#could be Gertrude too lol

[elias-magnusnt]

your fucking archivist bit me.

Oh, yeah, wow, what a surprise. Tell me, who keeps telling everyone they're a bite risk?! To approach with caution and always keep food around to distract the Archivist if they start getting aggressive? Who's telling you all to stop playing that clown music and knocking at the doors because it agitates them? You cannot pretend like I didn't warn you. An Archivist is a wild and feral and jittery creature and you are entering their domain at your own risk. Also, clean that wound well, I don't know if the one that bit you has the venom fangs yet.

[dreamerwitches]

Rating labyrinths: Gertrud!

Okay! Let's go with the labyrinth ratings wheeee!!!

What I'm going to do is rank separate parts of labyrinths (eg. anthony's labyrinth from ep 1 is separate to gertrud's from ep 2) but I'll also give an average at the end.

I will (most likely) only be doing labyrinths that are in colour (so maybe not manga witches)

Anthony's labyrinth from episode 1

I think this is a really good one, especially as the first shown (not including walpy's). It really shows of the cut-out style of the labyrinths and the deep blue-hued colours are perfectly moody. The use of runes in the background is also really fun for secret messages. I feel the only downside is that it doesn't really scream Gertrud to me. Like, if you didn't know the series well and was shown this, I doubt you'd think it belonged to her. HOWEVER... I think this does work for Gertrud since all her precious roses are in her room with her. It makes sense that she'd keep them close.

You could say that it's weird that this labyrinth doesn't share colours with the main one but I think it works because it's a familiar's labyrinth. The photorealistic buildings also match the main labyrinth. I wonder if the butterfly and anthony traffic signs are meant to be a subtle warning to madoka and sayaka hmmm

I really like this one. A 5/5 for me

Gertrud's labyrinth from episode 2

There's a lot to it so it's kinda hard to summarise in images lol. But it's another great one. Great imagery, lovely colours and has themes brought over from Anthony's labyrinth. I think the orange tones, although relaxing, also give off this sepia feel that makes it a little unnerving too. Like looking through a tinted view makes things seem unreal.

One of my favourite parts are the doorways that lead to black nothingness. Really helps with the labyrinthine feel. Small touches like the portraits with slight things changed in them to make them scary. It's the kind of thing you don't notice unless you pause. I also like how it seems the labyrinth becomes more luscious as you get deeper. The trees start bare, then with black leaves, then Gertrud's room is fully in bloom.

I wasn't sure whether to rank the boss room separately, maybe I will... I think the ceiling that doesn't quite make sense works well to make it feel disorientating and it's a fun contrast to the kinda pretty garden around Gertrud. It's messy but in a good way. I also think having the boss room have a different theme to the rest works. Just as before I mentioned that roses are only in her boss room, I think it would make sense that her special place may be better taken care of or just look overall nicer. It's very good but I'd say, not my favourite segment. Maybe just because it's only one room?? That makes it a little unfair to compare to the rest...

I'll give the labyrinth a 5/5. Boss room is a 4.5/5

Gertrud's labyrinth from Magireco episode 11

Yeah... this one isn't it, chief... like, it has the things of her labyrinth but it's just not... uhhh I dunno it feels more like a set piece than a proper area...

Let's start with what I like: of course, I love the Gertrud motifs. The butterflies, the cut out images and the hidden text (although it's no different than the original anime iirc). I really like the halo above Gertrud's area. And the hanging loops. It's weird but pretty. Suits Gertrud!

Sadly that's where my positives end. The stark white is NOT Gertrud it's so weird... I guess the stone rose works better but not the rest. I kinda hate in the zoom out where... it just looks like a video game level, like I'm looking at mario 64 or something ToT that is not a labyrinth..! Just the overall layout is meh. I dislike the random fluff pile below it too. Just felt like they didnt know what to fill it with...

It's a dud but has some good things... I'm giving it a 1.5/5. I know there's worse which is why it's not a 1.

So overall Gertrud get's a.... 4/5 wow!!!

[shadow-the-crow]

Michael never really fit in anywhere. Maybe that's part of why i like him so much. Or maybe i'm just projecting lol – but hear me out.

Michael Shelley maybe really didn't have a purpose in life. Maybe doing research on his trauma was all he had. He was too good, too pure for his human life - a life that probably just wasn't great in general.

Now other people without other purpose in life than supernatural trauma reasearch become happy fulfilled avatars, like Mike Crew. But Mike Crew chose to serve his entity. Michael, on the other hand, was sacrificed to an entity that didn't fit him, that was the opposite of him. He was naive and kind and would never lie to anyone, and the Spiral is the incarnation of gaslighting and lies. Which means the Spiral wasn't good for him, but he also couldn't become a good Spiral avatar vessel. Helen seems to be able to coordinate humanity and inhumanity. Michael wasn't, because Michael Shelley wasn't made for becoming this.

In general - i'm still thinking about how Gertrude stopped the ritual by making Michael the Distortion. Maybe it was just because it disturbed the ritual and it needed to get used to its new identity. Or maybe it was because Michael just wasn't a good distortion. He wasn't strong or talented or spirally enough to complete the ritual. God, i made him tragic.

I gotta say: This seems to contradict what i’ve said before, but i’m only talking about Michael and Michael Shelley as one person to simplify this. What i really mean is the Distortion could never be good at being itself while having Michael’s mind.

Can you imagine? Not only being tied to the embodiment of your failure, but still being your failure. Thinking with a mind that represents the opposite of what you are, that contradicts your very essence. That stops you from living up to your full potential, that stops you from being good at being you.

[sarcasticscribbles]

I made a curious cat and people been asking about my designs so I thought I would share it here too If you have any question too you can send it here or over on curious cat!

Under cut is a very long monologue about some design choices regarding my s1 gang, Gerry and some avatars!

S1: Jon, Martin, Sasha and Tim

Right off the bat I'll admit I had seen TMA fanart before, but I assumed it was a game from how consistent designs are (Jon and Martin); however when I started I avoided fanart (but I am not immune to TMA fanon designs). I'll explain S1 gang, they are my favourites. I find fcs helpful to keep them consistence.

Jon: I have a basic Jon design: short, brown man with long hair and glasses. Jon has a put together façade but, he wasn't qualified for the archivist position, and he doesn't know what he's doing. Therefore, I like him with longer hair he can't care for, therefore messy. It gets longer with the seasons and adding on all the marks he gains from the entities. I gave him half-moon, golden glasses with chains holding two eyes. I like to think it's a Beholding artefact, so Gertrude wore them before him. I used to have Dev Patel as a reference for him, but I've switched over to Riz Ahmed!

Martin: Very basic: fat man with fluffy hair and glasses. When I heard his voice, I thought of Harvey Guillén, who stayed a reference for Martin's body. I pictured him in a dorky attire; round glasses, ginger, comfy yet business appropriate clothing. I added eyes in the pattern of his jumper and added freckles. I've recently play around adding a beard, because I think he wants to look older than he is (re: CV; "I'm only 29!") but haven't found a style I like. I keep him fat throughout the series, instead of him losing weight s4.

Sasha: She has some canon traits: tall, long hair and glasses. I draw her hair up to stay out of her face. Contra Jon, I think she was more qualified for the archivist position, so Gertrude started preparing her for the role. She wears an eye necklace I draw Gertrude wearing that's in the same style as Jon's glasses. She has a matching bracelet with Tim and overall is one of my favourites. (notSasha): I took what was established and flipped it; short, short hair, no glasses. I imagine notthem could pass as cousins (since they still need traits to the victim's family?); no immediate resemblance but with a few traits of the original.

Tim: Canonically described as hot so I have my own bias. I started with general attractive traits: tall and fit. I think he puts a lot into his appearance. I use Keanu Reeves as a reference, and he works great for him. He’s a hair guy, gets it professionally cut and owns expensive products, skincare routine and dresses in fitted clothing. His standard is a shirt with an eye pattern. He takes pride in his appearance, so S2’s worm scars troubled him. He stops shaving to let it heal properly but they never go away. He never liked looking at them and they are a cruel reminder of the past (however, one scar splits his eyebrow to x2 bisexuality). S3 he stopped caring about putting in effort, the stubble grew into a beard and his clothes aren't fitted. He loses muscles, gains weight, and isn’t who he was in S1.

Gerard Keay

I had just assumed Eric was hispanic (for some reason) and then I connected that he's Gerry's dad, and apparently I headcanon him half hispanic lol

But it was why I wanted to draw the Mama family portrait to play with genetics. Letting his dad be rather tall, tan with dark curly hair and Mary be ginger with paler skin; Gerry's pale, ginger with curly hair as a child. He grew up looking like Mary and started altering his appearance to be more like his dad; dyed dark hair and taking some of Eric's clothing (I also gave both a beauty mark under their eye he'll highlight despite wearing make up). Alternative scenes and goths tend to straighten their hair but I let Gerry have naturally wavy to still resemble his dad more. I tried to give him trad goth make up, mainly looking at Siouxsie Sioux in the late 70s. And a fun bonus to have his hair often cover one eye because, The Eye

Gerry cared for his dad, even if he died when he was a toddler (if I remember correctly). Gerry's chosen name is the nickname Eric referred to him as, which is also where my trans headcanon comes in (afab). I haven't thought it out fully, or how that reflects on other characters since everyone else calls him Gerard but I think there's some symbolising there having a chosen name relating back to Eric

(some) Avatars

Oliver Banks: "the Egyptians believed the most significant thing you could do in your life was die,"; I take inspiration from Ancient Egypt for my Oliver design! He wears an Ankh around his neck, but I want to look into more about Egyptian death symbolism (he has a cross too, but I'll probably remove it for future designs). I've also taken some inspiration from Nordic mythology, with Hel (Hela In English? Loki's daughter (not Marvel) ) as half his face is beautiful, and the other is a corpse (skull). I don't wanna mix too many cultures just for the sake of it, but it was a really fun design decision. And he's goth. Bonus death aligned I next time I draw Georgie I'll draw inspiration from the Death's-head hawkmoth

The Distortions: Michael's 60s and Helen's 80s inspired, no reason, just vibes. I like to think of Michael as a spiral while Helen's a twist, if that makes sense, I've been meaning to draw them together to demonstrate, but I'll include a doodle of it

Jane Prentiss: I looked into a lot of paganism, and fell into a rabbit hole. She's described as a modern witch, so I wanted a subtle alternative look with a shaved side and gauges. One of her breasts are exposed because (boobs) in old pagan traditions a lot of rituals were performed nude, to be closer to nature. A lot of pagan art has a very strong feminine force, I want for Prentiss. She has one eye, but I'll probably remove the other too, I've seen a lot of people do for more holes

Nikola Orsinov: Drag king. Because we need more of those. I love drag so Nikola's has a mix of both male and female attributes since he's just trying to imitate a human. Their design is also inspired The Toy Soldier in the mechanisms (haven't listened? To it but a lot of people pointed me to that designing Nikola!) that's also her actor Jessica Law! I put all my gender into Nikola lol, and when I can sneak an IT reference in I will

Breekon and Hope: Wario and Waluigi

Annabelle Cane: She's described having web keeping her skull together, but for some reason I imagined it to be down her neck. So I pictured her head occasionally falling off and being restored by a web. So I gave her both lol. Her vintage style is old, goth Hollywood glam to me and I love looking at reference for her

Bonus Agnes: I haven't drawn her fully, but I wanna take inspiration from Scandinavian culture, think Midsommar (both the movie and the tradition) and maybe Norse paganism. I love Agnes story and how it's only told by other people, and her relationship with Gertrude is so interesting!

[theanxiousghostartist]

TMAGP 26 SPOILERS

(theories and reactions)

Sorry this is late, I didn't have time to listen to the episodes last night 😭

Pre - Case (Sam, Celia, and Alice):

Celia classified the case as "dog?" Idk, it's been bothering me (like it was with Sam) because it had no cross-reference whatsoever. Putting that aside, this scene, it felt like Celia was manipulating Sam a little bit? Like the tone she had while asking Sam what he was worried about felt werid. It could be just me but idk.

Yay! Establishing and respecting boundaries about the Institute! /pos

Helen tried to eat Celia, so it makes sense that she would bring a big knife to their meeting. "It is remarkably easy to buy an axe in Central London."

Also, can we take a moment to appreciate the word "Magnussing?" It was very clever on Alice's part, and I have a feeling that will become a new word in the language of the OIAR.

Case (Chester):

This case is Eye-related, mainly because of [Error], but it also feels like the End a bit? Not just because Rumins's father and Jarrod died, but when Rumins's father died - so did his love of running and his relationship with Jarrod.

The line "...if I took my eyes off him, something truely awful would happen." reminded me of Graham in TMA, the person that told his neighbor to keep watching and was later taken by the Stranger (specifically a Not-Them). Maybe Rumins is Eye aligned?

Jarrod's statememt (or at least the fragment we get) "They're coming now and getting close and when I slow and when I stop they will catch me and they will hurt me." makes him seem like he was a victim of a fear before [Error], as he is forcibly giving a statement. Perhaps he was a victim of the Hunt (his running reminds me of prey running from a predator)?

[Error] is an Archivist!!!! (Annabelle Cane theory fell through, but failed Archivist theory still stands lol)

Post Case (Alice and Gwen):

Alice realizing that [Error] is from the Archives!!!

I really like the Alice/Gwen back and forth here, even if it was a small bit. You can really see how each character shines through here!/pos

Post Case (Helen):

Helen is getting a section dedicated to her because something feels off with her.

Helen yay!!!!!!!!!!! (She is my favorite character from TMA so I am so happy)

Helen feels like she's reading off a script? IDK how to put it, but it feels like she's trying to manipulate Sam and Celia with a facade. When they start talking about the Institute, her voice lost it's softness, and it feels more real. I might be reading into this way too much, though.

She seems to have a good amount of information on the Institute. I wonder if she will have a reoccurring role...

Institute requirements - big basement, security options - what was the Institute doing? What kind of experiements were they partaking in?

Helen hasn't had contact with the Institute in 20 years, and she assumes all contacts are out of date, and she can't share them because of a GDPR. She could be hiding something. I wonder if she's had contact with Gertrude since she was firm about nor giving up contacts. Maybe she wants to try to steer them away from information, like Gertrude?

She is giving Celia and Sam real estate information that relates to the Institute, violating her GDPR... She is most definitely manipulating them in some way. We know that she wants to be featured in the documentary, but I wonder if there's more.

Also, her laugh - it is very reminiscent of the distortion. It says so in the transcript, lol. I wonder if this is a different path for her, sort of like Gerry. With Gerry, instead of being traumatized, he's happy. Maybe with Helen, she feels more in line with the Spiral as time went on. So instead of being forcibly turned into the Distortion, could this be a path where she slowly Becomes on her own? It would be cool to see how the Distortion could come to be, without forcing someone to it's heart.

Post Case (Sam and Celia):

Sam is worried because he and Alice let out [Error], which is to be expected, but Celia? It feels like she's more disappointed here, not knowing how to outplay [Error], since they don't act like Jon. It's a bit suspicious on her part.

Celia is very nervous around Helen, which makes sense because, again, Helen tried to eat her.

Sam and Jack are so cute, I love his little impression of Helen!

Celia said she felt like they were being watched - perhaps [Error] is on to them?

The Celia and Sam scene - where they flirt and kiss - it felt wrong to me? This could be because I'm demi romantic and sex - adversed ace, but it didn't feel right. Sam is awkward during their conversation and seems uncomfortable at first, while Celia is not. It feels like Celia is manipulating him again. She's trying to get closer to Sam and pushing him further down the Magnussing route in order to figure out how/why she is in the TMAGP universe.

I might add more to this later, because I feel like I'm missing things....

Overall though, I really liked the case and the character interactions, especially with Helen and Alice/Gwen!

[cirrus-grey]

Didn't know about that Corruption theory before (and didn't wanna reblog the post for spoilers) but now I'm curious, what other theories did people have while the show was still airing? I joined the fandom around 160 so anything before that is a mystery to me.

Referencing this post (beware, it has spoilers for The Magnus Protocol).

Oh goodness, so so many. Only a few that I remembered off the top of my head, but I spent some time today trawling the depths of my "magnus archives speculation/analysis" tag and found a couple more fun ones.

Most of the ones I did remember are either still popular headcanons (Web!Martin), or actually turned out to be canon (Jonah!Elias). The Gertrude one always stuck in my head because it's very silly on the surface but also draws attention to the fact of like - how was her skin still in good enough condition to wear after being buried for months? (And Lietner's too, for that matter). Was Nikola just wearing really tattered rotten shreds???

Anyway. Some that I remembered, which all relate to Martin for some reason:

Backup Archivist: Heading into the Unknowing, Elias had Martin reading statements specifically to train him to be a stand in Archivist in case Jon died. Also included sub-theories that he could end up able to compel people on his own, share the role with Jon, or take over entirely if the show pulled a bait-and-switch and Martin was the real protagonist all along.

Who's the Father?: Every single possible theory about who Martin's dad was and what implications that could have on the show, from Leitner to Elias to Peter Lukes to that one dude Peter banished to the Lonely in his statement in 159.

Schwartzwald Cousins: Albrecht von Closen says he and Clara/Carla had trouble having kids in his first statement, but in a later episode says they have two boys. Part 1 of the theory was that the kids were actually avatars who'd emerged from the mausoleum after Albrecht disturbed it, and been adopted by the childless couple. Part 2 was - well - it's canon that Gerry is descended from one of these kids. The theory was, what if Martin was descended from the other? Gerry seems to have some Eye powers linked to his heritage and upbringing, so it was speculated that Martin might turn out to have some as well and be important to either Elias's plans, or to thwarting him (this tied into the Backup Archivist theory nicely). A sub-theory was that they were significantly closer cousins, Martin's mum's maiden name had been Keay, and Martin K. Blackwood was Martin Keay Blackwood all along.

And the ones that I found in the tag (credit in brackets):

Martin’s mum was a runaway Lukas (@/centaurianthropology, here)

The lighter was linked to the Desolation (@agnesmontague) + an addition by me that I'm so proud of in hindsight - "I think the web design pretty much confirms that it’s linked to the Web, but if it’s the Desolation as well, might it be linked to the other occasions we’ve seen those two powers interact? Namely, the ever mysterious Hill Top Road?" (Here)

Another of my posts that I'm delighted to reread (here) reminded me of the many, many, "what's up with the tapes?" theories. I remember "the tapes are sent by the Web", "the tapes are sent by Elias", "the tapes are manifestated unconsciously by Jon" (my personal favorite, sadly disproven), and I think there were also some "the tapes are Gertrude's ghost" posts???

Elias was the Eye the same way Michael was the Spiral - Gertrude sacrificed him to stop the Watcher's Crown (@/statementbegins, here)

Also reading through these is reminding me that there was a stretch where we were calling the Vast and Lonely the "Void" and "Isolation", which I love.

This is just a select few posts from 2018, so there's a lot more under the tag if you're interested in looking! Link below, copy and paste into a web (lol) browser because the archive (lmao) page doesn't work on the app.

https://cirrus-grey.tumblr.com/archive/tagged/magnus%20archives%20speculation%2Fanalysis

If anyone else remembers other old theories please feel free to drop them in the notes! I know there were so many more that I don't have saved.

[neutrallyobsessed]

thinking of clone high students that are older and younger than the protags...

thinking that if cheermaggedon happend "some years ago" then gertrude stein is like, in her early 20s...

thinking of clone high students that have graduated and aren't working for the school...

what happend to them? do they even exists? are they only to interact in sbosf approved places or can they roam society freely?

the theme song says that secret goverment employees dug up the famous guys and ladies but that means that the clones themselve arent all that secret

how actually secret is this secret? if it is at all?

a clone of cleopatra appeared in national television. clones of frida kahlo and joan of arc have entered art competitions. a clone of confucius has social media accounts where he records his other clones of historical figures classmates, theoretically, to everyone in the world.

celebreties are on it, of course they know about secret goverments and their world dominating plans n shit, but what about everyone else?

if defining all that world building that takes place outside the titular clone high is too much trouble then just a minute of people saying stuff like: "harriet" and "tubman" or "abraham" and "lincoln" are fairly common names there could be someone named like that, home alone was literally directed by chris columbus, well its probably just a quirky artistic name/pen name/username not their REAL name lol...

i dont care about how the clones think about themselves being clones, we mostly got those less than a minute answers already, i wanna know what REGULAR NORMAL UNNAFFILIATED PEOPLE think about having these historical figures back now in [current year]!!!

[bee-ina-boat]

hi friends :D! i FINALLY finished my concept art for mythos!Jon and im so happy with him- look at him. plese. i spent so long on this

the sketches were all of my initial concept art for him! he's. so fun to draw. even if it did take me a bit to figure out how to do so. i love his hair ;_; <3

overall his design is very inspired roman Catholicism but. like. more fun? idk lol i just vibe with it. might make the tie darker? and the gloves with his cassock might look good with another color? eh! whatev, i might change it i might not- but this is it so far :D!

for context the Magnus Mythos is an au where the fears are gods rather than paranormal entities like in canon- here is my initial post on that if you want to know more! or if you just want to see art of the Ceaseless watcher :3!!! im really so happy so many of y'all seemed to like it ;w; it makes me feel so warm aa ilu all <3

putting all Jon's lore stuff under the cut!!!

highly recommend you read the linked post because alot of this probably wont make much sense otherwise dsjgfdjgfdb-

so, as a young child Jon grew up neutral on religion. his grandmother didn't favor any one of the gods more than the other and that sort of thinking carried over to him for a good while

when Jon was 8, he had a close encounter with a creature born from the Web: a giant spider that would tell you your fate (and possibly offer you a gift) if you gave it a sacrifice

Jon had found an old fable book with a map to it's nest. of course he had no intention of following it, just enjoying the stories inside! but a thief snagged the book from him- and upon realizing what the book led too -took Jon with him as his sacrifice

when they reached the nest after a long journey, the thief presented Jon to the spider. but the spider did not take him, it took the thief- and the little Jon could only watch, frozen in terror, as his captor was eaten by the giant spider.

after it finished its meal, the spider told Jon that his fate was of a cosmic importance, "I'm quite excited to see how this plays out," it said.

naturally this was kinda traumatizing for the child that literally just wanted to read but ok :l

the whole experience brought jon a phobia of spiders, a distrust and fear of strangers, general paranoia, ptsd, and a rejection of the webs power and the concept of fate as a whole

now- its not uncommon for some people to reject the powers of certain gods? some things born from their power are quite unpleasant, so there are steps one may take to protect themselves from the powers of one or more of the gods. (its complicated to explain but i hope that makes sense-)

suffice to say jon does NOT want to be controlled or have his fate decided by anyone or anything like that! being THAT important is scary!!! so he tries very hard to prevent any powers of the web coming near him- and he also tries to keep a low profile so he can live a calm and peaceful life without. yknow. being an important part of the fate of the entire bloody world.

he turns to the cult of the Beholding for salvation. after all, its whole thing is being aware and knowing things, and jon wanted nothing more than to know what wanted to hurt him and what didn't.

moving to London, he joined the House of Magnus, and went from a devotee to a researcher.

he became friends with Tim: a man who turned to the beholding out of his own rejection for the Stranger, and Sasha: a young woman who'd worshipped the beholding and worked at the house of magnus her entire life.

things were great for a while, and then the head archivist, Gertrude Robinson, disappeared.

normally the previous archivist would choose someone to pass the position down to, but her disappearance meant that the current head of the church, Elias, would have to choose instead. and he gave the position to Jon

it was absurd! Jon didn't want the position of archivist- everyone knew about the prophecy and Jon certainly didn't want that much pressure on him!!

not to mention- it became pretty much expected that Sasha would become the next archivist! given her history of devotion, her skills, all the work she did for everyone, hell- Gertrude even mentored her for half her life for god's sake!

Elias's reasoning was that Gertrude had broken the Archivists oath: to always protect and preserve knowledge. he claimed that the Ceaseless Watcher itself had requested Jon rather than Sasha, as Gertrude's choices were not to be trusted. and it was not up for debate what their patron wanted...

so there was no choice. jon was terrified, sasha was devastated, and tim was furious for them both.

the ceremony went on, jon was given the Watchers Crown (the sacred headpiece of the archivist) and then he went down to the archives with tim and sasha as his chosen assistants.

Elias sent down another down with them- Martin, a librarian who devoted himself to both the eye and the web. Jon was not so keen to be trusting a devotee of the web, especially with all the stress going through his head at the moment- so he wasn't very warm to martin.

as the archivist- jon does his best to do the work he was given, frequently requesting help and teachings from sasha as she clearly knew more about this than him. all throughout, he squished any spider he found. and stubbornly refused to give in to any possible notion of him being the one from the prophecy. he couldnt be. he refused it.

but the will of one man is far outweighed by that of a god, and at some point he just might have to accept the responsibility he deep down knows is his...

AAAAAAAAAAA THAT WAS ALOT- if you read this entire fucking essay then just know i love you so so so much and i am hugging you tightly ;_;

thanks for dealing with another round of my brainrot!! im thinking of working on sasha, martin, or the web's design next :3

[gurugirl]

okay i just went through and read ALL of your queens secret series and i am absolutely obsessed. i know you did it forever ago and i doubt you have motivation to do it again and i don’t want to push you BUT ! if you ever want to continue it and give them an at least somewhat happy ending instead of a cliff hanger i’d love it 🥹🥹❤️ if not maybe u could let us know sometime what your plans for them were going to be? just for peace of mind purposes LOL !!! love u guru

Hi hon 🥹 I just have to say that I think about them every other day and I hate that I abandoned that story the way I did bc I truly loved it so much. I think getting to the end of a series can be really daunting for some writers bc you want it to be perfect so I got overwhelmed and didn’t want to ruin the story so I worried that my ending wasn’t going to do them justice, I was over thinking it and wound up just letting it sit too long and now we’re here with a story I never finished 😢

That being said, it’s still something I’d like to complete one day. I’ll give you some spoilers and the idea I had for the ending under the cut which would encompass about 5 more chapters.

I have the queen and Harry (and their baby) wind up together in the end.

So, it’s left in the story where Harry is hiding out in YN’s bedroom in the estate but he can’t stay there forever bc Gertrude is suspicious when he keeps cancelling to see the kids. They figure out he's gone missing when he's never home.

Also Y/n is very pregnant during this time so everything is closing in on them. Bc of the stress Y/n winds up going into preterm labor so the baby has to be transported to a hospital, etc.

In the mean time, with everyone distracted (mainly the king) y/n and Harry leave the estate together and her assistant, sister, and mother arrange for Harry to stay in an empty home to hide out until they can figure out their next step.

Y/n goes to the hospital to be with the baby while harry makes arrangements for them to leave the kingdom (with Y/n's mother's and sister's help) - so Y/n stays at the hospital round the clock until the baby is healthy enough. When the king isn't there and the coast is clear (and with the help of nurses who learned the story and who the real father is) she and the babe are reunited with Harry where they leave with their baby (teary goodbyes all around with her mother) and settle in a small house on a farm in a different region and build a new life.

SO it's not a 100% happy ending bc harry misses his older children. There would be kind of a moment where he's thinking or saying how he can't wait to see them again one day when they're older and he will send them gifts and notes so they won't forget him and know he's thinking of them.

But YN and Harry and their baby have a sweet little happy life despite all of it.

And that is what the plan was!

Thank you for asking about them anon 🥰

xoxo

[akaikali]

TMAGP EP 11 REACTION (SPOILERS)

HEY CELIA. CELIA BABE. WHAT THE FUCK. ARE YOU. TEAVELING DIMENSIONS??? DO YOU JUST WAKE UP ON THE MOTORWAY SOMETIMES???

GIRL JACK WHO??? JACK BARNABAS??? DO WE KNOW ANY OTHER JACKS????

oh god the samalice. It's samalicing. They had me giggling in a fucking dunkin donuts

I think Alice could be both jealous of Celia but also sweet on her we can have both

Alice??? You feel like ur being watched??? After exploring The Magnus Institute???? WHO WOULDA THOUGHT

"I could walk you home this morning" "...yeah, actually. If you're offering" SHUT UP I HATE THEM <3

OKAY FIRSTLY. DAVID A MEDICAL EXAMINER??? DO YALL REMEMBER DR. DAVID FROM EP 177 OF TMA??? DR. GASLIGHTING MOTHERFUCKER?? I'm well aware this probably has no connection but just throwing that out there lol

GORDIE???? LIKE GORDIE'S DUMP???? WASNT THAT GUY'S NAME GORDON AS WELL????

OKAY SO. THIS GIVING LIKE. VERY SIMILAR VIBES TO TMA EP 152 WITH HEZEKIAH WAKELY. THE WAY GORDIE TALKS ABOUT THE SEA SOUNDS SIMILAR TO THE WAY HEZEKIAH TALKS ABOUT THE GRAVES. Also, ofc, with talks of sailors, I'm thinking this is very Vast-coded which I LOVE. But also I'm reminded of TMA ep 121 where Oliver talks about something deep in the ocean. Gordie mentions that it seemed like the crew was being chased by something in the water.

INK5OUL RETURN???? MYSTERIOUS TATTOO I SEE

Gordie is so bitchy I love him already I wish he didn't have to most likely die "and shall forthwith attitude to acquit my communications" HES SO PETTY

DID INK5OUL STEAL THE DEAD BODY WITH THE TATTOO???

SAM YOU SMART COOKIE OMG HE NOTICED THE TATTO AND INK5OUL POSSIBKY CONNECTION

Alice bby if ur being watched its already too late you might as well dive in headfirst

"Thank you, Alice" oh this is gonna be the world's MESSIEST polycule

Gwen my girl I know you have been through hell and back but don't take it out on Celia I know she's probably sus but she's been nice so far and I like her.

Seriously Alice and Gwen are constantly on "will they punch each other or will they make out with each other" and I think the answer is both

Alice getting protective of Celia YESSSS THE POLYCULE GUYS THE MESSY OFFICE POLYCULE

"Don't let me keep you" "I'd like to see you try" KISS

"I can't believe she drank your mocha!" ALICE SAID THAT WITH SO MUCH VITRIOL OH MY GOD

"No. No, no. I watched Nigel's SOS every week as a kid. I KNOW Mr. Bonzo. That THING was not Mr. Bonzo" miss bouchard do you know I love you

IS THE ENVELOPE HOLDING GERRY AND GERTRUDE'S ADDRESS. I FEEL LIKE IT IS. IM VERY SCARED. THEYRE SAYING FWEN ALREADY KNOWS WHO'S ADDRESS IT IS. WHO'S ADDRESS WOULD SHE KNOW.

Gwen rly is just like "I have no idea what the fuck I've gotten myself into but I feel like if I try to get out I Will Die."

INTERESTING EPISODE. MANY THOUGHTS. THE CASE FILE HAS ME GIDDY I LOVE THE OCEAN I RLY HOPE WE ALSO GET A SPACE ONE SOON.

[bigfreakinfrog]

Ok so I’ve been thinking about this for a while about Elias’s imprisonment.... So generally when people are accused of a crime they get a trial. and it must be proved beyond a reasonable doubt that the accused is guilty. Now: the only evidence that they had was the tape where Elias admitted to the murder of Gertrude and Lietner and possibly the tape where he actually killed Lietner? Unsure on that one. Yes both of those tapes could be prettyyyy damning evidence but you can’t really find someone guilty on just that. Elias could deny it was him on the tape or it was altered and I have a hard time believing he could actually be charged on both their murders based on tape recordings. Obviously AI voice wasn’t like it is today back in good ol’ 2017 but it probably wasn’t far off and I’m sure the defense could claim that the tapes were digitally altered. (You can make an audio file and record it onto a tape recorder pretty easily). So here are my theories:

1. Elias threw the trial and just admitted guilt. He wanted to go to prison anyway to get out of having to be around Jon and to instill Peter at the Institute. However, I think this is the least likely scenario since it’d be more difficult to get out of should anything go wrong (aka if Jon actually decided to die and he had to go to a backup plan). He probably also wouldn’t want to ruin his reputation by being found guilty. Sure being accused of murder isn’t a great look either but... lol

2. The trial keeps getting delayed due to bureaucracy/Elias’s meddling and while he’s awaiting trial they decided he was possibly too dangerous to be free. I did look it up and you can be imprisoned before trial in the UK if its determined to be necessary.

It’s possible that he organized something through blackmail to allow his court date to keep getting postponed. Also he could simply have organized with the police to simply hide out in prison without any charges (this is kinda like... a fourth theory but it wasn’t too different from the second so i didn’t make a whole new bullet point). The whole thing just for show. He literally didn’t need to be in handcuffs he’s just being dramatic

3. There *was* more evidence.

“All the evidence” does imply more than just the tapes. Perhaps they had fingerprints they could match on the pipe. Again with the tapes, Elias could argue they were spoofed and refuse to sign any confession. He also already is able of producing counter evidence through manipulating the cameras in the Institute. Fingerprints would be harder to dismiss but then... Jon’s fingerprints would also be on the pipe.

-

Anyway in my person theory number 2 is the most likely scenario. In MAG 122 we get this line from Basira:

Notably she doesn’t say he was convicted or charged. So if theory 2 is correct he really could just leave anytime he decides/speed through his trial and be found innocent should anything go awry. I find it interesting to speculate on how many backup plans Elias had going at once. Obviously all the marks were meticulously planned out, but even the best laid plans fail sometimes. It doesn’t make sense for him to allow himself to be proven guilty when Jon could kick the bucket and then he’d be stuck in prison delaying his ritual.

... Ultimately none of this really matters to the plot of the show I just thought it was interesting.

[elias-rights]

Hello, I'm not really active in the TMA fandom, but I just want to say I really like your takes! This fandom often (sometimes jokingly, sometimes not) portrays Jon as a rather weak, small, 'pathetic' man, and that's something that never quite sat right with me. He gets attacked and thrown into perilous situations constantly by powerful, supernatural beings, doing the best he can to survive, so this feels like people are kinda mocking his vulnerability, there. What are your thoughts on this?

Hello! I'm glad you enjoy my posts. I have raged a lot against fanon conceptions of Jon, so I do have some thoughts.

First of all, as others more equipped than me to have that particular conversation have pointed out, it's very telling that Jon gets this treatment when he is canonically asexual and universally headcanonned and drawn as ambiguously brown. I haven't been checking the tags in a while, but as far as I'm aware, the phenomenon of him being constantly belittled and infantilised by the fandom (most often for the sake of JM) is ongoing.

To me, aside from the aforementioned racism and aphobia, the biggest problem is the reduction of characters to memeable traits. As a person, Jon has horrible things happen to him, is pushed past any average person's breaking point, and is implied to be physically on the weaker side. And this is a fun space to play around in. But it's (1) boring, (2) in poor taste, and (3) often carrying implicit biases (see: racism and aphobia) when they take these facts and use them to write Jon as a helpless yaoi boyfriend who is unable to bite back and who starts crying because he saw a picture of a penis online (yes, that is something I have seen).

Add to this the "Jon is so dumb, lol" jokes that cheapen the themes of the show by implying that there is a way out but that he is just too incompetent to see it (see: Archivist Sasha fix-its) and the racist jokes about him not showering or whatever, and you have concocted the Jon you see in the memes. This mischaracterization also leads to things like the wider fandom reaction to MAG 199-200, when fans dismissed Jon's perspective just as quickly as the characters, and everyone seemed to believe that everything would've been fine if Jon "just had listened to Martin".

And it's so pernicious because Jon wouldn't be alive if he weren't resilient past what should be required of him: Elias spells it out himself in MAG 160 that he needed to test Jon's ability to survive if he was going to use him as a lynchpin. Plus, he is also very intelligent (as seen when he finds Gertrude's hiding place off the creak of a floorboard in a recording), so the claims about him being stupid for not immediately grasping the rules of a horrific world when he has none of the privileges afforded to the audience don't hold any water either.

I could go on about this, but I'm already having trouble structuring the post at this length, so I'll leave it at that. As you see, this is a topic I've thought about a lot since fighting in the trenches when the show was still airing and people insisted he was an idiot, aha. Have a good day!

[yellowvixen]

Wait, if Rime's ice powers are not innate to her, being the result of her endure to her frozen imprisonment, does it mean she struggled to control them in the first moments? Or even in the first days? Maybe months 🤭?

If so, does it mean she fought/met with Blaze three times while still figuring out how to control her powers? (Because it would be really hilarious if she posed all like "the superior fighter" and pulled some "ultimate yadda yadda" speech, like Shadow did with Sonic, even though she was still learning to properly control her powers)

Definitely!! She didn't even realise she HAD ice magic until she used it by accident, and then immediately went "oh this is sick as hell!!!" and threw herself into learning how to use it, but that would have taken a while.

I don't have an exact plot down, but if Rime and Blaze's first few meetings/fights are similar to sa2, then Rime would actually have used her original power of magic absorption/nullification to make Blaze powerless for the first few fights. Then both of them would just be punching and scratching each other like normal cats LOL. Once Rime learns about her new magic, she decides to fight Blaze with it as "it's way cooler" <- pun intended.

So, yeah. She's fighting Blaze while not really having any idea how her magic works lmfao. It's fairly strong magic but she doesn't know how to use it as she's never had training in that regards, while to me Blaze would have been trained from childhood to use her fire magic (even if she couldn't control it fully before meeting Sonic, she still has more control over it than Rime). I guess for Rime, being the superior fighter would be referring to literally fighting - Blaze is good but Rime is the better brawler! She's used to fighting without magic so usually comes out on top if they both fight like that. However you also need to know that Rime likes being beaten by Blaze. In a lesbian way. The rituals are intricate and all that LOL. Where's the fun in nullifying Blaze's magic and then beating her up when Rime could let Blaze pin her to the ground and threaten to burn her? She thinks it's hot!! <- pun intended again.

Her "ultimate [???]" speech would no doubt be pretty different from Shadow's too. Rime doesn't consider herself as an ultimate lifeform, if anything she considers herself less human (or mobian lol) than others due to her upbringing (Gertrude treated her as a non sentient animal) so I'm not entirely sure yet how that would go. Lots to think about!!! A lot of my thoughts on Rime are based on half baked headcanons I have for the Sol dimension, I rlly need to bulk those out and properly write them down djhfhd

Thank you for the ask 🩵🩵🩵

[theanxiousghostartist]

TMAGP 29 Spoilers (Theories and Reactions)

Ok, ok ok ok.. Holy shit I cannot wait for the finale!!

Celia and Sam:

Honestly, I'm glad Celia found Sam. While it would have been interesting to see one of the others find him, I like that Celia did, because we got more insight into her!

1) We know she cares about Sam. While we knew this from other episodes and their relationship, we can confirm that Celia deeply cares for Sam and isn't just manipulating him. The statements that Celia cares for Sam and Celia is manipulating Sam can co-exist.

2) Imo - Celia is the one most likely to survive. She knew the right questions to ask Sam to get to the important details about that Archivist (I'm going to try to call them, "that Archivist" so they won't be confused with TMA!Jarchivist), and why they attacked Sam. She also was reluctant to go to the Hilltop Centre, knowing that that Archivist was planning on heading there from Sam. Furthermore, she was planning on stopping Sam until he basically begged her to go.

3) Celia cares for Alice. While this episode had Sam/Celia interactions and no Alice/Celia interactions, we still saw Celia caring for Alice. Sam didn't want to tell Alice anything about his encounter with that Archivist. Celia was the one to force him to, and even then, Sam still blew her off when the train left the station. Celia understands that Alice cares for Sam and is very protective of him, and she understood that if Sam didn't tell her about that Archivist, it would devastate her, thus she made Sam call Alice.

So that Archivist is after The Magnus Institute and Hilltop Road. Interesting. While I initially thought they were feeding, I don't think that was the case. They wanted as much information as possible on the Institute and Hilltop Road, therefore, they went to the person that let them out. They were after Alice before, and on their way to find her, they found Sam instead. That's why Alice felt like she was being followed before, that Archivist was looking to get information out of the people who let them out. They initially followed Alice and found Sam instead; and they took advantage of that. Now they are on the way to the Hilltop Centre, perhaps they followed Sam there...

Gwen and Lena:

Ok, so Lena is proud of Gwen and Gwen dropped the act of being kinder to her, showing her true emotions. Interesting. I guess because Gwen gave her (and Augustus's/Jonah's (my theory lol)) information to Trevor, she assumes she will get the job anyhow. It makes sense for her characterization so far. I'm starting to wonder if Gwen is going to take a more Jonah-Magnus-approach to the job, if she gets it, and Lena is the one with the Gertrude-Robinson-approach.

Case: This case was very much a Buried case, with Viola even saying that she was afraid of drowning alone. It's interesting that she specified "alone" since Stan was with her. It reminds me of "Alone" in TMA Season 1, the statement of one of the Lukus's fiancée. So perhaps Lonely undertones as well? Maybe the Stranger or Spiral too, with the door/lock themes and the overall theme of unlocking yourself? Still, it's definitely related to the Buried.

Viola and Stanely Locke, I wonder if this is a reference to John Locke of the Enlightenment.

From my memory, I took a lot of history classes: John Locke was a philosopher during the Enlightenment, advocating for so-called "natural rights" - life, liberty, and property - as well as theorizing on the "natural state" of humans, basically, what would we do if we did not have a government. He believed that humans have a "natural state" of kindness and helping each other, and that we exchange some of our rights for a government to organize and protect us, and because of this, if a government became tyrannical, we could take back our rights and rebuild the government. His ideas influenced a lot of people, including those involved in the American, French, and Haitian Revolutions.

There might be a connection there but IDK. I'm in a similar situation with them and their last name to what I have been with Ink5oul and their last name of Wilde (possibly a reference to Oscar Wilde).

This case was so interesting, and I was devastated for Stan.

That old scruffy person who opened the door for the Locke's had to be an avatar. Maybe the case is more Spiral related as they opened the door into an illusion/another realm? Then again, the Buried's coffin worked in the same way...

Maybe they were this universe's Breekan or Hope? Possibly a Lukus? I wonder if they will show up again...

Teddy and Alice:

Teddy has insomnia. I wonder if it is from staying away from the OIAR? (sorta like how Tim got sick when he stayed away from the Archives for so long)

I like Teddy's and Alice's interactions, I hope the two can talk after whatever will happen in the finale!

Teddy needs to talk to Alice about something in regards to his job, something "serious." I wonder if he's been having problems since he left the OIAR? Maybe in a similar way to Sam pre-OIAR? Oooh, or maybe he's Becoming? Maybe he had a run in with an External during his new job and has started Becoming? Or maybe he had started Becoming when he got the OIAR job and Lena, and/or her higher-ups were able to prevent it? Maybe the food helps the OIAR crew build up a resistance to the Fears? Lena has been very insistent on the crew eating the OIAR food, so maybe she did something to it (maybe with alchemy) to help the crew resist the Fears, like how Sam was able to resist that Archivist in the beginning and survived them messing through his memories?

"It's on the train:"

Yay! Go Alice! Protect your friends/potential love interests! (please talk to Teddy afterwords though!)

I like how Alice keeps fighting to save Sam and Celia here.

Wait, so only Alice can see that Archivist? Oh, maybe because they are an avatar and the OIAR crew is being marked/already marked/aligned with the Fears so they can see it? Either way, this is definitely an interesting detail!

Predictions for the Finale:

Ok, predictions time! So, I think Celia is going to die or be at least severely injured. You may be thinking, "But didn't you say earlier that Celia is the most likely to survive, in your opinion?" Yes. Yes, I did. However, I think that she would be the most likely to survive, IF Sam did not involve her in this mission. Now, that is not to say this is Sam's fault at all! (although, if she were to die/get injured, he will probably blame himself) I think that Sam and Celia are going to get chased by that Archivist, and Celia will die so Sam (and possibly Alice) can get away. Before she does, she is going to expose her being from the TMA-verse by asking that Archivist about the stuff she saw. This would leave Georgie and Sam having to take care of Jack for one, and for two, it would leave a good cliffhanger to explore both worlds and possibly figure out more about FR3-D1 and that Archivist.

Someone is going to Become, or at least, start Becoming. I'm not sure who though, my best bet is Alice, probably for the Spiral or Dark. I'm still not quite sure for this one, so I don't have much else to say.

Lena is going to play a key role in the survival of the OIAR crew. Going based off the theory that she is taking a Gertrude role; she is going to be the key to surviving. My theory is that Lena is going to go hunt down that Archivist when she finds out that it was near the OIAR, they are not an external, therefore, her superiors don't know about them, and she has free reign. She is going to find Sam and Celia (and probably Alice), with that Archivist, and either witness Celia die or Sam holding Celia injured or dead. She will be the one to beat/kill that Archivist, probably take the crew to the OIAR or to a "Fear resistant room" and start explaining general things to them (basic, things, not even as much as Gerry told Jon). We will end off with them coming in battered and traumatized and learning why. If this happens, one of two things could happen in S2: 1) Lena's superiors find out about what she is doing. She is killed by them and Gwen, having proved her loyalty by giving Trevor the files, gets her job like she wanted.

2) Lena's superiors find out too late, and they are Protocolled. Lena leads the team in a sort of resistance-style movement against the fears (and possibly Gwen, who may have taken over for her), to destroy the fears and prevent the alchemy project that the Institute was working on.

Also, I think near the end of the episode or near the end of the Hilltop Road shenanigans, we are going to get a glimpse of Annabelle Cane. (I really want to hear her again, guys; I want her to be involved with this grand plan)

I really don't want anyone to die, especially Alice and Lena, since they are my favorites, but I have a feeling Lena is going to die )):

Anyway, I can't wait for the finale! I will most likely have a lot to say about it :D

[lycanlovingvampyre]

MAG 154 Relisten

Activity on my first listen: apple cutting + sitting thrilled on the couch.

Ah yes, I remember it so clearly when I heard that episode the first time. I was almost done cutting apples, but I didn't quite feel satisfied after MAG 152 and 153, those are statement that were a bit subtle for me. So I thought "Okay, I'll give one more episode a shot" (even though the episode title didn't sound particularly interest-piquing) and then it’s a Gertrude tape and I had some problems following a lot of Gertrude statements before, I don't know, her voice makes me sleepy xD And I was already prepared to drift away during this episode again and felt a bit demotivated. But I kept going. Well, best fucking decision ever. As soon as I realized she's reading from the Catalogue of the Trapped Dead I was like "Ohhhhh!"

JON: "And I started to pay attention to the ones I… wasn’t drawn to. The tapes I instinctively wanted to discard." That's very clever, go against what the Eye wants!

JON: "There was one, this one, that my hand… pulled back from. I dropped it, twice, when I went to pick it up." Lol, that actually sounds funny. Like "Whoops! I dropped it... Woaa, dropped it again, ahaha, clumsy me."

JON: "I am the avatar of awful knowledge and revealed secrets." Oh Jon, you theater kid!

GERTRUDE: "“When he opened his eyes, he of course saw nothing" Ok, she already read that part and still couldn't guess what was necessary to quit. Already talked about this in MAG 111 - because of this I think those memory-ghosts of the Catalogue work like the appearances of people plugged into the Matrix, a mental projection of their self. How they most liked seeing themselves. So when it comes to depicting Book!Eric, I think he'd still have intact eyes. Cause he says he "destroyed them completely", I can't imagine how one could not see that, if the appearance is the same as in the moment of death.

I love how similar Eric and Gerry sound, and I don't think it's because of the ghostly echo. After all, we do have a recording of Gerry without that effect. Very good VA choice!

ERIC: "I know that I’m not really Eric; I’m just a memory someone wrote down. It hurts, most of the time." Primarily it's probably meant to be an effect of the Catalogue's nature, of the Fears just doing their job. But I guess the knowledge of not actually being you also makes it weird and uncomfortable. Sometimes I think about that, like what are we anyway? Isn't the memory of oneself's entire life basically what makes one that particular person (+ hardwired personality probably)? Because it still matters on which hardware we run. Otherwise, how would we explain body dysphoria?

ERIC: "You too. (beat) You got old." GERTRUDE: "Better than being dead." ERIC: (short sigh of a laugh) "Fair enough. To be honest, I’m impressed, more than anything. Hard to get old in this business. You either die, or you, uh, stay young. (short, uncomfortable pause) …How did Mary look?" GERTRUDE: (same sort of short laugh) "She got old, too." Well, let's see, this is in 2008. My educated guess from MAG 35 was that Gerry was born sometime around 1983 or 1984. Perhaaaps 1985 when we'll go with the most extreme numbers from MAG 35. We don't know when exactly Mary killed Eric, Eric says he left the Archives months before she killed him. So, Eric died.. what? 1984 or 1985? So he hasn't seen Gertrude in over 20 years! He probably saw Mary a few times since she summoned him to bounce off ideas of him. But even if she kept doing that for a few years and then stopped, 15 years would still be a long time with visible changes^^

ERIC: "And Gerry? Have you seen my son?" Nawwww... He actually calls him Gerry, like he always wanted friends (and probably loved ones) to call him.

ERIC: "Yeah, it doesn’t feel great. But being dead, I s’pose you don’t feel things quite as strongly. Little bit – flat." Ha, flat like a piece of paper!

ERIC: "Elias? Elias Bouchard, seriously?!" GERTRUDE: "Hm, he’s changed a lot." <.<

GERTRUDE: "So. What did they not want me to know?" ERIC: "I quit." GERTRUDE: "You – Sorry, you quit?" ERIC: "Yeah. I figured out how." Well, on my first listen I was sitting at the edge of the sofa at that point, staring wide-eyed at the TMA logo in the YT video on screen.

ERIC: "You know, you were never actually all that nice to me when I worked for you, Gertrude. Not like Michael, or Emma." Hahahaha, very good, let her dangle a bit! I'd like to say I'd do the same but I know that in the end I never want to give people, one: what they did to me, and two: something they could hold against me in return.

Eric: "I don’t know what she saw in me, not really." Not-really counter of S4: 20!

ERIC: "You were almost there, you know, with your theory that James could watch us from any eye, even an illustration. What did you do? How did you sever that link?" GERTRUDE: "My God!" Yeah, at that point I said "Fuuuuck" out loud... My spouse was sitting on the couch next to me was like ?? and I just kept saying "Fuck" over and over again. First: Eyes are one of the body parts I find the most horrific... I can watch every body horror torture splatter movie without problems but when it's about eyes... Fuck off! If I'd be in that position I'd be like "Yeah, you know what, I actually like the Archives! Screw that, y'all go ahead and do what you must do, but keep me out of it." Second, I love moments like this in fiction! The last one like this I remember was when I read The Last Wish (The Witcher) by Sapkowski, specifically The Lesser Evil. When that innkeeper (or whatever that guy was) explained what happened in Tridam and it dawned on me what Renfri was about to do (just like it dawned on Geralt in that moment. I love having the same reaction like characters. When I can discover huge things alongside them).

[TAPE CLICKS ON.] [JON SIGHS HEAVILY.] JON: "Fuck." [TAPE CLICKS OFF.] Yah, same...

JON: "I know. I know what you said, but I just – (inhale) I think I’ve found a way for us to leave the Institute." [BRIEF PAUSE.] MARTIN: "O-kay…?" JON: "Yeah. But it’s – (heavy inhale) It’s pretty drastic." MARTIN: (hah) "What, you going to gouge your eyes out, or something?" [BEAT.] MARTIN: (gets it) "Fuck off!" Such an iconic piece of dialogue xD

MARTIN: "Erm… like, I mean… permanently? Or…" This has the same energy as answering "In general?" to the question of "Haven't seen a dog, have you?"... Those idiots^^

JON: "But we could leave here, you and me. Escape." Eeek <3

JON: (squawk) "Uh, I, I don’t know. I don’t – know. But… maybe it’s worth it? The risk – y-you and me, together, getting out of here –" [MARTIN SNIFFS.] JON: "– one way or another." MARTIN: "Jon." Double Eeeek <3

So what's going on here has a name, URST or UST. It stands for UnResolved Sexual Tension, although I don't like that term cause it's just as well used for unresolved romantic tension. Especially when we're talking about a couple with an ace character, or when it's used in a show for minors about minors (Miraculous is a textbook example). So basically it's a trope to keep suspense going on by having all kinds of obstacles to keep the love interests from actually getting together, usually also having them pine after each other over and over again + once in a while giving them a scene in which it looks like they finally get somewhere. Full disclosure: I'm a sucker for that trope. I loved that in Inu Yasha, I love this in Miraculous (although it's getting a bit destroyed by all the What-if-episodes with a subsequent time reset or memory wipe) and of course I love it in TMA.

JON: "I mean, whatever their plan is for me, I am damn sure that doing that isn’t it. I’d derail everything – we could derail everything, and then just – leave!" Time travel fix-it for TMA is extremely difficult because you basically have these powerful forces which had it all planned out. I think there are actually two points in TMA where it could really take a very different turn. One of them is here. If Jon blinds himself, he won't belong to the Eye anymore and can't complete the ritual. And given what Annabelle says in MAG 197 it sounds like Jon will even survive being cut off from the Eye. (There’s of course still the problem of just going ahead with a new Archivist, so it’s only a temporary resolve...)

MARTIN: "Nothing; It’s just – (one more laugh) It’s just ironic, that’s all." That's totally in the sense of "At any time before taking Peter's deal I would have run away with you in a heartbeat. But back then you never came to me and now when you do it's me who won't do it"-ironic, right?

@a-mag-a-day

[chronicbeans]

Happily Never Afters

This is a little list of characters and information I came up with for a new... Story? X Reader Series? Idk. I just came up with them and liked them. I will update this as I come up with more characters. For the sake of this not taking up a large portion of the screen, I will put all info, including basic details, under the read more. Trigger warnings will be above it, however, just so people don't stumble upon things that might disturb or trigger them.

TW: Murder, Death/Decay, Disease, Body Horror(?), Curses, Obsessive/Possessive Behaviors, Stalking

Basic Info: I kinda wanted to practice writing more fantastical horror and horror romance ( would that be called dark romance? Idk). So, the basic premise is that these are fairy tales that are switched up, with none ending happily due to those changes, hence the cliche name for the series. I don't really see it as a series that has an overarching plotline, either. Just a bunch of scenarios. Small things will be changed around, too, just because I am interested in the ways that those things can change the plot. Examples of those could be the classic "evil stepmother" now being an "evil stepfather" or a character now having a sibling when they didn't beforehand. The intention of this is to both practice writing and to entertain others, lol. So, there may be weird scenarios, scenarios being written over again with alternative endings, and other such things. If anybody is interested in requesting stuff for certain characters, be it scenarios, headcanons (well, idk if it would be called that due to me being the person creating it, but anyways...), or anything else, they are welcome! Especially since you all may have ideas that I would've never been able to come up with.

With basic info out of the way, onto the characters!

SNOW WHITE characters:

Snow White/Gertrude - She's Snow White. The evil queen tried to have her killed by a huntsman, of course. However, her twin brother, Walter, overheard the plan and convinced Gertrude to let him go in her stead, dressed as her. She didn't believe the plan was true, until news came that Walter was killed, with his heart missing. This caused her to run into the woods, meet the dwarves, and to live with them. Soon, the animals and crops near the little cottage started to die, and she had the feeling that she was being watched. When the evil queen came to give her the apple, disguised as an old lady, Gertrude was desperate and hungry enough to take it and eat it. The curse in this version was not a curse of sleep, but instead, a curse of living dead. She is... Dead, but she is alive. She walks around, and on a first glance, she looks alive, but sickly due to her pale skin. Once you take a closer look, however, you'll see how her eyes are pale and glassy, how her lips look slightly purple of black. She doesn't decay, but the things around her do in their own way. While only edible, crop plants like corn, lettuce, and carrots tend to perish, animals of most every kind die away from disease. The telltale sign of Gertrude's presence, as well as Walter's, is chronic wasting disease in the deer populations near them. Gertrude only became known as Snow White after the curse befell her. True love's kiss would still free her from the spell but... Who would want to kiss an undead woman.

Walter - Walter is Gertrude's twin brother. He also has the nickname of Snow White, with people in nearby villages and towns arguing over whether Gertrude or Walter is the real Snow White. He overheard the queen's plan to have the huntsman kill his sister, so he went in her stead, knowing that a simple change of clothes and lack of speech could possibly trick him. They have always looked uncannily similar, after all. While he was in the afterlife, standing next to his own corpse as a ghost, a fairy godmother came to him. She offered him a chance to save Gertrude from the queen's next trick and to bring him to life. The catch was, he would be under the same curse as the one that the queen would cast on her. If he saves Gertrude in time, the curse would be lifted from him and he could go to the afterlife, and if not, he would never die and the curse shall never go away, not even with true love's kiss. After accepting, he tried to get into contact with his sister, only to fail because of his ghoulish appearance and the disturbing deaths of all the animals around him scaring her away. Once the curse was placed on her, he began to dedicate his undead life to finding her true love. In his eyes, if he can never die or find happiness, he might as well find a way for his sister to do so. He loves her too much to let her suffer.

The Dwarves ran off once Gertrude was cursed, afraid of what she has become and convinced that she would hurt them. Due to this, the twins now live in the cottage alone, trying to live as normal of a life as they can. They can't feel pain, instead feeling uncomfortable, but painless sensations. Random, tickling feelings like insects crawling on them to sudden bouts of heat or cold. Another side effect of the curse is feeling overly strong emotions. Sadness is the main one, due to their predicament, but anger, happiness, and love are also stronger and more intense than before.

CINDERELLA characters:

Cinderella/Ella: Her name is simply Ella. The parts with her working for her evil stepparent and stepsisters are the same, except for the fact that her stepmother is now a stepfather, that is well-known by the nobility due to his growing company. When it comes to the ball, her fairy godmother gives her a different spell than the simple "go to the ball, and at midnight, your clothes will turn back into rags". Instead, the spell is that she needs to go to the ball and dance with the prince, or else at midnight, the magic pumpkin flowers she used to repair Ella's dress will grow around her and drag her back to the wild pumpkin patch they came from. Ella accepts, not seeing the true weight of the downside. When she goes to the ball, she dances with the man she believes to be the prince, having never seen the prince before and getting confused due to all the fancily dressed noblemen around her. When she is dragged to the pumpkin patch, she notices how the vines have grown into her ankles, keeping her grounded to the pumpkin patch. The worst part, however, is that she can go to the edges of the patch, but not far enough to get help. She makes one last wish with her fairy godmother, which is that true love's kiss will free her, with the catch of this wish being that it will not come for at least three years, then after a multitude of lovers may come around to try to free her with a kiss, with only one being her true love that will succeed.

Prince Charming/ Prince Maurice: Prince Maurice takes the role of Cinderella's "Prince Charming". He knows Cinderella's stepfather, Claude, due to how well-known his company is. Maurice has even met Claude to discuss the company. One of those meetings resulted in him meeting Cinderella, as she leads him to her father's office, with Cinderella not knowing that he was a prince because her father purposely kept her in the dark. This simple meeting results in him becoming completely obsessed with Cinderella. From scheduling more meetings to try to see her, to even going as far as dressing as a peasant to stalk her as she runs her errands. During the ball, he sees her and tries to get a dance with her, only for her to dance with multiple other men under the assumption that he was a simple company owner instead of the prince. When he hears that she is trapped in a pumpkin patch, and that only true love's kiss can save her, he immediately heads over to save her. In his eyes, his obsessive love is true love, meaning that they are meant to be. Depending on the version of the spell, his belief that his love is true is what makes the spell work, despite the fact that, objectively, he isn't in LOVE with her, he is in OBSESSION with her. In other versions, where his kiss doesn't work, he tries other ways to get her for himself.

THE LITTLE MERMAID characters:

The Little Mermaid/Emil: I saw somewhere that the original Little Mermaid was written by a homosexual man who failed to get with the love of his life, which was, of course, another man. So, I decided to make the Little Mermaid in this version of the story a male merfolk named Emil, who fell in love with a pirate captain instead of a prince. He makes a deal with the Sea Witch, Clara, to become a human for a day. If he doesn't get with the pirate captain by the dawn of the next day, he will turn back into a merfolk, which could result in him suffocating on land. He fails to get the captain to fall in love with him, resulting in him turning back into a merfolk while on the ship. The captain saves him by placing him in a large barrel full of seawater, where they kept fish to be sold or eaten by the crew. Instead of letting Emil go back to the sea, however, the captain instead decides to parade him around like a freakshow in order to get free gold from the numerous towns his crew stops by, with Emil having no real way to escape. As much as he tries to comfort himself with the fact that he is, in a way, a part of the captain's crew, it doesn't help because he has realized that the captain doesn't see him as a person.

PLAN TO ADD:

Beauty and the Beast

Sleeping Beauty