#also TWO supervisors

[heliotropiumarborescens]

I now have TWO supervisors for my thesis and will be doing a LOT of labwork.

[deathtodickens]

Later...

Claudia: Why do you look like that, man?

Pete: I can't get this bronzer to come off.

Claudia: Did you get the temporary stuff?

Pete: Tem... porary?

Claudia: Dude.

Pete: Huh, well that explains that.

Claudia: Why do you even have it on to begin with? And so much?

Steve enters the kitchen, stops and stares at Pete.

Steve: Who won an Oscar?

Claudia laughs, pointing at Pete.

Pete: Ha ha very funny.

Claudia: It was.

Pete: Hey, leave the jokes to a professional, okay? Of which, I am.

Steve: Not at all shockingly, you truly believe that.

Pete: It's the first day of October. I'm just trying out a few costumes before the 31st, to see if I can get H.G. back into the spirit of Halloween.

Steve: I wish you were lying.

Claudia: Do we want H.G. back in the spirit of Halloween? I recall the last Halloween that she was into being a bit too spirity.

Pete: Of course, we do--

Steve: Not. We absolutely do not. Do you not remember what happened?

Pete: Yeah, we all went on an amazingly awesome adventure in the Warehouse, together, as a family. We fought off animated Halloween decorations that stalked us in the dark. Myka used the zip-line upside-down like a bad ass to save her wife from encroaching darkness. And then we blew up every light in the warehouse to level an army of murderous, soul-snatching plastic skeletons--

Steve: That took us days to clean up...

Claudia: I'm still changing lightbulbs...

Pete: --and I'm not so sure all of those skeletons were plastic.

Claudia: It was kind of fun blowing up the Warehouse. You know, in a not-destructive kind of way.

Steve: No, no. It was destructive. It was a very destructive kind of way.

Claudia: Right. Sure. But we didn't have to artifact it back.

Pete: What's another warehouse explosion amongst friends, huh?

Claudia: I mean, I do still have some light bombs stashed away in my room. Don't tell Artie.

Pete: That's the spirit!

Steve: I just want to drink hot tea, read a book, and watch the weather change from the comfort of my own bed, in my own room. Is that so much to ask?

Steve does not wait for an answer. He turns and leaves the kitchen.

Abigail enters in his place, she stops and stares at Pete.

Then bursts into laughter.

Abigail: I really thought Myka was pulling my leg when she said you'd lathered yourself up in bronzer, just to play a prank on Helena.

Pete: It wasn't a prank. It was encouragement. She loves Halloween!

Abigail: She loved Halloween. I think the soul-snatching skeletal remains of a Spirit Halloween clearance sale sucked that love right out of her.

Pete: Well. She liked my costume.

Abigail: That's not what I heard.

Pete: Then you've heard nothing but dirty, rotten lies.

Abigail: Did she seem amused when you revealed your costume?

Pete: She didn't seem entirely unamused.

Abigail arches a skeptical brow at Pete.

Claudia: What was the prank?

Pete: Not a prank.

Claudia: What was the not-a-prank?

Abigail: Apparently, when Helena questioned him about (Abigail gestures toward Pete with her hand) this, he said, very enthusiastically, that he'd been bronzed.

Claudia: Peter Jenkins Lattimer.

Pete: That is not my middle name.

Claudia: The woman has trauma!

Pete: It was inspiration!

Claudia: Fueled by nightmares!

Abigail: I don't think the woman who spent a century encased in bronze needs to be inspired. Like, at all.

Pete: That was a century ago.

Claudia: No, it started a century ago. She's barely been free for one decade.

Abigail: You do know she remained conscious the entire time.

Pete: I know she remained conscious the entire time.

Claudia: And was so fucked up when she got out, all she wanted to do was destroy the world and everyone in it.

Pete: I mean, I was there. So yeah. I do recall her attempting to, at one point in time, destroy the world and everyone in it. Thankfully Myka's hotness saved our asses.

Claudia gasps.

Pete: What?

Claudia: You did bronzeface!

Pete: What? No. That's not a thing.

Claudia: You're doing it right now!

Pete looks to Abigail.

Abigail: Don't look at me. I was born this way.

Claudia: I can't believe you did bronzeface at H.G.

Pete: Stop saying it like it's a thing.

Claudia: People from the bronze sector do not deserve to be mocked in your incessant quest for validation and frights.

Pete: They are literally criminals.

Abigail: Wow, Pete. I really thought better of you.

Pete: You know what, I'm just going to go take a very long and very hot shower until either the bronzer or my skin comes off. Whichever happens first.

Pete exits.

Claudia, laughing and calling after Pete: Hey, maybe try painting yourself blue tomorrow instead. Pretty sure none of us has ever been Smurfed.

Claudia and Abigail fall into a fit of laughter.

Somewhere between the kitchen and the upstairs bathroom, Pete retrieves his phone from his pocket and says, "Hey Siri?"

She appears.

And Pete whispers into his phone, "What is bronzeface?"

[thevoidstaredback]

Hey, hey, hey!

Employees who are friends have a better time on shift together, making them more productive. Stop separating employees who are having fun

[zerguette]

Oh god Madd took such a time to design...(Hours compared to Konrad, given this man has more lore than i intentes to give him ), hehe sunglasses boys deserve more love!!!

Also a hc, Bukowski twins are 190cm tall (Calvin 190cm, Konrad 191cm) while Madd is 197cm-198cm, so they are part of the tallest soldiers.

(psss psss they like to mock on Rupert, tower over him, loom ominously bc Rupert is 173cm tall, Even Charles is 187cm tall. I'll write more in the tags as I die)

[sosadraws]

send help, I can't stop making signalis ocs

[bredforloyalty]

got off work nearly an hour later than i was supposed to but look at me i'm fresh

[guinevereslancelot]

unnerving to see people younger than me living their lives and doing adult stuff successfully. stop that you're supposed to eat ice cream for dinner and be unemployed

[finnlongman]

so, your monster hunter book, what is the premise, to the hunters have power, and are there going to be examples of non violent hunters.

The monster hunting book is the second in a trilogy that I refer to as Paranormal Postgrads. The first book, drafted in 2022, is a vampire romance novel featuring an underfunded PhD student who makes a deal with his vampire housemate that he can drink his blood in exchange for helping translate his primary texts. He, obviously, has ulterior motives in this regard, and those ulterior motives are extremely gay.

This book, the sequel, is focused on that PhD student's close friend, Ciara. Also a PhD student, she's found that her research into monstrosity in Old Norse literature has become rather less theoretical lately, especially after her trip to Iceland turns out to involve fighting significantly more trolls than anyone was expecting. She is currently in York at the request of an archaeologist with monster problems.

(The third book, not yet written, will focus on the third friend in the trio, Teddie.)

Ciara doesn't have powers; she slays monsters through the strength of her excellent biceps and then she writes academic articles about why the methods in medieval sagas don't work, and what this tells us about their authors. She does, however, sometimes team up with vampires (including Con, the vampire love interest from book 1), for the purposes of monster hunting. Moreover, her love interest, the York archaeologist, has a few tricks up her sleeve...

For the most part, the monster hunting is a violent process. However, there are also lots of nonviolent relations with paranormal beings. Especially since Peter, the protagonist of the first book, is in a committed relationship with a vampire.

None of these books are contracted as yet (so no promises re: publication), and I consider it my responsibility to write them in the most chaotic way possible -- book 1 was written in 1 week with no prior planning, and book 2 is very much shaping up the same way. This is usually a sign that I'm stressed about something; I just disappear down a paranormal hole for a few days and then show up a week later in my agent's inbox going, "Hey, I accidentally wrote a book," like a cat bringing in a dead bird.

If I do eventually publish them, it'll probably be under a pseudonym (I have one in mind already). Not a secret one, just one that allows me a little bit of separation. Mostly because I also publish academic articles under the name Finn Longman, and I did give Peter my exact research interests, so I need to make it clear that his takes on the late Ulster Cycle aren't necessarily mine.

[scionshtola]

they hired a new supervisor in the dept i work in like, 3 months ago at least but everyone in here still asks me for help instead of her 😭

[poetryqueer]

planning document must be going well I just said the words “explaining the endurance of Platonism could be the life I’m living” to myself. Alone. At 2:30am. Because yeah. Could be.

[steinbit]

i can't believe it.. . . i actually officially just handed in my thesis... .

[flowerygn]

.

[theresa-of-liechtenstein]

just inexplicably so anxious about returning to work next week knowing that i did not do NEARLY as much reading or prep work for my phd as i was probably expected to do but like. there was floor to clean and clothes to wash and rugs to wash and unwanted guests to host and entertain and smile for even though smiling is the thing i least want to do and floor to clean again because the guests dropped food on it and dishes to wash and stuff to refill and clothes to pack back to the apartment and by the time all that was done there was only enough mental space to sleep and practice orchestra pieces for a concert that will be in less than a month, forget about trying to figure out a protocol that incorporates protein conjugation to filamentous viruses while avoiding crosslinking in the process

anyway what im trying to say is that when my supervisor asks me how my holidays were in our check-in meeting i will probably just say “fine” and she will probably furrow her brow in concern and say “just fine?” and i will bite my tongue because. well. my boss doesn’t have to know everything about me, right?

[kingtankgirl]

smiling brightly and cutely as though i am not nervous about my new job being one where i supervise two ppl and one of them is literally My Little Sibling. who i wldnt say i have like. a contentious relationship with, but we are both products of a very weird and bad childhood and tend to lose our cool with each other more than anyone else. like i love them, of course i do, i was responsible for the greater part of raising them, but i am a little nervous cuz we also live with each other again. so i feel a little WEIRD cuz now not only are they living with their older brother but also their boss. so erm. mostly im worried abt them n how theyll handle it

[lacebird]

anyone else have like... this crippling fear of opening up a document which you've gotten feedback on? like it's just so anxiety inducing to open it up and look at it and write, and then i just procrastinate because the feeling is so horrible.

idk :C

[guinevereslancelot]

how do i stop feeling like i'm in trouble all the time fr. sitting here on my lunch break like everyone's gonna be soooo mad when u get back...from lunch...which you are allowed to have.....(?)