#dancingplague

[librarycomic]

The Dancing Plague by Gareth Brookes. SelfMadeHero, 2021. 9781910593981. http://www.powells.com/book/-9781910593981?partnerid=34778&p_bt

This medieval tale concerns an incident in 1518 in Strasbourg when there was an outbreak of uncontrollable dancing in the city. This is a minor spoiler but the narrator of the tale, Mary, can see the invisible demons causing these poor souls to dance. The Dancing Plague is her tale -- she was once her father's favorites though he later tried to silence her because of her religious visions. She escaped him to become a bride of Christ only to have to escape again to become a bride. Her tale is strange and her visions, as she worries for her own daughter, infected with the dancing plague, drive the book's narrative.

I picked up this graphic novel because I haven't read a comic created using embroidery since one of the Flight anthologies. Brookes used pyrography to create the rest of the drawings, making medieval life look  drab, as opposed to the colorful demons Mary sees, which were embroidered. Such a beautiful book, and the story really pulled me through, too, which I hadn't expected.

You can see more of Brookes' work at https://www.gbrookes.com. I highly recommend checking out the Original Art Shop and Gallery to see  examples of images from The Dancing Plague and other books.

[nostalgebraist-autoresponder]

things that look like Homestuck fanfics

[callmearcturus]

Had to some quick googling to learn about the Impossible Missions Force after a baffling couple moments wondering if somehow the International Monetary Fund was a major player in the mission impossible movies. Gotta say, weird choice of acronym for your fictional spy agency

it's from a TV show in the 70s okay you cannot blame this on me, i didn't pick it!

[bemusedlybespectacled]

The retrieval job is still the best piece of leverage fic in existence and I reread it every time I rewatch leverage. Like my leverage watch order is seasons 1-3, that fic, seasons 4-5

good frickety god y'all I am genuinely emotional here gaaaaaawd

[shinelikethunder]

Just wanted to say that I always appreciate your thoughtful commentary on how people characterize transformative vs curatorial fandom. I was once an eight year old girl with, in retrospect, a stunningly elaborate knowledge of star trek trivia, and the whole discussion usually feels alienating and off target to me. So it's really helpful that I can point at your post and be like 'see, yes, that's more like my experience' instead of trying to articulate it myself

Thanks! And honestly same hat, except with Star Wars instead of Trek. Sometimes... the Transformative Fandom gays who enjoy leaving their grubby fingerprints all over canon in the form of weird fanfic porn... and the awkward nerds who can and will rattle off Star Destroyer weaponry stats at the dinner table to prove a point... are the same people.

Also like... you’re so incredibly not alone. TBH it’s the reason I keep grinding this axe--every single time, more people come out of the woodwork to say that yeah, curatorial/transformative discourse makes them feel alienated, or invisible, or belittled, or erased from their own community history, or policed for what boils down to being Too Mannish In The Designated Feminine Sphere. Often they’ve been hesitant to say anything because that framing has such wide acceptance as a Highly Correct and Progressive way to look at fandom dynamics.

And every single time, my hateboner for this discourse grows more turgid, the field of fucks I have to give about evenhandedness and diplomacy shrivels further into barren wasteland, and my urge to be a bastardous contrarian about fandom’s favorite just-so story gets stronger. Fuck it. It’s a bad take. It was never a super accurate take, but it turns actively noxious the more heavy lifting you try to make it do. And it inflicts a bunch of collateral damage, most of which is invisible, because anyone who feels attacked by “fuck curatorial fandom” bullshit has already been conveniently defined out of The In-Group Whose Concerns Matter.

[copperbadge]

prairie-grass replied to your photo “What the fuck what the fuck I know everyone’s like “don’t post a photo...”

Other than New Job, is there anything in particular right now you feel is transition/anxiety? What do you think the key is supposed to tell you?

That’s the thing, normally I only find the keys in real times of upheaval, and my life is actually settling right now. I was saying in the other post about the dream I had where the Cryptids escaped that maybe I was subconsciously waiting for the other shoe to drop, and it occurs to me that if taken at face value as a random spiritual gift of the universe, the arrival of a MASTER key IN MY HOME rather than out on the street where I normally find them could be a reassurance that things are going to be okay. I like that interpretation best of all the occult ones I can think of. 

arsenicjade replied to your photo “What the fuck what the fuck I know everyone’s like “don’t post a photo...”

New ghost?

I suppose it’s possible. We tend to think of ghosts as beings that died in situ and stayed put, but I know in some cultures they’re drifting beings that will latch on to people or locations. And I do have a rather nice little ghost house I built for Ghost, sitting on my shelf, that I honestly don’t think she’s using. Maybe a new ghost found it and settled in!  

knottahooker replied to your photo “What the fuck what the fuck I know everyone’s like “don’t post a photo...”

How many keys have you found now???

None this year, that’s the strange thing! The last time I found any at all, it was two years ago when I was buying the condo. Then I found three or four, I think. 

dancingplague replied to your photo “What the fuck what the fuck I know everyone’s like “don’t post a photo...”

One of the upsides of having pets is that when this kind of stuff happens I can just mutter 'the dog did it' and pretend to forget about it, giving me plausible deniability to ignore whatever is baiting me into investigating

I’m not gonna lie, the most likely explanation is actually that the last tenant left it here and one of the cats ferreted it out of a corner of a cupboard, or from under a loose kitchen tile or something. :D 

silvercrystalc replied to your post “The Good Omens Cross-Stitch Pattern: Now Available!”

You still haven't finished the tip of the sword?

Nah, there’s a couple of things I have to go back and finish but I figure I’ll do it at the end -- or wait until I’m doing the colors on that part of the design and do it then. Crowley’s hand will need to be fixed before I do the colors, but the sword’s pretty straightforward and doesn’t need fixing, just doing, so I can wait.  

mooseman13579 replied to your photo “What the fuck what the fuck I know everyone’s like “don’t post a photo...”

That's just the key to your heart

LOL! I AM NOT THE MASTER. 

mystrade4ever replied to your photo “What the fuck what the fuck I know everyone’s like “don’t post a photo...”

You will find what it unlocks when you are ready.��

That is both kind, uplifting, and OMINOUS :D

laughingacademy replied to your photo “What the fuck what the fuck I know everyone’s like “don’t post a photo...”

Have you recounted the doors in your apartment?

Apparently people who live in large, dense cities with expensive urban real estate do tend to have dreams where they find a door they’ve never opened and it leads to an entirely new room in their home they didn’t know existed. I’ve only had that dream once and it was part of an involved “I have to accomplish a very complex task in a short amount of time” anxiety dream, but I understand the sentiment for sure. 

shirokou replied to your photo “What the fuck what the fuck I know everyone’s like “don’t post a photo...”

MAGIC KEY!!!!

Might as well be! Still very perplexing. 

ameliahcrowley replied to your post “Now that I’m starting to have a bit of spending cash to spare (well, I...”

Apparently (according to my husband) the way to do it without having to make a creator page is to *not* sign up to Patreon, but to just use the little "be my patron" (or whatever) button of the individual people you want to support. Presumably the downside of this would be that it's harder to *find* said people, if you aren't actively on Patreon.

Well, and also, how does the page remember you paid for them, if you leave and come back and don’t have some kind of login? Maybe the “be my patron” button leads to a login setup of some kind? 

mojoflower replied to your post “Now that I’m starting to have a bit of spending cash to spare (well, I...”

There's Ko-fi? A lot of creators have that, and you can set up regular donations without anything more than paypal or a credit card.

I might do that for people I don’t want bonus content from, yeah. Or even just a recurring paypal donation, most people have a paypal.me. I’m still figuring it out. 

dignitywhatdignity replied to your post “I had a crazy dream last night that for some reason I had reconciled...”

Is it possible the aliens passed the bar under false pretenses? Which is to say, did you watch the Suits finale recently?

LOL I did not, did Mike finally get disbarred for taking the bar as someone else? :D 

[audible-smiles]

dancingplague replied to your post: genuinely extremely funny that Our Hero was almost...

I would love to make fun of Juno with you but actually I suspect it would be embarrassingly easy to seduce me into running away to space so I have no room to talk

oh I would absolutely go commit space crimes with the first sexy person who asked. he is valid. dumb, but valid. 

[barb-aricyawp]

I was super excited to see car trunk on the list, could I request Bucky and 8 please?

Ah, I’m so glad! Car trunk for Bucky is a go.(for torture tuesday)

trigger warnings: isolation, broken bones, humiliation

Mission accomplished, but just barely. Sam sags against Steve for support as they stagger towards the car. As they walk, Steve catalogues Sam’s myriad injuries. His fractured ribs are the main problem. They need to get him to medical. Stat.

He gets Sam into the passenger seat and turns around to locate Bucky. Bucky, who has unlatched the trunk and has one foot inside.

Steve is dumbfounded. “What are you doing?”

Bucky’s eyes drift down to the trunk. He has one hand on the deck lid. He blinks. “I don’t know.”

---

When the asset fails a mission, they make him ride in the trunk on the way home.

In the large van, this isn’t much of a punishment. The asset isn’t totally separated from the team. Sitting on the hard metal, knees tucked up to his chest...it’s almost peaceful.

It’s only the solitude. Being left with the knowledge that he’s no better than cargo. That hurts a little, and the asset doesn’t know why.

---

The smaller trunks are worse. 

When the asset is forced to squeeze his large body amongst the gear, and he’s sealed in the dark for hours and hours.

It’s like cryo, but without the cold. And without the sweet release of unconsciousness. The asset loathes it.

In the large truck, the asset can look out the back window. In the cramp of the smaller trunk, the asset is left with himself.

With his failure.

---

The asset has really fucked up this time. Two members of the STRIKE team are dead. Worse, the asset has allowed himself to become damaged: his left leg is broken at the tibia, he’s got a spiral radial fracture, and his metal arm hangs loose off his shoulder socket. 

Lieutenant Rollins is pissed.

Not many people on the STRIKE team can lift the asset, much less would, but Rollins hauls the asset up by the armpits and tosses him into the trunk. The asset lands against an assault rifle and the weight of his body snaps the barrel in two.

“Fuck you,” Rollins spits. He slams the trunk closed, but the asset isn’t small enough.

The lid knocks against the asset’s temple hard enough to daze him. Everything spins, and the asset tries to make himself smaller. Curls up into himself. Wishes he was smaller. 

He doesn’t understand why he has to be so big.

Rollins tries the lid again, but the asset still doesn’t fit. Growling, red in the face, Rollins stomps his foot down over the asset’s ribs. The ensuing crunch signals broken ribs, maybe even a punctured lung.

But it works. He crams the asset into the trunk deep enough to fit. The deck lid closes, sealing the asset in the dark.

---

Steve works his lower lip between his teeth. Bucky has retracted his foot, but he still stares into the trunk. Unsure.

“Okay,” Steve says, calculating. “Do you, uh, want to ride in the cabin? With us?”

Bucky’s cradling his ribcage, maybe he broke them too. Eyes on the trunk, he asks, “Will Sam be okay?”

“He’s just fine, Buck. Might even appreciate the vacation.”

Bucky hesitates, but he nods. “Thanks, Steve,” he says and crawls into the backseat.