#ALSO FINALLY SOMEONE CALLING HIM NICHOLAS PERHAPS?

[bi-demon-ium]

i think it's unlikely captain noland was part of the scavenger hunt/knows about it but i hope he's still an old friend of mr benedict's bc i can't get over the idea of him catching them and one of them blurting out they need to save mr benedict and him just going... nicholas benedict? my old friend nicholas? and they're like you KNOW HIM? and like. ending up risking his job to help them, help his old friend, and cannonball doesn't get it, and like bonus if he helps them again later when they actually have mr benedict back and he's like [double take] PHIL?

[sophieswundergarten]

Chapter 20 of S.O.S.

I don't even know anymore

@nobodysdaydreams Here ya go

ALRIGHT LETS GOOOOOOOOOOOOO

I AM BOTH EXCITED AND TERRIFIED

WHOOOO!!!!!!!!!

First off, love the title, and it’s making me a little nervous because now I’m thinking about Chapter 1 being titled “The Price of Admission”

Oh dear. The way you describe the feeling and emotions and just overall sensations of what Constance is experiencing is already punching me in the heart

(Though the intro bit with Jeffer was quite funny)

THEY BOTH THINK IT’S LIKE WHEN THEY WERE KIDS. BUT THE ONLY THING STOPPING THAT FROM BEING REAL IS THAT NEITHER OF THEM LIKE THEMSELVES ENOUGH TO BE HONEST AND VULNERABLE. UNBELIEVABLE. I AM ALREADY CHEWING DRYWALL. MASTICATING.

Oooooooohhhhhhhhhh

You added to it. He hasn’t forgotten that Nathaniel is hurting people, he just thinks that he finally got through to him. Oooooooooooooooooohhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh :( 

“The whole world felt so sunny. So vibrant. So full of humor and amusement. Had it always been this whimsically delightful? It must have been, but Nicholas felt as if he was seeing it for the first time. There was beauty everywhere. There was happiness everywhere. Nothing was too loud, nothing was too overwhelming, nothing was too anxiety provoking. For the first time in Nicholas’ life, everything in the world felt “just right”, and it was completely effortless.”

THIS IS A REALLY WELL-WRITTEN PARAGRAPH. BUT IT’S HORRIBLY JARRING BECAUSE THAT’S WHAT I ALSO FEEL AS “JUST RIGHT”, AND I ALREADY KNOW IT’S BAD. I WOULD FALL FOR THIS SO EASILY OH MY WORD ASFJDSJKFDKJ

“His friends might have left him, but he finally had his brother back. Perhaps they really could work together like they used to. It had been so long.”

BODS CAN YOU HOLD BACK FOR LIKE TWO SECONDS???? I AM WRITING OMINOUS STICKY NOTES AND PLACING THEM ON EVERY MIRROR YOU HAVE

OH. THAT’S WHY THERE’S A HYPHEN IN THE TITLE. ADSKJFDSHKJDSKJF

CONSIDER ANY STRING YOU OWN CONFISCATED

And you’re still calling him “Curtain”. He’s still calling himself “Curtain”. He doesn’t think he (deserves) is that name anymore. And yet he calls himself “Nathaniel” in Chapter 1. Hmmmmm

Also. Calling the fact that he “allows” Nicholas to call him his given name as a “luxury” is hysterical and very on-point. You are so, so good at writing Curtain :) 

AHHHHHHH. THE CONFLICT IN POOR NICHOLAS’ BRAIN ABOUT HIS VARIOUS FAMILY MEMBERS

And then also Curtain continuing to not get it. Good gravy, man. PLEASE remember how to be a human being soon. You are hurting yourself so much :( 

(And. Also. Like. Several thousand people, not least your own brother. But, still.)

NUMBER TWO!!!!!

Oh heavens. I feel very bad for her. But she did escape! (Kinda)

And then Milligan. I want to give him a hug.

YEAH

I LOVE THIS PART. BECAUSE JUST WHEN YOU THINK CHAOS AND STRIFE HAS BEFALLEN THE TEAM THEY GET IT BACK TOGETHER AND IT’S GREAT

“for some reason Milligan took personal offense at the implication that educators were incapable, though he could not explain why”

I LOVE HOW INSTEAD OF DENYING THAT SHE STOLE IT SHE’S JUST LIKE “I paid for it. And I left a beautifully hand-crafted thank you note.” IT DOESN’T MATTER THAT IT WASN’T FOR SALE IN THE FIRST PLACE JASHJJDKJHFD

She really is ready to be part of the team

(Why is one of the bars you have to pass, like, Neutral Good committing of crimes??? Ajsdkjds)

Marlon /derogatory

OH NO

OH NOW IT’S THAT BIT

“I don’t see the problem” And Marlon just decides that it’s fine. I Do Not Like Him

AND HE’S SO MEAN TO JACKSON AND JILLSON

OH BOY. AND YOU’VE BROUGHT BACK THE MARTINA BETRAYAL. I’M SO WORRIED ABOUT THAT. GIVE THESE KIDS A HUG

“Someone’s finally at the wheel and all you can do is naysay,” the officer observed, “You sound like a person who, frankly, would benefit from time in Dr. Curtain’s program. Compulsory or not.”

Oh yikes. There’s the wheel motif again, and also that sounds incredibly threatening. YOU WOULD THINK THIS WOULD TIP HER OFF TO GET OUT OF THERE

There’s something so sad about Rhonda being terrified when Number Two missed the check in and now she’s trying to call Rhonda and no one’s there :( 

Adjfsdjfjdsjk

Miss Perumal trying to corral the children on the farm is a really entertaining mental image

OH. SHE’S TRYING TO CALL HER SISTER.

“You have reached the Two residence. We’re busy and aren’t available now or ever. Don’t expect an answer to your messages and don’t come to our house. We don’t want to buy anything, and we don’t want to meet any new people. Heaven knows you’d only abandon us just like everybody else and would probably try to steal from us too no doubt.” 

“This answering machine is full. Please call back later.”

Yikes. Ajkdfjdsfjkdsf The Two family has some issues

(But very nice job on writing that. It’s incredible)

“Milligan heroically threw his helmet and jacket into the motorbike.”

…“heroically”?

Akjfhjkdfkjds Very good choice of word! It just makes me think of how overdramatic the cinematography got whenever it was focussed on Milligan

FOUND CRIME FAMILY. IT’S OKAY AS LONG AS YOU PAY PEOPLE BACK AND LEAVE THEM NICE NOTES. AKJLFDSJKD

Milligan is amazing

JEFFERS

HE COLLECTS RECEIPTS

I love our sad little guy

Oh no. Oh no. Nicholas’ thoughts are fascinating and you write them really really well but also it always makes me legitimately want to cry

OH YEAH. THEY HAVE THE SAME VOICE. THAT’S PROBABLY SUPER CREEPY

Oh. And Number Two’s all alone now. I know she isn’t really his daughter in the Show, but, still. To be abandoned in such a scary situation…

“He was using addict speech. Saying “I need to stay in my brother’s evil cult, not because of the addictive happiness he gave me, but because it’s crucial to our mission” was just another form of “I need to drink, not because I’m addicted, but because it helps my anxiety and is really better for me if you think about it.” There’s always a justification for anything, so long as your brain is smart enough to think of it and clever enough to trick yourself into believing it. And unfortunately, Number Two knew from experience that Mr. Benedict was very smart and very clever indeed.”

Yeah!! And we get to see another bit of Bods’ psychology brain! I’ve been waiting to see what you had to say about this. So, so many thoughts

And the little snips of what’s going on with Jackson and Jillson. It keeps building in increments, and I really have no idea what it’s going to build to with your writing but I have no doubt it’ll be spectacular

Poor Jeffers adsfjsdjk

He’s trying his best

AND THE WAY THAT THEY ALL CROSS PATHS IN SUCH A WAY THAT THEY JUST MISS ONE ANOTHER

MARTINAMARTINAMARTINAMARTINAMARTINAMARTINAMARTINAMARTINAMARTINAMARTINAMARTINAMARTINAMARTINAMARTINAMARTINA

I’m glad that the coaches appreciate her, but also understand that she’s working through a whole lot

(If only they knew how much…)

Ah, yes. Stealing, bribery, breaking and entering, fraud, all of those things are totally fine. Underage driving, however? Unacceptable

Garrison is trying her very best. (Unfortunately for her, that’s not good enough for Constance adjsd)

IS SHE REALLY FEELING BAD ABOUT THIS?????

Somehow that’s really sweet because she does care enough to notice things, but also SHE’S A TINY CHILD. IT’S NOT HER FAULT

Oh. Even without her snark, she wouldn’t be comforted by a lot of toys because of the bad memories she has attached to them. She doesn’t trust them :( 

(I bet her family gives her a lot of unusual toys and puzzles, so she can view it as a challenge instead of being uncomfortable)

YOU DID THE THING AGAIN!!!!! YOU DID THE THING AND BROUGHT BACK THE SCENE WHERE THEY WERE ALL TALKING AND PLANNING!!!! I LOVE IT AND IT’S ALSO HEARTBREAKING. OH MY WORD THIS IS AWFUL AND I LOVE YOU

Oh good gravy. MILLIGAN.

The lot of them need to stop taking all the guilt in the world onto themselves. They are all so ridiculous

GARRISON NEEDS SOME HELP. IT’S NOT HER FAULT SHE’S VIOLENTLY UNCOMFORTABLY WITH CHILDREN

(Although I’d hazard a guess that her discomfort was seriously exacerbated after SQ’s parents died…)

“You need to choose better friends,” Constance suggested.”

YOU HAVE FORFEITED ALL RIGHTS TO YOUR CURTAIN RODS. I AM TAKING A SEAM RIPPER TO ALL OF YOUR PANT HEMS. YOUR WINDOWS HAVE BEEN HAPHAZARDLY COVERED IN BUTCHER’S PAPER AND SLOPPILY APPLIED DUCT TAPE

“Garrison frowned again. Kidnapping aside, there was no need for this child to be so rude.”

Garrison. You really would benefit from talking to another human being now and again (Or not have wiped your best years of social interactions from your brain)

““The ghost in the windmill. The dancer in the dark. You found a flaw,” said Garrison, spitting out the word “flaw” like it was filled with poison. “One that has kept me up every single night since and one that I can’t seem to replicate.””

HOW DO YOU WRITE SO PRETTY

AND ON TOP OF BEING REALLY FUNNY TOO

UM. DID GARRISON ACCIDENTALLY FORGET HER MORALS WHEN SHE STARTED LIVING IN A ROOT CELLAR? IS THIS BECAUSE SHE DOESN’T HAVE CURTAIN ANYMORE? KIND OF LIKE A “He’s so obviously insane that I must be the sane one to keep us on track” ONLY NOW SHE’S ON HER OWN????

Someone give her a hug

Oh, oh PLEASE let Number Two get in a fight with Marlon. She’d beat him so hard. And he’d deserve it

“Everyone barged into his office sooner or later to demand an explanation for things, and even if Curtain had not gotten better and better at correctly estimating one’s breaking point, the security cameras he installed around the compound certainly helped.”

SDFKJDjkdsfkjdj BODS

Also, Curtain, buddy, if you’re the common denominator in all these instances of people bursting into your office then maybe you might be the problem

“By “thing” you mean relieving him of the constant grip of existential angst?” Oh yeah, I would fall for this whole cult thing so very fast. I’m already a goner

YEAH. YEAH, CURTAIN, IT’S KIND OF WEIRD THAT YOU GUYS SEEK OUT SIMILAR FRIENDS. IT’S ALMOST LIKE YOU’RE SIBLINGS. AND YOU MISS EACH OTHER.

She’s so incredibly angry and scared and hurting and just  a tornado of emotions

And then Curtain’s just kinda. Sitting there. Placidly. (I would have snapped and punched him by now)

YOU BROUGHT BACK HER BOOK NAME!!!!!! I love you

SCREAMING SCREAMING CRYING

CAN YOU STOP TREATING HER LIKE A SUB-PAR GARRISON???? PLEASE FOR THE LOVE OF ALL THAT IS GOOD REMEMBER THAT’S SHE’S A REAL HUMAN, YOU BUFFOON!!!!!!

Good job. Steal his plates. He deserves it. (Maybe go after his floorboards next…)

Is… Is Auguste okay? He didn’t ever freeze on-screen, but I am quite concerned about him…

OH MY WORD CURTAIN CAN YOU STOP USING CHILDREN AS CONDUITS I AM GOING TO SCREAM

Oh no….

The panic and turmoil and poor Nicholas is caught in the middle. He’d feel bad even normally, but now everything’s all confused too

“Here, Nicholas wasn’t a burden to his friends”

SCREAMING

I AM TEARING INTO YOUR PILLOWS WITH MY BARE TEETH

LOSING MY MIND

(I’ll sanitise the remains after, I promise)

MARLON IS SO TERRIBLE

And poor Jackson and Jillson are getting a lot more scared…

“He was also very agitated at the idea that Dr. Curtain’s happiness was the cause of this, not only because it put his position in jeopardy, but also because Marlon himself had taken the happiness. Obviously, he wasn’t in danger of succumbing to anything like this (he wasn’t nearly as mentally weak as Sebastian or Paula), but the implication that something like this even could happen to him was a prospect that Marlon found insulting.”

He just keeps getting worse and worse. I am so upset with him. I can’t even like that he’s an intriguing antagonist, he’s just awful. (Although I will concede that you write him incredibly well and I am quite appreciative of how much you make me hate him)

AND GARRISON

I KNOW SHE’S TECHNICALLY A VILLAIN/ANTAGONIST BUT SOMEONE PLEASE SAVE HER

“I hope y'all are ready”???

“I hope y'all are ready”????????

YOU HOPE WE’RE READY?????????

READY FOR WHAT??????? Oh my goodness. I— I just— I have no words. I am screeching. Bods, there are so, so many things that happened in this chapter. I am so shaken up. I feel like my insides were in a blender. It’s so exciting to see all of these plot points and hints and through lines and motifs that you’ve been laying out and I am just over the moon about everything. You have created  a  n o v e l, and it’s gorgeous. I am disintegrating. I can feel my molecules breaking up. I read a book once where a lady cried acidic material and when she started sobbing she just sunk into a hole in the floor and that’s what I’m feeling right now.

I think I need a nap. I don’t have any idea how to articulate this. Just know that you’ve done amazingly. Just. You are absolutely incredible, my friend. I can feel these characters living and breathing in the letterings and you somehow make it new and fresh material every time, no matter the fact that I’ve seen the show or how often I’ve reread your work. Each of the characters takes on such a vibrancy of life and independence under your guidance, and I adore getting to “meet” them and learn how they work in your narrative. Just stupendous

[nobodysdaydreams]

The Mysterious Benedict Society Reaction Season 2 Episode 6: A Commitment To All Things Cozy.

Hello everyone. Seeing as it is the holidays, I wasn’t sure I’d get to this but if I can wake up early enough I’ll do the liveblog. Those who have been following me long enough will know that I am waiting in anticipation for someone to call out the fact that Garrison probably swept Milligan (can she give his memories back? Were they friends? I need the drama) and I also need the backstory on Curtain and his ex-employees, especially SQ’s biological parents. Speaking of SQ, maybe he’ll finally show up. Who knows? What I do know is that 1x06 was when we got big plot reveal flashbacks last time so maybe 2x06 will deliver for us. Let’s find out.

1:00- oh no Rhonda, I know you're doing a good thing here, but you don't understand, we need this backstory and confrontation. Please take Garrison with you. "no one can punish her more than she punishes herself" "that's true" oh my gosh Garrison. Oh no now she's running. Glad the gang is back together, but I needed Garrison to join them. And of course Milligan shows up now before he can confront Garrison for sweeping them. I hope that comes soon.

4:30- Oh no Ms. Perumal. At least the others got away. Reunited just to separate again. At least we know most of them separated with characters they have important history with, so we can all be thankful for that.

6:00- Nicholas stop giving him information. Oh no Auguste do not do anything for this man. Where are Auguste's parents? Did Curtain kill them too? Did he replace SQ with this boy?

8:00- Yes to the kidnapping Curtain! "lovely," "do not take the tea" "oh," the man just wants a tea party with his brother number 2. Can we not offer him that? Also, Nicholas looks personally offended at the haircut idea which means that even brainwashed, he still hates his brother’s hairstyling which is a great callback to when they were kids and his brother forced him to style his hair. This plan works excellently unless part of Curtain's plan is having you switch places. The haircut may not be a good idea. He's a crazy genius. He probably has video cams in the house and knows your whole plan.

11:00- Reynie just lost his mom. Again. This poor boy. At least Rhonda is therapizing him. Not the Mr. Benedict scream- Reynie is going through his arc. Lol at him throwing the sweater vest.

12:50- well, off they go. The abandonment threat was a good try Constance. I do love the Constance & Sticky team up though. Nice of Constance not to immediately break out with the "boy who fell asleep on me" poem yet (or maybe she's saving it). Oh no the happiness is spreading. Was that frozen man even in the cult? SQ has to be frozen too at this point. If you're taking Garrison away from me, you at least have to give SQ back. Fair is fair.

14:40- Oh dear Sofia, sorry about the fire. "Perhaps we flew too high" oh my gosh even the innkeepers have a tragic backstory. They are almost creepily ok with unaccompanied minors staying with them. I agree Constance, time to bounce.

17:00- Oh no, poor Jeffers is so proud of himself for catching Ms. Perumal, and Curtain's like, "she's literally the last one I needed. No psychic girl, no ex-chemist of mine, not my brother's other top agent, not the girl with the skills of a pro athlete, not that boys I trained for my Whisperer, just some school teacher? She clearly gave herself up to save the others, you idiot!" Oh, poor Jeffers, "her alias as a schoolteacher" Curtain is so pissed. "Be Better" oh, Jeffers, this is why I love the terrible guy sidekicks. Speaking of: Jackson and Jillson, it's time to shine! Oh, dear Jackson gunning for the promotion. It would be so funny if Marlon could hear them. Wow, Curtain actually looks scared for a second, and he knows this could be a side effect; Garrison warned him; why is he in denial (unless he used it on himself or (Gasp) actually cares about his brother and son who he hasn't seen in weeks and doesn’t want to face that something horrible is gonna happen to his family because of him).

18:45- YES JILLSON AND JACKSON TELL HIM ABOUT THE CHEMICAL MISFIRE I love them facing their fears like this. See Curtain, you need them. "I don't trust this doctor" Well maybe you'll be singing a different tune when your son's life is on the line.

19:00- I am careful! No, you're not. But yeah it's realistic that they would have this out. Poor Martina is just there for this. Ironically she's part of the reason Kate dove off the cliff in the first place. "ARE WE PREPARED TO WIN" Martina, it's not a tetherball match.

21:00- how does Constance know this much about cooking scones? Is it part of her backstory? "his tears will lead to growth" yeah Constance, that was mean, the poor man tried his best.

22:00- oh no. Constance. Don't. OH NO. NO NO NO NO NO. Oh this isn't gonna be good.

23:00- Awe. Thanks, Martina. But please don't pull an SQ or Garrison, we just got you back. I don't like this "in case we die" talk. Also Milligan "I'll be...on standby... in case you need me" lol Martina laughing. Wait hold up, Martina actually has parents in this universe? Since when? Why were they cool with her being at the institute? Okay moving past that I suppose.

25:00- Sticky you have to know this is abnormal. "she is breaking me Sofia" this is hilarious the poor man. But seriously Sticky please get a Constance some help. Okay Constance, overdoing it a bit. Sticky, don't fall for that since when does she care about your school?

27:00- "we'll fix things" adorable. Oh hey! They found Rhonda and Reynie! PFT- Not the cut to Sticky and Constance being totally useless, lol. Yeah asking about boatwright was ok, but calling him Sticky? Biggest red flag there is. Oh hi Jeffers. OH MY GOSH HE HAS A SPEECH OF TRIUMPH NOW. "My failure shattered me as a man" well maybe save that for your therapist Jeffers. All of Curtain's employees need to rebuild their esteem instead of trauma dumping on the kids they kidnap. “I can secure the perimeter” he’s so proud, my man finished his story arc.

29:30- lol Curtain's like "Nicholas I regret having you here. I missed you but I forgot having a sibling means having a sibling. Personal space please" He has to be suspicious. My gosh, Curtain’s sense of humor is so bad. Maybe that's why he couldn't get adopted.

31:00- OH WE GOT BACK STORY. They recommended Martina? Why? Oh dear They believed her story so quickly, they’re so trusting. I love Jackson and Jillson so much. They deserve better. NO MARTINA WE ALREADY LOST GARRISON AND SQ DON'T STRESS ABOUT A LITTLE AUTO THEFT I'M SURE THEY'LL FORGIVE YOU. Oh bother.

33:00- Nicholas is gonna crack. This is bad. Nathaniel will too when he realizes the extent of his little problem. Number 2 just knock him out. Ugh number 2 has to be pissed at this point. OH NO. Don't trust the weird boy. OH GREAT Curtain had Constance, number 2, AND Nicholas, and it's only a matter of time before Sticky, Ms. Perumal and who knows who else follow.

Well, now I'm disappointed. No kidnapped Curtain, no SQ, Martina, and Garrison are gone, no flashbacks. But Jackson, Jillson, and Jeffers were the stars of the episode. Good work with the J names. I hope they continue with their cute little side stories. I hope Garrison does too. Also, with all the Constance's parent's teasing, when is that actually going to play into the plot? Hopefully soon.

[leham-n-daavocado]

We Race as One Lewis Races Alone and What It Means to Be Robbed

I kinda have two modes. Memes and analysis lol. This one is analysis. Brought to you on Lewis’ birthday as I let the purple dye settle and develop in my hair lol. Unfortunately, I can’t tag this as I’d like.

I think last year’s championship win should and always will feel awkward until we are ready to come to terms with what it really means that Lewis races alone and that he was robbed. I think too little time has been spent understanding why Lewis races alone and the structural problems there and I also feel that people don’t really understand why Lewis getting robbed was so egregious.

In 2020, Lewis, as F1′s biggest star, was able to bend F1 to take a stance on racism, an problem that has plagued his career. Sure, it was window dressing, but imagine the power you had to have accumulated as a black man to pressure a rich, white and European dominated sport into taking on your cause in a very visible way. Do you think F1 would have done that at the request of Alex Albon or Nicholas Latifi, the other non-white drivers at the time? The answer is no. Obviously. And still, Lewis had to basically be a prodigy, be the biggest influence in the sport and win six championships to move the organization to make even that small, insignificant PR gesture.

It’s problematic that you have to gain that amount of power just for someone to care about an issue that affects every day of your life.

But in 2020, Lewis won. He not only won. He dominated. He equalled Michael Schumacher’s record. He did all that and spent the entire year advocating for people of colour. So in 2021, what happens? Mercedes’ car gets targeted and nerfed. Race Control becomes anathema to its own name and refuses more and more to control the racing when it is out of line or when rules get broken. “Fans” are allowed to boo him when he speaks. (How easy would it have been to just have a host say, “We understand you’re passionate, but please be respectful to all racers. If you are going to continue booing, we will not interview any of the drivers.”) You can’t help but think all of this was done to punish Lewis for daring to force F1 to take a stance against racism and prevent him, as a black man, from surpassing Michael Schumacher and stepping into a category all his own.

Nothing exemplifies this more than the scandal at the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix’s safety car shenanigans influencing the subsequent winner of the championship. Why else would a safety car procedure be handled so poorly when Lewis was one lap from winning the race? I think we have to ask why it’s Lewis who has to be the first driver to lose a championship one lap from the finish line because the FIA didn’t want said driver to win. 

I don’t quite buy that F1 merely wanted a more exciting finale. There has been an attitude with underpinnings of heavy racism at the upper echelon of F1 throughout the year. We got confirmation about it when an official called Max the “great white hope” against Lewis. We could see it in the racialized dog whistling Red Bull used as a PR strategy against Lewis after Silverstone. Furthermore, they KNEW the age of Lewis’ tires. They KNEW Max was on fresh tires. They KNEW Lewis was a sitting duck. That’s not entertainment.

However, more importantly, the FIA knew they could get away with it.

They knew they could isolate, control and manipulate the results and no one could do anything about it.

I have no doubt it’s important for FIA to be a highly centralized organization when they’re running a series of races literally around the world in more than twenty different countries with different laws and regulations. However, the entire scandal has made the FIA look less like a neutral organization that merely runs the races and more like an authoritarian dictatorship. This has no doubt been building over the years, but perhaps the biggest indicator was the briefing we got after last year and Romain Grojean’s fiery crash that the drivers and personnel could no longer criticize the FIA publicly. None of the drivers could really, truly criticize the FIA and race control for what they did in Abu Dhabi to sacrifice everyone’s racing and safety for Max’s “victory”. There is a huge problem with your organization if you are no longer taking free, open criticism outside of closed doors.

However, not being able to openly criticize the organization is not the only marker of the FIA being an authoritarian dictatorship. Let’s talk about its control of the media. Only journalists approved by F1 get to be in the paddock and they can have their credentials stripped if they say something that F1 doesn’t like, impacting their livelihoods. The same thing that makes F1 such a niche, but easy to follow sport, is also part of its problems. We only have to follow twenty drivers in ten teams in about twenty races each year, but what it creates is the ability to be highly insular and selective. Other sports, like basketball, you have over thirty teams with about fifteen to twenty players who each play at least eighty games per season. Are they going to care if one journalist says something criticizing their organization? No. It’s just Tuesday. There’s like thousands of other journalists. The FIA has an ability to control its media and PR that other sports do not enjoy.

But most concerning of all, is the FIA’s ability to control who wins the championship with no recourse. Sounds a lot like how an authoritarian dictatorship decides its citizen's fates. Lewis and Mercedes could not criticize the FIA. They could not have a fair trial unless they were willing to cannibalize their entire FIA racing involvement and sacrifice their staffs’ livelihoods. They were in a bind and F1 was able to sell its narrative that Max had won the championship, albeit controversially, but deservingly.

I don’t think you can call Max a deserving champion when Lewis was able to negate all of Max’s podium consistency into the last race and lead every lap in Abu Dhabi until the FIA decided they wanted Max to win. And more importantly, the FIA’s control of all the rules and regulations, despite the ones it broke, to let him win. Oh, and let’s not forget, its use of the media to control the narrative and make it seem like all this was okay and valid.

So Lewis is racing alone because the FIA decided to shun its own rules and regulations and use all of its authoritarian power to justify its own shortcomings and brush aside its own racism.

Finally, I don’t think we really understand what it means for Lewis to have been robbed of this championship. So let me use a metaphor/analogy. Imagine that the championship is the Benin Bronzes, a significant piece of the cultural/art history of Africa/Nigeria. Imagine then, that Max/Red Bull are the colonial forces that looted the Benin Bronzes at the behest of British Empire (the FIA). Is it dramatic? Yes. But this really does seem like another case of white people feeling justified in stealing from a black man’s achievements.

And you thought we were living in a post-colonial world? Ha!

How’s that egg on your face?

Just like the looting of the Benin Bronzes, Red Bull feels justified in Max taking the championship because the FIA dictated that it was okay to do so. Do you think any of the soldiers who stole the Benin Bronzes felt like they were doing something wrong? No. Of course not. Their empire said it was what they needed to do. They allowed it. So it was okay. But was it the right thing to do? No. It wasn’t.

And it doesn’t matter how many pieces of stolen art you stuff in your trophy case at the British Museum. It was wrong. Public opinion has turned on how the art was acquired and now the British Museum and others like it that have within its collection stolen art from the colonized world faces much public outcry in its persistent, illegal ownership of said art and multiple projects to see the return and restitution of the art to its proper owners.

Do I think Red Bull should return the trophy to Lewis? Yes. It was obtained in questionable and illegal means.

Do I think Red Bull will do it? No. I’m not crazy. They’re not an organization that gives a fuck about how something is won as long as they win it. They don’t care about the good of the sport and its fairness as long as they can use something to their advantage and win.

However, I do think the way in which this championship was won will always make it complicated and uncomfortable and it will always feel that way until there is justice for Lewis. It took nearly a century for public opinion to sway to the side of those who had been colonized and had their cultural works looted and stolen. It’s already there for Lewis.

There will never be peace from this for Red Bull. They will always have to look over their shoulders and defend it to their last breath. Just like the British Museum has to find more and more ludicrous and nonsensical reasoning to hold onto stolen artifacts.

And that, perhaps, is a victory unto itself.

[onyxgabriel]

Specialist Arc AU: How did Jaune's first meeting with Glynda go when be want to Beacon? Am curious how he faired with the cougar of Beacon. (Sorry I had to call her that)

Ozpin and Glynda stood at the Airship platforms, waiting for someone from Atlas to arrive.

Ozpin sipped his coffee in wonder. Who could it be? From what James' said it was one of his Specialists.

Ozpin: 'Perhaps it's Winter Schnee?'

Meanwhile, Glynda hoped it wasn't one of those arrogant pricks they have in Atlas.

Then they saw an approaching Bullhead and straighten themselves. When the Bullhead touched down and lowered its ramp and out came someone.

He has short blonde hair with the sides of his head shaved and dyed brown, he has some scars on his face but thankfully didn't take any points away from his looks. He looked like he was only around 20!

He wore a custom-made uniform of Atlas with gold details, a blue scarf, and armor pieces on his forearms, elbows, shins, knees, and a left shoulder pad.

On his left hip were a sword and sheath that looked very familiar to Ozpin.

He walked towards the two Professors with a dorkish smile.

Jaune: Good morning, err Headmaster Ozpin and Ms. Goodwitch was it?

The two were surprised to hear such awkwardness from an Atlas Specialist, but they nodded in confirmation.

Jaune: clears his throat My name is Jaune Arc, Atlas Specialist, at your service.

Ozpin's eyes widen. So that's why the sword and sheath looked familiar! It was the Arc family heirloom! He guessed that this young man was Nicholas and Artoria's son.

Glynda's eyes also widen. This was Nicholas and Artoria's son?! They had another child?! What?! She felt a pang of jealousy in her chest. Damn you Artoria for stealing him away!

Ozpin: A pleasure to meet you, Mr. Arc. I welcome you to Beacon? Tell what brings James' top soldiers here?

Jaune: Oh, the General wanted me to be stationed here to help the future generations! he leans in into Ozpin's ear and whispers I'm also here to guard the Maiden of Fall.

Ozpin's eyes widen and nearly dropped his mug of holy coffee. James told one of his soldiers again?! But he did appreciate the extra help.

Ozpin: I-i see. Follow me, Mr. Arc, let's get you acquainted. turns around and goes back to Beacon

Jaune: Yes, Headmaster. follows him

Glynda finally snapped out of thoughts and followed them inside.

A few moments later...

Combat class, Glynda's classroom

Yang: Hey, did you guys hear? We're getting a new teacher.

Ruby: Yeah! I can't wait to see their weapons!

Pyrrha: What do you think, Jeanne?

Jeanne: I just hope he's nice.

Nora: I hope he likes pancakes!

Ren: Nora, please.

Blake: Sshhh! I hear something.

The classroom doors opened and everyone became silent. Glynda Goodwitch walked towards her desk with some guy behind her, eliciting whispers among the students on who is that.

???: Who's that guy?

???: Where the hell did he come from?

???: He's hot

???: He doesn't look that tough.

Glynda: Silence! everyone shuts the f up Thank you. Class this is my new assistant, Jaune Arc from Atlas, a Specialist.

More hushed whispers occurred only to be silenced by a glare from the deputy.

Glynda: He will help me evaluate and give advice to your combat performances.

Jaune: smiles Greetings!

Yang: Damn, He's hot~

Ruby and Weiss: Yang!

Pyrrha: Jeanne, are you okay?

Jeanne: T-that's my brother...

RWBYNPR: ...

Nora: Nice.

Meanwhile in Atlas...

Winter: I feel a disturbance...suddenly I want to beat the crap out of a lot of girls...

(At this stage, Glynda doesn't have any feelings for the dork yet, let it grow. Winter 'bout to beat some bitches.)

[jennifer-martine]

So the (very interesting) commentary on Static Man vs Arthur has me thinking about names in Archive 81 again, and I keep going back to something a friend said a few months back about how in certain cultures/folk tales, giving something/someone a name is to accept them into your family/society, and that people who never got a name weren't truely human. And how A81 has this theme of names in interpersonal connection in almost every major character?

Rat refuses a name initially, but in his attempts to connect with Dan, eventually gives a nickname to call him by. Not only is this convenient, it can be read as a gesture of friendship in his attempts to win Dan over. His true identity is revealed just before he returns to Visser/The Choir, and the historical society, his chosen family and his god, who's absence had left him lonely. The nickname/new connection left in favour of the old.

Clara initially struggles to see Dan as a person and exclusively calls him "Mapmaker", but drops it completely when he confronts her, instead using his actual name (and frequently). Likewise, when they part, despite so desperately wanting to leave behind all things weird, she gives Dan her real name so he can find her again; perhaps she's accepted him not just as a person but as a friend, and doesn't want to lose the connection. Or, maybe it's tied to her forgetting he'd have a hard time in public: not only a person, but no longer a monster.

Dan gives Caroline back her name around the same time she asks he remove her finger, freeing her from LMG's control. Initially stripped of her name and personhood, "Suit" is more a function than an actual name, a shackle to LMG. She starts to regain her memories too, tying her back to The Cult, and her previous ideals. Also the whole "you are Caroline?" "I was" followed by "state your name, for posterity" "Caroline" right at the end.

In contrast to Clara, who eagerly sheds her old name (a tie to The City LMG forced on her), Lou keeps his new name and cements his connection to The City and desire to be there. He's left his old name, life and connections behind, forged new ones.

Nicholas isn't shy about correcting people who call him Nick, but eventually lets Chris and Static Man get away with it. Less of a breach for his new family, now a permitted nickname only for the people he's closest to. As he becomes increasingly comfortable and close with Chris, he finally stops calling her "Christine", the same function in reverse, ditching his formality as her request as they start to feel like a real family.

Morgan finally gives Nicholas and Static Man her name when she finally agrees to go back with them, as she's no longer just trying to fill a role to survive ("The Clerk") and is now allowing people to help. The name serves as a solid decision and indicator of where she wants to belong, as well as finally establishing/cementing her friendships with Nicholas and Static Man.

Could also touch on the use of Titles in The Golden Age. LMG obscuring its real name in season 1 and never elaborating after. Cynthia not giving her name and refusing to allow any connection to the underlings. The Choir becoming Visser, as it's tied to our world, the deals with the Vos family and the historical society. The Cult not even having a formal name. Alexa very intentionally taking Melody's surname. Dan growing quickly attached to Ratty following giving him a name. The Representative of The Curator leaving his birth name behind because what he does is more important to him than that.

Even meta-wise, there's the fact that Marc has named almost every single character, even those we only meet once, like, nobody is unimportant, nobody is unconnected?

Idk. Just kinda neat.

[agroovymutant]

I am very invested in ‘Pietro’ really being Peter for many reasons, but I don’t want to hope too much because I will be incredibly upset if it turns out he isn’t........ however, here are my feelings on theories I’ve heard about who he could be if he’s not Peter (spoilers: I basically just say I disagree with them all and it makes more sense if he’s actually Peter, haha) and my thoughts on what’s going on with him/how he got there etc if he truly is Peter...

If you just wanna read the evidence I’ve collected on why I think ‘Pietro’ is really Peter, scroll to the final bullet point! Warning: it’s LONG!

EDIT 24/02: Kevin Feige has now stated that Agatha purposefully “recast” Pietro in order to mess with Wanda. This does not confirm that this isn’t Peter brought over from another universe but it does change some of my points on other theories slightly. I do think it also does make it seem slightly less likely that he is secretly Mephisto or someone.

EDIT 26/02: In the new episode Agatha states that ‘Pietro’ is under a possession spell, which really rules out that he could be anyone like Mephisto, Nightmare, or Chthon.

‘Pietro’ is really Mephisto or Nightmare - (EDIT 26/02: In the new episode Agatha states that ‘Pietro’ is under a possession spell, which really rules out that he could be anyone like Mephisto, Nightmare, or Chthon.) I mean, immediately I feel there are a lot of holes in the theory that ‘Pietro’ could be either of these big bads tbh. To start with, they are both very powerful beings, how would Agatha be able to control them like she is seen doing in Agatha All Along? Do we really think she’s that powerful? Secondly, why would Agatha be controlling them if they were on the same side, and why would she been controlling them to pretend to be Pietro? Seems super weird to me. Yes, the necklace could be the thing keeping him in ‘Pietro’’s body, or normalising his appearance, but why would he wanna be in this particular body? Why would he be running around doing a really poor imitation of Pietro? Doesn’t make sense to me. ‘Pietro’ does call the twins “demon spawn” (could be hinting they were created by Mephisto, who looks like the devil, or Nightmare, who is a literal demon) and he does mention nightmares to Wanda too, but these could easily just be a throwaway lines or a subtle reference to the kids being created from Mephisto’s soul fragments in the comics, doesn’t necessarily mean ‘Pietro’ is either of these big bads. If Agatha is an unreliable narrator (very likely) and she isn’t really controlling ‘Pietro’, but he is indeed Nightmare or Mephisto, why is he lurking around Agatha’s house, looking like he’s acting more as a henchman than the devastating villain he really is? Surely he would have someone else do a menial task like that? The bug on the window in Agatha’s house could very well be Mephisto, as his first appearance was as a fly, so this would make sense. This doesn’t rule out that he’s also possessing the ‘Pietro’ body/can shapeshift, but it makes it less likely imo. Regarding the mid credits, if he is either of these beings, even with her new powers, Monica will be in big trouble. She has only just gotten her powers and doesn’t know how to use them, were as Mephisto and Nightmare are both crazy powerful beings who would be able to kill her easily, and really would have no reason not to. Now, the show is not gonna kill off Monica, so how the hell would she get out of this situation if it was Nightmare or Mephisto? I don’t believe she would, which makes me think 'Pietro’’s not either of them, and possibly not even a bad guy at all, it’s just been framed that way for the cliffhanger (I don’t actually think the next episode will show us what happened after this though, my theory is that next episode will be flashback style and in the final episode we will get a Darcy/Monica/PETER team up. Here’s hoping!!!). Also...... final point. Though a bit of a silly one, I do genuinely think this...... why the hell would either of these bigs bads choose to act and dress like that?? Just seems a bit weird, idk. Overall I do think ‘Pietro’ is acting sus (maybe cause of mind control and being zapped over from a different universe) but I just think he’s a bit too childish etc. to be either of these big bads in disguise.

‘Pietro’ was created by Agatha - (EDIT 26/02: In the newest episode, Agatha confirms she cannot create beings in the scene where she calls Wanda The Scarlet Witch) Immediately I think there are a lot of holes in this theory too tbh. To start with, can she even do that? There’s nothing that I know of in the comics that suggests she can, and even if she could why would she make someone who didn’t look or act like Pietro? (EDIT 24/02: it has now been confirmed that this was just to mess with Wanda) I don’t really think she created him, but if she did he must be based on what she thinks Pietro looks like? If she really did create him, maybe he looks and sounds like Peter because she is from a different universe where this is what ‘Pietro’ looks and acts like. While this would mean that he isn’t actually Peter, it does support the idea that a multiverse including the Fox X-Men does exist, so if this is true we could still get Peter in the multiverse in the future.

‘Pietro’ is Nicholas Scratch (Agatha’s son) - (EDIT 26/02: In the new episode Agatha states that ‘Pietro’ is under a possession spell, which really rules out that he could be anyone like Mephisto, Nightmare, or Chthon, and it seems unlikely to me that she would be possessing her son, but who knows! Also, after she introduces herself to Wanda she says to Señor Scratchy “She does look shocked to meet the real us, doesn’t she?” to me this implies Scratchy is more than just a rabbit but this is just a guess.) In the comics Nicholas and Agatha are enemies and although I know the show isn’t following the comics exactly (Agatha isn’t the villain in the comics) this does make me feel as though it’s slightly less likely for Nicholas and Agatha to be teamed up and doing whatever Agatha’s doing together (not impossible though). If Nicholas and Agatha were on the same side though, why would Agatha use her son as a Pietro replacement? They obviously don’t look similar. it seems like a very strange and sloppy plan. And why would she, as shown in Agatha All Along, be controlling him if they were allies? Makes no sense. If Agatha and Nicholas are not on the same side, it would make sense that she was controlling him....... however, it would still make no sense for her to make him pretend to be ‘Pietro’ when they look nothing alike. Also, why would she even have brought him to Westview if they were not allies? In the comics he’s quite powerful and dangerous, doesn’t seem like a good idea to bring him along when Agatha would have to spend so much time focussing on keeping him under her spell. I’m not saying it isn’t possible that in WandaVision Agatha and Nicholas are allies, I’m just saying in either case I think it is unlikely that ‘Pietro’ is Nicholas. In the comics, Nicholas is banished to another realm. I think it’s possible that, in WandaVision, instead of another realm, he’s trapped inside the bunny rabbit we’ve seen in a few episodes? The rabbit is called Señor Scratchy, after all (I know that’s a reference to the devil but so is Nicholas’ name...) Another point about Nicholas in general is that in the comics he has allied himself with Mephisto. If Agatha and Nicholas really are allies in this then maybe Señor Scratchy is Nicholas and the bug we see on the window is Mephisto, and Agatha is trying to free them both from the bodies they are trapped in.

‘Pietro’ is Jimmy Woo’s FBI witness - I thought this was quite an interesting take. I was talking about it with a friend of mine and he suggested that the necklace we keep seeing on ‘Pietro’ could be some sort of FBI tracker. But Woo has seen ‘Pietro’ on the broadcast so why wouldn’t he have been like “that’s not Pietro, that’s my witness!”? My friend suggested that Agatha could have altered the witness’ appearance but if that was the case, why wouldn’t she just make him look like the real Pietro? Doesn’t make sense to me but a fun theory nonetheless (but where is the real FBI witness??). Also, with the ‘breach’ alarm going off in the background of the shot where Darcy sees ‘Pietro’ arrive on the broadcast, it seems to me that whoever is ‘playing’ him came in from outside the Hex.

‘Pietro’ is really Chthon - (EDIT 26/02: In the new episode Agatha states that ‘Pietro’ is under a possession spell, which really rules out that he could be anyone like Mephisto, Nightmare, or Chthon.) Initially, I thought this one made a lot of sense, and still think it could potentially be right but I don’t think it makes as much sense as him really being Peter. Chthon created a different dimension in which he resides most of the time. Before he left Earth for this dimension he wrote the Darkhold (which is possibly the book seen in Agatha’s basement in the new episode). The Darkhold is the key to him moving from his dimension back to Earth. Chthon is very often linked to Doctor Stranger (and Doctor Strange: Multiverse of Madness is where we will next see Wanda appear sooo......) After Chthon leaves Earth the first time, he falls into a deep slumber. He is eventually awoken and there’s a lot of back and forth with him coming to Earth and being sent back to his dimension and being trapped there etc. But eventually he ends up trapped in the dimension and banned from Earth, and through a loophole it turns out he can come back if summoned, via the Darkhold. (Perhaps this is what Agatha is trying to do in the show?) Now the theory that ‘Pietro’ is really Chthon comes from a comic book where Chthon resurfaces many years after his initial banishment, and Doctor Strange isn’t around to stop him. Loki finds out and disguises himself as Wanda to reform the Mighty Avengers to stop Chthon. However, Mordred (long history with Chthon) manages to summon Chthon into the body of Pietro. People think that, especially with the reveal of the book which may be the Darkhold, this is what’s happened in WandaVision, with Agatha in place of Mordred. In the comic, the Mighty Avengers injure ‘Quicksilver’ so severely that Chthon is forced to leave his body, and Vision reads a spell from the Darkhold, trapping Chthon inside it. While I can see where this theory is coming from, I’m not sure it’s right. If Chthon is involved, imo, it makes a lot more sense for him to possess Wanda. Years before Chthon possesses Pietro, he is summoned to earth with the Darkhold by Morgan Le Fay, but she cannot control him. After realising this, she traps Chthon in a fixed point, under warding, for a very long time. A lot later, he is once again banished but, before he leaves, he marks a baby as his future vessel; that baby is none other than Wanda Maximoff. Many years later, thanks to Mordred, Chthon possesses Wanda and tries to use the Darkhold to summon his proper form back to earth in a mystical circle (the Hex?). When the Avengers arrive to help Wanda, Chthon imprisons them the circle (like the Westview residents?). Beast arrives and manages to distract Chthon though, and Chthon is removed from Wanda’s body and trapped inside a doll, which Pietro and Wanda then bury. Years later, Chthon possesses Wanda again and this time she is freed from Chthon's possession by Doctor Strange (Multiverse of Madness?). Is it possible that, because of the Avengers’ Time Heist fucking with the Multiverse, Chthon was disturbed from his slumber in his dimension and is trying to get back to Earth to wreak havoc? Perhaps Wanda is somehow the perfect vessel (maybe to do with her being a Nexus being) and Agatha will use the Darkhold to aid Chthon in possessing her? I don’t really know how I feel about any of that, but after reading the Pietro theory, I just thought that, if Chthon was involved in WandaVision, it would be more likely he’d possess Wanda based on what’s previously happened in the comics and the position Wanda was left in at the end of the most recent episode.

‘Pietro’ is really Peter Maximoff - Obviously, this is the theory I most want to be true, but am hesitant to believe because of my overwhelming love of the X-Men prequels and my tendency to take bad things happening to my faves really really badly (I’m talking ‘cried every day for over a month after Loki died’ badly...). Anyway. Here are my feelings on ‘Pietro’ being Peter:

EDIT 26/02: In the new episode Agatha states that she is possessing ‘Pietro’ - would she be able to possess someone who was already under Wanda’s mind control? I’m not sure she would, so she would possibly have to have brought someone in from outside the Hex. This could support the theory that he was pulled in from the multiverse, rather than just outside the Hex in that reality and Wanda either weakened the barriers between worlds allowing Agatha to being him in from the Multiverse - possibly with the help of the Darkhold - or Wanda herself accidentally brought her in without knowing and he was found by Agatha. Also, she states she couldn’t get Wanda’s “real brother” so used this fake ‘Pietro’ under mind control instead, it may not mean anything but the term “real brother” did stick out to me. Could ‘Pietro’ be her brother in the sense that he’s her brother from another reality, so technically not her real brother? When you think about it, though ‘Fietro’ could mean ‘Fake Pietro’ as Agatha had intended it, to a viewer, it could also be a nod to ‘Fox Pietro’ - or Peter, as we know him. In the flashback scene where we see Wanda and Pietro as children, they are both played by different actors to the flashback scene when Fietro is talking about their childhood. This could just be because his memories were made up, or it could be his real memories of his childhood with his universe’s Wanda. EDIT  3/03: Yesterday, an interview with Matt Shakman (WandaVision’s director) was published on CBR.com. In the interview, he is asked about whether the finale will provide us with a firm answer on who ‘Fietro’ really is and he says: “I think there’s a strong possibility you might get a little more of Evan Peters coming up. But how that plays out, I wouldn’t want to say.” He could be talking specifically about the finale, but he could also be talking about in the MCU in general. Either way, this has made me a bit more hopeful that he really is Peter tbh.

1. So, starting at the beginning - when he first turns up. We now know that this was Agatha’s doing and, though I do feel as though she is possibly an unreliable narrator, if we believe that she was controlling ‘Pietro’ with her magic, that means he’s not Mephisto, Nightmare or Chthon just playing the part of ‘Pietro’, because why and how would Agatha be controlling any of them? This means that he’s either some random guy she’s controlling - but why wouldn’t she try to get someone who looked a bit more like ATJ Quicksilver? How did he get in there (see next bullet point)? Why does this random guy have the same hair as Peter? etc. etc. - she created him out of thin air (already addressed), or he is really Peter. Out of these options, honestly, Peter makes the most sense.

2. When he first turns up and we see what is going on outside the Hex in the SWORD facility, there are alarms going off. Darcy seems to be in a panic when she runs over to her desk and sees ‘Pietro’ on the broadcast. Why were there alarms going off? It seems like they’re the ones that go off because of a perimeter breach. If this is the case, where would this new person entering the Hex have come from? How would they have gotten in? It’s not like someone is gonna just wander into that huge red dome, is it? In the first episode where we see outside the Hex, Jimmy tells Monica that Westview “doesn't want me to [go in]” and asks her “you can feel it too, can't you? No body's supposed to go in”, a random person from outside wouldn’t just wander in, especially with all that security around. Perhaps the alarms are going off because someone has been pulled into the Hex not from the MCU reality but from the multiverse?? The Fox X-Men reality. Peter.

3. His hair - when ‘Pietro’ turns up. he has his Fox universe silver hair. By the next episode it has changed to ATJ Quicksilver’s blond. Why would he start off with silver hair if he wasn’t the Foxverse Quicksilver?? Silver hair isn’t a normal thing for a man in his 30s to have, really. So if he was a random guy being possessed/controlled I think it’s a bit weird that he just happened to have silver hair, the same as Peter. I feel the only reason it’s blond in the next episode is because Wanda’s reality is trying to make him fit in, by making him look more like the person he’s supposed to be - ATJ’s Quicksilver. But my point is basically why would he have silver hair to start with? Why not just make him blond? Surely it’s because he’s Peter? (Also, side note, is his hair silver again in the episode 7 mid credits? He has a hat on and it’s a low angle shot so it’s hard to see but I was thinking that maybe now he’s been kicked out of Wanda’s family and she knows he isn’t Pietro, his hair has gone back to its normal colour because she is not trying to make him fit in. Once again, why would he have silver hair if he isn’t Peter?).

4. The episode 5 subs - the descriptive subtitles on his first episode introduced him as the Fox X-Men version of Quicksilver...

5. He has powers - where the hell did they come from if he’s not Peter? Billy and Tommy have powers, but the twins - through birth or some other way - were created by Wanda. So their powers must come from her - either as something inherited from her or just because they’re a part of Wanda’s illusion. Where would ‘Pietro’‘s powers have come from now that we know he wasn’t created or summoned by Wanda? Can Agatha give people powers? (EDIT 26/02: seems unlikely as Agatha literally told Wanda her illusion magic wasn’t as powerful as Wanda’s) Or are his powers just another sign that he is really Peter?

6. ‘Pietro Maximoff as himself’ - this is shown in the Malcolm in the Middle style opening credits, none of the other characters have who they’re ‘played by’ listed and this isn’t something that appears in the Malcolm in the Middle opening either so I’m not sure it’s a reference. Initially, I thought it was just to try to reinforce the idea that he was Pietro even though we knew he wasn’t, and to make us even more suspicious of him (it worked on me!), but what if it was telling us that he really is Peter Maximoff. Playing himself. ‘Peter’ is obviously the English version of ‘Pietro’ and Peter was listed as ‘Pietro’ on some of the DOFP promo stuff so it’s completely reasonable to assume that in the Foxverse his real name is Pietro and he just goes by Peter because he’s been ‘Americanised’. So maybe it was a hint that the Fox ‘Pietro’ is literally playing himself, Pietro ‘Peter’ Maximoff........ He also refers to himself as ‘Uncle P’, perhaps hinting that ‘Pietro’ isn’t usually the name he would use for himself?

7. The clothes - he literally turns up in a leather jacket. Though usually a silver one (though he does wear a suspiciously similar black one, and similar black jeans too, in his Deadpool 2 cameo), this is something Peter is well known for wearing in the Fox films. We’ve seen that people who come into the Hex get their clothes rewritten into more ‘Westview-appropriate’ attire, maybe his silver jacket was deemed too bright and crazy for the little town and the era they were in. In episode six he’s wearing a silver watch, much like the watch Peter wears in DOFP. All the clothes we see him wear seem a very odd choice for someone who is maybe supposed to be the villain of the show(?). Bright blue and pink? I mean they’re basically Wanda and Pietro’s colours, maybe hinting that he is really on the ‘good’ side? His jumper in the mid credits, to me, looks very (comic book) Quicksilver-esque. Overall, his outfits just seem like something Peter would wear in this jumbled Wanda version of reality (his style is kinda ‘bright and a bit too young for him’, maybe this is just Wanda’s take on it). And I repeat, if he was Mephisto or whoever, would he really choose to wear such fucking ridiculous clothes??

8. He acts like Peter - though slightly less cute and a little more adult-like than when we last saw him in Apocalypse (I’m not counting Dark Phoenix cause he had like three lines in it so it was hard to gauge what he was like) he is still a hyperactive, sugar-consuming, video-game playing, sarcastic, immature, thieving, jokester... essentially. Which is pretty much who he was in X-Men - though, as mentioned he was a little more adorable prankster, less straight up arsehole (like he’s slightly been in this), but I think that could be put down entirely to whatever is going on with the mind control or whatever (he probably super confused with mind control making him think he is Pietro and ask the right questions, but his real personality is still shining through slightly), plus the fact that he was probably only in his mid-twenties in Apocalypse, so as a man is his thirties now, he’s likely to be a little less ‘cute’.

9. He also sounds like Peter - this is obviously just ‘cause that’s Evan Peters’ real voice but they make a point of commenting on his voice and his lack of ATJ’s accent.

10. The Parent Trap is playing at the cinema in the background - a film about twins separated at birth . I mean..... doesn’t this just hint that Wanda and ‘Pietro’ really are twins separated by the multiverse and ‘Pietro’ really is Peter?? And the twins in the film switch places? Does that not hint that Peter has switched over from his own universe to play the part of Pietro in this universe?

11. Why does Wanda trust him? She looks at him when he first arrives and obviously she knows he doesn’t look anything like her Pietro, but she still somehow ‘recognises’ him. She must feel some familiarity for him? Initially she lets him stay in her house and play with her kids. She shares a lot about what she’s been through and been doing in Westview with him... She must have trusted him to an extent, even though she was suspicious of his different look and strange personality, etc. Wanda, in the comics, is a very powerful Nexus being, so if this is the same in the MCU perhaps in their version it means she can recognise Peter as her brother even though he’s from a different reality with a different face. Also, it’s shown in Age of Ultron that she can sense when Pietro is injured (and in WandaVision Billy, who has pretty much the same powers as Wanda and a ‘blood’ connection to Vision like Wanda does with Pietro, can sense when Vision is injured), so they clearly had a deep connection. Is it possible that even though Wanda and Peter are from different realities she still has this bond with him - perhaps she can sense they really are family, and they still have this blood connection, even though they’re family from different realities.

12. The necklace - people have suggested it may be being used to control Peter. I think that’s a great theory and completely possible, but I also have another theory to add - from the clip we see in Agatha All Along, it looks as though Agatha was there using her magic to control ‘Pietro’, though it may have just been shown that way to make it really obvious at a glance he was under her control, it could also mean the necklace is there for another purpose. Thinking about Agatha’s brooch - she has worn a variant of it through every decade and the only other time (?) we’ve seen that happen is with ‘Pietro’‘s necklace. Perhaps Agatha’s brooch protects her from Wanda’s false memories. Perhaps the necklace ‘Pietro’ is wearing is, similarly, to do with memories - possibly placed on him by Agatha to give him some memories of the real Pietro’s? Or to make sure he does not regain his memories of who he really is - Peter Maximoff?

13. NO ONE KNOWS WHO HE IS - and people (Darcy, Jimmy, Monica, Vision, Wanda, Billy AND Tommy) keep drawing attention to this fact!!! Why would they be bringing attention to this if it wasn’t important?! I’ve made it pretty obvious I don’t think he’s one of the powerful villains I previously mentioned, and if he was just some random guy why would people be bringing so much attention to him? Narratively, it makes sense for him to be an important character, and with all the evidence I’ve gathered I think  it makes most sense for him to be Peter. 14. I know this is a weak one, but think about the time period of the episodes - ‘Pietro’ arrives right at the end of the 80s episode, when it is about to go into the 90s. The last time we properly saw Peter in the Fox universe was in the 1980s, and in Dark Phoenix we briefly see him in the early 90s. This could mean something! Perhaps the Multiverse universes are not all aligned to the same time period, but Wanda accidently reached out for ‘Pietro’ and ended up pulling Peter into her universe because he was in the same time period her ‘show’ was currently on. 15. Left this one ‘til last cause I’m really not that sold on it but, his tattoo - now, the ‘Mom’ tattoo we see on ‘Pietro’ in episode 6 is Evan Peters’ actual tattoo. Why didn’t they get him to cover it up? Is it a hint that ‘Pietro’ and Wanda really do share a mum, just different versions of the same mum from two different realities? Could it also be a hint that ‘Pietro’ is indeed Peter brought in through the multiverse... MOM = Multiverse of Madness, after all. (I also think it’s possible the Hex is a pocket reality Wanda has created but that’s not strictly relevant to this Peter post).

BEHIND THE SCENES

16. Speaking of things outside of what we see in the show - head WandaVision writer, Jac Schaeffer, spoke about the casting of Evan Peters in an interview on Marvel's official site. In the interview she said: “We were rooting for it for so long, and didn't know if it would be possible. It was complicated to make happen.” Why would it not have been possible to make happen? Casting Evan Peters to play some random guy doesn’t seem very complicated to me. Is it possible that, when the writers came up with this idea, Disney had not yet acquired Fox? And the reason that they weren’t sure they could make it happen was because they did want to bring him in to play his Fox character and had to wait for Disney to finish the acquisition before moving forwards with their Evan Peters idea? That’s the only reason I can think of why it would have been “complicated” tbh.

17. This is a really weak argument tbh, but I thought I may as well include it anyway - around the time Dark Phoenix was due to be released, when Disney were part-way through acquiring Fox (which was public knowledge and had been for a while) - Evan Peters stated that he hoped Dark Phoenix wouldn’t be the end for his character, and said he’d be sad if it was. He went on to say "I'd want to do more, there's more to explore and shooting the sequences are more fun and just to be behind the scenes on it." Perhaps this was just wishful thinking on his part, but it is also possible that he knew that the door wasn’t necessarily closed on that character and there may be a chance for him to return to the role once Disney had purchased the X-Men (perhaps he had even already been approached about playing Peter in WandaVision).

18. In terms of promo for the show, Evan Peters has not been involved AT ALL - no interviews or anything. Obviously originally Marvel were trying to keep his involvement in the show a secret so it was a big surprise (unfortunately for them they didn’t manage this but ah well), but now that the cat’s outta the bag, why has there been no promo from Peters? I know he doesn’t do social media and I know it’s COVID times but interviews are still happening. Why has he not been called in to promote the show at all? To me, it feels like Marvel are worried about the sort of questions an interviewer would ask Peters. It seems as if they’re still trying to keep his character’s identity a secret, which means it must be important and not just some random Westview citizen - and the fact that he is still yet to receive his own character poster for the show only adds to my suspicions. (EDIT 26/02: Agatha talked about ‘Fietro’ in the new episode and seemed to very purposefully avoid mentioning who he actually was. To me, this very much makes it seem even like his identity is a big deal and it will be revealed as a major plot point in the finale next week. I mean, think about it - they’re gonna save a Multiverse reveal for the finale, aren’t they?)

19. Marvel have literally said this show will lead into Multiverse of Madness on many occasions, they have said that the events of WandaVision open the Multiverse, and we have yet to see this happen! The only mention of anything connected to the Multiverse so far was the Nexus ad. So there must be something big coming up that opens up the Multiverse. There are only two episodes left and nothing has happened that implies the Multiverse has been opened up (EDIT 26/02: one episode left! And the Multiverse still not been addressed) unless Peters’ ‘Pietro’ is really Peter. This wouldn’t need a huge amount of explaining as it’s already been set up and even people who don’t watch the Fox X-Men movies by now know he played the ‘other’ Quicksilver.

Also, side note, in Far From Home (set months after WandaVision) Fury and Hill don’t seem at all surprised that Quentin Beck is from an alternate reality. We find out at the end of FFH that they are both skrulls pretending to be Nick and Maria - who has a connection to the skrulls? Monica, obviously! Perhaps Talos and Soren are not surprised Beck is from an alternate universe because they have already been informed of the events of WandaVision opening up the Multiverse, by Monica (or possibly even through their daughter being Monica’s contact, who we see in the new episode? Just adding that in there cause it’s a theory I really like, as a huge fan of the Skrulls). 20. Marvel haven’t denied it - I know this doesn’t necessarily mean anything but I like to think that if there was absolutely no way that Fox X-Men were joining the MCU via Multiverse, someone from Marvel might actually have said this in an interview since the Evan reveal, just so people don’t get their hearts totally crushed and Marvel don’t get a load of backlash for leading fans on? Idk. Disney/Marvel Studios never actually said there wouldn’t be more films in the Fox X-Men universe after Disney acquired the rights to them, everyone just assumed. This could mean something. 21. Merch - there was a massive amount of X-Men merch released last year. Yes, maybe it was just because Disney wanted to cash in on their acquisition of the Fox movies, but maybe it was something else... There was the 20th anniversary line of Funko Pops, there were the variants for that line (metallic Mystique, Professor X with Cerebro, and YOUNG Magneto from DOFP), there was the Marvel 80th anniversary original X-Men line of Funko Pops, there was the line of Hasbro action figures from various films including Deadpool 2 and the X-Men prequel movies..... I’m just saying, a lot of X-Men merch has been released over the last year, and most of it has been based on the films. Yes, last year was the 20th anniversary of the first X-Men movie, but that doesn’t explain the release of all the prequel/Deadpool merch. If it was for the 20th anniversary of X1 then why the young Magneto Pop etc? It doesn’t necessarily mean anything, but it does make it clear that Marvel know there are a lot of people out there who are huge fans of the original and prequel X-Men movies, so they must know that people would love to see those characters back, played by the same actors. Perhaps Evan really is Peter, and perhaps we will get more characters from his universe in future MCU content. 22. Elizabeth Olsen’s “Luke Skywalker level cameo” -  okay, so she didn’t say these exact words. She was asked if there was anything in WandaVision similar to Luke’s Mandalorian cameo (weird question tbh??) and she apparently said “Yes, I’m really excited.” Paul Bettany has also said something weird and cryptic in an interview about how later in the show there’s a guest appearance from someone he’s always wanted to work with. (EDIT 26/02: now that we’ve seen White Vision I’m pretty sure Paul Bettany was talking about himself - what a troll! But it’s so funny reading back what he said, haha. HOWEVER, Lizzie’s comment still stands.) NOW, Elizabeth Olsen is actually a huge Star Wars fan so she would know how big the Luke Skywalker cameo was in Mando, so I highly doubt it’s Evan Peters’ appearance she’s talking about, as some people have thought it might be. The Luke Skywalker cameo in Mando was, for me (also a massive Star Wars fan), mind-blowing. As soon as I saw that one X-Wing turn up, I was shaking, and by the time we got to see Luke’s face revealed I was sobbing. Evan Peters’ appearance in WandaVision, while fun, was not at all on that level (and I say this as a fan of the Fox X-Men movies above everything else). A cameo that would have that sort of effect on me, would be one that confirmed without a doubt that the Fox X-Men will be joining the MCU via Multiverse. Initially when I heard that Lizzie had said this, I assumed she was exaggerating and it would be Doctor Strange or Loki as they are clearly tied into all the Multiverse stuff as well, but when I really thought about how big the Luke cameo was and how much influence Star Wars has apparently had on Elizabeth Olsen (apparently she cried when she saw Mark Hamill at a premiere?), I thought that it couldn’t possibly be either of those characters. So now I’m thinking it must be someone that confirms the Fox X-Men are joining the MCU (Fassbender or McAvoy maybe?), which would in turn confirm ‘Pietro’ is  really the Peter we know and love. Obviously this is all speculation, but that’s all that really makes sense to me from that comment. 23. Deadpool 3 has literally been confirmed, and it has all but been confirmed as being MCU - I have two points to make here: 1. How the hell does Deadpool 3 fit into the MCU when mutants have never even been mentioned before because of the licensing issues? With all the shit that happened in the previous Deadpool films (mutants AND the X-Men clearly already being established, time travel working in a completely different way to how it works in the MCU, and many other points too...) Deadpool in no way fits into the MCU as it is now so surely it only makes sense to bring him into the MCU via Multiverse? 2. If Deadpool is in the MCU why the fuck couldn’t the Fox X-Men be too??? Give me one good reason. There isn’t one.

TLDR; my theory on how Peter could have been brought to the MCU reality is:

Assuming Agatha brought Peter over - she is magic as we know - I think she summoned a Pietro from another universe (possibly using the Darkhold if that is the book in her basement, or possibly she was able to summon him easier because Wanda’s magic had weakened the barriers between universes or something) to use against Wanda and when he arrived she either 1. didn’t know he didn’t look like the right Pietro (possibly because she’s from a different reality herself, and surely a Pietro is a Pietro, right?) or 2. just straight up didn’t care/felt it was too late/too much effort to really do anything about it (EDIT 24/02: it has now been confirmed that she “recast” Pietro to mess with Wanda). It is also possible imo that Wanda unknowingly brought Peter over from the Foxverse and Agatha just happened to find him and decide to use him to her advantage (he does say he heard Wanda calling out to him, this could be the real Peter talking).

The summoning of Peter sets off the alarms we hear in the background of the shots when Darcy sees him arrive on the broadcast. Agatha is controlling Peter with her magic and the necklace is something to do with that (suppressing his memories/giving him Pietro memories etc). Wanda, as a Nexus being and someone who clearly has strong bonds to her family (she can sense when the real Pietro dies, just like how Billy can sense when Vis is in trouble), recognises him as a Pietro even though he’s not her Pietro which is why she initially semi-trusts him despite him looking different. When he’s pulled into the Hex his clothes adapt to Wanda’s reality which is why we see him wearing a black leather jacket initially - it’s been rewritten from his silver leather jacket. His hair starts off silver like Peter’s (because he is Peter) but becomes blond in the next episode - this is because he’s spending time in Wanda’s house and she is subconsciously trying to make him look more like her Pietro. When he is removed from Wanda’s household and she tells the kids he’s not their uncle his hair goes back to silver because Wanda is no longer focussing on trying to make him fit in with how she thinks Pietro should look. He has powers because he is Peter. He is being controlled by Agatha and that’s why he is asking weird questions and acting like a bit of an arsehole, but his Peter personality is still shining through slightly (his childish behaviour etc). So far, this pretty much sums up my feelings on ‘Pietro’ possibly being Peter. I know it’s clear I’ve put way too much thought into this, even though I said I was trying not to get my hopes up.......but I literally cannot stop thinking about him haha. Let’s hope he is really Peter and we’re getting the Fox X-Men in the multiverse. *

(Obviously there is another option which is that he’s just some random guy being mind-controlled by Agatha but that just seems so dumb and a waste of Evan Peters to me so I don’t even really wanna think about it tbh! Haha)

[justauthoring]

To Be Loved (3/?)

Prompt: Perhaps, you understand Harry Potter better then anyone else. Perhaps, it’s why, when your eyes meet his for the first time, you feel an instant connection. Perhaps, it’s why, you love him.

Based off of: The Harry Potter Series Pairing: Harry Potter x Black/Tonks!Reader, slight Fred Weasley x Black/Tonks!Reader A/N: Thank you all for your patience last week and waiting for this chapter!! I’m trying to, honestly, get through the first and second movie as fast as possible cause i’m just so excited for three and on. So many ideas!!!

It was unlike anything you’d ever experienced. The stories told by your family just simply didn’t do any of it justice.

Perched next to the Weasley twins, after they’d all but insisted, Ron sat next to you and Hermione and Harry across from you; you watched as Dumbledore announced the words ‘let the feast begin’ and more food then you could’ve ever imagined appeared before you. Just like that. Obviously done with magic, which honestly, shouldn’t surprise you, but nonetheless, it always did.

Both the twins were busy explaining what was good and what wasn’t, talking your ear off that you could barely even focused on trying to eat. No matter how much you adore the twins, it’s a blessing when Harry cuts in through the otherwise silence to ask, rather loudly; “Percy, who’s that teacher talking to Professor Quirrel?” Percy being another Weasley.

You follow his line of vision, instantly catching sight of the same teacher that seemed to have caught Harry’s eye. It’s no wonder why. Amongst the bright smiles and twinkling eyes of the other Professors, this man dressed in all black robes, seems all too... unhappy.

“Professor Snape,” Percy answers, “head of Slytherin House.”

“What’s he teach?”

“Potions.” Percy answers easily, but not without adding; “but everyone knows it’s the Dark Arts he fancies. Been after Quirrell’s job for years.”

“Well,” you decide to speak up, catching Harry’s eye, “he doesn’t seem too... nice, does he?” And even though Harry doesn’t say anything, you can tell by the look in his eyes, that he agrees.

“Hello! How are you?”

Nearly jumping out of your own seat, your eyes flicker to the midst of the table with a start, eyes widening at the sight of a... ghost. The ghost who rather rudely interrupted a otherwise nice dinner, turns to Ron, a smile on his face; “welcome to Gryffindor.

Just then, a flood of ghosts appear in the Great Hall, taking fun out of scaring the wits out of First years, reluctantly you have to admit, that includes yourself. You hear one of the girls at the Slytherin call one of them ‘The Blood Baron’ but you haven’t got a clue what that means.

“Hello, Sir Nicholas,” Percy greets the ghost at your table, “have a nice summer?”

Sir Nicholas pushes up so it’s no longer just his head sticking out the table; “dismal,” he answers gruffly, frowning heavily. “Once again, my request to join the Headless Hunt has been denied.” And he moves to leave the table, but not without Ron calling aloud;

“I know you! You’re Nearly Headless Nick!”

‘I prefer Sir Nicholas,” the man says sharply in response, “if you don’t mind.”

“’Nearly’ headless?” Hermione questions, voice sharp in disbelief, her eyes narrowing. “How can you be nearly headless?”

“Like this,” and with that, Sir Nicholas grabs the top of his head and pulls to the right, taking his head clean off his neck so it only hangs on by the tiniest sliver of skin. You wince in response, turning away sharply, not wanting to see that any longer then you have to.

“Well,” you sigh, meeting Hermione’s gaze, “that’s certainly a sight I didn’t need to see. Especially while eating,”

She only winces apologetically.

-

Percy led you down a long trail of corridors, including stairs that apparently move on their own and of their own accord.

You find yourself, though you’re not even sure how, continuously amazed as you walk down each corridor. Hermione talks excitedly beside you as you both pass the many different moving pictures, her actually managing to know a few of them from her hours spent on reading which she gladly gives you any information she can possibly spit out. Part of you tunes her out, if you’re being honest, but you think it’s endearing she’s so interested in the history of everything.

Then, Percy comes to a stop finally in front of a picture of an older lady, a little bit bigger, dressed in a puffy, decorated pink dress that be able to catch anyone’s eye. Not necessarily in the way one would want to catch someones eye, though.

She pauses a second, before saying sharply; “password?”

“Caput Draconis,” Percy says with ease.

With a nod of acknowledgement, the lady’s arm swings before herself, before the painting moves of it owns accord, the whole wall actually, pulling back to reveal a passageway behind it. Your eyes widen in excitement, turning to Hermione with a bright grin and twinkling eyes as you both hurriedly follow Percy through the doorway.

“Follow me, everyone. Keep up. Quickly, come on.”

The room he leads you all into is decorated in red everything, couches and chairs fill the room up, and a large fire place keeps in a nice warm temperature. It, like everything else in the castle, is magnificent and sparks a fire of conversation between all the first years, before Percy quickly tries to divert the attention back on him,

“Gather around here,” he calls sharply, “welcome to the Gryffindor common room. Boys’ dormitory is upstairs to the left,” he gestures to his left, “Girls, the same on your right,” then his right. “You’ll find all your belongings have already been brought up.”

With an excited smile Hermione’s way, one she matches almost nervously, you impatiently wait for Percy to finish his speech before grabbing tightly onto Hermione’s wrist and pulling her up the steps behind you. She follows behind you with a laugh, a bit shocked at the sudden movement, before the two of you find yourselves in a dorm-room. You instantly recognize your belongings, rushing to the bed, while Hermione follows close behind you.

Her stuff is on the bed next to yours.

“Looks like we’re roommates, then,” you grin at her, a small blush forming on her cheeks as she nods.

-

Your first morning of classes had certainly been interesting.

Professor McGonagall’s transfiguration class had gone well. It was simply just taking notes as she stated you wouldn’t actually be doing any physical magic for a while. Ron and Harry had managed to somehow, you’re not really sure how, arrive late to their very first class of the school year and had thought they’d gotten away without being caught. That is, until, the cat on Professor McGonagall’s desk had turned into, Professor McGonagall.

Potion’s class had proven to be less fun. You now knew why Professor Snape had rubbed you the wrong way at the feast because he was just horribly... mean. Your first observations had been all too correct and you found it hard to concentrate in his class without staring at him with disgust. Even more so when he’d called Harry out for not paying attention when you knew the boy had simply been writing down notes of what he was saying, not wanting to miss any of it.

Like any normal student would.

When you’d tried to defend the boy, Snape had turned his attention onto you and promptly gave you the same treatment as Harry. But, at least all the focus hadn’t only been on Harry anymore. That, you felt good about.

Now sat at lunch, you were desperately trying to block out the loud noises of Seamus practicing a spell on his goblet, to focus on the letter you were writing for Andromeda, Ted and Nymphadora if she managed to get a break from work and came home like she said she might be able to.

If not, you hoped you’d be able to see her Christmas.

If you were correct, mail was to be arriving soon, and knowing that Andromeda would’ve used the family owl, that gave you the opportunity to send a letter back. You were just dying to tell her and Ted everything.

Dear Andromeda and Ted,

I’ve been sorted into Gryffindor, like Uncle Remus and my father. I hope I’ve made them proud, and of course, I hope I’ve made you two proud as well.

Is Nymphadora home? If she is, would you pass on the message?��

I hope the both of you are doing well. I miss you both already, but i’m having a wonderful time here at Hogwarts. I’ve already made my first friend! Her name is Hermione Granger, and she knows everything about everything. She’s wonderfully smart, i’m not sure there’s a single thing she doesn’t know.

Fred and George have also been kind enough to help me figure things out. But I promise, I haven’t gotten into any trouble.

You choose not to mention the fact that you had, but you still felt you were in the right when it came to Professor Snape. If anything, you’d defended a fellow student.

I met a boy too. Remember the boy who hadn’t known how to get onto Platform nine-and-three-quarters? Well, his name is Harry Potter. Yes, the Harry Potter. Though, I don’t think he knows just what that means. Him and Ron have seemed to have gotten close. He’s quiet and a bit awkward, but super nice. 

Classes this morning went well. I still have more this afternoon.

Can’t wait to see you for Christmas. Looking forward to your reply back.

Love--.

A loud explosion pulls you from your writing. Jumping from your spot next to Hermione, you turn in the direction of where Seamus had been sitting, where the explosion had come from, only to see his eyebrows singed and smoke to be floating around the spot he’s sat.

Turning to Hermione, you both roll your eyes. Boys.

Love, Y/N Tonks.

Just as you finish signing your letter, a bustle of excitement floods the Great Hall. With a bright smile, marveling at how well the timing had been, you eye the many owls flying in through the windows, all having letters tied to their feet or dropping packages in front of students.

Your family owl, a great big barn owl, comes to a stop before you instead of simply just dropping your package. You take it from him with a smile, cooing at it, same as Hermione, opening the package to find some home-made sweets Ted had made for you (he always did love baking) and a small letter that read ‘we miss you!’,

Smiling brightly, you roll your own letter up, tying it around the owls feet with a string; “can you deliver this back to them for me?” You ask softly, giving a bit of your food to the owl and brushing it’s feathers back in a sign of affection. “Thank you, Morbet.”

He toots happily, flapping his wings with an air of excitement about him, before disappearing out of view.

“Hey look!” Dean Thomas calls aloud, pulling your attention towards him and the rest of the table. “Neville’s got a Remembrall.”

“I’ve read about those!” Hermione exclaims excitedly, “the smoke turns red when you’ve forgotten something.”

Just as Hermione finishes explaining, the smoke turns red.

Wincing, Neville frowns; “the only problem is, I can’t remember what I’ve forgotten.”

“Hey, Ron, look,” Harry calls, clearly only speaking to Ron, and with one look Hermione’s way, you both lean forward to listen. “Someone’s broken into Gringotts.” He then moves to quote the Daily Prophet directly; “‘Believed to be the work of Dark wizards or witches... Gringotts goblins acknowledge the breach but insist nothing was taken. The vault in question, number seven-one-three, had been emptied earlier that same day.’ That’s odd,” Harry finishes, “that’s the vault Hagrid and I went to.”

Both Ron and Harry look at each other, before looking at you and Hermione, curious expressions upon all of your gazes.

-

When Professor McGonagall had caught Harry flying a broomstick, even though it’d been firmly prohibited for first years, you thought he was in trouble. Not that he’d be made seeker for the Gryffindor Quidditch team.

But, you figured you’d rather that then him get expelled or something.

Hermione, despite the ever so loyal rule-follower, thought it was amazing as well. Maybe even more than yourself. Though, you’re not exactly sure why and she won’t say anything other than ‘it’s practically in his blood!’ and she won’t explain anything further then that either. 

Sat beside her on the bench outside the school grounds, a bit of free time after class and before dinner, a book propped in your lap, you’re peacefully reading, not even paying attention to your surroundings when Hermione’s suddenly latching onto your wrist and yanking you up to your feet. It elicits a gasp of shock from your lips, quickly trying to catch your footing so you don’t fall flat on your face, her name leaving your lips in a cry of confusion, before you catch sight of the familiar heads of Harry and Ron.

“Go on,” you hear Ron call, “Quidditch is great. Best game there is, and you’ll be great too.”

Harry shakes his head, apprehensive. “But I've never even played Quidditch. What if I make a fool of myself?”

“You won’t make a fool of yourself,” Hermione cuts in, pulling both boys gazes on the two of you, curiously. “It’s in your blood.”

When they turn to you in question, you simply shake your head. 

“I’ve been trying to get her to tell me all afternoon.”

With a sigh, Hermione leads the three of you off, back into the castle and through a couple of halls before stopping in front of what looks like a trophy case. It’s for Quidditch, and engraved on the big, main trophy in the middle, is the name James Potter; Harry’s father. 

He was a seeker too.

Hmm, so it really was in his blood.

“Whoa,” Ron gasps, “Harry, you never told me your father was a Seeker too.”

You can tell by the look on Harry’s face, that he’d had no idea. You can’t help but think how would he? but you, of course, don’t say that aloud.

“I didn’t know...”

-

On your way back to the Gryffindor common room, frowning heavily when you hear Ron go on and on about how spooky and strange Hermione was, how she seemed to know more about Harry then he does (which he replies with “who doesn’t?”), you don’t make it very far before the stairs suddenly move.

You’re quick to grab onto the ledge, gasping out in response, the four of you turning to look at one another in shock and confusion.

“What’s happening?” Harry gasps.

You pause for a moment, before Percy’s words echo in your mind; “the staircases change, remember?”

Few seconds after you’ve finished explaining, the stair case stops in front of another door way, and the four of you are quick to get off.

“Let’s go this way.”

“Before the staircase moves again.”

You don’t argue, even if in the back of your mind you’re apprehensive given that you don’t know this section of the castle yet and it’s all too easy to get lost in such a big place. And you especially don’t say anything when no one else does, and Harry simply opens the door in front of you all, stepping through without a second thought of hesitation or doubt.

Even Hermione doesn’t say anything.

At least not at first.

The room you walk into is dark, nothing lighting it, and it’s covered in cobwebs and dust. Clearly, whatever room this is, no one has been in it or tried to upkeep it in a long while.

“Does anyone else feel like we shouldn’t be here?” Ron asks aloud, voice tinging in nerves.

“We’re not supposed to be here,” Hermione says simply, pulling your eyes on her with a blink of fear. “This is the third floor. It’s forbidden.”

Just then, a flame lights up next to you, causing you to take a step back.

“Let’s go,” Harry calls sharply, the four of you turn to walk back out the door, only to stop at the sight of a cat.

Not just any cat, though.

“That’s Filch’s cat!” You call out in a hissed whisper, eyes widening.

“Run!”

You don’t hesitate to listen. In a second, you turn, breaking out into a fast run, and trying to ignore the way your heart pounds fearfully against your chest every time one of the torches light up when the four of you run by them. You keep your focus on running and not getting caught.

Oh, if only Ted and Andromeda could see you now. You’d not only just be in big  trouble, they’d surely be in shock given that you’d never acted out before. Or really, gotten into any trouble.

“Quick!” Harry calls, turning slightly, “let’s hide through that door!”

You nod, meeting his gaze, but the second he reaches it, it won’t open. It’s locked.

Slamming the door handle, Harry calls out in frustration; “it’s locked!”

“That’s it,” Ron whimpers, “we’re done for!”

“Hermione!” You call, meeting her eyes and nodding. “You’re the best at spells!”

She nods, ignoring the wall Harry and Ron call after the both of you in confusion, stepping up to the door, whilst pulling out her wand. With incredibly grace you’re surprised a witch her age is able to use, she chants the spell ‘Alohomora’ and in the next second the familiar sound of the door unlocking echoes, allowing her to pull it open and the both of you to step through. 

“Get in!” You call to the boys adamantly.

Ron shuts the door behind him, turning to Hermione in disbelief; “Alohomora?”

“Standard Book of Spells, chapter seven,” she says with ease.

“If you read,” you quirk a brow at Ron, crossing your arms over your chest. “You’d know that.”

“I-I-! I read--!”

“Shh!” Harry calls firmly, “I think I hear him!”

A moment of silence echoes, and then, a breath of relief floods you when no sound of Filch is heard. He’s left.

“Filch is gone,” Hermione assures, stepping back from the door.

“He thinks this doors locked,” Ron calls out.

“It was locked,” you remind firmly.

“And for good reason.”

Both Harry’s words and the sight before you is enough to make you come to an abrupt stop. Your eyes widen as you eye the huge, three-headed dog sat before you. All three of them (three heads?) are fast asleep luckily, but for a moment you’re frozen with such fear of waking them up that your entire body grows stiff. 

However, as you stand there, you catch sight of something underneath them. It looks like a--

And then, one by one, the dogs wake up.

Letting out a scream, not a single one of you needs to tell the other to turn promptly and run out the door. The four of you use every last bit of your strength to slam it shut behind you, fighting against the dogs that desperately try to push their way out, before finally slamming it shut and promptly locking it.

The four of you don’t stop running until you reach the common room.

“What do they think they’re doing!” Ron cries, breathless, “keeping a thing like that locked up in the school?”

“You don’t use your eyes do you?” You call out to him, shaking your head. “Didn’t you see what it was standing on?”

“I wasn’t looking at it’s feet!” Ron argues in defense of himself, “I was preoccupied with its heads. Or maybe you didn’t notice. There were three!”

Hermione huffs; “it was standing on a trap door. Which means it wasn’t there by accident.” She comes to a stop by your dorm-room door, the two of you turning to face Harry and Ron who stand opposite of you. “It’s guarding something.”

“Guarding something?” Harry asks, baffled.

“That’s right,” she nods, “now, if you don’t mind, we’re going to bed...” she gestures to you firmly. “Before either of you come up with another idea to get us killed. Or worse, expelled.”

Honestly, personally, you would’ve flipped those two around.

Taking your hand in her own, Hermione doesn’t leave you any room to say anything else, slamming your dorm room shut behind the both of you. It’s silent as you make your way to your bed, both of you not wanting to wake anyone, but then also, not really sure what to say.

You don’t even really know what to think.

-

“It’s Leviosa, not Leviosar.”

Frowning at Ron’s words, you glance over at Hermione warily, frowning heavily.

“She’s a nightmare, honestly! No wonder she hasn’t got any friends.”

Your lips part in astonishment. Out of everyone, you never expected such cruel words like that to leave Ron’s lips. Sure he could be a bit brass at times and little temperamental, but he’d never been outright mean to anyone before. It pulls you into a fit of shock, so much so that you don’t notice Hermione quickly picking up the speed in her step, storming past Ron until it’s too late.

You rush to catch up to her, but she just ignores your desperate calls for her attention, wiping at her eyes.

“I think she heard you,” Harry mumbles after she’d run by.

“Obviously she heard you,” you hiss, pulling the boys attention on you as you glare at the two of them heavily. Dean and Seamus who’d been walking with the two quickly hurry off, not wanting to get in the middle of it, as you turn to Harry and Ron, specifically the latter, with a harsh glare. “Honestly, you don’t have to like her, but to make fun of her like that in front of everyone is just cruel, Ron.”

He gulps in response, wincing nervously.

“And just because she knows things doesn’t make her a nightmare. If you actually bothered to get to know her, you would know she’s incredibly kind and sweet. And,” you hiss, voice sharp, “she has got friends. She’s got me. Does that make me a nightmare too?”

Ron’s lips part, but he doesn’t say anything, Obviously, he doesn’t know what to say. Harry watches, shocked, blinking at you. You don’t catch the small bit of amazement in his eyes.

“Honestly, I expected more from you, Ron.”

Turning promptly before either of them can say anything, if they ever managed to actually be able to close their mouths and speak, you quickly rush off the way Hermione had gone, desperate to catch up to her.

-

Part 4?

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[reynie-muldoons]

'The Art of Conveyance and Round-Trippery' Liveblog!

Sorry this is a few days late!! I moved across the country this weekend, we drove like 13 hours within 2 days and we did a lot of heavy lifting. I'm exhausted, but the boxes are slowly emptying and I've been wanting to watch this episode so gd bad, so LESGO

Over halfway through the season!!!! That's absolutely surreal

1:11 oooh they're getting their royal fitting

1:22 LMAOO WTF 😂😂 Princess Diaries vibes

1:42 ✨CONFIDENCE✨

1:52 Alfonse is a perfect name for that guy HAHA

2:05 Nathaniel, my guy, you've made some points

2:11 "do you feel your power?" POWER RANGERS, GO

2:24 no no hesitation just prolly thinkin bout how he was caught cheatin

2:39 "can you not allow yourselves luxury?" okay fr I feel that I get Nice Things Guilt(tm) too easily

2:52 dayummmm let's talk about Sticky being a hat stall between Hufflepuff and Gryffindor, mans is brave as fuck under extreme pressure and loyal to the point of putting himself on the line

3:15 bro Sticky getting some recognition. Love to see it, he deserves it

3:19 "is that a coincidence? Or written in the stars?" IS DR. CURTAIN CATCHING ON THAT THEY KNEW EACH OTHER BEFORE OR LIKEEEE

3:49 WHAT WORD AROUND CAMPUS 😭😭😭 MY BOYS ARE NOT A MISTAKE HOW DARE YOU

4:09 why doess the action of Dr. Curtain putting the sash on them seem so nefarious

4:36 I dont really understand the whole pastel yellow, blue, and pink palette of the school but the boys both look pretty okay in their vest-sash getup

4:42 THE OPENINGGGGG. This shit slaps.

5:41 Kate and Constance look so fucking cute in that shot, dont ask me why but hnnggggg

5:54 sash rope 😂😭 kate, honey, that's a reach

6:09 it might feel buttery, but, my guy, it also looks buttery. It's literally the color of butter. Get yourself some crisco

6:24 I find it kinda interesting that they made up new riddles for the show, I'm almost positive that that one wasn't in the book. Correct me if I'm wrong though

7:03 "I'm not gonna apologize for knowing things" the sass. the ✨confidence✨. living for it

7:03 If they build on that it sets Sticky up really nicely for the arc in the second book where he starts to show off a little

7:15 tiny Constance who is constantly dressed in pink with cute little braids is the perfect medium for the most morbid comments 😂😂

7:55 Martina's hot in her uniform. Can't prove me wrong.

8:15 why does that make me sad 🥺 eat with your friendssss. iirc they only talked about eating at the Messenger table in the books

8:26 dipshits forgot their lunches. Seems Constance is holding the communal braincell atm

8:50 anyone have Guiness on speed dial? Reynie and Sticky have a submission for them

9:25 oh hello this was alluded to in the preview!!! Morse code is compromised, rip

10:05 so are Jackson and Jillson stuck with night guard duty all the time?? They've been outside at night a lot

10:18 ahhhhhh the little blinkie light, stopppp

10:25 MILLIGANNNNN!!!

10:25 so is this the point where he starts staying on the island with them????

10:39 so are they just like "fuck it we'll do it right before sundown" ???? Like Jackson and Jillson are still gonna be on the lookout, they aren't gonna chill just because it's not fully dark

10:50 did the kids.....just not tell them that Mr. Bloom was on the island 😂 nice oversight guys

11:05 MADGE TIME MADGE TIME

11:05 remind me to tell you guys a story about Madge, I may or may not have done something irl a few years ago that would make y'all proud 😂😂😂

11:16 idk why but it makes me so happy that they kept Madge as a peregrine falcon

11:37 Rhonda, my love, you have my heart in your hands

11:46 roll credits

12:05 THE HEAD SHAKE HAHAHAH

12:06 Awww man, I was so excited for Milligan to be on the island .-. He must have been scoping out the inlet

12:07 "they're quite regal" A. I read the subtitles as "legal" the first time and that's somehow really in character for him, and B. IS MILLIGAN GOING TO NAME HER???!? HER MAJESTY???? PLEASE I WOULD LOVE THAT SO MUCH

12:15 his grimace KILLS ME

12:17 the hard cut from Nicholas in a brown setting and brown suit to Nathaniel in a blue setting and blue suit was lowkey striking

12:36 are they looking up Morse code 😳 can you imagine if they wrote down the message and are now decoding it

12:41 omfg all that for a HAT 🙃 I feel stupid

12:51 two things: 1. Those walls are atrocious, and 2. Yeah, talk about Morse code in a louder voice Connie girl, you're just in a public hallway

13:03 I'm sorry but those orange pillar things are not the vibe

13:03 the golden gate bridge called, they want their arches back

13:10 please let Kate climb the tower before the end of season 1. please.

13:22 y'all are about to be flying something else 😎

13:33 cleansing breaths

13:47 OH HELLO MESSENGER DUTY ALREADY??

14:06 what the heck is that teal pole for 😭😭

14:12 blindfold timeeee

I'm so sorry but I'm exhausted, it's 11:30 pm on Sunday night right now, I'll finish this episode tomorrow morning after I get some sleepies

~~

Good morningggg lesgetatit

14:50 "vomit of metal" ashhdjdjd

15:16 a wild Martina appears!

15:36 and if you folks look to your left, you'll see a wild Constance being the voice of reason once again

15:57 "lose the bucket" "I'm not gonna do that" HELL YEAH KATE

16:07 I get not having the bucket on the court lolol, I thought Martina was telling Kate to lose the bucket in general. Like, yeah, good luck convincing her to so that

16:35 show!Kate is much angrier than book!Kate and I'm still deciding how I feel about that. The Kate we've known from the books is a sunshine baby with looots of repressed trauma.

17:03 ......what is that. why is that.

17:11 WAIT IS THAT SUPPOSED TO BE REYNIE AHEHDJDJD

17:15 HI MADGE

17:41 the grand swell in the music makes me think it's going to go comically wrong

17:51 she's majestic because she's a queen 🥺

18:03 LMAO CALLED IT

18:14 Rhonda and Number Two getting at each other is such a sisterly thing to do 😂😂😂

18:37 ohhhhh? Someone's approaching? Miss Perumal perhaps????

18:45 YEAHHHHH BABY

18:50 PROTECTIVE MOM COMIN IN HOT!!!

19:22 THEYRE SO PRECIOUS 😭😭😭😭 I feel like I've been subconsciously starved for her and Mr. Benedict's interactions

19:36 died at that line in the one trailer

20:00 so Miss Perumal pulled a Sherlock Holmes. Love that for her

20:20 Cheri Tupintown??? Of all the aliases they could pick, Cheri Tupintown???

20:33 "Power in Truth Inc" that HAS to be something Rhonda came up with

21:01 you can literally watch Mr. Benedict realize that this is a woman not to be fucked with and he is CORRECT

21:23 "he's fine. Perfectly fine." At this, Mr. Benedict's pants caught aflame.

21:52 something about Constance sitting in on practice!!! It scratches an itch!!!!

22:19 "incorporate the helix. Live in the helix." Lord Helix is pleased with this offering.

22:26 so what I'm hearing is Kate is going to blow up on Constance for messing with the bucket

23:13 unrelated but Jillson'a shoes are cute

23:29 why does this room give off Johnny Depp's willy wonka vibes

24:13 that looks like a chair from a doctor's office waiting room 😭

25:29 they do be egg heads tho

26:02 baby girl, I have no idea why you're crying at weird art but let me dry your tears 🥺🥺

26:50 SHE FOUND ITTTT

27:27 okay Indiana Jones, go off

27:46 why did that kinda sound like Miss Perumal

28:43 the return of everyone's favorite, "enjoyable"

29:05 not that I'm not loving the ice breaker questions and the one-sided conversation, but I'm not loving it

29:22 oh so we're getting right into it aren't we

29:54 his eyes being open again makes this infinitely creepier

30:36 "where's your proof?" Miss Perumal doesnt fuck around!!!

31:29 you're telling me Constance has been there all day?? And Kate went to find her???? 🥺

31:58 oh so we're getting right to it then?? Kate addressing her independence and trust issues arc????

33:29 NEWS!!!!

33:49 CONSTANCE RIDING PIGGYBACK!!!!!!

34:04 okay, so they opened the murder hole, what are they gonna do now

34:59 Italian? 🤨 m'sir that is so fancy

34:59 fun story I learned Italian diction in college, so I know a little bit

35:16 "take your time" the whisperer says, immediately repeating the prompt to get the answer sooner

35:31 theeeeere it is

35:46 SOMETHING ABOUT THE WHISPERER SAYING "YOU ARE HOME" 😭😭😭 the show really played up the cult shit!!

36:02 Kate being protective of Constance 🥺

36:20 ohhh shit is it time for Connie girl to have double Reynie? Double Sticky?

36:36 STICKY

36:52 "what kind of nonsense?" HAVE THEY NOT ASKED THAT BEFORE THIS?????

37:14 "and your tiny brain can somehow pick it up!!" KATE STOP 😂😂😂

37:16 "I knew you had to be special in some way." WE DONT HAVE TIME TO UNPACK ALL OF THAT

37:51 she's right, this is disregard for their safety. The show made Mr. Benedict and his team a lot more back-alley and dishonest, and Miss Perumal has every reason to be pissed

38:30 oh good they finally remembered he has narcolepsy

39:38 and the best mom award goes to:

40:38 I was gonna say that this hallway is how I imagined the KEEP in riddle of ages but then I remembered that (spoilers) the Institute is the KEEP

40:46 oh, hello propoganda

41:10 that's the other person Rhonda couldn't contact, along with Mr. Bloom. This has to be the brainsweeping process

41:22 yeppppp

41:44 this dark doctor's office theme gives me horror movie vibes

42:22 ohhhh, so that's how they replaced that scene where the four of them jump in a crate to hide and Sticky drops his glasses in the open

42:47 and so we've come to the part of the story where Sticky and Reynie become infinitely more conflicted

42:47 and since we've reached that point..... can we have the white knight scene? Pretty please? Please Disney I'm begging you-

43:12 so Reynie just figured that out without Constance? :/

44:03 love the manipulation

44:31 I'm sorry, the farm?

44:35 farm and forest????

45:16 "the Emergency has served its purpose" 😳 well okay then murder man

45:39 "one thought, one purpose" the hive mind rises once more

45:48 LOVE THE MANIPULATION

46:07 "what have you done to earn anyone's trust?" VALID

46:26 "please do!" WHY AM I EMOTIONAL

47:06 "we still have the falcon" that you do 😂

47:19 AYYY HERE WE GO!!! Time for Milligan to stay on the island??

47:49 ohhhh Constance, casual telepath strikes again

48:16 "stop it, Kate!" OOOOHHHHH

48:53 that line ("it would be nice to be unburdened") would be funny as shit if not for the fact that Constance is a telepath unbeknownst to herself and can both subconsciously perceive people's thoughts and hear the subliminal messages

49:20 HI MRS. PERUMAL!!!

49:25 wow, she's really going through with it 😳 not that I doubted her, but still, that's dedication

49:39 OH SHIT

50:17 oh, so he's an asshole to SQ too. Got it. Torches and pitchforks? Ready to kick his ass?

50:40 "for the moment, anyway" FUCKIN WHAT

This episode was really good!!! They covered a LOT. I hope Miss Perumal comes back to the group and talks about her findings, I hope Milligan goes to get the kids and they tell him no, and I hope they get that classic 4-person Society brainstorming and binding time that hits that sweet spot

[etherrealoblivion]

Chapter Seventeen: The Ones We Win

The Final Chapter.

Table of Contents

Fic summary: Owning a bookstore in downtown D.C. came with its fair share of downsides. You never thought that being the target of a serial killer would be one of them. Luckily, a nice FBI agent by the name of Spencer Reid is assigned to watch over you. What's the worst that could happen?

Pairing: Spencer Reid x Reader

Words: 2,700

enjoy!

MASTERLIST

~

You woke in the hospital, unsure of how much time had passed, this time much more drugged up judging by the strangely good mood you were in.

Or perhaps your mood had something to do with the sight of Spencer slumped in the chair next to your bed, a yellow cardigan draped over him, snoring softly.

“Merry Christmas,” although it came out raspy and barely audible, he still snapped awake, rushing to your side and holding your hand like it was made of glass.

“Hey,” his eyes were full of fear and worry but also relief and care. “You’re safe, it’s okay.”

You smiled softly at him.

“No, it’s not.”

His expression shifted, not sadder but more earnest. He knew you were right.

Smiling, he whispered, “No. No, it’s not. But it will be.”

For a while the two of you sat there, holding hands, enjoying each other’s company without having to worry about imminent danger for the first time ever.

You cleared your throat, memories coming back as the morphine wore off.

“Is . . . is Steve . . . ?”

Spencer frowned, looking down at the ground.

“Steve. . . the bullet entered right in his neck …  they-they operated for hours but … he-he slipped into a coma. I’m sorry.”

You nodded seriously, forcing back the tears that threatened to escape. Somehow, after all you’d been through, you’d become numb to such awful news. Although, it could be the morphine.  

“And J.J.?”

“She’s fine. Well, she’ll be okay.”

You nodded again, glancing down at where your hands were joined.

“What now?”

“Well, um there are some things the FBI has to go over with you, so once you’ve recovered a bit more, they’re gonna have to ask you a few questions.”

“Can’t you do it?”

His cheeks went pink and he cleared his throat awkwardly, hand shifting in yours.

“I, um, I’ve been unassigned from the case.”

“Why?!”

“C-conflict of interest.”

“Oh, right.”

Although you weren’t sure exactly which conflict of interest he was referring to. It was either the fact he’d been kidnapped along with you, or it had to with how much he’d told them about what happened at the cabin.

You must have been blushing because he removed his hand from yours and stood, starting to pace, frantically wringing his hands.

“Look, about what I . . . I only . . .” he sighed. 

“You know, for someone who’s constantly talking, you sure do have trouble finding your words,” you smiled at him.

He chuckled, running a hand through his fluffy hair that had gotten much messier since you’d last seen it. There was also a hint of a five o’clock shadow on his jaw. How long had he been sitting with you?

“Y/N, I . . . I meant everything I said.”

You swallowed, feeling the weight of that sentence implied on you.

“That you . . . you—“

“I love you,” the words practically spilled out of his mouth, as if he couldn’t have possibly held them back any longer. 

You beamed, astonished by the admittance. You assumed he would have assured you that any feelings between the two of you couldn’t continue because the lines of your relationship were far too blurred and complicated. Plus, you’d been put in a situation that neither of you would ever forget.

“I want to be with you, Spencer. Before you say anything,” you said quickly as he opened his mouth, “let me just say, I know that this is a really fucked up situation. I know that this probably violates every single FBI code and regulation. I know we’ve only known each other for a couple of weeks. I know that to the outside world, this looks like a classic case of transference or whatever. But really, the only thing I know for sure . . . the only thing I really care about, is that I love you, too. I love you for you.”

His face was impossible to read.

Feeling a surge of disappointment, you glanced away, deciding to give him an out.

“But I know you feel differently. I just needed you to hear that. I won’t be hurt if you decide to leave and never see me aga—“

But you were interrupted by a passionate kiss, his hands gripping your jaw, pulling you into him, holding you as close as he could without hurting you.

You gasped into the kiss, reciprocating the enthusiasm, delving deep into his mouth, tongues meeting in a wonderful blaze of lust and fire.

An eternity passed as you basked in the feeling of kissing someone who you knew you loved, and who you now knew loved you back.

No words could ever possibly describe what you were feeling.

You were brought out of the episode by the quiet clearing of a throat from the doorway.

Spencer snapped away from you, glancing at the door and going bright red. His coworker, Morgan, was standing there, awkwardly looking away with a mischievous smile on his face.

Reluctantly, Spencer looked back at you, attempting to smile.

“Listen, um … would you want to … to go….”

He didn’t finish. He didn’t need to.

“I’d love to, Spencer.”

His face lit up and he pressed a gentle kiss to your forehead.

“I’ll, uh, I’ll talk to you later.”

“Okay,” you smiled, squeezing his hand before he walked out the doorway, glancing back at you before the door shut.

Once he left, you watched him and Morgan exchange a few words, Spencer growing redder and Morgan laughing. Their conversation ended with Morgan fake punching Spencer in the arm and the latter man shuffling off, attempting to hide the smile forcing its way onto his face.

Morgan waved a hand at him, then turned and entered the room.

“Ready?”

You smiled.

“As I’ll ever be.”

~

Four days later

The doorbell rang, drawing your attention away from the pile of messy clothes you’d been attempting to put away.

He was early, of course. After all, it was your first ‘official’ date. It followed that Spencer Reid was punctual.

Kicking the dirty laundry under your bed, you opened the door, greeted by a huge bouquet of flowers over which Spencer’s head popped up beaming at you.

“I didn’t know your favorite flower, so I had them put all of them. I’m, um, I’m just now realizing how ugly it looks.”

You laughed, taking the bouquet and welcoming him in.

“It’s beautiful, Spencer. Thank you,” and you placed a quick kiss on his cheek, a soft blush forming there.

“So,” you called from the bedroom, slipping on some comfortable shoes, “where are you taking me?”

You saw him bounce on the balls of his feet, hands in his pockets.

“It’s a surprise,” he chimed, “Well, it was supposed to be a while ago, actually.”

You practically ran out of your room, securing your earring.

“A while ago? Wait,” you gasped. “Is this the surprise you were going to show me after the restaurant?”

He nodded. 

It felt like so long ago the two of you had been in that alley, pressed up against each other. That was the first time you’d ever fired a gun. Turns out it had been good practice.

Shaking that memory out of your head, you followed Spencer out the door down the stairs and out into the cold December night.

Christmas felt like it hadn’t really happened. In fact, according to your doctor, you had been unconscious all Christmas day, finally waking up on the 27th. You and Spencer had decided to meet as soon as possible, not wanting to be apart for longer than necessary. It just happened that that meant New Year’s eve.

You walked for a while, chatting about all sorts of nonsense until finally, you realized where he was taking you.

“Wait, are we—“

“Ah! Don’t spoil the surprise.”

But within a few minutes, your suspicions were confirmed as you arrived outside of the downtown library, which, thankfully, stayed open pretty late.

He led you in, heading immediately for the language section.

“You remembered?” it was a stupid question and he cocked an eyebrow at you. You laughed, “Okay, fair enough.”

Still, you were touched that he had remembered a detail as small as a section of the library that you wanted to visit but was never able to because of stupid security reasons.

He withdrew the little golden key from your first restaurant date and unlocked the restricted section, leading you into the plethora of dictionaries and research books there.

“Being an FBI agent does have its upsides,” he joked, slipping his hand into yours and letting you lead the way through the stacks.

“This is amazing, Spencer! I've always wanted to come in here but they’d never let me. Some stupid regulations about student access.” You turned to face him, dragging him into a tight embrace. “Thank you.”

You could feel him shiver as your breath hit his neck.

And so you walked through the shelves, stopping when a book piqued your interest and explaining all sorts of rules of language to Spencer who picked it up pretty quickly. It was wonderful the way he watched you ramble, as though he truly wanted to hear more, to understand what you were saying.

It shocked you when the voice on the speaker announced that the library would be closing in ten minutes.

“Is it eleven already?” you asked, glancing around for a clock. Neither you nor Spencer wore watches. 

“Well, I hope you enjoyed the restricted section. Too bad we didn’t learn anything about Nicholas Flamel,” he side-eyed you, tongue in cheek and you beamed at him.

“You read Harry Potter?”

He took a sip of an imaginary cup, smiling and pulling you closer as you walked towards the exit, “While you were asleep at the hospital. It actually took me a couple of days to finish if you can believe it. I just got so invested in the story, I had to slow down to truly appreciate it. Make the experience last longer.”

Pleased, you reached up and gave him a kiss, now just outside the library, all alone.

His eyes sparkled in the streetlight. You could so easily get lost in them. He looked at you in a way no one ever had before. He looked at you like you were something worth looking at.

“Follow me,” you said mysteriously, taking his hand and leading him down the empty street, a wicked smile on your face.

He laughed nervously, long legs able to keep up easily, “Where are we going?”

“You got to surprise me. It’s my turn.”

You halted in the street, the words unconsciously taking you back to the dark metal room. Tom’s voice rang through your ears, “I think it’s Y/N’s turn, don’t you?”

Spencer must have noticed your pause because he was suddenly in front of you, tilting your face up to meet his.

“Hey,” he was so gentle, so sweet, pulling you out of your flashback with his voice. “Let’s go.”

So you led him to your destination: a small park with a little white arch which you stood under, whipping out your phone and tapping rapidly. In the center of the park was a little clock tower, it was almost midnight.

“I used to come here when I needed to clear my head.”

“What are we doing?” he asked, standing across from you, peeking down at your phone, hands in his pockets.

“You went to college at fourteen, right?”

His eyes narrowed, unsure of where this was going.

“Yes. . . ?”

You put your phone on a little bench, music starting to play from it.

“So I’m guessing you never really went to prom?”

His face went blank, realizing what you planned as you slipped your hands up to his shoulders. Rather than reciprocating, he stood awkwardly, clearing his throat.

“While I have been told I tend to sway on my feet when I get nervous, I, um, I can’t dance, Y/N.”

“So don’t dance,” you stared into his eyes, as dark as black holes, “just sway.” And you moved his arms to your waist where they rested lightly, applying just the right amount of pressure.

And, as instructed, he swayed softly with you as the gentle slow song played in the background, barely audible from where you were snuggled into his chest, his chin resting gently on your head.

In that moment, you could see your entire future laid out in front of you. You and Spencer going on scores of dates, getting closer and more comfortable with each other. Your first fight that ended with plenty of “I love you”s. Your first time being with each other, getting to explore one another's bodies in a whole new light. Everything the future held for you, Spencer was there, standing by your side.

The song was over before you knew it. Pulling back, you wondered how long you’d been swaying in silence.

“Hey, Spencer?”

He stared at you harder than ever before, eyes analyzing every part of you.

“Yeah?”

It was barely a whisper as he said it, tilting your face up to his with a finger.

“I asked you how cases like this end. You said of the ones you win, the killer goes to prison and eventually everyone moves on. You never said what happens to the ones you lose.”

He realized what you were asking.

“The ones we lose.... The ones we lose serve as a reminder of how important it is not to fail.”

You nodded softly. Then—

“Which is this?”

Everything depended on his answer. Your future was utterly and completely in his hands. He could say they’d won, signifying that the two of you would move on, forget about each other, or he could say they’d lost, signifying that no matter what happened, neither of you would move on from the kidnapping, making it impossible to maintain a healthy relationship. Either way, you were going to lose him.

But Spencer Reid was a genius. A fact that seemed to keep slipping your mind. 

“There’s a third possibility,” he whispered, surprising you. When you met his eyes, you could see the desperation in them, the fear of saying the wrong thing.

“A possibility where the outcome of the case doesn’t define how we feel about each other.”

You could hear cheers from uptown, the sound of people celebrating and fireworks going off.

The clock tower began to chime, twelve painfully slow strikes signifying that the new year had come as you held each other in your arms.

On the last chime, you practically jumped into his arms, kissing for what felt like the first time, every single emotion behind it conveyed in the way you pulled his hair and yanked him closer until there was no part of you not touching. His arms snaked around your waist, pulling you close to him and deepening the kiss until you were both out of breath.

This felt like love. But how could you be sure?

You pulled back and stared at him.

“Maybe whatever happens to the killer isn’t what determines if you win or lose.”

He waited for you to go on.

“If none of this happened, I never would have done so many things. Shot a gun, been to that library, played strip poker. . . I never would have met you. To me, that sure sounds like one of the ones we win.”

He smiled so sweetly, the light of a thousand suns washing over you.

After sitting in the moment with him a little while longer, you picked up your phone and began the walk back to your apartment.

“You didn’t read The Cursed Child, did you?”

“I read the first two chapters but I stopped because I thought it was a Harry Potter fan fiction,” he said, blushing.

You laughed, clutching his arm.

This was love. And you both knew it.

“That’s probably for the best,” you smiled at him, knowing that although the future was blurry, it didn’t matter. All that mattered was now, you and him walking through the street, arms entwined, utterly in love, the sounds of people celebrating the new year lighting up the path behind you. “I never liked fan fiction anyway. . . .”

 ~

The End.

~

A/N: thank you everyone for reading. it’s been a wild ride. i love you all and there is certainly more to come! <3

~

Taglist: @aperrywilliams​ @mjloveskids666​ @dolanfivsosxox​ @criesinreid​ @fanficsrmylife @racerparker​ @sammypotato67​ @lukeskisses​ @reidcrimes​ @you-had-me-at-hello-dear​ @l0ve-0f-my-life​ @thatsonezesty13​​ @yourmisosoup​ @queenofthebees003​ @pinkdiamond1016​ @eu-solidao @perverted-guardian-angel​ @boiled-onionrings​ @lesbian-emilyprentiss​ @andiebeaword​ @itsmoony​ @cielo1984​ @baby-i-am-fireproof​ @mendesminimuffin​ @fukyouthink​ @addie5264 @gretaamyk​ @sercyan​ @expressiodeppresio @matthewreid​ @rainsong01 @gublergirls

[bi-demon-ium]

daemon au beginning

okay so the basics: a daemon au, almost entirely centered around nicholas & milligan with a side of the twins backstory, but like, might do snippets of other characters as well because ouch.

the problem with daemon aus for me, mainly, is i hate choosing what their daemon would be because i always feel like there’s no right answer, nothing clicks, etc. it sucks. which is partly why i never finished this. because i really like the idea of a daemon au i just don’t want to think about what the daemons actually look like 😭

anyway lets get started. first of all i would like you to know the summary for my ao3 draft was

The man shows up at Nicholas's doorstep, hollow, devastated, and daemonless.

so you get an idea of where this is going don’t you >:)

the idea here was for whatever reason, whatever brainsweeping thing curtain does to the helpers—and by extension, milligan—does something to their daemons. whether they’re suspended (unable to like. manifest??? like they seem to be gone but they’re just suppressed—like their emotions and memories, they’ve been buried) or if you wanted to go an alternate route, they could be literally imprisoned (but meh)

so milligan doesn’t. have a great time. i mean, daemons are supposed to be your soul, so if you don’t have one… people assume things. assume you’re heartless, soulless, emotionless, less.

(and maybe—especially since unlike other helpers, he has support and someone helping him—he swears he catches flashes of her, like a ghost struggling to get through, or he almost remembers her but can never quite reach, hears the echo of a voice no one else does—she remembers, the soul never forgets, but she can never quite reach him to tell him—)

he gets phantom pains, sometimes, like there’s something missing. two puzzle pieces, perhaps.

(i never decided what daemon she was—i was thinking maybe hawk or german shepard, but i never made a final choice. i had hesitantly started calling her “kyra”, though.)

anyway, he already had enough trouble as a big scary dude with nowhere to go and a crazy story no one believed, but now people see him as a bad omen or even something monstrous, so like. milligan, again, has a Bad Time.

but then he meets nicholas, and nicholas takes him in without hesitation, and when milligan makes it through his story and then falteringly wonders aloud if, maybe, whatever happened took his daemon… nicholas falls asleep.

and then like, okay, let’s move on for a second, jump around. nicholas and his daemon—violet. (curtain’s is vermillion, by the way. yes i am very proud of this. both the matching--v and color names, and vermillion’s reputation for being thought of as green but actually being red so like deception ahaha, and also the extraordinary education refreence.) now i’m playing fast and loose with lore here because i haven’t read the golden compass in ages and i’m not so sure on the sort of agreed worldbuilding/tropes in fusion aus, but.

violet’s been unsettled for a long time now. nicholas knows it isn’t the same, when he meets the man without a daemon, but he knows what it’s like when people look at your daemon and judge you, look into your soul and find it wanting, and around strangers, violet remains in the same form. a cat, perhaps, fluffy and easy to sit in his lap but with claws.

(now what, exactly, being unsettled means when you’re that old, i’ve seen explained differently in some aus, so again, playing fast and loose—is it a fundamental crisis of identity, or a trauma? perhaps when they were young, violet and vermillion settled together, nearly identical, and then when they separated, when he was alone, violet shifted and never stayed again? and he’s left, heart in his throat and soul in his hands, wondering if vermillion has shifted, too, if his brother feels fractured, if part of them has broken and they’re no longer truly twins—)

(is curtain’s daemon unsettled, too? no idea. honestly i have no idea where i’m going with that part of this. but things to consider. i also considered giving him a snake daemon even though that’d be stereotypical as fuck literally just because he would make really pretentious paradise lost references or something and i thought it would be funny. also the idea of mr benedict having a little noodle and curtain’s being actually mean and bitey is pretty funny. ANYWAY.)

i have a lot of unwritten thoughts about a curtain v benedict confrontation with daemons involved, vermillion v violet, etc, that i’m just not quite certain how to put to words, and like. the idea of what they might be like?

like is violet more like curtain—mr benedict’s self preservation, trying to get him to take care of himself or be selfish for once? and vice versa, vermillion trying to get curtain to be kinder? does he purposefully serperate himself from her? i don’t think so and it’s not what i went with but it’s an interesting thought isn’t it dkfgjdfg

oh also worse but just a fun thought does his daemon intimidate the kid’s daemons? sq’s? hahaha ouch

anyway here’s where most of my snippets come in which is nicholas/milligan my beloved. although it’s not really focused on romance so much as a strong bond, so as of now it could easily be read as a QPR or strong friendship and that’s valid.

so i just have a lot of thoughts on nicholas (and by extension violet) being touch-starved as hell, the intimacy of touching someone else’s daemon and the amount of trust that takes, discussion of milligan’s lack of daemon and the potential implications, and that’s what all the snippets are about.

especially the touching someone’s daemon thing because that concept absolutely obliterates me. like. when milligan realizes violet is iniating that touch and practically begging for it and it occurs to him nicholas might be just as touch starved and like the implications of his daemon,,, reaching out for that,,, both in trust (that’s his SOUL!!! in milligan’s hands!!!) and in how much he’s starved for affection,,,, oof

bonus points for violet in some form that purrs bc oh,,,, oh….

and like, unsettled, violet shifts a lot—it’s more comfortable to keep shifting, even if there are some forms she comes back to (cat is convenient and comfy, bird can be useful, when the house is invaded part of her wants to turn into a little ladybug and hide and part of her wants to turn into a horse or a hippo and charge but she doesn’t want them to touch her—)

and like. lots of thoughts about the others too but if i start thinking too hard about broader implications i lose any motivation as it becomes way too intimidating but for the record while all my snippets focus on nicholas & milligan absolutely violet is just cuddling with number two and rhonda’s daemons so fast (once they’re comfortable with it, anyway) and she’ll let them pet her or touch her lightly because they trust them, and if number two—so cautious and strict—lets her daemon brush against nicholas, well. that’s their business. and rhonda, too, though she’s a little more open and casual about it, because, you know, they’re a family, and i’m crying.

also oh my god dad mr b and his daemon interaction with the kids’,,, oh,,,, ANYWAY again that’s not what i have written but it’s also worth considering

(not to mention how curtain might misuse and abuse things but it’s fine—how messengers might find odd side effects…)

i wonder if violet rarely speaks to people that aren’t mr benedict before milligan but had gotten in the habit of just speaking whenever because they were alone so long… see i also have lots of little angsty headcanons i haven’t written anything for yet ,

and like, thoughts on settling—when misunderstandings are healed and he feels safe and whole and maybe this is years and years post canon, finally realizing that everything wasn’t his fault, and he feels healed and okay and like he isn’t at war with himself and guilty all the time, and she settles. she settles, and it’s kind of a shock for everyone and she’s certainly getting used to not being able to just shift into anything, but they’re both more comfortable in their own skin…

(don’t ask me what she settles into and don’t offer me options please i live in anxiety soup)

also again just. so many thoughts on curtain/vermillion pov but like. that’s for another time i think. maybe i’ll write more of these snippet posts I don’t know.

as it is, though, know that they’re not all necessarily like, some of them might contradict each other because they’re all possibilities, even if they generally align with my idea of this AU. a bunch of jumbled ideas. yeah. anyway

[dameschnee123]

•⊰───※ ·❆· ※───⊱•

•⊰───※ ·❆· ※───⊱•

It’s dark in Schnee Manor.

Everyone in the home is asleep but for one woman.

Once again, memories are plaguing her and the bottle does little to help, so Willow Schnee begins to wander the house, hoping to find rest.

Her steps take her to an old, toy filled room. The cradle skirts are dusty, but the fireplace is lit and there’s an empty mug on the coffee table, someone had been there recently.

The nursery was warm, golden from the glow of the fire and silver from the light of the moon and filled with the smell of baby powder and milk even after all these years it sat unused

Willow sat down by the fire and sighed, her eyes fell onto a painting filled with the memories of better days.

It had once sat in their bedroom but once Winter left Jacques wanted it in the nursery, out of sight and out of mind. It was of her father, but not in his armor. He was clad in a bright blue tunic and signature red scarf. Winter, who must’ve been four or five, was sleepily snuggled at his chest. For all his faults Jacques had known to hire a skilled painter. The love in her father’s eyes, her daughter’s perfect trust and contentment. It could be seen as if it too had posed for the painting.

Willow sighed as she began to remember.

A baby born in the dead of night, too still, too quiet. They named her Winter, hoping a strong name would help the little one. She was all softness and delicacy and cried often, for her mother or her grandfather. Winter had been young enough to see her “Popa” as she so sweetly called him, a healthy and strong man who told stories and carried her on his shoulders. Jacques didn’t come in the nursery much, he had business to attend to. As the little girl grew, Willow still hovered, hustling her in bed at the slightest sniffle or cough, making sure her coat was buttoned and was always ready to offer a hug because her precious flower was hurt, frightened or just wanted one.

Perhaps that is why Winter was now so cold, so distant and guarded. She had been hurt, and the arms that used to hold and protect her were now as helpless as she was as a baby.

Their second daughter was different. Born lively and healthy, in a few months she slept through the night and rarely cried in the day. A perfect little child by any means. By then Jacques was already slowly but surely showing his true colors. Sharper words, shorter temper. He was interested in Weiss, her charming voice, her energy. Weiss was happy for the attention and soon mimicked her father in everything. Winter was unsure about this new baby at first, she was loud and disrupted the usual routines, but she was also pretty as a doll and didn’t mind being dressed up in a variety of clothes her older sister found suitable. The older girl took it upon herself to care for the younger one, and protect her from their father.

Weiss now stood in her own, best off from her three children with friends, confidence and a home far from Atlas.

Finally, her youngest. Whitley had been born after Nicholas passed and when there were already visible cracks in her and Jacques’ relationship. He grew up hiding in the nursery with his sister and only knew the family’s happy days from stories. Jacques gave him attention because he was a boy so when Willow finally gave up the fight, he reveled in that and tried his best to become an exact copy of his father, but he could never quite hide or cover the notes of gentleness and laughter that sometimes shone through.

They were only children.

Grown, but still children to her.

Even get younger two were grown, forced to be grown when they shouldn’t yet be.

Children who had the happy and carefree childhoods they were entitled to ripped away by a cruel man.

One who knew the happy days and mourned them, one who barley remembered them and one who didn’t know them.

Each entitled to their own sorrow for the heart had no metrics or form of measure.

They were only children.

•⊰───※ ·❆· ※───⊱•

[bastillewolf]

Midnight In Sheffield (VIII)

Pairing: Alex Turner/Reader

Summary: When a soon-to-be-wedded insomniac author heads back home to visit her parents, she comes across the likes of a mysterious musician whilst on her sleepless escapade in the AM.

Notes: I’m back! Sorry this took me so long, I wasn’t entirely sure how to plot out the story, and now that I have to move I’ve been dealing with a lot of stress. I hope you’re all doing well x

Also, happy belated birthday to our very own Jamie Cook and Nicholas O’Malley!

Warnings: mentions of domestic violence.

Let me know if you’d like to be added to the tag list!

Chapter VIII - R U Mine?

The walk up the stairs to her previously shared room in the hotel seemed to take a lot longer than usual. Her legs apparently found it to be highly unnecessary to spend the effort walking quickly when it was this late and they were already tired.

The clerk had told her Mark was indeed present, and that he should still be awake after ordering a drink not five minutes ago. The clerk seemed hesitant to disclose this information when she’d initially asked him, and it made her wonder why.

Was he sad? Or still angry? A part of her hoped it was the latter, for that would make things easier. She could handle angry, but she could never watch him cry. She’d never seen it before, so she wouldn’t know where to begin.

She knocked on the door, and heard a glass roughly being placed on what she presumed was the coffee table. She heard his footsteps grow nearer, until finally he opened the door, and stood in front of her.

“Can we talk?” she asked.

He looked tired. But he didn’t look angry. There was something else about him, but she couldn’t yet decipher what it was. Some kind of sadness loomed in his eyes and his shoulders were slumped, which made the pit in her stomach grow by tenfold. What if he was sad?

He finally collected his thoughts and invited her in, yet in a cool manner without any tremor in his voice.

He hadn’t packed any of his things, nor hers, which meant that their fight had only been that to him. And that’s what it should’ve been to her, if she hadn’t been lying to herself all this time.

They both took a seat on the couch, as far away from each other as possible. Mark picked up his drink.

“I have to-“

“Something-“

They both fell silent, neither of them very willing to be the first to speak even though they’d both taken the initiative at the same time just then. Mark finally gestured for her to start, which she accepted, and took a deep breath for. She’d never before felt this estranged to him.

“Mark, I don’t think I can do this-“

“I slept with Rachel.”

…

“What?”

He’d interrupted her when it seemed the guilt had finally taken its toll on him. That’s the thing she’d seen when she’d met his eyes as he opened the door. Guilt, shame, anguish; whatever you want to call it. She hadn’t recognized them because she was sure Mark was incapable of feeling those emotions. He’d never shown them before.

Yet, here he was, proving her wrong once again.

And surprisingly, she found it more aggravating that of all the time they’d spent together, he only now thought it best to show some form of regret over any of his actions. She’d barely even blinked when he’d confessed the actual problem.

Honestly, she should’ve seen it coming. She’d already known long before that Rachel was a serial adulteress, and that James didn’t know about a thing. She knew Mark was always adamant to make time for her whenever their busy schedules allowed it, yet was never able to take a day off to meet what should’ve been his future in-laws. She also knew Mark and Rachel had had a thing back in high school, and that the only reason it had ended was because Rachel eventually had to move away.

She’d always been revolted by cheaters. Cowards, they’d been in her eyes.

But now that she was facing the man who had committed such a crime, who was now on his knees in front of her begging for forgiveness, all she could feel was pity, and a sense of understanding.

He hadn’t been the only one, after all.

“Mark,” she said, pulling her hands out of his clammy grasp. He looked up at her with - if he had been any good of an actor she would’ve called them teary - sweaty eyes. She looked right through his façade.

“I forgive you.”

“You- You do?” he asked in confusion.

She nodded. “But only if you can forgive me.”

He furrowed his brow. “What do you mean?”

“I kissed someone else. More than once.”

He blinked, as if in a daze, and slowly got up off the floor. He turned to look out the window. “Did… Did you like it?” he asked.

“I did,” she honestly told him. “Mark, you and I haven’t been happy for a very long time. This was bound to happen one way or another, and I can only be relieved it was an unexpected simultaneous decision on both our ends. I came to tell you I think we shouldn’t be together anymore, and I think it’s obvious why.”

“But… It was a mistake…” he muttered, running a hand through his curly hair.

“It wasn’t. Deep down, you know it wasn’t. Mark, it’s better this way. We should move on with our lives, so we can both find happiness.”

“I was happy with you.”

“And I once was with you too, but it wasn’t meant to last. I can only thank you for being such a good partner, and getting me through my rough patches. I hope you hold a similar sentiment, and that maybe we could still be friends.”

He didn’t respond, and it slightly worried her. She thought her words might’ve been enough to soothe him, but as of right now, he held as much emotion as a book with a blank cover.

Perhaps he was in shock?

She had half the heart to reach out to him and wrap her arms around him, so she hesitantly got up, until-

She wasn’t quite sure what had happened anymore.

One second she was getting up, and the next she was on the floor, holding her stinging cheek.

He’d actually hit her.

Yet the only thing she could think of was not how she should’ve seen this coming, or that she should feel scared, but of how she wouldn’t want Alex to see her bruised face.

“Go on then,” he spat, “Go back to your new boyfriend, you fucking whore. I hope you make him as miserable as you did me.”

She didn’t want to cry. She didn’t want to give him that. So, she got up, looked him in the eye, and said, “I’m going to let that one slide, because I know how you can get when you’re drunk. Goodbye, Mark.”

Years of working hard to maintain a mature and healthy relationship, or some form of such a façade, only now down the drain, when they should’ve been saying the ‘yes’-word to each other in front of all their friends and family in a few months. It should’ve ended much earlier. It was done.

And that should’ve been that.

But right as she was about to shut the hotel door behind her, something made of glass – presumably his previous drink – shattered against the wall, causing shards to fly through the slit of the opening and dig into her arm.

She didn’t waste any time bolting down the hall, ignoring the elevator, and stumbling down the stairs as she heard his footsteps follow dangerously close behind her. She felt him brush the back of her arm once, and in her panic she jumped down the last set of stairs.

Her ankle twisted in a nasty way, but barely noticing it because of the panicked adrenaline coursing through her veins, she kept running. Past the clerk who shouted in concern but was unable to do anything, through the doors, up the hill, and past the fountain, until all she could hear through the whistling in her ears were her gasping breaths and her shoes clacking across the cobblestone street.

She halted and looked around, noticing that the block was entirely empty.

She sunk to her knees, and finally allowed herself to cry.

…

She heard the front door open, but didn’t bother to look up. Her eyes were glued to the empty pages in front of her, one on the screen of her laptop, and the other resting on her desk with a closed pen next to it. The shuffling of feet grew ever nearer, like a predator nearing in on its prey, and it told her all she should know about Mark’s lack of soberness. He had been going out a lot these days, claiming it was only to catch up with colleagues. But she knew otherwise.

“You should be asleep,” he slurred.

“You said you wouldn’t be out long,” she shot back.

Sleep depravation does a lot to you, and so does alcohol. And when the two collide, only bad things follow.

“Why do you think I go out?! You should be in bed,” he repeated with a dangerously low voice.

She got up, her chair scraping across the floor, and looked him right in the eye. “Sounds like a real good coping mechanism, Mark.”

She was about to turn to walk into their bedroom when she was suddenly spun around and her back hit the wall. Mark’s hands wrapped down her throat, and he looked as if he wanted to do more than that.

“Go the fuck to bed,” was all he’d said.

And they’d never spoken about it again.

…

“Love?”

She wasn’t underwater, she was pretty sure of that. But it did sound like it when Alex spoke again.

“Love? Are you alright?”

He was kneeling down next to her, and had draped his coat over her shoulders. It had started raining; a while ago, from the feel of her soaked hair.

She’d long stopped crying, and only know realized how ridiculous she must’ve looked sitting in the middle of the street like this, sobbing while it started pouring, with the knees of her tights torn and her black makeup blotched all over her face which she made no attempt to fix or hide. She was a real mess.

“Let’s get you inside, yeah?”

***

@alexbandguy86 @bettyschwallocksyee​ @fookingsummertime @juicebox-baby​@darksydork7​ @edgythought​ @ssadderdaze​ @h0twasabi​ @rogerseyeliner​ @arctic-monkcys​ @toolateformcrtooearlytoleaveemo @rosemallowss​

[helenaofdevon]

HELENA GREY : COUNTESS OF DEVON

BULLETPOINTS:

NAME: Helena Courtenay nee Grey

AGE / D.O.B.: 25 || August 22nd, 1534

STATUS / RANK: Countess of Devon

COUNTRY OF ORIGIN: England

PLACE OF BIRTH: Bradgate House, Bradgate Park, Leicestershire - England

BIRTH ORDER: Second

MOTHER & FATHER: Frances Brandon & Henry Grey

SIBLINGS: Two, an elder and younger sister

SEXUALITY: bisexual biromantic

HOROSCOPE: Leo. ( leo virgo cusp )

VIRTUES:  dynamic, perspicacious, authentic

VICES:  strong-willed, opinionated calculative

MARITAL STATUS: married to nicholas courtenay, earl of devon

ISSUE: n/a

RELIGION: roman catholic / protestant. raised in a religiously divided house. is well versed in both

ALLIES: to be announced...

ADVERSARIES:  to be announced...

TIMELINE:

approx. 1492 – mary tudor, is born ten months after her brother, henry viii

early 1533 – wedding of frances brandon and henry grey, the marquess of dorset with permission from their parents as both are young and in love.

22 August 1534  – helena grey is born, she is the second child of couple

approx. 1540 – frances brandon with the approval of her husband begins to educate her daughters at Bradgate House. several clergy knowledgeable in all subjects and both protestant and catholic are commission in the private education of the girls. the youngest is still to small to start lessons.

approx 1551 / 52 – Helena's elder sister is likely married off. Helena is officially presented at court ( despite having grown up within it to an extent ) 

early 1554 – Helena Grey is precontracted to Nicholas Courtenay but Henry Grey dies of natural causes ( sickness ). Formal marriage arrangements thusly drag on for sometime for various reasons

late 1556  – Helena Grey formally marries Nicholas Courtenay

November 1558 – Helena's fahter in law and husband are arrested & tried ( the courtenay conspiracy ); cousin william pardons Col but exectued Hugh Courtenay thus making Col the new earl or devon; Helena is made countess of Devon

IN CHARACTER INFORMATION.

NAME & TITLE/ROLE: helena grey, countess of devon

MONIKER: the empyreal

AGE: 25

FACECLAIM: alicia vikander

THREE POSITIVE TRAITS: dynamic, perspicacious, authentic

THREE NEGATIVE TRAITS: strong-willed, opinionated calculative

BIOGRAPHY:

A single decision changes the world from what it might have been. With a twist of fate or a turn of time in a direction that alters its ineffable course and what we know is no longer the truth hidden within the pages of a new history. So a family line is both royal adjacent and equally as royal as the one that rules. The grandson of the stepson of Edward IV would marry the Wotton girl and Henry Grey, Marquess of Dorset would be brought forth into the world. Frances Brandon would also be born of Mary Tudor, the youngest surviving child of Henry VII and sister to Henry VIII. The two would marry and they would have three daughters and no sons and that would be an absolute facet of time - a fixed point that would remain unchanged in this or any other reality. Rather one should state that events before the birth of these two individuals had changed setting an entirely new course when ten months after the birth of a future king his sister Mary Tudor was then born. Altered forever was the flow of time and so became a possibility for a different set of Grey sisters to be born. It would not change though the fact their blood would mark them as dangerous and would call into question those would they attach themselves to as royal lines no matter how distant were quite troublesome.

Helena Grey would be born the second daughter and middle child of her parents and born perhaps as one of the most miraculous women. Each Grey sister was something to behold and wonder just the same but a girl would stand out. Helena had many passions and a zest for life and yet was capable of being a rather rooted person who was loyal, kind, and quite perspicacious. She was not her elder sister who was by default their example nor the younger sister who was beloved as the youngest and final child. A girl however in any situation even from the smallest age took charge and was the leader of the small band of girls. In the days of early youth, there were a gaggle of giggles and many games to be played in the various halls causing little ones to be a source of mild trouble and much entertainment which she was generally at the heart of. She would have an interesting youth and her mother would see that each of her girls was incredibly well educated in a religiously divided household. Helena excelled in her studies as tutors ( many of them various clergy from both the catholic and protestant faith ) taught her various languages and to read and write many of them and more. She danced and swirled through everyone’s lives and one could rightfully argue even as a young girl you were forever changed by her presence and the life and light she brought to any situation.

All was not so wondrous but time and age cover massive events that would come into play years later. Helena was more than well aware of family history and the lines that twisted and crossed and broke out into branches that had started civil wars and uprisings. Lady Helena knew many people's real faces behind the masks they wore at court, having been a favorite as her mother once was of the king. After all one learns to play the game or to become the one being played. There were so many rules, so many unwritten codes and all the world swirled with intrigue and Helena navigated the water thusly earning to her name several handfuls of friends but suffered no fools as her companions - especially as many a person with loftier ambitions would seek out noble blood with royal ties with no sort of good intention.  Helena, not that she wasn't already strong-willed and having a smart tongue, learned she had a sharp one and an eye for false intention despite her Christian ways being told a woman was to be meek and forgiving of her fellow man.

There were suitors indeed interested in the girl even before she became available to marry, even before her elder sister was wed. Who could deny she had a draw and one enjoyed being around her never short on a conversation or any pleasantly stimulating amount of time spent but in truth, Helena would've rather not married at all. She was of an independent mind, not keen on being tied to a man whom she barely knew and her parents chose. Truly even court despite her deep love for people and being a point of focus would've rather spent her time in the country reading books. living fully and caring for horses and dogs and the idea of a small gaggle of children she could return to either sister not enjoying the idea of settling. Life was to be lived and well and perhaps Helena had ideas of what she wanted. It certainly wasn't the men that presented themselves especially after the elder sister wed with Helena being even more pushed to the forefront than she had naturally been with her personality. When Helena set eyes on Nicholas Courtenay a young woman knew what she wanted or rather who she would desire to marry if one must marry. She saw in him an equal partner, one who would respect and cherish her, one she would be willing to call husband and he did indeed make her laugh. It never fully occurred to her either that her interest and yes eventual marriage to the man would have quietly been considered a potentially problematic union. Two descendants of separate plantagenet lines could've been construed as a suspicious and powerful marriage politically. Was it what both of their parents had intended when a match was brokered? Could there have been a moment while walking past her father's study and the door was slightly ajar that two men may have quietly conspired something more in marrying the two? What could've been considered suspicious about two men with some ambition whispering amongst themselves? Helena would never know what was truly discussed in that room as her father died in 1554, narrowly avoiding the fate his friend would suffer later dying of a sickness that would take him off his head suffering the effects of fevers and other health issues. That was not the actual tragedy a young woman would suffer for it would come later once she was married to Col.

Helena, like all the world, mourned her great uncle's passing. The death of a king was nothing easy to stomach especially after the death of her father though years apart. She did not expect however when her father-in-law mourned the death of a friend and distant cousin that it would break open a well building up inside him for years. Hugh Courtenay had become a father to Helena since joining their house, he was indeed a dear companion of hers and she cared for her father and mother in law but saw nothing of what was to come. A series of letters poured out from her father in law's hands with many damning words and the attention it thus shined on Col and herself. Ugly words and pointed accusations were made during an investigation into the letters that her marriage in connection with the things Hugh Courtenay was writing was the beginning of some great conspiracy to seat someone else on the throne and other such aspirations tied with Catholic strings. Helena watched the trial drag on and saw a Queen push for the death of both the young lady's father in law and her husband as well. For a brief moment, Helena could nearly feel the axe on her own neck had both a husband and father-in-law been executed - she imagined and expected the worst. Thankfully, truly as Helena would see it, cousin William would intervene but only on behalf of Nicholas. Her husband's charges were dismissed but Helena watched like many others did the execution of her father-in-law to again serve as a warning not to attempt anything similar or remotely considered treasonous.

As war knocks at the doorsteps of England now and spreads across europe Helena finds herself in a precarious position. She is a well connected woman among the court and is popular among the people and abroad through her correspondence with many individuals who have strong opinions with the ears of leaders and influential beings. Helena is of royal blood as is her husband and both were well educated and dynamic.. One would be foolish not to be suspicious of the two especially after her husband's father, the late Earl of Devon's beheading. If so motivated and aligned they could pose a serious threat - a credible one. The woman is well within her rights to be angry, to seek revenge as her husband may desire but Helena is loyal and more concerned about the whole of England rather than vengeance. She worries over her husband though not fully knowing where his mind is at with the state of his depleted family and if she should be suspicious of his thoughts. If they were to err on the side of the whispers and suspicions of those who would see them as adversaries Helena would be divided between love and loyalty to country. It is a strange world, another time entirely in which to be alive but if anyone can play the game and come out on the other side it may be this woman..

WANTED CONNECTIONS: 

at the moment none that I can think of but I would adore any and all plotting to create something truly wonderful.

OUT OF CHARACTER INFORMATION.

NAME / ALIAS: eden

AGE: 26

TIMEZONE: est

DISCORD USERNAME: edenzini

[surveys-at-your-service]

Survey #451

“taste the waste of their god’s grace & spit your hate upon your young”

Who are you subscribed to on YouTube? A shitload of people. Do you like to go to the farmer's market? Yeah, sure. What will (or was) the color of your wedding dress be? Probably black. What's your favorite melon? I don't really like melons, actually. What was the name of the last pet of yours that died? Teddy. :( When was the last time you wished the day would just get over with? Literally every day. Seriously. It's funny, I dread fighting to sleep at night, but I also just want it to be time to sleep so time will pass. My life is just so fucking boring that I just... wait for something exciting to happen. Name one person you've never had a fight with: Tez. What are you currently listening to? "Sex Metal Barbie" by In This Moment. What would you rather have: cat or dog? I prefer cats. Who is your least favorite person in real life? Probably my sister's husband. Do you ever watch anybody's live stream of... anything, really? I'll sometimes watch live let's plays. Does your house have security cameras? No. If you go grey as you age, would you dye your hair or let it be? I'll be dyeing it. What was the last establishment you stopped going to due to bad service? What happened? I'm not sure. What soundtrack do you listen to the most? Silent Hill 2's, definitely. Was there a family secret you weren’t told about until you were an adult? I don't know if it's really a secret, but I didn't know until this year that my dad did some really dangerous drugs before us kids were born. Do you have an opinion most people you meet seem to disagree with you? Yes. What’s something you like to have many options to choose from? Food, ha ha. Feels great to have a full kitchen after a grocery trip. What’s the strangest decorative object you own? Nothing "strange" to me. What’s a thing you couldn’t imagine doing with your life right now? One biggie is having a baby. I just... could not imagine. My life would plummet. What’s been your proudest moment? Graduating in the top percentile in my high school graduating class. What’s the filthiest non-pornographic movie you’ve seen? Omfg, Sausage Party. That movie was so gross. Do you know anyone who doesn't seem to be fond of animals? Thankfully, no. I don't even think I could befriend someone who doesn't like animals. Are you planning any outings or trips anytime soon? Whereabouts? No. Do you know anyone who has a phobia of a certain animal? Yeah, like me with whale sharks. Is there a particular brand of technology/electronics that you prefer? Not really, no. Is there a singer whose voice gives you goosebumps/chills? Amy Lee's. And is there a singer whose voice you simply can't stand? Yeah, such as Bob Dylan. Are there any authors that are particularly dominant on your bookshelf? Tui T. Sutherland, but only because I read their series Wings of Fire. Have you seen any photographs or videos that made you smile today? I'm sure on Facebook at some point. Which item in your fridge are you most looking forward to consuming? Does the freezer count? If so, this Healthy Choice grilled chicken pesto bowl I have in there. I am like addicted to them. Has anyone you know got into a new relationship lately? I don't know. If you menstruate, do you experience much PMS prior to it? It varies month-to-month. Have you ever had a tattoo covered up or added to? I had my Markiplier tattoo essentially redone by a better artist. I also plan on getting my "ohana" tat covered, as well as my "how rare and beautiful it is to even exist" one (I adore the quote, but it's not an original design, which I don't like having anymore), and I want to move and redesign my "perfectly flawed" one because I want a bigger tattoo in its location. Can you remember the last time you had a sudden change of mind? Yeah; I'm pretty sure I like-like my friend Girt now, something I was never entirely sure about. When was the last time you did something on a whim? *shrug* Were you raised by both of your parents? If not, then who raised you? Well, I guess both, but Dad didn't do a lot of the teaching part about life and stuff. Have you ever began a relationship with someone you knew for less than a week? No. Has one of your friends ever tried to ‘hook you up?’ Yes. Colleen tried that with me and Girt and only succeeded in making us very uncomfortable. She said something I wanted to slap her for that I won't repeat. What is your card game of choice? Magic: The Gathering. What is your favourite books series? I think my favorite series of all time was the Shiloh trilogy. I adored both the books and movies. Do you prefer landmarks or street names when being given directions? You'd better give me landmarks, ha ha. Do you read the prologues in the beginnings of books? Of course. What was your favourite gym class moment? There're such things as GOOD gym memories in school? Do you think that ocean boardwalks are fun? Yes. Do you dread when people ask you to sign their yearbooks? No, I always thought it was very flattering that they even wanted mine. Do you have a favourite Scooby-Doo movie? The Phantom Virus one. I had the video game as a kid, too. Could never beat the damn thing. Do you think it’s cute when toddlers try to run away and fall down? No? I don't like seeing children - or anyone - fall. Do you enjoy listening to your grandparents tell stories of their past? So, this really only happened once, and it was coincidentally the day I learned of her pancreatic cancer, but before Mom told me. I had an assignment to interview someone of an older generation about how various sources of media affected their lives, like the development of TV and such, and she really got into it. It was very interesting to learn about. Do you have a crush on someone? I guess I do idfk. If so... what does his/her name begin with? "D." What attracts you to them? More than anything, the fact he's been there for me without fail. Both single and when I was with Jason and he was interested in me, he's just... been there and has made an effort since high school to be in my life in one way or another. Do they know that you like them? Not anymore, no. We dated for a few months, but I broke up with him because he felt more like my brother, so I would assume he doesn't think I do. Maybe he still is family to me. I really don't know what I feel. If they don't know, why didn't you tell them? I might at some point, idk. We just haven't talked in a while. Name two people that you miss: Jason and Megan. Have you ever seen Titanic? When I was in the hospital, yes. Everyone was crying, lmao. Have you ever swam with dolphins? No, but I would. When was the last time you had a stomachache? Now. Mother Nature finally visited me after three whole fucking months and is v angry. What's going to bed early for you? Like 7:00. Do you want to have a big family in the future? Of pets! Human kids ain't for me. What was the last thing you did that gave you a rush? Hell if I know. Favorite Nicholas Cage movie? Ghost Rider. Have you had your Covid vaccine yet? Which one, if you have? Yes. I got Moderna. If you've had your vaccine, did you experience any side effects? I did on my second dosage. I was OUT of it the day afterwards, but then I was fine. What's the next item of clothing that you intend to buy for yourself? I need new bras badly. What Facebook groups have you found the most helpful? It's called "Not Just A Pet Rock (Python regius)" and is a group for advanced ball python husbandry. It is very informative, but I will say there is a SHITLOAD of very rude elitists. Do you like your butt? Why or why not? NO because it's a PANCAKE and I want CAKE. Have you ever personally been a victim of homophobia? I personally think so. When Sara visited and we were trying to go to my older sister's so she especially could meet her, Ash entirely ignored Mom's messages. I know her homophobic husband well enough to nearly be able to guarantee he didn't want us coming over because the kids "don't need to see that." Ash kinda does what Nick says, so... you know. Do you think you’d be happier if you had a pet? I know I'm happier with pets. Who was the last person you went on a date with? Sara. Were you ever hospitalized as a little kid? No. What’s your favorite way to curl your hair? It's too short to do that. At what age did you start swearing? However old I was in 7th grade. What is something you physically can’t do? Clean up vomit lkdsjal;sdkjfa;lkwd. I can't clean up my pet's or even my own. I literally can't. My mom has to. What do like better, apples or oranges? Apples. I don't like oranges. Around the holidays, do you hope for snow? Yes!!! What are your top two favorite bands? Ozzy Osbourne and Metallica. How many people do you 100% trust? Like two. Maybe. Do you care what others think about you? Way too much. Has anyone ever called you a bitch? My grandmother has. Did you watch Teletubbies when you were younger? Omg yes, I was obsessed. Do you have any licenses other than your driver's license? I don't even have that. Could you live the rest of your life without eating meat? No. Not because I don't want to, because I do, but I would have an extreme protein deficit if I did that. Besides meat, I don't like enough protein-rich foods. Have you ever had a rolling backpack? Yes. Did you make any money today? I haven't made any money in a very, very long time. I'm only ever paid when someone hires me to take pictures for them. What was the highest place you've ever jumped from? I don't know. Definitely not very high. Have you ever gone swimming in a river? Yes. What was the last souvenir someone got you? I have zero clue. Do you have a favorite remix of a song? Hm. Perhaps this techno-y remix of "Psychosocial" by Slipknot. I don't know for sure, though. What do you think is the most saddest sounding instrument? Either the violin or piano. Do you really pay attention to the ratings on movies? Nope. Do you have a favorite species of wild cat (tiger/lion/cougar/etc.)? Probably clouded leopards aesthetics, but I think lions overall. If you had $500,000, what would you do with it? Pay off school debt as well as help Mom with various financial issues, buy new glasses, buy Mom and I a new house and car, get Venus a great tank with all the optimal supplies, get LOADS of tattoos, donate to various charities, adopt a few specific pets, travel to Yellowstone, get laser hair removal on my legs and teeth whitening... There are a lot of possibilities. Did the last person you touched lips with have a kid? Just scaly ones. :') "First loves are never really over." Is this true for you? Yeeeep... Did you like Michael Jackson before he died? I didn't really have an opinion on him. I know/like a couple songs, sure. What are some things that would make you break up with someone? If they became abusive, started doing drugs, acted arrogantly, didn't understand my mental conditions and were unwilling to be emotionally supportive, stuff like that. What was the worst breakup you've ever had? Ha, the one with Jason. For. Fucking. Sure.

[smallestclowninthecircus]

Tma season 2 notes baybeee

I made myself take several breaks so I could give my frie d who is listening to it at the same time as me a chance to catch up. Honestly just posting them so I have them saved somewhere but whatever.

ep 41: real graham wrote keep watching before he was replaced. Jon feels like he's being watched. But they werent replaced by things related to the eye. It's the web that's on the box that replaces them. Endless hallways and doors to nowhere. I bet nicholas will have ideas what entity this relates to. If it even does. They're like the tunnels in the one with the builder guy. Tunnels closing in etc. Also like the cave diving one. He's assuming it's just one

ep 42: so 100 gecs? (IM SORRY I LIKE 100 GECS BUT LMAO) so there's some entity related to music right? There's the piper episode and the 27 w/ the calliope. Ah yes, this season is gonna be the season of Paranoid!Jon

ep 43: section 31? fucking books. god no. smashed lights? cult lady did that. covered the lights too. she mentioned a spooky clown doll. thats not random.

ep 44: is this that same circus that got mentioned before? it is! the pipe organ! pop off organ! pipe off! mouth on the stomach! yes! mouths in unusual places my beloved!

ep 45: antiques! like that one ep!

ep 46: every time books get mentioned i sigh. hhh sus smells. it got brighter. I get the vibes occasionally that the dark and the eye are sorta at odds with eachother. GRRR BARK BARK LEITNER. ayyy ex altiora. entity go brr. which entity do we thing it is? my guess is The Dark. The book buyer's name is Mike. He has scars? Electricity? The childhood friend of the guy who got it later on perhaps? The Vast? its formatted like an entity idk. This happened before the other one. He got trapped in the wood carving. a win for the web lol spiders go brr

ep 47: did i hear spiral? ITS THE NOT THING FROM THE EPISODE WITH NOT GRAHAM "it didnt move, it shifted" is like the exact same sentence as before. ay john's starting to remember. the laughing woah thats weird. is "michael" one of the entities? "you make it seem like theres a war" supports my theory that theres a struggle between a couple of the entities. I said i thought it was the eye and the dark i believe but im not sure. its whatever entity michael is vs the worms? what did nicholas say the worms were again? The Corruption? still dont know which one michael is tho.

Had to take a break after that episode. smth about the quality of michael's voice makes me feel like im gonna slip into one of those states where it feels like nothing is real, so i got a nice cold glass of water.

ep 48: jesus ok this one's kidna corny. you're telling me love made the crowd go away come on now. Ur losing it big J. also shouldnt it be more sus that "sasha" is so unaffected by the worm incident/ finding of gertrude's body

ep 49: haven't we heard hector's name before? oh is he the crime guy? fucking jared... so it's a throat? chompa chompa. (it's just a little bit hot) the good part about these episodes is that we know whoever's telling the story isn't gonna die. even if it's a close call, they're not dead. hotworth? ok not jared keay. it bothers me how theres so many repeated names, can they not come up with other names? "sasha"'s computer is breaking... sus. Elias our favorite weed man! jon ur so paranoid lmao

ep 50: robert smirk, at it again. this is like that one episode with the old dude who locked his door. who said idle beforehand? was it smirk? fingertips. thats so weird lmao. bahahah tim

ep 51: simon fairchild. im sure jon will mention the name at the end i cant remember where we've heard it. this is just like the cavediving episode. a hand? there was a hand in the last one right? the scalpel! and an eye thing. she's trying to throw them off.

ep 52: thats the guy from before! with the hearts! god i hate this guy writing the statement hh. lights blowing, and brackish water. we know how this ends but its still tense. rainer? reigner? rain man. we've seen him before

ep 53: pls not a leitner. oh boy mans scratched out his eyes. rip skelly. why would gertrude have had this statement off the books? jon stabbed himself?? bruh im? big man are you okay

ep 54: cockney boys! ayy its our favorite delivery men. she cut out their eyes. she knew that the eye was a thing?

ep 55: oily residue like the retirement home!

ep 56: worms? no. spiders?? bruhh. aaah yelling :(( aww martin anyways yeah i called it about paranoid!jon he needs to take a nap and drink some hot chocolate and calm down for once please

ep 57: just remembered, i think theres an entity called The Lonely?? This feels pretty lonely idk. fairchild, lukas/ lucas, some spooky place in norway idk. "sasha" knew he was recordinig hmm suspicious cmon jon figure it out. Sasha and tom. hm sus. for records sake i feel liek i should note here that I did have it spoiled to me simply that that's not sasha, but thats really all. i assumed it was like the thing that happened to graham in S1

ep 58: i feel like i recognize the name eustice (?) wick. someone please tell me im not just watching jon's descent into madness over the course of this podcast. im hoping it isnt so but, (and pardon the dsmp reference) im getting real wilbur vibes from this one.

ep 59: oh dear ok account from the fielding house. swirling designs? Spiral time? oh boyy. oh wait! 6 inch hole in the middle! is it not a spiderweb type design on the table? thats what i had assumed but that description sounds more like a spiral thing. cobwebs is a Web thing. ayy nicholas was right! the box goes in the table! the place that she kissed him was burning. Raymond is an avatar of The Web and agnes is the burning one. Lightless Flame! Why did she save him? i guess she was against this guy eating ppl or wtvr but why was she at the halfway house then? I think she's like michael.

ep 60: the eye go brr

ep 61: breacon and hope once again. tom. sasha's boyfriend. vampires sleep in coffins. the guy just walking in seems similar to the mind control of the vampires

ep 62: bones! its that one leitner. is this mother keay? the mom of gerard? this is what happened to her right? her skin was found on hooks? oh yeah thats what i thought the pages are made of skin. yeesh. The End!! sounds like an entity. phrased like one, and i think i remember it. are the people trapped in the pages? or... kept?

ep 63: eaten by the darkness! cavediving episode! (just like eaten by the sky) did my brain make up one called The Vast? it feels like it should be one, and all these episodes have some similar description about their feelings when they do whatever chosen hobby they have. ok now this one kinda feels like the dark. lights going out and all that. ok so not really a The Vast thing, its more of a Dark thing. feckin smirk gah.

ep 64: dice! the death guy! the death game thing! the person tricked somebody else into becoming death and then they were immortal? but if the egyptians wanted to kill him or punish him or whatever couldnt they just kill him? it worked in the end when he had the person giving the statement stab him, that did the job and actually killed him

ep 65: finally jon is actually acknowledging something is wrong.

So we know Mary Keay was revived most likely with the book by gerard.

Gertrude was way more aware of the entities than Jon. mary keay referenced The End openly and she cut the eyes out of her magazines and all that which makes me think she was aware of The Eye

ep 66: please not buried alive pleeaase not buried alive. lukas of the tundra? didnt we hear the name lukas before? she wanted it to be difficult to find important files because that way bad people couldnt find them?

ep 67: agnes... the girl in the hilltop house? agnes poppin off!! he's really not gonna question how she knew where he lived?? oh no D: the tree. were they the ones working on the house? aww they kissi- OH DEAR. why did she kiss him? it seemed like she cared about him? also she could kiss that other dude on the cheek and he was fine, but maybe it was cuz she was younger? lightless flame go brrrrr.

ep 68: oh god books. yup its bitchboy leitner. mans said "this seems supernatural, its a werd book!" bruuh.

ep 69: heh nice. aw cmon jon listen to martin. gahhh spiders. is that the class we heard about in the other doctor one with the teeth apple? some kind of psych class? oh dear. fucking spiders. aaaah. web do be goin brr. it's like the girl in the homeless shelter! who made the guy leave and she took his bed.

ep 70: is this gonna be the book that mary keay had? Most likely a leitner no matter what. Oh boy latin. Why did it start in latin then become old English? I'm guessing people put them in the book? He cant burn it. Phrophecies go brr. He says eh it's a decade in the future it's fine. Its gonna have changed. Ayy called it. Just accept it, it's a magic book. His death is getting closer. Leitner didnt make them but just collected them? Gertrude burned the book! She burned them down there so no one would know.

ep 71: oh boy tunnels. Our favorite thing /s. is The Buried a thing? Idk this seems pretty buried. Oh dear he's trapped here isnt he. "Not enough space to move, never enough to breathe" is that from the computer episode? With the guy who uploaded his consciousness? Somebody living down there. Hmmmm. Guesses: tom, sasha's boyfriend. Gertrude herself? (Though I doubt it)

ep 72: sweeney todd moment. Meat. The slaughter? Idk we'll see what the supernatural part is. Meat is meat. Similar to the slaughterhouse episode. Is it fucking Jared I swear to God it better not be. Hooligan teenagers, you know how it is. Meat is me lmao. Is the kid gonna be in the freezer. Ok that's good. OWW. Oddly textured candles. Made from people? Human fat or smth? Tom from the meat processing plant!

ep 73: outer bay shipping. Bet it's a subset of breacon and hope delivery. The Dark go brrr. Uh oh mans is gonna die. Leo or whatever. Cult ppl go brr. The people's church of the divine host. Who is the divine host? Is it reigner or whatever his name is? I dont think Jon can quit tbh. Probably an anonymous tip but from who?? One of the entities?

ep 74: fucking teeth hhh. I dont know which entity is related to teeth. Spiral. Isnt the spiral an entity. It feels like it could be related to many things idk. Yeah this sounds like the spiral. Heart attack at 29? Jesus... michael! That's kinda what I was thinking. Sasha goin in the tunnels. Hmm sus. They move the floor. Wack. Bet its tom.

ep 75: Man with a lightning scar. Has one of the leitner books. The childhood friend of the one who first introduced us to leitner. Oh my god that sounds terrifying. Michael crew.

ep 76: scalpel? Hmm spooky. NotSasha... think jon think.

ep 77: another double! NotThem, The Stranger. Not related to the table?

ep 78: what was that at the beginning? Question mark?? Oh boy more NotThem. Decker... what is the deal with the table. Does it contain the creature? Fucking Michael. Bitchboi himself.

ep 79: yes pop off martin. Ugh fucking Michael just leave man. I hate that dude. New person. Hmm. No idea who it is.

ep 80: shitener himself! Ok sir tell us the entities. Ayy The Spiral. Ok we know what that one is. The Eye is the beholding! Oooh. The Stranger. Did elias just kill leitner? Popping off honestly.