#hmmmm much to ponder

[kenmaiii]

forgot to share my twst OC Joona. figured he'd probably be in Pomefiore dorm!

-he's mid-to-late 20s -he's nicknamed Jojo by some, Junebug by Fel occasionally -figure when he came in through the mirror Crowley heard he just finished up his degree and was like "Great! you can teach here np" -so he's forced to do art classes part time at the school -_- not that he doesnt enjoy it but man.. -on top of that he probably still forces this guy to take classes all over again (thus the uniform) -havent decided if i want him to be completely magic-less or to have a very small amount u-u -unironically think him and Vil would be great friends, but they'd have a white girl wednesday incident at least once (probably when he hears him and Leona talking 😭) ive got to make a relationships chart later! -he majored in art but he has a minor in mimery. like actually. -he can talk his way into getting 98% of things if you let him but often chooses not to. he could if he wanted! -he has a strong resting face and monotone voice at times so i believe major expressions of emotion from him can sometimes startle others -Joona has a fairly rich background and parents that spoiled him and his siblings as long as they worked hard and didnt 'waste their time doing things half-assed and leaving things unfinished' end quote -he's got a mild soft spot for kids even though he's always sure they'd dislike him for having such a stoic face. he's the guy who doesn't quite know what to do when they start swinging on his arms -fondly calls Epel, Riddle, Ortho and Ruggie his 'lil cousins' -he's exclusively an older brother/parental figure to Gidel!

i love playing dress up with him so youre just going to see him in whatever amuses me

[spaceacekid]

So Conrad was the one who gave the doctor Belinda's name? Is this all going to come back? Many questions....

[lynxfrost13]

silly hypothetical question: if you could turn your ocs (any characters) story into any medium perfectly to your liking, what medium would you choose?

Hi Sosa!! Oh this is such a fun question ty for asking it!!

I know for sure that Awol’s story would fit really well into a short film, since I feel like it’s contained enough and stretching it out via a longer visual media like a movie would be more of a detriment than a help. I think Awol’s story would be fun to play around with in animation, in my mind I’d see her story done in a style like Scavenger’s Reign. That show has such great animation and there are some graphic violence scenes that I think have the same energy as how I imagine Awol’s own scene with the storch she killed in her tunnel. I also think there wouldn’t be a lot of dialogue in this short since it also fits her very quiet nature. I think layout wise it’d kind of go like

Activation + being a normal ARAR unit -> degradation and her interesting in painting -> some scenes of her stuff getting confiscated/cleaned out etc with maybe a moment of her cadre -> discovery of the abandoned tunnel and some fun scenes of her just absolutely going wild -> other RTS units stumbling upon her tunnel when she’s not there -> Storch sent down to clean it as punishment for some misbehavior or other (I think this would be the most dialogue, her just receiving her orders and then complaining) -> Awol returning to her now barren sanctuary and seeing the storch -> brutal fight between the two that ends with Awol killing her -> closes with Awol painting the walls again and maybe the dead storch still in the shot bc I think that would go hard -> fin.

The next story that I definitely have a clear idea for would be the VDF-5’s whole ordeal told through a primarily Hollenhund POV as an animated show. Tbh if I could have all of my characters animated in the style of arcane I would in fact keel over and die from joy and I fear my answer for some other concepts style wise would also be this choice due to my personal tastes but I’m trying to think of what would best suit each story over what I just like. That being said the VDF-5 story I absolutely would love in studio Fortiche’s arcane style because I think the mix of animated expressiveness as well as the realism of how people look would be really good for the overall tone of the hypothetical show. I think the 2d elements of the style would be fun to explore in a sci-fi setting and it’d be perfect for fight scenes between characters as well.

As for the actual layout of the show (otherwise this might turn into gushing abt arcane’s style oops) I’d want it contained to one season. I just think it works well as a self contained story told in 45-60 min episodes. Also Sosa I am gonna get to ur ask abt Hollenhund so I will be yapping about her more in that 😭 but if it was told from her POV primarily I think the episode layout would look something like being divided by the first chunk being much earlier and letting us see Schrott in her prime during the war and her losing her cadre, Hollenhund at her Vinetan facility, and Essig and Honig’s early friendship and assignment to the VDF-5 -> time skip and all four of our main players are brought together on the VDF-5, Schrott as her wretched present self with Hollenhund under her wing, and then the friendship of Honig and Hollenhund (man I need to make a relationship chart I fear) and seeing Essig starting to crack under the strain of commanding her ship -> final chunk showing increasing tensions between our players as well as with external issues, until the imperial blockade finally beats the ship. I’m not explaining it the best right now but ideally I’d want to highlight war (war bad basically lol) and focus on replikas who were products for war, and were neglected as individuals. I swear it’s all so much clearer in my head 😭

Moving on to Kosmos and Dorredt, I think the medium that’d best suit their story would be a video game! Specifically an exploration type one, I’d imagine it having the cozy and adventurous vibes of a game like slime rancher while having gameplay that let you play as both Kosmos and Dorredt, letting you control both of them and having them work together during outer space adventures (like categorizing asteroids or mining from them, exploring, outside ship repair, etc) as well as inside ship tasks like tending to the hydroponics or more maintenance, etc. That’d be the gameplay all while narratively you’d be exploring Kosmos and Dorredt as characters and “helping” their relationship grow over time. Ideally I’d want it to be a bittersweet sort of end with the game coming to a close after receiving a transmission from AEON potentially/not hearing anything at all -> the two of them essentially living out their service lives until both Kosmos and Dorredt can’t function like they used to and eventually die, abandoned by AEON (sorryyyy 😔). I’d want it to be a really sweet and cute game but yeah also with that slightly depressing undertone. I also think that having something like cutscenes in a cute anime type style would be really fun as one of the ways to do storytelling in it. Visually for the rest of the game though I’d imagine it in a more low poly cute style like earlier pokemon games maybe? Something that’d give a nod back to signalis at least. Also could you imagine how cute 2d dialogue sprites of the girls would be 🥹

Last but not least, Holt and Wanze! I really struggled to think of something for them but I wanted to, and ultimately I think a 45-60 minute per episode single season show would also work really well for them. I think animation would be really fun to play with especially when it comes to bioresonance and a look inside Wanze’s mind. Style wise I think I’d want it to be something like The Lovers trailer for them as replikas

Plot wise I have a clearer idea just because I’ve had them and their story longer but I think it’d start with setting up Holt becoming a senior medical replika at sierpinski + Wanze and her role as a kolibri -> Wanze then losing her bioresonance and freaking out after Holt patches her up -> their ensuing strained patient and caretaker relationship to the weird one sided dependency -> their friendship and mutual crushes and eventual romantic relationship -> the flesh and holt’s death with it ending on Wanze alive and alone. As well as throughout the show seeing the background happenings of sierpinski and Holt and Wanze’s relationships to characters like Sieben, Adler, and the rest of the kolibri cadre, etc. I think vibe wise it’d be kinda dark both in terms of aesthetic due to well. Sierpinski. But also the looming threat throughout the show of degradation and ensuing decommission and how Wanze is on extremely thin ice throughout as she struggles with everything.

Now if I did their human AU I’d still love to have it as a show, but in the style of an older anime like Monster (fitting considering the hospital/doctor stuff lmao) or maybe studio ghibli (AUGH old lady Holt in ghibli style. I’m gonna explode)

Plot wise I think that one would be less grim atmospherically but it would still be depressing as hell in the end. It’d go similarly with Wanze injury (I’d imagine human AU she’d be like knight AU and lose an eye maybe) -> holt patch up -> the difference in this show would be that Holt and Wanze wouldn’t have to keep their romantic relationship hidden to stay alive so there’d be a lot more slice of life sweet moments -> Holt getting diagnosed with brain cancer and not telling Wanze for a while so they can keep living happily -> Holt’s decline as the tumor affects her memory and motor control -> her death in this AU too. I think vibe wise this would be a lot more lighthearted and fluffy when it comes to the two of them.

[brown-little-robin]

How self-insert-y do I want to get with this new oc 🤔

[rottenrottweiler]

Dean tells Amara that she doesn't really want to be alone. And that's why she wanted Dean. But only because she can't have the thing she really wants.. her brother.. so, Dean, what you are saying is that Amara used you as a replacement for her brother? And she kissed you and you were both attracted to eachother? She used a romantic/sexual relationship to replace her sibling bond? Interesting...

[cobra-wives]

my lurking around others' reviews on marty's movies on letterboxd have discovered a movie challenge called kovember - marty movie november. i think that is absolutely adorable that people were dedicating their novembers to watching his movies, but also - is 30 days REALLY enough to sit down for marty? lol.

[avid-adoxography]

maybe..,. maybe it's time I finally add Ten Piedad to my f/os list.

But watch out.

[greyeyedmonster-18]

(yah know, i hear the “we dont need to suffer to create art”

and i raise you “well if thats true how come since the beginning of november ive been consistently inspired and creative and making art and writing again after a 2.5 year drought?”)

[sodabread]

Philosophizing about the head I got

[jayvikyuri]

autism diagnosis yayyy

[gwyoi]

Both my phone and my work computer are having connectivity issues . Interesting

[thesunsethour]

writing terza rima in english is so difficult this language sucks

[thrushppelt]

>shard having a meow that sounds like more of a bark. Hisses in her sleep. Stocky in build. Wont come to terms that she regrets becoming leader and/or being w mouse

>mouse being just a big fucken guy. Talks in hisses and Never knows how to relax. Mind always racing always Calculating.

[nanaslutt]

Somno w/ perv!Gojo

contains: fem reader, somnophillia (having sex while one party is asleep), pre-established consent, fantasizing, ass play, unprotected sex, so much dirty talk, cum eating, whiny!gojo

note: I wasted no time w/ plot, straight into the smut babyy

MDNI

°❀⋆.ೃ࿔*:･°❀⋆.ೃ࿔*:･°❀⋆.ೃ࿔*:･°❀⋆.ೃ࿔*:･°❀⋆.ೃ

Your door creaked open, the light from the hallway leaking into your room and revealing your sleeping frame, snug underneath the covers of your bedsheets. Gojo tip-toed into the room, careful to not wake you before the fun even started.

Gojo had brought up to you earlier in the week he wanted to try fucking you when you were sleeping, but he didn't want to tell you when he was going to do it, instead the man gave you a vague timeframe-- 'sometime this week', he claimed it would 'make it more exciting'.

You gave your consent, resulting in the biggest grin spreading across his face. Promises fell from his lips that he would make you feel so fucking good while you dreamed about his cock inside you as he actually had his way with you in real life.

Your upper half was clad in one of Gojo's t-shirts, the cloth having scrunched up your body from your movement as you slept, revealing your midriff. Gojo crept through your room, palming his already hard cock through his pants as he made his way to the opposite side of your bed. With slow cautious movements, Gojo slipped under the covers and wrapped his arms around your body, his hands resting on your tummy, his fingers rubbing the soft skin soothingly.

Satoru bit his lip as he felt you up, his cock pressed snugly against your ass as he cuddled you, trying to get your sleeping body used to being touched before he actually fucked you. Gojo was so aroused by this situation. You trusting him enough to touch you while you were asleep made his cock so hard it threatened to rip through his pants. You looked so pretty, so vulnerable, all for him.

Gojo humped his hips into your ass slowly as he fondled your sleeping body. His hands slid under your shirt to grope your tits, his warm hans engulfing the fat of your chest as he massaged them in his large hands, his cock twitching at how soft they felt in his grasp.

"Fuck… you're so pretty baby…" Gojo whispered, kissing the back of your head before he placed his head in the crook of your neck, watching his hands move under your shirt, feeling up your chest. His eyes slid over to your face as he watched your eyebrows scrunch slightly when he pinched your nipples between his fingers, rolling the stiff buds.

"Does that feel good?" He whispered, biting his lip as he kept his eyes glued to your face, desperate for any other small reactions you had in your sleep. "You dreamin' about me right now?" He asked, knowing he would get no response. "Wonder what 'ur dreamin' about…" Gojo pondered, pressing his hips harder against you, his clothed cock fitting perfectly between your ass cheeks.

"Hmmmm," Gojo mumbled into the quiet room, the soft sounds of air breathing through the vent on your ceiling. "How should I take you?" He asked himself out loud, one of his hands retracting from your tits to slide down his body, grabbing the band of his pants.

Satoru slid his checkered pants and boxers off with one hand, his hard cock springing free and slapping against his abdomen, the precum already accumulated on his tip and smearing onto the skin of his pelvis. After his pants had been kicked off, discarded somewhere on the ground, Gojo grabbed the base of his cock and slapped it lightly against your panty-clad ass.

"I could fuck your tight asshole right now and you would never know, huh?" Gojo whispered, pulling the covers off of your body before he grabbed his cock once more and pressed his fat tip against your covered asshole, pressing against it. "Unless you woke up, heh." He laughed to himself, slowly thrusting his tip against your ass.

"Would you want that?" Gojo whispered, wrapping his arms around your body once more, his naked cock being pressed between your soft cheeks as he rolled your body so you were laying fully on your stomach, your legs closed together as your ass was presented nice and pretty for him. Gojo placed his hands on the bed next to your shoulders, his hips pressed snugly into your ass as he dry-humped his cock against you, his pre-cum being smeared against your skin.

"Would you be scared if you woke up to my cock inside your ass?" Gojo groaned, his cock twitching at the idea. You made a small noise in your sleep, your eyebrows scrunching together once more when he pressed his cock harder against you. "Yeah?" Gojo giggled at your perfectly timed reaction to his words.

"Don't worry baby, I won't do it… this time." He reassured you, even though you didn't hear a word he said. Gojo humped his hips hard against your ass, keeping his dick pressed against you for a moment before he pulled away and sat on the back of your thighs. "Gotta get you ready for me, pretty girl," Gojo said, his long fingers sliding your panties down slowly off of your body. The small cloth sticking to your cunt from how wet you were as he peeled them away.

A string of your slick connected to the cloth, a sight that Gojo's eyes did not miss. "Oh fuck, you already wet for me, princess?" He groaned under his breath, his cock twitching at the sight. It was at that moment that Gojo decided he needed to have a taste of you, just working you open on his fingers was not going to be enough.

Gojo shook his head as he slid threw his leg over your body, both of his legs resting on one side of you as he peeled your panties down the length of your legs, slipping your feet out of the holes. Your comforter got dragged off of you from Gojo's ministrations, leaving your body at his complete mercy.

Gojo grabbed your shins and peeled your legs open from the end of the bed, his hands sliding up and up and up your legs as he made room for himself, your legs spread just enough for him to lay down between them as you laid on your stomach, your cunt and cute puckered hole exposed for his all-seeing eyes to feast upon.

"Your pussy is so fucking cute, baby." Gojo praised, shaking his head in disbelief as he spread your ass apart, your pussy lips spreading in tandem. "You can feel all of this huh? 'S that why you're so wet? Am I touching you in your dreams right now?" Gojo teased, his words only egging himself on.

Gojo placed both of his massive hands on your ass, massaging the fat in his hands, his watchful eyes taking in the way your pussy squished together as he groped you. He leaned his face close to your cunt, inhaling deeply as he took in your scent, his cock squished between his tummy and the sheets twitching when the sweet scent of your cunt reached his nose.

His eyes rolled back in his head as he groped and sniffed you like some pervert. He wanted to take this time when you were asleep to do things you would otherwise be too embarrassed to let him do while you were awake. "Let's see if this wakes you up," Gojo mumbled before he leaned in fully, suffocating himself between your ass, his tongue poking out between his lips to taste your cunt, the appendage running up your folds.

He heard you whimper when his tongue brushed your clit, the small sound spurring him on, making his cock twitch against your sheets. Gojo shut his eyes as he pressed his face harder against you, his tongue wasting no time in hastily licking all around your pussy. His hands spread apart your ass, the pad of one of his thumbs dangerously close to your puckered hole.

Gojo moaned into your folds, your legs twitching at the sensitive feeling when the vibrations sent shockwaves into your clit. Gojo pulled away, his greedy eyes taking in how wet and sloppy your cunt looked from just a few seconds with his tongue. "God, you taste so fucking good." He groaned before he dove back in, his face burring deeper against you, suffocating himself so he could take your clit into his mouth, his tongue flicking against it as he sucked it between his lips.

He felt the little thing throb in his mouth as he beat his tongue against it, making him giggle. The pad of his thumb got more bold as he went on, the digit pressing against it slightly, rubbing teasing circles against it, not daring to push any further. Gojo rut his hips into the bed, unable to hold back his arousal from how much this situation was turning him on.

He shook his head against your folds before he pulled back with a gasp, his jaw dropped open as he heaved air into his lungs. "How are you staying asleep, huh? Thought my tongue would wake you up for sure." Gojo whispered, astonished. While he caught his breath, getting ready to dive back into your cunt, a small bottle on your bedside table caught his attention. The bottle being illuminated perfectly by the light seeping in from the hallway like a spotlight.

The little white label on the bottle read 'sleeping pills'. Gojo licked his lips, groaning into the air when he realized why you were sleeping so well. "You're so fucking naughty. You really wanted me to have my way with you while you're asleep huhhh~?" Gojo cooed, feeling his cock leak pre-cum into your sheets at the revelation. "Didn't even try 'n hide it." He giggled.

"Alright, I'll give you what you want," Gojo mumbled before he leaned back in, his tongue immediately poking at the entrance of your cunt. His tongue slipped in with ease, your walls squeezing around his tongue as he worked you open, thrusting his tongue in and out of your tight hole. "Mmmm-" Gojo moaned, one of his hands leaving your ass to slide under his body to wrap around his cock, his hips thrusting into the tight hole he made with his fist, his eyes rolling back as he fucked his hand while he drank up your juices.

As much as Gojo was enjoying eating your pussy like this, he didn't know how much longer he could go without being inside you. His fist usually did the job of tidying him over while he stretched you out for his cock, but it just wasn't doing it for him right now, he needed to be inside you before he lost his mind.

Gojo continued to stretch you out on his tongue, his hand jerking over his length, smearing his pre-cum over his cock as it leaked continuously from his tip, making a mess of your sheets. He opened his mouth against your pussy, sticking his tongue into your cunt as far as it could go and shaking his head against you one last time before he pulled away and sat up immediately.

"I can't take this shit anymore." Gojo groaned, his cock throbbing in the air as he used his large hands to press your thighs together, his hips straddled the backs of your thighs, right under your ass as he got ready to give you his cock. "I know you want it just as bad as I do, isn't that right?" He cooed. Gojo grabbed the base of his cock and slapped his leaky tip on your ass before he pressed his cock between your legs, his cock being hugged by your thighs and pussy from the position he had you in.

"Fuckkkk…" He grits through his teeth, rubbing his tip along your pussy before he caught his tip in your entrance. "Take my cock baby." Gojo groaned as he began feeding his cock into your tight walls. He groaned at how greedily your pussy sucked up his cock, your walls hugging around him each time he pulled out like you didn't want him to leave as he got you used to his cock.

"You want me bad huh?" He whined, taking pleasure in the feeling of your thighs squeezing together, your body trying to bring you relief even in your sleep. Gojo leaned over your body, his arms perched on either side of your body as he fucked the entirety of his cock into you, keeping his hips flush against yours as he relished in the feeling of your walls pulsing around him.

"Fuck baby, 'ur killin' me." Gojo let out a lengthy groan, tipping his head back as his eyes rolled back in his head, his eyelids fluttering around them, his body struggling to deal with the intense pleasure. You always felt so fucking tight in this position, it drove him crazy. "Thank god you're asleep… I'm not going to last very long. 'Pussy is squeezing me like crazy, fuck-." Gojo moaned to himself as he pulled his cock out a couple of inches before thrusting it back into you.

You gasped in your sleep, your cunt clenching around his cock as he repeatedly drilled right into your sweet spot. "Ngh-! Loosen up baby, c'mon…" Gojo whined, biting his bottom lip between his teeth, his thrusts pausing as he fought to not fill your cunt with his cum so soon. It would be a shame to end this so quickly.

You didn't listen, of course, your cunt continuing to squeeze and pulse around him, even when he kept his hips still against you. "Fuck… just what are you dreaming about?" Gojo giggled through a groan as he pulled his hips back, humping them against your ass, the fat rippling from his ministrations.

"Better be dreaming about me," Gojo said through his teeth posessively. Gojo dropped his eyes down to look at where the two of you were connected as he picked up the pace of his hips, the squelching from your pussy reaching his ears and making his face heat up, a deep blush spreading across his face.

Gojo felt his balls tighten with his release the longer he watched his cock fuck in and out of you, a white ring of your cum forming around the base of his cock each time he thrust inside you. Gojo was fighting to keep his whimpers and whines at bay. Barely five minutes inside your cunt as he was a pussydrunk mess, his jaw slack as moan after moan fell from his lips.

"Fuck- fuck- fuck- ohhhh my god-" He groaned, inhaling sharply through his teeth. "Oh fuck I'm gonna cum- I'm gonna cum-" He moaned, his fingers digging into the sheets by the sides of your body, his breath picking up, his breathing raising in pitch. He sounded so pathetic and fucked out as your pussy absolutely milked his cock.

He tried not to be too rough, he knew those sleeping pills did a lot, but if he really manhandled you and abused your cunt like he wanted to as he got closer to his orgasm, he knew you would wake up. "Fuck I'm gonna cum inside you- take it for me, take- fuck-" Gojo's words got cut off as his hips stilled against you, his orgasm hitting him like a train.

His arms shook with the pressure of keeping his torso up, trying not to let his body fall and crush you completely. Gojo groaned as he rolled his hips against yours, releasing rope after rope of his hot cum deep inside your pussy. "Nghhhh~ Oh shit, are you c-cumming right now?" Gojo whimpered, watching your pussy pulse around him, the feeling alarmingly similar to the way it did when you came.

Your legs were also shaking, your thighs pressing together slightly as your own orgasm washed over you. "Oh yeah baby cum, cum for me." Gojo praised, watching with a slack jaw as your body shook, small whimpers and whines falling from your lips, your eyebrows scrunching together in pleasure.

When you loosened up around him, Gojo slowly pulled his cock out of you, the cum he just fucked into you chasing his cock, some of the white liquid dripping out of your pussy. Gojo tsked, his long fingers coming down to scoop up his seed as he thrust his fingers into you, stuffing his cum back inside of you. "Keep it all in. Want you to know exactly what happened when you wake up in the morning." Gojo said to your sleeping body.

Your breathing had gone back to normal, the only thing noticeably different about you being the blush that was dusted across your cheeks from cumming so hard. Gojo pulled his fingers out, holding them in front of him as he turned them around, watching in awe at how they shone under the light from your combined cum coating them.

Gojo took one more look at your face, making sure you really were asleep before he sucked his fingers into his mouth, moaning at the taste of himself combined with your cum as his greedy tongue licked his fingers clean, swallowing up the slightly bitter liquid.

Gojo's cock twitched with interest at the taste, a part of his brain telling him to finger you again so he could taste more of himself. The majority of his brain, however, was begging him to go to sleep. It was the middle of the night, after all, he had waited quite some time to make sure you were fully asleep before he came to fuck you.

With a sigh, Gojo reached over to the side of the bed where he had placed your panties. He leaned down and thread your feet through the holes as he dragged the material up your legs, over your hips, and back into place snuggly against your cunt like nothing had happened.

Gojo pat his hand over your sensitive cunt, "Keep my cum deep inside you like a good girl~" He teased, smirking before he leaned down to grab the comforter, sliding underneath it with you as he laid it snugly over your body, manipulating you so you were laying on your side, Gojo's body wrapping around yours like a koala.

"I love you, pretty girl. Thank you for trusting me." He whispered, pressing a kiss to your head before he buried his head in the back of your neck, squeezing your body as his brain quickly fell asleep, the two of you staying pressed snugly against one another until the next morning when you awoke to Satoru's little present that he left inside of you.

[thegildedbee]

:: March 4 :: Selection for Week 10 of 2025 :: 🐝"a study in scarlet" (1887) from sherlock holmes: a year of quotes* 🖊️

"I never read such rubbish in my life." "What is it?" asked Sherlock Holmes. "Why, this article," I said, pointing at it with my egg spoon as I sat down to my breakfast. "I see that you have read it since you have marked it. I don't deny that it is smartly written. It irritates me though. It is evidently the theory of some armchair lounger who evolves all these neat little paradoxes in the seclusion of his own study. It is not practical. I should like to see him clapped down in a third class carriage on the Underground, and asked to give the trades of all his fellow-travellers. I would lay a thousand to one against him." "You would lose your money," Sherlock Holmes remarked calmly. "As for the article, I wrote it myself."

The first two chapters of A Study in Scarlet are a master-class in writing -- and although I've made desultory dissections of them multiple times, it seems that no matter how much I deposit into the dusty trunk in my mental lumber room, oddly enough, the interior space never seems to fill up. Hmmmm.

So, the appearance of this article, "The Book of Life," which sports a "pencil mark at the heading," occurs simultaneously with the curious incident of the flatmates at the breakfast table. What curious incident, you may ask? That Holmes was already ensconced at the table before Watson's arrival, when -- heretofore -- "he had invariably breakfasted and gone out before I rose in the morning." And yet, on March 4th, Watson arrives somewhat earlier than is his norm (some manipulation on Holmes's part?), and it seems likely Holmes lingered somewhat later than his norm, and there, placed to hand, the periodical in question, containing an article that not so subtly announces: "read me!"

You can see, no doubt, where I'm going with this :-) Watson has been fascinated by Holmes over the many weeks they've shared digs, and one of the objectives of his Sherlock-sleuthing has been the effort to fathom what in the devil his fellow lodger's occupation may be, reticent as he himself is to inquire straight off. I imagine Holmes has been equally fascinated by Watson, and fascinated by Watson's responses to Holmes's being, and has been deliberately mum on the topic of his lifework just to see how Watson proceeds in consequence. How likely is it that Holmes has ever had such an up-close and personal continuous opportunity to observe another individual? That in itself was likely an addictive circumstance. I find it hard to believe that Holmes was unaware of Watson's perplexity, and therefore had, for whatever reason, decided that March 4 was the day the question was to be answered, in a manner of his own choosing. So: in which periodical did "The Book of Life" appear? This is, admittedly, a tangential question and likely there is little to be gained by trying to posit a realistic option (and here I've no doubt made it obvious as to why it is taking me so long to process two (!) chapters). . . . Nonetheless :-) I reckon that the periodical would be a weekly, because that would allow Holmes, after however many weeks he and Watson had been not-answering the question, to be able to arrange for the article to appear at a non-too-distant time, once he had hit on the idea of using TBofL as his door-opener -- to the world, and to Watson. That is, I don't think it is a coincidence that this event happens when it does (and the universe would never be so lazy, correct? :-) After pondering and hunting, my candidate is Nature, which was founded in 1869, and in which it was not unusual for articles to appear without an attributed author. I think that the Proceedings of the Royal Society are unlikely as Holmes isn't FRS, and the dry exactitude of the essay rules out a general interest publication intended for entertainment. Nature seems to hit the sweet spot between these two poles. As editor Walter Gratzer notes in A Bedside Nature: Genius and Eccentricity in Science, 1869-1953, the journal was filled with material such as "leisurely ruminations on phenomena involving rainbows and lightning and the curious behaviour of ants and pet spaniels," and of reports from all over the globe, such as those of the Astronomical Society of Riga and the Montevideo Natural History Association. I propose, therefore, that Nature is likely to be a congenial home for the purported article.

And in taking a closer look at the period roughly from 1873-1891 (Holmes and Watson are held to have met in 1881), here are some indications of the potpourri of topics one would find within the pages of Nature: observations on how tuning-forks affect garden spiders; whether scorpions are suicide-prone; if sea urchins are capable of altruism; and a weighing of evidence that animals have a sense of humour. Surely there is room for a report within Nature's pages on how observations on "The Book of Life" might best be conducted?

But consider as well: there is an article by Francis Galton on the genetics of criminality; an article on the chemistry of cremation; a review of a work of geometry by Charles Ludwige Dodgson and his construction of an algorithm for finding the day of the week for any given date; reports on the physics of surface tension by Agnes Pockets, a German woman who had not been allowed to attend university and used her kitchen as a laboratory; and "The Remarkable Discovery of a Murder in Bermuda" (of a man who had killed his wife, weighted her corpse, and deposited it in the ocean, calculating "truly enough that the fish would very soon destroy all means of identification; but it never entered into his head that as they did their ravages, combined with the process of decomposition, would set free the matter which was to write the traces of his crime on the surface of the water"). I rest my case :-) Sherlock Holmes himself subscribed to Nature, and announced the arrival of the science of deduction within its pages! The readers of A Study in Scarlet might themselves have made such a comparative observation, underscoring -- between the lines -- a strong indication of Holmes's membership within the scientific community, broadly understood. And, for fun, two more examples of the congeniality of Nature's topics in this time period and the Sherlock Holmes stories: 1) the first is editor Norman Lockyear's stamp of approval for Jules Verne: "For in the author we have a science teacher of a new kind. He has forsaken the beaten track, bien entendu; but acknowledging in him a travelled Frenchman with a keen eye and vivid imagination--and no slight knowledge of the elements of science -- we do not see how he could have more usefully employed his talents." and

2) A rhapsody on the introduction of the Remington Typewriter: "The principal question which this beautiful and ingenious little instrument suggests to our minds is, whether it would not be better for every one of us to learn the Morse telegraph language, and employ it for writing upon all occasions instead of the cumbrous letters now in vogue." (Oh, and it was here that William Gladstone published his argument that Homer was colour-blind, which apparently excited much heated discussion!) [If you're curious about the question of color identification (and how blue and green figure into this in particular) here's a good place to start (in today's world): "The way you see colour depends on what language you speak." . . . And, guess what, I haven't even had time to consider the specifics of Watson's remarks! I am a slave of the digression . . .

...................................................... *Levi Stahl and Stacey Shintani, eds., U of Chicago Pr, 2019

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[fivelasanctum]

Everything is real

S03 ep.07 and S04 ep.06 parallel: Been doing my rewatch of the series and noticed this gem inside Lila's psyche when she was talking to Allison being reminiscent of her yelling that her and five's life in the alternate timelines wasn't real. A blatant contradiction to what she mentioned here. "This isn't real Five! None of this is real!" -Lila S04 ep.05 Events when time travelling are real and still impact you, just can happen quickly and feel like a whirlwind. She also goes to mention to have something or someone to focus on to essentially keep you sane and grounded.

Five comes in right after they have this conversation, zooming in on him as he came to fetch them for the plan. Hmmmm...xD When Five and her get lost in the subway time travelling system, her focus point is her kids. Just as Lila became Five's purpose for surviving. To protect her and try to get her back home to them. Five also became her focus point. Just secondary to their shared goal. Being together, relying on the other for survival (initially), comfort and affection. Eventually falling for each other since they can sit down and have time to see how they are mirrors of each other in many ways. Lila has shown she has mental barriers both around her heart and mind. Self preservation. Much like Five with his own control over his emotions and keeping others at a distance from all his years alone and serving as an assassin. Lila has the same trauma... with being brought up by the handler and living in the same life. She lied about Stanley to Diego as a way to test him if he would be a good father because she was scared and didn't want to be rejected. Possibly lying about being with many people to make him jealous. Mind games that she probably was taught by the Handler.

In the above images you can see that lila is a very human character with inexplicable flaws. Seeing herself far too broken to have a family and cowardly. She tends to go for the jugular to hurt when she has been harmed or upset emotionally. She goes into denial and tries to run away from her problems to a certain extent. Whereas Five has always cut to the quick with his brutal honesty. Telling her Diego loves her but also the cold truth of how her mother never did. Making her almost cry so she lashed out by diminishing his experience by calling Dolores out for what she actually was. Something to note from their argument in season 4 leading up to their return to their present timeline. He confronted her about what they shared in all those years and that the marriage was broken. Lila lies to herself sometimes and wanted to run away from having to think about anything outside of seeing her kids.

I strongly feel she said those words to Five about it being all about survival and it not being real because she felt betrayed with his lies. Even though his words weren't wrong. She couldn't say anything to his reasoning for doing it. "You know why." Still - it's true to her character. When she saw the hurt on her lovers face...think that's when most of the anger faded from her. Replaced with a sense of powerlessness, sadness and resignment. Yearning to stay there in their happiness bubble (it was still their Anniversary when all this went down) but needing to have her kids back. She appeared as though she was ready to cry because in her heart she didn't want anything to change regarding the two of them. Just trying to push him away yet can't stand hurting him. Perhaps it's difficult for her to hold herself back from that defense mechanism.

This is the look of someone eager to get back to her old married life with the kids right? Again, ready to cry with the situation weighing heavy on her heart. Think why she had tunnel vision to focus on just seeing her kids again was because she didn't want to ponder what happens next with her relationship with Five, talking to Diego...figuring everything out. Damn. This was suppose to be a short post but turned into a mini essay. In short...she was lying about what they have not being real. Just tried to push it away due to in the moment anger with the reveal.