#Gertrude Mobile

[cheesewhip3]

gertrude-mobile!!!!!

had to Google what an APV was for this

[sarcasticscribbles]

Sasha Archivist and Head of Institute Gertrude

[psicheanima]

i got intrigued by the fact that you did a senior paper on the witches from madoka - can you please tell us some more about that? i love when academic work ties to personal interests.

I can do you one better. You can just read it. Screenshots as it’s from a website. This is the actual final. I can’t include my analysis portion in an image because there’s a ten image limit on mobile. So it’s under the cut. And please be gentle, because I wrote this when I was 18.

Icebox Cake

Icebox Cake is the alternate name for the pastry Charlotte. This is of course a reference to the witch Charlotte, who the poem is about. This story is a direct adaptation of Charlotte’s canon backstory as revealed in the Magia Record Game. Charlotte is the only witch in this collection with a concrete backstory, and the only one who we know the real name of — Nagisa Momoe.

Nivelles Charaxinae

Nivelles Charaxinae is a reference to both this witch’s namesake and her design. The witch this story is about is Gertrud, named after the saint of gardens, Gertrud of Nivelles. Charaxinae is a reference to the type of butterfly that is in Gertrud’s witch form. The names of her roses in her diary entries are names of saints. I wanted to give her roses human names to show they are the true ‘humans’ to her, but also maintain a degree of disconnect. I think like Gertrud’s namesake, saints are the least human human you can be.

In case your words are all that’s left of me…

In case your words are all that’s left of me… is the only poem with a completely made up title. Though I want the ending of what happened to HN Elly, the witch of this story, to be up to reader interpretation, her feelings of having no real presence besides her online one was something I wanted to make very clear, so that’s why I chose this title.

The usernames are all references to songs sung by Marguerite in Faust. Faust is a work with immense impact on Madoka, having numerous references both visually and story wise. Most notably, quotes from it are littered in every witch labyrinth. Keeping with the theme of this poem being the odd one out name wise, HN Elly actually has another name— Kirsten. This is after Dorothy Kirsten, who famously portrayed Marguerite, which is why I paid tribute to her role.

POESIE SCHMECKT GUT

I based most of my references off the real life women the witches are named after. It shows most in POESIE SCHMECKT GUT. The namesake of this story’s witch, Elsa Maria, is Elsa Asenijeff. POESIE SCHMECKT GUT was a publishing firm for one of Elsa’s books. The base storyline is based off of Elsa’s unhappy arranged marriage, and the religious and star theme was already there in Elsa Maria’s labyrinth.

Guernica

This poem is all about visual art from the point of view of a girl who doesn’t really understand it, so I was a perfect person to write this. All the references were surface level, sort of awkwardly shoved in ones to famous pieces and artists. The title is reference to one of Piccaso’s most famous pieces, an extremely meaningful and striking abstract about war. For this witch, who is named Izabel, who does nothing but copy others, I couldn’t think of anything better to name her story, because I knew she herself could never find value in Guernica.

It’s raining again today. How long will I continue to be unlucky for?

There’s not a lot to say about this one, but I think the witch that it’s about, Patricia, would like that. The story is pretty self explanatory, but it’s one of my favorites because of that. The title is reference to a line in her labyrinth.

2 parts Absinthe 1 part Brandy 1/2 part Gin 3 parts Vodka 1 part Crème de Mûres

This witch, Roberta, is pretty special. First off, she’s an adult witch, the only in the series. She’s said to be fond of alcohol, which I tried to portray in the lack of grammar and punctuation, like you’re listening to the incoherent thought stream of the intoxicated. The title is the ingredients to her namesake, the Aunt Roberta cocktail, which is the strongest drink in the world.

Source Title: Puella Magi Madoka Magica

Source Creators: Atsuhiro Shinbo & Gen Urobuchi & Shaft Productions

Year Published/Produced: 2011

Setting: The series mainly takes place in the fictional city of Mikakihara Japan, 2011. The rest of the series takes places in the otherworldly “Labyrinths”, dark mental landscapes based on the inner feelings of the witch they belong to.

Plot Summary: The series follows a middle school girl named Madoka Kaname, who is approached by a creature named Kyuubey to grant her any wish in exchange for becoming a “magical girl” and fighting against witches— supernatural creatures that kill humans. Eventually, it is revealed witches are fallen magical girls who fall into despair and that Kyuubey purposefully creates this magical girl to witch cycle to feed off their sadness, as his species uses said emotion like energy to fight otherworldly creatures far away, to prevent the destruction of the universe.

In the end, Madoka becomes a magical girl to wish for all magical girls to get happy endings— which erases witches from existence, including herself, as all Magical Girls eventually become witches. This creates a paradox through which no one remembers her anymore, except one person, the girl who had wished for her not to live a normal life more than anyone.

Key Character Descriptions

Charlotte— The witch of sweets, it is her nature to be tenacious. Charlotte used to be a ten year old girl named Momoe, who became a witch after falling in despair at the death of her mother.

H.N. Elly— The box witch, it is her nature to be covetous. Her labrynth and cards all imply that she was an internet addicted shut-in turned internet-famous idol, who cracked under the pressure of constant performance.

Elsa Maria— The shadow witch, it is her nature to be self-righteous. Due to her religious imagery, many theorize she was driven to despair after finding out the witches she slayed as a magical girl used to be fellow humans. However, I based my story on her on the life of her namesake, Elsa Asenijeff.

Gertrud�� The rose garden witch, it is her nature to be distrustful. Nothing is known about her backstory, so I constructed my adaptation for her based on the info we do know about her, such as the fact that “she holds roses dearer than anything else” and that, “she loathes the thought of humans trampling her labyrinth”.

Patricia— The class representative witch, it is her nature to be an onlooker. It has been said she used to be a normal, serious girl who was overlooked by her classmates. In the show, her wish is for her school life routine to go on forever, which is what I based my adaptation for her on.

Izabel— The artist witch, it is her nature to be vain. In her prior life, she was an artist suffering from a creative block who yearned for others to notice her. It is said that every art piece she produced was something “that you have probably seen somewhere before”.

Roberta— The birdcage witch, it is her nature to rage. Before she became a witch, she was a party girl living a life of surface level relationships, specifically with men, but secretly, she was disgusted by all of them. Her wish was for friends who wouldn’t dislike her.

Cultural Themes

The fear of being alone is a major theme in Madoka Magica, as depicted through the struggles of various characters. Sayaka Miki's desire to win the affections of her crush, Kyousuke, despite his lack of care for her efforts, highlights her fear of being unloved. She becomes obsessed with trying to gain his love, ultimately leading to her downfall.

In a more subtle way, Mami Tomoe's yearning for companionship also highlights the theme of fear of being alone. Despite her cheerful and big sister-like front, Mami is revealed to be deeply lonely and craves companionship. She reaches out to other magical girls in an attempt to alleviate her loneliness, but her efforts are paid in dust.

And of course, the biggest example of this is Homura Akemi's refusal to let Madoka die. Homura goes to great lengths to protect Madoka, trapping herself in a time loop to prevent Madoka from becoming a victim of the magical girl system. Her actions are driven by her fear of losing Madoka and being left alone in a world without her, to the point where she would even let the universe itself be destroyed to save her love.

Through these characters, the series explores the visceral human need for connection, and the disastrous consequences that arise from the lengths we will go to to obtain it.

The central message I want to explore in my adaptation is the prior lives of monsters. Through these stories of monsters before they "became" monsters, I want to delve into the idea of how the creatures of Madoka Magica, framed as so inhumane the literal art style changes for them, used to lead extremely human, flawed lives before the show portrayed them. Using a simple, fairytale-like style of writing and multiple types of writing, like receipts, reviews, and diary entries, I want to portray the mundaneness of their lives, and just how involved in the world they were. That they were real little girls, with real lives that impacted the things around them.

Motifs

The most common motif in Madoka Magica is fairytale motifs, specifically Eastern European fairytales. Witches, little girls tempted by strange creatures, candy houses. One character, Sayaka Miki, even has her entire story based on the little mermaid. She loves a boy, he doesn’t love her, she sacrifices everything for him anyways and then turns into a huge, mermaid monster. I aim to invoke this through my style of writing, taking a simple yet whimsical approach.

Why Madoka?

I like almost everything about this anime. The characters, the love they have for one another, the Czech fairytale-like art style, and that despite the dark themes, the story never supports falling into the darkness yourself. One thing I dislike is that the short 12 episode length, while making the series very “complete” also serves to stunt the potential of a majority of the characters. As the series relies on the connections these characters have, it would have benefited very extremely from a longer run-time to show us the chemistry between the girls and their loved ones, as the lack of screen time can make these deep bonds seem rushed and superficial. I want to try to convey the importance of those deep bonds in my work, but like I said, it’s a matter of time, not passion, so my adaptation can’t fix this issue.

Adding sequels and prequels has, in my opinion, sullied the impact of the original work. Madoka Magica is an intensely popular brand, and thus, is extremely profitable. Making spin-offs for the short series seems obvious from a business point of view. But a majority of these spin-offs are just made simply from this business point of view, and nothing else. One example of this is the most popular spin-off series for Madoka, "Magia Record," which takes place in the same universe with a new, expansive cast of characters. The show feels like a cheap imitation of the original series. Instead of trying to explore new interesting themes or go into depth on the topics brought up in Madoka, it’s just trying to recapture what made it so special without truly understanding why it was so special in the first place.

One of the primary cultural fears explored in Madoka Magica is the fear of death, specifically the death of the ones you love. At the end of the series, it is revealed that Madoka’s aloof best friend, Homura, is actually in love with her and has been stuck in a time loop trying to prevent Madoka’s death, which proves unavoidable. The finale deals with Homura stopping the time loop and accepting her crush’s death, and that the world will move on without her, and so should she. The series tells us death is natural, it happens to all of us, and we cannot stop it. But we can honor the ones we loved and lost and step into the future as they would want.

[witchinatree]

i'm having so much fun with the new tmagp characters (and i will miss them dearly until april 11th) (side note: patreon members get access on my sisters birthday which is pretty cool) and i don't want to compare them to the tma characters because they are unique and different in MANY ways, i just also notice some parallels

gwen is very similar to jon, she has had a somewhat skeptic attitude but has now clearly been exposed to the horrors (bonzo..) and she's also climbing the corporate ladder if you will. she runs the place, she's grumpy, and i think she's closer to becoming an avatar than any of the others (even sam) (see my other post about it if youd like) (idk how to link it on mobile sorry)

alice and tim are kinda obvious, both comedic with younger brothers and are very susceptible to romantic feelings (sasha/sam). there was a lot more going on with tim and we haven't seen much of that side of alice, so i'm really excited to learn about her backstory and/or traumas. less excited about what that might to do her but yk.. yk..

sam/sasha is the most interesting one to me. sam is curious like sasha was. sasha wanted to know which made her archivist potential in everyone's eyes. sam also wants to know, he'd make a great archivist. except he's not cautious, he's like sasha if she had never worked in the artifact storage. i think sasha's strength was what she had already experienced and what she knew, but she didn't know enough and ultimately that got her killed. sam is going to keep learning until he does know enough, but he doesn't have that prior knowledge to stop him from going too far. very interesting characters from both of them

celia and martin i guess? celia's different since she's not exactly from tmagp

lena and elias because creepy murder boss

and finally colin and gertrude which is kind of insane of me to say but hear me out. gertrude cut out the eyes of book covers and magazines and everything in her home. she was incredibly paranoid she just was also a boss ass bitch about it. i think younger gertrude must've been a lot like colin, but she figured it out quicker and realized what she needed to do to survive. she asked the right questions and took the right precautions. she had the archive full of knowledge. colin doesn't have the archive, he's messing with the wrong thing and he's taking every precaution and hurting himself and those around him (sam's phone specifically comes to mind). i think gertrude was like colin but she had the right resources to get through it

idk all of these are very interesting and it makes me worry a bit, but ofc every character is unique and has aspects to them that change their stories. they're probably still gonna die though, we know jonny sims loves killing characters ☹️

[wizardsnorlax]

Ok so update on the Spiral Jon fic I'm writing: I'm getting it onto Ao3 bit by bit because it's super difficult to write on mobile, but I need to take a break and get ideas for the season three events out before they get lost, here's a link to the season 2 notes

Ok here we go

Melanie does not join the Archives, this is for the best

At one point in season 2 Jon gave Sasha Georgie's contact info for "in case of emergency" use so Sasha is gonna be (mostly) ok she just needs to pop an allergy pill every once in a while

Sasha might be good with the hardware of a computer but the software might as well be a completely different language so she's very little help with Georgie's show

Jon takes to reading Statements like I took to weed gummies

Sasha follows about the same trail of clues as Jon did in Canon but Daisy's grip on Sasha is a bit harder to hold so Sasha gets claw slashes on her arms instead of a knife at the throat

Things that have changed about Jon while Sasha was gone: his hair now has ringlet curls, the extra flexibility in his joints has progressed but not to the point anyone has noticed let alone would consider a problem and his eyes are twitchy from the stress of filling her position to the point he looks like he's constantly ODed on caffeine

Sasha gets back in the office and when everyone learns they can't quit or be fired Jon makes it his personal mission to be as much of a menace to Elias as possible

but he'd never do that to Sasha, she gets doodles of her hanging out with Cecil from Nightvale because she's a good boss:)

Martin scolds Tim for how he's been treating Jon and Sasha because of the changes caused by first and secondhand paranormal bullshit exposure

Jon gets to go out for drinks with people who actually like him

Everyone learns why Jon has a shirt that says "the difference between me and Superman is Superman has Super Vision, I need constant supervision

A discussion about who takes Jon home with them is had because at some point the poor goober lost his shoes and started trying to wrap around Martin like a belt

Sasha gets kidnapped on her way home

Michael helps her because some part remembers being an archival assistant and she's treated hers so much better than Gertrude did

Helen doesn't take Michael's place but the door still rejects him and the corridor collapses as both Sasha and Michael crash into Jon's new flat

Michael is freed but is in such bad shape he needs to be in the hospital for several weeks on recovery

Things attempt to be normal

Tim and Jon are menaces to Elias in very different ways

Jon doesn't want anyone traveling alone

Elias doesn't care but can't STAND the idea of Jon being there without a buffer so Sasha gets to have company on her trip, Tim goes to India and gets the ghost bullet, cue Mystery Mousketool meme

Martin, Basira and Daisy are handling the workload as best they can but since none of them are particularly suited to the task things go badly because Martin is terrible at direct leadership

When Sasha and Jon get kidnapped by Trevor and Julia, Sasha decides that the best way to clear some of the air is through lore dumping her backstory (still to be determined)

Jon is deemed suspicious by the false cop cause he does NOT look sober

Insert attempted police brutality interrupted by a shotgun

While the false cop is regenerating Jon gets the "how did you two meet" Statement from Julia

They get to the cabin and Jon freaks out a little at the idea of reading ANOTHER cursed book

Big relief when nobody gets eaten this time

Nobody ever believes him but Jon has kept every promise he's made (not that he's made many before but it's the principle of it)

Yoinks the page

Our duo finishes the assignment

Back home

Sasha learns about the storage unit

JON STOP REACHING FOR THE EXPLOSIVES YOU ABSOLUTE GREMLIN

Tim is EXTRA motivated to wreck shop at the Unknowing

Jon and Martin stay behind to be distractions

Big boom happens, Tim makes it out because the guy's literally too angry to die, Sasha is in the coma, Daisy is in the Coffin and Basira is just having a time of it

Jon gets mind fondled by Elias and it makes Martin want to rip the bastard's throat out but the best he can do is have the cops rough him up as much as possible

Jon is temporary head of the Archives and the pressure swallows him whole and he crashes like a meteorite because he desperately doesn't want to be the one giving orders

Martin's "assistance" has been leaving cobwebs in places nobody checks

And thus we enter season 4

[shiplessoceans]

Magnus Protocol theory incoming:

Disclaimer: I have only listened to the original podcast once through. Binged it in the span of 2 months while playing Disney Dreamlight Valley (it was a dark time in my life, I cope how I cope). I am still hazy on the finer details and names (Bouchard's, Leitners etc etc.)

But I had a thought around TMP episode 5 and I am more convinced of it now having listened to the latest episode.

I think when Martin and Jon went through the rift, they went to an alternate universe, but also an alternate TIME within the universe.

And in the timeline of the Magnus Protocol as we are listening to it, they are both either older than when we left them, or long dead having lived for years in this current world.

The evidence we have is their voices on the computers. I did initially wonder: "wait, have they been turned into A.I voice programs by the horrors?"

But it's far more likely that they made each recording and put it into this old analogue system that could handle and contain the records without glitching.

Which would mean the Institute (Office of Incident Assessment and Response) as it currently exists could have been established by Jon and Martin, or at least they took part in setting it up in an attempt to prevent what happened in TMA from happening here. Yes, they brought the horrors through, but they can contain them. Keep the records random, screen young people for some kind of study (not sure what that's about yet) and then hire a bunch of casuals to sit around on shifts and catalogue the recordings to feed The Eye. But keep them vague, rotate staff in and out frequently and make sure none of them can become The Archivist to repeat the ritual.

Gwen mentioning time travel study feels important.

The Magnus Insistute was destroyed in this universe, which feels like something Jon and Martin would do, to prevent history from repeating.

Gwen being a Bouchard could be a coincidental throwaway, red herring style, because Elias Bouchard wasn't innately anyone special until the horrors marked him. Gertrude being alive in this universe feels important and is another indicator that history in this world is different than in TMA.

I think we're supposed to think this world is different because it's an alternate universe but I am convinced Jon and Martin made changes to try to fix the timeline.

My question is: Who's watching? We know we only ever hear security footage and people's mobile phones secretly listening to them and in the most recent episode a tape switched on in the burnt down Institute to record Sam and Alice digging around.

We are listening. We are still avatars of The Eye. But I have to wonder if Jon is off somewhere, unable to keep his eyes off things, making sure nothing is going wrong...

Will come back and eat my words if I'm wrong!

[fanfic-the-wish-your-heart-makes]

Oswald Cobblepot Going Ice Skating with You (Fluff ⛸🐧🧊)

Even just putting a shoe on his injured foot is impossible.

However, he's content to watch you glide across the ice, whether that be with a warm beverage in his hand or by walking around the side fence to stay close to you. Ozzie is entranced by you - even if you aren't good at ice skating.

As much as he'd love just the sight of you, he might still try to move on the ice as well, probably by wearing a proper ice skating shoe on his better food, and by wearing slightly high heels on the other for his feet to be at the same height.

Ice skating is still something he has to re-learn after not having done it for a long time. Oswald has very happy memories of it: Gertrude loved everything to do with music and dance, so she also loved the elegant movements that can be made on the ice.

Despite his safety precautions, he doesn't have the illusion of complete safety: he needs something to hold onto, preferably not you, because he'd prefer not to make you fall.

Now comes the thing: if you've ever gone ice skating, you might have seen certain mobility aids: the penguins. The figures with two handles that are often big enough that adults can use them. Yep. Oswald might not limp on the ice but he won't get rid of the penguin-coding 😄 Here's a picture for reference:

Hold on, let me change that to a more Gotham-accurate color grading:

I had to 🤭😂

Despite the probably somber and not at all sparkly ambience of Gotham, you two have a great time. Managing to move across the ice might be a challenge, but it's one most welcome for someone whose challenges are usually of the deadly sort. It's also cold, which means that there will be lots of cuddles afterwards 🥰.

[i-will-change-this-someday]

Ok, so I finally finished putting the incident dates on here, I would like to thank @life-in-present-tense for getting all the dates, it was incredibly helpful, and saved me so much time.

(This took me way, way longer to finish than it should have. I actually put all the dates in a while ago, but to make the sheet in chronological order I had to move each row manually and I ended up getting busy and not having the energy or motivation to finish it so I’m sorry about that.)

To recap, here’s all the information on the sheet:

Episode Number

Episode Length (for multiple statements in one episode the statement length is in parentheses. [ I’m not quite finished with them yet])

Episode Name

Read by / Taken by

Case File Number

Statement Giver

(Date of) Statement Given

Regarding… (summary)

(Date when it was) Committed to tape

(List of) Speaking Characters

Incident Date

Along with the information, there are multiple sheets:

Episode Order

Alphabetical Order

Alphabetical Order without (most) "The"s and "A"s

Chronological Order by Statement Given Date

Chronological Order by Incident Date (For ones that have no date, I placed it based off of when the statement was given, so the incident was some point before then.)

Statement Filters (Read by / Taken by - Jonathan Sims, Elias Bouchard, Gertrude Robinson, Basira Hussain, Martin Blackwood, Melanie King, Timothy Stoker, and Live Statements)

Speaking Characters Filters (Literally every character that spoke in more than one (1) episode, and One Time Characters)

For the filter sheets I'm not sure how well it works on mobile, but it definitely works on a laptop.

(EDIT: The Statement filter page is not completely working, Episode 200 is on every filter, I will try to fix that later)

For the Incident dates, I changed the format a bit from what was written, to see what Life-In-Present-Tense wrote originally, go Here.

For the the sheet, I placed them based of the earliest date. (I.e 2003-2009 would be in the "2003" section)

[ao3feed-jonmartin]

Letters from Elias

read it on AO3 at https://ift.tt/XLl7YFi by CelaWilliver A collection of letters Elias has written to Peter. Because why would you ever own a mobile phone when you can just write a letter to your on-and-off-again husband. This was just a silly idea I had about how Elias probably only writes letters and then it got kind of searious and spans the entirety of tma until the eyepocolypse. Words: 1556, Chapters: 5/5, Language: English Fandoms: The Magnus Archives (Podcast) Rating: Teen And Up Audiences Warnings: Major Character Death Categories: M/M Characters: Elias Bouchard | Jonah Magnus, Peter Lukas, Jonathan "Jon" Sims | The Archivist, Martin Blackwood Relationships: Elias Bouchard | Jonah Magnus/Peter Lukas, Martin Blackwood/Jonathan "Jon" Sims | The Archivist Additional Tags: Mentioned Gertrude Robinson, Mentioned Jurgen Leitner, Mentioned Rosie Zampano, Love Letters, kind of, Crack Treated Seriously, Marriage, Divorce, Post-Divorce, Remarriage, disregard for human life, Lonely Eyes, Elias Bouchard | Jonah Magnus beeing a Drama Queen, Eyepocolypse, Brutal Pipe Murder of Jurgen Leitner read it on AO3 at https://ift.tt/XLl7YFi

[logi1974]

Südengland 2024 - Tag 4

Ladies and Gentlemen!

Auf unser heutige Hauptattraktion wurden wir ebenfalls wieder durch einen Fernsehbeitrag aufmerksam. Es wurde dabei als das schönste Schloss Englands beschrieben: Leeds Castle.

Dabei liegt das Castle gar nicht in Leeds, sondern in Kent - gerade einmal eine gute 3/4 Stunde entfern von unserem Weingut. Die Burg liegt dicht an der Autobahn M20, die zum Eurotunnel führt.

Mit dem beeindruckenden Wassergraben und der Architektur im mittelalterlichen Stil kann man leicht erkennen, warum. 

Am Ticket Shop, der ein ganzes Stück von dem Castle entfernt ist, wurden wir erst einmal £ 35 pro Person los - also rund 41 Euro - ein ganz schön happiger Eintrittspreis.

Die freundliche Dame an der Kasse sagte uns aber, dass die Tickets ein ganzes Jahr lang ihre Gültigkeit behalten und so dass man damit so oft man mag, Leeds Castle besuchen kann. OK, das relativiert den Ticketpreis etwas und wir beschließen auf unserer Rückreise hier noch einmal vorbei zu schauen.

Auf dem Geländes des Leeds Castles findet der Besucher alles, was man von einer vernünftigen alten englischen Burg erwartet: Pfauen, die mit ihrem Kreischen für eine besondere Atmosphäre sorgen, ein Irrgarten, Schwäne, die auf dem River Len ihre Bahnen ziehen, schön anzusehende Gärten und Vorführungen mit Falken.

Zur Burg kann man entweder zu Fuß, über gewundene Wege durch den Park, gehen oder mit einer kleinen Bimmelbahn fahren. Selbst an die fußkranken Besucher ist gedacht und man hat einen Mobility Transporter im Einsatz, der die Leute von A nach B chauffiert.

Nach dem ausgiebigen Studium des Planes, beschließen wir spontan, wegen des herrlichen Wetters, uns heute nur mit den Außenanlagen zu befassen. Das Castle selbst machen wir dann beim nächsten Besuch, da muss das Wetter auch nicht ganz so prächtig sein.

Alles, was hier geboten wird, würden wir an einem Tag sowie niemals schaffen. Und so schlendern wir gemächlich durch den Park bis zum Schloss.

Dann biegen wir ab zu den ehemaligen Wirtschaftsgebäuden und besichtigen dort das Dog Collar Museum. Ein Hundehalsband-Museum, das sich sich mit dem Thema Hundehalsbänder beschäftigt.

Hund und Mensch haben eine lange Geschichte – ebenso wie Hundehalsbänder. Einer der ersten Beweise dafür, dass ein Mann ein Halsband benutzte, stammt aus der Zeit um 3500 v. Chr. 

Seit viereinhalb Jahrtausenden verwenden wir Halsbänder, um unsere Hunde festzuhalten, zu schützen und zu identifizieren. Das Museum wurde 1977 gegründet, als Gertrude Hunt 62 historische Hundehalsbänder der Leeds Castle Foundation schenkte. 

Die Sammlung ist auf über 130 Halsbänder aus fünf Jahrhunderten angewachsen und erzählt die Geschichte der sich entwickelnden Beziehung des Hundes zum Menschen.  

Die ersten Hundehalsbänder der Kollektion sind Furcht erregende Stachelhalsbänder, die Hunde vor Wölfen und Bären schützen sollten, wenn sie auf der Jagd waren. 

Im 15., 16. und 17. Jahrhundert waren die Wälder Europas voller Raubtiere, die gerne den Jagdhunden, die in ihr Revier eindrangen, die Kehle herausrissen. 

Um ihre treuen Begleiter zu schützen, statteten Jäger die Hunde mit dicken Eisenhalsbändern aus, die mit eindrucksvollen Stacheln besetzt waren.

In der Renaissancezeit zeigen die Halsbänder, dass Hunde zu wertvollen Besitztümern geworden waren und immer noch häufig für die Jagd verwendet wurden.

Zu diesem Zeitpunkt war dies jedoch in erster Linie ein Sport der Reichen und Adligen. Ihre besten Jagdhunde trugen enorm zum Ansehen des Besitzers bei und trugen sehr dekorative und kunstvolle Kragen.

Halsbänder aus dem 17. und  18. Jahrhundert sind nach wie vor dekorativ, unterscheiden sich jedoch zunehmend in der Größe, was die Mode widerspiegelt, kleinere Rassen als Schoßhunde und Begleiter zu verwenden. 

Mit dem ausgehenden 18. Jahrhundert wurden die Halsbänder dekorativer und weniger funktional ��� barockes Leder, verziert mit Metallarbeiten und Samt, manchmal mit den Wappen königlicher Besitzer.

Mit neuen Technologien konnten wunderschöne Halsbänder aus Silber, Gold und Messing gefertigt und geprägt oder graviert oder Lederhalsbänder mit Glöckchen verziert werden. 

Für die Auskleidung von Hundehalsbändern werden verschiedene Materialien verwendet, darunter Leder, Samt und Wollfilz. Auf Halsbändern sind oft Aufschriften angebracht, die Besitzern helfen sollen, vermisste Hunde wiederzufinden. 

Bei den meisten dieser Inschriften handelt es sich um eine einfache Aufzeichnung des Namens des Besitzers, aber einige sind ausführlicher geschrieben. Auch deutsche und österreichische Lederhalsbänder werden ausgestellt, die reich verziert sind.

Das Museum ist täglich geöffnet und der Eintritt ist im Ticket für Leeds Castle enthalten.

Anschließend geht es durch den ehemaligen Küchengarten hindurch und hinten wieder hinaus.

Dort befinden sich das Labyrinth und die Grotte. Jedes vernünftige Castle muss zwingend über ein Labyrinth verfügend. Irrgärten sind speziell in England sehr beliebt und so manches stattliche Heim bietet so eine Anlage für seine Besucher an, die sich dann mehr oder weniger anstrengen müssen, den Weg wieder hinauszufinden.

Die Geschichte der Irrgärten und Labyrinthe erstreckt sich über viele tausend Jahre. Die ersten urkundlichen Zeugnisse eines Labyrinths sind in die Wände prähistorischer Höhlen auf Sardinien eingraviert.

Ein im 19. Jahrhundert v. Chr. erbautes Labyrinth bestand aus zwölf Labyrinth Innenhöfen! Irrgärten und Labyrinthe werden aufgrund ihrer fast mystischen Eigenschaften mit Ritualen, Legenden und Märchen in Verbindung gebracht.

Die Labyrinth-Designs wurden auch als eine Form der Verteidigung gegen Invasionen oder böse Geister verwendet. Früher war es üblich, labyrinthartige Formen an die Türschwellen anzubringen, um Hexen fernzuhalten!

Das bekannteste Labyrinth der Geschichte ist natürlich das vom Minotaurus. In der griechischen Mythologie war der Minotaurus ein Wesen mit einem Stierkopf auf dem Kopf Körper eines Mannes. Er wurde vom kretischen König Minos in der Mitte des Labyrinths gefangen gehalten.

Das heutige Heckenlabyrinth ist eine neuere Entwicklung, die während der Tudor-Zeit als niedrige Labyrinthe aus Sträuchern oder Kräutern begann.

Das Labyrinth im Leeds Castle wurde erst 1987 aus 2.400 Eiben angelegt. Verantwortlich dafür ist Gilbert Randoll Coate (1909-2005).

Coate liebte es, diese „Mazes“ zu entwerfen und seine Spezialität war es, Irrgärten in symbolischer Form anzulegen. Insgesamt über 50 Irrgärten soll er gestaltet haben.

Es ist in einem Quadrat angeordnet, und dennoch ist das Muster vom Hügel oder aus der Luft gesehen kreisförmig. Dies ist einzigartig und erhöht die Schwierigkeit, es zu lösen. Zig mal endeten wir in einem Dead End, bis wie endlich wieder heraus fanden.

Die in der Mitte liegende Grotte und der durch sie führende Tunnelausgang sind der Preis für die Lösung des Leeds Castle-Labyrinths und gelten als eine einzigartige Kombination.

Die meisten Grotten haben ein klassisches Thema. Diese hier hat Ovids Metamorphosen zum Gegenstand. Eine ganze Wand nimmt das Gesicht von Typhoeus ein, der in der griechischen Mythologie ein Riese mit 100 Köpfen, furchteinflößenden Augen und einem furchteinflößenden Wesen war.

Wenn man nach oben schaut, sieht man direkt unter dem Oberlicht rechteckige Paneele, die zwei der Symbole von Leeds Castle zum Vorschein bringen – Schwarze und weiße Schwäne.

Für die Darstellung wurden viele natürliche Materialien verwendet, darunter Steine, Muscheln, Lava, Achate, Holz und Knochen. Am Ende befindet sich die Höhle des Einsiedlers, die ursprünglich leer war, da sie sich auf Ovid bezieht, der sein Leben im Exil beendete.

Die Höhle ist nun vom Grünen Mann bewohnt, eine Ergänzung aus den späten neunziger Jahren.

Hinter dem Maze (Labyrinth) befindet sich das Greifvogelzentrum. Das Greifvogelzentrum von Leeds Castle beherbergt Vögel verschiedener Arten, von der kleinen Prärieeule bis zu einem Russischen Steppenadler.

Natürlich würdigen wir den Pale Chanting Goshawk entsprechend, denn schließlich kennen wir den Singhabicht aus dem südlichen Afrika.

Hier wird er ausschließlich nach Südafrika verortet, das ist allerdings nur semi-korrekt. Tatsächlich kommt er auch in Namibia, Botswana und den angrenzenden Ländern vor.

Dafür scheint dieses Exemplar hier sehr Tennis begeistert zu sein, denn er hält einen Tennisball mit einem Fuß immer ganz fest und gibt den auch nicht her.

Jeden Tag (je nach Wetterlage) sind die Vögel auf dem Übungsgelände und in ihren Volieren öffentlich zu sehen. Für jeden Vogel gibt es ein Informationsschild mit Namen, Art, Alter, Herkunft und sein Lieblingsfutter.

Die Flugshow der Greifvögel findet in den Sommermonaten täglich um 14 Uhr statt. Gefolgt von einem Meet & Greet jeweils um 15.30 Uhr. So auch heute. Dafür treffen sich alle Interessierten in einer Arena ähnlichen Anlage. Alles macht auf uns einen sehr gepflegten Eindruck.

In dem gleichen Bereich befindet sich der Knight’s Stronghold Playground. Ein Spielplatz mit dem Thema "Mittelalter". Vom Burgturm und der Zugbrücke bis hin zu Tunneln und Klettergerüsten ist für jedes Kind etwas dabei.

Der Abenteuerspielplatz verfügt über Sitzbereiche für Familien und natürlich auch über einen Shop, in dem die Eltern gerne ihr Geld für Mittelalter-Spielzeug loswerden können.

Sehr angenehm fallen uns überall die Picknick Plätze auf, die jeder Besucher mit selbst mitgebrachten Speisen & Getränken nutzen kann. Niemand ist hier auf die hauseigene Gastronomie angewiesen.

Denn selbstverständlich sind die Preise knackig. Wir gönnten uns ein Eis: 2 Kugeln im Hörnchen macht 4,50 Pfund! Also, insgesamt 9 Pfund für die beiden Eis.

Mit dem Eis in der Hand ging es dann auch zurück zum Auto, denn wie mussten noch eine ganze Strecke fahren .Anschließend machen wir uns noch auf den Weg nach Portsmouth, das wir nach rund 4 Stunden Fahrt um 19.30 Uhr erreichten, dem Berufsverkehr sei dank.

Wir werden im altehrwürdigen The Ship Leopard Boutique Hotel übernachten. Das Hotel liegt fußläufig zum Historic Dockyard.

Good Night!

Angie, Micha und Mr. Bunnybear (der Hasenbär)

[aslightaddity]

Dappy!verse lore The Penguin

Born the daughter of Gertrude Kableput after an affair with Salvatore Moroni. He was an only child as his birth was incredibly traumatic for his mother, he was born prematurely and with cerebral palsy.

His mother was fiercely protective of him. He barely left his home, when he did it was to the doctors, the store, the library, or the park but always with his mother. He was homeschooled by his mother and his neighbors as a child due to his difficulties speaking and the lack of accessibility in the Gotham public schools.

As a child he knew he was different, past his condition, he knew he was truly a boy, he had no way to communicate this, he had no word for what it was. Until he made a friend, a pen pal really, named Helix, who was like him. She too was trans and sheltered. They bonded over their letters, they shared photos, books, songs they loved, and their crazy stories.

For his seventeenth birthday he was surprised with his own set of arm crutches that his mother and neighbors had pooled together money for and was finally had more mobility that he didn’t need to rely on someone else for.

That was the same day he saw his first dead body. He finally had his own way to visit Helix on his own so he went to visit her but when he arrived at her home the doors were unlocked and in the middle of the room was the bloodied corpse of Helix. The only thing the killer left was a ransom note.

Oswald took the note and went to the worst place he knew to try and find answers, fish mooney’s club. He demanded to know if the person could be identified but Fish refused to tell him anything without assurance that he was loyal. In trade for the information Oswald began working for Fish.

As one of Fish’s employees he was given a spare tuxedo, it wasn’t as fitted as the others had them but he was greatful as he finally looked more like a man in it. He worked as a greater for the club and kept tabs on who came and went, like a look out, lord knows the security was just there for show and the heavy lifting. He also helped Fish hide items, often bringing them home and hiding their food hem under a loose floor board.

His mother wasn’t too happy that he got a job but he assured her it was a good job and that the extra money would be nice.

Over the years he slowly got closer to finding Helix’s murderer and he got closer to Fish herself. She was nice but strict, like a mother, and doted on him, saying how he looked like a little penguin in his suit. A nickname that quickly caught on. With the money he earned he was able to pay for his mother’s dream home in another, safer, city and was even able to pay for gender affirming care and better mobility aids on his own.

Then the day came when Fish called him aside to talk to him. They had found who they believed killed Helix and due to his dedication it was up to him what happened to him. Oswald had long made up his mind, he was going to kill them himself.

When the day finally came he went along with Fish and some of the other men to the man’s apartment. He was given a gun, not a nice one but by no means cheap. It was quick and slow the moment when he shot and killed the man he didn’t even bother to learn the name of.

He finally got revenge but there was more he realized his own potential. He could be just as great as Fish.

Fish realized this too and slowly he improved and became her second in command. She drunkenly told him one night that if she to die that it would all be his.

It was an uncharacteristically sunny day in Gotham when that statement would become true. While in a meeting with Falcone the all to familiar sound of a gunshot rang out. Oswald rushed in the room to find Fish bleeding out. Despite his insistence to help and try to save her, she already resigned herself to the death and reminded him that he was going to be a great man.

Usually when he returned home with blood on his hands from work he would wash it off as soon as he could but when he returned home he found himself unable to wash off her blood.

He took up Fish’s position, cozied up to Falcone despite how much he hated the man. But Falcone didn’t care about him, instead of treating him with the same respect he gave Fish, he made Oswald look after his daughter Sophia. Sophia insisted they were friends but it was very clear that they weren’t. They talked but it was mainly Sophia talking and Oswald responding in short answers.

Becoming more and more irritated with Falcone he began scouring to find others that disliked him and Moroni. Which, naturally, was a lot of people. He promised them better, to his ability he gave them better. It wasn’t long before people started denouncing Falcone or Moroni in favor of Oswald. Far too many people to just kill, far too important too.

It wasn’t long before he was confronted by both Falcone and Moroni. Who had nothing by colorful things to say to and about him, the threatened to kill him if he didn’t put an end to his growing claim on their crime empires.

Oswald wasn’t a fool. He had learned from them and so many other men like them how business worked, after-all he was doing a fine job running his own ‘business’. He knew that all men have a weak point you have to gouge, blackmail was a man’s best friend. So he told them what he had over each of them. For Moroni, it was the knowledge of his slew of affairs and illegitimate children he never cared to be responsible for and reminded Falcone that he knew every detail Sophia did. The blackmail alongside the dwindling support forced them to accept the change.

And for years it went like that, he ran the club, now the iceberg lounge, and managed his empire, both with the threats and attempts on his life that came with them. Never once being tied back to it all. He even took in an orphan that reminded him all too much of his long lost friend Helix, the boy was named Martin and he took him in as his own. But he grew paranoid as the years went by smooth.

Paranoid that someone was out to kill all that he loved, paranoid that every new face could be a threat. It quickly became a habit to blackmail and manipulate people. Afterall it was the only way he kept control. But then he met a man that defied his control, Ed Nygma. A man who when faced with blackmail pulled a knife and aimed for an artery. A man he would become so close to and soft with as the tell him his entire story. A story no one else knew in full.

In some ways he had gained the family he had long thought he lost.

[evilmagician430]

im glad i put off designing 2020s timeskip gertrude and papa cause why am i just now considering that one or both of them would use a mobility aid/be disabled in some way in their old age. it would be so embarrasing if i designed an even older papa acachalla and he isn't even in like a moving chair of any kind. (i know what a wheelchair is called but im thinking of those electronic scooter chair things that old fat people use to get around. i don't remember what they're called) gertrude on the other hand i think her mobility would be preserved because she would be going on morning jogs and shit like that but as to not make her too overpowered i think she has some other issues with like hearing or memory. they probably both have memory issues, possibly dementia? i took a whole course on dementia a while ago for my job but i forgot the specifics of how it works.

[ollieofthebeholder]

And If Thou Wilt, Forget: a TMA fanfic

Read from the beginning on Tumblr || AO3 || My Website

Chapter 35: I promise nothing: follow, friend, and see

Tim’s mobile phone sang out from the corner of his desk, the generic ringing that meant it was a number not programmed into his contacts—which startled him, not because he wasn’t expecting a call, but because he could have sworn he’d left it on vibrate. He picked it up quickly before Jon could come out and complain about him interrupting a recording. “Stoker.”

The voice on the other end, a kindly, gentle baritone with its distinctly Sicilian accent, was immediately familiar to Tim, and he understood the words perfectly, although he really wished he didn’t. Switching languages as a matter of habit, he asked several questions, confirmed a few things, and extracted a promise of a call back with more information later before thanking the young priest and ending the call slowly. He barely remembered to adjust his sound settings before setting the phone down on his desk.

Of all the things that could have happened today, this was the last one he needed.

He looked down at the steaming pile of bullshit in front of him. Everything they had been working for the last week had been complete twaddle; they hadn’t even touched anything already on the shelves. Halloween week meant the Institute as a whole was busier than usual. Research was always inundated with statements—credulous people who’d been spooked by convincing displays, teenagers daring one another to get horror film plots entered as actual events, wannabe ghost hunters trying to legitimize their hunts—and, as they usually did, they’d reached out to the Archives for help. Tim had actually thought Jon was going to refuse this year, but he’d surprised him by not only agreeing, but actually doing his share of the research. He certainly seemed a lot more relaxed than he’d been at any time since before Jane Prentiss’s attack, and especially since whatever had happened that had resulted in him needing five stitches in his arm. He’d wondered, briefly, if there was a way he could keep the real statements from ever getting to Jon in the first place, but quickly discounted that. Apart from the fact that he genuinely didn’t think it was possible at this point, Jon was the Archivist now, which meant he was beginning to grow dependent on the statements. If Tim took them away from him, he might be okay, but he might not, and Tim didn’t know how far he was on the path to know if he could survive that. Even aside from the fact that he wasn’t going to kill Jon until and unless he had proof he was the one who’d murdered Gertrude, he wasn’t going to kill him by starving him to death. That was just cruel.

Anyway, it was moot. Jon had taken a real statement the previous day, if Tim was any judge; the man who’d come down had shown clear signs of having been marked by the Corruption, but since he was also the ECDC pest control expert who’d come in response to Jane Prentiss, that wasn’t really a surprise. It still meant Jon had taken in a genuine statement, so he was, at his current rate, probably good for a week.

Between that and the fact that they didn’t have any active cases that wouldn’t go on the laptop, maybe he could justify taking a couple days off.

Logically, he knew this wasn’t a situation where his request for time off would be denied, but…at the same time, he was reluctant to take the time off, even for this, if…things…were continuing to be bad. And he wasn’t sure he wanted to address the situation directly with Jon anyway, let alone Elias. He’d need to talk to Gerry before he made the request, though. Mentally shoring himself up, he tried to put the thought out of his mind and focus on his work.

It had been a long time since he left right at the end of the day—he always tried to stick around until Jon left these days—but when six o’clock rolled around, he shut down his laptop and headed out the door. Part of him worried about that, but the rest of him decided, screw it, he could have one day of letting someone else do the hovering. He didn’t even wait to see if the others were leaving.

Martin caught up to him just before the train pulled into the station. “Everything…okay?” he asked uncertainly.

Tim gave Martin a quick smile. “No, but it’s not related to work. Don’t worry about it.”

“Is there anything I can do to help?”

It took a lot of willpower not to snap at Martin for being too damn helpful, but Tim swallowed it down. He opened his mouth to tell him no, but what came out was, “I may have to go away for a couple of days. Just promise you’ll keep an eye on Jon while I’m gone if I do.”

“Yeah—yeah, of course. You don’t even need to ask.” Martin’s face softened ever so slightly. “He’s not taking great care of himself these days.”

“No,” Tim agreed. “Not that he ever took great care of himself to begin with.” He cocked his head at Martin. “What about you? Are you doing okay? Taking care of yourself?”

“I’m fine,” Martin said quickly. Too quickly. Tim could hear the lie before the first syllable had left his lips. Martin wasn’t sleeping that much better than he had been when he was living in the Archives, and he was still working himself to death, just less because he worried Jon would figure out he didn’t know what he was doing and more because he was trying to keep Jon from doing too much. He felt almost as guilty as Tim did about whatever had happened to him—or maybe he felt just as guilty, but in a different way—and he was also dealing, or failing to deal, with a massive crush he believed nobody else knew about and fully believed would never go anywhere anyway. Add in whatever was going on in his personal life, between his mum and the shithole he lived in, and he was a hot mess.

Under any other circumstances, Tim would have called him out on it, or at the very least invited him over for dinner and an opportunity to play with Rowlf. Given him an opportunity to vent and let off some stress and get some things off his chest. Maybe he even would have helped him out with it. But right now he had his own shit to deal with and he was too stressed about the possibility of leaving the Archives—and the Archivist—unguarded to take on Martin’s problems too, so he just let it slide. He could pick up the pieces of that next week. Maybe. Hopefully.

Just as they switched lines to head for home, Tim’s mobile phone rang again. He glanced at it before answering. Same number as earlier. With an apologetic grimace at Martin, he accepted the call. “Assa binidica?”

He took a seat in one corner of the car and carried on the conversation as quietly and unobtrusively as he could, keeping half an eye on Martin as he did so; Martin sat a couple seats away and stared out the window with an air of studied, determined nonchalance, clearly trying to give Tim his space and not pry while also making himself available if Tim wanted to talk. There was also a figure in the opposite corner bundled up in a trench coat and doing a very poor job of not letting on that he was watching them. Since Tim didn’t get any bad vibes from whoever it was—they weren’t an agent of one of the other Thirteen, certainly not the Stranger, and they didn’t feel like a mugger or someone who meant immediate harm to them—he assumed it was just some nosy racist bastard trying to figure out what language Tim was talking so he could insult him accurately. It probably wasn’t helped when Martin, obviously responding to the stress or maybe just reminded of his own past by Tim’s conversation in Sicilian, began quietly reciting an old Polish nursery rhyme not quite under his breath.

Tim gave a little bit of his attention to Martin as he got off at Stockwell, waving distractedly and tracking his departure through the window, but mostly he was caught up in his conversation. It ended at last, and he sat back with a small sigh, just in time for his own stop to approach. He got up and trudged off the train. It did not escape his notice that the figure in the trench coat got off as well, but since they were close to the end of the line, he didn’t really think anything of it.

It was well past sundown at this point, but between the street lamps and the porch lights flickering on as people got home, there was enough light to see by. Not that it mattered. By now, Tim knew every step of this walk by heart. Which was good; his feet went on autopilot as his brain ticked over logistics, plans, and contingencies, until he was letting himself into the front door of the flat.

Rowlf, as usual, met him at the door in a whirlwind of tail and tongue. Tim automatically bent down to scratch his ears with one hand as he dropped wallet and keys into the bowl by the door with the other. “Hey, boy. You behaving yourself today?”

“I haven’t taken him out yet,” Gerry’s distracted voice called from another room, probably the kitchen. “Wanted to get dinner going first.”

“It’s okay, I’ll take him,” Tim called back, reaching for the lead hanging on the hook.

“Could you pick up some milk while you’re out?”

“Do my best.” It would be a bit out of the way of their normal route, but the walk would probably do him good. Tim clipped the lead to Rowlf’s collar and stepped back out onto the street.

A flash from across the street caught his attention, along with a quiet curse, barely audible over the usual sounds of a November evening in this part of London. Tim glanced over, seemingly without interest, just a passing look, and spotted the trench coat that he’d noticed on the Tube bending over an object. He connected that with the flash and determined this was a private investigator of some kind. Possibly one of Tim’s former flings trying to get something on him, possibly a current lover of one of Tim’s former flings trying to get evidence for a divorce, but most likely either somebody thoroughly mistaken in their target or who was actually supposed to be watching the building next door and had just taken a picture of the wrong one, hence the cursing. They weren’t very good at their job, though, if they’d forgotten to turn the flash off on their camera.

Tim set off with Rowlf, who had already peed once and was standing at his side like he was supposed to, but was thrumming with nervous energy. Evidently he’d been trapped inside for longer than usual and really needed to get out. He wasn’t pulling as they walked, but he kept shooting glances up at Tim.

Since Tim was also wound a bit too tight and afraid he was going to go firing in a hundred different directions if the wrong thing touched him off, and probably take most of the Greater London area down with him, he waited until they had reached the first corner, then picked up the pace—first a fast walk, then a jog, then into a flat out run as they hit the A24 and headed for the green space on the other side.

Rowlf, of course, was all for it; he stayed right at Tim’s side, matching him in stride, tail somehow still going ninety to the dozen as he went. Tim let his feet pound into the pavement and his mind clear itself of everything but the number of steps from here to the grocer’s and how he would have to adjust that for his running stride versus his walking stride. He forgot about the phone call, about what it would mean for the rest of the week, about what was going on in the Institute and the Archives, about whether Jon had murdered Gertrude Robinson or someone else had, about whether any of them were in danger, about all of it. It was just him, and Rowlf, and the sheer joy and relief of running.

Maybe he ought to start doing this on his lunch break.

He slowed to a jog again, then a rolling walk, as he got closer to the market on the far side of the green space. For a moment, he thought about just bringing Rowlf inside with him, but before he could run the likelihood of the owner letting it slide or there being someone else in there who called him out on it, his brain registered the sounds he hadn’t heard over his own blood in his ears: the scrape of shoe on pavement staggering to a halt and ragged, labored, yet half stifled breathing. Either he’d accidentally been following someone who was now crouched in hiding and trying not to be observed, or he’d been the one followed.

Since he didn’t have an imminent sense of danger, he was guessing on the former, but just to be on the safe side, he paused outside the shop and told Rowlf to sit. When the spaniel complied, Tim unclipped the lead, looped it around the stop sign on the corner and through the handle, and bent to reattach it to Rowlf’s collar. As he did so, he casually glanced out of the corner of his eye towards where he had heard the sounds.

The person in the trench coat who had followed him off the Tube—he was sure it was the same one—was leaning against a street lamp on the shadowed side, visible but still shadowed enough for an amateur to think they were hidden, evidently struggling to catch their breath. Clearly whoever it was had run to try and keep up with Tim and Rowlf. Good job for them that Tim had moved in with Gerry and not the other way around; Tim had had at least three wannabe Jane Marples in his old neighborhood, which would have meant more than one call to the cops about someone chasing him. Around here, nobody saw more than was good for them, so they’d probably escaped notice.

Tim straightened up, considering his options. Ignoring the person was probably the smart option; they weren’t dangerous, after all, and whatever reason they were following Tim for, they’d either finish what they were after and go away or keep following him hoping for something juicier than a grocery run. Either way, it was no skin off his nose how some busybody chose to waste their time. As long as they weren’t out to steal the dog.

“Stay,” he told Rowlf firmly, and then went into the shop.

It didn’t take him long to grab the milk, along with a loaf of bread and a wedge of hard cheese. As he handed over the money and agreed with the man behind the counter that he was tired and should have an early night, he spared a brief look for the window. Usually the difference in lighting between market and street would have meant that the window was more or less an opaque mirror from this side and clear as a millpond on a still day on the other, but he could make out the figure lurking just outside the circle of lamplight, hands shaking as they tried to light a cigarette, as clearly as if they were stood right next to each other on a summer’s afternoon.

It was Jon.

For a moment, Tim stood perfectly still. Several emotions hit him all at once. Relief. Concern. Anger. Irritation. Fear. More anger. Even more anger.

Then he turned back to the clerk, very calmly took his change, and stepped out the side door of the market.

The door stuck a bit, which wasn’t surprising; it led to a side yard where, in the summer, there was usually an offering of fresh produce and baked goods presided over by the owner’s wife under a striped awning stretched between the market and the Oxfam shop next door, but which was rarely used after the almanac turned to autumn and never after the time change. The yard itself was dark and barren, save a few scraps of rubbish and a bucket of sand bearing testament to the fact that at least one of the regular employees smoked as well. Tim quietly pulled the door to, gave himself a moment to adjust to the low lighting, and made a wide circle around to avoid the lights as he crossed the road. Jon—seemingly—didn’t notice. He’d managed to get the cigarette lit, and it dangled from his lips as he fumbled with what was clearly an actual film camera, his eyes fixed on the market across the street.

“See anything you want?” Tim said, directly in Jon’s ear.

Jon jumped, and almost swallowed the cigarette, as he whirled around, camera still firmly in hand. “Tim! What—where did you come from?”

“I thought you didn’t smoke,” Tim said, unimpressed.

“That’s none of your business,” Jon blustered, but the fact that he pulled the cigarette out of his mouth and hid it behind his back as he spoke belied his guilty feelings about it. Not that Tim cared, he told himself, just that it was something better to focus on than the real problem. “What were you doing back there?”

“A better question is, why are you here?” Tim narrowed his eyes at Jon. “Are you following me?”

“Why would you—I have the right to be here, too,” Jon snapped, obviously scrambling for the remains of his dignity.

Tim ground his teeth and reminded himself that ripping Jon’s head off before he had actual proof he’d killed Gertrude Robinson would be counterproductive and only make him feel better for, like, five minutes, tops. “Fine. Be wherever the fuck you like. Do whatever the fuck you want. I don’t care.” He was lying, and he didn’t know why, and it pissed him off more than he already was. “But leave me out of it. Your rights end where our property begins, so stop. Following. Me.” He pushed past Jon, then paused just before crossing the street and added, without looking over his shoulder, “And text Martin when you get home so he knows you’re safe. And put that fucking cigarette out before you set your arse on fire.”

Without giving Jon a chance to respond, he stomped across the road, unfastened Rowlf from the sign, and set off for home.

Rowlf seemed content to go at a fast walk rather than a flat-out run, which was good; Tim didn’t know if Jon was following them again and he told himself he didn’t care, he just wanted to go home. He gripped the lead in one hand and the bag in the other and concentrated on counting steps and running plans. Now he really didn’t want to explain what was going on to Jon if he didn’t absolutely have to.

Soon enough, they reached the flat. Tim opened the door, dropped keys and wallet in the bowl again, unclipped Rowlf’s lead, hung up his coat, and headed into the kitchen. Rowlf had his head in his water dish, and Gerry was reaching into the cupboard where they kept the dishes. Tim didn’t break stride, just headed across to put the milk and cheese in the fridge.

“Sorry, I didn’t think about how far of a walk it would be to get milk, we could have waited,” Gerry said apologetically, pulling down two plates. He turned to look at Tim, and his smile slipped. “Hey?”

“Hey.” Tim closed the distance between them and hugged Gerry. “Don’t go outside for a bit. Jon’s stalking me, he might still be out there.”

Tentatively, Gerry put his arms around Tim and pulled him close, one hand sliding into the hair on the back of his head. “Is that what’s got you looking like a thundercloud?”

“No. I got a call from Don Filippo today.” Tim slumped against Gerry, finally safe enough to stop pretending he was fine, and said the words he’d been avoiding saying since just before noon. “My grandfather died.”

“Oh, Tim.” Gerry held Tim tighter. “I’m so sorry. He was a good man. Was it…?”

“Peaceful. He went in his sleep. Nothing got him, just…old age. It’s the best I could have hoped for, really.”

“I take it you need to go out there, then.”

“Yeah. The vigil is Friday night, the funeral mass will be Saturday.”

“You set that up already?” Gerry asked, surprised.

Tim sighed. “No, that’s why Don Filippo called me. Apparently someone got hold of Mum right away. She’s already out there. She made all the arrangements.” He pulled back just enough that he could look up at Gerry, who was looking at him with such genuine sympathy and compassion it almost hurt. “I understand if you don’t want to put yourself through this, but—”

“Tim, if you’re going to face burying your grandfather and seeing your mother for the first time in at least three years, the least I can do is be there with you,” Gerry interrupted. “Besides, he told me to call him my grandfather, too. Be kind of a dick move not to come. Do we have time to fly there after you get off work Friday?”

Tim managed a smile. He knew what a huge concession that was; Gerry had sworn never to get on another plane as long as he lived. “No, travel time would be too long. Our best bet’s probably going to be taking the train and leaving Thursday. I just…don’t know if I want to tell Jon why. Especially not now.”

“So don’t. Just say you’re taking a few days off and you’ll be back Tuesday. If he was actually worthy to fill Gertrude Robinson’s shoes, he’d know where and why you were going anyway,” Gerry said under his breath. “Do you think Martin would be willing to dogsit while we were gone, or should we kennel him?”

“I’m sure he’d be happy to, if we ask.” Tim sighed and leaned against Gerry again. “Thank you.”

“Of course. You’d do the same for me, assuming I had any relatives and they weren’t complete dicks.” Gerry kissed Tim on the top of his head. “Do you think you can manage to eat dinner? And then we can talk about Inspector Clouseau and why he’s tailing you.”

“He’s doing a terrible job of it, too,” Tim grumbled. “Either he’s being performatively bad so that I’ll underestimate him and he can slip past my defenses, or he really is that paranoid and incompetent. Either way, I’m going to need strength for this discussion. Let’s eat. I wasn’t in any state to eat lunch today and I’m absolutely starving.”

[chiakinanami82]

My 2024 in review!

This is basically an overview of my favorite pieces of media that I discovered this year. DL will not be here, even if it’s my biggest hyperfixation at the moment, as I discovered it in 2016. Besides, I yap about it a lot anyways. Now, onto the list!

The Magnus Archives is a delightful horror podcast that I enjoy immensely. At the beginning, it seems to be all disconnected, but all of the strings are connected in great ways. I love Jon, Elias, Baseira, Helen, Martin, Tim, and of course Gertrude. I have the urge to listen to it again.

Gore Screaming Show is my GoTY 2006. First of all, Gore and Yuka are delightful antagonists that are fun while having their own depth. Secondly, I really enjoy the characters, especially Yuka, Gore, and Yamiko. Yamiko’s my favorite route and character. She’s chill and silly, but knows when to get serious. She’s involved with Yuka’s backstory, and I love the ending to her route. I also enjoyed the music. Do listen to “Go to Hell Heavenward”. It’s the most iconic song in the game, and it plays when things get weird.

The Spirit Bares Its Teeth by Andrew Joseph White is my favorite book I’ve read this year. It’s so raw in its depiction of abuse, transphobia, ableism, and sexism. I absolutely adore this book. Don’t worry, though. It does have a happy ending.

Moon: Remix RPG is the coziest game on this list. I discovered it thanks to StephenPlays, and I vibed with the quirkiness so much that I bought the game myself. If you don’t know what this game is, it’s the first anti-RPG. Toby Fox got a lot of inspiration for Undertale from this game, which is really cool.

Yes, I’m still talking about The Coffin of Andy and Leyley. I understand why it’s controversial, but it’s so weird that people took issue with the dream sequence incest scene over everything else. Like, in psychological horror and gothic horror, it’s pretty common to have incest. Anyway, I really enjoy the characters, the dark humor, and their incredible toxic yet dependent relationship. Oh, and the art style’s pretty good.

Fatal Frame 4 is my favorite FF game because it’s so creepy, atmospheric, and sad. I love the setting, and the story is very depressing. I mean, that’s a given for all FF games, but I really feel it with this one. You know, I really like the fourth games in a series because Silent Hill 4 is my favorite SH game.

I didn’t expect to get into Twisted Wonderland this year, but here we are. I was introduced to it in 2020 from AmiYoshiko on YouTube, but I didn’t download it and get truly into it until this year. Anyway, Twisted Wonderland is a mobile game that has characters that are based on Disney villains. My favorite character is Floyd Leech, an eccentric, moody, silly dude who’s a moray eel. He’s delightful, and I love his little nicknames for everyone. That’s all, folks! Have a happy New Year’s, and may your year be wonderful!

[greaterstolenlandspolycule]

OC Profile—Liesel (from Pathfinder Kingmaker)

Art done by the wonderful @moyashidoodles ! Go commission them (if you want of course)

Name: Liesel

Aliases: Gertrud/Gertrud Elise (by the people who raised them); Ainsel (generic fake name given out)

Alignment: True Neutral

Pronouns: they/them

Race: "Human" (actually a fey)

Homeland: The River Kingdoms

Birthday: Neth 1

Religion: Formerly Erastil; currently none, but pays lip service (and a few coins) to Hanspur for the sake of safe travel

Class(es): Sorcerer (Fey Bloodline)

Professions: Spinning, weaving, etc (formerly); general farmwork on their family's farm and around their village (formerly); itinerant mercenary (formerly); Baron of the Stolen Lands (currently)

Languages: Taldane, conversational Hallit, a smattering of Skald and Varisian

(The rest is going under a cut because this is long)

Skills: As a result of spending most of their life in a rural farming village, Liesel has a fairly in-depth understanding of nature, despite not having an education that someone from a city would consider “formal”. Their mercenary work essentially forced them to become light on their feet in order to dodge blows from attackers they wouldn’t be able to withstand and to get out of melee combat so as to be able to safely launch their own, arcane, attacks. Whenever possible, though, they prefer to avoid combat, something they are surprisingly adept at despite their innate difficulty socializing, due to being in an environment where they felt their safety depended on spending agonizing hours studying the patterns of social cues and rules in order to mimic and exploit them (a process more like learning a foreign language completely unrelated to one’s birth tongue with no dictionary, or figuring out a complex code, than anything else), and due to an innate, extremely subtle, almost definitely supernatural effect on others (while they are skilled at masking in this way, it is incredibly draining for them; additionally, while they are good at assessing the situation and figuring out what people are expressing and how they are supposed to respond, this is very much an intellectual understanding, and they have pretty significant difficulty empathizing with others). They have an inexplicable aptitude with magical items, which they find uncommonly easy to detect and command the magic of. (In game terms: Lore (Nature), Mobility, Persuasion, Use Magic Device)

Romance(s): Octavia, Regongar, Tristian, Secret Romance

Appearance: Liesel appears to be a fairly average Riverfolk human in their midtwenties. Slightly wavy brown hair in a pixie cut frames a face with somewhat tan skin and black eyes that betray little of their emotions. Their nose is just the slightest bit upturned, and, although they often don't smile wide enough to show it for long, they have a gap between their two front teeth.

They dress comfortably and casually, in colors that blend into the background--almost exclusively shades of black, grey, white, and brown--and their outfit is always completed with their beloved gray cape. While this is very much practical, it is also done deliberately, so as to not bring attention to themself, or risk seeming odd. 

They generally try to keep as much of their skin covered as possible, especially their hands--indeed, unless the situation absolutely requires they not, they always wear a pair of well-worn leather gloves. This serves both to prevent direct exposure to cold iron and to limit any unexpected unpleasant sensations.

Fighting Style: Although they are fairly athletic due to a life spent doing farmwork, Liesel is nonetheless a sorcerer, and thus stays out of melee combat on account of a) your average farmer not being a match for people specifically trained for combat and b) the gestures and focus it takes to properly channel their spells leaving them open to attacks from anyone too nearby. As a result, they stay on the backline of battle–although sometimes not as far back as they would like, given the limited range of many of their spells. They primarily focus on debuffing and generally causing problems for the enemy, whether with spells that directly do so (such as Sleep, Hypnotism, Entangle, and Scare), spells that do so in addition to dealing damage (such as Ear-Piercing Scream), or, occasionally, simply “debuffing” the enemy’s HP (read: using damaging spells to help even the odds against enemies resistant or immune to mind-altering effects, whether through significant or chip damage). They also wield a crossbow with surprising (but not at all remarkable) accuracy when necessary. When forced into close combat, they tend to default to using Laughing Touch to disable the attacker, then running away. Should that not work, they will reluctantly take out their +1 Cold Iron dagger (which they keep on (gloved) hand both to make sure that nobody else in the party could somehow use it against them, and to provide evidence why they couldn’t possibly be fey, just in case) and attack with the ferocity of a cornered animal.

Personality: Liesel’s personality is rather hard to pin down because, quite frankly, they’re so used to putting on a mask and playing a role that nobody, including them, has any idea what their true “face” would look like beneath. It’s much easier to define Liesel by the roles they’ve performed/are performing, both for practicality’s sake, and because the ways in which they adapt their behavior provide hints as to why they do so, glimpses at whatever it is that lies beneath.

For most of their life, they played the role of Gertrud Elise. The only child of two farmers, she had exhibited some odd behavior after experiencing a serious illness as a child, but had recovered to be known throughout the town as, in many ways, an ideal girl, and, eventually, young woman. She was kind, courteous, and always knew the exact thing to say when talking to others, but spent most of her time not socializing but working–often apart from others in the fields or pens, although she would sometimes join others at the loom. If there was no work to be done at her own family’s farm, she would even go work at others'. Nobody could resent her for the time spent away from others, for not being part of the community, not when she so clearly did it for them. And besides, it wasn’t as if she was a recluse–the time she spent away working was absolutely unusual, but it wasn’t extreme.

After fleeing their home village–and the simultaneously comfortably familiar and stifling nature of playing the same role day in and day out–and becoming an itinerant mercenary, Liesel began presenting radically differently in different situations, swiftly learning to assess the situation and adapt to be whatever was advantageous and needed for the job: the unflappable rock, the politely threatening negotiator, the detached and uncaring freelancer, et cetera. Since they worked with so many different people, and often under different names, there was no real need to maintain continuity. While it was radically different from what they had been used to, over the course of a few years, they got used to it.

As a result, being in the same group for an indefinite amount of time–as they have been since they accepted Jamandi Aldori’s quest–and thus needing to play the same role for an indefinite amount of time is an odd experience, both familiar and unfamiliar. “Liesel”–for, indeed, the name “Liesel” itself, which has no real special significance other than being the fake name they were using when they got word of an opportunity from the Aldori and thus being the one they are stuck with, might very well be seen as a part of this role–is a capable leader who always listens to others’ opinions and takes them into account (even if they don’t always act as others want), who is slightly uncommonly quiet and observant, but not at all stoic or severe–instead, they are rather carefree, simply not speaking up when there’s no need, content to let things flow along until they see a need to act or a true purpose for their input. They are skilled with words, whether in the form of their occasional jokes or in their deft handling of tense negotiations–and in the latter case they can reveal an ability to wield their words like a deadly weapon that sends foes sputtering and retreating without a fight. In one-on-one conversations with their companions, they are very personable, and give graceful compliments that often match exactly what the person wants complimented, to the point of flirtation at times. If this flirtation is rebuffed, they are completely without resentment, but if it is received positively, they will gladly go as far as the other person is willing to.

At times, however, they reveal another side–one far more wild. On a lighter level, this can be revealed when their emotions get the better of them and they do something impulsive and kind of silly. On a darker level, though, if an enemy is able to charge from the front line and engage them in close combat, they display a surprisingly vicious side, striking repeatedly and somewhat recklessly, willing to do anything to preserve their own life. 

History/Hooks: (CW child death, low-key ableism, discussion of a trans person prior to their transition)

On Neth 1, 4684 AR, in the River Kingdoms, in a quiet farming village nestled between the arms of the Echo Wood, so small you would be hard-pressed to find it on most maps, a child was born and named Gertrud Elise. One day, not many years later, they ran out to play, past the rye-fields that surrounded the inner village, into the woods beyond, lured by the excitement and wonder of nature and too young and foolish to think they could fall victim to its dangers. They never came back.

(Had this never happened, this child would have grown into a gregarious, hearty man named Hedwirg. He would have become a mercenary in order to pay for an expensive transitioning potion, and eventually become known for the strength of his blows and of his moral code. But this happened instead.)

After a few days of frantic searching, the child’s parents found a child that looked just like their own in the woods, distressed and feverish and covered in soil. The desperate parents, who had feared their child would become another one of the stories used to warn children not to wander, didn’t question it.

When they recovered from the fever, the few memories they had at that age were somewhat hazy, as if they’d occurred years before they did, or were particularly vivid dreams. The parents didn’t question it, though–they were happy as long as they had their child back, regardless of whether that child was whole. Besides, while fey weren’t known for giving back what they stole, they were known even less for giving replacements–and it was perfectly plausible that the child had merely gotten lost in the woods. Any oddity or change was attributed to the trauma and the fever.

As the child called Gertrud grew up, they had trouble fitting in with others. Whispers of having been permanently “damaged” by whatever happened during their disappearance, or, rarely, of something worse, terrified them, and so, when with other people, they spent all their effort on figuring out how to behave so as to fit in. The act was more or less successful, but it was exhausting, and so they took any opportunity they could to limit the time they needed to perform by working whenever possible (whether in the farm, the house, or generally around town), earning them a reputation of being a good, solid, dependable kid whose selfless and helpful disposition balanced out any slip-ups that snuck out.

This continued into adulthood, until one day when a traveling merchant came by. While the adult called Gertrud didn’t really have wanderlust, per se, they always liked and were curious about things from outside the village, so they examined the wares. When they touched one item–a dagger–their skin burned with pain as if they’d touched freezing metal. They were not naturally very expressive, and practiced at hiding their feelings besides, so they concealed the reaction, and asked casually if there were any unusual wares. This was when they learned that the dagger was cold iron.

They made their excuses (easy, because they were known for being hardworking and didn’t have much pocket money), and left for the rye-fields, where they panicked. The whispers they and their parents had dismissed their whole life were true–hell, they weren’t even their parents!

Terrified that, if they had found out that they were fey, someday–maybe even someday soon–everybody else would, that night, they packed a small bag with a few necessities, left a vague note, and took off into the darkness.

As they traveled, going by a variety of fake names, they slowly discovered they possessed magical abilities. While they feared these abilities, and didn’t understand them–and especially didn’t understand how natural they felt–they proved incredibly helpful in the mercenary work they took up. Over the course of the next few years, they garnered a reputation that, while small, nevertheless earned them an invite and offer of a mysterious job proposition from one Jamandi Aldori in Rostland. 

Unbeknownst to them, Liesel is the creation of the Green Mother, the Eldest of intrigue, carnivorous plants, seduction, and the urges that lead the unwary to their death. While they are very much flesh and blood, they were grown in the First World from a plant that was planted on top of the shallowly buried corpse of the child they replaced.

Trivia:

I often use common cuckoo (Cuculus canorus) imagery with Liesel, on account of their whole deal. 

The name Liesel isn’t fundamentally special to them, other than deriving from the middle name they thought was theirs; it was initially just another fake name, but since they are in a situation where they will be using it for the foreseeable future, and it is used by people they are growing to care about, they are becoming attached to the name.

Some of the specifics of their backstory are inspired by German folktales about the Rye Mother/Rye Aunt.

The way in which Liesel grew from a plant is partially inspired by barometz from Dungeon Meshi.

Liesel’s whole “autistic but obsessively studied and takes advantage of social cues and social norms” thing is inspired by Nick from Hell Followed With Us.

Liesel is really good at weaving. 

Liesel’s personality is partially inspired by Siffrin from In Stars and Time.

Liesel’s outfit is going to change significantly in later Acts as they progress their character arc.

If they existed in the modern day, they would be a huge fan of Kabru Dungeonmeshi and. Probably relate to him too much because they share a few very important and key traits despite being radically different people. 

Liesel has very inconsistent–and some would say entirely lacking–principles, but one of their few consistencies is that they highly value the Six River Freedoms.

They believe strongly in religious freedom, and would have no issues, for instance, with someone worshiping Lamashtu, so long as they don’t, for instance, kill people about it. They would, in fact, struggle to understand why someone would have issues with a Lamashtan who wasn’t making their religion other people’s problem.

[shoggoth-the-bitch]

Opening with Nikola immediately, I see. Why do this? Oh god.

"Needs to be near us." Breekon and Hope need the coffin near? That's interesting. Also worrying that the coffin is there at all.

Nikola makes me uncomfortable. I kinda love them... They've said "Can I call you Elias?" twice now. I'm not convinced they entirely know what's going on.

Did Jon just try to say "Fuck you?" I'm smiling way too much from this episode already.

Oh god, are they gonna- oh god, they are gonna skin him.

"Can I call you Elias?" Number three.

"Do you have a preferred brand of lotion." Oh my god. This should not be making me laugh so much.

Wait, is this the episode? It is! This where the animatic came from that got me into the show to begin with! Yes!

This one!

Jon, why do you sound more annoyed then you do afraid of this man saying he's gonna kill you? I guess when so many people are saying the exact same threat, it stops being scary after a while.

Okay, Michael or I suppose the Spiral is lies and deception. He has nothing to do with the Unknowing but he wants it to fail. Jon, fuck why he's here, ask what the Unknowing is. He doesn't want the Circus or the Archive to win?

Okay, I think I get it.

Theory before it's all said: Michael was Gertrude's assistant, he some how got taken by the Spiral, and the part of him that is still Michael resents the Archive he what happened to him. The Spiral doesn't want to be Michael anymore because it has made it's nature complicated but I suspect it can't get rid of him, for whatever reason. Okay, starting the video again.

Sure, Michael, give up a statement. I'm sure this will be very coherent and not at all filled with me going "WTF?!" constantly.

Michael Shelly... Oh, Michael here implying Gertrude is deceptive, that's interesting... what? She FEED him to the Spiral? Oh... Michael really cared about Gertrude and she used him for this.

"Is a thing evil when it simply obeys it's own nature?" That is an interesting question. A polar bear isn't evil just because it willing to hunt humans, it's just hungry. And near as I can tell, the Spiral and all these other entities, they also are just hungry in their own ways. So, maybe they aren't evil. Though that certainly doesn't make them good.

"He believed everything she told him..." Alright, me and Gertrude aren't friends anymore. But what is the Becoming, exactly?

"Okay." Jon is just giving up? I mean, I know he lives because there's like 200 episodes but...

What do you mean "It's loc-

Uh... is Michael dead? Oh, hi Helen... Yeah, I guess Michael is dead? If it could kill Michael whenever it wanted, why didn't it before? Or did it need someone to replace him? Which I guess it what Helen is for?

You're options are the door or being skinned, my guy. Make good choices.

Wait, is the Spiral cool? It's just... taking Jon home? That's pretty chill of it, given the Archive's history with it but alright.

Okay, hold up. It's entirely possibly I'm reading this all wrong but were these entities at some point just kinda vibing and Gertrude decided they all needed to be destroyed? Because that's what it sounds like to me. Like, I don't know what the Becoming is yet but it sounds like the Spiral was attempting to transition from being a thing that could never be into something that was and perhaps could even be defined. At it's very core, it sounds like these things simply wish to exist but they're so volatile that it's difficult to do so. Gertrude even wanted to destroy the Archive, the focal point of the Eye. Even though, as far as I can tell, it's only interest is to collect knowledge.

So did she just decide to go rogue and destroy all these monsters and that's why they're mobilizing like they are?