cityarcade | Secret Santa Day Five

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secret santa

Secret Santa Day Five

The fifth day of Chrismukkah finds this mod listening to Christmas carols at work instead of working. 'Tis the season for slacking off?

Each day from now through Christmas, you'll find a post like this one waiting. Leave anonymous comments with your gift for your Secret Santee (make sure to put his or her name in the subject line so they can find it!). Remember, it's okay if you don't have something every day. We do, however, encourage you to leave a little note to let them know they haven't been forgotten. Christmas Day will be a free-for-all, where you can leave presents for anyone at all and, if you so desire, reveal your identity.

Let the gift-giving begin.

Don't forget: You can use

citysecrets for all your comment-posting needs. If you need to upload pictures, ImageShack and TinyPic are both pretty good for anonymous uploads, or you can use the livejournal gallery Deense kindly set up for us.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Darling Stef,

I am so sorry for missing yesterday. Writing a preposterous number of last minute Yuletide pinch hits in one day saw me with my head down ignoring the Universe.

Today I have three comics for you. You should have a notification in your gmail box from comixology!

Richard Stark's Hunter by Darwyn Cooke. It's an amazing book, and who doesn't love a bit of Noir in their life?
http://www.comixology.com/Richard-Starks-Parker-The-Hunter/comics-series/7193

Return of the Dapper Man by Jim McCann and Janet K Lee. Amazing art and great story. Plus a foreward from Tim Gunn! How does it get any better?
http://www.comixology.com/Return-of-the-Dapper-Men/digital-comic/SEP100782

Jeff Lemire's tragically, scarily beautiful Essex County.
http://www.comixology.com/Essex-County/digital-comic/FEB098164

ENJOY

Oh, man, this is awesome, thank you! I wish I weren't at work so I could download and read now. XD

LOL SO, any hope of anonimity is blown now, but here is a depressing horror/post-apocalyptic giant shippy Spike/Andrea fix for you. ENJOY
---

He'd known it would come to this, in the end.

On the third night, he'd put more distance between them. Climbed astride the motorcycle he'd pilfered and driven until he'd met the boundaries of city. These weren't hunting trips. Not anymore.

He'd lost hope of that, weeks ago.

It hadn't been a gradual loss, this time. One person here and there, like they'd all gotten used to. It happened all at once. One morning they'd woken up and found themselves alone.

It was strange, how quickly the dirty parts of survival creep in. How quickly one can be reminded just what kind of monster they really are, when desperation takes over.

After only a handful of days without power, the donor supplies tucked away in the hospital started to spoil, and he hadn't had a proper meal in weeks.

They'd spoken of it once and only once. Sitting in her darkened living room, in the apartment they hadn't felt the need to completely abandon, she'd closed her hand around his wrist, the warmth of he's skin dragging a shudder down his spine.

"You think I don't know what's going on?" she'd said, and there was a darkening flash of anger in her eyes. More importantly, she seemed disappointed. Oh Christ, anything but that.

"You need to eat, Spike. I can't watch this... I can't sit here, knowing I can help you and just--"

A low, warning growl cut her off, his eyes flashing yellow in the dim candlelight. He jerked his hand from her grasp with a bit too much force.

"No," he'd said, "no, I don't want to hear it."

"But if you just take a little, I'll-"

"You don't bloody get it! If I start, they'll be no stopping me, Andrea. If I start, that's it. For both of us."

They hadn't spoken about it since.

He sat now just on the outskirts of town, the hunger choking its way into the back of his throat. Shuddering under his skin, in his every cell, until every thought was nothing but red. Nothing but blood. His coat hung from frightfully thin shoulders, and while he didn't look like any famine victim just yet, his skin felt oddly tight, the ache in him settling deep in his bones, and he knew it was only a matter of time.

He sat for a long time. He sat, and he made the same decision he'd made for three nights running. The decision to wait right there on that stretch of road and greet the sun.

But just like every night, he climbed on his bike and turned back for that little apartment he shared with her. Because he couldn't abandon her. Not in this. Or perhaps he was just a coward. His reasons why didn't matter much, he supposed.

When he climbed under the sheets alongside her, greedily soaking up her warmth, she cracked open an eye and murmured, "You're back."

As if she were surprised. Because she was.

dfgljfl;kgjfgjdljg

UGGGGGH, I LOVE THEM AND THIS SO FREAKING MUCH. It's too early for so many feelings. xD

<33333333333

And this is where I possibly tip my hand a bit, if I haven't already. But: FIC

Nights of Gem and Gilt

She leads him through fields of emerald. She can fly when she chooses to, and she flies above him, hands extended for him, though they both know that he won't be able to reach her. They're both weighed down by what they've seen but she was always lighter than he is.

This is acceptable to him.

The emerald grass is stiff and it tears his legs to shreds, makes him bleed, but he doesn't feel the pain. He's lost in watching her, a dancing angel, his own heart fluttering out of his reach.

And of course the dream always has to end.

~

Sapphire water is deep and blue and hard. He plunges in after her, when she beckons, and it opens for him readily enough but then closes again and threatens to crush his ribcage. He gasps, shakes; this is her world and not his but she frames his face with her hands and breathes into him and he lives.

Every moment of this, she shows him what he's really capable of.

~

Blood is ruby. Blood is flowing. It fills the world. What she's wearing is also blood, or at least blood-colored; a gown of crimson that flows around her as she dances, as she fights off demons. She isn't laughing but the movements of her body are like laughter. She holds a wickedly curved sword in each hand and she carves her way through the screaming hordes and he watches her until he realizes that he's holding guns like her swords, two sawed-off shotguns gilded with silver skulls, and he joins her in the slaughter.

This is the first time he's been allowed to fight by her side. He wonders what this means.

~

In the land of ivory she's dressed all in white, her skin is white, her hair is so pale gold that it might as well be white. She is standing in a forest of frosted ice and trees of polished bone. She holds a staff—also of bone—in one hand and her other is outstretched to him.

I always stand, she whispers. Her voice comes to him on the breeze. It makes me so tired but I always stand for something. And every time I fall I get up again. But I keep getting up alone.

He wants to go to her; in that moment he wants nothing more than to be her knight errant and perform mighty deeds in her name, but she is the strong one and all at once she's dressed in armor, her helmet like a dragon's skull, and his knees fold under him.

~

The gold is difficult. She's glowing, not goading him but demanding that he continue, and he's weighted so heavy. He closes his eyes against her brilliance, against all that accusing glory, and he remembers betrayal and shame as he drags his body toward her.

Always she recedes before him.

These are ordeals. He is proving himself. He is becoming. She is allowing it to happen.

~

Among the obsidian he comes into his own.

He doesn't have a sword, he doesn't have guns. He has knives and chains and it feels right. Above him and the black plain she flies with crow's wings; she brings the storm with her, and as he flings himself at the massive dark beast with horns like dead trees and a mouth like the maw of a volcano, he thinks of her as a Morrigan, goddess of the battlefield, beautiful and terrible.

But with a massive swipe of its massive claws it strikes her down.

The rage doesn't blind him. It merely takes him over. And in fact he sees everything so much more clearly now, feels like she's given him her wings as he leaps and plunges down onto the thing's face, whipping the chains around him and sending the knives curving down into the thing's eyes.

The heat blisters him. He barely notices.

He's already gone when it falls. He's with her, bending over her, and he can't tell how badly she's hurt but she's there enough to wrap her arms around him as he lifts her up.

And she's not getting up alone. Not this time.

~

He's still holding her in the cathedral of diamond. Everything, for once, is still, but for the soft singing of a hundred thousand crystal chandeliers, sending cascades of rainbow light showering everywhere. He is standing with her, facing her, his hands in hers, and it would feel like a marriage ceremony except for how, in moments like this, she reminds him so much of what he imagines his daughters might look like someday.

It costs me so much to help you build this, she whispers. She is shining like a jewel. But look what we can make together.

He still can't speak. In all these worlds, he has never spoken to her. He kisses her forehead and all that multicolored light spills over them, each one the facet of a gem.

a little bit of ugly crying here.

This is brilliant and I love you <3 Seriously amazing. Just. guh. Thank you so much.

This one may give me away, which is okay, since I don't know if I'll be able to snag any computer time tomorrow.

♥

Because I don't know your canons as well as I would like, rather than putting music together for your pups, I put together some music I hope you'll like.

Pressure Suit - Aqualung
I'll be your respirator
I'll be your pressure suit
it's alright, it's alright

Hunted By a Freak - Mogwai
instrumental

Furr - Blitzen Trapper
but I was drawn into the pack and before long
they allowed me to join in and sing their song

In the Water, I am Beautiful - City and Colour
I always hesitate, there's something lingering
I will try harder to be all that I can be

Absolutely Anytime - The Watchmen
that was years ago and time's a thief you know
I never meant to be deceiving

The Wanting Comes in Waves - The Decemberists
and I'll return to you at break of light
for the wanting comes in waves

Let it Roll - Devin Townsend
come what may, anyway
I was born not to follow
there are times, many times
when my pride I must swallow

Shoulder Full of You - Blitzen Trapper
deer tracks on an unmade bed
somebody said they saw you
flyinf down Forest Park with a broken wing in flight

My Relationship - Dysrhythmia
instrumental

Left & Leaving - The Weakerthans
duct tape and soldered wires
new words for old desires
and every birthday card I threw away

Split Me Wide Open - The Bravery
oh, you always knew me
you're the only one who knew me
oh, you see right through me
you always see right through me

Don't Change Your Plans - Ben Folds Five
sometimes I get the feeling that I won't be on this planet
for very long
I really like it here, I'm quite attached to it
I hope I'm wrong

Tree By the River - Iron & Wine
I recall the sun in our faces
stuck and leaning on graces
and being strangers to change

Almost Ready - Dinosaur Jr.
I've been wondering if the message sent
wondering if I made a dent
wondering what it is you meant again

Green to Grey - Kevin Long
shame on you to think you could never leave it
shame on me for being the one who made you believe it

Hang Me Up to Dry - Cold War Kids
now hang me up to dry
you wrung me out too, too, too many times

Our Finest Year - Better than Ezra
I am bending
made of steel
I am tumbling
towards something real

Colette - Langhorne Slim
I took a breath and leapt into the atmosphere
I guess it was something you said
we'll rest when we're dead

Halloween - Matt Pond PA
went to where the people were on a saturday night
seems like it always seems
where I go I want to leave

Download the zip file HERE and I hope you enjoy. ♥

Today I bring you 84 icons of Mike. Considering I only had the time to make way through the first three episodes worth of caps, I might have gone slightly overboard. <3