#MAG 96_Return to Sender

[notknickers]

I am very Stranger-aligned and also tend to categorise, learn, try to understand... but that's mostly the autism, frankly. To me, any Stranger emanation and those few humans who have aided it have always read autistic. Wolfgang von Kempelen, the first - to our knowlege - to attempt an Unknowing, was a recluse who spent his time tinkering on the machines of his creation, enough to draw the interest of the Stranger and his emanations for reciprocal aide. All he cared about was mechanical feats of engineering, giving a semblance of the life spark to that which is - and should stay - inanimate. Thinning the line between impossible and plausible with his ingenuity. And, like many autistics, he was very bad at the whole social interaction part of being human. Not at the special interest part, though... The machines were his friends and at some point, the machines stopped being plain creations of his imagination and labour, but became as alive as him. Gregor Osinov was a circus master, surrounded by puppets, clowns and other marvels whose job was to amaze the audience and drive them to suspend their disbelief, until knowing what really was and what shouldn't be went fom being a priority to becoming impossible. He is the only one that doesn't read as autistic, per se, but his dedication towards crafting both uncanny experiences and fantastic, nightmarish creatures, felt both notable and pertinent to grant him inclusion. Breekon and Hope are jack of all trades who have spent most of their existences on the margins of society, disposing of corpses infected with the plague, first, then as train conductors. These allowed them to travel and learn, observe, while strategically keeping interactions that might give away their otherness to a minimum, so that they could choose when to show it, to feed their power.

To them, existing in the world, is but a farce. Surely, a remnant of their circus days, when they played the part of strongmen. And parts is all they play. Whilst Breekon and Hope are the most rooted in their identity - that which is anathema to the Stranger, a fixed, defined identity - I would argue the fluidity they have maintained makes them quite emblematic. Exemplary are their interactions with the *actual* Breekon. The unsettlingly playful way with which the duo copies the man's affectations, the theatre of it all. Isn't that simply mirroring? Unlike any random autistic person, their intentions are sinister, it's true, but copying those around you while you try to understand why they behave the way they do and why they are the way they are, so that you may better fit in, when needed... I don't think I need to spend any more words in this regard, concerning Nikola and the other not!thems, whose intellect and wit ar far more keen than they give away, always taking advantage of the social contract to pervert it, always trying to pass themselves as lacking in understanding, as innocent, when they understand what they are doing full well. And how it will end... I will, however, take advantage of these characters to move to the next point, which I feel must be addressed. The body horror! What's a horror podcast without blood and guts, now and then?

Flaying. Flensing. And they always suffer. But I ask you: what is the gesture of peeling one's skin, to inhabit it, if not the carnal embodiment of the desire to know? To peel back the surface, to see what is contained within, what of it will escape, now that the barrier is breached and freedom is near? Touching, smelling, tasting, seeing, feeling... knowing. Practicle example of this attitude, Anatomy Class. Learning the insides to understand the world around you. The fear of embodiment into a static, fixed identity and the compulsion towards becoming the living embodiment of a fixed identity, only to abandon it and be undone and reborn anew. Knowing what it is to be human, a specific human, and then slipping back int othe comfort of unknwing it. Only to start again in the inescapable process. And do you know why they always suffer? Of course, bodily harm is painful in the most apparent of ways, but to keep with the metaphore, their victims suffer in body, what they suffer in spirit in being bared, revealed, made known... To be know is always a risk that bears a percentage of sorrow, with it. To be known in truth, for what one is and to be known in misunderstanding, for what one is no tyet taken to be.

Categorising. Learning. Underatanding. Explaining. All viable reactions to fear, but not unique to the Eye, for there are as many ways to go about them in actions as one can come up with accoring to their essence and attitude.

But, unlike the Eye, which only observes eschewing experience, can you really, fully know without it? Are you really better fed, without it?

One thing I'm curious about is the way people perceive fear (both the entities and the emotion) changes based on the entity they align with.

For example I'm very Eye aligned and I tend to respond to fear by wanting to categorise it, learn about it, and understand it. I'm afraid the most of things that I can't see, know, or understand.

Idk I'm just curious if that sort of obvious link was present for anyone else.

[notknickers]

𝒶 𝑜𝓃𝑒-𝒸𝓁𝒾𝒸𝓀 𝓈𝓉𝑜𝓅 𝒻𝑜𝓇 𝒶𝓁𝓁 𝓂𝓎 𝒻𝒶𝓃𝒹𝑜𝓂𝓅𝑜𝓈𝓉𝒾𝓃𝑔.

𝓂𝒶𝓎 𝒸𝑜𝓃𝓉𝒶𝒾𝓃 𝓈𝓅𝑜𝒾𝓁𝑒𝓇𝓈

𝓈𝑜𝓂𝑒 𝓁𝒾𝓃𝓀𝓈 🔞

𝖙𝖍𝖊 𝖒𝖆𝖌𝖓𝖚𝖘 𝖆𝖗𝖈𝖍𝖎𝖛𝖊𝖘

𝕞𝕖𝕥𝕒 + 𝕡𝕣𝕠𝕞𝕡𝕥𝕤

tma-crazy ex-girlfriend crossover not!sasha as archivist mag 96_return to sender: musings nikola orsinov russian seamstress AU prompt nikola/annabelle sillypost 1 nikola/annabelle sillypost 2 agnes montague and the desolation: musings adelard and gerard’s oddity-hunting agency tma-malevolent crossover jonathan sims vs simon fairchild: musings dear archivist cake glutton teahead croon, gerry, croon! could nikola orsinov kill macbeth? don't be a stranger, sasha!

𝕗𝕒𝕟𝕗𝕚𝕔𝕤

tma: domestic AU a bloody prank, parts i-iii (unfinished) avatar pick-up lines: the buried

𝕞𝕖𝕞𝕖𝕤

average gerard keay enjoyer jane prentiss' twitter compels me, though benefits of being an archivist

𝕗𝕒𝕟𝕒𝕣𝕥

bumper sticker agender nikola wire nikola orsinov twins' beauty spa from the library of jurgen leitner: a guest for mr spider from the library of jurgen leitner: the bone turner's tale

𝖉𝖚𝖓𝖌𝖊𝖔𝖓𝖘 𝖆𝖓𝖉 𝖉𝖗𝖆𝖌𝖔𝖓

𝕠𝕣𝕚𝕘𝕚𝕟𝕒𝕝 𝕗𝕚𝕔𝕤

auviron 🔞

𝕠𝕔 𝕒𝕣𝕥

cael'i'wyn 🔞

𝖒𝖜 𝖎𝖎

𝕞𝕖𝕥𝕒

headcanons: könig 👑 headcanons: könig -> an update 👑 headcanons: eldritch!könig 🐙👑 🔞 tma fears and könig 👑 terato!könig: musings 🐙👑 könig is a pillow princess an acknowledgement 🔞 the most comfortable seat at the table 🔞 beef on beef thick thighs snuff lives submissive könig 🔞 lethal kisses könig is a man empty daydreaming reality strikes, but fantasy is better leaky könig 🔞 tall and broad austrian men wanted masochist könig and you könig's slutty hips intersectional masked-menism a soliloquy in three acts: i a soliloquy in three acts: ii a soliloquy in three acts: iii my colonel is different lingerie check 🔞 thought of the day: part i 🔞 thought of the day: part ii 🔞 the bigger they are... könig can fuck his own tits könig is a master of the self-suck more on extinction!könig 🔞 könig is the little spoon colonel könig's wanking habits wrestling the colonel extreme measures kghoap: musings sexy nurse soap tactical kneepads

𝕗𝕒𝕟𝕗𝕚𝕔𝕤

könig's haunted eyes i könig's haunted eyes ii helpful könig has a nasty little secret 🔞 you're a good pup, colonel könig 🔞 only pride in service for a military man 🔞 masochist könig 🔞 könig's new haircut sweet wound 🔞 you should have picked the killing machine 🔞 unhappy dreams 🔞 home don't shoot the messenger 🔞 on puppet's strings 🔞

𝕞𝕖𝕞𝕖𝕤

real life körangi 🐯👑 eepiest soldier two spidermen: mwii edition 💀👑 stinky 🧼 ghost on toast 💀