— House of Refuge boys in their own respective circles of hell. A darker deep dive. x.
“Only the poets escape hell, I’m afraid.” — Doc Maltese
Limbo. Unbaptised and virtuous pagans. Trapped, perhaps forever, without escape. Grim can’t seem to stay out of the Refuge and is plagued by guilt. No Name becomes a prisoner in his own mind thanks to a multitude of factors. Both are doomed to relive their trauma over and over again.
Lust. Whirlwind of torture for the lustful and adulterous. Spot regularly sleeps with Jack Kelly’s sister in exchange for joining the strike. Lion shamelessly beds anything that moves to get what he wants.
Gluttony. Icy rain and blizzards for all eternity. Craving for vice. Starved by addictions. Fleet is a functioning alcoholic. Alexei is a manic opium smoker. The two struggle without their respective fixes on the island.
Greed. Desperation for means, battling for a way out. Shakespeare uses his wits to make counterfeit money. Z is a swindler and has a bridge to sell you. They’re shallow, looking for suckers who’ll give them the time of day.
Wrath. Explosive emotions and unstable powder kegs. Crazy’s brickbat-swinging anger is easy to trip. Rails poisoned his father after an altercation. Jesse’s act of revenge landed him with a noose around his neck at Sing Sing.
Heresy. Entombed in flaming crypts, choked with ashes. Doc and Raffi are secular healers. Marquette marries outside his religion and decides against baptizing his daughters. All three are necromancers in their own right. Doc saves Calico, among others. Raffi saves Grim. Marquette paints portraits of the dead, bringing their memory back.
Violence. Rivers of blood and fire. Muggs engages in his fair share of violence for three lifetimes — against his family, his friends, and his foes. Tide is a severe melancholic, who often confides in Grim about his self-desctruction. Calico commits violence against himself, following a hurricane of disasters.
Fraud. Desolate place full of trenches and clouds of fog. Cards got his name by cheating his way through games of chance. River is an unassuming grifter who spins lie after lie until the real person underneath no longer exists.
Treachery. A frozen wasteland for traitors. Atlas comes across as pious and holier than thou, but he’d sooner offer someone in need a rosary than actual help. Jack sells out his friends during the strike. He fails those he loves countless times, including his sister Sophie, Sarah, Kloppman, the Refuge boys, and himself.
No Name ran a hand through his long, black hair. “Judge sent me. He said this place would do me some good. Keep me sober, you know. I think I may have a bit of a problem.” That was Randall’s Island. A place you could resent, rebel, relapse, repent, and repeat. x.
