sapphirenightshade

[sapphirenightshade]

Reminder for when he “saves” it. He was the one who wanted this, and now he gets to be the hero and win favour with young constituents. Don’t give him the credit for fixing his own problem.

[sapphirenightshade]

[sapphirenightshade]

Radio Static Vignette 5 - Let’s rewrite this tape

Alastor happily led Vox through the streets, encouraging Vox to fill the silence with his ridiculous idle chatter. He wasn’t quite sure when he had stopped finding it grating, but he no longer minded it. Alastor didn't want to say that he found it charming now –though, no– charming could be said to be an accurate word. Admittedly, this time he did bring the current conversation upon himself; but seeing Vox’s face light up at the absurd shark-fact-a-day calendar he had found had been worth it.

They finally rounded the corner to the spot he was taking him to this evening. He felt Vox’s pace slow and hesitate approaching the entry and Alastor looked at him oddly in askance.

“I haven’t been here since you left.” Vox confessed softly, looking anywhere but at him.

Against his will, Alastor’s ears flattened a bit at that. He didn’t like the way that made his chest feel.

Shaking himself, Alastor offered him a smile and gave his hand a gentle squeeze. “Come on then, how about we write some new memories instead?”

Vox finally met his eyes and returned a fragile smile. “Okay.”

Alastor effortlessly led him over to the seats that had been their usual perch, what felt like a lifetime ago.

Vox had gone uncharacteristically quiet, having hardly said a word by the time Alastor slid him his drink. He thanked him quietly, but continued to stare pensively at the grain of the bar.

Alastor frowned. This wasn’t how he had planned this night to go. Swallowing down the uncomfortable twist in his chest, he gave him a playful nudge with his foot. “Stop that. Tell me another silly shark fact or something.”

Vox laughed, but the brittle sound held no real joy.

Alastor couldn't place the cause for the sudden shift; this felt like more than just a sadness at his absence. It continued to perplex him, until the memories trickled in of the last evening they were here together. He probably should have considered that, he reflected, feeling a stab of guilt at the actions he had come to deeply regret. His next words were soft, but sincere, “I didn’t bring you here to hurt you, Vox. We can leave if you want.”

At that, Vox finally forced his eyes to meet his and the sadness he saw in them left him gutted. “I’m fine, Al.”

“No, you’re not, my dear.”

Vox didn’t try to refute that, and Alastor watched him start to further pull into himself. Drat. He really wasn’t great at this whole feelings business.

“Vox,” he reached out affectionately, placing his hand atop his on the bar. “I sincerely regret that night, you know. I know I can’t change the past, but I want you to know that I do genuinely care about you.”

Something started to brighten in Vox’s eyes, and unbidden Charlie’s unbridled sincerity echoed in his mind. It starts with sorry. He was not telling her about this.

Vox carefully turned his hand and intertwined their fingers, his next words filling the silence with a hushed earnesty. “I care for you so dearly, but I’m terrified that at any moment I’m going to lose you.”

“I’m not planning on going anywhere this time.” Alastor admitted, and he was shocked to find that he meant it. Allowing himself to be vulnerable was a genuinely terrifying ordeal, but one he found he was willing to endure if it kept the light in this silly picture box’s eyes.

“Thanks, Al.”

Alastor squeezed his hand in response.

They lingered there for a moment letting the whiskey soothe over the emotions they had just offered up; Alastor’s thumb tracing reassuring circles into the palm of Vox’s hand.

The music turned upbeat and bright as they both cast partial attention to the dance floor, effectively pulling them back from their thoughts.

“The band sounds good tonight.” Vox offered, only slightly awkwardly.

A sly look crept onto Alastor’s face. “How about we see if you’ve been paying attention?”

Vox raised an eyebrow, looking evidently unsure he followed the meaning of his question.

“Dance with me, you Idiot Box.” Alastor laughed brightly as Vox started to smile.

As he tightened his hand around Vox’s and guided him out onto the dance floor, the bubbling fondness surged in his chest again. That feeling was becoming a more and more persistent thing, and he still wasn’t quite sure what to do with all of it.

Vox’s feet were a little slow to fall into the rhythm, and he kept stumbling trying to keep up.

“Hmm, perhaps we’re not quite there with the Charleston.” Alastor chuckled, adjusting his stride to one Vox could keep up with.

“How are you so damn graceful? I feel like a newborn foal next to you.” Vox huffed dramatically as Alastor dipped him, only being a little bit of a show off.

“Well at least you didn’t say fawn. I’d hate to spoil the moment by dropping you.” He grinned, pulling him upright.

“I thought it though.” Vox muttered, grinning back.

Alastor playfully pinched his side at that, but he was glad to see him smiling again.

Mercifully, the next song was a slow, lilting melody and Alastor pulled Vox closer. He felt him instantly melt into the touch as if relieved that he didn’t have to be the one to ask. That strange warmth settled around his shoulders now, and he sighed with a pleased little hum.

“I hate to admit it, but I’ve never felt this safe before.” Alastor whispered in his ear as they swayed together. He privately delighted in the sudden glow of heat he felt at his temple and the subtle jolt of static he felt pass between them.

“Me neither.” His answer came out slightly breathless in disbelief.

As they swayed there together, he realized, with tragic clarity, that he wanted this to continue to be his life.

[sapphirenightshade]

He never planned it, but Vox fell for Alastor’s charms, and fell hard. And he made the mistake of confessing to the man he loves, only to be brutally rejected. In the aftermath, he becomes so consumed by bitterness, that the one time he actually let down his smokescreen of bravado, he got his heart mercilessly ripped out.

After having his heart broken, he gives into Val’s advances in hopes of a distraction hoping to escape the loneliness, only to fully realize just how abusive Val is. Vox learns that his skills of manipulating others is the only way he can handle their arrangement.

When Alastor disappears, Vox is disturbingly relieved and largely tries to put him behind him, though his mind still strays to him at times. Until seven years later, the man who broke his heart comes crashing back into his life and immediately rip open his wounds all over again.

I’m really excited about working on this one, it’s still a work in progress, so ratings may change depending on where the characters take the story. ❤️

https://archiveofourown.org/works/61505782/chapters/157235410

[sapphirenightshade]

Because I remember disinformation being spread around the last few elections and I’m sure assholes will bring it back:

YOU CAN’T VOTE ONLINE.

YOU CAN’T VOTE FROM YOUR PHONE.

IN MANY STATES THERE ARE LEGAL CONSEQUENCES FOR PHOTOGRAPHING YOUR BALLOT.

DO NOT WEAR CAMPAIGN GEAR TO THE POLLS.

DO NOT TRY TO PERSUADE PEOPLE TO VOTE FOR A CANDIDATE AT THE POLLS.

DO NOT ENGAGE IN ANY KIND OF POLITICAL DISCOURSE AT THE POLLS.

NO ELECTION IS EVER A SURE THING, EVEN IF YOU’RE IN THE BLUEST OR REDDEST OF STATES.  IF SOMEONE TRIES TO TELL YOU THAT YOU CAN SIT THIS ONE OUT, THEY ARE EITHER IGNORANT OR MALICIOUS.

VOTE.

[sapphirenightshade]

Are we dealing with alchemists looking for The Philosopher's Stone?

(I will be referencing partially to the ARG, most importantly to the so called Klaus sheet that has german version on categories the OIAR team is using, and some light spoiler to The Magnus Archives, so beware).

We're four episodes in and cross-referencing each episode so far, there seems to be few things that connect most of them:

an orchestrator

a medium

an obsession

a transformation

Each episode so far mentions some type of third party being involved in the incident: Harriet Winstead mentions a "consultant" that was supposed to help her see Arthur, RedCanary mentions getting harrased by an anonymous stalker, Daria commissions Ink5oul for a tattoo, Dr Samuel Webber mentions seeing his dead wife "Maddie" who stops him from tampering with the transformation (could be a hallucination, but could also be somebody using his delirioum to impersonate her) and today we've got a mention of a "giftgiver" who gave The Violinist the Violin.

Additionally each incident mentions some type of specific medium the characters came into contact with: The Box, The Violin, The Ink (cross referenced in Klaus sheet from the ARG), The Garden (as in plants in the garden). The exception being the Harriet, but we don't know yet what "caused" ressurection of Arthur. This is important, because in TMA items and "mediums" weren't actually all that common, it was very often stressed that relics were medium for the fears to use directly (with people only doing their bidding), not to be handled by others as a medium.

Lastly each episode talks obsession and/or transformation and oh boy, let me tell you about bunch of guys historically obsessed with tranforming stuff through different mediums:

"It's not very suprising, alchemical symbols are everywhere throughout the podcast!" you might say. True, but let's take into consideration, what excactly is a goal of an alchemist? Well the answer is quite simple and there is actually three of them. The Three Goals of Alchemy are:

To turn base metals into noble ones

To discover the recipe for a Philosopher's Stone

To find the Elixir of Life that gives eternal youth and defies death

All of them refer to some type of recipie of method, so where are the recipies? Under our own noses. The recipies are the DPHW catalogue and the database Freddie is sending the incident reports to is an alchemical cookbook! Each entry is categorized something like that:

CAT$$$R&&#### - theme (specification) -/- subtheme [medium]

Some specifications:

$ - are a conbination of numbers 1, 2 and 3. They do not always appear in threes, sometimes it's just 3, sometimes 12 (as in 1 and 2) so forth. These has been widely theorized to be related to the The Tria Prima, a group of three materials which occupy a position of prominence in alchemy: Sulphur(🜍), Mercury(☿) and Salt(🜔) or as they are also characterized Soul, Mind and Body. If we assign each of them a number with 1 being Soul, 2 being Mind and 3 being body, they so far align with the main "components" of each incident or realms they deal in.

R - either appears or not, it was theorized this is a RANK and that previous files were simply misfiled by Sam, but to me it also could be REGIA as in Aqua Regia (🜆) where we are to assume the R was added to the previous element (Aqua (🜄) + Regia (R)). The meaning behind assigning some some incidents the rank of regia has yet to be explained though.

& - these are letters C, BC, B, AB, A and S signifying a rank (or rang in the Klaus sheet) . Lets ignore that S for a second, but they seem to be stages and half stages, well there can't possibly a concept of four stages in alchemy? Let me introduce you to the Magnum Opus (Great Work). Basically each alchemical project went through four stages: nigredo (black), albedo (white), citrinitas (yellow) and rubedo (red) with rubedo specifically signifying a great discovery was made and Magnum Opus was a success, but it does not necessairly mean an alchemical goal was reached.

To summarize, numbers one C-A signify stage of the project, with S, that appears once on mostly redacted cell in the Klaus sheet, signifying that not only the final stage was reached, but the project has been a success.

This could mean a finished Magnum Opus is out there, developed in the field of the Soul and related to the mysterous Mr. B.

# - these numbers are still a mystery, I do have some theories myself, but to summaries I think they are grades and some type of combination (I think it's either 9999, 0000 (as in all 10s) or perhaps 7777 (7 being the most important alchemical number)). Basically a specific combination could imply the specific discovery could be categorized as a Philosopher's Stone. What that could mean for the narrative? We will see, but I suspect it's an alchemical equivalent to an eldritch nuke in this universe.

Last thing to support my theory, the OIAR logo. The lion and the unicorn are obviously symbols for the United Kingdom, as this is a government office, and the words undearneath are "we will not falter" (probably reference to the paranormal incidents they deal with) the rest though?

Alchemical symbols for Salt, Mercucry and Sulphur are right there, all encompassed by an upside-down version of The Philosopher's Stone symbol; The Greatest Magnum Opus:

As to what the Magnum Opus are in TMAGP, each incident has an item associated with it, I noticed that the characters do not get corrupted by people directly this season, but through the use of items like ink, instruments, plants.

[sapphirenightshade]

So, we have this strange motivational calendar in our house, (that we often forget to change) and this is the one I flipped to while getting caught up on Protocol this evening.

It’s more of a warning, me thinks.

[sapphirenightshade]

As women, society has always told us that the worst thing that we can be is disliked, but when that society now threatens our right to exist, there is no other choice than to stand up and fight to protect our autonomy and our communities.

[sapphirenightshade]

Register. Check your registration. Help others register. Vote early if you want. Vote by mail if you want. Vote on Nov 5 if you want.

Stay engaged. We can do this!

We are not going back.

[sapphirenightshade]

[sapphirenightshade]

[sapphirenightshade]

my problem as a nuancepilled s5chad is that I am really compelled by all the ways jon and martin keep winding up hurting each other and the ways in which their relationship is dysfunctional, but unless I am very clear in my intent then I get people who think they agree with me coming into my notes/inbox to say "yeah, it's a bad/poorly written relationship and they're just bad for each other," which isn't quite what I'm trying to say.

I think these are two very unwell people with intensely varying levels of self-awareness, but they also have a strong, heartfelt commitment to each other and appear to really enjoy spending time together, and if, for example, the safehouse period had stretched on forever, they would have had a successful if sometimes very emotionally taxing relationship. I think they both royally screwed up a few times during the apocalypse, and that that was basically inevitable given the environment, and that they showed a willingness to communicate, reconcile, and change. but also they were ultimately the center piece of a tragedy narrative so they were never going to have the chance to actually Become Healthy.

idk, I see where "they're a toxic couple and need to break up" as a take is coming from and I respect having it, but to me it feels the same as saying that romeo and juliet were a toxic couple. nah mate, the tragedy isn't that they're bad for each other, it's that they could have worked out under almost any other circumstances, but they live in a world where that was never going to be possible.

[sapphirenightshade]

Absolutely obsessed with the imagery of a tape recorder capable of biting. What does it all MEAN?

[sapphirenightshade]

OH GOD Colin messing with Freddie to make it malfunction in the same way TMA Gertrude made a mess of the archives OH MY GOD Colin KNOWS SOME SHIT

[sapphirenightshade]

The Magnus institute burned in 1999. The Magnus Protocol is themed around computers from pre-2000. The end of the world craze near the end of the millennium because of the computer dates. I can’t word my thoughts right now but there’s something there I can’t believe I didn’t realise until this episode mentioning the turn of the millennium.

[sapphirenightshade]

ok memes aside i have some insight for the americans tonight as a brazilian

we had a similar situation a few years ago, our own far right asshole was stabbed at a rally and survived. guess what? the right organised and rallied behind it, he got martyred without dying. they turned that event into some divine-esque thing it was nuts. our political climate at the time was perfect for a far right storm, and lo and behold he got elected

it doesn't take a political scientist to see the republicans are about to do the exact same thing so stay vigilant, this is gonna boost his numbers more than you think

[sapphirenightshade]

"I left my home with only 4 changes of winter clothes. Lost my home after only one year of marriage. I had things in there that I was still paying for. I lost my job, and It has been 7 months and counting living in a tent. Everyday is a psychological fight against extreme heat, and not to mention insects and worms.

I find no cause of all of this, but the criminal Israeli occupation. Any human fighting against them in anyone in my defence is a crown above my head"