CHVRCHES - Bela Lugosi's Dead

Semi-Circle

Candles in a semi-circle on the side of the walkway; pictures, flowers, and votives. In her white shawl, she makes sounds like a dog left out in the barren cold. No door will open if she waits.

People on the street keep their distance. Just as they probably kept their distance when the killer revealed his weapon. Rare murder produces a zone that only the grief-stricken may enter. Otherwise it simply produces a body in the street.

Grim Soliloquies

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Nothing but wall-to-wall knives, guns, and tits. A dark triangle leading youth to ruin. This issue, an eleven year old boy will fall into a strange world of futuristic soldiers, masked villains, and blonde cavemen. He's never seen anything like these intimations of bondage and domination. And who are those faces in the top, left-hand box? None of it makes any sense. Except the promise of violence. Violence beckons like the perfumed scent of a submissive mistress.

Uncanny X-Men #274 (Marvel Comics, March, 1991)

Pharmakon - Body Betrays Itself

Dark Dilemma

Out of conscientious habit, he's turned the lights off as he leaves. He doesn't seem to realize that I was there with him and that I'm still midstream. The light from the slowly closing door has diminished to an inch and Mr. Conscientious is long gone. Fuck.

Summoning muscles that are very poor at restraining fluids, I attempt the impossible, using my underwear to prevent dribbling. It's difficult. Damage is minimal--thank fuck. I end up working my way from the urinal to the light-switch feeling only a little warmer. But, Christ, this could have been bad. That guy should really pay better attention to other people in the bathroom. He doesn't have to be so afraid. People get hurt in a world of fear. 

Purity Ring - Grammy

Alex - Part 1 - Laplace's Demon

  Alex's fingers are deep into the man's unprepared trapezius, pushing apart tense muscles. It is remarkable the power that can be found if one digs even slightly below the surface of something. You built steel obelisks in honour of this truth. Alex sighed quietly, watching as the man he had grabbed tried to keep from begging, his body unable to stand properly. 

  After Bosnia, Alex thinks that I cannot see him or that I haven't kept watch. He doesn't know that each one of his atoms rests and glows in a way that bends the space of my body. I can reverse the irreversible and watch this whole show on repeat like I have a million times before. So I've known about the little drama of Alex for quite a while. I've watched over him since his mother was born. And I can see him now, dragging that poor man over to a doorway. Customers at a place like this think that money buys everything. Don't I know it.