#;; theodora crain ;; threads

[herhaunt-a2]

sc           ,      @everstride​​​        ➝     𝚋𝚛𝚊𝚗𝚍 𝚗𝚎𝚠 𝚌𝚒𝚝𝚢,     𝚖𝚒𝚝𝚜𝚔𝚒.

    ❝  i think my life is losing momentum ,     i think my ways are wearing me down .   ❞

[starsspin-a]

          Her head tilts. “Here,” she said after a moment, she pulled a lighter out from her pocket, offering it to her. Was it a wise idea? Who really knew, but Theo was good with kids, preferred them really. “One of use might be entertained.” 

@mtchstck​ theo for liv :: starter call

[wouldnever]

battle scars   ›   paradise fears .

❛  do  you  even  remember  who  you  were  back  then?  ❜

starter call | @hotpreist​ .

[lovepersists2]

she’s apprehensive  ---  so much of her life has revolved around change,  and yet she’s still so unsettled by it.  by the way she’s left out in the open,  with so little control of the variables in the moments where she’s yet to really establish herself in a new place.  since steve’s book,  most of the world has her at a disadvantage.  she’s theo crain,  one of the survivors of hill house,  and the world knows it.  theo’s well aware that she could learn more  ---  sense more  ---  about those around her if she so chose   (   and in the bureau?  she finds herself choosing to more than she ever has,  and while she tries not to show it,  it does take its toll   ),   but for the most part,  her gloves remain on.  literally.

so maybe she’s at a disadvantage,  or maybe everyone else is,  because they only know the parts of her that she openly shows,  the little girl who’d been showcased in her brother’s book  ---  the rest kept safe behind carefully laid bricks.  the wall is fortified by plenty,  but nothing quite so important and intentional as theo’s desire to have some aspect of control.  to be able to keep herself safe.  and if she keeps herself safe?  hell,  then she has it in her to help keep other people safe,  too.  she’s been doing it for years.  or trying to,  at least.  and she’s heard it repeatedly since putting in for a transfer:  no one stays with the crimes against children units for too long.  there’s only so much a heart can take,  particularly one so vulnerable to capturing the feelings of the world around it the way theo’s has been cursed to do.  so while there should be little shame in leaving,  she still feels like she’s giving up.  leaving too many who are defenseless to fight off the evils of the world on their own.  or,  at least,  without her to try and help them.  and god does she have to remind herself that others will step up to fill the spot she’s left open  ---  someone always does   (   all the same,  she doubts the guilt will fade without a little help from the store of liquor she’s already built up in her new place  ---  theo may not have her goddamn clothes put away,  but at least she’s got a solid supply of booze   ).

but will the behavioral analysis unit be any better?  she doesn’t know.  she doesn’t fucking know,  and that scares her more than she’ll ever let on.  there’s some part of her that’s so tempted to just go open her own practice somewhere  ---  step away from the bureau and let herself help other people heal in a way she can’t.  but then there’s the part of her that’s shattered.  the broken little girl who lost her mom,  whose dad hadn’t fucking been there,  and whose siblings are all at least as fucked up as she is.  and that shattered,  broken little girl?  she’s got to do something to make sure other people don’t get hurt.  to stop the hurt before all she can do is try to pick up the pieces in the aftermath to whatever goddamn tragedy has left people as shattered as she is.

apprehension flows through her veins as the elevator slides open,  revealing the entrance behind which she can see the already established members of the team working behind.  all stories unread by her,  with individual strengths they bring to the table.  with already forged bonds,  tested by trials of hellfire and misery   (   god,  that’s dark,  even for her   ).   it’s rare she’s fit in anywhere  ---  more prone is she to being the quiet agent in the back,  who says little,  but sees everything.  notices everything.  doesn’t make friends,  because friends mean pain,  and loss,  and what feels like some obligation to give people a front-row seat to the fucked up spectacle that is her life.  theo’s just there.  contributing what she can,  doing her job,  and asking for nothing in return.  so why the hell does this already feel so different?

leaden legs carry her to the office of the unit chief,  and despite the thoughts racing through her head,  and the fear,  and the fact that she misses boston   (   and even finds herself missing her siblings,  for whatever that’s worth   ),   there’s a smile on her face.  it doesn’t reach her eyes  ---  they never quite seem to  ---  but she’s here.  so she’ll put on her big girl pants and do her damn best to be a team player.  to help people.  that’s what she’s here for.  

knuckles rap lightly on the doorframe,  a precursor to speaking that’s common for someone who’d spent part of her childhood in a goddamn haunted house.  if it’s a courtesy she’d like extended to her?  she’ll sure as hell extend it to anyone else  ---  because who’s to say what everyone else might be haunted by?   “agent hotchner?  theodora crain.  just transferred in from boston,  i was told you’d be expecting me,”

@objctive​   |   plotted starter!

[hellhaths-moved]

fuck.

[servatysarch]

TELL   ME,      WHEN   DOES   A   DOOR   BECOME   MORE   THAN   JUST   A   DOOR?      shirley,      she is familiar with the constant swinging of hinges and replacing of stops.      the empty,      hollow creak of one closing no longer makes her lachrymose.      apathy swirls behind the ice in her veins.      [   what will i do without your warmth?   ]      she watches from the doorway with a newfangled mien;      soft eyes,      gentle curl upon lips.      watch carefully and bare witness to the former contemplation      ———      a door becomes more than a door when it closes for the very last time.      she has yet to find peace in theo’s inevitable deparature.      a yawn fades over her cup of coffee.      ❝    you know there isn’t going to be free sandwiches at this new place.      ❞      /      *      @everstride ,      ♡    .

[hauntyngmoved]

eleanor.

[delicatebluebirdruins]

the haunting of hill house by shirley jackson

I enjoyed the first part of the book and then Mrs Montague/Arthur turned up and it lost steam with an added bonus of irritation to the point I wanted the house to torment them both and have them be the ones who die but oh no...

and the ending is so strange

and now onto the good stuff...  the reason I got and read the book for... references to the book inside the show by Mike Flanagan

“Hill House, not sane stood by itself against it’s hills, holding darkness within; it had stood for eighty years and might stand for eighty more.WIthin, walls continued upright, bricks met neatly, floors were firm and doors sensibly shut; silence lay steadily against the wood and stone of hill house and whatever walked there walked alone“ this iconic quote bookends (hehe I know there is a technical term for it but I cannot think of it or don’t really have the inclination to look it up) the start and end of the book and does the same in the show but the shows ending version of this quote is very different (and whatever walked there walked together)

the introduction to Eleanor and the reason she was invited to Hill House “when she was twelve years old and her sister was eighteen, and their father had been dead not quite a month, showers of stones had fallen on their house, without any warning or any indication of purpose or reason, dropping from the ceilings, rolling loudly down the walls and pattering maddeningly on the roof“

in the youtube video Stretching Genre: a haunting of hill house essay the speaker noted that book Eleanors story was split between Eleanor and Olivia Crain. I was curious to see what they meant by that and saw their meaning of it clearly with this quote

“don’t do it, Eleanor told the little girl, insist on your cup of stars; once they have trapped you into being like everyone else you will never see your cup of stars again...“

“she nearly stopped forever just outside Ashton, because she came to a tiny cottage buried in a garden. I could live there all alone, she thought... I will light a fire in the cool evenings and toast apples at my own hearth. I will raise white cats and sew white curtains for the windows and sometiimes come out of my door to go to the store to buy cinnamon and tea and thread. People will come to me to have their fortunes told, and I will brew love potions for sad maidens; I will have a robin...“

from page 36 “journeys end in lovers meeting“

when Eleanor gets shown the blueroom “i am like a small creature swallowed whole by a monster... and the monster feels my tiny little movements inside“

on page 72 of my copy “perfectly splended“ and “I was whipped for throwing a brick through a greenhouse roof. I remember I thought about it for a long time the whipping but remembering also the lovely crash“

“the second Mrs Crain died of a fall“

“theodora’s hand on her own embarrsed her. She (eleanor) disliked being touched“

the location of the houses su1cide spots

page 110 “shimmering in the dim room, she waltzed alone“

118 the heart of the house

124 asking Eleanor to leave

128 knocking on the doors

134 chasing a dog like animal

141 bad ghosts drive out the good- this stood out to me more when rewatching Bly Manor

146 “help Eleanor come home“ and everyone blaming her for it

162 “she clutched Theo’s hand“.... “who’s hand was I holding?“

172 “fear and guilt are sisters“

I want Mrs Montague and Arthur to have a horrific accident I really don’t like them their intoduction in the story made my rating go from 4 to 2.5

188 “planchette was quite insistent about a nun“

every year National Book Tokens with Caboodle make a game and you have to look at a picture and guess a book title (I can’t complete I only found out about it this year) and this year in our scene there was a missing poster for a nun and it didn’t have me as stumped as some of the others did (that fucking lollipop man) but title is what is a nun also called “sister“ they had a story about a estranged sister earlier on but they all didn’t think about it did they (probably to busy wondering how much trouble they’d get into if they bashed Mrs M with it)

192 planchette rambles about mothers and home and Nell

219 the gratten murders

240 they made a solid line

246 last line (duh)

I liked it until Mrs M turned up and it went down hill and it just ends for everyone (that type of ending just seeing snapshots of later in life stuff is better on screen then on page)

[herhaunt-a2]

@inescape​​ sent  :         i’ve made an effort by coming here tonight. i didn’t want to come

      the distance between them is measured in silences ,      a million words rotting on tongues until they become another tomb for them to bury .      the whole event seems a mockery of their trauma ,     another way the vultures can pick them apart one by one .     ( COME TO THE CIRCUS AND MEET THE CRAZY CRAINS FIRSTHAND ,      BELIEVE THEY ONLY EXIST ON TRUE CRIME DOCUMENTARIES ;    WHO EVER WANTED THE SPECIMENS TO BE HUMAN ?   )      she smiles as an affliction ,     unable to stop her cheeks slipping upwards and making some show of happiness ,     of pride in genius steve and the heights his book will reach .     the story doesn’t belong to her anyway ,    not that one with all its talk about mental stability and the earth shattering way it blew holes in a family ,     and she’s used to having words ripped from her throat and analysed before they have been given a chance to form .     hear them whisper :      they say nell’s the same as her mother,     that she holds the same ghosts in her gaze and her legacy is built of the craziest parts.     they say the others are just waiting for her to explode ,    to see what casualties she takes with her .       she doesn’t mind the glee in their voices ,    the way it twists to anticipation :       who wouldn’t want to see a season two ? 

          ❝   i’m sure he appreciates it .  ❞          at least these words aren’t a lie ,     because steve needed them here tonight ,     needed to be able to roll out whatever broken shards of a family he could convince ,    to put them on display to be dissected .       (    pretends it’s kind when he says he’ll give them a share of the profits .   )      he’s just trying to survive in his own way ,    and to go on never seeing what’s right in front of his eyes .      how can she blame him for doing what he has to ?            ❝   there’s a part of him that wanted us here to be proud of him ,     i’m sure of that .     and if there wasn’t then at least we have a card to play next time we need him to do something for us .  ❞        something like pay for luke’s rehab when he’s back on the grid again .      that’s why nell’s come ,     after all .

[starsspin-a]

           “So do I get to know his name or are you going to keep smiling like an idiot at your phone every time he texts you?” There’s a smile tugging at the edges of her lips as she brings the glass in front of her to her lips. 

@herhaunt​ theo for nell ;; sc

[jmsa1287]

In Netflix's 'Haunting of Hill House,' a Haunted Family Struggles with Grief

hi i wrote about Mike Flanagan’s great new Netflix series “The Haunting of Hill House.”

Director Mike Flanagan is one of Hollywood's best under-the-radar horror filmmakers. He's found success on the big screen with his outstanding "Ouija: Origins of Evil" and "Oculus" and also on Netflix. He's got a few movies on the streaming service, including the intense cat-and-mouse game involving a deaf woman called "Hush" and an adaptation of Steven King's kink-gone-wrong thriller "Gerald's Game." Despite turning out several solid projects over the last few years, Flanagan has yet to join the upper echelon of horror auteurs — he's more of a filmmaker's filmmaker. (His next project? "Doctor Sleep" — an adaptation of Steven King's sequel to "The Shining.")

That could possibly change this week. Flanagan is returning to Netflix Friday with his take on "The Haunting of Hill House," loosely based on Shirley Jackson's 1959 gothic horror novella. The ten-episode series isn't a straightforward or typical haunted house tale — it's a thoughtful and atmospheric show that's made for adults, offering meditative thoughts about loss, death, grief and family relationships while still dishing out some truly terrifying scares.

"Hill House" follows the Crain family in both the past and present. In the past, the young family is living in, and flipping, Hill House, a creepy old mansion towering in the middle of western Massachusetts. Parents Hugh (Henry Thomas) and Olivia (Carla Gugino) have five children who help fix up the creaky home: Steven (Paxton Singleton), Shirley (Lulu Wilson), Theodora (Mckenna Grace) and twins Luke (Julian Hilliard) and Nell (Violet McGraw). But nothing is as it seems and as "Hill House" unfolds, the house's secrets history and the way in which it impacts the Crains plays out in terrifying ways.

In the present, when the Crain kids are adults, we learn that a bone-chilling event at Hill House has disrupted the family in a major way. Hugh (played by Timothy Hutton in the present) is estranged from his kids, who are each dealing with the ramifications of Hill House in their own way. Steven (Michiel Huisman) is an author, who spun his family's headline-grabbing tragedy into a book, earning a huge paycheck (plus royalties!). Shirley (Elizabeth Reaser) and her husband run a floundering funeral home. Theo (Kate Siegel) has gone on to become a child psychologist but is still struggling with some intense demons. Luke (Oliver Jackson-Cohen) is a drug addict, bouncing in-and-out of rehabs, and Nell (Victoria Pedretti) is still plagued by Hill House and other tragedies that have occurred in her adult life.

The first five episodes mostly focus on each of the Crain children, delving into the characters by cutting between the past and the present. Each episode highlights one of the Crain kids, fleshing them out and getting to the bottom of how the events at Hill House shaped who they are today — for better or for worse.

"Hill House" is often told out of order, with scenes playing out from different points of view. The first five episodes has a "Run Lola Run" set-up but with a spooky twist. Telling this story this way also allows Flanagan to make certain scenes pack a powerful and devastating punch; knowing the fate of a certain character and then watching how they got to their demise is awfully chilling.

Flanagan also trusts that his audience can follow the mostly nonlinear and the eerie threads of this family's tragic story. Episodes of "Hill House" build off each other in a slow-burning prestige TV way that has a wild payoff during the back half of the series. Episode five is a gut-wrenching hour-and-ten minutes with a brutal climax. Episode six is an impressive technical feat with Flanagan pulling off some incredible long tracking shots; his camera is hectic and swirls around the drama that plays out with the Crain family in the present day.

Mental illness and complicated family dynamics have been a prominent theme in horror in 2018. The deeply unsettling "Hereditary" examines a woman's inherited mental illness and how it plagues the ones she loves the most. On HBO's Southern gothic nightmare "Sharp Objects," a young woman's trauma and her mother's mental illness are at the center of this curdled family drama. "Hill House" takes these themes a step further, suggesting paranormal activity can be baked in one's DNA; that the supernatural is passed down from generation to generation and can eat away at a family from the inside out.

Flanagan's "The House of Haunted Hill" proves the filmmaker is at the peak of his craft. Though it's not perfect (again, thanks to the Netflix model the show is probably just a few episodes too long, and for some, it'll feel like an eternity getting there), there's much to admire here. Flanagan is an affective and considerate storyteller who injects humanity into this dark and traumatic family drama. He cares about the psychology of the Crain family and about their journey. His "Hill House" is a compassionate take on a modern horror story and one that's surprisingly powerful.

[handfulxfhearts]

FYI: Muse Cull

Yes, you read that right. I’m planning on permanently deleting some of my less active muses (much as it pains me, as I adore them all), but I wanted to give you a heads up which ones I’m planning on saying farewell to, just in case you followed particularly to write with any of them, and just hadn’t got around to it yet. I am being pretty ruthless with the list, so if there is someone on this list who you actually do want to write with, make it known fast, before they’re deleted forever. I won’t be bringing them back once I’ve deleted them.

Felix Kennedy; though he’s an OC who I adore so much (I just want to hug him all the time) he gets no interaction whatsoever. Maybe I’ll eventually write a story for him to star in.

Miyuki Hayashi - another OC I love, who has an interesting backstory and interesting powers, but another who doesn’t get any interaction at all.

Bruno Madrigal - yes you read that right! Y’all know how much I ADORE Bruno, but it seems that the Encanto fanbase has withered and died over the last few months and he was quite popular for a bit but now no one seems to want to write with him.

Pepa Madrigal - same with my darling Pepa. I love her so much, but the Encanto fandom seems to have died and no one seems all that interested in doing crossovers with her.

Esmeralda - same thing with her. I love her, but she doesn’t get any interaction.

Clopin - literally the same thing.

Jim Hawkins - now this one hurts because I ADORE Jim. He’s one of my favourite muses but no one ever wants to write with him. I believe I had one thread with him a million years ago on my old multimuse blog. On here, no one’s written with him ever.

Matsuda - it kills me to get rid of Matsu, but no one ever wants to write with him in the DN fandom. Maybe because he’s too pure for this world and the DN fandom only ever wants angst? (I know I’m hella guilty of that too).

Stephen Gevanni - same thing with him. I love him, but no one else seems to.

Misa Amane - it surprised me that no one wanted to write with Misa, but that is apparently the case so I’ll be saying goodbye to her too.

Kyoko Sakura - I love Kyoko so much. Madoka is one of my most loved fandoms, but the fanbase seems to have died and no one wants to write with her.

Keith Kogane; I loved Voltron back in the day but found the fanbase way too toxic, so I don’t really want to interact with anyone from it, to be honest. And it’s been that long since I watched it that my muse for Keith is pretty dead.

Victor Van Dort - I love ol’ Victor, but he isn’t active enough to warrant keeping him here.

Jake Muller, Piers Nivans, Sherry Birkin and Luis Sera - fuck, I love them all so much, especially Luis, but no one ever wants to write with them, it’s only ever Leon who gets a look in. 

Brigitte and Ginger Fitzgerald and Ghost - I love them so much but I don’t think the Ginger Snaps fandom really rps, and no horror blogs ever want to write with them.

Bofur - BIG SOB. I love Bofur but no one’s interested.

Karen Davis (The Grudge) - I feel like the Grudge fandom doesn’t even exist in writing (I refuse to give up Kayako though. She’s here forever).

Marie Antoinette

Eleanor Crain

Theodora Crain - I really thought I could get somewhere with Theo, but apparently not. She’s such an interesting character.

Randy Meeks - yep... I love him, but the same issue that I’m having with all the others

Katrina Van Tassel.

Yoon Bum - because the KS fandom is dead and no one wants to write with him anymore.

Now, I don’t want to get rid of any more, but there are a few who also have had no interaction since I added them, these being Deet and Rian from The Dark Crystal: Age of Resistance, Peach and Beck from YOU, and Count Lucio from Arcana.

[herhaunt-a2]

            CRESCENT MOONS LITTER HER PALM ,      little red shapes that drag her back to her body from where she lingers ,    always dancing on the boundary lines of a childhood home .     she buries the self in too big sweatshirts ,     hides away all those parts of her that have rotten ,    or filled with dirt from a shallow grave .     it’s easier to plant flowers in her throat and become lovely ,     isn’t that what they want ?

          ❝   i have a coupon for all you can eat pancakes .  ❞ 

𝐒𝐓𝐀𝐑𝐓𝐄𝐑 𝐂𝐀𝐋𝐋 .    ──      @everstride ( theo )

[starsspin-a]

          “Can’t say I know a whole lot about flowers.” Still there’s a smile. 

@moonflowcrs​ from theo

[herhaunt-a2]

@everstride :          💬         ( theo c )

      ❝  if you leave now ,  —

                                                              —    you get nothing .    ❞

[starsspin-a]

theodora crain tags

;; theodora crain ;; mirror

;; theodora crain ;; aesthetic

;; theodora crain ;; musings

;; theodora crain ;; headcanons

;; theodora crain ;; asks

;; theodora crain ;; ic

;; theodora crain ;; threads

;; theodora crain ;; general

;; theodora crain ;; open

;; theodora crain ;; sc