#deadmines

World of Warcraft - Deadmines

(process vid under cut)

11. animal bones

“Why Whistler?”

Dakota knows without looking up from his work that Darcy is staring at him from across the shop. He can feel the other man’s gaze on him like a warm spotlight, can see those wide, intense blue irises in his mind’s eye.

“Why anythin’?” he asks, in reply. He’s working on jewelry behind the shop counter, winding thin wire around one end of a coyote rib, the turns of the needle-nose pliers slow and meditative. He’d almost forgotten Darcy was there in the comfortable silence, too used to being alone.

“You always have a reason for the things you do,” Darcy says. 

His voice is low and patient, as pleasant as if he’s talking about the weather. Dakota looks up to find him - predictably - staring, holding a raccoon jawbone in his hand and passing his thumb over the teeth absently. He looks out of place in the taxidermy shop in his suit and tie, his hair combed perfectly to the side and away from his face. Like a man out of time.

“Aw.” Dakota grins, showing teeth. Showing fangs. “You think I’m deep.”

“I think you rarely choose something for yourself that doesn’t mean anything,” Darcy says, still entirely neutral. “So why Whistler?”

“S’just a name,” Dakota says. “He was a painter.” Honestly, he didn’t put much thought into Whistler. It was a quick alias, really, one that he wasn’t anticipating anyone to recognize the person behind. Another mask between him and the public. No one has to know Dakota Van Andel the taxidermist is Whistler the true crime blogger is the Dentist. No one did know, until Darcy. Dakota can never tell if it makes him feel flattered or overexposed.

“I thought it was because of the sound,” Darcy says, abruptly setting the jawbone back down.

Dakota gives him a look. “What sound?”

“Of breathing through a gap in your teeth.” 

Darcy’s voice is even. It’s impossible to tell if he’s joking. Dakota laughs anyway.

hell yeah hell yeah, here we go friend

THE WORLD:

Our society creates so much unfairness. It’s unkind, it’s ruthless, and it lines humanity up for failure--it puts us on the chopping block of isolation (from others and from self) and does not care where the pieces of our lives fall. You know this intimately. But you’ve done so much work against that which has raised you. You’ve done work in understanding yourself, in caring for others like you, and in empathizing with those who--though failed by society in other ways--are still wounded by it. Even if there will always be obstacles, you’ve done so much to reintegrate with your inner self.

FOUR OF WANDS:

Yes, you’ve had amazing success in working for self care and fighting internal biases; but you want a reflection of these things externally. A reward, in a way. Even if society doesn’t give it to you, know you deserve it. You seek to further your connections to those around you, to change society. Also, like, you wouldn’t mind a fucking break. You deserve rest and the kind of tranquility that comes from like that idyllic version of rural life. 

KING OF RINGS:

I feel like this is an inhibitor to everyone’s goals, but capitalism in particular is your antagonist. Plus the biases of society already mentioned, and all the bigotry that entails. It’s so hard to find peace and a place of teaching and understanding when you constantly have to worry about finances and whether or not you can make ends meet and whether those with power are going to follow their biases against you and try to destroy you. 

KNIGHT OF RINGS: