#WOW IT WOULD BE GREAT IF THERE WAS A CHARACTER WHO IS A HUGE BIOLOGY NERD WHO COULD ACCURATELY DESCRIBE THEM AND ALSO

[sanchoyo]

thought of a very funny scenario in which ryou approaches persimmon with questions about the uchushi (the creatures that attacked the aliens) because obviously itd be best if we could gather the Most Possible Info about these things. because pretty much any creature acts for a REASON and if we can gather info maybe we can stop them?

but persimmon is NOT a biology girl, and was in a state of panic, rushing around and trying to AVOID THEM. PLUS IT WAS DARK. so when she starts describing them its AWFUL. just 'well...they had horns? i think? sticking straight up?' not horns. antenna. 'they had...big eyes that glow in the dark? a LOT of eyes??' reflective. also only 4 eyes. 'they for sure were big and had several legs' HOW MANY LEGS?? 'well I don't know but they looked like...sharp legs???' like... itd be the worst game of 20 questions ever. mira is trying to draw it as she goes along to figure it out and it turns out like this

and when persimmon asks why in gods name mira gave it boobs mira is like well. maybe some of them are pretty girls. did you think of that #pride

and the entire thing would be a huge waste of time and extremely unproductive 👍 and persimmon can draw fashion model type stuff but i dont think she would be able to do a much better job at drawing creatures or animals either btw so they would never get anywhere on this front 👍

[guardian-rocket]

Hello there! We don't write together, but I follow you and regularly love reading your threads when they come across my dash. You write Rocket so well, and clearly do it with love. I came across this post and immediately it gave me Rocket feels, so I thought perhaps you might enjoy it too. Have a great night! =)

https://www.tumblr.com/everythingfox/703282848622329856/grabby-hands

/// Wow! Your message truly made my day! First off thank you so much for sending this! It means a lot to me to hear people enjoy following along with my threads. It means the world to me to hear that you enjoy my portrayal of such a beloved character and I want to say I absolutely love doing it.

And to top it all off, thank you for sharing that adorable video! Watching it brought a huge grin to my face.

Below the cut is me drabbling on about the video and what it made me think about, but it got long so I am cutting it into a read-more to respect those who may not be interested in me going on and on about raccoon/Rocket's biology. 🤣 ///

///This is such a joyful video, and I will say that because of Rocket I've learned to understand a lot about Raccoons and this little fella is feeling this person's fingers with his paws to 'see' them. Because of raccoons very poor vision, they will often use their sensitive sense of touch to see, and they can 'see' with their hands. I do kinda incorporate this in headcanons I have of Rocket, in that if he needs to see something close to him (well) he wears work goggles or glasses if he can't just figure it out with his hands, otherwise you'll get him squinting or just straight up not looking at what his hands are doing.

You can see this baby just being like 'What's this?'

Another thing this makes me think of is when we first see Rocket thrown in the cage with Batch 89, shortly after he is thrown in he tries to stand up like he normally would (on his hands/front paws) and he immediately collapses because of the work that was one on them. The first series of operations gave him thumbs and changed his hand shape to be more humanoid. A raccoon's brain has approximately two-thirds of the sensory perception area of the cerebral cortex devoted to touch, primarily from their paws so I imagine this must have been very painful to have gone through particularly because we're unaware if they used any pain killers for the processes. Rocket can't lift his weight on his sore paws, and immediately collapses, shaking, looking at his operated 'hand' confused and scared. It's such a small and quick scene but ever since I started RPing Rocket I noted that his hands and stature are the two most significant physical (and not-brain related) augmentations that were done to his body.

I don't know what my point is exactly, just... raccoon hands are important and we should all take a moment and appreciate Rocket's hands too. They've been through so much and he's done so many amazing things with them. ///

[avengerscompound]

Until the End of the World - 3

Until the End of the World: A Captain America Fanfic

Masterlist PREVIOUS //

Buy me a ☕ Character Pairing:  Bucky Barnes x Steve Rogers x F!Reader

Word Count:  1725

Rating:  E

Warnings: Talk of pregnancy

Synopsis: Four years after Steve and Bucky got to the bottom of the HYDRA conspiracy that had led to you and your son being hunted for the first three years of his life, you, Bucky, and Steve have carved out a nice life together.  Things are calm and you feel like a family unit.  When Geo starts calling Bucky and Steve ‘dad’, a decision is made to try and add to your family.

Things aren’t as calm as they seem.  When your pregnancy hits the papers, HYDRA rears its head once again, and Steve and Bucky need to track you down to protect the family they had created.

Chapter 3

You were thoroughly exhausted by the time you, Bucky, and Steve dragged the suitcases inside your apartment.  The trip to Florida had wiped you out with all the traveling and theme parks and eating out every night, but it had been worth it.  The three of you needed time away from the Avengers just to practice being a regular family.

There was no way you had imagined it would have worked as well as it did.  With Geo calling Steve and Bucky ‘dad’ and plans for adding more kids, things had gone from being four people sharing their lives, to four members of the same family.

It was exciting thinking about what was to come.  It had been a long time since you and Geo had stopped running and settled down in a life with Bucky and Steve and when you looked back on those days it often seemed like a bad dream that had happened to some completely different person.  Not that it hadn’t left some pretty permanent scars.  You were still constantly checking over your shoulder for danger.  You would completely panic if you were out with Geo and he went out of your line of vision, even for a second.  You had separation anxiety (something that Geo shared) and there were times when you’d just feel generally uneasy like you did when you thought it was time to run.

Generally, things were fine.  You didn’t have a go-bag packed.  Geo had a school and friends.  You had gone back to school and you were working.  You were in love and you felt safe and normal in what was maybe not the most normal of situations, but in a lot of ways was so much better.  Because if the choice was happy or normal, happy would always win.

The thought of expanding the family with Bucky and Steve was exciting.  You loved them and couldn’t pretend that the thought of a bigger family wasn’t something you daydreamed about.  Even back with your first marriage, the idea of a few kids was something you’d toyed with.  They were so good with Geo and they had so much love to give other people.  Plus they seemed to need the piece of normal that you and Geo could provide for them.  It kept them grounded in a reality that wasn’t just saving the world and risking their lives.

So as exhausted as you were when you flopped down on the couch in your apartment, you were also excited.  Excited about the future and all the good things it was going to bring.

“I know we all really want something home-cooked,” Steve said as he flopped down beside you.  “But I think we should order in.”

“No arguments from me!”  Bucky called as he grabbed the bags and headed to the laundry.

Steve pulled out his phone and began to search for something to eat while Geo sat down and began to play on his tablet when there was a knock at the door.

“Who is it, FRIDAY?”  Steve asked.

“Mister Stark and Ms. Potts are here with Morgan,” FRIDAY said.

Steve chuckled and shook his head.  “Let them in.”

The door clicked open and the Stark family came inside, two-and-a-half-year-old Morgan immediately peeling away from her parents and toddling over to Geo.  “Welcome home!”  Tony said as Steve got to his feet.  “I hope you enjoyed your vacation.  Because it was the last one you ever have.”

“Not even going to let us take a breath?”  Steve teased.  “Any of you want a drink?”

“Yes, pwease,” Morgan said, looking up from the pile of toys Geo was pulling out from his bag to show her.

“What nice manners,” Steve joked.  “Not like daddy at all, huh?  What would you like, honey?”

“Juice, pwease,” she said.

“I’ll have tea if that’s okay,” Pepper added.

Tony followed Steve into the kitchen while Pepper came and sat down next to you.  “Sorry about the intrusion.  Tony’s been tearing his hair out the past two days and Morgan’s been asking when Geo gets home.”

“It’s fine,” you said, waving her off.  “It’s nice to feel needed.”

“So how was it?  Should we be buying Mickey ears for Morgan and heading south?”  Pepper asked.

“Yeah, really good,” you said, a contented smile spreading over your face.

“Oh, that sounds way more significant than getting your photo with Belle,” Pepper said, looking you over.  “What happened?”

“Geo, how about you go play with those in your room.  You can show her the lightsabers you built,” you said.

“Yeah,” Geo said, jumping up.  “Come on Morgan.”

The toddler was on her feet immediately chasing after the boys she idolized as he dragged his bag of treasures into his room.

“Go on, spill it,” Pepper said when they were safely out of earshot.

“Well,” you said quietly.  “For starters, Geo started calling them both ‘dad’.”

Pepper’s eyes went wide and her mouth dropped open.  “Wow, that is big.  How are they taking that?”

You went to say more but Bucky came in and looked around perplexed.  “Where is everyone?”  He asked.

“Steve and Tony are in the kitchen and Geo is showing Morgan his Disney haul in his room,” you explained.

Bucky came down and sat beside you, snaking his arm around your waist and pulling you a little closer.  “So what’s that face for?”  He asked, gesturing to Pepper.

Pepper started laughing.   “She just told me that Geo started calling you and Steve ‘dad’.”

“Oh, yeah,” Bucky grinned.  “Pretty great, huh?”

“How do you feel about that?”  Pepper asked.

“Good,” Bucky said with a nod.  “Really good.  It was a little dramatic at first because it just slipped out and he thought he was going to get in trouble or something.  But I talked him down, and now it’s just what he calls us, and I love it.”

“How about, Steve?”  Pepper asked.

“He loves it too,” you answered.  “I get the feeling no one brought it up before because no one wanted to pressure each other into calling them that.  But it’s not Steve and Bucky haven’t been his dad for years now.”

“Of course,” Pepper nodded.  “He probably barely even remembers a time they weren’t there.”

“Exactly,” you said.  “And I can’t pretend that I don’t wish he had known his biological dad.  But that’s not the world he was born into.  But thanks to these guys -” you nudged Bucky.  “He’s safe and he has two dads who love him very much.”

“Yeah, he does,” Bucky agreed, giving you a soft squeeze around the waist.

“You said ‘for starters’,” Pepper said, looking back at you.  “What else?”

You looked at Bucky.  “Is it okay if I tell her?”

He raised an eyebrow at you.  “I dunno, I guess.  Is it really something you tell?”

“Not everyone,” you agreed.  “But you can tell some people.  Can’t just keep stuff bottled up.”

“What?”  Pepper said, sitting forward in her chair.  “What’s going on?  You can’t just not tell me now.”

“We’re going to start trying to have a baby,” you said.

If Pepper had looked surprised before, she looked nothing but completely dumbfounded now.  Her eyes were wide and her mouth slowly opened and then closed again.  “Wow.  Wow… that’s huge,” she said.  “Oh my god!  Tony is going to be so excited when he finds out.  Expect to be flooded with gifts and unwanted advice when it actually happens.  He is the expert in parenting now.”

You and Bucky laughed.  “Well, it hasn’t happened yet.  I’ve got an IUD in, so I’m going to need to make an appointment to get that out for starters.”

“That’s amazing,” she said.  “I’m so happy for you all.  It sounds like this trip was exactly what you needed.”  She paused for a moment and fidgeted in her seat. “Can I ask a question that might seem a little … invasive?”

You shrugged.  “Sure.  If you can't, who can?”

She laughed and shook her head.  “Well, I do appreciate that,” she said.  “Do you know how you’re going to do it?  I mean… biologically speaking?”

You looked at Bucky and furrowed your brow.  The truth was, none of you had spoken about that.   It was in the list of ‘fine details to work out later’.  You didn’t care how it happened.  You were going to be the baby’s biological mother no matter what, and even if the three of you decided to go a completely different route and adopt, they’d already proven that they didn’t need biology at all to love a child.  You hoped they didn’t get territorial now that you were trying for one together.

“I mean we haven’t…” you started.

“We definitely still need to iron some things out,” Bucky added.  “But I know I don’t really mind.  I figure we just see what happens.”

“You don’t care if you’re not the biological dad?”  You asked.

Bucky smiled and shook his head.  “It’ll be mine no matter what.”

You smiled as you looked into the cool gray of his eyes.  Bucky tended to wear his pain constantly.  Even when he was otherwise happy you could see that pain reflected in his eyes.  Right now though, there was none.  His eyes glimmered with the hope of things to come and what looked like real, deep down to his core, happiness.  “I love you,” you whispered and brought your lips to his.  He smiled against your lips as he returned the kiss deeply, his hand going to your cheek and cradling it.

There was the course sound of someone clearing their throat and you looked up to see Tony and Steve in the doorway that led to the kitchen.  “Are you two just going to invite us around here and make out in front of my wife?”  Tony teased.

“I don’t actually remember inviting you around,” you shot back.

Tony laughed loudly and clapped Steve on the shoulder.  “Well, I know when I’m not wanted.”

“No, stay,” you said.  “We’re going to order food.  Let Morgan play with Geo for a bit longer.”

Tony chuckled and took a seat next to Pepper.  “Only if the two of you promise to keep your tongues to yourselves.”

You shrugged.  “I absolutely cannot promise that,” you said, causing Tony to break down into peals of laughter yet again.

// NEXT

[homeformyheart]

the sunshine of life - beckett harrington x f!mc (te)

author’s note: i wanted to write a “meet the parents” type fic for beckett meeting mc’s parents but then it turned into a pend pals/holiday fic. i didn’t particularly want to use the default mc name for this fic, even though that’s what i usually do, so hopefully the name i chose here fits. also, i suck at coming up with names of characters that didn’t have one in canon. i hope you enjoy!

copyright: all characters owned by pixelberry studios. series/pairing: the elementalists – beckett harrington x f!mc (celeste russell); minor f!atlas x shreya rating/warnings: 13+; kissing and fluff word count: 2.1k based on/prompt: i started working on this two months ago in anticipation of @teappreciationweek! the title is based on the phrase that “friends are the sunshine of life.” summary: celeste is excited to introduce beckett to all of her parental figures over the holidays and has a surprise in store for atlas. guess which parent makes beckett the most nervous?

the sunshine of life

celeste squeezed beckett’s hand reassuringly. her boyfriend was understandably nervous since today they were meeting her parents, definitely plural. she reached up and poked the frown lines appearing between beckett’s eyebrows, giggling as he appeared startled before softening as he looked at her.

“they’re going to love you, beckett. you have nothing to be nervous about. unlike your parents, who clearly did not like me,” celeste said, muttering the last part to herself.

she felt beckett wrap an arm around her waist and pull her close. “that wasn’t about you, i promise.”

two months ago

celeste cleared her throat nervously as she stood outside the tall, intimidating mahogany doors that led inside the harrington mansion. even though she had some idea of what the harrington name meant in the attuned world and thanks to shreya, knew how influential and wealthy some magickal families could be, she was still wholly unprepared for how unnerving it would be to feel as small as she did in that moment.

suddenly she was going over her appearance piece by piece in her mind, evaluating everything she was wearing against the unknown standards she presumed beckett’s parents would have. the blue and gold waistcoast and matching dress that seemed like a safe bet at the time given beckett had picked it out for their lunch date with katrina last year, now seemed to pale in comparison to what she imagined they expected their only son’s girlfriend to wear.

beckett wrapped an arm around her shoulders and leaned in to leave a kiss on her forehead. “it’ll be okay, celeste.” she nodded and took a deep breath before following him into the mansion.

just as expected but worse than anticipated, the evening was one awkward moment after another. her introduction included her nervous rambling about how she was raised attuneless and the shared looks between beckett’s parents made celeste want to slouch down and disappear underneath the table. dinner wasn’t any better given the conversations seemed to focus on advancements in magick technology that their company was working on as well as ground-breaking new research in the fields of elemental biology and medicinal magickal plants.

they were mildly impressed with the stories of how they defeated raife highmore, but that passed quickly once they zeroed in on the danger that beckett was in. it was clear that they were going to blame her for putting their son in danger. celeste couldn’t wait for the evening to be over.

“if you say so,” she said, glumly.

beckett lifted her chin and lowered his head to give her a sweet kiss. “i love you, celeste.” he straightened up and celeste could tell he was about to give himself a pep talk. “if you can get through dinner with my parents, i can get through an evening with yours… even if one of them is a source.”

“that’s the spirit! and well, there will be two sources, actually. nome said he’d stop by,” cadence quickly explained as beckett’s head turned so fast she thought he was going to give himself whiplash.

before he could say anything, the doors to the cottage swung open as they climbed up the short steps. celeste was immediately pulled into a hug from her adoptive parents who quickly wrapped beckett up too before he could protest. theia smiled warmly at the four of them before wrapping celeste up into a tight hug.

“i missed you sweetie. and i am so excited to meet your sweetheart!” theia exclaimed, grabbing beckett’s outstretched hand so she could pull him into hug.

“yes, i am sweetheart – wait, no, i’m harrington, um, i mean beckett. beckett harrington. it’s, uh, very nice to meet you, ms. sun source,” he said, licking his lips nervously and trying not to wipe his palms on his jacket.

she waved at him dismissively. “call me theia, you’re practically family!” she looped her arm in beckett’s and started pulling him toward the house. he turned to look back at celeste, who gave him a small supportive wave while trying really hard not to laugh.

fortunately for beckett, theia was filled with questions for her future son-in-law, as she so embarrassingly put it despite celeste’s protests. that left celeste with a few minutes alone with her adoptive parents; her father cleared his throat awkwardly in her direction and she sighed.

“how was school this semester?” john russell asked awkwardly.

celeste rolled her eyes. “school was fine.” with all the events of the last three years, including discovering and bonding with her twin, fighting for her life twice over, and being reunited with her birth mother, she hadn’t really spent much time processing the fact that her parents lied to her about her birth family, her magickal nature, and the fact that a madman was after her. all in all, it felt reasonable that she’d be pissed and her parents knew it.

anne russell cleared her throat. “how was dinner at the harringtons?”

celeste gave her mother a pointed look just shy of an outright glare. “it would’ve gone a lot better had I been raised with a working knowledge of the magickal world.”

john had the decency to look a little ashamed. “we’re really sorry, honey. we thought you’d be safer as an attuneless and when raife had seemed to all but disappear, we thought we were in the clear. but we shouldn’t have kept your true identity a secret.”

“i guess i understand since you were trying to protect me. i forgive you,” she said, wrapping both of her parents in a big hug before turning toward her boyfriend who was being grilled by her other parent.

even though she was sitting on the opposite end of the living room from beckett and theia, she could tell by his rigid posture that he was tense. the gentle, but commanding lilt of her mother’s voice carried softly across the room.

“so beckett, i’ve heard a lot about you from celeste. what i want to know is, how do i know you’re not just attracted to her magick?” theia asked. although she was smiling, celeste knew the underlying tone did not go unnoticed by beckett.

“because i love her! she’s smart, brave, beautiful, compassionate, and she feels so warm and i can tell my innate metal attunement is drawn to her,” he blurted out a little too loudly for the level of conversation in the room.

“but that makes sense since she’s a sun-att and you’re the sun source and you feel like celeste which was still surprising since she doesn’t really look like you, i mean, not that i can’t tell you’re related, it’s just—augh, sorry.” beckett’s ears and neck were flushed a bright pink.

“wow, harrington, real smooth,” atlas teased. “no book in the library to study up for this, huh?”

“atlas!” celeste said through clenched teeth.

theia chuckled. “beckett, it’s alright. just ask me the questions you have, i promise i won’t bite. i could make it miserably hot, but i won’t.”

“man, this is sooo entertaining. better than all that trashy reality tv you got me into,” atlas said, grinning from ear-to-ear.

“could you be a little more supportive, atlas?” celeste asked, annoyed.

atlas grinned cheekily. “nah, i’m good. i will make more popcorn though. hey harrington, don’t stumble over yourself until i get back.”

celeste could feel her eyebrow twitch in irritation before realizing that she could get some of the attention off beckett and get back at atlas at the same time with a single phone call.

* * * * * just a little while later, a knock on the door made everyone pause and look around at each other. since everyone that was expected was there already, except for nome, and he never knocked, it was natural for everyone to look confused.

celeste couldn’t help the mischievous smile that crept over her face. “atlas, why don’t you go see who it is?”

atlas turned to glare knowingly at celeste as she stood up. “what did you do?”

she barely had the door open before she was bombarded by the rest of the pend pals all fighting to simultaneously hug her and get out of the cold all at once.

“double trouble, double trouble’s mom source, mr. and mrs. russell, happy holidays!” zeph cheerfully shouted out, his arms full of containers of his grandmother’s cookies, which atlas grabbed from him ecstatically.

“i hope you guys didn’t have too much fun without us! and atlas, i hope you save me a spot under that magickal mistletoe,” shreya said, giving atlas a flirtatious wink.

“what? we don’t have mistletoe and why would i—” atlas’ confused thoughts were interrupted as shreya glided through the hallway, stopping briefly to give atlas a kiss on the cheek before making her way to the living room and greeting everyone properly.

atlas flushed briefly before she noticed the huge smirk on celeste’s face. “you are so going to pay for this.”

“i have no idea what you’re talking about, i just thought it would be great if all of our friends could hang out with us over the holidays,” celeste said, grinning before she went back to the living room to see if she could save beckett from further questioning.

all the lights in the house suddenly went out. almost immediately, theia snapped her fingers and the lights all flickered back on to reveal a tall man with long white hair standing in the middle of the living room, surrounded by nine stunned faces.

“always with the dramatic entrances, nome,” she said, but there was a lightheartedness to her tone.

“it’s more fun that way,” nome responded, giving her a quick peck on the cheek before introducing himself to everyone.

with everyone distracted by nome’s arrival, celeste slipped her hand into beckett’s and gave him a small tug. he looked at her inquisitively as she signaled toward the staircase with a tilt of her head. a few moments later, she closed her bedroom door behind them before wrapping her arms around beckett’s neck and standing on her tiptoes so she could give him a kiss.

“thank you for coming – i’m so proud of how you handled yourself,” she murmured, looking up at him.

beckett gave her his signature smirk. “well, of course, you shouldn’t expect anything less from a harrington.”

celeste let her eyes roll lightheartedly. “you know i heard the entire conversation and can tell how nervous you were just from the back of your head?”

his smirk faded into a warm smile. “you know nothing.” before she could protest further, he bent down to capture her lips into a kiss, his hands tightening around her waist to pull her flush against him.

celeste pressed against him as much as she could, intertwining her fingers at the nape of his neck. beckett deepened the kiss, coaxing her mouth open so his tongue could play with hers.

“hey, where’d beckster and celeste go?” zeph’s voice wafted up the stairs, reminding her that their alone time was limited.

“dunno, probably doing it upstairs in her room.”

celeste pulled back at the sound of atlas’ voice and winced. she knew she could count the seconds before her mother’s voice rang out right on cue.

“celeste russell, get down here right now! no boys alone in your room!” theia’s voice boomed through the house, reverberating through the walls.

she let out an embarrassed huff as beckett chuckled. “we really should be used to atlas’ comments by now,” he said, giving her one last kiss on the lips before opening the door and holding out his arm for her to take.

as they descended down the stairs she got a full view of the living room and realized everyone she loved was under one roof. atlas and shreya were sharing the loveseat while zeph and griffin were listening to whatever crazy and embarrassing story nome was telling about theia, with theia refuting and sharing her own stories about nome; aster was showing her adoptive parents how to care for some of the trees and plants in the garden with butterball and navi playing in the snow at their feet.

she felt her eyes fill with happy tears and looked up at beckett, who was giving her a warm, knowing smile. he gave her hand a squeeze and headed out to join aster and her parents in the garden and celeste took a moment to acknowledge the gratitude she felt. even though she had gotten used to being a sun-att and feeling a strong warmth emanating from within her all the time, never had she felt warmth like this. it was gentle but all-consuming, starting in her heart and slowly spreading outward throughout her body. but she knew that if love and gratitude could be summed up in a feeling, this was it.

* * * * * taglist: @robintora; @miss-smrxtiee; @eleanorbloom; @itsjustwinter; @mm2305;

[just-a-whumping-racoon-with-wifi]

Longview - Chapter 3

Trying something a lil different! My current notes/commentary in blue right after. It's not like this stuff is so great there's a big flow to interrupt.

CW: attacked by a teacher, food mention, memory loss, implied dark secrets.

The next thing that Nick knew, there was a tall stewardess shaking him awake. His eyes opened to her standing over him, and he struggled momentarily before he realized where he was and what was happening. The stewardess smiled another fake smile,

"We have arrived. Welcome to Longview." Nick stretched and looked out the windows. He rubbed his eyes and looked again. The entire window was covered with a red brick pattern. The plane was directly next to a large wall. (I don’t know why that made me SCREAM but it did omg what the hell)

"With our student's abilities, we here at Longview like to keep away from prying eyes," said the stewardess as she helped him out of the plane. There stood an old Victorian style building. The main hall was surrounded on both sides by two other buildings. Nick could tell that there was more buildings, but he couldn't see them from where he was. (wow. It’s like I’m there /s)

The stewardess got off of plan with him, and walked with him up to the first Victorian looking building. There were kids everywhere, and all of them were doing something different. There were older kids having snowball fights with fireballs, (I don’t think you can have a “snowball” fight with “fireballs” but go off sis.) girls sitting by a large fountain talking with their hair braiding itself, or two people randomly changing into different animals. Nick was trying to look in all the directions without staring when a tall girl stepped into their way. Yet another fake smile was plastered onto her face and her eyes where blank.

"Hi there! My name is Nickie, and I will be your tour guide of our wonderful school, Longview." Her voice was sticky sweet, and Nick was taken back by it. He turned, but the stewardess was gone already. (Every like, Kid Character is based off a friend of mine at the time. Except one is based off of Zuko from ATLA but we’re not gonna talk about that.)

"And this way we have the main hall. Our school was founded in 1937, by our creator, Herald Longview. He had abilities, and wanted there to be place where people who were different to live and learn." Nickie walked away quickly, and Nick tried to follow her. She was spewing out facts, and Nick didn't try to catch any, he was too busy looking around. There was kids running in and out of classrooms, and walking around the halls. Well, most were walked. The halls had high ceilings, and there was a fair amount of students flying around up there. While walking down the hall, Nick had various items dropped on his head. (how many people are just DROPPING things whatever.)

"Here is your school schedule, and this is your binder someone will drop a uniform. I hope you will like it here! See you around!" Nickie disappeared into the rush of people, leaving Nick alone. People are just disappearing today, thought Nick. He unfolded the paper that she had given him, but his jaw dropped when he tried to read it over. Thermodynamics of Human Flame? Psychology? Human Biology and Autonomy? (Lmao I think I meant anatomy not autonomy. Ugh) The crowd of people was getting thicker, and Nick had no clue where he was going. Okay, first stop, Thermodynamics of Human Flame: room 973. He looked up to the door he was next to. Technology, 253. Nick groaned and his head fell back.

"Lost?" asked a voice from beside him. There was a boy who looked about fourteen standing looking at him. He had short brown hair, glasses, and a knowing expression on his face. Nick took a double take at his eyes, they glowed.

"Um, yeah. I'm supposed to be in classroom 973, but I have no clue how to get there." The boy smiled.

"Hey! I'm going that way! I'll show you." He held out his hand.

"My name is Michael." Nick shook it. (Michael is based off my friend Josef.)

"Nick. So," he said as they started to walk down the hallway, "what can you do?" Michael smiled secretly.

"Laser vision," he said tapping his glasses. "For some reason, I can't fire through normal glass. You?" That explains the glowing eyes,

"Regeneration." Michael stopped.

"Really? Woah. There's never been a regenitve at this school before! It must be super cool to be the first." The two boys weaved in and out of the to people in the hall until they got to room 973.

"Well, this is your stop. Lucky you, you get to start last class on a Friday. I'll find you again at dinner. Later!" Said Michael with a wave. Nick took a deep breath and walked into the room. Just walking in, there was a small wave of heat that flew up into his face. There was already a lot of people there, but the class hadn't started yet. Nick gulped. The room was filled with large kids wearing leather with dyed hair. They seemed to all be around a tall thin boy who was lounging in one of the desks. His black hair was half covering his face, and there was a bright red streak running down it.

"Seats!" yelled a voice. The kids scrambled back to their chairs and a man walked up to the front of the room.

"Now class, we will be talking about," he stopped and glared at Nick, "and who are you?" All eyes turned to him, and the room started to heat up. At first, Nick though that it was just him, but he soon realized that he could see waves in the air.

"I, I'm Nick. I'm new." The teacher rolled his eyes and gestured to the desks. The back of the room was filled up, and the only seat that was open was in the front row. Nick cringed and sat down. All that he had was the binder that Nickie had given him. As the rest of the class pulled out paper and pencil, Nick stared very closely at his hands. (okay SAME BRO) The teacher started to ramble on about things that Nick couldn't even start to understand, so he started to study the room around him. There was name plate on the teacher's desk, Mr. Ferno, but nothing else. The room was orange, and there were burn marks all over the walls. (I would like to formally apologize for naming him fucking Mr. Ferno I have no excuse I am so sorry)

"You, late comer, make a spherical size two fireball and demonstrate what I am talking about." Nick looked up. Mr. Ferno was waiting for him.

"I haven't got all day." Nick gulped. Now or never.

"I, I can't," he admitted. The rest of the class started to snicker, but Mr. Ferno's face turned red with anger.

"And why not? Were you not paying attention?" he said sternly.

"No, I was," lied Nick, "but I can't make flames. That's not my power, ability, thing." Mr. Ferno was shocked.

"Then why are you in this class? And what is?" Nick didn't know the answer to the first question, so he answered to second.

"I regenerate." The room was plunged into silence. It was eire, and Nick wished someone would make some sort of noise. He squirmed in his chair, waiting.

"Come up." Nick slowly stood up and shuffled up to Mr. Ferno. He looked up, but as he did, a burst of fire came straight towards him. Nick ducked, but only slightly too late. Some of the fire burned his arm.

"Ah! What was that for?!" Mr. Ferno grabbed Nick's arm and watched. Almost at once, the burn started to grow smaller until it disappeared. Mr. Ferno threw Nick's arm down, and pointed to the door.

"I have no use for you in my class. Get out. Go to Human Biology in room 462. Now." Nick picked up his left as quickly as he could. As he left, Mr. Ferno slammed the door after him. The halls were empty now, and Nick started to try to find room 462. Man, what a hot head, thought Nick. He stopped and tried not to laugh; hot head. Nick walked around the halls, looking into the rooms and looking for room 462. He had finally found it, but was too nervous to knock on it and disrupt the class. He slunk down against the wall and decided he would wait until the class got out. Just as he was having this thought, the door opened suddenly and a tall thin woman stepped into the hallway.

"There you are, Melody said she read someone outside. Come on in," she said. Nick stood carefully and followed. (Melody is based off my friend Breauna)

"What happened to your shirt?" asked the teacher. Nick cringed and looked down, the edges of his shirt were burnt.

"Uh, Mr. Ferno. He kinda threw me out his class." The teacher smiled.

"He is very, well, stressed. Don't take it the wrong way. I am guessing that you are not a fire holder?" Nick looked down to his feet. When I tell people here, they aways seem to put my power to the test. The teacher smiles kindly again.

"I didn't mean to put you on the spot. You can go and sit down." Nick turned to the desks and saw Michael wave to him from the back of the class. There were more open seats there, and Nick took one in the middle of classroom. Mrs. Brentfield, the teacher, was kind and didn't call on him the entire class. The teaching styles were so much different that Nick couldn't believe that they were even at the same school. When the bell ran, Michael ran up to him.

"Hey! So Mr. Ferno kicked you out of his class? He does that a lot. But now we have a class together." Nick smiled.

"Yeah, he is kinda a hothead." Michael burst out laughing, and showed Nick were he dinning hall was. (The joke is very stupid but I like that he thought of it earlier and then told it later. good job little Raccoon) The hall was huge, with many large round tables. All of the tables were different. There were a few that were coved with books, some that were up in the air, one that looked like it had been broken and fixed many times, and some that were burned black. Like everywhere, there were tall ceilings, and large windows. Michael lead him through the crowds of people until they got to a corner table far from the rest of the students. This table was old and cracked. It would have fallen apart if it wasn't for vines and branches holding it together. There was already three people sitting there, two girls and a boy.

"Chase, Treauna, Melody, this is Nick," said Michael. They looked to the newcomer and smiled. Nick looked, and the boy was gone from the table. (Chase is based off my friend James. Treauna is me lol)

"Hi," said a voice from behind him. Nick spun around to the see the boy. One of the girls at the table gave a small cry of surprise.

"Chase! You almost gave me a heart attack!" said the girl. Chase's face turned red as he held out a hand.

"Oops. Sorry about that. I'm Chase." Nick shook his hand. He was blond, and smiled again before disappearing. Nick heard a slap and Chase cry out from the other side of the table.

"Don't do that!"

"Sorry, Treauna. I can't help it! But you don't have to hit me!"

"It's a reaction!" (The “IT”S A REACTION” with me hitting James (aka Chase) was a common occurrence we still joke about (i startle VERY easily)

Nick, Michael, and the other girl laughed and Nick turned to sit down at the table. The girl who gave the cry waved.

"I'm Treauna." Nick got a better look at her. She had long brown hair that had little flowers growing in it. He eyes were blue, but her face was covered with a layer of dirt. She looked like she had been out side and fell asleep with her face smack down in the ground. She proudly showed a huge smile, but her eyes portrayed that she almosst wasn't all there. (YEUP. If you ever want to know how I would describe myself this. This is it lmao)

"And that makes me Melody," said the last girl. She also had brown hair, but her's was curly and frizzy. Her eyes were a dark hazel, and she smiled wide.

"So, what is your ability?" asked Chase, "I have speed."

"I control plants," said Treauna.

"I'm telekinetic," piped up Melody.

"I regenerate," answered Nick. The others were amazed.

"That is so cool!" exclaimed Chase. It was then that some waiter walked up to their table and gave them a plate of food. They were having hamburgers, and it smelled delicious. Nick was hungry and eagerly picked up his burger.

"Wait!" cried out Melody. Her voice high and scared and Nick dropped his food.

"Don't eat the food," she said quickly. Her eyes were wide, and she looked around quickly. Nick's stomach tied itself into a knot. Melody looked different, she was more focused, and more life like.

"Why?! What's wrong with it?" Melody looked quickly to Nick, but slowly her eyes started to drift past drearily. Nick turned to Michael, but he was doing the same. Chase and Treauna were also frozen staring into nothing. Nick didn't know what to do, but he didn't have to wait for long. At the same time, all four snapped back and started talking again like nothing happened.

"What was that?" Nick asked Melody. She was busy eating her hamburger.

"What was what?" she asked back. Well, truly she said, "Wha whas wa?" with her mouth full of food, but Nick was guessing. Nick was startled.

"You said not to eat the food." Melody swallowed.

"Why would I say that? The food is great. You should try it." She took another bite out of her food, but Nick had lost his appetite. Slowly, pushed his food away. (I mean like so would I.)

"So," he said cautiously, "what is this school really like?" Chase shrugged.

"It's okay if you ignore Strength Force, and Stealth Force,"

"Also Shape Force, Control Force, Water Force," sighed Treauna.

"Plus Mind Force," groaned Melody.

"You can't forget Flight Force, Blaze Force, and Earth Force," finished Michael. The three stopped eating and stared down at their food. Nick could tell that this was a touchy subject, but was still trying to figure out what they were talking about.

"Wait, what are forces?"

"Oh, I thought that they would have told you. There are different groups, or clubs, that students go into according to their ability," started Michael. Nick got the idea that Michael wanted to run the school one day, with all of the information he had collected on it.

"Yeah. Like if you could fly, you would try for Flight Force. Or if you were super strong, you might go for Strength," interrupted Treauna. Michael glared at her. Explaining the workings of Longview was one of his favorite things to do.

"Yes," he said through gritted teeth, "That is what I have been saying." Treauna rolled her eyes.

"I know. But you always take so long. It's just so much faster when I explain it," shrugged Treauna. Michael and Treauna started a glaring match, and Nick started to look between them. Chase started to snicker, and Melody leaned over to Nick.

"Ignore them. There are ten different forces; Strength, Mind, Control, Shape, Flight, Water, Earth, Stealth, Blaze, and United." Nick had started to count on his fingers the forces that he was told to ignore. (i did just double check to make sure there were really ten because having only 9 would be a VERY me thing to accidently pull)

"You said to ignore nine out of the ten except for the last one." Melody grimaced.

"Yeah. For us, we kinda have too,"

"You could probably get into any force with your ability. It's the only one in this school, like, ever," said Treauna. Her and Michael's glaring match was over, and she was finishing up her dinner.

"You keep talking about trying out, or getting in. Do you have to try out for forces?" he questioned. Nick was starting to get nervous. The three students at the table started look down at their food, and avoided Nick's question. He looked around at them, waiting for their answer.

"Yeah, you do. But don't worry. You really could try out for any force, and they would let you in," responded Chase. The table fell quiet, and more severs came and took away what was left of the food.

"What force are you guys?" Nick was trying to change the subject of trying out, but he couldn't think of anything else o talk about.

"We're the United Force. We all have different abilities, which makes us-"

"Makes you what no one else wanted. The mis-fits," a different voice interrupted. (OH MY GOD JUST NOOOOOOooOOOoOoOOO)

Chase, Michael, Melody, and Treauna tensed up and Nick could tell that there was a lot of bad blood between them and the speaker.

[shy-magpie]

RQG 152

Poor Alex, there was no way to know and changing the story would be more of a breach of the implied contract than going forward. Plus side this warning implies we'll get more info on how the biology of the infection works before RSB actually explodes. To be clear I am all for warnings, I just imagine this was one heck of an awkward position for Alex & co to find themselves in. Well one would think they wanted to get through the intros as fast as physically possible! Seriously bless em for sticking with the structure instead of saying screw it and diving right in. Must be frustrating but it really helps me get in the right space to listen. Yeah it was a bit of an altruism run. That Ben physically ill at the prospect of characters talking? Yuck it up, I was specifically promised three (3) distinct topics would be addressed including both coping mechanisms and back stories. Poor Azu. If someone doesn't hold her while she has a proper cry I will be an unhappy Magpie. Are the new kids going to be invited to the conversations that are totally for sure not going to be put off for a month? Retcon: Barnes and Carter actually fought well it. I guess they were just down to the tricky ones. Theatrical much? Cel is great, have I said that enough? Well obviously not it should be declared at least hourly: "2 o' clock and Cel is great". But right after last episode instead of backing down (and IDK implying Wilde told the new kids their pronouns), Cel is immediately introducing themself with them and emphasizing their importance. Hamid right in there with the leadership, telling the duo that the party needs to go into isolation. I know having Zolf around must have took some weight off his shoulders but the man has grown since season one or even since Prague. He didn't lose that just because he cheers up when not solely responsible for leading the party. Note there is a messy negotiation with Zolf about who is in charge coming up and it is a mark of my trust in this show that I'm not dreading it. Am curious if it will be explicit enough for the white picket fence kids to pick up on, I know I have a thing about rank but some people seem to miss that aspect entirely. OK point Zolf but even with his charisma score there has to be a better way to put it than "do that and you are responsible for infecting Jasper and the village". Wow I guess that is the case isn't it. Thank you leader!Hamid coming in again. Getting Cel the kind of updates on home Hamid was denied in quarantine is fairly low risk for great gains in Cel's comfort with the whole thing. Point of clarity: as much as I hate to admit it, once the quarantine began they couldn't really keep Hamid in the loop since Ishaq was in the care of the Harlequins. Its been implied even without simply escaping an infected person could have means of communication that work in am anti magic cell. The village however is public info. Zolf, I want that again in small words! Are we talking black death or infrastructure problems? Because a few targeted infections could take out the government but not directly kill the citizens. Cel is doing the forced cheer again. What the hell have they been through that they default to words of affirmation for gory violence? Like most characters acknowledge the gore or that it was helpful, not both. Barnes is more reserved outside of the fight. Issues? Trauma? Oh Helen spelling it out, he's my type, crap. "Emotionally unavailable pirate" is a lot of people's type TBF. No wonder I made a warding gesture on hearing Zolf's description and didn't warm up till Dover. These characters wear the red flag as a cape and I'm surprised when my heart gets broken every time. Eh Zolf came back and is doing well enough, maybe Barnes will turn out to just not be chatty vs heart rending. And Hamid in there with the initiative casting Detect Magic so they don't have to face all the risks implied with not checking over the bodies. Barnes and Carter are glowing "like a fireworks factory where things have gone wrong". Only Water Breathing on the mooks. Speaking of emotionally unavailable pirates, Zolf sounds resigned as hell. I know he's working on it but the situation would depress anyone and he's been having a time of it, what with the puzzles and all. Shutting down isn't actually coping better than being shouty just more convenient. Have I already mentioned I want someone to comfort Azu on screen so she can put herself first for once? Remember how bright she shone in Cairo? If she doesn't process soon she's going to echo Zolf's arc. Carter is trying to looking at the bright side. Thank you Ben and Alex, not only a mood lightener but one that reminds us that Zolf asks direct questions now. And Zolf just moved as clearly as possible to protect Azu after Carter lashed out in response to her. I know they have a ways to get to where Grizzop & Azu were but I think they are at least proper team mates. Maybe having Zolf on this side of the bars this time will ease anything Azu is carrying from their introduction. Cel is a delight. Did they just suggest hamster balls? I love how Alex jokes about his own set design. Ah there is Ben's Minecraft joke. I think that's what you call environmental story telling. I love the mental image of them making their entrance crashing the mine cart into the ambush, like half way between a roller-coaster and sledding. Ah its been so long Zolf can't apply his memories of mining. They are officially out! Azu and Zolf are finally breathing right. Hey Zolf broke the weather machine! Cel takes a look see. Plumes of smoke from Shoin's? Wreckage from all the storms. Zolf joins Cel and USES HIS WORDS! I am so proud of him. Like not kidding learning to proactively offer praise & comfort instead of only offering concrete assistance in reaction is a huge step. Oh Cel! Getting yourself killed fighting alone would not have been better than defending your patch. And Zolf is right there, god remember Paris? Remember Prague? Now look at him. And there is the reality check. Not as jarring as it could have been. Azu is face down on the ground near Hamid! No more putting on her game face and slogging through it! Yes, process all you need darlin, no reason to rush. Hamid checks in! Azu takes his hand and explicitly talks about how scary it was when he was missing. Hamid talks about putting on a brave face for Skraak! RQG really just said "we're giving the fandom everything they want" in an episode recorded before we had a chance to ask. Azu checks in with Hamid! Oh Hamid its ok not to be ok. Oh hat Azu! Hamid call your family 18mumble is a go! Alex I will scream if he gets another delaying tactic. Cross your fingers we might get Ishaq and Saira! Azu assures him it would OK. Timing Zolf Horses! Topaz! Barnes: right Well that's a fair reaction to a celestial camel, he doesn't even know what the T stands for. Azu hugs Topaz Thank you Alex for making judgmental celestial camel canon.  How GMs don't all go insane with power from the moment it hits they can rewrite their world on a whim is beyond me. A Shetland for Hamid, a standard sounding horse for Cel, a cart horse for Azu, and another Shetland for Zolf. Carter can't get the question out before Zolf shuts him down. He is sticking to his word to Skraak, the island belongs to the Kobolds. Hamid calls en route! Bryn remembers to roll for it! Ishaq is a great kid, such a good sign he sounds like a kid too. Yes the kids are all together in the country house! Dad is at a redacted location, thank you Alex! Mom is alright! Saira is busy and the biggest problem with Ismail is that he is now taller than Ishaq! Ismail is good at magic too. Family bonding time. Einstein is working. Emeka & Veseek are helping things. Ed is with the family. Zolf is not happy about the call. Fair Zolf but none of us are regretting that call. Eh it being a one time thing is fair. Have I mentioned I like how Hamid & Zolf bicker? Its not like with Grizzop. They assume good faith and argue about the issue not score points. Part of why I shipped them in the beginning honestly: charismatic as Hamid is he probably impressioned like a duck on the first person to care more about what he was saying than how he said it. They joke about how hard nonverbal shots are in a podcast. Yes Alex we really do respect your craft. Might have been reassuring Ben. Helen is on the audience's side as always and tells him to pay up on the promised coping mechanisms talk. And Alex makes them roll a perception check. Do not talk block. Carter has been trying to eavesdrop. Azu tells him he isn't invited and Zolf tosses something at his head. Carter slinks back off. Zolf is still not good with words but he is resisting the urge to take it back. That counts damn it! Azu: your not good at talking for someone who says we need to talk. Yes Azu, and thats what makes it special. He is willing to put himself out there and do things he is bad at for the sake of the team. I like how Helen plays Azu getting over her issues with Zolf rather than just leaping to "Hamid vouched for you so we're besties". I need a clip of this, Zolf is offering to listen and be there while respecting boundaries and citing his own experience. Helen is great, Azu jumps right into the 18 months by asking about his relationship with Poseidon. Which again makes sense, as Azu is still working on "we met after you drugged, trapped, and imprisoned me". Which I get but seriously couldn't it have been in the stew or something? Drugging a woman's drink has connotations. Azu backstory(ish) oh thank Alex her cult is still doing the good work. Zolf tells Azu this, and offers her an out? Hamid & Zolf offer reassurance. Yes Hamid specifically tells her it isn't her fault. Zolf assures her that she isn't responsible for Sasha's decisions. Cel and Carter are chatting about what they've seen on the island.  Barnes tells them to keep the volume down and does Zolf's thing of bouncing something off Carter's head when he's loud again. Hamid moves to check in with Cel. Cel calls him on it.  Hamid asks what Cel plans to do after quarantine! Thank you Bryn! Cel doesn't know, ow. Cel feels obligated to be more proactive. Hamid reassures and points out that they were able to do it as a team so its not on Cel for not acting alone. Cel what is your backstory, afraid of being the monster. Thank you, I could wrap myself in this episode like a blanket. Cel how do you know that about being friends with mercs? Hamid would do it again but wants them to have a choice. Cel: When I call you little buddy I m not referring to the size of your heart. And that was veering saccharine so Ben swoops in with the Harrison Campbell joke. Do not make me get into why Hamid might be using snobbery as a cover for continuing to care more about what people might think than what he wants. Its a cheap shot for what could equally be he's that age and still has some flaws to work through. Thank you Alex for being realistic about horse pace without turning it into a word problem. Wilde! Cel points out the inn keeper could be infected, the boys explain the system of watching one another. Zolf is not letting Wilde get cute with his team again. Wilde wants them "fully supervised" in the bath. I feared that Alex, Wilde turned himself off again. Zolf calls him on it, kinda. They skim past the bath, thank you that could have been problematic. Thank goodness they are leaving the cell door open but locking the trap door. The new kids are in quarantine with them. Fair, going to be fun, but fair.  

[ghostmartyr]

SnK 112 Thoughts

Congrats to Eren on giving all the good people contributing to his series’ Wild Mass Guessing page a shout-out. Good on you, man. You’ve got my vote on your cult not doing anything wrong or aggravatingly stupid ever.

Also, Zeke!

It’s rare we see such a prime example of a leader in a shounen manga knowing how to delegate. Props, my man!

I hope Annie kicks both your heads off!

This is an emotional chapter.

Before we begin, I have one thing I need to get off my chest.

Thank you for your time.

First thing first!

I love how Nicolo’s entire theory is, “something shady is up with the wine and idk Zeke and spinal fluid sounds right????” This entire chapter is one long tribute to everything the fandom has ever screamed about and it is fantastic in that one aspect.

Also, hey, hope for Falco. Zeke waits until all the bottles are empty before he screams, so I would guess that he at least prefers his victims to be properly dosed. Falco should be okay. The blunt force trauma might actually be the more concerning bit for the bright and shiny little one.

Another thing I love is how every single mention of Marley somehow makes Marley come across even worse.

Sorry, that’s not fair.

I love how every single mention of Marley reminds and confirms that they are the worse, and the reminders serve to dig that knowledge deeper into all our souls until we almost don’t mind when innocent civilians are wiped off the map if it means that structure no longer exists.

“Almost” being subject to innate character and morality.

Eren does not recognize the union of “almost” and adds the asterisk of “younglings” after “innocent civilians.”

Hell though, Nicolo. At least you found yourself, even if it did come after battering a child into unconsciousness. And you kept Connie and Jean from drinking the bad juice.

I really like the interaction between Nicolo and Sasha’s dad. Nicolo’s not the man he is. He loses himself in his anger and only chance stops him from crossing a very serious line.

But Mr. Blouse is the type of man Nicolo can see the merit in, and define himself by that gap because the end of that gap is something so much better than the man who come close to murdering children.

Some people are still learning to be better, even now, because of the good people they surround themselves by.

Gabi has been surrounded by nothing but warmth (barring Nicolo and Kaya’s trauma) since arriving to Paradis. Falco is a good guy. Mikasa and Armin are good people. The family of the soldier she killed are good people.

She isn’t charging at Mikasa and Armin (and geez every time these kids get a distance shot when the other characters are standing up it fucks me up; they are too tiny for any of this). She’s been passionately defending everything she and Marley has done, but now she’s quiet, and all she can do is ask for her friend, who keeps saving her life, to not be killed. All she can do is offer up her life to make up for the crimes that she can’t imagine being forgiven.

She is so young. Killing and violence and death are the obvious conclusions to her. She’s been taught that, and she excels at that, but now she keeps finding people who are willing to stand down and not kill her.

Reiner’s character is a slow stumble into his morality breaking his mind. Slowly, the idea that these people he’s surrounded by are people encroaches.

Gabi’s thrown into the deep end and the plot keeps shoving her head down when she struggles to the surface to breathe. None of this has been kind on her. The violent assault on her sanity is the kind she’s only ever been exposed to physically.

I haven’t put much thought into what I want from the Warriors, because thoughts of anything Marley adjacent always tend to irritate me. They’re trapped in a broken cycle that they’re perpetuating, and that makes them impossible to root for.

But I think Gabi needs her cousin.

She’s always wanted to be strong for him, and he’s only clinging to life because he wants to be strong for her and Falco.

Reiner knows what it’s like to learn that your simple world is infinitely more complicated than you can bear. This is his little cousin, and she’s gone through the crash course version of his nightmare. She doesn’t need the right answer that makes it all okay (there isn’t one), but a hug and someone understanding all of the twisting moral paradoxes shattering her insides would be such a helpful thing.

Heck, it would be good for Reiner, too. Seeing all of his pain in someone he doesn’t have the heart to blame. Maybe he could find some sort of path to peace in that.

Then everything just goes straight to hell.

Despite this chapter’s... this chapter...ness, Eren stepping straight into the backroom with his hand covered in blood? Hella fucking cool. Like. That is one thing I absolutely did not see coming, and it is a great way to bring him on back in.

I thought he wouldn’t get to talk to Armin or Mikasa until his plan exploded and they needed to bail him out. I never once expected him to just walk right in and take his buddies hostage for a nice, quiet conversation.

That said, yike.

Yike, yike, and dare I say it, yikes.

Grior reveals Our Heroes’ location, and that’s... really scary in itself, because Grior tells him that he’s grown too close with Eldians, yet Grior is helping the fanatical Eldians act in accordance with Zeke’s plans.

So it isn’t that Nicolo’s gotten too close with Eldians, it’s that he’s grown close to them without the purpose of exploiting them. Which, as every Marleyan soldier knows, is a bad thing.

And Floch doesn’t mind. He’s accepting the help of Grior without any comment.

Let’s do a brief headcount: Yelena, Zeke, and Eren run a cult of fanatic Eldians under the banner of a new Eldian Empire. Paradis’ military is theoretically running Paradis but really sentenced to the whims of said cult. At least one prisoner of war sides with helping out the cult. The Anti-Marley Volunteers (or at least Onyankopon) are in the dark.

Floch is, partially, willing to let Zeke’s plans play out however they may because they can work to destabilize the current Paradis government.

It’s fitting that this chapter is called, “Ignorance.” Willful and unwillful.

And as Eren says, nothing is further from freedom.

Now let’s get to the fun happy times of EMA.

See? Eren gets out of prison and the first thing on his mind is talking to his best friends! Such a touching, emotional sentiment!

...

Yeah, do you guys know where to begin? I don’t.

This is just.

Honestly, I keep moving back to yikes?

Eren is gathering people he has no emotional attachment to to his side, and aggressively pushing his friends away. He is doing everything he can to abandon them on the roadside and make sure they will have zero desire to come crawling back to him.

The question is if he’s doing this because he believes it’s best within his own head, he believes it’s the best response to being threatened into this, or if Eren’s just gone completely haywire in the membrane and his PTSD is finally attacking people besides himself emotionally.

This kind of deliberate cruelty has like. motive.

Mikasa tries to talk to Eren by reminding him of how kind he is. The warmth is what saves her in her mind, not the violence. She’s the one to bring up the kidnapping.

Eren counters.

Nothing like kindness saves her. It’s biology. Friendship doesn’t bind them, slavery does. Happenstance brings them together and keeps them there.

Mikasa argues. She says he’s wrong, and tells him it’s because of him that she’s strong, meaning him as a person.

Eren doesn’t address that. Despite being the one to ask how he’s wrong, when he’s given an attempt at an answer, he keeps monologuing rather than respond to Mikasa’s feelings for him. He brings up her headaches.

Mikasa is dead, and a slave, and he hates her.

“Do you know who I hate most in this world? Anyone who isn’t free.”

Ignorance is furthest from freedom. Even in this script Eren has adopted, no matter how much of it is the truth, if Eren’s seeking to relieve Mikasa of her ignorance, he’s seeking to bring the slave he hates so much freedom. From him.

Funny, she might protect Eren automatically, but she doesn’t have any problem with headaches when Armin punches Eren and makes him bleed.

Armin earns a less prolonged speech before all of it, and it’s...

For both of them, this is the worst thing they could hear from Eren. Armin, as a child, always feels useless next to his strong friends. His huge moment in Trost comes from realizing they never see him that way. It’s all in his head.

This isn’t in his head. This is Eren, telling him he’s useless.

Telling him that Bertolt, who’s only in his head because Eren fought tooth and nail to put him there, is interfering with his free will.

(Also even if everything Eren is saying is the bull it feels like, can has Frieda!Eren? Memory seepage. Canonize my brotp, manga. Do it.

(Double also, lol at Eren saying that memories are part of who you are, and Armin having Bertolt’s means bad things, but Eren having... lots has no effect, he is teh free as a bird. Kiddo, you are not a good bad guy.))

Eren calls himself free before he starts talking. He’s free from his ignorance in a way they are not, and he chooses to enlighten his friends.

Good grief. And more grief. Less than good grief?

Terrible grief?

ALL the grief.

Eren’s the one who wants a peaceful talk with his friends. All so he can beat the crap out of them physically and emotionally.

Eren.

What in the fuck. What reason could you possibly have to need Armin and Mikasa that far away from you? Why do they need to be pushed out of trying to see the good in you?

I’m sure there’s a reason, because story.

But wow.

Killing younglings was one thing. Lording the high ground and your blood brother over your real family?

Your heroic sacrifice where you finally die and everyone’s crying about how you did all this stupid stuff alone but truly for a good cause had better make me cry like a damn baby kid, or you are dead to me.

Additionally, heeeey. Guess what.

Guess what Eren’s learned about important things.

And throwing them away.

Can you guess.

Can you.

It’s the family he has that isn’t pro-murder.

That’s actually of serious interest to me, because one of the things I think the story has been moving towards is an actual examination of the belief that you need to sacrifice things to change things. While Armin states that in a philosophical, hey, this seems like how we win, way, the story has, more and more, focused on the love that keeps people from making certain sacrifices.

Eren’s thrown love, the only reason Armin’s alive to punch him, away.

For as dark as this story is, that’s never been the right choice. Letting people go is understood and respected. Disloyalty is scorned and rejected.

My theory for a while has been that the true answer to these sacrifices is that if you throw away the things you care about to change the world, that world will have changed into something abominable.

The world would be a different place if Sasha didn’t care about killing children.

Sasha being Sasha is why Nicolo tries to fight Zeke’s plans.

Eren’s world without Armin and Mikasa is not going to be a better one for him, and possibly not for anyone else, either.

Then we lead into...

Things that just make me really, really uncomfortable.

I don’t mind people like Levi suggesting that someone eats Zeke, then dies in a few months when Historia eats that person. I. That’s fine. That’s a fine plan, and it makes sense for where they’re at, and anyone who agreed to that would agree, no issue.

Historia’s plotline continues to make me... uncomfortable is really the word. Not the tragic, devastating uncomfortable that Eren’s stuff is. Just... the sickening kind. The fact that people have, off-screen, come to terms with perpetuating the same kind of bloody sacrifice of their children that plagues their entire society after we had an entire arc ending with Historia going hey, actually fuck that...

A thirteen-year-old being bred to eat its mother is a disgusting concept.

I know I’ve said it before, and I realize people are probably done with my feelings on the subject, but if that is really the story being told--even if it avoids that conclusion, the fact that a scheme like that is allowed to get so far without any comment to the contrary except by the Kylo Ren wannabe at the very start--

Why in the fuck should I care what happens to these people?

You raise a child to die for you, you don’t deserve to live.

What happens if they don’t consent in thirteen years? What if they don’t want to eat their mommy? Oh well, we’re going to force you, just like every other Eldian society from the dawn of time? Or guilt you into it because thousands of lives depend on you having none?

Fuck all of you. If that’s your plan, I don’t mind Zeke killing each and every last one of you. I will naturally prefer if he dies in the process, but it’s not the prerequisite you might think.

(Repeated statement that at this point, I will be doing my fandom activities until the series ends, but yeah. This is the place where I choose to opt out, emotionally, if it’s really going down like this.)

Um. In news that actually matters to people who aren’t me, heeeeey, Levi alone in the forest with 31 titans.

This is why the SnK kinkmeme was created.

It’s also really sad.

They killed the titans inside their home.

Zeke’s bringing them back.

Annie needs to kick so many people in the head I can’t even.

[mst3kproject]

Phantom from Space

I fear nobody in this movie was ever on MST3K.  In fact, nobody in this movie ever appears to have been in anything, period – Ted Cooper, who plays the hero, spent most of his career doing game shows, and Noreen Nash's greatest accomplishment in life was being 1942's Miss Apple Blossom.  Director W. Lee Wilder did do Killers from Space, which was almost an MST3K movie, and The Snow Creature, a crummy Yeti movie that I'll probably review someday.  Rather than any of the cast or crew, what drew me to this film was that it features an invisible alien.  In the words of Joel, they were too cheap to hire villains.

Opening narration tells us about an incoming UFO.  The government sends people out to find the crash site.  Meanwhile, the police begin investigating a series of odd incidents, including two murders and an explosion – but all the witnesses keep describing a man in a diving helmet, with no head visible through the faceplate!  Before long the two investigations come together, as everybody realizes they're tracking a homocidal invisible alien.  This creature is plenty difficult enough to find as long as he has his indestructible spacesuit on.  Once he takes it off, however, they may never see him again, and he'll be free to kill.

Wow, that sounds like a way more exciting movie than the one I just watched.  Phantom from Space is difficult to sit through, but easy to come up with sketches and riffs about.  The antenna on top of the tracking vehicle looks like a Christmas tree, a scientist suggests that the reason the alien is invisible is because it's made of glass, and I can see Mike and the bots having a great time with the fact that the titular Phantom is naked for half the movie.  “Oh my god, his invisible butt cheeks are all over their leather seats!”  “Augh!  I'm staring right into his invisible area!”  Maybe Tom and Crow would become paranoid that there's an invisible man on the satellite and try to find a way to flush him out... possibly literally.  I can also see them urging the cast looking for the alien to “just follow the theremin!”, since that's the sound that we hear every time it's implicitly onscreen.

The beginning of the movie is just a mess.  First we have the narration and the inevitable accompanying stock footage, which seems to go on far too long.  Then, instead of getting to the action, we have the police investigation – this comes complete with suspects, annoying reporters, and so forth, and also takes way too long. Then there's the old guy with the malfunctioning TV set. Then there's the night watchman at the oil company!  These events are all supposed to establish patterns and make us worried about the alien but the whole segment needed to be cut down to about half its length, especially as very few of the characters we meet here are remotely relevant to the plot when it finally arrives, twenty-two minutes into a seventy-five minute film!

The plot of Phantom from Space sure takes its sweet time getting started, and even once it finds its feet it's really not a taut thriller, but it does give us plenty to think about.  With the exception of Wakeman the reporter, the characters we meet are pretty reasonable people: there's Dr. Wyatt the vaguely German astronomer, his assistant Barbara Randall, her husband Bill, their dog Venus, and a couple of cops and secret agents... and of course, there's the alien.  This being, which the human characters refer to as 'the Phantom', is never quite a character in its own right – but once we actually meet it, it also ceases to be a monster.

It's a real shame the opening sequences are so elongated and dull, because an audience who's falling asleep isn't going to pay attention to what's really the smartest thing in the movie.  The various witnesses who have seen the Phantom up to this point speak of it as a huge, intimidating thing that inspired great fear.  The first time we get a look at it for ourselves, however, it is scrambling back and forth on a rooftop, terrified and confused and desperate to escape from the humans who are closing in on it like a pack of wolves.  It's so frightened that it's forced to take a deep breath and take off its spacesuit so it cannot be seen.  This is more or less an act of suicide.  Events that follow will demonstrate that the Phantom cannot survive more than a few hours without the suit – taking it off ensures the wearer's short-term survival by sacrificing the long-term variety.

Up until this moment, the human characters have been speculating about the possible motives of their unknown visitor.  Is the Phantom a Soviet saboteur?  A thrill killer?  The vanguard of an invading army?  A few seconds in the creature's company show the audience that it has no plan.  It's not thinking ahead to more than the next couple of minutes, and its fear leads it to make mistakes.  Removing the suit ensured that the humans couldn't find it at the beach, but the Phantom must then accompany them to Griffith Observatory and try to get its stuff back, not an easy task with the police still looking for it.

Once they've actually made contact with the alien, the human characters quickly come to the same conclusion, but once the spacesuit disintegrates, there's really no hope for the Phantom to make it off our planet alive.  Instead, it begins trying to communicate in some kind of numerical code, but nobody can understand what it's trying to say.  In the end, Earth's toxic atmosphere overwhelms the Phantom, and it briefly becomes visible before disintegrating, leaving the humans with no idea what to do next.

The movie doesn't have much by way of special effects, but the evaporating alien isn't awful.  We see his body, which is made up and lit in such a way that it looks like its made of stone rather than flesh (tying in with Dr. Wyatt's earlier suggestion that the creature's biology is based on silicon rather than carbon), and then we see subtle hints of the skeleton as the whole thing seems to boil away into mist.  It's not fancy, but it's also not corny, and for a movie with such an obvious low budget, this is a very nice moment indeed.

The script is also quite respectful of its main female character, Barbara Randall.  As soon as she's introduced we are immediately told she will be something other than a useless love interest, because she is Mrs Randall, thank you very much.  She is the first to attempt any sort of contact with the Phantom and she behaves in a very sensible fashion.  Although she's terrified and does do some screaming and fainting, for the most part she keeps her wits about her and seizes the opportunity to learn something.  Locked in a room with the creature, she tells Bill to go for help rather than trying to break her out himself.  She recognizes that the Phantom is trying to communicate and writes down the sequence of numbers he taps out, hoping somebody more familiar with mathematics will understand it. And she is the first to notice that the dog is aware of the alien, and tries to take advantage of this fact.

Make no mistake, Phantom from Space is a very bad movie – it would be much better if somebody cut down the first third or so, but it still wouldn't be great.  It does, however, seem to be a story with a lot of thought put into it.  It never really resolves the situation it sets up, since we never find out what the Phantom was trying to tell us or whether we can expect to see more of him, but that doesn't feel like a disappointment.  The main arc of the movie, from the opening with the flying saucer sightings, was the humans simply trying to figure out what the hell is going on, and at the end they know.  Future consequences of the night's events simply aren't important at this point.

It's a story with no villain.  As audience and cast quickly realizes, the Phantom is only trying to survive on an alien world, with few resources and hopelessly lost, outnumbered, and outgunned. The humans themselves, from the scientists to the cops to the annoying reporter, all are just trying to do their jobs as best they can with the available information.  It's also a story with no hero. There's no single main character, and it's the group working together who manage to collectively learn something about the nature of the universe.  Like First Spaceship on Venus, this is a movie about ideas rather than people, though it's far clumsier about it.

The big idea writer Myles Wilder wants to explore is that of alien contact.  In most movies of the fifties, and frankly even a lot of movies of today, aliens either come in firing lasers at us, or else just speak English from the get-go.  Wilder tries to do something different by showing us an alien who is as unprepared for us as we are for it.  How do you communicate with something when you don't even know if you have common ground with it, let alone what that might be?  Scientists from the beginning of SETI have suggested that mathematics is a universal language, but what kind of mathematics?  Dr. Wyatt points out that the Phantom's message may be couched in a form of math we haven't discovered yet.  In the end, the alien's pleas for help – if that's indeed what they were – fall on deaf ears, not because the humans don't want to help it, but because we simply cannot understand what it is trying to say. That's a pretty neat idea to make a movie about, and could have made for a far better one than Phantom from Space.

If you're interested in the idea of using math to communicate with extraterrestrials, and the pitfalls we might experience along the way, there's a couple of really interesting SETI Talks lectures about it available on YouTube.  Dr. Kevin Devlin argues that math is a product of the human brain and may not be as universal as we think, and Dr. John Stillwell demonstrates some rather obscure ways of thinking about numbers that may be more natural to aliens than they are to us.

[asthesluthumps]

Cast Of Characters

Professors

Professor Dionysus “Dion” Bacchus:  New guy on campus.  Professor of  Viticulture and Enology Department.  Actually a god.  Currently hooking up with Kitty.  Calls her Sparkles. Submissive, cooks Mediterranean food. Loves wine and to party. Now in a relationship with Kitty and Bucky.

Professor Bucky Barnes: Was in a poly relationship with Kitty and Steve but that is donzo.  Professor of Chemistry.  The bottom to Steve’s top.  Does not want to settle down with Steve which causes friction and not the good kind.  Was formerly dominated by both Natasha and Kitty. Sweet guy, bad at relationships. Now in a relationship with Dion and Kitty.

Professor Ben:  Old school friend of Will, going to start teaching philosophy.  Kinky AF like Will.

Professor James Conrad:  Associate Chair of the Biology Department. Big believer in “relaxation techniques” that use pressure points to relieve tension.  And excuse to fuck the students.  Heart of gold but kind of a himbo. In an non-exclusive relationship with Moonbeam. He doesn’t believe in such stifling terms as “love”.  Has a katana. 

Professor William Hiddleston:  aka Professor Hoe. Professor of English Literature. Not a god. Gives good grades in exchange for oral sex and your panties.  Then sniffs those panties.  Was previously in a serious, but non-exclusive relationship with Professor Laufeyson, they have made amends. Boyfriend/Girlfriend with student Maddie. Favorite movie Princess Bride.   Has a twin brother Father Thomas Hiddleston.  

Professor Loki Laufeyson: Professor of History. Also actually a god. Currently in a non-exclusive, living together relationship with JTH. In a prior serious, live in, non-exclusive relationship with Professor Hiddleston. They have made amends. Has a sex dungeon in his office. Like deflowering the students.  Likes ice cream. Oh he created this whole universe.  

Professor Magnus Martinsson:  Professor of Criminal Justice. Currently hooking up seriously but not exclusively with Spoons. Dominant but definitely would be submissive for the right person. Loves bacon cheeseburgers.  Might have a temper.  Has an amazing metabolism.  Has an idiot cousin named Bill at the school.  Also has skills in mediation and negotiation.

Professor Topaz Mills: Works in the Registrar office.  

Professor Steve Rogers: Professor of Biochemistry. Formerly in a poly relationship with Bucky and Kitty. The top to Bucky’s bottom. Wants to settle down with Buck and be exclusive. Formerly dommed by Natasha and Kitty. Apparently gives blowjob lessons. FUCKING DICKWAD. Currently exploiting and preying on Annalissa.

Professor Natasha Romanov: Professor of Political Science. Bisexual. Former domme of Steve and Bucky but left them.  Has something going on with student Miss Quartz. Hooked up with Hannah at When in Rome. Mostly keeps to herself.

Dr. Ruth: Professor of Communication.  Also a couples therapist.  They need it.

Professor Thomas Sharpe: not much is known.  

Students

Bill: He is funny, he is pretty, he is an idiot. Manages to get on the wrong side of Professor Hoe. His cousin is Magnus. Has no gag reflex and gives amazing head.

Hannah:  soccer player extraordinaire. Gets injured often. Got her cherry popped by Loki. REALLY hates Annalissa. Currently dating Escapo

Indie:  desperately horny Catholic girl. Involved with Father Hiddleston. Popped each other’s cherries. It is both filthy and wholesome. Good figure. 

JTH: Senior and sorority girl. Just changed major from interdisciplinary studies to Marketing with a minor in History.  Currently in a non-exclusive, living with Professor Laufeyson. Can be possessive and petty with little regard for the wake she leaves behind but has good intentions. Very loyal to those close to her. High school friends with Spoons. Generally game for anything. Currently hates Professor Rogers.  

Kitty:  Science major, but will welcome any credit in any area. Formerly in a poly relationship with Professor Barnes and Rogers. Currently in a relationship with Bacchus and Bucky. Is a domme. Has “punished” Father Hiddleston in the past for his sins as his requests. Punched Annalissa. Will fight anyone who tries to hurt Moonbeam. 

Miss Quartz: ( female, bisexual): Political Science major. Junior. A new student to SLUT. Transferred from another school but she rarely talks about why. Very studious, Type A perfectionist, teacher's pet. Is easily flustered and blushes quickly. Is currently crushing on Natasha Romanov (Black Quartz). Lost panties to Prof. Hoe.

Moonbeam: (female, pansexual, polyamorous): Xenobiology major. Sophomore. A very new age, open minded, spiritual person, guided by the energies she feels and the suggestions of her spirit guides. Reads Tarot at the coffee shop upon request. Is involved with Professor Conrad (MoonRad), Tanya (Moonya), Conrad AND Tayna (MoodRadya), Kitty (MoonKitty), Kitty AND Steven AND Bucky (MoonStukitty). Real name is Doris Mulvaney, but no one except Conrad knows that.

Sibyl:  New hot girl.  Wears designer chic. Is going to rush. Hangs out with JTH a lot.  Total party girl.  Loves being naked.  

Spoons:  (female, pansexual): theater major, has a Shakespeare kink, prefers to be a sub but will switch sometimes. Best friends with JTH. Is secretly a bit shy about initiating anything with anyone, but she's at SLUT for a reason and is down to fuck basically anybody, men or women.

Tanya Markova:  a quirky, new student from overseas; bi-racial, bisexual, and all bi herself. Taking biochem. (wow, we are heavy on the bi here. Anyway...) Is in SLUT's rowing team. Actually a nerd. Her distinct feature is her short, silver-grey, curly hair.

Other Adults

Father Thomas Hiddleston:  in the theology dep. He doesn't fuck casue celibacy, but will forgive your sins if you let him watch you masturbate and then will masturbate himself. That is until he met Indie, and now he fucks her. Regularly. Vows, what vows? Has since been fired, but plans to come back.  

Annalissa Grace:  (female, straight): Religious studies major, a nun-in-training. Huge bitch - tries to "save" the sinners on campus but is just a real asshole about it. Has no relationships; "relieved some pressure" with Prof Hoe one time, but now she's pretty sure that was a sin even though Father Hiddleston almost convinced her otherwise. Straight up bitch. Currently being manipulated by Professor Rogers.

The Great Escapo:  Former prisoner of the Gulag, Is out on parole now.  Current janitor (it is a thankless job around here.)  Enjoys soccer.  Dating Hannah.

Vinne the Hitman:  JTH’s cousin.  Yes he is a hitman.  Also bakes killer zucchini bread.  Plans to open a bakery and retire. Closest thing to a good role model JTH ever had.

Oakley the Bartender:  Full time bartender and budding porn star.  Has an OnlyFans page.  Loves shaking that ass for the tips.  Fucks in the bathroom at the bar.  And anywhere else.  Cousin to Bill and Magnus.  

[tellmewhatisreal]

Intertwined

Characters: Eleven/Jane Hopper, Jim Hopper

Summary: Moments between Jim and Jane.

Her entry into society hadn't exactly been smooth sailing.

She had been excited to go to school, to say the least. The date had been marked on the calendar hanging on the wall, and she would constantly check how many days there were left until she could begin her life as a normal teenager. Then The Day had finally arrived, and trembling with barely contained excitement, she had hopped out of the truck and hurried to her friends waiting for her at the school entrance. But in the afternoon, when he had pulled up in front of the school to pick her up, she had sat there on the curb looking downright defeated. When he had called out her name (which was Jane, by her choice, although the kids still persistently called her El), she had walked over to the truck, shoulders slumped, dragging her feet. The whole drive home she had stared out of the window and his questions had been met with shrugs and one-word answers. It hadn't been until that evening that she had spoken. "Everything was hard," she had said, poking at the mashed potatoes on her plate with her fork.

The things she had then described hadn't come as a surprise to him. The weird looks from other kids. Teachers with little patience for her limited understanding of vocabulary. The exhaustion from having to process unfamiliar words all day and trying and failing to form sentences that made sense to others. She was certainly enthusiastic about learning, probably more so than any other student in the school, but the day had been too overwhelming. And it had apparently ended with her hiding in a bathroom stall, trying to keep her anxiety in check.

So the first day had been hard, and so had the weeks after that. He had been aware that the kid needed to see and experience a lot more human interaction in order to get better at it. So he had started taking her out a lot more, trying to ignore the fear twisting his guts every time she was out in public. They would simply walk around the town, go out to eat or sometimes go to the movies. On Saturdays they would get groceries for the following week.

This Saturday was no different. She was pushing the shopping cart and scanning the shelves, searching for a cereal brand that she hadn't tried yet. He was in the vegetable aisle, cursing the lack of carrots, the only vegetable she would eat without coaxing. She returned to him with two boxes of cereal in the cart. "Can I have two?"

"I'm not made of money, you know."

She looked puzzled. "I know."

"I mean... Never mind. Just, maybe try to pick one? The next paycheck is coming next week, we're gonna have to skimp until then." The truth was, he was saving up so that they could afford to move to a real house with room for them both. But he didn't want to tell her until he was sure he could actually make it happen.  

"Fine." She was about the take the other box back when someone called out Jim's name. They both turned around and saw a red-haired woman approach them.

"Jim Hopper! I recognized you immediately."

He had no idea who the woman was.

"You don't remember me, do you?" She seemed a little surprised, yet amused.

"Uh... Remind me?"

She smirked. "Senior year, we used to drive up to the hill in your car and... enjoy the scenery."

Then he definitely remembered. Flustered, he cleared his throat. "Susan! Yes, of course I remember. What are you doing here? In Hawkins, I mean."

"It's my mother's birthday and she's having this huge extravaganza. I think half the town is invited," she laughed.

Jane was still standing there, holding the box of cereal and silently observing them.

Susan kept glancing between Jane and him, obviously waiting for him to introduce her.

"And who's this pretty lady?" she finally asked.

"Oh, this is Jane. She is my daughter." He uttered the last words slowly and uncertainly, as he always did whenever someone asked about her. He still hadn't gotten used to the phrase.

The woman frowned. "Really? I had no idea you had a kid. Even my mom has never mentioned it, and she knows everything that goes on in this town."

Relying on the evasion tactic he had successfully used with nosy people for the last few weeks, he only shrugged as a response.

She turned to Jane and extended her hand. "Well, it's very nice to meet you, Jane." The girl stared at the extended hand with a confused look and glanced at Jim. He mimed a handshake and she finally shook the hand limply.

"She's a bit shy," he lied.

"Wow, she really hasn't taken after you, then," she laughed.

He could sense the conversation heading to a very awkward direction and he needed to end it. "Well, it was great seeing you. We're in a bit of a hurry, so we need to continue our shopping."

The abrupt ending to the conversation earned him an odd look from the woman. "Right, of course. Actually I'm in a bit of a hurry too, I just need to grab baking soda for my mom." She seemed to contemplate for a while. "But hey, I'm going to be in town for a few days, so if you want to grab a drink or something..."

There was no way he was going to spend an evening being interrogated about his life, so he tried to come up with a believable excuse. "Oh. Well, you know, I'm going to be a bit busy with work and... Jane. You know, father-daughter stuff."

She obviously saw right through his bullshit explanation, but thankfully let it go. "Right, of course. Anyway, it was fun to see you again. And it was nice meeting you, Jane." She gave them both one last (and very confused) look before heading to the other side of the store.

"Why are we in a hurry?" Jane asked him as she watched her walk away.

"We're not," he said with a lowered voice.

"You lied then."

He groaned. "It was just a teeny tiny white lie, don't get too hung up on it. What's next on our shopping list?"

She kept looking at him with a slightly judgmental look. It was annoying as hell. "Let this one go, and I'll let you have two boxes of cereal. Deal?"

She contemplated a while. "Yes." He then shook her hand to seal the deal (and also for practice).

She tossed the box into the cart and started to spell out the next item on their shopping list.

He realized that in the span of five minutes he had lied, used bribery and overall spectacularly failed at acting like a normal human being. As usual, he started to wallow, thinking he was a horrible influence on his kid if he couldn't even get through a simple conversation with dignity.

While he followed her around amidst his angst spiral, Jane collected everything they needed (minus the carrots) and they went to the register. As usual, Jim handed Jane a bunch of bills so that she could handle the transaction and went to pack the groceries. While the cashier waited for Jane to count the bills, she asked what the duo had planned for the weekend.

Jane handed her the cash after triple-checking she had counted the money correctly. "You know, father-daughter stuff," she parroted his earlier words. "It's going to be a busy weekend, apparently." She threw him a mocking look.

Even though he was being made fun of, he couldn't help but chuckle at her surprisingly subtle jab. His kid was starting to get the hang of it after all.

Jim wondered what his life had become. He had led a simple life before: going to work, getting off work, having a drink or ten, maybe having a lady friend over. Then he would wake up in the morning and do the same thing all over again. It had been a safe and familiar loop. But now he was in uncharted territory: standing in the front of a classroom, trying to inspire kids to "find a suitable career path". That was what Ms. Hoffman, one of Jane's teachers, had said when she had ambushed him in the hallway of the school and begged him to take part in career day. If he had been asked three years ago, he would have never agreed, but now all it had taken had been the magic words "Jane would be so thrilled to have you there". Ms. Hoffman was surprisingly good at manipulation.

So he was there as promised, cursing himself for agreeing to this, and Jane was sitting in the back row, looking amused and maybe a little weirded out by the fact that he was in her classroom. The teacher introduced him to the class and gestured him to take over.

He took a few steps forward, feeling like a giant in the small classroom. He placed his hat on the teacher's desk and started talking, describing his duties as a police chief and what a typical work day was like. He kept it short because he desperately wanted to get the hell out of there. Of course the sadistic Ms. Hoffman wouldn't let him.

"Thank you, chief Hopper! What a fascinating, and most of all important job. Now, I'm sure the kids have a lot of questions to ask you," she said from the side of the room.

"Uh, yeah sure, go ahead," he glanced at the students, who mostly looked bored.

A boy in the front row piped up immediately. "Have you ever killed anyone?"

Some of the other boys snickered, and he noticed Jane roll her eyes in the back row. The teacher threw Jim an apologizing look. He then had a hunch.

He headed slowly toward the boy's desk. "What's your name, kid?"

"Brian."

Bingo. This was the Brian who apparently kept sending idiotic notes to Jane during class. They weren't even clever, just mocking remarks about her clothing or curly hair. When he had found the pieces of paper between her biology textbook, he had forced her to tell him the asshole's name, but she had pleaded him not to contact the school. "I don't care about them," she had said. But he knew she did care, and now he could do something about it.

He stopped in front of the boy's desk and looked contemplatively out of the window, ignoring his question. "You know, I've been doing this job for a long time. And I like to think that I've become pretty good at reading people. Something I've noticed over the years is that it's pretty easy to predict how people will turn out."

He leaned on the kid's desk with both hands. "Some people start veering off course early on. They think that what they're doing is just innocent fun, like maybe teasing others at school, enjoying the power trip. But usually, that's exactly how it starts. That leads to whole another level of stupidity, and before they know it, they're being charged with car theft or drunk driving or worse by the time they're 20."

He leaned down, towering over the boy (who was trying to act like he wasn't intimidated, but he could see that was exactly what he was). "That's why whenever I spot kids doing something stupid, I intervene. It's not too late for them, they can still change course. And a very good way to change that course is to, I don't know, stop going out of your way to terrorize the people around you. These people include, but are not limited to, the police chief's daughter." He gave the kid his most frightening stare. "Surely you understand what I'm saying?"

For a second the boy defiantly held his head up high, but then nodded and averted his gaze, blush creeping up his neck.

"Wonderful," he said with an overly chipper tone and straightened himself. "Any other questions?"

"Actually, I think we're out of time," the now very nervous-looking Ms. Hoffman hurried to say, trying to get things under control again. "But thank you so much for taking the time to visit us, this has been very enlightening."

"It was my pleasure," he stated sweetly and picked up his hat. One glance at the back of the classroom confirmed that his daughter was blushing furiously, but she didn't seem embarrassed, only amused. He placed the hat on his head and headed to the door. "I'll be home at five-one-five, Jane," he called out without looking back and strode out into the hallway.

Jane didn't like guns. It was perfectly understandable, considering that she'd had quite a few guns pointed at her in her lifetime. Whenever his gun was somewhere in the house, she would avoid being in its vicinity. It most likely stirred some unpleasant memories in her.

He wondered if it was the worst idea in the history of mankind, but he figured that if he showed her how guns worked, maybe she wouldn't feel so uncomfortable with one in the house. On the other hand, he was about to teach a traumatized teenager not totally in control of her psychic powers how to use a firearm. Someone might have said he was insane. But he knew that despite her explosive tendencies she was also extremely detail-oriented. If he explained something to her thoroughly, she would be smart about it.

"You want me to use the gun?" she asked incredulously when he broached the subject.

He gave her a pointed look. "Certainly not. I'm just going to show you how to handle it safely and load it and stuff. You know, the mechanics of it. Sit, watch and learn", he tapped the seat next to him.  

She sat down hesitantly at their brand new kitchen table next to him. "Okay. First of all, if you handle a gun, always make sure that the safety is on. See this here? When it's on, you can't accidentally shoot anyone."

"What if I need to shoot someone?"

"You won't need to. Ever."

"You can't know."

He sighed. "Well, if push comes to shove, you're perfectly able to take someone down with your God-given abilities. So leave the shooting to me."

He could sense the gears turning in her head. "'If push comes to shove', it means that a situation gets so bad that it calls for desperate measures."

Her expression became even more perplexed. "Measures?"

He ran a hand over his face. "It has a different meaning... You know what, let's not get into that right now, we need to concentrate on this. Okay, here's what you would do if you had to use this." He then showed her how to place the bullets in and how to load the gun.

"How often do you have to use it?" she asked, closely watching his movements.

"Pretty much never, not much happens around here that requires shooting. Except, you know..." He trailed off but she picked up on his meaning and nodded in understanding.

"Can I try shoot with it?" she asked after a moment of silence.

He raised his eyebrow at the unexpected question.

"Not living things," she hurried to add. "Just... I want see how it feels."

He contemplated for a while. "Sorry, kid. This is my service pistol. You know, for work only. We can't use it for fun."

She nodded again and fiddled with a loose bullet.  

"But I do have a rifle in the garage. You interested in that?"

Before they knew it, they were standing at the edge of the nearby field, Jane placing empty beer cans on a weathered fence. They took their position at a proper distance from it.

"Okay, you ready?"

"Yes." She held out her arms, looking concentrated and serious.

"Stand straight, feet a bit further apart," he poked at her feet with his own foot and then placed the rifle in her arms. "It will kick back, hard, so be ready for that. Take a deep breath before you pull the trigger. Absolutely no sudden movements." He placed earmuffs on her head and took a step back.

She breathed in and out in an exaggerated manner. Her finger closed around the trigger and her head started to turn away in anticipation of the shot.

"No no no, eyes open and forward," he gestured towards the fence. "You need to see your target."

She gave him a slightly impatient look, but did as she was told. She took that deep breath again and kept her eyes fixated on the fence.

The shot rang loudly through the air, making flocks of birds sprint from the tree line. Jane looked a bit startled by the force of the shot, but after a second she burst into laughter. Clearly exhilarated and pumped with adrenaline, she couldn't stop laughing, and it made him laugh too. She hadn't hit any of the cans, not by a long shot, but they couldn't care less. At that moment she was emanating pure joy and it was perfect.

"That settles it, we are so enrolling you into the police academy the minute you turn 21." He ruffled her hair, a bit out of breath from the laughing.

Jim was at his desk smoking a cigarette and talking on the phone with a very distraught George Henderson, who was reporting that his lawn ornaments had gone missing during the night. Again. "This is the third time this has happened, George. Maybe you should consider not having lawn ornaments?" he asked tiredly. As the man started to rant about never giving in to the shitheads who vandalized him, Flo appeared in the doorway. "Hop, your daughter is here."

He glanced at the clock on the wall and groaned. "She's supposed to be at school," he said, holding his hand over the receiver.

"Well, she's not. She wants to see you, over here," Flo told him and gestured him to follow her. He ended the call abruptly, promising the man that someone would come over to deal with his crisis.

He was already preparing the lecture he was about to give her in his head, until he entered the room and saw her sitting in one of the guest chairs by the entrance, cradling her winter hat in her hands. When he got closer, he spotted some movement in the hat.

"Uh, Jane? What have you got there?" he asked carefully, suddenly worried that he would have to deal with yet another monstrous creature from the upside down. He sat down on the chair next to hers. She shifted the hat so that he could take a look. Thankfully, it wasn't an otherworldly creature. It was a tiny bird. Its wing was broken and one of its legs was twisted in an odd position. She looked up at him with the most hopeful expression he'd ever seen on anyone. "Can you fix her?"

Suddenly he could feel everyone's eyes on him. The officers and Flo were all curiously watching this scene unfold from their desks. It made him anxious. "Powell, Callahan, George Henderson called again. You know the drill."

The men begrudgingly made their way out and Jim looked at the bird one more time. It twitched slightly when he gently poked at it, but it wasn't actually moving. It wasn't even chirping. It was obviously as good as dead but she still thought he could somehow bring it back to life. He would've been touched if it hadn't been so damn tragic.

"Where did you find it?" he asked gently.

"In the school yard. I don't know why she's hurt." She stroked the bird's feathers lightly. "What do we do?"

There was that look again. He sighed. "Look, Jane, I don't think we can make it better. It's too badly hurt."

The tears fell immediately. She was sobbing and heartbroken and he had no idea what to do. He placed a comforting hand on her back. "If there was any way I could help it, I would." She sniffed and wiped at her eyes and nose (with the hands she had handled the bird with, he realized, but now was probably not the time to send her to wash her hands). At a loss at what to do, he glanced over at Flo, but she was, too, wiping tears from her face. Truth be told, he was pretty close to shedding a few tears himself. He ended up hugging her and whispering (hopefully) soothing words to her until the sobbing stopped. Figuring that she was too upset to return to school, he decided to take her straight home.

Later that night, the bird having been put out of its misery and Jane being asleep in her room, he lied on the couch with a beer in his hand, thinking about what had happened. He didn't know why she'd had such a strong reaction to the bird and it bothered him. He suspected it had something to do with the lab. He had certainly noticed something was off before: whenever she saw a stray cat crossing their yard or a dog being walked on the street, she got that sad, faraway look in her eyes.  He hadn't asked her about it, mostly because he was afraid of opening a floodgate that couldn't be closed. Annoyed with himself for handling things so badly, he finished his beer with one gulp and got up from the couch, his back cracking in the process. On the way to his room, he peaked in Jane's to make sure she was really asleep (she would sometimes pretend to go to sleep but in reality read a book under the covers with a flashlight). He lingered in her doorway for a while, the alcohol running in his veins making him emotional. He had probably handled some things badly, he thought. But she had trusted him enough to come to him when she had been upset, so he must have done something right, too. That thought made him smile.

The flying glass missed his head only by a few inches when it hit the wall and shattered to pieces. "Hey, what did we talk about?" he barked angrily, pointing at their revised list of 'don't be stupid' rules pinned to the living room wall.

He really didn't need this today. She had that infuriatingly stubborn look on her face and he knew this fight was going to be a hellish one. He had only informed her that she couldn't go out with the others since she would have to study for her math test, and things had inexplicably escalated from there.

She didn't answer his question. He marched to the list to emphasize his point.

"'I won't use my powers to lash out'," he read out loud. "This looks awfully like your own handwriting. I distinctly remember us both agreeing to these rules. So where is this stupidity coming from?"

She was absolutely seething. "I am not stupid!" she spat out.

"Oh yeah? Because I'm thinking that a smart person would know better than to use their scary-ass powers to hurt other people out of spite. That's what normal people do, they control their emotions. We've been having this conversation over and over again for, what, two years now, and you still can't grasp this? Seriously?"

In the back of his mind he knew he had delivered her a low blow. But he couldn't concentrate on that right now because he needed to win this stare-off they were currently engaged in. Seeing the rage flash in her eyes he fully expected her to hurl the TV at him or something, and quite frankly, he probably deserved it at this point. Instead, she stormed out of the house, slamming the door shut behind her with a flick of her wrist.

"Shit." He walked over to the window and watched her ride off with her bike. Slowly his words started to sink in. He was painfully aware of the other kids laughing behind her back and calling her a weirdo or a freak at school, making her feel like she didn't belong. He'd thought that things had gotten better since the beginning, since she hadn't really mentioned anything to him for a while, but the Wheeler kid had told him the truth. Frustrated, he had briefly even entertained the idea of letting her break rule number three on their list ('I will never ever use my powers at school') so that she could make sure no one ever bothered her again. It made him sick that she had to listen to that shit, and yet, here he was, berating her for not being normal.

He considered going after her but decided against it. He wouldn't get through to her when she was like this. So he decided to wait the storm out, trying to ignore the all-too familiar thought nagging in the back of his mind: what if she doesn't come back.  

She, of course, did come back. It was 9.58 p.m., and as he was pacing in the kitchen and considering sending his officers out to look for her, he heard the door open. She stepped in, briefly glanced at him and with her head bowed down closed the door gingerly (and manually this time). She was clearly expecting to be yelled at. Feeling nothing but relief, he closed the distance between them and hugged her tightly.

"I'm sorry," she mumbled quietly into his shirt and hugged him back.

"I'm sorrier. I was a moron."

She gave a small laugh and looked up at him. "I think we both were a bit stupid. Again."

"I'll say," he chuckled and let go of her to look her straight in the eye. "Hey, uh... I know I said some hurtful things. I need you to know I didn't mean any of it. It can't be easy, trying to learn to control something so... uncontrollable."

"I don't do it on purpose. When I get mad, it's like I can't think very well."

He chuckled. "Hey, I can totally relate. Speaking of which," he guided her by the shoulders to the list on the wall, "I added something in my column." There, under the much-protested 'I won't smoke inside the house', he had written 'I will handle fights like an adult'. She smiled and gave him a side hug.

He threw his arm around her shoulder. "Where did you go, by the way?"

"To the diner."

"You were at the diner for three hours?"

"Mm-hmm."

"Do I dare ask what you ate?"

"Waffles and two milkshakes. And coffee."

He groaned. "Great. That won't mess with your sleep at all." He then remembered what had caused the fight to begin with. "On the other hand, now you'll have all night to study for your test."

The next day they agreed to add another rule in her column: 'No coffee after 5 p.m.'

"I'm bored."

He cracked one eye open and found her sitting on the edge of his bed. He glanced at the clock on the nightstand, closed his eyes and flung his arm over his eyes. "Why on earth are you up at 6.50 on a Saturday morning?"

She shrugged. "I'm not tired."

"Congratulations. I, on the other hand, am very tired."

"There's nothing to do around here." She was whispering now, as if that would bother him less.

"Homework?"

"I did it yesterday," she said exasperatedly and flopped down on her stomach on the edge of the bed.

"Of course you did." She must have been the only teenager in Hawkins who voluntarily did her homework on a Friday night. "Well... How about mowing the lawn? That would be super useful."

He was joking, but judging by her silence she seemed to actually contemplate it. "I don't know how to use the machine," she said after a while.

He peeked at her from under his arm. "The lawn mower?" She nodded. "It's not hard. I can show you."

She looked way too excited about a lawn mower. He seriously needed to find her some hobbies. "But not now. I think our neighbors wouldn't be so thrilled about our Saturday-morning lawn-mowing."

"Their houses are far away. They won't care."

He groaned and opened his eyes, obviously not getting any sleep anymore. "Fine. But breakfast first, then manual labor."

"I already made coffee!" She sprinted out of the bed victoriously and disappeared into the kitchen.

His mind wandered, again, a few years back to when he had been free to sleep until noon without anyone needing anything from him. But thinking about it now, he didn't miss it one bit. He quite enjoyed his life just the way it was.

[ellashuladad1002-blog]

700 Word Statement + Bibliography

“You Look Nothing Like Your Mum”

Genetics is an interesting developing field of biology. The interaction between ones environment and their genetic make up has long been of interest; specifically how different environmental factors can cause major differences within a population. How is it that two people can be made up of such similar things yet turn out looking so different? Do you see more similarities between other people and their relatives than you do with yourself and your own family members?

When looking at people I have just met, I’ve always found that the first thing I do is connect their features to the ones of people that I already know. “Wow you look exactly like my friend!” I would probably say 50% of the time, and the other 50% I would point out the similarities like having the same hair or eye colour as another friend. I always hear people saying that there must be a ‘glitch’ in the matrix when they see a stranger that resembles a person they already know. We as humans find it so hard to believe that two people can look so similar, and not know each other at all, but as soon two people tell us that they are related suddenly nobody believes them because they couldn’t look more different!

In my assignment I initially wanted to explore the creative possibilities of glitch in more of a natural and subtle sense. After doing some research I moved onto the concept of the uncanny and it’s role in everyday life. I wanted to create an artwork that evoked my audience to feel like something was misplaced and out of the ordinary, whilst not being able to quite figure out what that difference was. Artist David Claerbout, who creates works with this exact idea in mind, inspired this concept. He does this by placing an unknown character into a domesticated environment, but upon further inspection the audience will recognize this person’s face as a known celebrity. This generally leads to a reaction of discomfort and confusion, as nobody knows why this feels so out of place, but everyone knows that he just isn’t meant to be there. 

This artwork got me thinking, what factor can I change in familiar situations to make them seem just a little wrong and out of place? Which lead me to my next experiment; slightly altering celebrity’s faces whilst still making them recognizable to the public eye. This didn’t really work out too well as my photoshopping skills weren’t that great and it didn’t have much of an impact when I took it to others. I still loved the idea of working with portraits, and wanted to continue working with this concept. What would happen if I combined different features of people and their relatives and created a whole new person? Would they look the same or would it create some sort of weird optical illusion of a morphed being?

Chuck Close was another huge inspiration in my work, as he creates hyper realistic portraits that trick the audience into thinking that they’re something that they are not (a photograph). So how could I create an artwork that combines hyper realistic portraiture and artistic illusions? Well after some more research I came across lenticular images. Which is basically an artwork that resembles an accordion, made up of 2 images that change when you move from either side of the artwork. This was perfect and matched my concept completely!

I decided to use images of my mum and I as the 2 subjects; and this links back to the concept of genetics and the uncanny. People always tell me that I don’t look anything like my mum, and that I’m definitely “my father’s daughter” whatever that is supposed to mean. By placing each individual feature from both of us side-by-side the audience is able to see the similarities in our faces when looking at the work front on. But once they get the chance to walk on either side of it they then become aware of the differences in our features once the individual faces are revealed, despite them being so similar when split up. So, do I really look nothing like my mum? I think the resemblance is uncanny.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Anon., 'Parasol unit foundation for contemporary art', E-flux[website], 2016,  http://www.e-flux.com/announcements/5987/magical-surfaces-the-uncanny-in-contemporary-photography/ accessed 4 September 2017.

Anon., 'The Arts Club of Chicago' E-flux[website], 2017, http://www.e-flux.com/announcements/147578/roman-ondakman-walking-toward-a-fata-morgana/ accessed 18 September 2017.

Big Self-Portrait Chuck Close DATE 1967–1968 DIMENSIONS unframed 107-½ x 83-½ x 2 inches TYPE Paintings DESCRIPTION self-portrait of the artist MATERIALS acrylic on canvas CREDIT LINE Art Center Acquisition Fund, 1969 ACCESSION NUMBER 1969.16

David Claerbout, KING (after Alfred Wertheimer’s 1956 picture of a young man named Elvis Presley), 2015–16. Single-channel video projection, HD animation, black-and-white, silent, 10-minute loop. Courtesy of the artist and galleries, Sean Kelly, New York, and Micheline Szwajcer, Brussels.

DIY Lenticular Images!! [video], Youtube, 'WondersEscape' , 30 November 2015, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mmGB9ADKr5Y accessed 16 September 2017

DIY 2 pictures in 1 - How To Make 3D Optical Illusion Picture Tutorial[video], Youtube, 'IdunnGoddess', 3 August 2015, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZtRdaOQMCFM accessed 16 september 2017

Leitakcocgaming, '˙˙˙ǝɯ s,ʇI ˙˙˙ollǝH', Reddit, 9 Aug. 2016, https://www.reddit.com/r/illusions/comments/4wyr2j/ǝɯ_sʇi_ollǝh/ accessed 6 September 2017.

Maurizio Cattelan, “Untitled,” 2001. Stainless steel, composition wood, electric motor, electric light, electric bell, computer, 23-½ x 33-5/8 x 18-5/8 inches.*

N. Coghlan, 'Uncanny & Startingly Real', Aesthetica[website], http://www.aestheticamagazine.com/uncanny-startlingly-real/ accessed 16 September 2017.

P. Jahner, '21 Pictures That Will Fuck With Your Brain', Buzzfeed[website]. 2017, https://www.buzzfeed.com/philippjahner/mind-fck?bfsource=bbf_enau&utm_term=.owKxKlMzl8#.eqOx8pv1py accessed 6 September 2017.

Roman Ondak, Escape Circuit, 2014. Modified metal and wood cages, 77 x 510 x 295 cm. Courtesy of the artist and kurimanzutto, Mexico City.

[singingwordwright]

Shadowhunters recap - s2ep15 “A Problem of Memory”

SHADOWHUNTERS Recaps Intro and Masterlist

These recaps may contain spoilers from the books (that may or may not happen in the show.) Proceed at your own risk.

Recap and meta under the cut.

First of all, hats off to Alberto, he was absolutely brilliant in this episode.

As someone who actually has studied biology and who has specifically researched blood and blood-related illnesses (as part of writing my novel Risk Aware, which has a hero with hemophilia, and also as part of my Strain trilogy when researching immunoglobulins as they could relate to the apocalypse-causing virus) I find the idea that plasma is “the hard stuff” a bit laughable. What is it about separating out the red blood cells and leaving the water, immunoglobulins, clotting factors, and proteins that makes it so metaphysically “strong?” And why would it be stronger than normal blood, when normal blood is 55% plasma already? This was just a really hokey device. Bad writers. Take an L.

The bleeder den makes me uncomfortable. @oncethrown has written some meta about how it’s mostly scantily-clad women there and the implication of the imagery is that they’re trading sex for drugs. I agree. This is pretty much right out of Feminist Criticism 101.

I think the idea of Simon having a wild night out to nurse his heartbreak and running into trouble because he’s really not put any effort into learning to control his vampire urges is a solid and important story for Simon. I just think this was the wrong way to go about it.

If I’d been writing this, I could have had him fall in with his vampire wanna-be groupies to go out clubbing, but have the club be more of a dance club than a brothel. People are partying and getting high, not lying around and moaning in imagery that is quasi-orgiastic. Same basic outcome, but completely different and less objectifying vibe.

I need to update my Sebastian meta, because while this episode didn’t completely Joss it, it did throw in some interesting twists and possibilities, particularly about the burning thing.

This shot is mostly gratuitous. There have already been reams of meta written about this scene since the sneak peek of it came out, even without the inclusion of Alec waking up in Magnus’s bed. To the point where I almost don’t know what to say because it’s all been said.

But his soft, groggy voice as he calls out for Magnus the first time… *swoon*

It’s very interesting that this moment leads us to believe that the memory that plagues Magnus is finding his mother dead, when it’s something else entirely. I’m going to get into that later, though.

There’s been quite a bit of meta-ing done about Alec’s stance here, the sort of soldiers “at ease” stance and whether it’s too stiff for this very intimate scene, and whether that stiffness is a questionable acting choice on Matt Daddario’s. But going back through other episodes, that really is Alec’s casual stance, even when he’s in relaxed moments with friends and family.

Personally, I think it says a great deal about Matt’s consistency in his performance, that he remembers nuances like that (ditto with that clenching thing he does with his hand when he’s nervous, or the hand up by his face, blocking out whatever anyone is trying to tell him, when he’s overwhelmed and afraid.) This is just who Alec is. He doesn’t slouch around on things like Jace, he doesn’t gesture and flourish and flow through the space around him the way Magnus does. He stands like a soldier, relaxed yet watchful. It’s perfectly Alec and I think anyone who has a problem with it is reaching.

The moment when Alec is talking and we see Magnus just zone out is pretty powerful. I think this was some amazing acting on Harry’s part, because I think a lot of actor’s struggle with portraying this sort of scenario, where something is wrong but they’re trying to pretend its all fine. Most of the time, they’re so focused on conveying the “something is wrong” part of the performance that they forget to try to be convincing on the “pretending it’s all fine” part.

Harry really walked that line beautifully in this scene. He hit the “something is wrong” notes just well enough that Alec’s concern and confusion felt perfectly appropriate, but not so heavily that Alec would have been justified under the circumstances trying to force the issue, the way he does later when Magnus’s mask slips a bit more and he’s less effective at projecting the “everything is fine” illusion.

Alec’s tenderness—their tenderness together, even if it’s ringing a little false on Magnus’s end—is just so beautiful. And Alec just seems so much more comfortable in his skin. It’s really amazing just how much more…grounded he is, since around s2ep08, as he settles into his relationship with Magnus. He’s become comfortable with who he is, aside from the occasional moment of self-doubt, and it shows in the way he interacts with other people.

I love Izzy referring to this terrifyingly ancient faerie as “the manipulative little wench.” That’s hilarious.

But once again, we have Izzy being everyone’s agony aunt and honestly can we just not? Can we give her a storyline that doesn’t involve her, the best shadow-world forensic pathologist in New Yorki, having an apparent brain fart about the dangers of what appears to be a fairly well-known drug, or sitting around listening to everyone else’s problems? Can we do that please?

Also, mostly I agree with Izzy. Jace needs to leave Clary alone. Frankly because I just DGAF.

And before anyone gets on my case, I’m not anti-Clace. I know they’re the endgame ship, anyone with two functioning neurons to rub together who has been paying attention since the first episode knows they’re endgame. And as @roseglass was saying about herself in our post-episode Facetime debrief, I’m a lifelong shipper and a diehard romantic. I WANT to ship couples. But I’m not undiscerning. I need something to really there’s substance to the relationship before I can ship it, and so far Clace hasn’t delivered that and I won’t be able to go there until they do.

I would like to know at what point Alec decided to just let go of his skepticism regarding Sebastian. Making him head of security during the Downworld Cabinet? Putting him in charge of the investigation regarding Valentine’s assassination? What the hell is that all about? I feel like this is as out of character as Izzy not being aware of the perils or nature of yin fen.

Alec’s self-doubt—and Jace’s complete faith in him—is really beautifully done. Alec is in the role he was born for, but immediately he’s being faced with choices that are contrary to all his training. That’s got to mess with his head. But Jace having no doubts about him whatsoever is marvelous and after Season 1, seeing Jace supporting Alec, believing in Alec, is just amazing and a huge part of what I needed from them.

Izzy: “Maybe you should give Simon some time.” Clary: *immediately goes banging on Simon’s door*

Clary NO/Clary YES episode tally: 1

And God, this look Simon is giving her. Wow. I never knew Simon COULD look at Clary like that. Just…wow.

“The Seelie queen made you reveal who you desired most and it wasn’t me.” I love this. LOVE THIS. I love that Simon goes deeper with it, that this is not a petty, possessive “you kissed another guy and enjoyed it” tantrum. I love that Simon understands that this isn’t something Clary chose, that she wants to feel for him—perhaps even convinced herself that she did feel for him—the way he feels for her, and can’t, and it’s not something she can control.

I may not yet have the handle I need to buy into Clace, but I 100% buy into this sort of conflict. It feels very real to me.

And Alberto is just…WOW. I hold my breath watching this scene. He moves me to tears here.

But here’s the really amazing thing…Kat does, too.

Look, I adore Katherine McNamara. I think she’s cute as a button and sweet as the day is long, she’s intelligent and driven and accomplished and she’s big on anti-bullying and I just love her to bits.

But I’d be dishonest if I didn’t acknowledge that she’s the weak link in this cast in terms of acting ability. I believe she can improve. I really hope she does because I want to see wonderful things from her. And she’s come a long way since the pilot, but that’s where things stand at present.

But for some reason, Alberto makes her a better actress. Call it chemistry. Call it setting an example. I don’t know what it is. But I think at least part of the reason why I bought into Climon when I really didn’t expect or even want to, is because she steps up her game when she’s in scenes with Alberto.

I compare this scene and the one at the end of the episode with the scenes at the end of s2ep04 when she’s reeling from Jocelyn’s death, and s2ep05 during Jocelyn’s funeral, and her grief and distress here with Simon is 100X more compelling and real.

Jace, when oh when are you going to learn. PUT A FUCKING GAG ON HIM. DO NOT ENGAGE HIM. Mark him with a silence rune or something.

Seriously, though, I’m just tired of Valentine pontificating. I’m tired of these scenes with him talking circles around Jace. And mostly this scene accomplished nothing. I would have liked to have seen maybe a phone conversation or something between Alec and Magnus instead, because there is plenty more they could have done with those two in this episode.

The deruning tool is far less barbaric than I was led to believe the process of deruning to be.

“You’re the closest thing to a son that I’ve got.” Awww! I live for Luke and Simon bonding moments.

Can we talk about those jeans Simon is wearing? Because damn, for a nerdy guy, he tends to wear jeans that look painted on. Look at the way they wrap around his thighs. Yowza.

I don’t particularly like this murdered-girl storyline. A female character dies to further a male character’s story. Meh. Why not make the murder victim male? Especially if you’re going to sexualize the vampire feeding vibe, that would be a nod toward the fanon notion of Simon being pansexual.

Alec looks so damn right behind that desk. I squee.

And I kinda love the omnipresent fire in the fireplace. Like, the Institute for all that it’s a historic church is clearly modernized. The fire is just there for aesthetic.

And Izzy looks GOOD. And I love seeing her in charge of this mission and being very competent and in control.

I do love Alec being protective of Magnus here. Interesting that he proposed Catarina. In my head, if they had called Catarina, Magnus would have ended up babysitting Madzie while Catarina was working, and that would have been adorable.

I don’t really have any commentary to offer on Aline’s introduction. I’m thrilled that she was included, and a little thrown that she wasn’t used more or her inclusion didn’t accomplish more, but I love the concept of the character and I can’t wait to learn more about her.

The vindication that the guy in the closer was the real Sebastian Verlac is nice, but it does leave me wondering: where was he while Izzy was in that apartment detoxing? What he unconscious? Bound so securely he couldn’t make a racket the way he was at the end of the previous episode? Did not!Seb use that silence rune I keep yelling at Jace to use on Valentine? What’s up with that?

[I don’t know how detailed the rest of this recap is going to be. It’s already quite long. I had to stop and go to sleep at this point, and when I woke up my brain was all over the place and not focused on doing this recap at all. Mostly it’s on Sebastian meta, which is fodder for another post and I don’t want it getting lost in this.]

Luke: You need to stay away from Simon Clary: *does not do that* Me: *sigh*

Clary NO/Clary YES episode tally: 2

Luke, you brought a bloody shirt into a restaurant? Wolves wandering in and out, non-employees hanging around the kitchen, bloody shirts on the tables, this place is a massive Department of Health violation. No wonder Ollie is grossed out.

“He’s the way he is because of me, Luke.” Yeah, Clary, you’re absolutely right. So maybe forcing your presence on him isn’t the best course of action?

Again, I’m a little thrown by Raphael’s characterization here. He seems genuinely concerned and willing to help Simon, but he’s willing to use Simon’s need for aid as leverage to try to blackmail him into revealing the cause of the Daylighter thing, and willing to leave Simon twisting if he doesn’t get what he wants.

Look. I’m fine with good, concerned, helpful Raphael, and I’m fine with cold-hearted, pragmatic Raphael. And I’m fine with any combination of the two, except that the way this show is trying to pull off that combination feels weird and contradictory. If they’re going to go there, I need better insight into his reasoning to make it more consistent.

I do very much love Simon’s integrity at not rolling on Jace to save his own skin, though. Especially considering he can’t feel very kindly inclined toward Jace at the moment. Later in the episode he refers to himself as a “man of his word” and that’s not just grandstanding. We see it in action here. He promised Jace he wouldn’t say anything, and he’s keeping that promise.

I love Simon so much.

You gonna tell me someone who walks around all day like a badass armed to the teeth even when she’s off-duty like Aline is doing wouldn’t notice when the person she’s with suddenly puts their hand on their weapon? Really? Not sure I buy that.

“I gave you my word” says fake!Sebastian, who got the info from real!Sebastian, meaning that real!Sebastian in fact broke his word. One wonders if real!Sebastian shouldn’t have maybe tried to slip Aline some code here. I mean, if “Sebastian” started recalling this mutual event of their lives and dropped a reference to her dating some guy (maybe one who was actually a bully who had given them both a hard time instead) Aline probably would have clued in. The question is, would she have clued in subtly enough to keep fake!Seb from attacking her?

I’m still actually kinda hoping this is the case, that real!Seb leaked some misinformation to clue Aline in. But it doesn’t seem like it.

Run, Real!Seb, RUN!

“’Not far away’ doesn’t help us. I need a direction.” Is it just me, or is Luke putting up with a little less of Clary’s shit these days?

I really love this anti-foot-fetish angle. I don’t know why, it probably should seem to me to be some cheesy deus ex machina development but instead it just tickles me because it feels so perfectly Simon for him to reframe his entire understanding of the situation based on such a ridiculous detail.

At first I wondered why real!Seb didn’t just send a fire message to Aline as soon as he broke free, but then I remembered he probably doesn’t have access to a stele. Mostly, though, I’m just spinning stories in my head trying to find ways to evade the knowledge of what is going to happen to him. I don’t know why, but this whole “victim almost makes it to salvation only to be stopped just inches away” makes me seriously anxious. I hate it. HATE it. I knew he would die, but I wish it had happened some other way because that particular scenario just hits me in all the wrong places.

I like this girl’s double-take when Simon accuses Quinn of killing someone. That’s a young woman who is going to go home and reconsider her life choices.

I really love, REALLY LOVE the ensuing fight scene. I think it was perfectly acted on Simon’s part. You could see that fighting is not something he’s comfortable with yet, something he has to work really hard at. And I love the portrayal of Simon as a burgeoning badass rather than just a bumbling newbie not interested in coming out on top of his situation.

What I don’t love? Not knowing how he developed these skills. Has he been sparring with Luke and Clary or what?

I want to know how Raphael figured out the murder. Did one of the other vamps in the den speed out to report to him as soon as Simon showed up to confront Quinn?

Trauma and pain aside, can I just say how damn gorgeous Magnus is in this scene. That shirt is amazing, and there’s something a little different around his makeup, something with the eyeliner, but I’m not knowledgeable enough about makeup to pinpoint what it is. Gor. Geous. Seriously.

And again, Harry pulls off a brilliant performance. There are so many nuances here.

The subtle way that—unlike that morning—he comes down on the wrong side of the line this time while trying to toss enough metaphorical glitter around to distract Alec without tossing so much that it gives away the game.

His fear when he realizes Alec isn’t going to be distracted.

His resignation when Alec uses his own words against him.

His frustration and anger at the fact that he’s in this situation, because he had it all under control until Valentine and Azazel and the Clave fucked with him and now he doesn’t and he resents that.

His hollow, detached acceptance of his stepfather’s indictment, and the way it gradually transitions to grief when he can’t detach any longer.

The calm, resolute acceptance when he refuses to blame a loss of experience/control for what he did.

His vulnerability when he looks up at Alec, waiting for the judgment he’s sure will follow.

His uncertainty when Alec accepts him, as if he’s not quite sure he believes Alec but he wants to.

He just hits a lot of notes here and he nails every single one of them.

And then we have the return of the Alec Lightwood Patented Stare. This boy and the way he uses eye contact, I swear. His stare is a weapon. He can use it to absolutely eviscerate someone (see Imogen Herondale in s2ep13) or to protect and reassure someone (Magnus, especially in this scene and in s2ep08.) It’s amazing.

In the books, Magnus specifically refers to Alec as “guileless” and if there’s one thing they’ve gotten right on the show, it’s this devastating earnestness of Alec’s. Matt plays it amazingly well and it’s so powerful.

I mentioned earlier how much more comfortable Alec is in his own skin, and I think this scene showcases that well. As does the Alec we saw in s2ep11. Contrast that Alec, to season one Alec. Can you imagine s1 Alec being able to comfort and take care of people the way this Alec does? He just didn’t have that capacity because his inner conflict was too strong.

I want to know how fake!Seb gets rid of the body this close to the Institute without drawing any attention.

Gorgeous close-up on Raphael, I’m not sure how I feel about using the encanto thing against Ollie, though. The device is a bit mind-rapey, and any sort of mind-alteration has been shown to be considered a violation (s1ep03 with Simon and Camille, and Clary and whoever that one vamp was) as well as Clary’s reaction to Magnus and Jocelyn tampering with her memories, and here we’ve got two men basically forcing a lesbian character to think what they want her to think, which is just not a good visual, IMO.

But beyond that, I’m sort of hoping that Ollie is knowledgeable enough about the Shadow World that she took steps to prevent this. She made personal notes or confided in Samantha about her investigation, or something that is going to challenge this.

This scene is seriously the best acting Kat has ever done on this show. Well done.

This hurt more than I ever expected it to, because this ship was honestly way more compelling than I ever expected it to be. I knew it was coming and yet I’m sad to see it end. I suppose that means I should congratulate the show for handling this ship with the respect the ship and the characters deserve.

Mostly, though? Ow.

I really, REALLY wish they hadn’t given us this shot of Duncan, or the other one. It gave the whole thing away. I called it the moment I saw this that Duncan would be the one to interfere with Valentine’s transfer. Dammit. There was no need to draw any attention to Duncan until that instant when he puts his hand on Valentine’s shoulder and Valentine looks at him and realizes what’s happening. That should have been the moment we all knew. The close-ups on Duncan were unnecessary and hamhanded. Grrr.

There’s been some rightful criticism levelled at this moment, a character of color being blackmailed, used, and then killed by a white man is not a good visual at all. I don’t see any reason why Duncan, who had already been shown to be discontented with the way the Institute was being run, couldn’t have colluded of his own free will to free Valentine, and then disappeared because he knew they’d be hunting for him after what he did.

That said…

This is a beautiful but of full-circle storytelling here. We have an ongoing theme in this episode of characters being true to their word and untrue to their word. Simon protecting Jace. Quinn telling Simon no one gets hurt when clearly someone does. Fake!Sebastian reminding Aline that “he gave his word” regarding keeping the secret about her sexual orientation. Magnus trusting Alec when Alec tells him it’s safe to confide in him. Simon upholding his promise to always be Clary’s friend.

And now this. Sebastian gives his word that Duncan and his family would be safe, and then violates it.

We’re meant to contrast Sebastian to our heroes, most specifically to Simon, who is also a demon-blooded creature, just as Sebastian is. We’ve already seen with Valentine (and even with Imogen Herondale) that angelic blood is no guarantor of goodness, and now we see with Simon (and others) that demonic blood is no guarantor of evil.

And then we see that Sebastian is something else entirely, and that he is, perhaps, evil on a level we can’t even fully grasp yet. No vow is sacred with him, no ally is safe. It’s a very nice touch.

This was not in the books, but it’s brilliant for reasons I will get into in my updated Sebastian aka Jonathan Christopher Morgenstern meta. Stay tuned.

Clary NO/Clary YES series total: 20

[goingtosee-theworld]

CHARACTER SHEET: JANE CATHY PORTER

“I wanna see the whole world / I dunno how I’m gonna pay rent / I wanna see the whole world ... / I should tell them I’m not afraid to die” -- My Body’s Made of Crushed Little Stars, Mitski

STATS:

Birthday: 13 December 1992 (Sagittarius)

Myers-Briggs: INFP

Hogwarts House (Primary): Ravenclaw

Hogwarts House (Secondary): Gryffindor

Enneagram: Type 7

Height: 5’3

BACKGROUND OVERVIEW:

Mother: Dr. Eleanor Lily Day Porter (deceased)

Father: Dr. Archimedes Quentin Porter

Mother’s Occupation: Professor in anthropology—concentrated in biological anthropology, specifically primatology—also photographer

Father’s Occupation: Professor of zoology—specifically in large African mammals and conservation efforts

Family Finances: Upper middle class; her daddy’s family has quite a bit of money which they allocate to further the education of their family

Birth Order: only child

Other Close Family: Cousins—Ruby and Bobby, Aunt Rose, Uncle Richard, Grandmum (mum’s side), Gran (dad’s side), Grandfather (dad’s side)

Best Friend: does Jane have a best friend, tbh I guess Simba is the closest thing not that he considers her his best friend lol—although ok actually, she probably does consider Milo her best friend and partner.

Other Friends: wow does Jane not have friends lmao jk—Brad, some work colleagues, Ellie, Amelia, Mel…?

Enemies: none, really. She thinks Belle hates her bc they haven’t really talked since HP, where Belle probably did hate her.

Pets: Will-o-Wisp named Daisy, step-mum of Fluffy (Fluffy is not too fond of her)

Home Life During Childhood: Mostly happy, her parents encouraged learning and exploration. It was just tinged with the fact that her mum was sick and when her mum died, Jane fell into a bit of a depression that she never did quite recover from.

Town or City Name(s): London, England—specifically Bloomsbury

What Did Her Bedroom Look Like: yellow walls, had a day bed with black iron wrought frame and a canopy decorate with fairy lights, one wall was all postcards/National Geographic cut outs/travel magazine pictures, another wall had a big map with little pins in it, lots of stuff from her mum and dad’s travels, a shaggy purple rug

Any Sports or Clubs: Theatre in secondary, art as well, also did like school band for a bit (played flute)

Favorite Toy or Game: she had a ton of stuffed animals, but like those realistic looking ones from WWF or whatever

Schooling: went to some good public schools for primary and secondary, University College of London for her undergrad, BS in zoology, now she’s getting her masters’ in Magizoology

Favorite Subject: Biology/science, but also fond of art/history/literature. She wasn’t the best in physics or math.

Popular or Loner: Loner, she always was like adopted by friend groups but was never really close with all of them one-on-one, just like one or two people

Important Experiences or Events: Mom died when she was 16

Health Problems: Huntington’s Chorea, depression (side effect of dying lmao)

Culture: English

Religion and beliefs: Mum’s family is Anglican, but dad’s family was never religious so she’s not religious really, just does Christmas and Easter

PERSONALITY:

Bad Habits: peels her skin on her thumb when she’s nervous, can be a bit of a nervous talker, on the naturally flirty side, avoids problems and tries not to acknowledge them, but also wallows in her feelings when she’s feeling particularly down

Good Habits: kind-hearted, very good artist, humble for the most part, when she loves you, she loves you fully and deeply, daring, passionate

Best Characteristic: brave—she will look a tiger in the eye and walk towards it

Worst Characteristic: impulsive—she makes rash decisions sometimes

Worst Memory: her mother’s death, but also the day she told Tom she loved him and then he said he was dating someone else, and also the day she rejected Milo

Best Memory: tbh that moment like RIGHT before they woke up the mummy in Egypt, when they were all really happy and passionate and just acted on a whim

Proud of: she has one painting from school that some member of Parliament brought, she got A’s on all but one of her A-levels

Embarrassed by: sometimes she can kinda remember some of the people she slept with and she’s like welp that was embarrassing

Driving Style: she does not have her license

Strong Points: brave, passionate, daring, intelligent

Temperament: melancholic

Attitude: may seem a little far-off or not really there, but get her talking about something and she’s very grounded and passionate

Weakness: threaten Milo or her dad or her close friends and she will crack

Fears: not living a full life

Phobias: uh idk man how is this different

Secrets: only a few people know about her Huntington’s, also lol she doesn’t know that Milo doesn’t know she remembered who they were in the time jump

Regrets: probably turning Milo down the first time

Feels Vulnerable When: confronting her inner problems directly

Pet Peeves: CULTURAL APPROPIATION, people who are mean to animals :C

Conflicts: the constant fear of death around the corner

Motivation: a desire to live fully

Short Term Goals and Hopes: get her master’s, get a good and fulfilling job!

Long Term Goals and Hopes: live a life she is proud to lead

Sexuality: like 89% straight

Exercise Routine: she walks everywhere and rides her bike a lot and rock climbs/cave excavates, she doesn’t like set out to exercise, her lifestyle is just pretty active when she’s not in a bad depression spell

Day or Night Person — Night.

Introvert or Extrovert — Introvert.

Optimist or Pessimist — Optimist, believe it or not.

LIKES AND STYLES:

Music: twangy indie, usually favors female singers; big Carpenters fan too; also the Smiths; also Fleetwood Mac

Books: likes classics, generally, but also weird off-beat novels she finds in sales sections and used bookstores

Magazines: National Geographic, primarily; probably some art and lit magazines too

Foods: she likes a good curry; makes a great orange-glazed salmon; she’s one of those people who liked avocado before it was cool. She’s a pesceterian at home, but she will eat meat when she’s traveling.

Drinks: Earl Grey tea! Lightly sweetened, honey not sugar, and a pinch of milk. As for alcohol—rum. Spiced rum specifically. She likes mojitos, that’s her cocktail of choice.

Animals: oh gosh where to even begin! She’s fond of large Arican mammals (her dad’s speciality), but she really cares for all creatures and believes that it should be her duty to help them all. She knows she kinda gave domestic farm animals (cough, sheep) some shit for being “boring” because she didn’t really wanna be working with sheep for the rest of her life, but she’s had a new outlook on life and her passion for animals has been found again.

Sports: she probably watches football (soccer) casually; likes watching cricket though

Social Issues: big environmental activist, since dating Milo has been more aware of Magick-rights and that stuff

Favorite Saying: she knows its cliché at this point, but she liked it before it was cool: “Not all who wander are lost.”

Color: she likes purples and yellows and also reds

Clothing: she has a more boho look, wears a lot of flowing skirts and loose tops. Doesn’t really like to wear pants on the day to day, but will when she’s out adventuring. She likes wearing sunhats a lot.

Jewelry: she has a lot of traditionally made jewelry that she bought from local vendors in the places she’s traveled, lots of beaded necklaces and bracelets

Games: was a big Zoo Tycoon fan in her youth, doesn’t really play much now, except for like the occasional game with friends; likes board games though

Websites: casual insta user, has a tumblr that she scrolls through but rarely posts on

TV Shows: huge huge huge Doctor Who fan (Tennant was her doctor and also her first celebrity crush)

Movies: she likes classics—her favorite is Breakfast at Tiffany’s. Her mum was a huge fan of Audrey Hepburn so Jane has seen a lot of Hepburn movies. She’s also fond of The Mummy movies (though lately a bit less lol) and Indiana Jones and that sort of genre of adventure stories

Greatest Want: to travel as much as she can, to see all of the world, to experience it all

Greatest Need: to be happy

CURRENTLY:

Home: you know she and Milo haven’t officially moved in together yet but, like, they basically are over at each other’s places all the time—anyway, she has a single bedroom in one of the places by the uni

Household furnishings: she’s messy, but not in like a gross hoarder way, but she has a lot of casual clutter, her place looks like an antique store. There’s lots of trinkets around, the coffee table is covered in candles. She has a lot of pillows on the couch, lots of throw blankets. Her bedroom is pretty much the same way. There’s a lot of books, everything has its place but in its place it may be a bit of a mess lol. In her living room is a telescope by the window and an easel. There’s also a record player on a side table.

Favorite Possession: her record player (passed down from her mum) and her telescope (a  gift from her dad)

Most Cherished Possession: her journal—it’s like a sketchbook/diary/memento book, she writes down everything

Married Before: Nope.

Significant Other Before: Tom Crawford

Children: n/a--though she was pregnant, briefly, last August

Relationship with Family: very close with her father, pretty close with her extended family too as they are a small bunch

Car: n/a

Career: on track to becoming a magizoologist

Dream Career: tbh being part of the Rescue Aid Society would be perfect for her

Dream Life: traveling around the world as part of her job—be it helping Magicks, helping magical creatures, rescuing lost relics, searching for Atlantis, with Milo at her side

Love Life: very in love with Dr. Milo James Thatch

Hobbies : drawing, riding her bike, spelunking, exploring, reading, going to antiques shops and flea markets

Guilty Pleasure: those Harlequin romance books (shh don’t tell anyone)

Sports or Clubs: n/a

Talents or Skills : good artist (not super professionally trained, but very solid)

Intelligence Level : very intelligent—curious and passionate when it is a subject she is interested in, quick learner

Finances: solidly middle class, her father helped her out with rent till she was back on a steady job, but she makes enough to provide for herself—she spent most of her savings after uni on her travels

[fiddlezips]

Okay well @moony-balloons​ asked ALL the damn questions so I will answer them under the cut!

Here’s my character Stash file for reference!

1. Your first OC ever? The first character I ever wrote about was a cool dude named Zip. He liked to skateboard and wear sunglasses and hunted snake people with his buddy Zan in a forest. This story was later repurposed into PyraMADness!

2. Do you have a personal favourite among your OCs? Rique. orz 3. Have you ever adopted a character or gotten a character from someone else? Haha yep! Thanks to the ol’ AlienAdoptables days on DA, I acquired loads. Admittedly, a lot of these were customer from the start, but still. Rique and Amadeus, to name a few, started as adopted aliens.

4. A character you rarely talk about? Derek Appleby, Fingers’ ex(?), purely because Ben used to ask me about him all the time lol.

5. If you could make only one of your OCs popular/known, who would it be? Rique isn’t likeable enough for that to be good for him haha. Actually nah I’ll go with Rique.

6. Two OCs of yours that look alike despite not being related? Daedalus and Dehan are supposed to share similar physical traits to emphasise Dehan’s narcissism lol. It also relates to their Engelbaum roots, in which they were essentially the same person.

7. Are your OCs part of any story or stories? Haha of course. They all have their own little stories in some way or another. It’s rarer for me to have an OC who isn’t part of a story. 8. Do you RP as any of your OCs? If you do, introduce one of your RP OCs here! I’m roleplaying as Jones at the moment! Here’s his profile: linky~ 10. Introduce an OC with a complicated design? I favour characters with simpler designs, since then I can focus more on their actual features rather than fancy hair/clothes/markings. I do have Crinkal though!

11. Is there any OC of yours you could describe as a "sunshine"? Like... a ray of sunshine? Pretty much all of my OCs are sad in some small way fff. Wotsit/Cheeto and Skylar fit this pretty well though. 13. Do you have any troublemaker OCs? Yes. Rique, Vincent/Bergine, Demon Jack, Tetch, Leroy,  etc. 14. Introduce an OC with a tragic backstory Not hugely tragic, but Jack and Nauty have kinda sad stories. Walker’s is pretty tragic in certain stories, if you can believe it. No excuse for him being a dick though lol. 15. Do you like to talk about your OCs with other people? Hehe yes. Ben helps me figure stuff out about them. 16. Which one of your OCs would be the best at biology (school subject)? Probably Jones, since he’s a science teacher and all.

17. Any OC OTPs? Daedalus and Dehan started as one drawing because I liked how their Engelbaum forms looked together. Now they have their own comic haha. Theo and Tref are still nice together. 18. Any OC crackships? Not really, actually! Flash/Cheeto before it became about Flash adopting a cat-boy as his son instead lol.

19. Introduce an OC that means a lot to you (and explain why) Probably Leroy, since he’s nostalgic yet relevant. 20. Do any of your OCs sing? If they sing, care to share more details (headcanon voice, what kind of songs they like etc)? Amadeus sings like the male singer in Aqua. Rique is excellent and has great range. Jack loves to sing and play music in general.

21. Your most artistic OC Skylar likes to draw and puts a lot of passion into her work. Dehan is highly talented but lacks motivation. Daedalus tries. 22. Is there any OC of yours people tend to mischaracterize? If yes, how? Fingers isn’t actually high all the time; he rarely uses drugs because that would be bad for business otherwise. Daedalus is also pretty intelligent even though I draw him acting like an idiot lol. 23. Introduce OC that has changed from your first idea concerning what the character would be like? Amadeus was created so I could have a nasty villain who would remain a nasty villain forever. He... became a bit fluffy haha. 24. If you could meet one OC of yours, who would it be and why? Daedalus because he’s nice and big. 25. The OC that resembles you the most (same hobby, height, shared like/dislike for something etc?) Skylar! Not intentionally, but she’s developed into it. We both like art, goth clothes, and old dudes. 26. Have you ever had to change your OC's design or something else about them against your will? One of my characters has a speech impediment (has trouble saying Rs), but I didn’t explore this further because somebody said they found it annoying when characters had that trait. They didn’t explicitly tell me to change, I just felt uncomfortable and unmotivated with it from then onwards. 27. Any OCs that were inspired by a certain song? Tierney is ‘La La Lainey’ by Forever the Sickest Kids. Nauty is Passenger’s ‘Fear of Fear’. Monty is 100% ‘Dance With Me Tonight’ bu Olly Murs. 28. Your most dangerous OC? Walker or Amadeus. 29. Which one of your OCs would go investigate an abandoned house at night without telling anyone they're going? Bridget and Tierney. Rique would do it because it’s his job lol. 31. Pick one OC of yours and explain what their tumblr blog would be like (what they reblog, layout, anything really) Daedalus is so easy for this haha. Selfies at the gym, memes, posts about his daily physical accomplishments, really nice photos of Dehan. 32. Which one of your OCs would be the most suitable horror game protagonist and why? Trent would probably do alright. He will fight things despite having zero chance of winning, is experienced enough to not immediately die, and is surprisingly brave. 33. Your shyest OC? Colon, Trent, maybe Nauty. 34. Do you have any twin characters? Dehan has twin daughters, and I’ve thought about him being a twin himself. 83 Amadeus has twin sons (Archie and Robbie). 35. Any sibling characters? Bick, Rique, Marsha. Archie, Robbie, Beda. Theo and Ritchie. Daedalus and Sarita. 36. Do you have OC pairs where the other part belongs to someone else (siblings, lovers, friends etc)? I’ve had a number with my buddies over different universes and such. c: Amadeus with Tenor’s Taylor; Jacobi with Moon’s Dorian; Rique with GZ’s Ambrus. ;D 37. Introduce an OC who is not quite human Leroy and Jones are vampires wow.

38. Which one of your OCs would be the best dancer? Beda is a dance student so she has an advantage hehe. Monty is great too! 39. Introduce any character you want “This is Rique. Don’t shake his hand, I don’t know where he’s been.”

40. Any fond memories linked to your characters? Feel free to share! I love Rique because of the great World of Darkness times with my friends! Those RP nights kept me sane when work was tough. c: 41. Has anyone drawn fanart of your OCs? If yes, maybe show a picture or two here (remember sources & permissions!) For some reason I’ve lost the ability to post images this far down so here is a Trent commission I will always love. 42. Which one of your OCs would be the most interested in Greek gods? Daedalus is a big fan. 43. Do you have any certain type when you create your OCs? Do you tend to favour some certain traits or looks? It's time to confess Old guys regretting their life choices.

45. A character you no longer use? Any number of AlienAdoptables characters fff. 46. Has anyone ever told you that you treat your OCs badly? I don’t think so? I’m only mean to the ones who need their comeuppance. 47. Has anyone ever (friendly) claimed any of your OCs as their child? Haha maybe. I don’t really have enough nice small characters to fit that though lol. 48. OC who is a perfect cinnamon roll, too good for this world, too pure Neeraj, if a 60+ businessman can qualify. 49. Which one of your OCs would most likely enjoy memes Dehan. 50. Give me the good ol' OC talk here. Talk about anything you want I sometimes forget that Rique is my character lol. Like I’ll think about stuff he’s done and it takes a while for me to remember that wait, I was there, I did that stuff. Cos I know so much about him and it’s really easy for buds to suggest something that is perfectly Rique and it makes me happy okay.