ruecrownblorbos

[ruecrownblorbos]

"goodbye moon and goodbye stars / hold your breath for holding on"

after several months of tension building during pandora's undercover operation at the helix institute, she decided her position was compromised and decided to abandon ship. however, she hadn't gleaned much useful information at all, so before she left in the middle of the night, she broke into the archives and stole several documents and artifacts, including personal information about several employees (nellie sheridan, to be specific).

when the helix institute found out the next day, atlas was livid. he had always hated pandora, and he was extremely angry at her, himself, and everybody for knowing she was undercover and not doing anything to stop her. fuming, he told tuesday that he was going to find and kill pandora to retrieve the documents. he was especially upset because nellie was his best friend and very sensitive information about her was now exposed.

tuesday didn't doubt that he was going to kill pandora if he could. heartbroken and conflicted over pandora leaving, tuesday, in a fit of desperation, lied to atlas and told him that she let pandora break into the archives. atlas was infuriated. he called tuesday not only disloyal, but weak, stupid, incompetent, everything she had felt about herself since childhood.

tuesday was a mess of emotion. half of the things she said weren't making sense, but a lot of them were cruel towards atlas. as sibling arguments do, she ended up hitting him, and he hit her back. atlas was in a blind rage and tuesday was absolutely terrified that he would kill pandora. she knocked him to the floor and when he tried to attack her back, she held him down and accidentally tore her nails through his face. sobbing, she let him go and curled up on the floor while he reeled with shock.

when atlas gathered his bearings his anger turned steely cold. he told tuesday to leave. he said that he wouldn't go after pandora if tuesday got the fuck out and never let him see her again.

tuesday left.

[ruecrownblorbos]

thank you so much for the inclusion of butch women in your story, as a butch myself i really love tuesday and envy :') i love how respectfully they're portrayed

thank YOU!!!! i'm butch too and it's sooo important to have characters like us shown in different lights. i have more butch characters coming too :3

[ruecrownblorbos]

If Atlas is her mentor, does Salome have a similar worshipful attitude towards the Helix Institute?

no, she actually thinks he's weird for that. atlas is probably the only person who has such strong feelings about the institute because he was raised within it, by tabitha and margaret. all the other employees just got a job there like normal (except for nellie and francine, who also grew up in proximity to the institute, but not in the same way atlas did).

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what's salomes relationship with atlas like? she seems so silly

they get along really well! salome is silly, and brings levity to atlas's life that his depressed ass lacks severely. she admires him a lot, she thinks he's insanely smart and hard-working, though she is a bit concerned by his obsessive devotion to the institute and the way his life seems to revolve around work.

atlas thinks salome is brilliant and full of potential, but could stand to be a bit more serious at times.

[ruecrownblorbos]

meet salome o'connor and envy bard!

salome is a young researcher at the helix institute. she is atlas's apprentice, and one of the few researchers assigned to the kochanowski case. at the time of the story, she's undercover as a waitress at a diner in bonnyville.

miss envy bard is a young teacher at applewhite academy. she attended in her youth, and developed a bond with florence, who encouraged her to pursue teaching and get a job at applewhite academy. but when she got back, she started seeing the academy in a different light. she does her best to help the students, who she cares about immensely. but maybe applewhite academy isn’t the good-intentioned place she remembers from childhood…

also they're in lesbians with each other

[ruecrownblorbos]

good luck babe!

[ruecrownblorbos]

Eurydice, Sarah Ruhl

[ruecrownblorbos]

How exactly did Pandora find out that her mission was compromised? And when?

it was more several small things building up over time. you wouldn't think so based on her other personality traits, but tuesday is an excellent liar. tuesday figured out the truth early on in their relationship, but pandora didn't know this until much later because tuesday didn't let anything slip.

atlas was informed about this several months in. he was very disturbed. atlas is charming, but not a good liar. he's too earnest. he already hated pandora, and he said things on several occasions that made pandora think that he knew things he shouldn't. this sense built up over the course of a couple months until she decided that she was definitely compromised. even after this, it took her a little while longer to leave because she couldn't bear to leave tuesday.

[ruecrownblorbos]

what was the progression of tuesday and pandora falling in love genuinely?

so, when they first met, there was definite attraction and chemistry. they had a very natural back-and-forth, which was exceptional because pandora had very few 'natural' interactions and tuesday is quite awkward. pandora leaned into this rapport as a tactic to get information from tuesday, but found herself genuinely enjoying their newfound friendship (and ignoring how interested she was in tuesday).

tuesday similarly enjoyed their friendship but sensed that pandora had ulterior motives. after consulting with tabitha she came to the conclusion that pandora was a spy from applewhite academy, but made the choice to continue the relationship so she could get information too. but even though they both had ulterior motives at this point, they cherished the time spent in each other's company, and thought each other to be interesting and wonderful people.

tuesday eventually made the first move and kissed pandora one afternoon in the archives. she told herself it was strategic, and pandora told herself the same thing. "if she thinks i'm in love with her she'll tell me all her organization's secrets" was the line of thinking, but neither of them totally believed it. they just wanted each other.

as their relationship got physical, their emotional bond became more intimate. pandora had to conceal much of her real life and backstory, but she ended up telling tuesday a lot of truth - more than she intended - because of how close they had become. tuesday also told pandora a lot about her personal life and emotions, but was wary about revealing anything that could compromise the institute.

as it happens when you are close friends who sleep together and share a deep emotional bond, they fell in love. whoops! tuesday recognized this as it was happening, and worried about what it would mean for her place in the institute, but did nothing to fight it. pandora was really confused. she knew she felt very strongly about tuesday, but was incapable of acknowledging that love could be an entirely positive experience.

pandora couldn't believe that tuesday really loved her, or that she really loved tuesday. they both knew that their relationship was hurtling towards something bad for everybody. but, even though they both had trouble understanding how they felt, their relationship was hugely important to the both of them. they couldn't end it.

[ruecrownblorbos]

did tuesday feel guilty about the connection she developed with pandora?

oh god yes, tuesday is full of an extremely weird variant of catholic guilt 😭

[ruecrownblorbos]

is this related to the reason why tuesday isn't in contact with atlas anymore????

yes :))

[ruecrownblorbos]

Did Pandora really love Tuesday?

yes, so much, and tuesday loved her too, but pandora didn't recognize or trust this because she never knew real love

[ruecrownblorbos]

did atlas tell tuesday that he thought she'd be compromised?

he brought it up a few times, which caused arguments and built tension. atlas reaaaally hated pandora and tuesday didn't like that atlas thought she was weak enough to be swayed. that's the thing - atlas didn't distrust tuesday, he couldn't fathom somebody betraying or not supporting the institute. he just worried that pandora would manipulate her

[ruecrownblorbos]

was pandora chill about technically cheating on bartholomew?

yes 😭 she did not gaf. she liked bartholomew, but not enough to care about his feelings when she started sleeping with tuesday 'for the mission'. when she started falling in love with tuesday, she started questioning how she felt for bartholomew. but that's a whole other thing :P

[ruecrownblorbos]

working in the archives, tuesday and pandora became friends quickly. tuesday really liked pandora but suspected that she was a spy, which she reluctantly told tabitha. tabitha told her to get closer to her, saying it could be an opportunity to glean more information about applewhite academy. and they did get closer. soon enough, they started sleeping together, although pandora was technically dating bartholomew at the time. they both told themselves that it was for their respective organizations, but there was a real connection.

tuesday and tabitha told atlas what was going on, and he was worried. he feared that pandora would make tuesday prioritize their relationship over the institute (he never thought tuesday would come to this decision on her own). his obvious discomfort let pandora know that the helix institute was probably onto her, and she planned to get out. the problem was she hadn't discovered anything useful yet.

[ruecrownblorbos]

Did Atlas feel like he had to live up to Tabitha's legacy?

tabitha's legacy was untouchable, he didn't want to live up to it because that was impossible to conceive. he just wanted to be good enough and do the institute proud

[ruecrownblorbos]

baby pandora and atlas holy fuck😭 😭 😭 😭 😭 😭 😭 😭  they are so tiny

MY BABY MY BABY...... YOURE MY BABY SAY IT TO ME