written and illustrated by Iron Eater ❦ 1 ❦ The pursuit of medical science was an inglorious thing, dealing from challenges in all directions: to the layman, it was a morass of gore and suffering more akin to butcher’s work than healing; to the tradition-minded, it sneered at generations of curated knowledge in the name […]
Category Archives: Text
29
Dec
Chain Reactions
by juou no zan (女王のザン) The part that rankled Radek the most was how he was going to have to ask the Academy doctor for emergency contraception. Radek had always prided himself on being prepared for his endeavors, even after he stopped working as a mercenary and became a teacher. Yet he had been incorrect […]
29
Dec
Of Figures and Fingering Things Out
by Greta Jia-Kang Cabrel “The answer is no,” Hongyu said, her voice ringing out over the post-rehearsal hubbub. She internally winced as everyone else in the early music consort turned toward her to see what was the matter. “It was no last year and the year before, and it’ll be no the next thirty times […]
29
Dec
Your Head, Your Neck, My Hands
by Sylla C. Darkness sits in the meadow and cradles her Sun close enough to her skin to feel her burn. Fire coils around her wrist. Stars die above them in their own fragmented eternity, and flowers bloom, painting the meadow with their patient life, as she sets the last stitch. Dark twine curls its […]
29
Dec
in a hallway, somewhere
by sen no akumu (先の悪夢) Two hours before the wedding, Erhart sneaks off to fuck his guard. He doesn’t even like Siegfried much; the man is big, boorish, dull. He only ever trains, spending hours each day working the sword and the bow and the spear, bullishly instructing the few other soldiers who went with […]
27
Oct
Taking Care of It
written and illustrated by Iron Eater Afternoon sunlight streamed through the windows, thick and warm despite the early autumn’s chill, and as Jack’s favorite old record player scratched its way from song to song he knew he wanted to be nowhere else. He and Billy—and if there was one man in the world who needed […]
27
Oct
Gentle Giant
by Holden Marrs Charles was a sinner, not a saint. Did that mean he was a bad person? He tried to do good – he tried to be good – but sometimes his thoughts were so dark, so violent. Ever since he was a young adult, he’d been in and out of therapy as […]
27
Oct
Laid to Rest
by juou no zan (女王のザン) “Okay,” Ding said, finally looking up from the collection of notes they’d gathered. “The good news is, I’m pretty sure doing the village’s ritual will work to calm down the spirits here. I don’t know how long it will last, but at least a year.” “How is that good […]
27
Oct
Something Else
by shukyou (主教) “What’s the oldest house you still have access to?” Alex was not exactly a stranger to being chatted up at dive bars, most of the time by ragged, lonely drunks who said he reminded them of their son, or sometimes even of their grandson. He had to admit, though, this was […]
27
Oct
Sakazuki
by Domashita Romero (地下ロメロ) He never thought he’d get old enough for his bones to ache so much. Masao remembered being in his twenties and firmly believing he’d never be the kind of man to groan so much when he moved around. Those noises had become his constant companion more than twenty years ago. Most […]
27
Oct
Dead Hung Rigging
by Togi Kayako (土宜草子) illustrated by lonelytuatara Patrick switched the foot he had braced against his car and prayed with all his might that he looked even a little cool. With any luck, Risa would arrive before Dave. If Patrick was posing too obviously, she’d leap at the chance to tease him about his […]
27
Oct
Through The Woods, Homewards
by Kit Miller It was a truly magnificent fox. Its fur was silken and shone even in the fading twilight. Its ears, the backs of them night black, were pricked as it listened out for the faintest rustle of mice, ready, any moment, to pounce. Reinhardt breathed in, and let the arrow fly. The […]
26
Aug
Going Up
by Domashita Romero (地下ロメロ) It’d been three years and Alexander’s stomach still turned when he got in one of the elevators of the Carlyle-Matsunaga Building. It wasn’t that he was afraid that it would malfunction (much), or of heights (much), or even how you barely felt them move while they were zipping so fast between […]
25
Aug
We’re All Light
by Hyakunichisou 13 (百日草 十三) After the hotel door closed, Brooks wafted himself over to where Peter’s pocket telephone sat tethered to the wall like a horse on a picket. His travelling companions were on their way to dinner, and Peter had been peeved to have to leave the little device behind, but it was […]
25
Aug
Paint the Town Vermillion
by shukyou (主教) illustrated by 2013 Well, thought Zero with a sigh as he hopped onto the streetcar, that had been nothing but disappointment. There hadn’t even been any excitement, not a single lie sussed out or promising lead charmed from someone’s reluctant lips. Just a big nothing. Four potential leads, four pairs of eyes […]
