I’ve been spending too much time on Twitter, and my attention span suffers. My creativity yesterday splintered in ways best not mentioned. Twitter has always been the proverbial water-cooler for me; I write, then get my head out of the work by grabbing my phone and checking my timeline. Lately, though, it’s been a productivity killer.
I started chapter one of 4 Kings. I got as far as Lubo getting out of the pool to check on his mom before fucking off on Twitter for an hour.
The first time someone called him pretty, he looked at his father to see if it was true.
Pops, a dead ringer for a young Boris Karloff, scored a Polish-born beauty contestant while working as a lowly engineer for Colombia Gas. So, when some lady at the park called his ten-year-old son pretty, he yielded what would be the first of many winks that cemented his son’s confidence.
After putting the phone down, I closed the manuscript and opened Majstrov; I shifted headspace in the next scene/chapter card to Radovan. The seeds of division are planted in this chapter, even if Radovan doesn’t quite pick up on it yet. The angel-afflicted need not plan to divide and conquer; their mere presence tips the poorly sealed jug of the demons’ alliance.
[13] (POV SHIFT: RADOVAN) Fires warm Radovan’s cave and tonight’s meal consists of a young deer and the freshly killed remains of an enemy marauder. To his right sits Pivo and Dalibor; between them is the petite angel called Goran. The man sits catatonic. His lips move occasionally, but his words are too soft for anyone to hear. Two skins sit empty on his left until Ivan arrives to sit upon one of them. Radovan suspects Ivan still ventures to the island where he exiled Wisha and spies on him. On a leash is Pavel, whom Radovan snatches up and tosses into the corner. The cunning Pavel lacks a hand, a foot, and beneath his rabbit fur cape, a penis. The scar running down the left side of his face is exquisite to Radovan.
Matej is very late, and Pivo reveals that the beefy man hasn’t checked his traps in days. Ivan notices that Matej hasn’t been fishing either. Radovan thinks Matej never killed the angel-cake called Jan, the one they ordered him to kill for hiding Pavel after Wisha helped him escape. Dalibor believes they should let him have Jan since they all got pieces of angel cake. Pivo complains that Goran is a worthless fuck, but Dalibor tells him to stop being so mean. Ivan wonders if Matej found the missing blond that Wisha called, Vaysa. Radovan walks to Pavel and kneels: ‘Is this blond as smart as you?’ Pavel whispers: ‘Vasya is smarter than me.’
Radovan decides tomorrow they will visit Matej—but Ivan tells them to go without him; he’s ‘bringing Wisha home’. He claims that Pavel cannot cook or clean—he’s useless. Radovan is disturbed by Ivan’s need to collect Wisha. He grabs Pavel, drags him to his bed, and rapes him. Afterward, he questions him about Wisha and Ivan. Pavel tells him Ivan never struck or hurt Wisha—and Wisha being an idiot, fell in love with him for it. Pavel talks of their constant couplings, how Ivan is addicted to Wisha’s ass, and that Wisha enjoys anal sex too much. His cries of pleasure anger Ivan, who demands Wisha stop sounding like a whore – to acquiesce, Wisha covers his mouth during sex. After every orgasm, Ivan ventures out and maims a dog, a cat, a pig, or a slave. He once sated his post-coital need for violence by slaughtering all of Wisha’s chickens—the ones Wisha spent weeks luring and penning. Radovan asks how long before Ivan stalked the island where Wisha resides. Pavel claims he began visiting two weeks after exiling Wisha to it.
The relationship amuses Radovan, who decides Pavel will remain in Ivan’s house and report everything he sees there. When Pavel asks what’s in it for him, Radovan rapes him once more and then promises never to touch him again so long as his reports keep him entertained.
My phone dinged again at that point with more messages from concerned people about an unfortunate interaction I experienced with a Korean creator. I was firmly in the wrong and felt worse upon hearing this creator has a history with scanslators pirating her work—she even had her account suspended once for doxing scanslators. It’s probably best she blocked me. I apologized for sharing scanslated panels from a comic (not hers) and promised to do better—that’s all I can do, she’s not obligated to care, and I’m cool with that.
Sadly—my attention was sidelined again, so I closed out Majstrov and shut off my computer.
Today is the finale of the current Son of Kal-El story. I’ll be visiting the comic shop to pick up my issue and cannot wait to see how it plays out. Despite the comics-world manosphere decrying it as ‘too woke,’ I’ve greatly enjoyed this run. I think the themes fit given Jon Kent’s age, so I’m unsure why they’re belly-aching other than that they cannot relate to Jon Kent; he isn’t their Superman anymore, he’s ours.
Guns, Guys, & Yaoi 2.0 