BRIN

Someday this will all be behind, nothing more than bad dreams and haunted memories.

Isaiah Bailey & Jordan Lee Gilbert, POTO US Tour 2026

Which means when Victor wakes up to the Creature standing by his bed like ☺️, and Victor freaks out and runs away, the Creature could have ostensibly wandered into the hallway after him, only to be met with a pack of incredibly drunk-after-an-all-night-1818-rager yet well-meaning frat boys.

Who were so blasted that they were just like, "Dude, what, do you play rugby? Holy shit, he's fuckin' huge, look at this fuckin' guy! Absolute unit!" And they all whooped and hollered and just ushered the Creature into their dorm to keep the party going.

And the Creature was just like, "?????" but very pleased to find other people vaguely shaped like him, so he lets them because he may be just minutes old but he knew early on all he really wanted was one (1) buddy and now there's, like, a herd of them and they're all having a blast.

When the guys inevitably pass out, sloshed beyond all sense, he just sits and waits for them to wake up and when they do, later that morning, he's poking at one of them to make sure the guy is still breathing, and the kid wakes up and yells for a second and squints at the 8 foot-tall (rugby???? player????) guy in their dorm and is like, "Shit, what is that?"

And another one squints at him and goes, "I don't fuckin' know, bro, but he can throw us so hard. Did you see how David just...fuckin'...flew out the window last night? Just hurled David like it was no big deal. That was awesome."

David groans and puts his head under his pillow because his headache is awful but he lets out a pained, muffled, "that was awesome" in agreement.

So in a rare case of wholesome frat boy camaraderie, this herd of college roommate boys, all of whom are dumb as rocks but well-meaning, just take the Creature in because, "There's this huge fucking monster guy and it's the coolest thing we've ever seen."

This would possibly mean the Creature is socialized to be a dumb-as-rocks frat boy, but because I cannot allow that to happen and because there is no universe in which he would not be into poetry, he somehow also gets socialized by liberal arts majors and is just as Sensitive™, it rubs off on his frat buddies, who start saying things like, "No, man, it's Sturm und Drang, it's, like, the fuckin' vast rolling of the soul that, like...fuckin' eschews Enlightenment rationalism."

But some of the boys' lingo inevitably rubs off on the Creature so when, months later, Victor comes back to get all of his things with Henry post-mental breakdown, he bumps into a crowd of rowdy guys playfully jostling each other, and that crowd includes an 8-foot tall dude in a letterman jacket holding a volume of Goethe in one hand and a tankard of beer in the other, and he scoffs down at Victor and goes, "Accursed Creator! Why didst thou abandon me in my hour of need? Fuckin' lame."

the inherent intimacy of following the man with whom your fate is forever entwined because you saved his life to his underground domain and getting caught in his trap, knowing he's tricking you but falling for it anyways, being enchanted by his voice and comparing the sound to that of a siren leading you to temptation.

the inherent intimacy of his familiar hands rising from the water and seizing you by the throat, the hands which usually grip a lasso to commit their violent deeds but instead are gripping you by the nape of your neck, the hands of the wretched man you should hate and yet do not.

the inherent intimacy of wrapping your fingers around the arm of the monster trying to drown you, the monster you've forgiven for far worse, as he drags you below the surface, as you realize you are cursed to follow him even in death.

the inherent intimacy of giving one last cry before he finally takes your life, the life you already gave him years ago without question. the inherent intimacy of him instantly recognizing you by the sound of your pain, as murderous rage turns to dull frustration, as his lethal hold relents and becomes gentle even in his annoyance, as he lays you on the shore almost tenderly.