#c. georgie banks

[ianmonts]

tonopahella w/ @georgiebanks

She was unmistakable, even without the dozens of people littering the hydration area at that moment pointing and staring, waving hello as she filled her cup with water from the cooler -- and he himself was no better as he stood at the edge of the tent, suddenly struck with intense immobility as he looked on. It had only been a few short years since he'd seen Georgie last, and in that time he'd tried (and mostly failed, admittedly) to make great strides to overcome the scars that'd been left in the wake of their relationship. But seeing her now, well, it was if no time had passed, and boy was he pissed he couldn't run to the bar.

Speaking of running, he thought about making a break for it, thought about turning around and pretending like he'd never seen her -- but then they locked eyes, and although Ian had blocked her number and essentially ghosted in a desperate attempt to move on with his life, he knew this was a situation he couldn't just abandon. Clearing his throat, Ian lifted a hand and offered a small wave in the brunette's direction. "...hey, Georgie."

[maevesheart]

stranger danger

ˏˋ°•*⁀➷ she-devil (05)

PETER PARKER X FEM!READER

note: shorter one :( im sorry... the next chapter is a long one though ;)

summary: harry's party leaves you crying in the arms of spiderman on the cold streets of manhattan.

WC: 2.2k

TW: cussing, i think thats all...

you were humiliated honestly. to think that you let peter parker do that to you.

make out with you and then leave as if you’re nothing. and to make it even better, he threw in a half-assed apology as if that was better than no apology at all.

you were sad, drunk, and tired, so obviously, you decided you were going to head home.

your head hanging low, you exited the guest bedroom and walked down the hallway, hoping to make a hasty exit, only to be abruptly stopped by georgie.

“y/n/n? you alright,” he asks, and you sway. “whoa…” he light-heartedly laughs, placing both his hands on your shoulders to steady you.

“i wanna go home, geo,” you whine, trying to get out of his grasp.

“okay, um, lemme grab my coat,” he reluctantly lets go of you, and you start towards the front door, yanking it open and letting it slam behind you.

you don’t even think about georgie as you get into the evelator, hot stinging tears beginning to brew in your eyes, and a lump forming itself deep in your throat.

you swallow the embarrassment, just wanting to get home and crawl into bed. you want to cry the weekend away and then never think of peter again.

the elevator dings, and you walk out of the lobby into the cold late-winter air of new york city.

the chilly wind nips at your exposed legs and feet, and seeps through the thin sheer material of your dress, goosebumps dotting your skin.

you hurry down the road, the streets the dark and dreary. you never realized how scary it really was at night.

the fact that you left georgie now dawns on you, and you suddenly feel very sober. you spin around, hoping to be met with georgie’s e/c eyes, but when you are met with darkness, internal panic sets in.

you realize that you have no idea where you are. and the sound of footsteps down the alleyway to your left suddenly sound a lot louder.

➴➵➶➴➵➶➴➵➶

20 MINUTES EARLIER

peter ran out of harry’s penthouse, and exited out the nearest window once he was in the hallway.

his mind was at war deciding if this bank robbery was worth leaving you all alone in an empty bedroom, where you clearly wanted more of him.

he groaned, and landed in an empty alleyway, clicking his watch that suddenly engulfed his entire body in his nanotech spidey-suit.

his head tingles, sensing the crime near him. he sighs and jumps off to go find the criminals.

➴➵➶➴➵➶➴➵➶

the whole time he fights, he thinks of you. how much he regrets leaving you.

he knows you’ll be upset, angry even. this could ruin all the progress you two were making.

mr. stark will be so mad at him.

finishing up the mission, he hands the two druggies who decided to rob a bank over to the cops, and heads back to harry’s building, hoping you’re still at the party….. maybe even waiting for him.

a part of him, deep deep down in his heart, knows you left. he knows that he’s disappointed you, and upset you, and that you are not the forgiving type.

as he lightly jogs down the street, getting closer and closer to NW Street, he sees a small, shivering figure walking away from the building he’s headed towards.

he figures it’s just some person leaving the party, but then his super senses kick in and he…. he smells… he smells you.

he panics, not knowing what to do.

does he go up to you and potentially expose his identity? or does he let you walk home alone in the dark and dangerous streets of new york city?

he goes with the latter, figuring your safety is more important than his identity. he has cared for you far too long to worry about silly things like that now.

he can sense the dread in your body as you freeze watching him head towards you.

no, no, no, this was not supposed to go this way.

your eyes go wide, and a screech prepares itself to rip from your throat as the shadow comes to light, revealing itself to be… to be spiderman?

your breath hitches, and you take a step backwards.

if spiderman is supposed to make you feel safe, why are you so fucking scared?

because why would spiderman present himself unless there’s a problem. why would he approach you?

peter takes a few steps forwards, and you take one back, shaking your head.

“what do you want?” you whisper through gritted teeth.

you slip your left hand into your dress, reaching for your phone that’s tucked away somewhere, only to be met with cold everywhere.

of course. you left your phone sitting on harry’s kitchen counter.

dread settles itself in, and you accept your fate.

spiderman is horny or something, and despite him supposedly being good, and friendly, he is going to use you and leave you in a ditch.

the golden girl. billionaire ken griswold’s daughter. it couldn’t get better. the news would go crazy, your father would rage war, and spiderman would go on living his life, no one ever expecting the villain in this story to be him.

you swallow, not wanting to accept the impending doom that swirls in your mind.

you shake your head, mustering up all the courage and strength you have in your extremely drunken state.

peter’s heart drops as you step away from him, clearly terrified of spiderman.

he puts his hands up in surrender and slowly takes a few more steps to you.

you go to move backwards, but your heel gets stuck in a crack in the pavement, and you go barreling backwards.

just as your head is about to make contact with the hard and cold ground, peter in under you, cushioning your fall.

you’re splayed in his lap, his arms tight around your waist, and one of your arms draped around his shoulders.

your lips part, and you stare into his mask, trying to figure out who is under there.

“i won’t hurt you,” peter whispers, you still snug in his lap.

you shake your head, tears pooling in your eyes, your lip trembling, threatening to give you away.

“what’s wrong,” he whispers, brushing a piece of hair out of your eyes, just like he did inside.

that reminds you too much off peter, and you push off spider-man’s lap, to stand up on your own.

you untie one of your heels as spider-man springs up, and hold it in your hand, as a weapon.

like a dainty heel with defeat mighty strong spiderman. it’s worth a try, though.

peter puts his hands up in surrender, showing you that he had no intent of hurting you.

all he wants to do is take you in his arms again and wipe your tears. the tears that are most likely there because of him and his stupid decisions.

“what do you want!” you seethe, waving the magenta heel at his face.

“i’m not going to hurt you, i promise,” he quietly says, watching your arm involuntarily lower the heel.

“i just want to know what’s making you so upset,” he chokes out. it’s eating him inside to think that he’s upset you in any way.

you’re so drunk that you don’t think twice, your arm falling to your side and the tears spilling out, sobs ripping from your chest.

peter’s rushes to you, the suit still on. he’s reluctant to take it off, scared you will be more upset.

his steel covered arms wrap around your small frame, and your hands cover your face, muffling the sound of your heart-wrenching sobs.

peter’s super hearing continues to make the sobs incredibly loud, and he can feel the tears springing at the corner of his eyes.

he’s so angry at himself. he knows he caused this.

“please tell me what’s wrong,” he coos, one hand stroking the back of your head, smoothing down the stray hairs.

“i-i,” you start, struggling to catch your breath.

“he left me.” you cry, voice breaking as you speak. peter pulls you in tighter, feeling the most guilty he’s ever felt.

“i shouldn’t like him as much as i do, but i can’t help it. but he fucking left me!”

you’re drunk, and don’t realize what you’re saying.

the alcohol didn’t affect peter per his enhanced abilities, so he’s sober as ever listening to how he hurt you.

he nods, and you continue, his arms still secure around you.

“i’ve never been so stupid in my life,”

“you’re not stupid,”

“i feel like an idiot.”

“i promise you’re not. and i promise that he is good, and wasn’t trying to hurt you, and that he wanted to stay at harry’s with you” peter realizes too late that this was the wrong thing to say.

you try to pull yourself out of his arms, tired eyes peering into the mask, trying to figure out who’s hiding in there.

“how did you know it was at harry’s?”

“i, uh, well,” peter stammers over his words, internally screaming at himself for giving so much away.

“i swung past earlier, and saw you, uh, through a window,” he makes it up as he goes along. which would’ve been obvious to someone who hadn’t drank as much as you did.

“oh.”

peter swallows, and reluctantly opens his arms. you sigh as you pull yourself away from him, side-eyeing as you slowly back away.

“uh, thanks spiderman, um, i’m going home now…” you start slowly walking, and then break out into a sprint to get home.

peter shakes his head as he watches you run, wishing he wouldn’t have left.

seconds later, he hears a scragged “y/n!” from behind him, turning to met with georgie.

this is really the first time peter has ever seen georgie so close up. he immediately recognizes the similarities between you two.

the deep, soulful y/e/c eyes, the bouncy, shimmering y/h/c hair, and freckles that dot over georgie’s nose and cheeks that are mimicked on your face.

georgie is tall, standing at least at 6’3, towering over peter. peter watches with wide eyes as georgie jogs up to him, wonder twinkling in his eyes.

“yo! spiderman! have you seen my sister, looks just like me, about this tall,” georgie holds his hand up to his shoulder, showing where your head would reach if you were standing next to him.

“yes, she just headed that way,” peter points ahead, georgie giving him a grateful nod before running after you.

➴➵➶➴➵➶➴➵➶

you hugged your arms around your shivering body on the elevator ride up to your penthouse.

you heard georgie run into the lobby just as the elevator doors closed, knowing he was probably right behind you.

the last thing you wanted was georgie’s pestering questions, he would poke and prod you until you gave in, and you really didn’t wanna deal with that while in an emotional state.

the doors chimed, and you sprinted out, kicking your now untied heels off in the wide lobby, bare feet padding against the cold, marble floors.

hayes, the butler, called your name as you ran past him, huffing when you wouldn’t turn around.

your footsteps were light against the grand marble staircase as you sprinted upstairs, and down the left wing to your bedroom.

you slammed the door behind you, locking it, and then letting your back rest against the cold wood.

you slowly slid downwards, letting the hard floor catch your weak body.

you were so tired. emotionally, you wanted to crawl in a hole and never return again, and physically, the alcohol made you feel weak and sick and you hated peter for what he did to you.

you were tiered, and just wanted to sleep.

pushing off the floor, you slowly dragged yourself into your closet, stripped off your clothes, and put on an oversized t shirt that engulfed your whole body.

next was the bathroom, you washed off your smudged makeup and brushed your teeth, trying to get the smell of vodka out of your mouth.

your bed was warm and inviting as you slid into it, the crisp sheets warm against your shivering body.

a small sob escaped your lips and you let yourself quietly cry to sleep. there was nothing wrong with crying at the end of a long day, you know this.

but, of course, peter felt his breaking heart crack into two as he sat outside your window and heard the quiet sobs that you tried to hide.

ˏˋ°•*⁀➷

[pwlanier]

Georgy Pavlovich Golts (1893-1946) "Production building for the identification of volume and space." 1928.

Sketch project of the State Bank in Minsk. 1927.

Paper, ink, pen, brush, watercolor

In the lower right corner there is an author's signature and date.

Origin: collection of the heirs of the artist Niki Georgievna Golts, the artist's daughter.

Architect, graphic artist, set designer. He studied at the MUZhVZ under S.V. Noakovsky and D.N. Kardovsky. I met M. F. Larionov, N.S. Goncharova, D.D. Burlyuk, V. C Mayakovsky and other representatives of the avant-garde. He took part in the filming of the film "Drama in the Cabaret of Futurists № 13", which is the only known appeal of futurists to cinema. In 1914, he moved to the architectural department of MUZHVIZ, studied with L.M. Brailovsky. The largest representative of Soviet architecture of the 1920s and 1940s. In the 1910s and 1920s, he worked mainly in the field of magazine and easel graphics. The most significant collections of Goltz's works are held by the State Institute of the GMS. A.S. Pushkin and the Museum of Architecture named after A.V. Shchuseva.

Litfund

[professionalowl]

Actually, while we're shaming people for their 452 unread books, here's a list of unread books of mine of which I own physical copies, attached to the year I obtained them, so that you can all shame me into reading more:

2024: Ways of Being: Animals, Plants, Machines: The Search for a Planetary Intelligence (James Bridle; just started)

2021: Islands of Abandonment: Life in the Post-Human Landscape (Cal Flyn)

2024: Extreme Fabulations: Science Fictions of Life (Steven Shaviro)

2021: The Unreal & The Real Vol. 1: Where on Earth (Ursula K. Le Guin)

2023: A Study in Scarlet (Arthur Conan Doyle)

2023: Ritual: How Seemingly Senseless Acts Make Life Worth Living (Dmitri Xygalatas)

2023: Vibrant Matter: A political ecology of things (Jane Bennett)

2023: The History of Magic: From Alchemy to Witchcraft, from the Ice Age to the Present (Chris Gosden)

2018: Ways of Seeing (John Berger)

2022: An Immense World: How Animal Senses Reveal the Hidden Realms Around Us (Ed Yong)

2020: Owls of the Eastern Ice: The Quest to Find and Save the World's Largest Owl (Jonathan C. Slaught)

2023: My Life in Sea Creatures (Sabrina Imbler)

2020: The Bird Way: A New Look at How Birds Talk, Work, Play, Parent, and Think (Jennifer Ackerman)

2023: Birds and Us: A 12,000-Year History, from Cave Art to Conservation (Tim Birkhead)

2020: Rebirding: Restoring Britain's Wildlife (Benedict Macdonald)

2022: The Song of the Cell: An Exploration of Medicine and the New Human (Siddhartha Mukherjee)

2022: An Anthropologist on Mars (Oliver Sacks)

2021: Sex, Botany & Empire: The Story of Carl Linnaeus and Joseph Banks (Patricia Fara)

2023: At The Mountains of Madness (H.P. Lovecraft)

2019: Invisible Cities (Italo Calvino; I have been trying to finish this forever and am so, so close)

2023: Brian Boru and the Battle of Clontarf (Sean Duffy)

2021: What is History, Now? How the past and present speak to each other (Helen Carr and Suzannah Lipscomb; essay collection, half-read)

2020: Winter King: The Dawn of Tudor England (Thomas Penn)

2022: Caliban and the Witch: Women, the Body, and Primitive Accumulation (Silvia Federici)

2020: Black Spartacus: The Epic Life of Touissant Louverture (Sudhir Hazareesingh; half-read)

2019: The Five: The Untold Lives of the Women Killed by Jack the Ripper (Hallie Rubenhold; 3/4 read)

2022: Lenin on the Train (Catherine Merridale)

2020: October: The Story of the Russian Revolution (China Miéville)

2019: The Villa, the Lake, the Meeting: Wannsee and the Final Solution (Mark Roseman)

2019: Heimat: A German Family Album (Nora Krug)

2018: Maus I: My Father Bleeds History (Art Spiegelman)

2020: Running in the Family (Michael Ondaatje)

2022: Wide Sargasso Sea (Jean Rhys; also never technically "finished" Jane Eyre, but I did my time, damn you)

2023: Time Shelter (Georgi Gospodinov)

2019: Our Man in Havana (Graham Greene; started, left unfinished)

2019: The Spy Who Came In From The Cold (John le Carré)

2021: Why I'm No Longer Talking to White People About Race (Reni Eddo-Lodge; half-read)

2017: Rebel Without Applause (Lemn Sissay)

2022: The Metamorphosis, and Other Stories (Franz Kafka)

2011?: The Complete Cosmicomics (Italo Calvino; vaguely remember reading these when I was maybe 7 and liking them, but I have forgotten their content)

2022: Free: Coming of Age at the End of History (Lea Ypi)

2021: Fairy and Folk Tales of Ireland (W.B. Yates)

Some of these are degree-related, some not; some harken back to bygone areas of interest and some persist yet; some were obtained willingly and some thrust upon me without fanfare. I think there are also some I've left at college, but I'm not sure I was actually intending to read any of them - I know one is an old copy of Structural Anthropology by Claude Levi-Strauss that Dad picked up for me secondhand, which I...don't intend to torment myself with. Reading about Tom Huffman's cognitive-structural theory of Great Zimbabwe almost finished me off and remains to date the only overdue essay I intend to never finish, mostly because the professor let me get away with abandoning it.

There are also library books, mostly dissertation-oriented, from which you can tell that the cognitive archaeologists who live in my walls finally fucking Got me:

The Rise of Homo sapiens: The Evolution of Modern Thinking (Thomas Wynn & Fred Coolidge)

The Material Origin of Numbers: Insights from the Archaeology of the Ancient Near East (Karenleigh A. Overmann)

Archaeological Situations: Archaeological Theory from the Inside-Out (Gavin Lucas)

And, finally, some I've actually finished recently ("recently" being "within the past year"):

The Body Fantastic (Frank Gonzalo-Crussi, solid 6/10 essay collection about a selection of body parts, just finished earlier)

An Entertainment for Angels: Electricity in the Enlightenment (Patricia Fara, also a solid 6/10, fun read but nothing special)

Babel: An Arcane History (R.F. Kuang, 8/10, didactic (sometimes necessary) but effective; magic system was cool and a clever metaphor)

The Sign of Four (A.C. Doyle, 2/10 really racist and for what)

Dr. Space Junk vs. the Universe: Archaeology and the Future (Alice Gorman, 8/10, I love you Dr. Space Junk)

In Search of Us: Adventures in Anthropology (Lucy Moore, 8/10, I respect some of these people slightly more now)

The Dispossessed (Ursula K. Le Guin, 9/10 got my ass)

The Hound of the Baskervilles (A.C. Doyle, 7/10 themez 👍)

[battinscn]

FIND U AGAIN — dad! draco malfoy x mum! f! reader

CONTENT WARNING: none

SUMMARY: you had been raising your son as a single mum for a few years. what happens when a small encounter in gringotts changes your serene scene entirely.

WC/ AVG. READING TIME: 3781 words/ 19 minutes

return to the draco masterlist here

"I’D LIKE TO withdraw 5 galleons please," y/n requested, handing her laminated paper card to the goblin.

the goblin took the card and keyed the bank account number into its machine.

y/n felt the hand that was holding hers slowly slip.

"surely it must be a mistake, madam rosmerta said she'd transfer me my pay for the month," y/n shook her head.

"are you suggesting that i'm in the wrong here then? if you've got no money then that's it. don't go around insulting me," the goblin said rather loudly, the people in line behind silently judging the mother.

"no, of course not. i'm terribly sorry, i'm sure it's just a misunderstanding on my end, i'll come back tomorrow," y/n quickly apologised after hearing hushed whispers from the group of well-dressed women behind her.

y/n reached out to grab her son's arm and was shocked when she grasped onto air. she looked down and the little boy was no longer there.

"shit," she cursed under her breath.

"baby? where have you gone?" y/n crouched down.

she stayed silent to listen for the ringing of a bell. she had put a charmed anklet on her son so that it would ring with each step he took. the charmed element of it was that only y/n could hear the ringing.

she followed the noise of the bell and her eyes widened when she saw her son bump into a pair of legs, his chocolate ice cream all over the black trousers and polished shoes of the person the leg belonged to.

"oh my merlin, sir i'm so so sorry, i apologise, i should have watched where he was going," y/n quickly picked her son up in her arms, moving her face away so the five year old's sticky chocolate stained hands would not get on her.

"it is quite alright, i should have watched where i was going," a velvety voice spoke.

y/n huffed as she tucked the lose strands of hair behind her ear, eyes meeting the man's.

the y/h/c woman let out an audible gasp when she saw the likes of none other than draco lucius malfoy.

"y/n?" draco tilted his head to the side, his eyes then trailed to the boy in her arms, studying his blonde hair, blue eyed features.

"u-uh," y/n stuttered as she quickly rushed out the bank onto the main street of diagon alley.

"y/n! y/n wait!" draco called out after her, but she pretended not to hear and made a bee-line towards the end of the street.

y/n's footsteps then came to a halt when she was pulled back by a hand on her shoulder.

"y/n," draco stated.

"malfoy," y/n replied with a straight smile.

an awkward silence fell upon the three.

"mummy," scorpius whispered into his mother's ear, "he looks just like me. uncle georgie at the joke shop said that kids look like their daddies."

but scorpius had not quite acquired the skills of whispering yet, resulting in draco hearing the whole thing.

y/n placed her hand over her son's mouth so he would not spew any more nonsense, "don't be silly scorp, uncle george just doesn't know what he's talking about."

y/n cursed at george in her head, saying words so vulgar that she would never say them in front of her son.

"if you don't have anything else to say malfoy, we'll take our leave first. it was nice to see you again," y/n smiled at the man in a black suit.

y/n swiftly spun her and her child around, walking away from draco.

"who was that mummy?" scorpius asked curiously as y/n charmed the ice cream stains off his mouth and hands.

"just...an old friend from school," y/n replied.

"i'm sorry y/n," dumbledore apologised to the first year.

the students who had bullied y/n were currently serving detention.

they were making fun of her for having parents who passed early on.

"you don't have to apologise professor, it wasn't your fault," y/n shook her head.

"mr malfoy, would you please walk y/n back to your common rooms."

"yes professor," the pale blonde held the door open for y/n.

"thank you for standing up to crabbe for me," the slytherin girl thanked.

"that's okay, he shouldn't have been saying those things to you."

"3 butterbeers please," a student placed his order for him and his friends from y/n as she waited their table.

"of course dennis," y/n smiled.

"you remember my name?" he asked, surprised by the waitress.

"i remember all my customer's names" y/n sent the seventh year a wink, "i'll be right back with your butterbeers, noah and..." y/n looked up at the ceiling to try and recall the last student's name, "leo...?"

the boy nodded his head eagerly, "yup!"

y/n let out a small smirk as she headed back to the bar to prepare them their drinks.

"she's so pretty isn't she?" noah looked at y/n, practically drooling.

y/n tightened her ponytail as she waved her wand, three mugs flying themselves from the cupboard to the surface in front of her.

"she is isn't she," dennis gawked as well, resting his chin on his palm.

"she looks so familiar," leo spoke up.

"she was in her seventh year when we were in our second," dennis explained, "i used to have a crush on her, but she was dating malfoy."

"hello!" a boy sitting at the booth behind the group of three spoke up.

the boys frowned as they turned around to face the little blonde boy.

"i'm sure my mummy will be very thankful to know you think she's pretty. she always says she's ugly but i think she's the prettiest lady in the world!" scorpius beamed.

"y/n's your mum?" dennis asked.

"yeap!" scorpius nodded his head.

"scorp, what did i say about disturbing the customers," y/n scolded her son as she set the mugs on dennis' table, "i apologise," y/n directed her attention to the three gryffindors.

"it's alright, he wasn't being a bother. he's quite adorable," dennis assured her, noah and leo agreeing with their friend.

"he looks nothing like you," leo pointed out, "he must take after his father i assume."

"mummy says my daddy is a superhero," scorpius said, "i've never seen him but mummy said that's because he's far far away fighting bad guys."

the little boy held his head high, proud that his father was such a remarkable man.

leo's face fell, "oh i'm sorr-" he tried to apologise to y/n.

"no no, it's uh..it's all good," y/n chuckled dryly, "i'll uh tend to the other customers, enjoy your drinks boys."

y/n walked away to another table and scorpius returned to reading his kids potions book.

"do you know who his father is?" noah asked dennis.

"i dunno," the boy shrugged, "he does look awfully like malfoy though."

✧·ﾟ: *✧·ﾟ:*:·ﾟ✧*:·ﾟ✧

"have a good night professor mcgonagall, professor snape," y/n smiled at her old professors.

"oh y/n dear, we're not your professors anymore, you can call us by our first names," the gryffindor head said.

"alright minerva, have a safe walk back to the castle, you too professor snape," y/n collected the galleons from the two.

"bye y/n, bye little scorpius," mcgonagall placed her hand on the boy's cheek.

scorpius gleefully waved goodbye to the two.

y/n was wiping the tables and closing for the night when the door to the inn opened.

"we're closed! you can come back tomorrow," y/n spoke, her back to the door as she pushed in the chairs.

"mr daddy?" scorpius looked up from his book.

confused as to what her son was on about, y/n turned her body around and saw draco.

y/n's breath hitched, "w-we're closed."

"i'm not here for a drink, i was hoping i could talk to you?" draco placed a hand into his pocket.

y/n was about to turn on her heels and run off when she realised there was nowhere else to run to.

"i saw mr daddy standing outside the shop the whole day, he kept looking in through the windows," scorpius admitted.

draco scratched the back of his neck, embarrassed he had been caught and also because it made him look like a complete stalker.

"stop calling him that scorp, he's not your dad," y/n spat.

scorpius let a whimper, his mother had never spoken to him in such a tone before. he had always been an obedient child and did not need to be disciplined often.

"i'm sorry baby i didn't mean to scare you," y/n sighed, "just...just go up first okay? knock on madam rosetta's door and tell her we've closed for the evening, ask if you could stay in her room while mummy closes up."

scorpius closed his book and got up from the chair, walking over to his mother and giving her a hug.

"it's okay mummy, i forgive you."

"thank you baby," y/n kissed the top of his head as he ran up the steps.

"h-have a seat," y/n gestured to an empty table.

she took off her apron and hung it on the wall.

"did you want anything to drink? anything to eat?" y/n asked as she settled into the seat opposite draco.

"no thank you, i'm alright," draco declined the offer.

"you wanted to talk?" y/n took her hair out of its ponytail and placed the rubber band around her wrist, running her hands through her hair.

"how are you?" draco asked.

"me? i um. i've been well," y/n pulled on the elastic around her wrist and let go of the tension, letting it snap on her skin.

draco remembered that was something y/n would do when she was nervous.

"what about you? how are you?"

"i work at the ministry now. i graduated from uni last year. i haven't seen you since...well since we graduated," draco cracked his knuckles.

y/n remembered that was something draco would do when he was nervous.

"i know you're not here to just ask how i am malfoy."

"since when have i become malfoy?" draco frowned.

"sorry. draco. what did you need?"

"how old is your son?"

"five, scorpius just turned five last month."

"is scorpius mine? my child i mean."

y/n wasn't expecting him to be so blunt about it, she did not know how to respond. how could she sit here and lie right to his face?

"y-yea...i thought the hair and the eyes were a dead giveaway," y/n played with the ring on her finger, her forearms resting in the table.

"why didn't you tell me? why didn't you try to contact me after all these years?"

"b-because..."

"why y/n? don't you think i deserved to know if i had a son out there?" draco raised his voice.

"b-because i didn't want to hold you back okay? you were going off to this prestigious uni and you were so excited to go and i didn't want to be the reason you couldn't."

"that's the most ridiculous thing you've ever said y/n," the blonde scoffed.

"y-your mother...she saw me while i went to st my go's for my first checkup. mdm pomfrey had sent me there when she had found out i was pregnant," y/n choked on her tears, "she called me a useless whore."

"she said i was just a stupid girl who was getting in between you and your studies. s-she threatened me, telling me how she could make my life miserable with just a snap of her fingers if i were to tell you about my pregnancy."

"and you listened to her?" draco's voice strained from the disbelief of y/n's words.

"i was 18, i was young. a-and i thought she was right, i didn't want you to grow up and blame your son and i-"

"you're stupid y/n, that's what you are."

y/n sobbed from his harsh words.

"you think it was easy for me? raising a kid by myself? i had to forfeit my uni scholarship to raise him. i've been working here ever since we graduated!"

a glass of water suddenly appeared above draco's, the glass tipped and water dropped on top of him.

y/n whipped her head around and saw scorpius standing below the stairs, an angry look on his face.

scorpius couldn't do any spells yet, the only magical thing he could do was make cups levitate. it's quite odd really, but guess that's what happens when you basically grow up in a pub.

"don't call my mummy stupid, and you don't make her cry," scorpius crossed his arms.

"scorpius draco y/l/n! apologise now," y/n frowned as she dried draco with her wand.

"b-but he made you cry! nobody makes you cry."

"no, don't reprimand him. i deserved it. he's right, i shouldn't have called you that," draco fixed his hair.

"scorp, apologise and go back upstairs. i'll come up soon."

"sorry mr daddy," scorpius mumbled as he stomped up the steps.

"you named him after me?"

"i needed something to remember you by." y/n sighed.

the NEWTs were finally over and graduation was merely a few weeks away.

y/n was 2 months pregnant and she had just found out that day.

"i can't wait to leave hogwarts," draco leaned against the railing and looked up at the sky.

y/n hummed in response.

"you've always been so interested in the stars," y/n admired draco.

"they're absolutely beautiful."

"they sure are," y/n continued to look at draco in awe.

y/n wrapped her arms around one of draco's, leaning her head on his shoulder.

"scorpius," draco suddenly breathed out.

y/n picked her head up and raised an eyebrow.

"our kid. our baby boy, he'll be named scorpius."

panic filled y/n, had he found out? how could he possibly find out so soon? she was barely even showing, still being able to fit perfectly into her uniform and robes.

"in the future, in the future i mean," draco quickly explained himself.

y/n let out an inaudible sigh of relief.

"was scorpius why you ended things with me?"

y/n nodded her head.

"i love you so much draco, i would've never broken up with you otherwise. i wanted to spend the rest of my life with you."

"love?"

y/n quickly looked away from his blue eyes, not daring to look draco in the face.

"marry me," draco said matter of factly as he and y/n were making their way back from hogsmeade to hogwarts.

it was the last hogsmeade trip till the NEWTs.

"what?" y/n stopped dead in her tracks.

"not now, but marry me one day," draco pulled out a ring from his pocket.

"i-i i don't know what to say," y/n blinked hard, "yes draco, i will marry you one day."

draco smiled in relief and slipped the ring onto her left hand.

draco picked up his own hand and showed y/n the matching ring on it.

they quickly rushed back to hogwarts and locked themselves into draco's room, casting "muffliato" to make sure they couldn't be heard.

"i never stopped loving you draco. how could i?"

"i never stopped loving you either y/n, every date i'd go on all i'd ever do was compare them to you. i'd try to take her to our favourite places, but all i'd ever do was think about how it wasn't you there with me," draco picked up y/n's left hand and kissed the back of it, noticing the ring on it.

"i really really wanted to tell you draco, i really did i just...i couldn't bring myself to."

draco opened his arms and pat his lap.

y/n scurried out of her seat and sat in his lap, burying her head into his chest, wetting his shirt with her tears.

draco comforted her like how he would used to, rubbing circle on her back and placing kisses on the top of her head.

y/n removed her head from draco's chest and looked him.

ever so often her eyes would flicker down to his lips, the young woman realising draco would do the same as well.

draco leaned forward and y/n met him in the middle.

their kiss was hungry and yet filled with so much love and passion.

it was like they had put the past 5 years of longing for each other into that single kiss.

y/n absentmindedly shifted slightly, rubbing herself on him, causing draco to groan.

y/n pulled away from this kiss, "not here..not now," y/n quickly got off his lap, "madam rosmerta would sack me, and scorp and i would have to live on the streets."

"you live here?"

"madam rosmerta can't pay me well, so she lets scorp and i live upstairs and provides us with food."

"move in with me."

"what?"

"i have a flat in london, move in with me."

"n-no, it's too soon, how would i even explain it to scorp."

"you don't have to tell him who i am, there's a spare bedroom, the two of you can have it. i just want to know my son and his mother are safely taken care of."

"are you sure?"

"yes my darling. as creepy as this may sound, after seeing you yesterday, i saw you talking to george at his shop and asked him about you. he told me you were here and i came here in the morning. i just stood outside admiring you, i had to make sure it was actually you, and it wasn't just all in my head. now that i've found you again i'm never letting you go. you can kick and scream but i'd never let go."

"i don't want to go, i want to be with you."

draco smashed their lips together again.

"draco...i think we should break up."

it was one week till graduation.

"what?"

"i think we should break up."

"no."

"you can't say no draco, that's not how it works."

"why? where is all of this coming from?"

"we won't be able to see each other as much anymore and i just don't think that's feasible for our relationship," y/n bit back her tongue, trying not to let the tears spill.

it pained her to have to break up with draco. it pained her to know that she absolutely had to break up with him.

his mother had threatened her and her baby and y/n would not let anything happen to her child.

"we can work this out. i can visit you on the weekends, it'll be alright. we'll be alright! please y/n, i don't know what i'd do without you."

"i'm sorry draco, i really am," y/n kicked a pebble on the floor and turned her body to walk away.

as she made her way back to the castle, y/n let the tears fall. she was crying so hard she felt like her heart broke, her lungs were gasping for air and her eyes were irritated from the strain of the tears falling out of it.

she looked down to her stomach and placed her hand over it.

"i'm sorry scorp..." she whispered to her belly, apologising for him having to grow up without a father.

y/n settled the brown carton box onto the floor, dusting her hands on her pants.

"thank you for letting us stay here," y/n thanked draco.

"you don't ever have to say thank you to me, i'd give you the whole world if i could," draco placed his arm around her waist and kissed her nose.

draco's favourite thing to do back in their hogwarts days was to watch the way y/n's nose would scrunch up whenever he would kiss it.

y/n's nose instinctively scrunched up from the peck and draco felt himself falling in love with the girl all over again.

y/n tiptoed and pecked draco's lips, blushing a little when she did.

"you kissed mr daddy!" scorpius gasped.

y/n quickly pulled herself away from draco.

"what about daddy?" scorpius scolded his mother, "you don't love daddy! you kissed mr daddy!"

scorpius was about to cry and throw a fit when y/n bent down next to her son.

she pinched the bridge of her nose and let out a sigh, she felt like she had no choice but to tell him the truth now.

"baby, mr daddy is your daddy. he came back from his superhero mission, he defeated all the bad guys."

scorpius' frown was soon replaced with a smile. he wiped his eyes with the back of his hand as he jumped into draco's arms.

"daddy! you're back!"

draco was confused as to the little story y/n had just explained to scorpius but he decided he would just ask her later.

"yes i am scorp," draco kissed scorpius on the cheek.

"we can be a family now! a big happy family!" scorpius beamed.

y/n flicked the light switch off and closed the room door.

"he finally went to sleep" y/n collapsed onto the sofa next to draco.

scorpius had begged that draco share with him all the superhero missions he had been on all these years.

poor draco and to rack his brain of muggle superhero stories he had heard of before.

"seeing scorp's reaction, you haven't dated anyone in a while, have you?"

"no...i tried to go on a few dates but i just didn't see a connection with them. no matter who they were...they just weren't you," y/n looked up to meet draco's gaze.

"marry me," y/n stated matter of factly.

"what?"

"you still have your ring," y/n pointed to the silver wedding band on draco's left hand, one the blonde had swore to himself he would never take off even after y/n broke up with him, "and i still have mine," y/n too, could not bear to take it off, it's been on her ring finger for the last five years.

"marry me, i don't know when. just promise me you'll marry me," y/n asked hopefully.

"of course, yes, i will marry you, hell i'd marry you right now," draco placed both hands on y/n's cheeks.

join my taglist here!

tags: @lilytoyourjames @pattnscn @haroldpotterson @itzjennieofficial @xangel76 @daddysfucktoyslut @grandnerdsheep-blog @eleventhboi @cevans98 @jmj-1312 @gwlvr @bluetreecloud20 @momoewn @snigdha-14

[nytech]

The NY Tech Alliance Welcomes 5 New Board Members

NY Tech Alliance - 25 Mar

We are pleased to add 5 new members to our board: Donnel Baird, Georgie-Ann Getton, Xian Horn, Shaun Johnson, and Jeff Lindor. The board now counts 19 members, reflecting the breadth of the NY tech ecosystem and the diversity of its members.

“I am so pleased that Donnel, Georgie-Ann, Xian, Shaun, and Jeff have joined us on the Board in our work in such a pivotal year, as New York City looks to rebuild from the impact of Covid 19 and prepares to elect a new mayor. These times require strong voices from across our tech community, and I know we have that in these five innovative leaders.” — Thatcher Bell, Chair of Board, NY Tech Alliance.

MEET OUR NEW BOARD MEMBERS

Donnel Baird joins the NY Tech Alliance Board of Directors with years of experience as a climate tech founder. Baird attended Columbia Business School, where he received his MBA in Entrepreneurship and Entrepreneurial studies in 2013. In that same year, he founded BlocPower, a smart buildings platform that markets, engineers, and finances renewable energy and energy-efficient technologies to buildings in underserved market segments. At scale, their technology can lead to a 2–7% reduction in US GHG emissions in the next 2–3 years. Baird is also a Second District Board Member at the New York Federal Reserve Bank and an Echoing Green Fellow.

Georgie-Ann Getton is an author, serial entrepreneur, community builder, speaker, and diversity in tech enthusiast. She holds a B.S. in Business Communications with a specialization in Graphic Communications from Baruch College and a Certificate in Entrepreneurship Essentials from HBX | Harvard Business School. Getton currently works as a Strategic Execution Consultant at GSD Solutions, a company she founded in 2018 that helps individuals and companies get more done by building simple, efficient, and impactful brands that drive organic growth. She enjoys learning as well as teaching new and creative ways to find solutions to problems.

The art of DOING, with serial entrepreneur Georgie-Ann Getton-McKoy

Xian Horn is an advocate, speaker, blogger, and exemplar for the AT&T NYU Connect Ability Challenge in the creation of Assistive Technology. Horn has Cerebral Palsy and has been a fierce advocate for those with disabilities, making sure they have equitable inclusion and opportunities in all parts of life with her aim being to serve and connect humanity as a whole. Horn is the Founder and Executive Director of Give Beauty Wings, which offers self-esteem programs for all ages that are tailored to individual and organizational needs, providing mentoring, vocational support, educational and media outreach. Most recently in 2016, she founded Changeblazer, Inc, an advocacy, vocational, and leadership consultancy working with organizations looking to diversify and focused in aiding the underserved, especially those who have disabilities. In addition to managing her advocacy and consultancy companies, Horn is a contributor to Forbes Women, writing on leadership, empowerment, and disability.

“The past year has accelerated our efforts to make the NY Tech Alliance more inclusive, broadening the scope of our events and introducing new programs such as the NY Tech Volunteer Corp. I’m looking forward to the energy and ideas our new board members will bring to our work together.” — Andy Saldaña, Executive Director of the NY Tech Alliance.

Shaun Johnson is an experienced entrepreneur with a demonstrated history of working across the fields of technology acceleration, early-stage development, and ecosystem development. He has extensive experience in the entrepreneurship sector, working as an Entrepreneur in Residence at Georgetown University, the Associate Director for Fordham University’s Fordham Foundry, the co-founder at Startup Institute, and as an Adjunct Professor of Entrepreneurship at The New School’s Parsons School of Design since 2019. Most recently, Shaun has been working as a leader at Venwise, a membership for C-level executives in high-growth companies with a mission to build a peer community that promotes learning. He also works in Operations at Blockgraph — a blockchain-enabled software that allows TV and media companies to control, connect, and safely activate their data at-scale.

Teaching Entrepreneurship with Shaun Johnson

Jeff Lindor brings many years of experience finding solutions that enhance the lives of people of color across the globe to the NY Tech Alliance Board. In 2014, Lindor received his master’s degree from The New School in Urban Policy Analysis & Management. In the time since, he has founded multiple companies. In 2016, he founded GroomedSuccess, a minority-owned business that provides professional development services for young men and boys of color. Some of their clients include the NYC Department of Education, NYC Administration for Children’s Services, NYC Department of Correction, and the City University of New York — Fatherhood Academy. Most recently in 2017, Lindor founded and is currently the CEO of The Gentlemen’s Factory, a workspace and community designed to enhance and connect men of color, providing them with the space, resources, and connection to help maximize their potential.

Click here to learn more about all of our Board Members.

[multiprises]

Weird Al Is Dead, Paper Girls, 1.02

Georgi Banks-Davies (D), Christopher Cantwell & Christopher C. Rogers (S), 29/07/22

[cuuno-moved]

ohoho my friend you have opened the floodgates (full disclosure i have taken Many liberties and for the sake of this au it doesn’t follow the exact plot of the actual show just pretend that it works)

SO. ranboo is jon, aka the current archivist. this leads to the obvious choice of tubbo being martin, i’m not 100% sure who’s gonna take on the role of sasha and tim yet, but i’m tempted to make wilbur tim because dead brother angst. as previously mentioned, jack is melanie and niki is georgie- instead of exes, niki and ranboo are estranged siblings. they fell out of touch after uni, but ranboo didn’t know where else to go after. well. (extended sounds of brutal pipe murder), so he called niki and asked to stay with her. again i’m not suuuuper sure who i want daisy and basira to be- kind of tempted to make them sapnap and quackity respectively but i’m not sure yet

eret is gertrude but with less backstabbing while still being a total girlboss. fundy is michael, and he viewed them as a mentor/parental figure as he was pretty young when he started working in the archives. unlike gertrude, eret returns that sentiment, and is very fond of fundy. they told him about how dangerous stopping the spiral would be, and he was fully aware of the risk involved and agreed to do it anyways. needless to say it didn’t go very well.

dream is elias. of course. besides the obvious, something something killing eret something something dethroning. i’m thinking mayyyyyybe sam as peter lukas. phil as simon fairchild, insert old person joke here (but also. sky guy :) ) bad as jane prentiss, with blood vines instead of worms (unfortunately this means he gets killed off early, c!bad my beloved i’m so sorry). now we’re straying out of dsmp specific territory, but i REALLY want to make billzo oliver banks because dead people things. hmmmm maybe aimsey as sasha then (again this means i have to kill her off early i’m so sorry queen)

that’s about all i’ve got as of right now!! if it seems all over the place that is because it Is (also i am completely open to suggestions i wanna hear what you think :D)

wait can you do. can we maybe have. perhaps some purpled as gerry. maybe. can you do that.

[arce-elliot]

Magnus Archives - First Impressions (101-125)

Back on my bullshit. Starting to get into the nitty-gritty of it now. Had 75% of the series spilled blah blah blah you know the drill!

EP 101 (Another Twist): - oh thank GOD some normalcy, hello Nikola - Nikola: Elias ur son is annoying - Michael: i'm going to kill you Jon: get in line lmao - poor little michael shelley he never stood a chance - bye bye michael EP 102 (Nesting Instinct): - BEETLE WIFE BEETLE WIFE - HOW DID I FORGET ABOUT BEETLE WIFE - also the boys are communicating kind of a bit maybe EP 103 (Cruelty Free): - this dude is so strange i love it - m o n s t e r  p i g - awwww rest in peace toby - LMAOOOOO JON finally using his powers for evil EP 104 (Sneak Preview): - hoo boy time to cry it's Timothy Time - my baby Tim :c EP 105 (Total War): - wheeee another war one - I feel like this woman knows more than she's saying - "i'm lucky i suppose" are u sure buddy - "how long would it be that i would have to wait for death" dude just die sounds like it'd be easy in this hellscape - "gerard keay after he faked his death?" nah u wish it were that simple jonny boy EP 106 (A Matter of Perspective): - M E L A N I E - yo space boy does not shut the FUCK up - AYYYY THERE'S MY ACE REP - Elias: I'm gonna have to dock points for the murder attempts - lmao Elias is gettin' tired of his employees asking him to kill them EP 107 (Third Degree): - time for the American leg of the tour - Gertrude what the actual fuck ma'am - Elias said "here's some eldritch tylenol" - ah yes, back to your regularly scheduled kidnapping - TREVOR'S JUST IN THE T R U N K EP 108 (Monologue): - as a theatre person this person sounds D R E A D F U L - this was an odd one but i like it EP 109 (Nightfall): - i love these two so much holy shit - listen I KNOW i’m gay but like,,,,,found family makes brain go brrrr EP 110 (Creature Feature): - TRANS STATEMENT GIVER AYYYY - lmao spider time EP 111 (Family Business): - GERARD TIME GERARD TIME - my poor darling boy - Mary Keay’s A+ Parenting way to go lady EP 112 (Thrill of the Chase): - "welcome to buzzfeed unsolved today we're going to kill a man" - JON'S BACK THANK FUCK - a w w daisy misses basira :C EP 113 (Breathing Room): - Jon's trying to stop the apocalypse but Martin just wants a travel diary - MARTIN STOP TOUCHING IT - oh ew wtf brain kebab - jon: wow. interesting. what the fuck did i just read. EP 114 (Cracked Foundation): - If y'all don't leave Hill Top Road ALONE - poor lady she's just trying to do her job right - oh wait she's not...real? the web confuses me but i guess that's kinda the point - Tim ouchie my feelings - What a right little investigator, you go Timmy EP 115 (Taking Stock): - FINALLY a Salesa statement it's about time - m e a t g r i n d e r - HELEN!!! - aww poor Helen :c she's being nice Jon don't be rude EP 116 (The Show Must Go On): - lmao love this Archival Staff Meeting - Elias trauma bonding is not the same as team building - GERTRUDE VOICE HELL YES - Chess Robot - what in the Spiral statement EP 117 (Testament): - aw hell yeah mini doomsday diaries - okay martin is actually really funny lmao - JON BURN THE FUCKING PAGE YOU SHITLORD - oh okay thank u EP 118 (The Masquerade): - SHOWTIME MOTHERFUCKERS - Martin deserves a little light arson - Elias can't you just behold the door opening what an eldritch loser - oooooh i love this Martin and Elias face-off this dialogue is superb - Tim: Jon needs to learn how to sacrifice people also Jon we have to save all these randos EP 119 (Stranger and Stranger): - I'm two minutes in and I'm already stressed - Daisy: level up - Gertrude and Leitner yelling at Jon is just a Sims Family Discussion - aaaand there goes my boy :C EP 120 (Eye Contact): - Again, I lose another precious character and I gotta listen to ELIAS - Time for the Season 1-3 recap - Peter said "lmao nice" - "be seeing you" okay elias that was funny - "i'll do my best to keep the place afloat" okay peter that was also funny EP 121 (Far Away): - season 4 baybeeee here we go - Oliver Banks Time - me, eatin my chef boyardee: alright Oliver gimme a good monologue - "i've learned to live with it" i dont think you LIVE with anything mr. banks - i love his voice it's nice - did he just...manifest a gun - A FUCKING SATELLITE LMAOOOOOOO - georgie: sir your vibes are rancid I'm going to have to ask you to leave - wakey wakey jonny boy! EP 122 (Zombie): - Basira Georgie no don't fight - poor Jon y'all lay off the poor man - this statement is too relatable bye - JON'S SO WORRIED ABOUT MARTIN PFFFF EP 123 (Web Development): - CAN'T ANYONE BE HAPPY FOR JON LMAOOO - Basira: "wehhh you're not human also Melanie being a whirlwind with a knife is 100% normal" - GOD imagine if Peter never existed and it had just been Martin lying his ass off trying to save face - wooooosh - Jon: at least Tim and Daisy have the good sense to be dead damn - "play dead" G O D - spoooooooky website EP 124 (Left Hanging): - oh what's good sky grandpa - MARTIN WHAT HAVE THEY DONE TO YOUUUU EP 125 (Civilian Casualities): - baaaah - the 16th fear is Scotland - we love a good DIY surgery - god Melanie's VA is brilliant

[soveryanon]

Reviewing time for MAG168!

- Yay for Oliver! From the announced title I had suspected The End and/or him because of his veins/roots/tendrils/not-tentacles, so that one wasn’t misleading!

Most of the episode was an audio pun on “Roots”/“Routes”: both the veins, and the reference to a Corpse Road. I’m… not sure about the double-meaning, though (since usually, titles refer both the core of the “statement” and something happening in the metaplot) – obviously, the “roots” were The End’s, they were almost a character by themselves (we could hear them creaking in the background alongside the whispers, a reminder that… they could grow. They could invade other domains when they would need); and the system presented by Oliver could (as he explained) come out of his domain to invade others’ in the search for more victims, which is how this universe could potentially end… but is there an additional meaning that could apply in Jon&Martin’s discussion, or in Jon’s decision to not go after Oliver?

(Regarding Martin: jealousy associated to “roots” makes me think of Corruption, though I don’t subscribe to the idea that Martin is being supernaturally OOC right now (I see how he could potentially be led towards bad choices, but I don’t feel like he’s under an influence right now outside of his own feelings). But I wonder if one of the meanings of “roots” will make sense in retrospect…)

- I was a bit sad to not hear Oliver himself but:

* Jonny, once again, did an amazing job at nailing the intonations and inflections of Oliver’s VA for the character; so, yes, it wasn’t directly Oliver, but we could hear when it was him directly addressing Jon, when it was the “statement” form, and when it was back to Jon.

(* Though I have a tiny sliver of doubt regarding the final “Report ends” afterwards: was it Oliver’s, making fun of Jon’s “statement ends” in the same way that Simon did after he got compelled to blurt out his life story after Martin prompted him? Interestingly, Oliver hadn’t joked about the “statement ends” in MAG121, though he already knew a lot about Jon and his dreams back then, and made it obvious in MAG168 that he knew more than us about Jon’s current state and how he functions (calling him The Eye’s “archive”, and pointing out that Jon can “only take”, which… yeah, feel like that will be relevant later). Or was it Jon saying the “Report ends.” to gain back a semblance of normalcy and making light fun of Oliver’s way of organising his “report” and/or trying to distance himself from what Oliver was saying, reminding himself that it was a subjective statement and that whatever Oliver says is to take with caution since he’s above all an agent of his own patron, however convinced and convincing he may sound? I feel like it was Jon saying that “Report ends.”, given how his voice sobered up, but both could make sense in their own ways…)

* Funnily, it makes sense for Oliver to give his “statement” in this fashion! Because, so far, he had never directly communicated with an Archivist in a situation that would allow reciprocity: he gave his statement to the Institute, while watching Gertrude in the next room (MAG011); he gave his statement to Jon while Jon was in a coma, so unable to answer him (MAG121); and now, he gave his “report” about his domain through Jon, addressing it both to The Eye and to Jon (… but is there a difference at this point?). In all cases, he was unreachable. So now, it feels even more significant that the only person he has ever interacted with on tape was End-touched Georgie, and that she managed to exchange words with him…

- Given how Oliver gave this “report” to Jon, that the “I” was clearly Oliver… What does it say about the narrator of previous statements? Were the “I”s in those the domains or the Fears themselves, talking through Jon?

… If that’s the case, what is exactly happening with the tape recorders, who are gorging themselves with these new forms of statements and apparently freeing Jon from the weight of them…?

(And who was the narrator in MAG167 then? The Eye itself?)

- Laughing so hard because Oliver’s background (MAG011: “I’ve lived in London for almost a decade now. I came here to do my undergraduate degree at the London School of Economics. I ended up taking a position with Barclays shortly after graduating and did well enough there.”) showed so much in the way he organised his ~report~ (not a “statement”, not a “terror”, but a “report”, Oliver wanted to be SPECIAL, uh…):

(MAG168) ARCHIVIST: “Report to prevent future deaths. This report is being sent to: [STATIC FADES] The Great Eye, that watches all who linger in terror, and gorges itself on the sufferings of those under its unrelenting, stuporous gaze! And its Archive, which draws knowledge of this suffering unto itself. 1 – Coroner I am Oliver Banks, sometimes known as Antonio Blake, or doctor Thomas Pridchard. I serve The Coming End That Waits For All And Will Not Be Ignored. 2 – Coroner’s legal powers […] 3 – Investigation and inquest […] 4 – Circumstances of the death […] 5 – Coroner’s concerns […] The matters of concern are as follows. a) […] b) […] c) […] d) […] 6 – Actions that should be taken […] 7 – Your response”

Organised, classified, taking an example to illustrate… and even: doing something else than the subject of his report. It wasn’t a report “to prevent future deaths”. It was a report “about” future deaths and how they couldn’t be prevented. Oliver, please.

- Handsome Man Of Many Aliases:

(MAG011, “Antonio Blake”) “First off, I should admit that I lied to get in here.” […] ARCHIVIST: I had Tim look into it, as I don’t entirely trust the others not to have written it as a practical joke and slipped it into the archives. Unsurprisingly, he came up with nothing. Antonio Blake is a fake name and all of the contact details he provided were similarly fraudulent. It’s almost certainly a joke, a bit of hazing for the new boss, maybe? Best not to engage with it, I think.

(MAG121) OLIVER: So… My name is Oliver Banks. In my other statements, I used the name “Antonio Blake”, but I don’t really think either name has much meaning for me anymore. […] I’m Antonio. GEORGIE: Sure.

(MAG168) ARCHIVIST: “1 – Coroner. I am Oliver Banks, sometimes known as Antonio Blake, or doctor Thomas Pridchard. I serve The Coming End That Waits For All And Will Not Be Ignored.”

… jumped on the Apocalypse occasion to get himself a fancy title, “Coroner”. With the interesting point that a coroner goes back through time to investigate someone’s death, backwards, while Oliver reads the death forwards, as in how it will happen.

- I find the way Oliver referred to Jon really interesting:

(MAG121) OLIVER: Hum… Hello, Jon. Do you… m–mind if I call you Jon? I… I mean. You don’t actually know me, it’s just… well. “Archivist”, it’s so… formal, isn’t it? And I do kind of know you…?

(MAG168) ARCHIVIST: “This report is being sent to: [STATIC FADES] The Great Eye, that watches all who linger in terror, and gorges itself on the sufferings of those under its unrelenting, stuporous gaze! And its Archive, which draws knowledge of this suffering unto itself. […] Please, Jon, do not interpret this report as a ‘plea for mercy’ or a ‘call to action’.”

He used to go with “Archivist” (as a title) and Jon. The “Jon” was clearly a callback to the time he had visited Jon in the hospital (pushing towards casual sympathy? At the very least, reminding him of the last time Oliver had chosen to call him “Jon”, and why he had visited him in the first place), but calling him The Eye’s “Archive” is new on all levels: first time that Oliver calls him that way, and first time that anyone except Jonah called him that way.

(MAG160, Jonah Magnus) “Because the thing about the Archivist is that… well: it’s a bit of a misnomer. It might, perhaps, be better named “the Archive”. Because you do not administer and preserve the records of fear, Jon – you are a record of fear. Both in mind, as you walk the shuddering dread of each statement; and in body, as the Powers each leave their mark upon you. You are a living chronicle of terror.”

So, as much as I had a few reservations about the content of what Oliver was seeing/predicting… it’s true that he knows a lot, about Jon and about how he functions, what he is right now in the grand scheme of things.

* Also: once again, The Eye’s Archive. Not Jonah’s. Jonah is irrelevant. “The Magnus(’) Archive” is not applying to this season so far.

* … Interesting that, although Oliver had directly mentioned that the “Spider” had pushed him to come visit Jon in MAG121, there was no mention at all of any Web activity in this one, as if it was also irrelevant/wouldn’t be able to do anything noteworthy to change the planned course?

- I really love how Oliver tried to sound professional and respectable and kind of… objective about everything?, and at the same time, absolutely went into “My Patron Is Better Than Yours” territory:

(MAG168) ARCHIVIST: “Report to prevent future deaths. This report is being sent to: [STATIC FADES] The Great Eye, that watches all who linger in terror, and gorges itself on the sufferings of those under its unrelenting, stuporous gaze! […] I am Oliver Banks, sometimes known as Antonio Blake, or doctor Thomas Pridchard. I serve The Coming End That Waits For All And Will Not Be Ignored. […] I make this report under no “authority”, no “regulation” or act of law, save the hollow power and grim responsibility given me by the Termination Of All Life. […] a) When Danika Gelsthorpe reaches the end of her Corpse Root, she will die. This new world of Fear reviles death as a release, but the Coming End cannot exist without its reality. It is not a being of dangled promises and shifting torments; the certainty of death waits for all who travel the Corpse Roots, and that certainty… will be delivered on, without hesitation or consideration of any other factors. b) This place has a limit, on the fear that can be generated from them, as their pool is necessarily finite and ultimately, however slowly, it will be exhausted. To be offset, this consideration will require the acquisition of victims from other domains as replacements, potentially inciting… “bad feeling” between those domains. […] However slowly, the domains of Death will be removing sufferers from a closed system. However many thousands of years may be experienced in the meantime… eventually, this world will be left barren and empty. […] Even if such a fate could be avoided, as it comes closer and the other Entities grow in their awareness of their own end, the grotesque ripples of their own impossible panic shall glut and feed my master, gorging it to the point where, perhaps, it will even surpass The Watcher in prominence. […] The End does not fear its own cessation, for it is the certainty and promise of all life, however strange, that it will one day finish, and that includes its own stark existence. It shall be the last and, when the universe is silent and still forever, it shall perhaps, in that impossible moment before it vanishes, finally be satisfied.”

* That condescending tone towards the other Fears, and the fact that they do not truly deliver death (as it would mean losing their victims), but My-Patron-Is-Better-And-A-True-One so The End has to deliver what it promises. (Does that confirm that, for example, Richard-the-human-worm respawned or was still “living” in a way after Sam went through him?)

* … My-Patron-Is-Better-Than-Other-Fears so it will go after the others to get access to their pools of victims, to find new ones.

* My-Patron-Is-Better-Than-Other-Fears so it will feed from them since The End will come after their victims and dry them out of victims, and they can do nothing about it.

* My-Patron-Is-Better-Than-Beholding so it could grow even stronger than it even though Beholding is the current ruler and had reality reshaped to have it on top of everything.

* My-Patron-Is-Better-Than-Everything so it will celebrate its own death, since Ending Itself after having ended everything means that it will have accomplished its true purpose.

(* Bonus “I-Am-My-Patron”, so Jon killing him would just be fine in the order of things, too.)

Like. WOW, Oliver, wow. Really fond of your patron, aren’t you, down to making it like a “challenge” to The Eye.

- Confirmation that The End’s domain lies both in the fear of death (since Danika had served it her entire life), but Oliver insisted pretty much that it also requires actual death to function/to work with its nature.

… So, I’m torn about what degree of credence to give Oliver. On the one side: it goes very well with the message Jonny keeps repeating (including in his gaming streams or in The Mechanisms universe) that “all things end”, that nothing can last forever – it’s what Oliver directly told Jon, it works. It could be the programmed annihilation of this world, whether we (the audience) get to witness it or not: I’m still thinking that The Extinction could come into play and wipe out everything, but if no other Change/cataclysm happens, it could go this way, with this world gradually, slowly dying, because at the core of it, it contained its own doom (the Fears have free reign and can never be truly satiated, so they’ll dry out the whole world without caring about creating a long-lasting “ecosystem”. They don’t know how to preserve, only to consume).

On the other hand, Oliver was extremely adamant about the fact that it would happen, but… has no proof that it will?

(MAG168) ARCHIVIST: “In exactly thirteen stretches of the root on which Danika travels – a stretch being measured in the waves of nauseating terror that flow out of her with such rhythmic regularity – she will finally arrive at her destination. […] I watch, as with each motion, each laboured, reluctant movement along her path, Danika Gelsthorpe is painfully, and inescapably aware of what it is that lies at the end of it. She tries to move backwards, off to the side, any direction other than that unstoppable, inescapable forwards. But her limbs seize up with the attempt. She tries to stay still, but can do so only with the most incredible of efforts. To eke out another few seconds of stasis sets every nerve in her body aflame with agony and effort, begging her to scream, despite her jaw being set in a frozen rictus of sombre mourning. I see her relive the coming moment of her inevitable demise. […] When Danika Gelsthorpe reaches the end of her Corpse Root, she will die. This new world of Fear reviles death as a release, but the Coming End cannot exist without its reality. It is not a being of dangled promises and shifting torments; the certainty of death waits for all who travel the Corpse Roots, and that certainty… will be delivered on, without hesitation or consideration of any other factors.”

The “thirteen stretches” sound like a clear references to the 13 Fears used in Jonah’s incantation (the fourteenth, The Eye, being supposed to rule over the others) and/or the fact that it requires 14 “points” to work (thirteen stretches meaning that there are fourteen points between the beginning and The End), but what I’m more interested is that… there are still thirteen stretches for Danika to travel. What if there is actually no way to travel a whole stretch, because it keeps stretching and getting longer, just because death has to be a horizon that is, by nature, forever elusive, even though Oliver is convinced that it must be a reachable goal since he believes in his patron? (Plus: how come The End will be able to touch other domains when necessary? Wouldn’t it just collapse on itself and disappear on its own, without first putting a dent into others?)

I’m not sure! On the one hand, it works well as a programmed ending, makes sense, and Oliver and The End have displayed time and time again that The End deals in certainty (and Oliver kept repeating that word); on the other hand… as he said, he’s absolutely loyal to his patron, now. Of course he would feel like The End makes the most sense in this world, that the cycle it functions in will keep going, that the same rules apply, that The End will even surpass The Eye. It all feels very subjective. So… we’ll see.

(But given that uncertainty: it feels to me like precisely, we won’t get that scenario, we won’t know for sure that it would have worked this way, because something else will happen. Something that won’t prevent all things from “ending”, but in different circumstances than the current ones…)

- What about Georgie, in the order described by Oliver, though? Given that the rules have changed, and if people are only able to die in The End’s domain by fearing their death, what would happen if the last human standing doesn’t “fear”?

- That puts to mind Peter’s explanation to Martin about why, according to him, The End had not attempted to carry its ritual, and how it was distinct from The Extinction:

(MAG134) PETER: There are two Powers that, to my knowledge, have never attempted to fully manifest, never had followers set them up for a ritual: Mother-of-Puppets, and Terminus. The Web, and The End. The Web, I’ve never really been sure about: if I were to guess, I would say it actually prefers the world as is, playing everyone against each other, and so on. The End, on the other hand… The End doesn’t really need one: it knows that it gets everything eventually, so why bother. The End manifesting would not be a new world of terror; it would be a lifeless world. Devoid of everything. MARTIN: … Including fear. PETER: Exactly. It has no reason to truly attempt to enter our world, it’s… passive. But The Extinction… The Extinction is… different. It’s active. It will seek to create a lifeless world, in a way that none of the other Powers ever would. Some interpretations suggest it might replace us with something new, that can then fear annihilation in turn. But I and those like me would rather that did not happen.

Not that passive given that Oliver mentioned that his domain would go after others’ to get a new supply of victims, when necessary (and that it would the one to upset the current equilibrium), and that Oliver was actually participating in spreading in patron’s fear by warning about the end to come, but!

- Interesting bit is that The End and Oliver have a relationship with time that seems to tie present and future close together (“The moment that you die will feel exactly the same as this one.”), with The End being the only and absolute future possible, while Beholding… doesn’t. It has access to past information, to events currently happening, but Jon pointed out that his powers couldn’t access the future:

(MAG164) ARCHIVIST: She… thinks she’s going to kill Daisy. Like she promised. [STATIC DECREASES] But she’s conflicted. MARTIN: And will she? ARCHIVIST: I–I don’t know, th–the future, th–that’s… that’s not something I can see.

Nice contrast, which makes sense, but also: Jon is special, even for an agent of Beholding, something that Oliver seemed to imply (“But know that, even you, will all your power, cannot keep the world alive forever.”). What can Jon do, in this new reality, besides turning predators into preys and being untouchable for the monsters…?

(I’m also squinting at Oliver’s words, because it could imply… that Jon is currently the only thing keeping the world “alive”, right now?)

- … If Oliver is right, though, laughing forever that Jonah, who feared death the most, would have BROUGHT IT ON HIMSELF:

(MAG138, Robert Smirke) “I beg you, do not pursue this goal; if only a single lesson may be gleaned from my life of long study, and longer hardship, it is that the fear of Death is natural, and to flee from it will only bring greater misery. Repent of your sins, Jonah. Seek forgiveness. I am certain the Dread Powers cannot take a soul that keeps faith in the Resurrection.”

(MAG160, Jonah Magnus) “Why does a man seek to destroy the world? It’s a simple enough answer: for immortality, and power […]; to place yourself beyond pain, and death, and fear. It is an awful thing to know about yourself, but the freedom, Jon, the freedom of it all…! I have dedicated my life to handing the world to these Dread Powers, all for my own gain, and I feel… nothing but satisfaction, in that choice. I am to be a king of a ruined world, and I shall never die. I believe there are far more people in this world who’d take that bargain than you would ever guess. And I have beaten all of them.”

… since his invocation also invited “[all that] dies”. He could have gone with “all that fears to die” or something like that, allowing for a loophole, but he specifically called for all that “dies”.

Jonah.

Jonah, you’re so effing stupid.

(- Re: Jonah, it’s delightful that… he has not been mentioned at all by other monsters/avatars (Annabelle, Helen, the Not!Them) so far. Oliver didn’t either. When it comes to establishing who caused the apocalypse, they’re fully crediting Jon and/or pointing out his relation to The Eye:

(MAG164) HELEN: What would I have to gloat about? Much as I am delighted by this brave new world in which we find ourselves, I can take no credit for it. This was all… you!

(MAG165) NOT!SASHA: Well, of course you want to wallow in my shame like your voyeur master!

(MAG166) HELEN: And Jon, well… he is part of The Eye; a very important part. And he’s able to, shall we say… shift its focus.

(MAG168) ARCHIVIST: “This report is being sent to: [STATIC FADES] The Great Eye, that watches all who linger in terror, and gorges itself on the sufferings of those under its unrelenting, stuporous gaze! And its Archive, which draws knowledge of this suffering unto itself. […] Perhaps once it might have horrified me, or given me some sense of pursuing the ultimate release of the world that you have damned.”

And yes, obviously, Jon was manipulated into doing it, didn’t willingly and knowingly cause it! But it’s hilarious that they’re all “Who?” about Jonah’s whole existence; he… seems absolutely irrelevant to the whole apocalypse deal although he tried to take credit for it. I wonder in which state we’ll meet him and/or if he will be able to express himself in any way – so far, I’m banking on him either being the Panopticon (having merged with the building) or being wrapped in cobwebs.)

- Interestingly, Oliver seemed to credit some level of sentience to the Fears themselves?

(MAG168) ARCHIVIST: “To be offset, this consideration will require the acquisition of victims from other domains as replacements, potentially inciting… ‘bad feeling’ between those domains. […] Even if such a fate could be avoided, as it comes closer and the other Entities grow in their awareness of their own end, the grotesque ripples of their own impossible panic shall glut and feed my master, gorging it to the point where, perhaps, it will even surpass The Watcher in prominence. The others may take what actions they wish; they may plot and plan and tear themselves apart in an attempt to separate from the fate that they know they cannot escape; but they will fail.”

I could expect the avatars/monsters to panic and try to sustain themselves, but the Fears/domains themselves…? (And once again: that phenomenon is very reminiscent of the way Peter described his own fear of The Extinction, as something that could eradicate him and other Fears/avatars…)

- AHAHHA about the image that when Danika would have travelled through the “thirteen stretches”, she would reach the end/The End and die… because that suuuuuure seemed reminiscent of Jon&Martin’s current travels, having to travel through (13) domains in order to reach The Panopticon, without knowing what would happen then.

Not ominous at all.

- I am… really interested in Oliver’s mention that Jon now “may only take”, combined with the fact that Oliver directly called him The Eye’s “Archive”. Specifically since, in MAG121, Oliver had highlighted Jon’s ability to extract statement:

(MAG121) OLIVER: Sorry to go on…! I’m… I don’t talk to many people these days. Putting my thoughts outside myself, it gets a bit… mm… clumsy. Be easier if you could talk back, right? Ask me questions and just have it tumble all out. But no. It’s… it’s just me. Wish there was a better way, but… Touching someone’s mind, it’s not… as simple as that, is it? Doesn’t always make things clearer, y’know? Still. I gave the old woman a statement so, maybe I owe you one as well. That’s… how it works, right? Give you a terror, give you a dream. ’s not like I don’t have them to spare.

(MAG168) ARCHIVIST: “I make this report under no ‘authority’, no ‘regulation’ or act of law, save the hollow power and grim responsibility given me by the Termination Of All Life. With it, I may see and spread the hidden veins of destiny that wrap us close and draw us through the empty, yearning parody of meaning that we call life, knowing at all stages that the last and final point of this journey is a blank and futile end. […] Please, Jon, do not interpret this report as a ‘plea for mercy’ or a ‘call to action’. I would have offered it willingly, of course, but to do so is no longer an option. You cannot ask; you may only take.”

The circumstances in season 5 have changed, we’ve seen that in the way Jon is managing the new “statements”: he has to let them out, he gets liberated from their weight once they have “poured out of [him] down into the tape”. He can only delay the moment he does it for a very short while, he has to do it when they reach a domain. The only exception has been in MAG167, when he gave a statement about Gertrude and her assistants, which was (at least partially) prompted by Martin’s questions.

So we see a difference between “Archive” and “Archivist” as of now with the statements. We’ve also seen Jon using his powers to “know”, prompted (Martin asking him questions in MAG164) and not (Jon knowing about Annabelle’s phone call in MAG167).Witht the exception of channelling The Eye’s powers to turn a predator into a prey, his abilities now seem mostly passive, but I wonder if it will mean something more, regarding his status as an “Archive” (and if Annabelle is planning to use that)…

(… Concrete question too: is Jon still able to compel, nowadays?)

- There are some bits of Martin’s words that made me go “!” because it implies that he had discussed with Jon about these matters beforehand:

(MAG168) MARTIN: Okay… [FOOTSTEPS] I mean… Well, I don’t like this place. ARCHIVIST: Once again, Martin, that’s… [CHUCKLING] sort of the point…! MARTIN: Yeah, yeah, I know, alright, I get it, it’s just… it’s more than that. This place, what did you call it, the… th– … the “Rotten Core”? ARCHIVIST: The Corpse Roots. MARTIN: Yeah, yeah, that. Well, it… It feels… [SIGH] I don’t know, it feels like it’s– ARCHIVIST: Waiting. MARTIN: Yeah! [CREAKING SOUND] Waiting. [SILENCE PUNCTUATED BY THE WHISPERS] This is the one with the, em… the Death guy, isn’t it? ARCHIVIST: This is Oliver Banks’s domain, yes. MARTIN: … So it’s him who’s waiting. […] Alright, fine, yes, yes, I am jealous, alright? Yes, if you absolutely must know! ARCHIVIST: Because he woke me up. MARTIN: [SPLUTTERING] I was there weeks, and nothing. He talks to you for five minutes, and suddenly you’re back on your feet, and bouncing around like a, like a spring chicken! ARCHIVIST: [NERVOUS CHUCKLING] I mean, that’s really not– MARTIN: I mean, what’s so special about him, that you wake up for him and not me, hm? [CREAKING SOUND] Enlighten me.

* “Rotten Core” is MAG157’s title; it’s Adelard’s last message to Gertrude, that was put on Jon’s desk together with the tape of Martin&Peter’s conversation about going down in the tunnels, the association of the two prompting Jon to panic by realising that Martin was probably manipulated into something that didn’t actually have much to do with The Extinction. “Rotten Core” in itself never appeared in Adelard’s email (could have been the subject of it, though?) and, officially, we still don’t know who sent that statement to Jon (Jonah didn’t take credit for that one, neither did Martin or Peter, so… probably Annabelle). But Martin using the phrase seems to imply that he has been filled in about it – did Jon&Martin talk about The Extinction, since the end of MAG159?

* Martin already knew that the “Death Guy” had woken Jon up, so… Jon has explained what happened, too. Unless Martin heard the other tapes during season 4? (And Jon remembered about it and about the fact that it was specifically Oliver who woke him up: this is the first time he has acknowledged that.)

So! They have been exchanging information offscreen!

- I’m HOWLING at petty/jealous Martin.

I didn’t feel like it was toxic or dangerous or OOC at all – Martin [INORDINATELY PLEASED] Blackwood has… quite often been portrayed as incredibly petty and jealous when it came to Jon:

(MAG088) BASIRA: I just, I mean he was good company. Y’know, when he wasn’t being a paranoia machine. He was funny, you know? MARTIN: What, Jon? BASIRA: Yeah. MARTIN: I don’t think I’ve ever heard him tell a joke. BASIRA: Maybe you weren’t listening. MARTIN: Right. Well, I’m sure it’ll get sorted out when DAISY brings him in and you can probably talk to him then. Oh! Sorry, I forgot you’re not actually with the police any more, are you.

(MAG106) MELANIE: [CHUCKLE] Right, well… The jury’s still out on Elias. And anyway, Martin’s always been lovely to you. BASIRA: Hm. I dunno, I mean, you should have seen him when I turned up last year. I think he thought I was trying to steal his precious Archivist. MELANIE: Aaah…! I got the exact same, when Jon was hiding out and came to me with his “source on the inside” stuff. Martin was not impressed. BASIRA: Huff. That boy needs to relax. MELANIE: Or at least find someone else to fuss over.

When MAG121’s case number had been revealed (not in Early-Access, but on the public release), there had been many laughs about the fact that Jon had woken up on February 15th, and how much would it suck for Martin to think that his tearful begging from the trailer migt have happened the day before, on Valentine’s Day, only for handsome mlm Death Prophet Oliver Banks to waltz in and get Jon to wake up instantly? So I’m laughing very hard that yes, Martin is INCREDIBLY and irrationally jealous about it, about not having been able to be the one to wake Jon up like in cheesy romance movies.

… the part that does worry me, however, is how lightly Martin seems to be taking the whole “Kill Bill” thing, and how much of it was being jealous over someone Jon had “needed” help from (not so long after Annabelle made a dig at Martin for the fact that he wasn’t feeling useful to Jon right now). I feel like most of the exchange had Martin caricaturing himself a bit, or at least being aware of how silly he sounded, though? And it felt to me like his insistence towards Jon explaining his reluctance to murder was for Jon to, well, explain what is bothering him about it (outside of an ethical question, there is also the fact that Jon… might feel like if he were to do that to avatars, then other avatars/people would be entitled to do the same to him. Which, honestly? Fair. Jon attacked and wrecked innocent people for his own benefit in season 4. If they decided that, even though he has stopped now, he still has hurt people, still is a monster and still needs to die, the same logic could apply.)

There is indeed an absolute disconnect between Martin’s solution (“smiting”) and the tone/enthusiasm/casualness with which he offers it, and it could be rooted in his own feeling of uselessness, the fact he wants to take revenge over those who hurt him and Jon… So I don’t feel like he’s being supernaturally manipulated, but I’m definitely worried that he could take risks and/or make a veryyyy bad decision while trying to prove that no, he can be “useful”…

- ! Jon sounded SO FOND and so amused at Martin’s jealousy! His insidious “Martin~?” and audible smiles! “My husband is a bitch and I love him” feeling, overall.

I like that the exchange seemed well-handled for both of them: Jon naturally standing his ground and pointing out that Martin’s logic was absolutely childish (“Look, Martin: I am sorry you feel that way, but I’m not going to kill a man just because you’re jealous.”), without sounding accusing either; and Martin ultimately relenting (“Fine. I suppose that’s… reasonable.”). They were two idiots in love, Martin being a bigger idiot this time around, but! Idiots.

- Really curious about how Martin will react if they cross paths with Simon or Daisy. Would he encourage Jon to “smite” them too? Or would he be more ambivalent, a bit torn about it? Why has he reacted differently towards Helen – is it strategical, and he just wants to try to use her as long as he can? Is it because he identifies her as the woman he had seen in the corridors, and still feels guilty about not trying to help her then?

… I’m terrified of how he will react if they cross paths with Jared or Jude, however. Jared terrorised him and caused him to accept Peter’s offer, and Jude hurt Jon deeply, something Jon has a very obvious mark to show for. (Same with Jonah: I think that for Martin, it’s clear in his mind that they’ll “smite” Jonah once they reach the Panopticon. I’m not convinced that, after what happened with the Not!Them, Jon would want to do that anymore: if some monsters and avatars didn’t really have a “choice”, then what about Jonah? At which point did he go rotten, irredeemable? What’s the difference between him and Oliver, who’s currently diversifying the way he’s torturing his victims in his domain “for variety”? Is it only Jon’s personal feelings about whether someone helped him a little bit or ensured his personal misery?)

(- ;; Now that Martin has a connection to Oliver through his jealousy… What if Martin’s ending is to lose Jon and then join Oliver’s domain to at least get an exit and cease to be…?)

- I’m a bit more concerned about what is happening in Jon’s head. First off, the way he presented Oliver, as someone who had “helped” him… versus the way he used to describe his “choice” to wake up:

(MAG121) OLIVER: The thing is, Jon, right now, you have a choice. You’ve put it off a long time; but it’s trapping you here. You are not quite human enough to die, but – still too human to survive. You’re… balanced on an edge, where The End can’t touch you, but you can’t escape Him. I made a choice. We all made choices. Now, you have to– […] Make your choice, Jon.

(MAG136) ARCHIVIST: My– [PAUSE] [INHALE] [SIGH] My memories of the coma are not clear. But I know I made a choice; I made a choice to become… something else. Because I was afraid to die. But ever since then, I… I don’t know if I made the right decision; I–I’m stronger now, tougher, I can… … If I do die, now, or get sealed away somewhere forever… I don’t know if that’s a bad thing.

(MAG168) ARCHIVIST: [SIGH] I don’t know, Martin. [FOOTSTEPS] I just, I don’t think he’s… [SIGH] I don’t know, I don’t think he’s evil. [CREAKING SOUND] MARTIN: Oh, yeah, sure, he’s probably a really kind, benevolent ruler of a hellish fear prison…! ARCHIVIST: It’s just… He helped me. Wh–when I was… He woke me up. MARTIN: Wow. What a hero.

Back in MAG136, Jon wasn’t sure he had made a good decision; it was put into perspective when we learned a few episodes later that, at this point, Jon had already attacked three people to feed, without letting the others know. Trolley problem: was it right, for Jon not to die, if it meant sacrificing three people (soon-to-be five) to sustain himself? Was it a “good” choice?

This episode, Jon unnaturally presented it as Oliver having “helped” him by waking him up, which, mMMM. Seems like he has made his peace with that choice – which, on the one hand, good because less self-deprecating (it’s normal to want to survive), but on the other hand, there would be reasons to still feel guilty for making it, given the consequences?

I’m not really surprised about Jon expressing a degree of sympathy towards Oliver, or at least pointing out that their degree of “choice” in their transformations bears similarities, given that Oliver’s story, his first dreams, the power inflicted on him, came with a gradual desensitisation and acceptance. Chronologically, Oliver’s story is that of someone who gradually stopped fighting fate and came to embrace his Fear-patron (a turning point being when he lost someone precious to him).

(MAG011, “Antonio Blake”) “It was there, sleeping on my friend Anahita’s sofa, in the depths of my misery, that I first started to have the dreams. […] These dreams have been a regular part of my sleeping for about eight years now. Even as life improved and I found a new job and place to live – believe it or not I now work selling crystals and tarot cards in a “magic” shop – they continued to crop up a few times each month.

(MAG032, Jane Prentiss) “How many months has it been like this? Was there a time before? There must have been. I remember a life that was not itching, not fear, not nectar-sweet song. I had a job. I sold crystals. They were clean, and sharp and bright and they did not sing to me, though I sometimes said they did. We would sell the stones to smiling young couples with colour in their hair. I remember, before I found the nest, someone new came. His name was Oliver, and he would look at me so strangely. Not with lust or affection or contempt, but with sadness. Such a deep sadness. And once with fear.”

(MAG121) OLIVER: And about two years before I came to your Institute, something happened – something I didn’t want to talk about. Didn’t even want to think about. I… [SIGH] I started to see them when I was awake.

(MAG042, Jennifer Ling) “The sign above didn’t have an obvious name, simply reading ‘Crystals. Books. Tarot’. He was tall, black and careworn, deep lines of worry etched into an otherwise handsome face. When he saw me looking at him, he began to walk up to me, still with that intense look. I took a couple of steps back, and asked if I could help him. He shook his head as if unsure what to say, then asked me what I was listening to. A chill ran over me as I realised he was staring at my ears. I said I wasn’t listening to anything, as I wasn’t wearing headphones, and asked him what he wanted. He shook his head again, and mumbled something about protecting my hearing. He turned away then, and started walking back into the shop.”

(MAG011, “Antonio Blake”) “This worked fine until I saw my father in the dream, walking down Oxford Street, the pulsing veins climbing up his leg and into his chest. I tried to warn him of course – asked leading questions on his health and how he was feeling, whether he’d been tired recently. I even went so far as to book him a doctor’s appointment, much to his annoyance. It did no good, though – ten days later the heart attack came for him and, despite the rapid response of the paramedics and how much of his medical history I had immediately to hand, there was nothing I could do to save him. He died on New Year’s Eve, and as 2014 ended, so did any hope I had of my dreams doing good in the world.”

(MAG121) OLIVER: Wish I… knew why I came here. I s’pose there’s only so long you can dream about someone, and not at least try to find them. That was it with the old woman too. That was different, though. Way I figure it? She stuck her nose in just about everywhere it wasn’t wanted and stirred up hornets. ‘Till all the precautions in the world couldn’t stop Death from finally catching her. If I’d’ve known more back then, I’m… not sure I would’ve bothered trying to warn her. Still. You live and learn, don’t you?

(MAG011, “Antonio Blake”) “I’m well aware that I don’t even know your name, and I have no responsibility to try and prevent whatever fate is coming for you. Based on my previous experience, such a thing is likely impossible anyway, but after what I saw I couldn’t live with myself if I didn’t at least try. I did as much research into your Institute as possible, and arranged an appointment to provide a statement about some spurious supernatural encounter. Even then I was told that the Archivist only reviews the written statements once they have been taken, so here I am, pouring out my lunatic story on paper in the hopes that you might eventually read it. If you do see this in time and read this far, then to be honest I don’t know what else to tell you. Be careful. There is something coming for you and I don’t know what it is, but it is so much worse than anything I can imagine. At the very least you should look into appointing a successor. Good luck.”

(MAG121) OLIVER: Mmm… Let me tell you about how I tried to escape. […] It’s been almost ten years since I first started dreaming about the deaths of others, seeing those… awful veins crawling into them. Into… wounds not yet open, or… skulls not yet split. People who were about to die. Every night, I’d watch as they’d… sneak up and into folks about to choke on blood, or urging into hearts about to convulse. I’ve… come to terms with it. [DRY LAUGHTER] I’ve learned to live with it! […] And the worst part was that somewhere in me, I… I liked it! Underneath all that awful fear, it felt… like… home. […] I wanted to escape. I… needed to. […] At that moment, a sudden calm came over me. I understood it all. I could follow the line of the huge veins that encased the ship down into the water, leading off to a point almost a mile from the South-East. There. That was it. That was our fate. Where we would always be. Because I was going to take us there. Running was pointless. To try and to escape from my task would only serve to fulfil another. I finally understood what I needed to do.

(MAG168) ARCHIVIST: “With it, I may see and spread the hidden veins of destiny that wrap us close and draw us through the empty, yearning parody of meaning that we call life, knowing at all stages that the last and final point of this journey is a blank and futile end. I have no power to stop it, and even if I did… I would not do so; for to rob a soul of death is as torturous as its inevitable coming. […] And I shall help, ushering on this final, blank emptiness. Perhaps once it might have horrified me, or given me some sense of pursuing the ultimate release of the world that you have damned. But I am too much of my patron now and my feelings cannot help but reflect the shadows of… anticipation that lurk within the grave. […] And so the scope of my domain is yours…! Enter it and destroy me if you wish. I fear the annihilation you would gift me as little as I desire it. I am now, as the thing I feed, a fixed point, that has neither the longing nor the ability to change its state of existence. […] All – things – end, and every step you take, whatever direction you may choose… only brings you closer to it.”

[Dates-wise: Jennifer Ling left her statement in November 2013 and events were about the previous month; given Oliver’s reaction, he was already seeing the veins when awake back then. Jane Prentiss left her statement in February 2014, so she had met Oliver before he lost his father. “Antonio” left his statement in March 2015; Oliver visited Jon on February 15th 2018.]

It has been around eleven years, by the date of the apocalypse, for Oliver to reach this current state in which he describes himself as “The End that laces through every fibre of my soul” and “too much of my patron”. It only took Jon three years.

Though, overall, I was back at the feeling of the MAG140s episodes with the words/thoughts Jon has for victims and avatars:

(MAG168) ARCHIVIST: A lot to think about. I… I feel… [FOOTSTEPS] No. I don’t want to destroy Oliver Banks. It wouldn’t do any good. I know that, and he never asked for this any more than I did. I feel badly for those that exist in his domain, o–of course, I do, but… At least, their suffering will be over, eventually. I can’t destroy everyone I cross paths with, it… [SIGH] No. If Oliver will not seek me out, then… I will leave him be. [TINY CHUCKLES] The avatar of Death… shall live. Martin’s going to be thrilled…! [SIGH]

* Stfu about deciding what is “better” for victims, Jon. (As a personal choice, yes, I would probably prefer the prospect of dying over eternal torment; HOWEVER, it’s not Jon’s place to establish what’s better for others, so Jon trying to rationalise his decision to go after Oliver? Nop, I don’t care, own up to your feelings, don’t scramble for excuses by saying you think it might be more ~charitable~ :<)

* Oliver who “never asked for this any more than I did” also explained very casually that:

(MAG168) ARCHIVIST: “Sometimes, for some small variety, I will allow Danika to brush against another root: the final fate of someone she loves. […] And with each one, she knows her steps forward bring closer not only her own end, but all of theirs. Time walks forward with her, but she has not the strength to stop it. Her fate draws ever-nearer, filling me with the joy of watchful fear, but also my own concerns.”

He’s not a passive jailor. Oliver is actively enjoying tormenting his victims in different ways “for some small variety”.

I thiiiiink more and more that Jon might now be targeting the whole Fear-system, and not (anymore) the individual avatars/monsters who were pushed and twisted by the Fears to become their servants, as he had begun to think about in the second half of season 4 (“I was so sure I’d find something up there. But instead, it was just another broken person trying to come to terms with the wreckage of their life.” about Manuela, lamenting over Jane, etc.) But that brings us back to that awkward stage where it feels to me like Jon is almost more humanising avatars/monsters currently hurting their victims, than the victims themselves who are just… there, and not extremely relevant.

(I’m reaaaally really really curious about how Jon will behave towards Jonah.)

- … I’m also a bit concerned that Jon deciding that Oliver’s victims at least get to die implies something bigger: that Jon is… giving up on the idea to reverse/undo this apocalypse. If these people die, they die, it’s over. Which means that, right now, Jon doesn’t think he has a better alternative to offer them. He had hopes at the end of MAG162, he got a few hints in MAG164 about how to banish the Fears; he… might already be giving hope of fixing things, without officially voicing it?

  MAG169’s title screams Desolation to me (+ bonus Agnes, with the way she got anchored to Gertrude and/or her death), and that could mean Jude (… which would be extremely interesting right now, given Martin “Kill Bill” Blackwood’s willingness to harm monsters/avatars; what could go possibly wrong with making him meet someone who physically hurt Jon, leaving a mark to show for it on one of his hands? So much). There is also a potential connection to the Distortion, and in way that could mean bad stuff (and Jon and/or Martin having to go through the door). Potentially Jon’s lighter being put to use, or Jon&Martin getting a clue about why Jon was gifted it?

Alternatively, if the meaning is more oblique and meant to subvert expectations: Vast stuff?

[taffy-glitch]

TMA characters as Snapcube bits/moments, out of context and with zero explanation

Jon: “How come we don’t go in the attic anymore, anyway-- OHHH GOD” (Super Mario Maker 2)

Martin: Pretty much everything Silver says in the Sonic 06 dub

Tim: The giftcard debate (Neopets: the Darkest Faerie)

Sasha: “I don’t wanna get smorched, I wanna keep my horse” (Sly Cooper and the Thievius Raccoonus)

Melanie: “Here’s the thing. ...It’s clobbering time.” (ongoing but I think it originated from Badvertising???)

Georgie: That one time Penny got stuck on a fight for like an hour and the group started coming up with a story about a boy named Joey who goes on a quest to make a Space Jam sandwich for his crush (The Quiet Man)

Basira: The five-step program (This one also originated from Badvertising I believe)

Daisy: “It’s a LUPE!!!!!!!” (Neopets: the Darkest Faerie)

Elias: Ryan saying “what can I say, Penelope?” in the most anime villain-ass voice (Super Mario Maker 2)

Peter: the gamer pad bit (Sonic 06 Real-Time Fandub)

Gerry: “Bowser killed my dad” (Neopets: the Darkest Faerie)

Annabelle: “Just play the game, Penny.” (Ratatouille for the Virtual Boy)

Oliver Banks: “February 19th, 2019, 3:35 PM Eastern Time.” (Neopets: the Darkest Faerie)

Jared Hopworth: Winston Needs Your Ankles (Overwatch)

Michael: “We need a box for this puzzle!” (Portal 2 (co-op mode))

Helen: “Claire- WHERE’D SHE GO” (Resident Evil 2 Real-Time Fandub)

Nikola Orsinov: Prismo’s House of Mirrors (Spider-Man livestream, then subsequently other places)

Simon Fairchild: Wave’s trick (Sonic Riders)

Agnes Montague: “I was only programmed with an affinity for c o o k i n g           f r i e d  c h i c k e n.” (Cave Story (co-op mode))

[shkspr]

for your consideration: 

crowley/gerry/martin c

jonmartim but it’s martin c & tim w

carolyn/gertrude/tracy

helen richardson/helena richardson. i don’t know who from gomens but i couldn’t not put that on here. maybe harriet dowling she could use a bit of . yeah

also melanie crowley/melanie king

oh oh oh!!!!! newt pulsifer/arthur shappey/oliver banks. don’t question me i’m right

also peter/douglas/arthur young

and elias/herc/tad dowling

i wanna say arthur/arthur/arthur but i wouldn’t wish that on poor arthur s or even arthur y really. but names sure are funny!

martin b/crowley/arthur s 

georgie/linda/anathema

[catsnraincoats-archive]

ignore this post I’m just planning who I’ll do ror that ABC’s fanart challenge. thing

A- Agnes Montague

B- Basira Hussian

C- N/A

D- “Daisy” Tonner

E- Elias Bouchard (OG)

F- N/A

G- Georgie Barker

H- Helen Distortion

I- N/A

J- Jane Prentiss

K- NA

L- N/A

M- Mikaele Salesa

N- Can’t decide between NotSasha and Nikola 

O- Oliver Banks

P- Peter Lukas

Q- N/A

R- Rosie

S- Sasha James

T- Tim Stoker

U- N/A

V- N/A

W- N/A

X- N/A

Y- N/A

Z- N/A

[sofrpc]

⌖*ﾟ— 550+ UNIQUE AND UNDERUSED MALE NAMES

as requested, i have created a masterlist of 550+ unique and underused male names ! these are all listed in alphabetical order, and although i dont claim any of these as my own, please don’t copy and paste straight into another masterlist. feel free to use the names in any way you like, i hope this gives you muse for your characters (my faves are bolded) — also smash that like or reblog if you found this useful, thank you !

A

abel, acacius, ace, achilles, adagio, adaiah, adalius, adley, adelio, adonis, adrian, adriel, aiden, akello, alain, alarik, alastair, alek, alfred, alfonzo, ali, alisio, alonzo, amari, amedeus, amias, amos, anakin, andre, ansel, anton, anwar, apollo, aragon, aramis, archer, aries, arlo, arrius, artemis, asher, ashton, asriel, atlas, atlantis, atticus, auden, august, auri, austin, avery, axel, aziel

B

bacchus, baden, bailey, baldwin, balin, balton, bandit, banks, barley, baxley, baxter, baze, bear, beau, beck, benson, bentley, berlin, bianco, bishop, blade, blaine, blaze, bode, bodhie, booker, bosley, boston, brandon, brantley, brayden, braxton, brecken, brennon, brett, briley, brinley, brock, bruno, bronx, brooks, bryce, bryson

C

caelan, caesar, cade, cador, cage, cain, caleb, callaway, callen, callister, callum, calvin, camden, campbell, carlisle, carlo, carrick, carter, casey, casper, castiel, cedric, cesar, channing, charles, chase, chuck, clifton, clinton, cleon, coen, coleman, colton, crew, cristiano, cooper, corbin, corey, cortez, cravin

D

dale, dallas, dalton, damari, damian, damon, dane, dante, dario, darius, davon, dax, dean, declan, dedrick, delius, demarcus, demetrius, dennis, denzel, deon, derek, devon, dexter, dillon, dimitri, dion, dolan, dominic, drake, drew, drystan, duke, dwayne, dwight, dyson

E

eaton, echo, edan, eddison, eden, edrick, eli, eliam, elias, elijah, elio, eliseo, ellis, emilio, emerson, emmett, enoch, enzo, ernest, eros, essex, evan, evian, ezra

F

fabian, falcon, fallon, farley, felix, fenton, finley, finnick, floyd, flynn, fonso, ford, forester, francisco, franco, freddy, frederick, frodi

G

gabe, gabriel, gaius, gabin, galvin, gareth, garrick, gaston, gaveel, georgie, gemini, giorgio, glade, gonzalo, gray, gregory, greyson, griffin, grover, gunner, guy

H

haim, hadden, hadley, hale, hammond, hanan, hanson, harden, harley, harris, hayes, helio, helix, hendrix, hermes, hiram, holden, holland, holmes, houstan, howard, hudson, hugh, hugo, hunter, hyde

I

iago, ian, icarius, idris, iker, ilario, indigo, isaak, isaiah, israel, ithiel, ives

J

jace, jadon, jago, jahziel, jairo, jakez, jakobe, jamari, janos, jaron, jasper, javier, jaxon, jayden, jaylon, jaziel, jenson, jeremiah, jermaine, jersey, jett, joaquin, jonas, jose, joss, jovani, joziah, judas, jude, julian, julius, junior, justice

K

kace, kaden, kael, kairo, kahlil, kai, kaleb, kamden, kanan, karson, kashton, kasper, keenan, keiran, kennedy, keon, kenton, kenzo, keyon, kez, kiah, killian, kingsley, kito, klaus, kobe, koby, kodah, kohen, kolton, kristian, knox, kyan, kynan, kyson

L

lamar, lamont, lance, landon, laney, larkin, lawyer, lazarus, leandro, lee, legend, lennox, leno, leon, levi, lex, liko, link, locke, loki, loman, lonzo, lorenzo, luca, lucian, lukas, lyam, lynx

M

mac, machi, macklin, maddox, magnus, maison, major, makeo, malaki, manning, mano, marion, marlon, mars, martez, mathias, maxton, mekhi, meyer, micah, milian, miller, milo, montey, montez, myles

N

nakos, nasir, nathaniel, neel, neriah, nero, nevada, nicolo, nicklaus, nickolai, nico, nike, nikos, nixon, noah, nolan, norton, nye

O

oakley, oberyn, obi, obsidian, octavian, oison, olimpio, olsen, omar, ontario, onyx, orion, orlando, oskar, oslo, oryn, otis, oxford, oxley

P

pablo, paley, palmer, parker, parson, pauly, paxton, pearce, perkin, phelix, phoenix, pierre, pike, podrick, porter, preston, prince, puck

Q

qamar, quinten, quillon, quince

R

racer, radley, rafael, rafer, ralph, rambo, ramiel, ramone, randall, raven, rayan, reed, reese, rhydian, ricardo, ridley, riker, riley, river, robin, rocco, roderick, roland, roman, romeo, ronan, roni, rowan, royden, rufus, ryder, ryland

S

sadler, safari, salem, salix, salvador, sami, santiago, sawyer, sean, seaton, severo, shayne, shiloh, silas, silvano, simba, skander, skyler, slade, spencer, spiro, stanley, stefan, syrus

T

talmon, tane, tanner, tate, tatum, tavis, teddy, terence, theo, theon, tirion, titus, tobias, tommen, tonio, travis, trey, troye, trystan, turner, tyrell, tyrese, tyson

U

ulan, uri, uriel, urien

V

vadim, vale, vance, valentine, vaughn, venturo, venus, vermont, vero, victor, vidor, vince, volante, voss

W

wade, walker, walter, warner, warren, watson, waylan, wayne, wilder, wilson, wilton, wolfgang, wyatt, wynton

X

xander, xavier, xenos, xylon

Y

yates, york, yuri, yusef

Z

zacharias, zade, zavier, zayn, zed, zeke, zero, zeus, zion

[mrepstein]

Brian Epstein’s Address & Telephone Book

A small leather bound pocket address and telephone book that was owned and used by Brian Epstein. The book dates to 1967 and it consists of 57 pages of addresses and telephone number some of which are typed, some of which are in Epstein’s hand and some which have been added by hand on his behalf. // (click HERE to view more pages from the book)

The book contains a total of 404 entries - a selection of them are listed below:

A

ATV Ltd 

ABC Television Ltd 

AIR London Ltd. 

Tom Arnold Ltd 

Neil Aspinall 

Artistes Car Hire 

Annabels [nightclub] 

Alexander’s Restaurant 

Ashley Steiner Famous [talent agency] 

Al Aronowitz 

Atlantic Records 

Eric Andersen 

Bob Anthony 

B

Bryce Hanmer & Co [accounting firm] 

Bedford, Okrent & Co 

BBC Television Centre 

BBC Broadcasting House 

Al Brodax 

Cilla Black 

Mr. & Mrs. Tony Barrow 

Mr. & Mrs Don Black 

Bryan Barrett 

Jack Barclay Ltd  [Bentley dealership] 

Peter Brown 

Mr. & Mrs. B. Bullough 

Mr. & Mrs J. Bullough 

Miss J. Balmer 

Mr. &. Mrs. Ivan Bennett 

Eric Burdon 

Francisco Bermudez 

Lionel Bart 

David Bailey 

Bag O’Nails 

Tony Barlow 

Ray Bartell 

Rodney Barnes 

Bruno One Restaurant 

Sid Bernstein 

Kenn Brodziak 

Leonard Bernstein 

Al Bennett 

Beverly Hills Hotel 

Brian Bedford 

Scotty Bower 

David Ballman 

Bob Bonis 

Bill Buist 

Arthur Buist 

C

Dr. Norman Cowan 

Curzon House Club 

Crockfords Club 

Clermont Club 

Cromwellian Club 

Paddy Chambers 

Radio Caroline 

Michael Codron 

Cap-Estel Le 

Mr. & Mrs. J. Cassen 

Columbia Pictures Ltd 

Eric Clapton 

Capitol Records Mexico 

Michael Cooper 

Roger Curtis 

Neil Christian 

Maureen Cleave 

Thomas Clyde 

Cash Box 

CBS Records Ltd 

Denny Cordell 

William Cavendish 

Caprice Restuarant 

David Charkham 

Capitol Records 

Columbia Broadcasting System 

Bob Crewe 

May Cunnell 

Car Hire Co. for Lincoln 

Dr. Kenneth Chesky 

Capitol Records (Voyle Gilmore) 

Irving E. Chezar 

Danny Cleary 

Bobby Colomby 

Bob Casper 

Andre Cadet 

D

Daily Express 

Disc & Music Echo 

Decca Records 

Bernard Delfont Ltd 

Bernard Delfont 

Noel Dixon 

Jimmy Douglas 

Chris Denning 

Simon Dee 

Rik Dane 

Dolly’s [nightclub] 

Hunter Davies 

Terry Doran 

Pat Doncaster 

Norrie Drummond 

Alan David 

John Dunbar 

Peter Dalton 

Kappy Ditson 

Robert Dunlap 

Robert L. David 

Diana Dors 

Ivor Davis 

Tom Dawes 

Brandon de Wilde 

Don Danneman 

E

Malcolm Evans 

Clive J. Epstein 

Mr. & Mrs. H. Epstein 

EMI Records Ltd 

EMI Studios 

Geoffrey Ellis 

Etoile Restaurant 

Tim Ellis 

Terry Eaton 

Kenny Everett 

John East 

Bob Eubanks 

Esther Edwards 

Ahmet Ertegun 

F

Alan Freeman 

David Frost 

Georgie Fame 

Robert Fraser 

Andre Fattacini 

Dan Farson 

Billy Fury 

Barry Finch 

Marianne Faithfull 

Robert Fitzpatrick 

Warren Frederikson 

John Fisher 

Danny Fields 

Francis Fiorino 

G

Dr. Geoffrey Gray 

Hamish Grimes 

Derek Grainger 

Rik Gunnell 

Rik Gunnell Agency Ltd 

Derrick Goodman & Co. 

Peter Goldman 

Christopher Gibbs 

David Garrick 

Geoffrey Grant 

Mick Green 

John P. Greenside 

Michael Gillet 

General Artists Corp. 

John Gillespie 

Voyle Gilmore 

George Greif 

Ren Grevatt 

Milton Goldman 

M. Goldstein 

Gary Grove 

Henry Grossman 

H

Mr. & Mrs. Berrell Hyman 

Doreen Hyman 

Mr. & Mrs. Basil J. Hyman 

Mrs. A. Hyman 

Steve Hardy 

H. Huntsman & Son Ltd 

Simon Hayes 

Frankie Howerd 

Henry Higgins 

Chris Hutchins 

Tony Howard 

Wendy Hanson 

Marty Himmel 

Casper Halpern

John Heska

Ricky Heiman

Joe Hunter

Ty Hargrove

Hullabaloo.

Walter Hofer

J

M.A. Jacobs & Son 

David Jacobs [lawyer] 

Dick James Music Ltd 

Mr. & Mrs. D. James 

Mick Jagger 

Brian Jones 

Michael Jeffries 

Drummond Jackson 

David Jacobs [d.j.] 

Brian Joyce 

Gerry Justice 

K

Gibson Kemp 

Johnathan King 

Mr. & Mrs Maurice Kinn 

Kingsway Recording Studios 

Ashley Kozac 

Kafetz Camera Ltd. 

Reg King 

Andrew Koritsas 

Ed Kenmore 

Walker Kundzicz 

John Kurland 

Murray Kauffman

L

Larry Lamb 

Martin Landau 

Kit Lambert 

Dick Lester 

Mr. & Mrs. Vic Lewis 

Tony Lynch 

Radio London 

Mike Leander 

John Lyndon 

Bernard Lee 

Kenny Lynch 

Denny Laine 

Lomax Alliance 

Ed Leffler 

David G. Lowe 

Richard W. Lean 

Goddard Lieberson 

Laurie Records 

Liberty Records 

London Records 

Alan Livingston

M

Melody Maker 

Peter Murray 

Keith Moon 

Mr. & Mrs. G. Martin 

Mr. & Mrs. Brian Matthew 

Midland Bank Limited 

Vyvienne Moynihan 

Gerry Marsden 

Ian Moody 

Michael McGrath 

Cathy McGowan 

Mr. & Mrs. J. McCartney 

Albert Marrion 

Robin Maughan 

Peter Maddok 

Gordon Mills 

Brian McEwan 

John Mendell Jnr. 

Marshall Migatz 

Fred Morrow 

Chruch McLaine 

Vincent Morrone 

Jeffrey Martin Co. 

Gavin Murrell 

Dean Martin 

Gordon B. McLendon 

Sal Mineo 

Scott Manley 

Bernard Mavnitte 

Verne Miller 

N

John Neville 

Joanne Newfield 

Tommy Nutter 

Francisco Neuner 

Tatsuji Nagasima 

New Musical Express 

NEMS Enterprises Ltd 

Graham Nash 

Nemperor Artists Ltd 

Louis Nizer 

Bob Nauss 

Gene Narmore 

O

George H. Ornstein 

Olympic Sound Studios 

A. L. Oldham 

Myles Osternak 

Roy Onsborg 

P

Col. Tom Parker 

Jerry Pam 

Plaza Hotel 

PAN AM. rep 

Bob Perlman 

Allen Pohju 

Robert H. Prech 

John Pritchard 

Prince Of Wales Theatre 

Don Paul 

Sean Phillips 

Jon Pertwee 

Ricki Pipe 

Dr. D. A. Pond 

David Puttnam 

David Puttnam Associates 

Tom Parr 

Harry Pinsker 

Kenneth Partridge 

Larry Parnes 

Priory Nursing Home 

Viv Prince 

Steve Paul 

R

Radnor Arms [pub] 

Leo Rost 

Keith Richard 

Record Mirror 

Dolly Robertson-Ward 

Charles Ross 

Rules Restuarant 

Marian Rainford 

Bobby Roberts 

Bill Rosado 

S

Vic Singh 

Speakeasy [club] 

Simon and Marijke 

Simon Shops 

Judith Symons 

Keith Skeel 

Tony Sharman 

Simon Scott 

Barrie Summers 

John Singleton 

Squarciafichi 

Don Short 

Dr. Walter Strach 

Walter Shenson 

John Sandoe Ltd 

Bobby Shafto 

Harry South 

Brian Sommerville 

Robert Stigwood

David Shaw 

Chris Stamp 

Aaron Schroeder 

Stephen, Jacques & Stephen [law firm] 

Leo Sullivan 

Gene Schwann 

Herb Schlosser 

Gary Smith 

Jim Stewart [co-founder, Stax Records] 

John Simon 

Jerry N. Schatzberg 

Lex Taylor 

Robert Shoot 

Lauren Stanton 

St. Regis Hotel 

Eric Spiros 

Howard Soloman 

T

Taft Limousine Corp 

[Sidney] Traxler (lawyer) 

T.W.A. Ken S. Fletcher [director, public relations, TWA] 

Derek & Joan Taylor 

T.W.A. (Victor Page) 

Martin Tempest 

Evelyn Taylor 

Twickenham Studios 

Kenneth Tynan 

Alistair Taylor 

F. T. Turner & Son Ltd. 

R. S. Taylor 

Michael Taylor 

George Tempest 

Norm Talbott 

U

United Artists Corp Ltd 

U.P.I. 

V

Klaus & Christine Voormann 

V.I.P. Travel Ltd 

W

Mark Warman 

Gary Walker 

Robert Whitaker 

Peter Watkins 

Peter Weldon 

Mrs. Freda Weldon 

Alan Warren 

Orson Welles 

Sir David Webster 

Alan Williams 

Dennis Wiley 

Terry Wilson 

Nathan Weiss 

Norman Weiss 

Gerry Wexler 

Y

Murial Young 

Bernice Young 

Z

Peter Zorcon 

[gadgetgirl71]

Amazon First Reads for June 2020

I know I say this every single month, but I can’t get over how quickly the last month has gone. Meaning that for Amazon Prime Members we get to choose which Amazon First Read were going to download for free. Again this month as most months there are eight books to choose from.

This months choices are:

Suspense 

The Bone Jar by S W Kane, Pages: 328, Publication Date: 1 July 2020

Synopsis: Two murders. An abandoned asylum. Will a mysterious former patient help untangle the dark truth?

The body of an elderly woman has been found in the bowels of a derelict asylum on the banks of the Thames. As Detective Lew Kirby and his partner begin their investigation, another body is discovered in the river nearby. How are the two murders connected?

Before long, the secrets of Blackwater Asylum begin to reveal themselves. There are rumours about underground bunkers and secret rooms, unspeakable psychological experimentation, and a dark force that haunts the ruins, trying to pull back in all those who attempt to escape. Urban explorer Connie Darke, whose sister died in a freak accident at the asylum, is determined to help Lew expose its grisly past. Meanwhile Lew discovers a devastating family secret that threatens to turn his life upside down.

As his world crumbles around him, Lew must put the pieces of the puzzle together to keep the killer from striking again. Only an eccentric former patient really knows the truth—but will he reveal it to Lew before it’s too late?

Contemporary Fiction

Someone Else’s Secret by Julia Spiro, Pages: 363, Publication Date: 1 July 2020

Synopsis: Here’s the thing about secrets: they change shape over time, become blurry with memory, until the truth is nearly lost.

2009. Lindsey and Georgie have high hopes for their summer on Martha’s Vineyard. In the wake of the recession, ambitious college graduate Lindsey accepts a job as a nanny for an influential family who may help her land a position in Boston’s exclusive art world. Georgie, the eldest child in that family, is nearly fifteen and eager to find herself, dreaming of independence and yearning for first love.

Over the course of that formative summer, the two young women develop a close bond. Then, one night by the lighthouse, a shocking act occurs that ensnares them both in the throes of a terrible secret. Their budding friendship is shattered, and neither one can speak of what happened that night for ten long years.

Until now. Lindsey and Georgie must confront the past after all this time. Their quest for justice will require costly sacrifices, but it also might give them the closure they need to move on. All they know for sure is that when the truth is revealed, their lives will be forever changed once again.

From a fresh voice in fiction, this poignant and timely novel explores the strength and nuance of female friendship, the cost of ambition, and the courage it takes to speak the truth.

Mystery

Never Look Back by Mary Burton, Pages: 332, Publication Date: 1 July 2020

Synopsis: Expect the unexpected in this gritty, tense, and page-turning mystery from New York Times bestselling author Mary Burton.

After multiple women go missing, Agent Melina Shepard of the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation makes the impulsive decision to go undercover as a prostitute. While working the street, she narrowly avoids becoming a serial killer’s latest victim; as much as it pains her to admit, she needs backup.

Enter lone wolf FBI agent Jerrod Ramsey. Stonewalled by a lack of leads, he and Melina investigate a scene where a little girl has been found abandoned in a crashed vehicle. They open the trunk to reveal a horror show and quickly realise they’re dealing with two serial killers with very different MOs. The whole situation brings back memories for Melina—why does this particular case feel so connected to her painful past?

Before time runs out, Melina must catch not one but two serial killers, both ready to claim another victim—and both with their sights set on her.

Thriller

Find Me by Anne Frasier, Pages: 286, Publication Date: 1 July 2020

Synopsis: A bone-chilling family history is unearthed in a heart-stopping thriller by New York Times bestselling author Anne Frasier.

Convicted serial killer Benjamin Fisher has finally offered to lead San Bernardino detective Daniel Ellis to the isolated graves of his victims. One catch: he’ll only do it if FBI profiler Reni Fisher, his estranged daughter, accompanies them. As hard as it is to exhume her traumatic childhood, Reni can’t say no. She still feels complicit in her father’s crimes.

Perfect to play a lost little girl, Reni was the bait to lure unsuspecting women to their deaths. It’s time for closure. For her. For the families. And for Daniel. He shares Reni’s obsession with the past. Ever since he was a boy, he’s been convinced that his mother was one of Fisher’s victims.

Thirty years of bad memories are flooding back. A master manipulator has gained their trust. For Reni and Daniel, this isn’t the end of a nightmare. It’s only the beginning.

Book Club Fiction

The Lending Library by Aliza Fogelson, Pages: 295, Publication Date: 1 July 2020

Synopsis: For fans of Jane Green and Loretta Nyhan, a heartwarming debut novel about a daydreamer who gives her town, and herself, an amazing gift: a lending library in her sun-room.

When the Chatsworth library closes indefinitely, Dodie Fairisle loses her sanctuary. How is a small-town art teacher supposed to cope without the never-ending life advice and enjoyment that books give her? Well, when she’s as resourceful and generous as Dodie, she turns her sun-room into her very own little lending library.

At first just a hobby, this lit lovers’ haven opens up her world in incredible ways. She knows books are powerful, and soon enough they help her forge friendships between her zany neighbours—and attract an exciting new romance.

But when the chance to adopt an orphaned child brings Dodie’s secret dream of motherhood within reach, everything else suddenly seems less important. Finding herself at a crossroads, Dodie must figure out what it means to live a full, happy life. If only there were a book that could tell her what to do…

Historical Fiction

Opium and Absinthe by Lydia Kang, Pages: 379, Publication Date: 1 July 2020

Synopsis: From the bestselling author of A Beautiful Poison comes another spellbinding historical novel full of intrigue, occult mystery, and unexpected twists.

New York City, 1899. Tillie Pembroke’s sister lies dead, her body drained of blood and with two puncture wounds on her neck. Bram Stoker’s new novel, Dracula, has just been published, and Tillie’s imagination leaps to the impossible: the murderer is a vampire. But it can’t be—can it?

A ravenous reader and researcher, Tillie has something of an addiction to truth, and she won’t rest until she unravels the mystery of her sister’s death. Unfortunately, Tillie’s addicted to more than just truth; to ease the pain from a recent injury, she’s taking more and more laudanum…and some in her immediate circle are happy to keep her well supplied.

Tillie can’t bring herself to believe vampires exist. But with the hysteria surrounding her sister’s death, the continued vampiric slayings, and the opium swirling through her body, it’s becoming increasingly difficult for a girl who relies on facts and figures to know what’s real—or whether she can trust those closest to her.

Epic Fantasy

Scarlet Odyssey by C T Rwizi, Pages: 534, Publication Date: 1 July 2020

Synopsis: Magic is women’s work; war is men’s. But in the coming battle, none of that will matter.

Men do not become mystics. They become warriors. But eighteen-year-old Salo has never been good at conforming to his tribe’s expectations. For as long as he can remember, he has loved books and magic in a culture where such things are considered unmanly. Despite it being sacrilege, Salo has worked on a magical device in secret that will awaken his latent magical powers. And when his village is attacked by a cruel enchantress, Salo knows that it is time to take action.

Salo’s queen is surprisingly accepting of his desire to be a mystic, but she will not allow him to stay in the tribe. Instead, she sends Salo on a quest. The quest will take him thousands of miles north to the Jungle City, the political heart of the continent. There he must gather information on a growing threat to his tribe.

On the way to the city, he is joined by three fellow outcasts: a shunned female warrior, a mysterious nomad, and a deadly assassin. But they’re being hunted by the same enchantress who attacked Salo’s village. She may hold the key to Salo’s awakening—and his redemption.

Children’s Picture Book

Kat and Juju by Kataneh Vahdani, Pages: 40, Publication Date: 1 July 2020

Synopsis: An unlikely duo star in a charming story about being different, finding courage, and the importance of friendship in the first book in a new series from an award-winning animation director.

Kat likes doing things her very own way, but sometimes she doubts herself. So when a bird named Juju arrives, Kat hopes he’ll be the best friend she’s always wanted. He’s outgoing and silly and doesn’t worry about what others think—the opposite of who she is. Bit by bit, with Juju’s help, Kat discovers her strength, and how to have a friend and be one—while still being true to herself.

*** Which book will you choose? I chose “Opium and Absinthe” as soon as I saw the cover I knew that was this book I had to choose. Let me know which book you choose. ***