#this tatterdemalion

[bright-tatters]

Tatters #67

“I’m going to school,” Audrey said loudly. Fortune looked up from the little table on the sweeping front stair’s landing where he had taken to eating his breakfast. Marguerite sat opposite him, nose in the morning paper.

Audrey waved to catch Fortune’s eye. She was wearing some kind of knee-length skirt with stockings and a fragment of a clinging sleeveless top. It was a little too risqué for the beach. This was probably normal, or else why would she be doing it?

“Fine,” he said, “have a nice day.” She gave him a funny look and sashayed toward the door.

Marguerite looked up. “You can’t be serious. She can’t go out in that!”

“Why not?”

“Look at her!”

Fortune dutifully looked. “Versam had that skirt two seasons ago, I can probably find her an up-to-date rendition, something of quality.”

Marguerite rolled her eyes. “She needs to cover skin before she can go to school! Audrey, you come back here.”

“Fortune?”

Fortune gave Marguerite a tolerant look. “Fine, put on something more conventional. I’ll get you that skirt for next week.”

“She can’t wear it then, either!” fulminated Marguerite.

“I’ll have them add two inches. But you can’t stop fashion.”

“Yisss,” said Audrey.

“The schoolteacher is going to send her back!”

Fortune leaned across and pulled Marguerite’s paper down far enough for them to see each other’s faces. “The schoolteacher,” he said, “will do no such thing.”

That night he did decide to help Audrey accessorize. Dinner was served on the café-style table on the great staircase’s landing, and Fortune ate with relish and privately noted that Audrey did the same. When she slowed down, he took a small gold ring out of his shirt pocket and handed it to her. “This is for you.”

Her forehead knotted up. “Why?”

“What do you know about empaths?”

“Just the stuff from plays. They can make you feel things, just like it was your idea to feel that way.”

“You’ve never met one?”

“Not one bad enough for me to notice.”

“An empath cannot create facts or trains of thought. But a strong one can create surges of very persuasive emotion. If you're not careful in how you act, an empath can steer you into damning yourself.”

“Can't...I don't know... the government do something?”

“Would you license gifted comedians because they can make people laugh? Empaths are rare, and in Photia specifically, the King has always rejected tracking proposals. I'm going to give you this trinket. It's worth the cost of a Quarts apartment, the materials are not cheap. But you wear it on your finger and it stings you if it detects a psionic field. It puts the power back in your hands.”

She took the ring from his offering. She hefted it, held it up, peered through it, shook it, peered again. “Thank you,” she said absently. “How is this special at all?”

“Some psionic-active material in the core. I don’t know the details.”

“Cool. You really hate this, huh?”

“Humans with this power aren't exactly human,” drawled Fortune. “And I hate comedians.”

[thedeafprophet]

At long last, I have finished my pixel art attempt of the six seven fanarts challenge~

This was a really fun practice of converting various designs into pixel format, it was a good challenge especially that hat

Individual drawings and tagging who suggested who under the cut!

Furnace suggested by @yoshicolonoscopyfootageofficial

Tatterdemalion suggested by @the-golliest-gee-williker

Hephaesta suggest by @the-dye-stained-socialite

The Youthful Naturalist suggested by the-golliest-gee-williker [again lol]

January suggested by @house-of-mirrors

[and ill be honest i did TRY to do the mask but it was not. working. so i gave up lmao]

The Bohemian Sculptress suggested by @press-f-to-rat

Mr Stones suggested by @bizarrebazaar13

Also if anyone wants the sprite images at their original size for whatever reasons, feel free to ask~

[jane-d-ankh-veos]

Daaaamn, an ex-Sequencer who freed himself from a literal (even though artificial) Judgement by sheer force of will is so badass!

And if Summer will really turn out to be who she seems, having both of them on one airship is going to be interesting...

[supervillain-smut]

Obscure characters my beloved. But also, obscure characters my unbeloved.

On the one hand, I have them all to myself. Every headcanon I make is correct. I get to create everything for them, and collect everything for them.

On the other... I AM COMPLETELY ALONE. I HAVE NO ONE TO SHARE THINGS ABOUT THEM WITH. I MUST SCREAM INTO THE VOID, AND PRAY IT SCREAMS BACK. I'M THE ONLY PERSON MAKING CONTENT FOR THEM. I'VE COLLECTED EVERYTHING FOR THEM, AND IT'S A GRAND TOTAL OF 3 ITEMS. If I do get to share them with someone else, I sound absolutely insane.

[thunder-threnodies]

Morgan smiled

truly feeling something akin to happiness since long, bygone days.

Navigating in the air instead on the peligin depths of the Zee wasn't something exactly new to Morgan, besides those who fought in the Starved Men War would remember the feeling quite well.

They scratched their stomach absent-mindedly, not even realizing they were picking on whatever faint ghost of a scar still lingered there after being impaled on the mast of their own Airship last False Summer. The Light took quite a while to heal them, this time. Worrying perhaps but not tonight (today?) as the Roof became clearer and clearer as they approached; Tatterdemalion excitedly called out that the Midnight Moon was in sight.

The Midnight Moon. A Shiver ran down Morgan's spine as they docked.

A few dozen drinks and many hours later, sitting on the Midnight Whale's impaled back, Morgan contemplated the Neath.

"Feeling her calling even up here, Boss?"

Tatterdemalion smiled sitting next to his Captain and brigning two tall glasses of honeyed tea, one in each hand. It seemes his intention was to dream some time away.

"Not really. I mean yes barely, like a thread pulling me closer to her. Or trying to. There are powers here that can cut her off almost completely." replied Morgan.

Tatterdemalion's smile faded a little.

"And what about the other one eh, Lady Black?" he lowered his Cosmogone glasses revealing deep golden eyes reminescent of the Dawn Machine, spying on his Captain.

"Tatterdemalion, I'll be honest. If it weren't for you and the crew, I would have already jumped to get back to her as fast as possible." Morgan's crooked grin was hiding more than Tatterdemalion was willing to discover. Not tonight (today?) at least.

"Well" he sighed "I think I can make you forget about her. At least for a while." he extended a hand to Morgan, a polite invitation to get up and follow him.

"Where to?" asked an amused Morgan, giving him a stare bathed in Cosmogone; there was no way Morgan would let their peligin eyes hurt him so they never took their spectacles off, while in his company.

"Somewhere exciting, Captain of my heart." said Tatterdemalion with a dangerous spark in his eyes and a wide grin. "You'll like it."

[violant-apologia]

thinking about briar interacting with new sequencer OCs and them immediately clicking that he's a little bit dawnburnt. they try to convince him over the conversation and he's just absolutely not having it like

"are you sure about this whole 'golden gleam in the eye' thing? perhaps it was a trick if the light, some quirk of khaganian bulbs."

[esteemed-excellency]

risk seeker to risk seeker communication

[geraldofallon]

Fallen London Travel Guide:

Tatterdemalion Tent

A Piebald Modiste keeps a curtained tent at the back of the Rat Market.

[irrigos]

the funny thing is that i don't think morgan would be into the tatterdemalion. too similar. at best they would be like "who is that other dog" and at worst theyd be super competitive with him. ummm THEYRE the cool daring guy who smokes and jumps off buildings for a laugh. who are YOU

worsened of course by the fact that their wife WOULD be into the tatterdemalion. OBVIOUSLY hepsi is into that type of guy! thats why she married one!!!

[lasersquid]

yeah ok you know what buddy

that one is on me

[nerds-yearbook]

Dansen Macabre first appeared in Marvel Team-Up 93#, cover date May, 1980. She was created by Steven Grant, Tom Sutton, and Carmine Infantino. ("Rags to Riches", Marvel Team-Up, Marvel Comic Event)

[bright-tatters]

Tatters: 100!

Happy 100 episodes! This takes place midway through spring term, when Audrey takes some time off for a special occasion. I swear, Piper has brighter days ahead.

*

The eclipse was predicted by the King’s astrologers. The City of Light clung to some traditions under the electric sweep of progress.

The Obble Telescope was the center of a mass of citizens, everyone who could afford a ticket for the event. Fortune was there, naturally, joining the daytime press for once. Audrey stayed close beside him. She had gotten unused to physical contact, and she didn’t like the crowd. Every time she got uncomfortable, Fortune touched her elbow and angled to protect her from the prevailing current. He seemed entirely ready to nudge the moon into place if it didn’t hurry up and get there.

Fortune didn’t like the crowd much, either, but he focused on keeping Audrey happy. He had seen a total solar eclipse once before, when he was very young. He had left the clacking mill-powered loom and gone outside with the others to abandon the machinery and stare up at the sky, where darkness became the only thing in a silent world. He had gone to bed with a thrashing and no supper, but what did that matter? It was a homecoming and a vindication, to see this eclipse at a tickets-only event above the miasma of his old workplace. His daughter had a better vantage point than he’d had, and wasn’t that the point?

Piper had secured the day off, one of the first to ask, months ago. He would have gotten a ticket at the observatory, but he knew full well Fortune would be there, and Piper could not face Fortune there where they had begun, where sex and night would only suffocate. Some eclipses belonged firmly to the past, and he couldn’t get involved.

Audrey pushed her way to the white stone wall overlooking Lamps and Tatters. This way she had one side that wasn’t being pressed by strangers. Fortune came up alongside her, and that made two sides. Above, the moon was visible and the sun was scorching. The King’s astrologers had issued dire warnings about looking at the sun before totality.

She looked down at the bridge that arched from Tatters to Central. Her path to University, to her future. Her path away from her father, she knew that, and she wasn’t afraid of it, but sometimes she wondered whether it bothered him. Long evenings making sporadic conversation over new books were…well, they didn’t exactly belong to the past, but she wasn’t getting a lot of new ones.

A man had stopped in the midst of the foot traffic. He leaned over the bridge’s railing and she had a sudden, shivery feeling that he was looking up at her. Nervous, but stubborn, she held her ground.

Fortune surveyed Tatters, but he never lost track of Audrey and the tension in her jaw. He existed, as he couldn’t very well remove the crowd.

With enough of his operatives, maybe. But this seemed like a bad day to get selfish. Let these ticket holders enjoy the show. The awe of a solar eclipse was worth sharing.

He existed beside her, faded, wearing the off-white mask she had made over half his face. The open scar that ran from lower eyelid to jaw was totally invisible. He looked like he had a weird affectation, but he didn’t mind that. The scar famously belonged to Fortune. The mask was just a weird habit on an otherwise unremarkable man. For he was of average height and average build, graying, nearly invisible. He dressed well, but that was the only identifier outside the scar. He would not compromise on that.

Piper stared up at the observatory. He wondered where Fortune was. The man would want to look down at Tatters. He always wanted to look at Tatters. Perhaps this figure beyond the Observatory’s railing was Fortune. Perhaps that one was. He should know the way Fortune moved, but this was at quite a distance, and the obvious crowd up there would compress the man’s movements anyway.

He forced himself to look away. At Central with its glittering spires and the great prow of the Parthenon. At Tatters, which looked cleaner than it ever had. Fortune had always been proud of the improvements he arranged for his Ward. Piper looked everywhere but up, because if he stared there too long, he would burn.

The murmur at the Observatory went up the moment something clipped the sun. Audrey dared a glance. The sun was the wrong shape. She shivered pleasantly.

“Don’t look,” Fortune murmured. It was obviously too late for literally everyone—oh, people were furtive, people pretended to not be doing it, but the slow devouring was impossible to ignore.

Piper waited. He could be patient. There were some things he should not be patient about, some things he should let go, but the moon and the sun he could handle on a celestial scale. He had been too young to appreciate the last eclipse. He wanted to savor this one.

Totality. A hush fell over the Observatory. Fortune took Audrey’s hand and stared upwards at the black zone and its wild white halo. The sky looked sick. The darkness was exquisite.

Audrey drank in the sight. She wasn’t prepared for the quiet, for the white radiation, the absoluteness of the perfect new moon. She squeezed her father’s hand and did not demand words or any particular attention. It was enough that they were together, and the world was inside out.

Piper stared at the observatory. He couldn’t seem to care about anything else. A carriage stopped on the bridge behind him, and the driver moaned something. Piper couldn’t look away from the observatory. If he stared just a little longer, got just a little closer…if he could know for sure that Fortune was all right, making his appointed rounds…. The world had come to a halt. Surely his vision was more acute than this.

The sky seemed to breathe, and a glory unlike anything Audrey had ever seen burst from behind the shifting moon. “Don’t look,” Fortune murmured. “Your eyes are very good the way they are.”

She squeezed his hand. “Can I talk?” she breathed. She cleared her throat. “Wow.”

The observatory had come to life again. People talked everywhere about the strangeness and the darkness and the light. The crowd didn’t seem so bad; she shared a secret with all of them. A secret only the sky could disclose, and only a faithful viewer could comprehend. She looked down at the bridge from Tatters, at the figure, but he was turning away.

“Home?” Fortune said quietly. She had been living in a dormitory for months, but he hoped she would always consider his estate in Vines to be home. It occurred to him that he didn’t know which one Audrey would assume he was talking about.

His house. Always. His house. It would be her shelter. It would be her jumping-off point, but not forever. Please, not forever.

“Let’s go,” Audrey said firmly, and arm in arm they pressed through the crowd to reach the line of automobiles along the side of the winding mountain road. Darren was leaning against the hood of Fortune’s automobile, slack-jawed as he stared at the sky.

“Everything you were hoping?” Fortune said innocently.

“Sir!” Darren gulped. “Sir.”

“Let’s go,” Fortune said.

Piper shook himself. Somehow, he was not blind, and somehow, his heart had been neither satisfied nor cauterized. The old scar in the half circle over his heart throbbed and ached. He tried to ignore it. It was time to go back to Underglow, out of sight of the Observatory.

He made himself walk. He had a home to get to. And maybe another eclipse, someday, that he would remember to look at.

Audrey wriggled in her seat. “There is no way I finish my reading for Philosophy of Labor,” she said.

“Do you think my opinion on the topic would do anything?” Fortune said mildly.

“You worked the mills, didn’t you?”

“From age five, yes.”

“Yeah, they don’t want to hear from you.” She looked at him. “Thanks for breaking me out of class, though.”

[thedeafprophet]

I've been trying to figure out what Tatterdemalion is wearing in his art, because the jacket neck line seems so modern to me compared to the usual time period.

I think it could be a flight jacket, which is obviouslly a bit later then the current time period, but fits with the context of what we are currently do by flying to the roof.

I think that tracks, yea?

[jane-d-ankh-veos]

Tatterdemalion seems useful...

[comicwaren]

From Phases of the Moon Knight #001

“The Once and Future Knight”, by Erica Schultz (A), Manuel García, Sean Parsons and Ceci de la Cruz (A)

“Crusader”, by Benjamin Percy (W) and Rod Reis (A)

[bringbackwendellvaughn]