson’s command.

Vigo the Carpathian (voiced by Robert Englund): he is the main antagonist of the Ghostbusters sequel, for he ordered his henchman Janosz Poha to kidnap the infant Oscar and use him as a weapon to make himself invincible. He is a tyrant and an evil sorcerer from the town of Carpathia during medieval times until his death in 1610 at the age of 105. Aside from his obsession from Oscar, he also craves for the Mysterious Caridee’s tremendous power. At the time of Caridee’s promotion, Vigo the Carpathian has returned to even the odds with the Ghostbusters by possessing her body.

Crymson (voiced by Xander Mobus): he is the ruler of an empire named after him during the medieval times in Bulgaria, rivaling against Vigo the Carpathian’s rule. Crymson is known to unleash a strife against humanity in the city of New York. He was betrayed by Thelma Tisgue, a female apparition who controls botany, and his empire has fallen apart. Now, out to seek his revenge, Crymson will resume his conquest to conquer the world with an iron fist, similar to that of Vigo, but he will unleash hell upon those who disobeyed his order. Crymson, in fact, rivals Vigo’s tyrannical power coupled with his own political ambitions to overthrow the Carpathian regime. He led his army of red moon ghosts and crimson knights in the ongoing war against Vigo’s army of the undead during the Netherworld civil war.

Cece Giddy (voiced by Tara Strong): she is a ghostly clown that haunts Ghost World Amusement Park after selling her own soul to the gatekeeper of the park, Karro Zans, for she enjoys terrorizing the park goers and luring them to their disappearances. She has suffered from a severe mental illness that causes her to repel her victims, for she stayed secluded in the park for all eternity. She wears her evil clown makeup to rouse a feeling of terror for her amusement. When the young ghostbusters arrived at the park to exterminate the demons haunting the park, Cece complicates their plans by unleashing hell upon them. In this game, Cece meets Dr. Faustus at the amusement park in an effort to escalate the negative activity by agreeing to lead Lilith to Koza’rai.

Zakudir (voiced by Troy Baker): he is a demon who serves Ivo Shandor in retribution against his former comrade Cazzar Shandor. Zakudir is the archenemy of the young ghostbusters, for his sole purpose is to unleash hell across the world; moreover, he will bring misery and pain upon the living when he grasps his primitive target, Saya Takimata.

Midnight Suns

Doctor Stephen Strange (voiced by Benedict Cumberbatch): After a horrific car accident that causes him his hands and his career as a neurosurgeon, Dr. Strange must find a different way to recover them despite the lack of medical remedy. It’s until he met The Ancient One, a powerful sorcerer, to whom he became a student at the mystic arts. In the same universe as the young Ghostbusters, his late student Caridee Barrett became his student and later moved back to New York to pursue a career as a paranormal expert and later paranormal phenomenon instructor, replacing her deceased comrade Dr. Lori Fischer. At Deborah’s birthday party, a spiritual clone of his handed an envelope with a message inside and a box containing Caridee’s best memories.

Captain Marvel/Carol Danvers (voiced by Erica Lindbeck): Carol Danvers dreamt of one day going into space when she was serving her time at the military. In addition to her life, Carol investigated and safeguarded the American space program from alien attackers responsible for the disruption impacting the conduit. On the other hand, her life was at stake when a Kree device affected her half alien DNA, which gained her super strength and the power to fly as well as harnessing vast cosmic energy to eliminate her enemies while working alongside the Avengers.

Iron Man/Tony Stark (voiced by Eric Loomis): Before becoming Iron Man, renowned engineer and playboy Tony Stark suffered an intense chest injury during the kidnapping in the Middle East. In addition, he constructs a powerful suit to not only save himself but to escape captivity. Later, he made arrangements to his suit by adding weapons and other technological apparatuses he designed through Stark Industries, the company he established. Moreover, after trying to conceal his identity, he spoke to the press that he is Iron Man, which got him besieged with questions from News reporters.

Blade/Eric Brooks (voiced by Michael Jai White): As a human who possessed supernatural abilities of a vampire, or a dhampir for short, Blade doesn’t share their vulnerabilities. Moreover, he utilizes his physiology to become the perfect vampire hunter.

Magik/Illyana Rasputina (voiced by Laura Bailey): Magik, also known as Illyana Rasputina, is a mutant with the ability to use her teleportation in her encounters against darker forces. She is a member of a fictional species of humanity known as mutants, who are born with superhuman abilities. Due to her imprisonment in (and later ruling) Limbo, dethroning Mephisto, she is a powerful sorceress. Moreover, her mutant power, which first manifested during her imprisonment in that Limbo, is the ability to teleport via stepping discs utilizing that dimension's magic.

Nico Minoru/Sister Grimm (voiced by Lyrica Okano): She is the daughter of a duo of super powered villainous wizards known as, ‘the Pride’; upon revealing the truth, she decides to run away with a group of teenagers known as the ‘Runaways’, forcing her and the group to unite to desist the schemes their supervillain parents plotted.

Ghost Rider/Robbie Reyes (voiced by Giancarlo Sabogal (Robbie Reyes) and Darin De Paul (Ghost Rider)): Robbie Reyes is a high school student who works as a mechanic at an auto shop who lives with his brother with special needs and seeks to escape from notorious gangs coming in his way.

Spider-Man/Peter Parker (voiced by Yuri Lowenthal): after being bitten by a radioactive spider at the museum, science whiz Peter Parker’s life changes as he becomes a crime fighter by the name of Spider-Man, while his personal life continues to offer him extraordinary obstacles. All his life, he dreamt of becoming an avenger like his idol Tony Stark. Peter uses his powers for his personal gain, for he learned from his late uncle Ben, who was killed by a thief that Parker failed to stop, that ‘with great power comes great responsibility.’ Now he begins to use his powers to stop crime as Spider-man. At the time of Deborah’s birthday party, he made a surprise appearance at Hunter College High School in front of a thousand students, including Deborah.

Captain America/Steve Rogers (voiced by Brian Bloom): Steve Rogers was enlisted in the military when he was a scrawny Army reject at the start of the Second World War. He became a super soldier when he volunteered for a risky military science experiment, for they injected him with the Super Soldier serum, transforming him into a powerful military soldier who fights against evil. After an encounter against the Red Skull, thus putting an end to the second World War, a terrifying accident left Steve frozen in suspended animation until the present day.

Wolverine/James “Logan” Howlett (voiced by Steve Blum): before he became known for his time with the X-Men, James ‘Logan’ Howlett was cursed with berserker fury, which earned him the reputation of both as an outstanding superhero and as a lethal killer. He was forced to abandon his family after horrific proof of gaining accelerated healing factor, sharp bone claws in each hand, and enhanced senses. Inheriting the name, ‘Logan’, he travels across the nation to help any mutant even battle evil mutants, including his arch nemesis Sabretooth. Logan was invited by Charles Xavier to the X-Men.

Scarlet Witch/ Wanda Maximoff (voiced by Emily O’Brien): she is first depicted as a reluctant villain alongside her twin brother, Pietro Maximoff, due to a hatred against Tony Stark and organized anti-American protests after her parents were killed by the Novi Grad Bombings. After knowing the true intentions of Ultron, she and her brother joined the Avengers during the Sokovia War.

The Hulk/Bruce Banner (voiced by Mark Ruffalo (as Bruce Banner)/Fred Tatascoire (as the Hulk): After a scientific experiment has gone awry, Bruce Banner’s inner demons transformed him into a massive green monster known as the Hulk. Most of the Hulk’s origins occurred when his estranged father began to experiment on himself and transfer his genes onto Bruce. In this version, he resists Lilith’s attempts to bring Armageddon and assists Dr. Spengler and Tony Stark on conducting experiments to help the young ghostbusters apprehend every ghost that escaped from the containment grid and put an end to Lilith and Koza’rai’s plot to summon the combined dark lord Ivo Chthon.

Doctor Faustus (voiced by Time Winters): he is an Austrian psychiatrist and criminal mastermind working for Hydra. His sole purpose is to bring Lilith back from her eternal slumber and bring her under Hydra’s control. He was killed by Crossbones to prevent the Midnight Suns and the Avengers from learning Lilith’s plans. In this version, he prevents the ghostbusters from learning Koza’rai’s plans under the care of Hydra. The young ghostbusters and the Midnight Suns will need Dr. Davis Tennyson’s assistance to go through time to prevent Koza’rai from destroying the world.

Crossbones (voiced by Rick D. Wasserman): he is an enemy Hydra supervillain and an adversary of Captain America, the one whom he seeks to assassinate but failed.

Sabretooth (voiced by John Byrne): he is a supervillain and an enemy of the Wolverine and the X-Men. Unlike Wolverine, Sabertooth‘s feral behavior led him responsible for a myriad of deaths throughout history, for both his personal pleasure and as a mercenary.

Mephisto (voiced by Jason Isaacs): he’s the arch-nemesis of Ghost Rider, and a major enemy to others including Doctor Strange, Spider-Man, and now the Young Ghostbusters.

unplayable sub-bosses

Koza’rai

Lilith

Final Boss

Ivo Chthon

Stages

Young Ghostbusters’ stages

Firehouse Sub-basement Bunker

Thelma’s nether gardens

New York cemetery catacombs

Parkview Psychiatric Hospital

Camp Waconda Field Arsenal

Ghost World Amusement Park

River of Slime

Garment District Fabric Factory

Vigo’s badlands

Sedgewick Hotel

Shandor Island Castle

Ghostbusters’ firehouse

Midnight Suns

Avengers Tower

Sanctum Sanctorum

Alphabet City

Hell’s Kitchen

The Abbey

Bleecker Street

The Forge

The havens

Wild Cliffs

Transia

Agatha’s shrine

Misty Moors

Non-playable characters

The Caretaker

Dr. Davis Tennyson

Trish Johnson

Saya Takimata

Charlie

Johnny Blaze

Janine Melnitz (photograph on yearbook)

Kylie Griffin (mentioned by Egon Spengler III)

Dr. Stantz (mentioned by Dr. Spengler)

The Mysterious Caridee

Agatha Harkness

Principal Glenwich (mentioned only)

Louis Tully

Walter Peck (mentioned only)

Luke Peck (mentioned only)

Dana Barrett

Dr. Fischer (mentioned only)

Vice Principal Hawkins (mentioned only)

Lady Elmhurst (mentioned only)

Dr. Reynolds/Cazzar Shandor (mentioned only and photograph)

Coach Hightower (photograph on yearbook)

Mrs. Solistia (photograph on yearbook only)

Callie Spengler (mentioned only)

Yelena Nicovich (statue only)

[blueish-bird]

I don’t believe in nominative determinism but I’m afraid of older women named Debbie

[calmcoldevening]

Why did they want to keep you with them? (slashers x reader)

TW! Mention of rape and abuse

Michael Myers

• Michael came to your house to kill you.

• He was prevented by one scene: you were crying and screaming, trying to escape from the grip of your "boyfriend", who forcibly undressed you. Disgusting attempted rape.

• Michael lay low, watching you for a while, watching your pleas and futile attempts to escape. Your gaze reflected the pain of betrayal. This was different from what Myers saw in the eyes of his victims during the murders.

• You reminded him of his mother. Michael grew up around women, and he saw how his mother often cried at night after a particularly hard shift at "work". And although he didn't feel anything towards you at that moment, he understood that it was wrong.

• In place of you and this guy, Michael saw Deborah and Ronnie. And he couldn't stand this sofa imbecile. Such a vile, cruel and disgusting person is not worthy of life, right?

• When he was done with the guy, Myers came up to you and squatted down. You, clearly still on the verge of hysteria and loss of consciousness, clung to his shoulders, burying your face in a blue jumpsuit. Michael didn't know how to react, he didn't feel anything, but something inside was telling him to comfort.

• The voices behaved strangely. At any other time they would have said kill, but not now. And only the mother's voice stood out among this gray series of sounds: "Calm her, Michael."

Bubba Sawyer

• That day you were traveling with Sally, her brother and friends. You've been pretty distant. You were always stressed out by such noisy companies, but Pam begged you, as one of her best friends, to go with them.

• When a strange hitchhiker jumps into your van, you are attracted to his behavior. Why is he so jumpy? Sick in the head? Perhaps. Your fears are confirmed when he snatches a knife from Franklin and cuts open his hand. You look at his distraught face and run up to him, thinking how to stop the blood faster. After walking in for a while, you grab your backpack and take out bandages and some ointments that you bought earlier at the nearest pharmacy. As carefully as possible, you rub his palm and wrap a clean bandage on top. Nubbins, as you will find out later, looks at you with shock and incomprehension.

• When you become one of the Sawyers' victims, it becomes a choice who they want to put at the table as a guest during a dinner party. The choice falls on you and Sally.

• Nubbins immediately recognizes you and begins to actively tell his brothers something. Did you help Nubbins? Bubba is impressed. You didn't offend his brother, but on the contrary, you showed sympathy!

• Bubba is heading towards you (you and Sally are sitting on the infamous bone sofa). He touches your cheek with his thick finger, and you smile nervously. You're ready to cry from fear right now; your lips are trembling, but no tears are flowing. Bubba repeats his action, this time stroking your chin. He smacks his lips strangely from time to time; you can see his crooked teeth.

• To be honest, Nubbins and Drayton never understood why their brother left you, but he continued to be adamant, carefully taking you to his room. He untied your limbs only in the late afternoon, when he was sure he could keep an eye on you.

Vincent Sinclair

• You came to Ambrose and decided to go to the store for a snack. Bo immediately called out to you and offered to go to his house. The boy is cute, smiling — why not?

• When you entered the Sinclair house, you immediately realized that the guy, or guys, it seems he had brothers, had not had proper care and care for a long time: all the rooms were dusty, and the kitchen was littered with dirty dishes and empty boxes of instant food.

• Without thinking twice, you decided to first clear the space a little, and then concoct something in a hurry. In the end, Bo gave it the go-ahead.

• While you are washing the dishes, a strong blow is heard upstairs, and then Bo's angry screams. You hurriedly wipe your hands and almost run to the second floor. Slowly approaching the right room, you hear Bo's furious voice. "Fuck, couldn't you've been more careful, huh? Now she's definitely gonna run away, damn it. And all because of you, bastard!". Then there was a thud.

• You run into the room and see Bo towering over a long-haired guy. He fell on his ass and pressed his hands to his face. You rush to him and help him up. "Are you okay? What was that? Does anything hurt?" you shower the man with questions and only now notice that his face is wearing a mask.

• "Get away from him. And you, freak, move it. You don't want to get another slap in the face, do you?". You frown and stand in front of the guy, blocking him from Bo. You let the long-haired one lean on your shoulder. "Don't yell at him. Can't you see that he's sick?".

• The only thing Vincent can think about at this moment is how you protect him, not afraid to raise your voice to Bo, and what kind of affectionate and warm hands you have. You gently hold him by his broad back, and even through the mask he feels a pleasant scent of perfume. Maybe I shouldn't kill you?

Bo Sinclair

• You arrived in Ambrose with your friends. Although, they could hardly be called that. They were extremely toxic and called you names all the time.

• Your car needed an inspection: while driving, something was knocking violently under the hood, so when one of the guys talked to Lester, you drove into town.

• This place seemed nice enough to you, even though it looked a little creepy and abandoned.

• When Bo was talking to a guy from your company who was driving a car, he saw a young man yelling at you and sometimes swinging. Bo frowned, but did not show his mood change to others. "Why doesn't the girl go to our local "House of Wax"? This place will really make you want to stay" Bo joked, pointing towards a hill near the city. You went in the indicated direction with a clear desire to distract yourself from these vile people, leaving your pseudo-friends in the care of Bo.

• A little later you will discover that all your companions have mysteriously "left", leaving you in this city all alone to fend for yourself.

• Bo will calm you down and try in every possible way to show that you can trust him (what's there, you cried into his vest, and he gently stroked you on the back). The man was grinning.

• In fact, he just saw himself in you at that moment. He remembered how his parents treated him brutally, chained him to a chair with stones and constantly set an example for his younger brother. Something about you, so shrinking and scared, seemed to him exciting and interesting. Perhaps he found in your eyes the same feelings that he experienced in his life, there was something familiar about you, even native, that made him want to protect you and fence you off from these terrible people.

Well i love them too much hah. I wrote this with my ex-girlfriend a long time ago, so I was not sure if it was worth posting. But what's done is done. These boys are too cute for me not to write this one. So have a good day :)

[pulsingvoid]

at this point it'll be beyond strange if they don't see the bi/comphet storyline through with deborah considering her story arc (so far) in somewhat chronological order has been as follows:

asshole husband ruins your life -> your sister marries him and gives you a bias against other women -> you let this define you for 40+ years -> your closest friends are gay men on your payroll -> one day a whiny 25 year old redhead walks in and she's all big hands and clunky boots (she's bi) -> she insults you makes you laugh -> you decide to keep her around and play mind games until she's psychosexually obsessed with you -> you like that she's bi and psychosexually obsessed with you -> she explains bisexuality to you over and over -> because you are the one who keeps bringing it up -> lesbians frighten you so you alienate them by making fun of them in your standup -> yet you also joke that you're one mediocre man away from joining them -> meanwhile every straight man/man in power in your life is actively sabotaging you or the people you care about -> you keep playing their games anyway -> but whenever you play by your own rules the results and dopamine rush are x1000 more rewarding -> hearing the men you admire be biphobic gives you a panic attack -> you run away and lash out at your writing partner for "getting inside your head" about bisexuality -> you admit you're terrified of getting old because there are many things you haven't gotten to experience yet -> you lose your dream job to a man again -> you have miserable sex with yet another man who betrayed you -> you feel ashamed the next day -> but it's okay because the annoying bisexual with the big hands will sit on your suitcase so you can zip it up -> and btw you cradled her chin and held her big hand on the back of a dirtbike in the woods the other day

[slutforspungen]

Sid Vicious’s Letters to Deborah Spungen following the death of Nancy Spungen (his girlfriend).

(TW MENTIONS OF SUICIDE)

(FIRST LETTER)

Dear Debbie, thank you for phoning me the other night. It was so comforting to hear your voice. You are the only person who really understands how much Nancy and I love each other. Every day without Nancy gets worse and worse. I just hope that when I die I go the same place as her. Otherwise I will never find peace.

Frank said in the paper that Nancy was born in pain and lived in pain all her life. When I first met her, and for about six months after that, I spent practically the whole time in tears. Her pain was just too much to bear. Because, you see, I felt Nancy’s pain as though it were my own, worse even. But she said that I must be strong for her or otherwise she would have to leave me. So I became strong for her, and she began to stop having asthma attacks and seemed to be going through a lot less pain.

I realized that she had never known love and was desperately searching for someone to love her. It was the only thing she really needed. I gave her the love that she needed so badly and it comforts me to know that I made her very happy during the time we were together, where she had only known unhappiness before.

Oh Debbie, I love her with such passion. Every day is agony without her. I know now that it is possible to die from a broken heart. Because when you love someone as much as we love each other, they become fundamental to your existence. So I will die soon, even if I don’t kill myself. I guess you could say that I’m pining for her. I could live without food or water longer than I’m going to survive with out Nancy.

Thank you so much for understanding us, Debbie. It means so much to me, and I know it meant alot to Nancy. She really loves you, and so do I. How did she know when she was going to die? I always prayed that she was wrong, but deep inside I knew she was right.

Nancy was a very special person, too beautiful for this world. I feel so privileged to have loved her, and been loved by her. Oh Debbie, it was such a beautiful love. I can’t go on without it. When we first met, we knew we were made for each other, and fell in love with each other immediately. We were totally inseparable and were never apart. We had certain telepathic abilities, too. I remember about nine months after we met, I left Nancy for awhile. After a couple of weeks of being apart, I had a strange feeling that Nancy was dying. I went straight to the place she was staying and when I saw her, I knew it was true. I took her home with me and nursed her back to health, but I knew that if I hadn’t bothered she would have died.

Nancy was just a poor baby, desperate for love. It made me so happy to give her love, and believe me, no man ever loved a woman with such burning passion as I love Nancy. I never even looked at others. No one was as beautiful as my Nancy. Enclosed is a poem I wrote for her. It kind of sums up how much I love her.

If possible, I would love to see you before I die. You are the only one who understood.

Love, Sid XXX

P.S. Thank you, Debbie, for understanding that I have to die. Everyone else just thinks I am being weak. All I can say is that they never loved anyone as passionately as I love Nancy. I always felt unworthy to be loved by someone so beautiful as her. Everything we did was beautiful. At the climax of our lovemaking, I just used to break down and cry. It was so beautiful it was almost unbearable. It makes me mad when people say “you must have really loved her.” So they think I don’t still love her? At least when I die, we will be together.I feel like a lost child, so alone.

The nights are the worst. I used to hold Nancy close to me all night so that she wouldn’t have nightmares and I just can’t sleep without my beautiful baby in my arms. So warm and gentle and vulnerable. No one should expect me to live without her. She was a part of me. My heart.

Debbie, please come and see me. You are the only person who knows what I am going through. If you don’t want to, could you please phone me again, and write.

I love you.

NANCY

You were my little baby girl

And I shared all your fears.

Such joy to hold you in my arms

And kiss away your tears.

But now you’re gone there’s only pain

And nothing I can do.

And I don’t want to live this life

If I can’t live for you.

To my beautiful baby girl.

Our love will never die.

(SECOND LETTER)

Dear Debbie, I’m dying. Slowly, and in great pain. My baby is gone, without her I have no will to live. I love her so desperately. I know I can never make it without her. Nancy became my whole life. She was the only thing that mattered to me.

I’m glad I could make her happy. I gave her everything she ever wanted, just for the asking. When we only had enough money for one of us to get straight, I always gave it to Nancy. It was less painful to be sick myself than it was to see her sick.

When you love someone that much you cannot lose them and still be able to go on. I know that if I lived to be a thousand years old I would never find anyone like Nancy. No one can ever take her place. I love Nancy and Nancy only. I will always love her. Even after I am dead.

I have only eaten a few mouthfuls of food since she died. I may die of starvation in this place. I just hope it comes soon, so that I can be with Nancy again.

We always knew that we would go to the same place when we died. We so much wanted to die together in each other’s arms. I cry every time I think about that. I promised my baby that I would kill myself if anything ever happened to her, and she promised me the same. This is my final commitment to the one I love.

I worshipped Nancy. It was far more than just love. To me she was a goddess. She used to make me kiss her feet before we made love. No one ever loved the way we did, and to spend even a day away from her, let alone a whole lifetime, is too painful to even think about. Oh Debbie, I never knew what pain was until this happened. Nancy was my whole life. I lived for her. Now I must die for her.

It gave me such pleasure to give her anything she wanted. She was just like a child. She used to call me “daddy” when she was upset, and I used to call her “mamma” and she used to nurse me at her breast and call me her “baby boy”.

I tried to kill myself but they got me to hospital before I died. Nancy knows that I will soon be with her. Please pray that we will be together. I can never find peace until we are together again.

Oh Debbie, she was the most beautiful person I ever knew. I would have done anything for her.

Nancy once asked if I would pour petrol over myself and set it on fire if she told me to. I said I would, and I meant it. If you would happily die for someone, then how can you live without them. I can’t go on without her. She always said she would die before she was twenty-one, and I never doubted it.

Goodbye, Debbie. I love you.

Sid XXX

[hishumanbelle]

Alastor's rut.

18+

I was sitting on the couch in the hotel lounge when suddenly I felt my heart tighten, my hands sweat, my body tense and my brain go foggy. Oh no, it's that time of year. I put my hands on my chest as I felt my body transform and grow. I stood up from the couch. I could see everything red and haloed. Then, I smelled her. Her perfume. Vanilla and coconut, oh, how delicious. I had to look for her, she was surely close by. "Deborah?", I said with a sigh so as not to scare her. "Alastor?", she asked softly. And there she was, in her room, lying on the bed reading a book. "Darling", I said, "sorry for the unpleasant interruption", I started to growl, the pain and need getting stronger. Breathing was difficult. "Alastor, are you okay?", the concern in her voice. It hurt me to make her worry about me. "Yes… no. I... need you". She put the book away and walked over to me, cupping my face in her hands and looking at me apprehensively. "What's wrong with you, Al?", "it's… that time of the year", I said, growling and sighing. The pain was even worse, my throat kept making strange sounds and my eyes were narrowing until they were blacker and blacker. The static was also starting to get louder, filling the room. "What can I do for you? How can I help you feel better?", "I… want you. Intensely", I said in her ear, biting her earlobe. "Ah, Deborah… please, I need you. Now". With my hands I started to touch her ample breasts that were trying to explode from her white blouse. They were warm, soft. Her nipples instantly hardened at my touch. I put my face in the hollow of her neck and started to lick, kiss, bite. "I want more", I said drooling like a horny dog. I carried her to the bed and put her down. I pulled up her short black skirt and pulled her panties aside, I knelt down in front of her and started licking her pussy. Damn, she was delicious! Her smell… irresistible. My long tongue reached deep inside her and I felt her getting wet beneath me. My hands ran over her soft body until I went down, on her legs, between her thighs and started to finger her with passion. In and out, slowly, while I sucked the soul out of her clit. She was mine. And she was enjoying it, panting. She was calling my name over and over again. Her sounds were music to me, I didn't want her to stop. And I continued to pound her faster with my tongue and fingers, pushing into her g-spot until she came so hard again that she started to cry and squirt on my face. Fuck… I'm so infatuated with her that seeing her like this is the only way I want to see her. I stood up and lay on top of her, ripping the buttons of her shirt with my claws as I slid them down her body and scratched her gently. "I can't resist you", I grabbed her wrists and pulled her to me. I kissed her, sticking my tongue down her throat.

I was so excited, and then, placing my hands on her shoulders, I pushed her down, kneeling on the ground. I unzipped my pants and pulled out my big throbbing cock. Her expression was incredulous at the beast in front of her. "It's so… big", she said as she started to touch it. "Oh, Satan", I sighed. Her hands so graceful on my hard and throbbing cock, it drove me wild. I looked at her. I really wanted to devour her. I no longer knew if it was the heat that was doing this to me or if it was her. "Take it in your mouth", I ordered her, and I grabbed her hair in my hands to bring her closer to my cock. She obeyed, taking it in her mouth slowly. She knew what she was doing and how to drive me crazy. She started with the tip, making small circles near the head and then went down, sucking and licking it all over. Deep. "Fuck…", with my hand I pushed her head faster. Holy shit, I thought, I'm already about to cum, but I didn't warn her. I just watched her and fucked her mouth hard and fast until I came in her throat. "Fuck!!!", I exclaimed, cumming. I left it in her mouth for a while as I continuedI to spasm with pleasure. She, being the good girl she was, swallowed it all. "Good girl", I said, grinning, "but we're not done". I lifted her up and put her on the bed. I took my cock and shoved it in her violently while holding her by her hips and started to move inside her.

"Deborah", "Alastor," she said, panting, "say you're mine. Say you're only mine", "I'm only yours, Alastor", "yes, yes", I repeated, panting too. My thrusts became faster and stronger, but this time I grabbed her by her thick, long hair. The music of her moans was unstoppable but I wanted to hear her scream more, so I increased my power even more. "Fuck", I exclaimed, my thrusts were strong, very strong, violent, she screamed and screamed even louder, she repeated my name and I could have an orgasm just hearing her. "I'm coming Alastor, I'm coming", she said crying and panting. "Me too, I'm about to come too, but I want to look into your eyes. So come, come for me, I can't resist any longer", and she came. Her body vibrated, she trembled, her legs wouldn't stop and her spasms were violent but very delicate. I grabbed her and turned her over, underneath me and slammed it back in. I held her head, her hair with one hand, and her hip with the other. I couldn't hold it in anymore. I gave her the last thrusts before I came all the way inside her. "Damn, I'm marking you as my property, my love", I exploded. She was still looking at me, panting, I could feel her walls tightening and getting wet again. God… this girl is going to be the death of me. I had such a powerful orgasm that I continued to slam it into her even after I came, in post-coital shock. I looked at her, and the more I looked at her the more I fell in love. I didn't want her to stop looking at me. Her eyes had to be only for me. "I love you", I whispered to her, nuzzling her cheek with my nose and making intense static sounds. "I fucking love you", I repeated. Then I took her face in my hands and kissed her again, with all the love I felt. Our tongues danced and twisted, unable to stay away.

[pendogcreative]

The main face of "Hallowed Halls," this character who started off as a book character and later a television puppet, is probably one of the more well known characters on this website, especially those with memories of being terrified by the character and her stories around the early 90s.

Hallowed Halls was a series of horror novels written by Jeffery H Klein and illustrated by his wife Deborah H Klein. The books were episodic in nature, with each story focusing on a new child facing some sort of horror.

Among the cacophony of butterfly men, killer curtains, mutant hummingbirds, and evil closets from outer space, one creature would emerge as the face of the series. This creature was Winerva Woeful, a scarecrow puppet that could tell the future. However, the visions described would be so far into the future that it drove the seeker mad

Jeffery has described Winerva as being an ambassador of horror for children, eager to delight in the horrific and strange but knowing when to pull the escape lever so nobody gets hurt. She was described by his wife as being never malicious but always warning, showing children's parents horrific visions of awful fates that might lay in their wake if they don't change their ways.

Read more at

[duffsmckagan]

DEBORAH FROST, DOKKEN, GROUPIES, HEAVY METAL, JAMES HETFIELD, KIRK HAMMETT, METALLICA, MONSTERS OF ROCK

Stories From The Road: Deborah Frost and Metallica

In Deborah Frost, Stories From the Road, music on December 7, 2008 at 2:28 pm

By Deborah Frost

“I once walked into the dressing room of a very huge metal band — well, they were not quite as huge then as they are now, oh what the hell, they are probably the biggest band in the world — Metallica (and they didn’t get that way without airing their own dirty laundry very publicly from revealing in various cover stories tales of the drummer being fellated under the stage nightly during the bass solo to the somewhat drippier venereal complications).

Anyway, they were somewhere in the middle of the bill on one of those late 1980s “Monsters of Rock” concerts at RFK Stadium in Washington, I think it was. There was a lot of waiting around in the days they were all lumped together without their own private jets or drivers and everyone seemed to be in a grumpy mood, particularly James Hetfield, who was sitting next to two fairly unattractive girls who could have been models — only for one of those “BEFORE” acne-medication ads.

Instead of his usual warm greeting, James barely grunted at me that he was doing an “interview.” Which was a little strange, given that he was not really even having a conversation with the skinnier one of the two girls, who was not equipped with any of the usual tools of the trade, like a tape recorder or pencil or piece of paper, only a flimsy little sun-dress which was only remarkable in its cheapness and that it was fairly inappropriate for the weather but did reveal all of her other lack of equipment in every other department.

James suddenly got up, jerking her by the wrist, and disappeared toward the bathroom where other members of the crew and band were, eager to try out the brand new little video cameras (they had just come on the market) they had been playing with. Kirk Hammett also grabbed what I called my Helen Keller camera — one of those point and shoot 35 mm things (this was in the pre-digital era) that even she could have operated.

There was a great deal of commotion when James discovered that Kirk was holding them both over the top of the bathroom stall — where — well, several months later, when I had forgotten all about it and the prints came back from the developer, I was shocked to discover, right in the middle of some happy family vacation, exactly what he was doing with this young lady crouched on the toilet and could not believe that I had not been arrested for pornography. Then again, maybe that only happens if it involves pictures of children and it was VERY clear in vivid living color that James was NO child.

It was almost the end of Metallica as we knew it, when James suddenly roared out of the bathroom, grabbing Kirk by the throat with one hand and the video camera, from which he ripped the film, with the other, before stomping on it and practically smashing the guitarist’s head against the wall as he begged for mercy.”

[california-112]

The X-Files | S02E12 'Aubrey'

[eesirachs]

For a school assignment, I'm assembling an anthology around the theme of queer divinity and desire, but I'm having a hard time finding a fitting essay/article (no access to real academic catalogues :/ ), do you know of any essays around this theme?

below are essays, and then books, on queer theory (in which 'queer' has a different connotation than in regular speech) in the hebrew bible/ancient near east. if there is a particular prophet you want more of, or a particular topic (ištar, or penetration, or appetites), or if you want a pdf of anything, please let me know.

essays: Boer, Roland. “Too Many Dicks at the Writing Desk, or How to Organize a Prophetic Sausage-Fest.” TS 16, no. 1 (2010b): 95–108. Boer, Roland. “Yahweh as Top: A Lost Targum.” In Queer Commentary and the Hebrew Bible, edited by Ken Stone, 75–105. JSOTSup 334. Cleveland, OH: Pilgrim, 2001. Boyarin, Daniel. “Are There Any Jews in ‘The History of Sexuality’?” Journal of the History of Sexuality 5, no. 3 (1995): 333–55. Clines, David J. A. “He-Prophets: Masculinity as a Problem for the Hebrew Prophets and Their Interpreters.” In Sense and Sensitivity: Essays on Reading the Bible in Memory of Robert Carroll, edited by Robert P. Carroll, Alastair G. Hunter, and Philip R. Davies, 311–27. JSOTSup 348. Sheffield: Sheffield Academic Press, 2002. Graybill, Rhiannon. “Yahweh as Maternal Vampire in Second Isaiah: Reading from Violence to Fluid Possibility with Luce Irigaray.” Journal of feminist studies in religion 33, no. 1 (2017): 9–25. Haddox, Susan E. “Engaging Images in the Prophets: Feminist Scholarship on the Book of the Twelve.” In Feminist Interpretation of the Hebrew Bible in Retrospect. 1. Biblical Books, edited by Susanne Scholz, 170–91. RRBS 5. Sheffield: Sheffield Phoenix Press, 2013. Koch, Timothy R. “Cruising as Methodology: Homoeroticism and the Scriptures.” In Queer Commentary and the Hebrew Bible, edited by Ken Stone, 169–80. JSOTSup 334. Cleveland, OH: Pilgrim, 2001. Tigay, Jeffrey. “‘ Heavy of Mouth’ and ‘Heavy of Tongue’: On Moses’ Speech Difficulty.” BASOR, no. 231 (October 1978): 57–67.

books: Ahmed, Sara. Queer Phenomenology: Orientations, Objects, Others. Durham, NC: Duke University Press, 2006. Bauer-Levesque, Angela. Gender in the Book of Jeremiah: A Feminist-Literary Reading. SiBL 5. New York: P. Lang, 1999. Black, Fiona C., and Jennifer L. Koosed, eds. Reading with Feeling : Affect Theory and the Bible. Atlanta, GA: SBL Press, 2019. Brenner, Athalya. The Intercourse of Knowledge: On Gendering Desire and “Sexuality” in the Hebrew Bible. BIS 26. Leiden: Brill, 1997. Camp, Claudia V. Wise, Strange, and Holy: The Strange Woman and the Making of the Bible. JSOTSup 320. Gender, Culture, Theory 9. Sheffield: Sheffield Academic Press, 2000. Chapman, Cynthia R. The Gendered Language of Warfare in the Israelite-Assyrian Encounter. HSM 62. Winona Lake, IN: Eisenbrauns, 2004. Creangă, Ovidiu, ed. Men and Masculinity in the Hebrew Bible and Beyond. BMW 33. Sheffield: Sheffield Phoenix Press, 2010. Eilberg-Schwartz, Howard. God’s Phallus: And Other Problems for Men and Monotheism. Boston: Beacon, 1995. Huber, Lynn R., and Rhiannon Graybill, eds. The Bible, Gender, and Sexuality : Critical Readings. London, UK ; T&T Clark, 2021. Guest, Deryn. When Deborah Met Jael: Lesbian Biblical Hermeneutics. London: SCM, 2005. Graybill, Rhiannon, Meredith Minister, and Beatrice J. W. Lawrence, eds. Rape Culture and Religious Studies : Critical and Pedagogical Engagements. Lanham, Maryland: Lexington Books, 2019. Graybill, Rhiannon. Are We Not Men? : Unstable Masculinity in the Hebrew Prophets. New York, NY: Oxford University Press USA, 2016. Halperin, David J. Seeking Ezekiel: Text and Psychology. University Park: Pennsylvania State University Press, 1993. Jennings, Theodore W. Jacob’s Wound: Homoerotic Narrative in the Literature of Ancient Israel. New York: Continuum, 2005. Macwilliam, Stuart. Queer Theory and the Prophetic Marriage Metaphor in the Hebrew Bible. BibleWorld. Sheffield and Oakville, CT: Equinox, 2011. Maier, Christl. Daughter Zion, Mother Zion: Gender, Space, and the Sacred in Ancient Israel. Minneapolis, MN: Fortress, 2008. Mills, Mary E. Alterity, Pain, and Suffering in Isaiah, Jeremiah, and Ezekiel. LHB/OTS 479. New York: T. & T. Clark, 2007. Stökl, Jonathan, and Corrine L. Carvalho. Prophets Male and Female: Gender and Prophecy in the Hebrew Bible, the Eastern Mediterranean, and the Ancient Near East. AIL 15. Atlanta, GA: SBL, 2013. Stone, Ken. Practicing Safer Texts: Food, Sex and Bible in Queer Perspective. Queering Theology Series. London: T & T Clark International, 2004. Weems, Renita J. Battered Love: Marriage, Sex, and Violence in the Hebrew Prophets. OBT. Minneapolis, MN: Fortress, 1995.

[trillscienceofficer]

Sometimes the Travelling Symphony thought that what they were doing was noble. There were moments around campfires when someone would say something invigorating about the importance of art, and everyone would find it easier to sleep that night. At other times it seemed a difficult and dangerous way to survive and hardly worth it, especially at times when they had to camp between towns, when they were turned away at gunpoint from hostile places, when they were travelling in snow or rain through dangerous territory, actors and musicians carrying guns and crossbows, the horses exhaling great clouds of steam, times when they were cold and afraid and their feet were wet. Or times like now when the heat was unrelenting, July pressing down upon them an the blank walls of the forest on either side, walking by the hour and wondering if an unhinged prophet or his men might be chasing them, arguing to distract themselves from their terrible fear. “All I'm saying,” Dieter said, twelve hours out of St. Deborah by the Water, “is that quote on the lead caravan would be way more profound if we hadn't lifted it from Star Trek.” He was walking near Kirsten and August. Survival is insufficient: Kirsten had had these words tattooed on her left forearm at the age of fifteen and had been arguing with Dieter about it almost ever since. Dieter harboured strong anti-tattoo sentiments. He said he'd seen a man die of an infected tattoo once. Kirsten also had two black knives tattooed on the back of her right wrist, but these were less troubling to Dieter, being much smaller and inked to mark specific events. “Yes,” Kirsten said, “I'm aware of your opinion on the subject, but it remains my favourite line of text in the world.” She considered Dieter one of her dearest friends. The tattoo argument had lost all of its sting over the years and had become something like a familiar room where they met. Midmorning, the sun not yet broken over the tops of the trees. The Symphony had walked through most of the night. Kirsten's feet hurt and she was delirious with exhaustion. It was strange, she kept thinking, that the prophet's dog had the same name as the dog in her comic books. She's never heard the name Luli before or since. “See, that illustrates the whole problem,” Dieter said. “The best Shakespearean actress in the territory, and her favourite line of text is from Star Trek.” “The whole problem with that?” Kirsten felt that she might actually be dreaming at this point, and she longed desperately for a cool bath. “It's got to be one of the best lines ever written for a TV show,” August said. “Did you see that episode?” “I can't say I recall,” Dieter said. “I was never a fan.” “Kirsten?” Kirsten shrugged. She wasn't sure if she actually remembered anything at all of Star Trek, or if it was just that August had told her about it so many times that she's started to picture his stories in her head. “Don't tell me you've never seen Star Trek: Voyager,” August said hopefully. “That episode with those lost Borg and Seven of Nine?” “Remind me,” Kirsten said, and he brightened visibly. While he talked she allowed herself to imagine that she remembered it. A television in a living room, a ship moving through the night silence of space, her brother watching beside her, her parents—if she could only remember their faces—somewhere near.

Emily St John Mandel, “Station Eleven”

[givemearmstopraywith]

Joan of Arc study

Last year, I led a small digitial “retreat/study” on Joan of Arc via my Kofi- while my Kofi is no longer running (difficult to keep on top of because of other work obligations), I thought that in honour of her feast day I would make it publicly available. All of the text and resources used are under the cut- you can do this at your own pace, with one topic per week, or any other way you like. It’s to generate personal reflection on gender and one’s relationship to God, and is designed to be completely non-denomination, meaning that while it does use Bible readings, even if you are not a Catholic or a Christian, it should be able to stimulate some thought and reflection without having a definite religious slant. 

The topics covered are:

Joan the Warrior 

Joan the Androgyne 

Joan the Prophet and Mystic 

Joan the Disciple 

Below the cut you’ll find all of the readings and bonus content for each topic, and at the end are “notes,” a short informal essay consolidating what I’m hoping to share through this study. But I highly encourage you to do your own reflection, be it through journalling, prayer, mediation, or whatever form of self-reflection suits you best, and try to decide what the readings- and Joan herself- says to you.

Ultimately, I hope what you’ll discover through this "retreat" is that our gender identity makes us warriors, prophets, mystics, and disciples- that existing between the binaries imposed on us by patriarchy allows us to draw closer to the strange and wonderful place where God exists. 

WEEK 1: Exploring God and Gender with Joan of Arc- Joan the Warrior (readings)

This study pre-supposes that you already have some background on Jehanne and her life- nothing too in-depth, and we'll get into some of the finer points of her life that aren't as popularly known throughout this study. If you'd like more information, I highly recommend Helen Castor's biography and Regine Pernoud's Joan of Arc By Herself and Her Witnesses. 

I've mentioned that this is a non-denominational study. What does this mean? Mainly it means that while scripture provides the backbone of a lot of our reading, I don't want us to treat scripture in a Christian context. Rather, I want to treat it primarily as a literary text, and rather than engaging with it as a "Bible study" or theological undertaking, I want to challenge us to read this without any preconceived notions of what it means in a religious context. Rather, read it the way you'd read a novel or short story. How does it make you feel? What themes, motifs, metaphors, allegories, or other literary techniques are employed? What is the text trying to say? 

Read: 

Judges 4-8: Deborah, Jael, and Gideon

Christine di Pizan's Joan of Arc

excerpts from Jehanne's trial: Joan's Tools

(If you want to read all of Jehanne's trial transcripts, you can do so here- I'll be providing more excerpts over the upcoming weeks, but we won't be reading it in full, so I highly encourage you to read the full transcript on your own if you'd like.)

Consider: 

What tools does God give to Deborah and Gideon? Are those tools always weapons? Do they always require public acknowledgement, like Deborah’s tent peg? What tools has God given you? What similarities do you see between the Bible study and Joan? How does Christine di Pizan portray Jehanne in her poem? Is there a similarity between di Pizan's portrayal and the portrayal of the Biblical judges? 

Extras:

have a listen of Veni Creator Spiritus- this Latin chant was said to have been sung before every battle by the French army when Jehanne arrived at Orléans on 29 April 1429, legend has it that a choir of priests went before her signing this hymn. 

shameless self-plug of my own but much beloved Joan of Arc Spotify playlist 

WEEK 2: Exploring God and Gender with Joan of Arc- Joan the Androgyne (readings)

Read:

Judith 8-9

Marina Warner's Joan of Arc: The Image of Female Heroism, Chapter 7: Ideal Androgyne

excerpt's from Jehanne's trial: Jehanne and her gender presentation

Consider:

Last week we considered the tools God gave figures like Jehanne, Gideon, and Deborah. How does Jehanne's gender function as a tool? How does Jehanne view her relationship to gender based on her testimony? How does the idea of her as an androgyne, as opposed to a warrior woman or girl, change your idea of her as a historic figure? How does Jehanne's gender presentation compare to that of Judith?

Extras:

If you haven't seen it already, Carl Dreyer's 1928 masterpiece The Passion of Joan of Arc is available to watch for free on Internet Archive. It is a fascinating, moving, and exceptional portrayal of Jehanne's trial, arguably the best, and it's lead actress Renee Falconetti beautifully captures the idea of Jehanne as the androgyne.

WEEK 2: Exploring God and Gender with Joan of Arc- Joan the Prophet and Mystic

Read:

the Book of Jonah

“Joan of Arc and Female Mysticism” by Anne Llewellyn Barstow

Joan of Arc and her voices

Consider:

Does Jehanne know she is a mystic, a saint, a prophet? What relationship is there between Jehanne's gender and her prophecy? Is Jehanne a true mystic? Why or why not?

WEEK 4: Joan the Disciple

Read:

Luke 8

2 Clement- all if you wish, or just Chapter 12

skim the complete transcript of Jehanne's trial, paying attention to the final day (starting at page 358)

Consider:

Pay special attention to Luke 8: 16-19. How does this apply to Jehanne? More specifically, how does this apply to how she presents her gender. Much criticism in her trial is centered on how she does or does not properly conform to gender. How do these verses, and those in 2 Clement, apply to Jehanne and her treatment by the church?

Bonus:

Jehanne's letters, which are a fascinating look at her voice

Mark Twain's Personal Recollections of Joan of Arc is free to read

Notes:

On April 30, 1429, Joan of Arc- who styled herself Jehanne la Pucelle, or Jehanne the maid- arrived at the French city of Orléans to free it from English control. Orléans had been under siege since October of the previous year: it's commander and French army were exhausted and contemplating surrender.

Enter Jehanne. The story is famous: aged sixteen, she heard the voices of saints and angels commanding her to free France from the English, lift the siege of Orléans, and crown the Dauphin. Remarkably, she succeeded, before being condemned to the stake for heresy by the Church. Her feast day in 30 May.

In our study about Jehanne, we've read portions of Judges. Judges cover a period in Israelite history prior to the establishment of the monarchy of which the famous Davidic monarchy was part. This is a period which roughly corresponds to the historic period 1400–1000 B.C., just after the settlement of Canaan after the Egyptian diaspora, when the Hebrew settlers were living among foreign, polytheistic tribes like the Philistines, who are a major antagonist throughout the narrative. Judges is considered one of the oldest books in the Hebrew bible, with the Song of Deborah- Judges 5- being one of the oldest portions. It documents a tumultuous and frequently violently history marked by agronomic destruction of a society attempting to rebuild after four centuries of indentured servitude to a foreign power, and a struggle to maintain the monotheistic practices which developed in the wake of their diaspora- the Levitical priesthood which we now know as Judaism.

There's a similarity between this era of Israelite history and that which would have been experienced by Jehanne at the time of her call. Jehanne was born in 1412 a working-class peasant girl from Domrémy in the Lorraine region of France. This location was almost directly on the border between French-held lands and those which had been invaded by the English during the course of the Hundred Years' War, which had already been going on since 1337. She was around thirteen years old when she first heard what she described as "voices," in 1425; it was the year that war is first documented to have begun directly affecting her home region, with raids by English or English-back French mercenaries taking place near Domrémy in 1425 and 1428. In once incident the village's cattle were stolen, and in another the town was set on fire and crops destroyed. It isn't difficult to see a similarity between what Jehanne may have felt about her circumstances and that of Gideon:

Gideon answered him, “But sir, if the Lord is with us, why then has all this happened to us? (Judges 6:13)

In the midst of this, Jehanne experienced her first vision- in her father's garden, a voice she identified as Saint Michael the Archangel (a high-ranking angel figure known as the protector of the Jewish nation and later of Christians).

By 1428, Jehanne had apparently begun to formulate what she was being asked to do by her voices, whom she had by then identified as Saint Catherine and Saint Margaret- two early Christian martyrs- in addition to Saint Michael. After being accused of breaking an engagement (a case dismissed by the ecclesiastical court at Tours, but which rather darkly foreshadows the way in which her later trial and execution would inherently punish a wayward "woman"), she became convinced that her voices were telling her to leave Domrémy to aid the Dauphin. It was a remarkable undertaking for a sixteen-year-old peasant girl, illiterate, who had never left her home village. By February of 1428, she had convinced a local nobleman to support her and conduct her to the Dauphin's seat at Chinon. It was at this time that she began to wear men's clothing- an outfit which was provided to her by the local townspeople, and rather famously consisted of a pair of breeches which tied to her jerkin, a costume which made her almost- but not entirely- invulnerable to rape. Like Deborah and Jael, she was endangering herself by entering a world that was dominated by men, and her choice of clothing is evidence of this.

And like the judges we have read about, Jehanne was called from her home village in a period of turmoil to perform what she saw as a sacred duty, something which God had commanded her to do. Like Deborah, she was something of a prophet: she knew that she would see the Dauphin crowned king of France:

And she said, “I will surely go with you; nevertheless, the road on which you are going will not lead to your glory, for the Lord will sell Sisera into the hand of a woman.” (Judges 4:9)

And, like Gideon, she was a working-class farmer called on to lead an army.

He responded, “But sir, how can I deliver Israel? My clan is the weakest in Manasseh, and I am the least in my family.” The Lord said to him, “But I will be with you, and you shall strike down the Midianites, every one of them.” (Judges 6:15-16)

I think these similarities are all the more important this week, as we face the destruction of reproductive rights under Roe vs. Wade and the ongoing victimization of victims of domestic violence. Too frequently Biblical womanhood is cited as an excuse to strip people who are not cishet men of their destiny- to relinquish them to a common denominator, a life of submission and servitude. But what Judges shows us is that God’s call does not discriminate between bodies or genders. A person’s place in the world is wherever God calls them to go. We are allowed to ask for God’s reassurance of his call, but we must remember that if God calls us, he trusts us. We must trust him, and trust ourselves as he justifies us. God’s purpose supersedes the binaries and restraints imposed on us by the world.

Too often we equate "warriorhood" with masculinity, dominance, and activeness. Among Christians the epitome of being a warrior is archetypically defined as avenging angels and violent crusaders, many of whom committed gross atrocities and whose actions characterize a far-right movement of alleged "God-fearing" men who believe in their divine right to power on account of their maleness. Gross and extreme conservatism characterizes much of the front-facing presence of Christianity, it is this fundamentalism which we now see strongly affects political process. But God does not pick warriors from the strongest of his believers. David was the youngest son of Jesse. Gideon too. Deborah and Jael were women. God's warriors are those who listen to him: their strength lies in their difference. Consider how you are a warrior- not how you can be one, but how you already are one. Your God-given difference is your destiny: what makes you strong and extraordinary. How does your difference make you a warrior?

Last summer, I took a course on understanding scripture through how it is depicted in art. One week was completely devoted to paintings of Judith and Deborah, and we were assigned to read portions of both Judges and Judith. Funnily enough, we all struggled to tell the difference between depictions of the two women. Unlike Judges, the book of Judith is considered deuterocanonical, and it is not included in the Protestant canon: this could be part of why paintings of Judith and Deborah are frequently confused. But you can always tell the difference between the two in a very simple way. If it’s a woman beheading a man, it’s Judith. If it’s a woman with a hammer, it’s Deborah.

Both depictions of these warrior-prophet-women are marked by the violence of the acts they carry out at God’s call. They are associated heavily with the weapons with which they carry those acts out. It’s a very different image of women than we often associate with Biblical womanhood. Biblical womanhood is frequently associated with attributes like mildness, compliance, domesticity, motherhood, and submission. Biblical and traditional womanhood have become synonymous and conservative. It is heavily binarized, and placed firmly below dominant patriarchal structures.

Yet this view of “Biblical womanhood” doesn’t really hold up to the women we have encountered in the Bible- and it doesn’t hold up with our understanding of Jehanne. A question I want us to ponder this week is what actually constitutes Biblical womanhood? It’s a question that’s going to follow us as we continue this month-long study. Jehanne was condemned to death on account of not being a “real” woman. She was fully equipped to carry out what God asked of her, but she was still condemned for not being the "right" kind of person for her gender presentation.

I would argue that part of her equipment was the fact that she was someone who existed between genders, neither male nor female. But Jehanne was also both male and female. We have words for this now- nonbinary, gender non-conforming, transgender, and many others- but I don't think they help us much when we try and understand the complexity of gender in a time when gender was binary. Yet Jehanne shows evidence that she understood her gender as being other. Her trial transcripts reveal that she attributed no real gender alignment to herself or her presentation: her clothes were chosen for practicality, and that was necessary to fulfill the destiny which she felt had been given her.

How does our gender and our gender presentation function as a tool for our god-given purpose? For many people gender presentation is a tool that helps them to feel more comfortable in their own bodies, to convey to the world who they are. It is a tool that can heal one's relationship to their gender. Our purpose, our fate for which we are given "tools" does not have to be as grand as saving France or the world: it can simply be something intended to save ourselves. Sometimes saving oneself is the greatest mission God gave us- something we are given through his deep love for us.

[mellowsadistic]

Debbie tilted her head back and guzzled greedily from her baba. Daddy always came into her room to leave a warm bottle of milkies by her bedside, so she’d always have something yummy to drink first thing after her nap. She liked her bottles. They were sweet and nummy. Not like her icky baby food.

Debbie shifted uncomfortably on the bed, her wet diaper crinkling beneath her bottom. Her bum-bum still hurt a little from the spanking she’d gotten two days before, when she’d pouted in her highchair at dinner and asked why she couldn’t have steak and wine like Daddy was having. Why did she have to eat yucky mush instead?

But she’d learned her lesson after that. Daddy had made things clear when he’d been turned her naughty bottom bright red. Grown-ups got to eat steak and drink wine. Dumb babies like her got to eat baby food and drink formula, and that was just the way it was. Daddy didn’t like when Debbie pretended to be a grown-up. He said it was important for her to remember her place.

There was a hiss of air as Debbie finished her bottle, and she dropped it to the bed, smiling. She always felt better after her baba. She got to her feet, her bare boobies sloshing about on her chest, and her legs spread wide apart by the bulk of her nappy.

She looked at her body, and at the thick, white padding between her thighs, frowning slightly. She had big boobies. Little girls didn’t have boobies, she knew. But big girls did. She’d seen them. When they’d been out in town a few days ago, she’d pointed to a woman passing them and said “Dat lady’s got big boobies wike me!” and Daddy had found it very funny. She liked making Daddy laugh, and she was very good at it.

But even if she did have boobies, big girls definitely didn’t wear nappies. They wore boring big girl clothes instead, not like the pretty dresses and tutus Daddy dressed her in. Big girls could use the potty, but dumb babies like her just went pee-pee and poo-poo in their pants.

Debbie pressed her legs together and felt her nappy squelch between her legs. She wrinkled her nose. Yucky! She’d done quite a lot of wee-wees during her nap, just like she always did. She didn’t know how grown-ups used the toilet. It didn’t make any sense to her. When she needed to pee, she peed. And when she needed to poo, she did a poo. It was a good thing she had her nappy on to stop her making a mess. And it was a good thing she had her Daddy to change her when she was stinky, because she wouldn’t know the first thing about how to do it!

But still, Debbie had a strange feeling she hadn’t always worn diapers. She was sure, if she tried really hard, she could remember a time when she hadn’t even been Debbie at all – she’d been Deborah, and she’d been Daddy’s wife, a grown-up who wore big girl clothes and ate big girl food and sat on the grown-up’s potty. But that was silly! She was too stupid and immature to be a grown-up. Daddy said so.

Then she realised someone was standing in the doorway to her bedroom. Daddy!

“What are you trying to do thinkies about, sweetie?” he chuckled, for her face had been scrunched up with the effort of trying to use her head. “Or are you just making poo-poos?”

She grinned at him vapidly, not really sure how to answer his questions. He strode over, and pulled out the back of her nappy’s waistband to look inside. “No messes yet,” he said, “but I think I know a certain little girl who’d done a lot of wet-wets. Daddy’s little princess smells like wee-wee!”

Debbie giggled. She was a little stinker.

Daddy pulled her into a cuddle, and Debbie sighed happily as his strong arms wrapped around her body. He squeezed her topless body tightly against him, and after a minute or two he pulled away to plant a kiss on her forehead and run his fingers through one of her long, dirty-blonde pigtails. Debbie felt a lovely tingling in her boobie when Daddy’s fingers brushed against it. It felt good when Daddy played with her big boobies. She was sure they used to do that a lot. Daddy had called them her udders once, she remembered. Like a cow. Debbie giggled again. She was sure that had made her angry once, but she couldn’t think why.

“There’s a happy girl,” Daddy cooed, and Debbie squealed happily at his syrupy tone.

“Cows go moo!” she told him, and she could tell from his expression that he was impressed.

“What a clever girl!” he said, and she felt a rush of pleasure through her body.

“Mooo!” she cried, desperate for more praise. She jostled her big boobies. “I gots udders, Daddy! I’m a cow!”

Daddy laughed, and Debbie giggled along delightedly, shaking her silly boobies vigorously for her Daddy’s amusement.

“Yes you are, darling,” he said, his eyes glittering. “But Daddy’s put you in your place now. No more nasty attitude. You’re just a big, dumb baby now, and Daddy likes you much better this way.”

Debbie just grinned. She didn’t really get what Daddy was saying, but that was okay. Stupid babies like her didn’t need to think. All she knew was she loved her Daddy, and her Daddy loved her.

Shoving her thumb between her lips, she fell into a squat and got to work making her afternoon poo-poos, knowing she was right where she belonged.

[bitter69uk]

Recently watched: strange and obscure neo-noir Union City (1980). Tagline: “In 1953, Russia exploded the H-bomb. Hollywood discovered Marilyn Monroe. Washington reeled under McCarthyism. While something was about to happen in … Union City!” The sole feature film directed by Mark Reichert, Union City has a bad reputation (when it’s remembered at all) but it’s of interest – especially for admirers of the band Blondie: Deborah Harry stars and Chris Stein composed the soundtrack. Having said that, I can imagine Blondie fans feeling nonplussed by Reichert’s deliberately unglamorous presentation. When we’re first introduced to Harry as frustrated housewife Lilian, she is filmed from behind, with brown hair and wearing an apron, frying pork chops and sauerkraut. Of course, she’s not truly “mousey” – it IS Harry, after all. And Lilian gets a lingerie-clad boudoir scene later and towards the end, bleaches her hair blonde. Anyway, Union City is adapted from the 1937 Cornell Woolrich short story “The Corpse Next Door”. (The action is updated here to the early fifties. The period costumes and décor have an interesting R W Fassbinder vibe). Synopsis: neurotic businessman Harlan (Dennis Lipscomb) becomes fixated on uncovering who is stealing the milk bottles from outside his front door early every morning, thus ignoring the womanly needs of wife Lilian, who begins an affair with their apartment building’s hunky superintendent Larry Longacre (heartbreakingly handsome young Everett McGill aka "Big" Ed Hurley on Twin Peaks). Union City unfolds in an alienated, deadpan way, sharing the same underground New York sensibility as the cinema of, say, Scott and Beth B. Everyone delivers their lines in a detached, benumbed manner, except for the panic-stricken Harlan and Irina Maleeva as deranged neighbour The Contessa, whose bizarre delivery is operatic. Interestingly, 1980s rock diva Pat Benatar (who was frequently dismissed in some quarters as an ersatz Deborah Harry) crops up in a small role and is surprisingly effective (in her close-ups, Benatar possesses an almost Shelley Duvall quality). Union City is weird. Claustrophobic. Alienating. Arty. All qualities I happen to like! Union City is on YouTube.