First sentence: This may be the most stubborn man Mary had ever met, and given the places she had lived in, and the people she had met, that was saying a lot about the character of this particular doctor.

This may be the most stubborn man Mary had ever met, and given the places she had lived in, and the people she had met, that was saying a lot about the character of this particular doctor. Still, she did not have it, whatever vice or virtue it might be, in her to argue with him any further, when he insisted he cared not a whit for Hale’s opinion and he’d take the responsibility upon himself for the use of the chloroform and the suture for the surgery. She’d only argued that he must not operate alone and he’d had the wisdom not to challenge her on that score. It had taken him nearly six hours to do the work, a terrible waste if the boy did not survive, a necessary victory if he did. 

“I had to give him a chance, Mary, you must see that—” Jed said, laying down the scalpel on the tray and she nodded, for she herself had scoured Manchester for some tonic for Gustav, though everyone else had called it hopeless. She’d lost him but not herself and that, she understood, drove Jedediah, more than the needle or his intellect or his pride.

Late Valentine's stuff!!

The Corinthian proving to be a more responsible, more engaged, more overall competent guardian for Jed than either of his actual foster parents has left me in dire need of some fictional works wherein a young neglected child is essentially adopted by some nightmare monstrosity and it turns out remarkably well, really.

(I've already read The Last Human, yes)

You know you’re a bad foster parent as well as a shitbag human being when the audience is rooting for Jed to be found by the fucking Corinthian.

Like seriously, that motherfucker was getting ready to beat that sweet innocent boy with a belt for calling out for his sister and someone rings the door, you know what I was saying to myself? “Please let that be Corinthian, please PLEASE, for the love of fuck let that be the scariest motherfucking nightmare walking around in this show.”

Am thinking about The Corinthian and how he treats killing. He certainly enjoys it and you can tell but he enjoys it because it’s him succeeding at his purpose. To him his purpose is to be a reflection of the worst of humanity. To demonstrate how ugly it can be (and GOSH what a fantastic parallel/contrast to John that is). And like? It just fascinates me how because of that he isn’t ALWAYS killing. He isn’t always seeking out a next victim. Sometimes he just fucks. When he takes Jed he takes on the responsibility of being an adult for him with zero intention to hurt him. And sure that was selfishly motivated but there is such a distinct difference between him and someone like Funland who is DRIVEN by his incessant desire to hurt children. Where The Corinthian doesn’t seem to even struggle with restraining himself from hurting people.

Headcanon: At the end of the Cereal Convention arc, Comics!Dream tells Jed to wake up because his sister is waiting anxiously for him at his bedside. Best not to prolong her worry.

The Sandman AU

I’d love an AU where Lyta went with Rose to the Cereal Convention.

When Rose tells Lyta about being a Dream Vortex and what’s going on with Jed, Lyta decides to stay in the Waking World a few more hours to help her friend. It makes all the difference.

“Hey Rose, I’m really glad someone has found Jed and you’re going to meet him. However, until a few hours ago, Jed was in a house where everyone was just brutally murdered. Hopefully, he isn’t traumatised or with the murdered.

“You know what? Before I leave my body in a coma for you to deal with in the morning, when I don’t wake up, I’ll stay with you for the few hours it takes you to reunite with your brother.”

Then Rose, Lyta and Gilbert go together to the Cereal Convention. Through talking with Gilbert and Rose, Lyta starts to appreciate the Waking World a bit more again.

Lyta and Hector both help Rose when the Corinthian tries to use her.

Lyta learns about Dream and how important he is. Dream is a little more patience and kind explaining why she can’t just live in her dreams.

Hector gets given the option to become a denizen of the Dreaming. Dream promises to let Lyta know how Hector is doing in the Dreaming and vis versa. He won’t let Lyta visit him as it might stop her living her life. He does however, promise to let her choose to join him in the Dreaming when she eventually passes away.

Dream still almost kills Rose but doesn’t.

Lyta has her baby and Dream becomes a weird uncle to Daniel, Rose and Jed.

Dream gets a human family. They encourage him to go to therapy. He does. He also makes more friends and visits Hob more often.

Everyone lives happily ever after.

Also imagine before Jed knew that Cori was a nightmare, Jed being terrified of sleeping because of nightmares and monsters in his closet, so Gault and Cori have to back and forth assuring him that “no nightmare” will get him and they’d know if it would. 

Reblog if you're still angry at PBS for canceling Mercy Street

So, I watched The Age of Innocence this week just because I wanted some period drama post-The Empress and I started thinking about the timeline. How little impact there seems to be on everyone from the Civil War, which ended only 5-10 years earlier. How Newland Archer should have been in his late teens during the War, too young to fight, but plausibly aware of what was happening, whereas May would have been a younger child.

How Newland goes to Washington to visit Ellen at a dinner party-- and then I started thinking about a crossover with Mercy Street folks (especially given our murder mystery round robin set about 10 years after the end of the War.) What if  Emma Green (married either to Jimmy or Henry) had been at Ellen’s party? What if Jed Foster was the physician called in to look after Mrs. Manson Mingott after argument with Regina in New York? What if Anne Hastings was doing her best to insinuate herself into New York society?

Old Metalocalypse art dump :P

Hi Mr. Gaiman!

I have a question about Jed's custody in The Sandman. Why is it Miranda can't get custody of her son or learn his whereabouts? My understanding in most cases where the custodial parent dies, the non-custodial parent should be able to gain custody as long as they are fit (not neglectful or abusive), even if it's across state lines. It seems like in the show she was trying to learn his whereabouts before she passed away.

Any chance you can shed some light on that piece of the story in the show?

Thanks and hope you are having a lovely day!

Had Miranda been able to find Jed before he died she would undoubtedly have been able to get custody.

She couldn't learn his whereabouts because her ex-husband didn't tell her where he was, and (we learn in the comic) when her ex-husband died Jed was left in care of his paternal grandfather, who had no contact with or information on Miranda, and from there he went to foster parents. It shouldn't have happened, and things improved when the money from Unity came in and Miranda could afford a Private Detective to try and trace her deceased ex-husband and her son.

I admittedly feel some kind of way about this one 🤣😝. I leave it to you as to how dark this could get...👍🏽

Hob used to be trade, but he finished his degree and got out of the sex for money business. He's got this great teaching job that he loves and he really pleased with himself that he got out.

Problem is that one (or more) of the men that he used to "see" on the regular are parents of kids at his school and they were in the cohort of men who weren't exactly happy when he quit.

Hob is a good teacher and doesn't want this guy/these guys to tank a job he loves so he goes to the demanded meeting.

HNNNGNGNG THIS IS SO DARK and I fucking love it.

Poor Hob. He's trying so hard to look professional in his suit, trying to stop himself from shaking. He's hoping that these guys will maybe let him off, if he explains how much he loves teaching their kids... but of course, he's not that lucky.

There's Cori, with his fostered kid Jed. A client who used to thrill Hob as well as scaring the shit out of him. Hob still has scars from the places Cori used to bite him... not that he minds, really. He sometimes runs his fingers over those marks and reminisces about it...

There's Dream, father of Orpheus, who used to be Hob’s favourite client. He used to take Hob out on fancy dates, wining and dining him thoroughly before taking him back to a gorgeous hotel. Hob even used to go to events with Dream, when his wife couldn't make it. Dream was a force of nature in bed, and he stars in so many of Hob’s fantasies. Even after all this time.

And John Constantine, who often picks up his niece from school. He used to be Hob’s pimp for a little while, and of course he'd sample the merchandise now and then. John is in a more respectable business now, but the way he's looking at Hob suggests that he hasn't really changed...

The three of them all look so happy to see Hob. They back him up onto one of the desks in his classroom, and he's forced to spread his legs. Immediately he's pushed down and groped through his trousers, and admittedly he doesn't put of much of fight. It just feels so natural to lay there like a good slut.

Maybe if he's good enough... he'll get to keep his new job. He's very much willing to beg...

Countdown to Netflix’s Dead Boy Detectives: 9 days

it striked my eye how jed is treated better by the literal nightmares than people who were supposed to take care of him.

first we see gault making at least boy's dreams good. she does her best trying to cheer him up when he's asleep, but it's not the only good thing she does. gault also empowers jed by letting him deal with problems. they are made up, sure, although the boy can feel what is it like to actually have an impact, not only to be enslaved by others. furthermore gault tries to protect jed from morpheus. as soon as she sees him on the monitor, she tells jed to walk away, because she knows the dream lord, she knows she will have to go back to his kingdom. most importantly - she wants to protect jed from dream's wrath. we know that he eventually does not harm the boy, but gault didn't. she wanted to confront morpheus alone, despite knowing that her master will be angry with her.

then we see corinthian literally saving jed from his foster care. yes, he did do that to get to rose, but this doesn't mean he had to treat the boy well. it was his choice to make jed trust him. again, probably in order to then make rose trust him, but still, he took care of jed during the convention, gave him food, saved him and rose from the funland. corinthian has his own, egoistic goals, and yet manages to treat jed like a human being, which is something his foster care apparently couldn't do.

in the comics both gault and corinthian treated jed like a mean to an end, without really caring about him. gault just had fun making jed dream weird stuff, there was nothing more about it. the corinthian meets jed by accident, so he does not make an effort to find him. he then keeps the boy in his trunk, not giving a damn about his well-being.

it all makes me think that this was a deliberate choice made by the creators of the show. a choice to empasise that a nightmare is more humane than an actual human. that hits hard.

a nightmare who wants to be a dream developing an attachment to a little boy who is afraid of his foster parents in the waking world. the nightmare taking the form of a caring maternal figure and helping him to create a reality to escape into where he has the power to save other children from abusive adults. gault and jed's story is the best one in the sandman i won't be taking suggestions