#left brain right brain is just a big musical number with several skills taking different lines

[volivolition]

Yoooo Voli I made ya a Electrochemistry × Volition playlist https://open.spotify.com/playlist/19Au6o98AzOf4hEGLMHKtB?si=7kBYYWAhSR-TuLPYicpgYg&pi=a-iR4K2sFbQsWA

also I can't DM you bc you don't follow me, LEMME IN PLS :3

oh hi hello! oooh, hold on, lemme add the link so its clickable. some cool songs in here, thank you for sharing :D!!

also yeah, sorry! :'3 DMs make me nervous and uncomfortable unfortunately, and i much prefer communicating through asks and comments if thats cool!!

[aph-english-rose]

Office Talk

So I originally wrote this fic for usuk week but was completely swamped with work and missed it. I’ve decided that instead of leaving it completed but abandoned that I’ll post even though the event it was intended for has been and gone. 

This was inspired by the 2021 usuk week prompt for day 1: Rumours! 

Paring: USUK

Words: 2711

Summary: Arthur has been the centre of many rumours since taking on the role of personal assistant. However, the most recent rumour floating around the office appears to be based upon more than just gossip. 

You can also read it on AO3 or on FF.Net

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Arthur knew that something was off the moment he walked into the break room. Francis was lingering suspiciously beside the kettle in the corner, his lower back resting against the countertop. His fingertips were wrapped around an obnoxiously coloured reusable coffee cup, eyes staring off into the distance until he heard Arthur enter.

“Well, well, well… if it isn’t the man himself,” He remarked as Arthur approached him. 

Naturally, Francis - being the irritating twit that he was – had positioned himself awkwardly in front of the kettle, the only thing Arthur needed to use in the entire breakroom. Francis never attempted to move out his way, watching in amusement as Arthur struggled around him. He barely even flinched when Arthur ‘accidentally’ elbowed him on the back of the head as he pulled out two reusable cups in monotone colours and set them on the counter.

“Are you planning to move at all?” Arthur huffed, a scowl forming on his face as he flicked the kettle to boil. Francis merely smirked at him from behind his coffee cup and took a loud slurp of his drink. Arthur felt his left eye twitch. Although he knew Francis was simply playing and meant no harm, the Frenchman knew full well what tiny little things made Arthur’s teeth grind. Knowing that Francis had no intentions of moving, Arthur worked around him, reaching across the counter for a tea bag and placing it in one of the cups along with two spoonsful of sugar. In the other, Arthur poured the perfect amount of coffee granules.

“You’re the talk of the office this morning you know.”

“Why? What have I done this time?” Arthur asked, squeezing himself into the tiny gap Francis had left for him where the corners of the countertops met. He mirrored Francis’ stance, his back leaning against the counter and his arms folded against his chest as the kettle whistled away behind him. They were unnecessarily close, their arms pressed against each other, but neither made the motion to shuffle up and make more space. If Francis wanted to play this game, then Arthur was happy to oblige. Besides, in a battle such as this both knew Arthur was the most stubborn and wouldn’t back down. Arthur knew that eventually Francis would lose interest. Luckily, being this close didn’t bring much discomfort. Arthur had known Francis since they were teenagers. They had grown up together and as a much as they enjoyed winding each other up, Arthur knew it was merely playful banter and that Francis genuinely cared about him.

“There is a rather juicy rumour floating around.”

“How lovely.”

“Even I am starting to wonder if it’s true and you know I’m not one for rumours.”

Arthur snorted a laugh, turning to make his drinks as soon as the kettle had come to boil. Arthur didn’t believe Francis for a single second. Francis was the biggest gossiper in the entire office. The only reason Arthur knew half the employees in the building was because of Francis and his inability to stay quiet. He thrived off the tales, bouncing from one person to another until he had heard all sides of story. Only then, when he had figured out the facts, did he pester Arthur with the information. Sometimes Arthur wondered if he was in the wrong career. Surely someone with such skills would make an impressive investigator.

“Of course not. Are you going to tell me this rumour or am I going to find out from Linda when she comes to clean up this evening?”

“Oh, I’ll tell you. I’m just not sure you’re going to like what you hear with this one.”

That made Arthur’s curiosity tingle. A rumour about him that he wouldn’t like? How interesting. Arthur had been the subject of many rumours during his time in the office, all of which were utterly ridiculous and contained no ounce of truth to them. The previous rumour that had involved Arthur claimed he were a vampire enslaved by his boss to carry out his orders. It was so absurd that he and Francis had cried laughing for hours to a point where Arthur was concerned that he would have to ring an ambulance.

However, this time, Francis appeared cautious. Had he already figured out the facts and concluded that Arthur would react negatively to such rumours floating around? It made Arthur’s thoughts race, sifting through his previous schedule for something out of the ordinary for such rumours to spark. Had he acted differently whilst on shift? Had someone caught him talking to himself? Surely not. Arthur’s one-way conversations were always contained to the privacy of his office or an empty elevator. The most that Arthur ever did whilst at work was go up and down in elevators for coffee breaks, answer the constantly ringing phone, book appointments and sift through thousands upon thousands of emails.

“I’m listening,” Arthur said as he finished making the drinks. Once again, he worked around Francis, returning everything to their rightful positions and throwing the spoon he had used into the sink to wash later. Once the coffee cup lids had been clicked into place, Arthur carefully gathered them into his hands. They were pleasantly warm, the reusable cups doing their job at holding in the heat so Arthur could carry them without fear of burning himself.

“Well,” Francis started as they left the break room together. “Gilbert told me, that Erzsébet told him, that she heard from Emma, that Michelle saw you down at that Italian place with the big boss last night.”

Arthur almost spat out the sip of tea he had taken. He spluttered as he struggled to swallow the hot liquid, glaring at Francis as he harshly pounded his back. When Arthur finally felt like he could breathe again, he jabbed an elbow into Francis’ side to stop him from hitting him again. He was cautiously aware of the way the boiling drinks his hands were sloshing around in their cups, waiting for the opportune moment to spill all over him.

Arthur out on a date? With their boss of all people? How ludicrous.  Arthur desperately tried to prevent the heat rising to his cheeks, taking a steadying breath in an attempt to slow his quickening heart rate.

“How utterly ridiculous.”

“Were you?”

“Are you honestly asking me that?”

“You know as well as I that Michelle isn’t usually the type to start rumours.”

“Perhaps she’s turned over a new leaf.”

“You’re avoiding the question.”

Francis gave him a stern look that told Arthur he wouldn’t rest until his questions were answered. Looking down the hall ahead, Arthur saw the elevator and immediately his strides grew faster.

“Francis, I’m Alfred’s personal assistant. I am paid to follow him around, schedule his day and generally do as he asks. The only way I would voluntarily spend time with him outside of business hours were if the bloke were to pay me a hefty sum of money,” He explained, watching as Francis kindly pressed the elevator button for him.

“I had to ask!” Francis grinned, holding up the single hand that wasn’t holding his cup in innocence. The gentle ping of the elevator arriving on their floor sounded like music to Arthur’s ears, the doors opening slowly and revealing it to be empty. Arthur felt like he had been blessed. Drinks in hand, Arthur backed into the elevator and quirked a suspicious eyebrow at Francis who remained where he was.

“Of course you did. Oh, tell Gilbert, Erzsébet, Emma and Michelle to stop gossiping and get on with their work. Alfred doesn’t pay them to sit around and spread rumours about his assistant.”

“But gossiping is so fun!” Francis pouted, blue eyes watching as Arthur jabbed a finger into the elevator panel, signalling his exit. “It makes my day go faster. Plus, I’m not sure I believe you anyway. Your cheeks are red and you have your liar face on.”

“Goodbye Francis,” Arthur smirked, holding up one of the cups in a gesture of farewell as the doors began to close. He could see the way Francis narrowed his eyes at him, uncertain of the truth within the rumour.

As soon as the doors clinked closed and the elevator began to rise, Arthur let out a long sigh. What a morning it had been so far. The elevator took him up several floors uninterrupted. Arthur was thankful for the peace and quiet. When it arrived on the correct floor, the familiar ping sounded, and the doors opened slowly this time onto an extremely quiet floor of the building.

Arthur stepped out and made his way down the hallway ahead. Looking down at the carpet, he was surprised he hadn’t worn it out by the number of times he passed this way. He felt as if this route around the office was programmed into his brain.

Ever aware of the increasing warmth in his hands, Arthur passed by the door with his name etched into the silver plague and continued down the hall. At the very end stood a smart looking door, a golden plague shimmering on its front with the words ‘Alfred F Jones, CEO’ engraved into it.

Polite as ever, he stopped outside and tapped on the door with his elbow. When a quiet ‘come in’ came from inside, Arthur once again relied on his elbow to press down on the handle and open the door. It swung inwards into a large spacious room. The first thing that Arthur noticed was the view, one of the walls on the right made completely of floor to ceiling glass overlooking the bustling city below. On a clear day like today, it was easy to see off into the distance and spot the towering mountains littering the skyline.

“You took your time,” said a voice. Arthur rolled his eyes and closed the door with his foot, heading in the direction of the desk on the left of the room, situated opposite the breath-taking view.

The desk was long and neatly organised with all the essentials one would need to run a business smoothly. A fancy computer screen was angled on the desk as to not block the view and a neatly stapled booklet of paper that had once lay prominent on the desk was being shuffled into a brown file out of sight from wondering eyes. In front of the desk were two comfortable looking chairs, angled perfectly to face its centre and readily awaiting use when the next private meeting came around.

“I was harassed by a certain Frenchman,” Arthur replied, weaving around the chair, and handing one of the cups across the desk to its eagerly awaiting owner.

Alfred was slouched in the comforts of his desk chair. The collar of his dress shirt had been unbuttoned, his tied slackened to lay lazily against his chest and the jacket of his suit hung smartly across the back of his chair. He smiled as he leant forward and took the cup from Arthur, beautiful blue eyes seeming to sparkle at him from behind the silver frame of his glasses.

“Thanks,” he said before taking a long, clearly needed, gulp of his coffee. He hummed at the taste; eyeing Arthur as he set the cup onto a designated coaster. Arthur copied his movements, taking a quick drink of his still boiling hot tea before placing the cup on the other unoccupied coast beside Alfred’s. “What did he want?”

“To inform me of another delightful rumour.”

“Let me guess, you’re secretly a spy trying to infiltrate my company?” Alfred grinned, relaxing back into his chair with his hands resting behind his head. Arthur’s green eyes followed the way his shirt pulled taught, begging to be untucked from his waistband.

“Oh, I’m most definitely a spy,” Arthur smirked playfully, walking around the desk.

“I knew it!” Alfred laughed, pushing his chair back away from the desk and opening his arms in Arthur’s direction. The Brit took the invitation with no hesitation, walking straight to Alfred and perching comfortably in his lap. The CEO hoisted Arthur up, throwing his legs over the arms of the chair on one side. With one arm comfortably secured around Arthur’s back and the other settled across his waist, Alfred’s hands clasped together to engulf Arthur in his warm embrace.

“Apparently I was spotted down at Vargas’ place on a date with the big boss last night.”

“Oh, really?”

“Uh-hm.”

“And what did you say?” Alfred mumbled as he pressed his nose into the crook of Arthur’s neck. Arthur’s eyes instinctually fluttered closed as he felt Alfred’s lips caress his skin, trailing sweet kisses from the crook of his neck to the base of his ear.

“I said that the boss would have to pay me quite the sum of money if he wanted me to spend time with him outside of work.”

“How much we talking?”

Arthur turned his head to face Alfred when he pulled away. Their faces were mere inches apart, Alfred’s breath dancing across his skin. Alfred had his eyebrow quirked as if genuinely curious.

“Thousands, perhaps even millions.”

“Ah, well, I’ll gladly pay you millions in kisses,” Alfred whispered, pressing a gentle kiss to Arthur’s lips. Arthur found his arms reaching up to entangle themselves around Alfred’s neck, pulling him closer when the other tried to pull away. Arthur grumbled an incoherent grunt that sounded somewhere along the lines of ‘not yet’ before dragging Alfred back in for another, much longer kiss. Alfred’s arms held him tight, his hand coming to rest on Arthur’s hip and rub tingling circles through the fabric of his clothes.

“This is why you’re the centre of all these rumours,” Alfred whispered between kisses until Arthur was satisfied and pulled back.

“Shut up,” He huffed, turning his head so Alfred was left once again kissing the side of his head. “It’s not my fault. You’re just as clinging – if not more so when we are at work!”

“Hey, I’m the boss I can do what I like.”

“I know, that’s why you’re never the one covering off these bloody rumours.”  

“Who started it?”

“Michelle apparently, although I’m not sure I believe that,” Arthur explained, looking over to the windows and admiring the view. Would Michelle really waste her time ensuring a rumour about him made its way around the office?

“Why not? She looks like the gossiping type.”

“I’m pretty sure Francis is onto us. In fact, I don’t believe there is a rumour at all. I think Francis just needed an excuse to ask me himself without doing so directly.”

Alfred laughed at that, nuzzling his nose affectionately against Arthur’s hair until he turned back around.

“Sounds like a Francis thing to do. To be honest, I did think I saw him last night.”

“What?!” Arthur’s eyebrows immediately fell into a default scowl, searching Alfred’s eyes for signs that he was lying. If Francis really had been there at the Vargas restaurant, then he knew for certain that everything Arthur had told him downstairs was a lie. Was he waiting for Arthur to come clean and tell him the truth personally?

“Hey, it was for a brief second! I just saw a flash of blond hair from behind a plant – it could have been anyone! Wait - where are you going?”

Before Alfred could even finish his sentence, Arthur was out the door. It took him a record amount of time to bypass the elevator, race down the stairs and hunt down Francis. Arthur had known him for long enough. He knew his games – he knew their games. On many occasions in their youth Arthur had been the one undercover, hiding behind the plant and spying on Francis to ensure his date was going well.

Sure enough, Francis was in his office. He was sat casually at his desk, a light glow cast across his features from the computer screen in front of him. Sat prominently on his desk was the same obnoxious cup from earlier. He seemed startled by Arthur’s sudden intrusion, locking his computer quickly.

Arthur said nothing, watching Francis squirm under his gaze as the office door clicked locked behind him.

“YOU SNEAKY, RUMOUR STARTING, NOSY TWAT!”

[wtfevenismypage]

Pretty Face Skinny Waist

Pairing: Spencer Reid x Male!Reader

request: Hey if it’s not to much (and your comfortable writing it) could you do a male reader x Reid where the reader is a agent from a different agency and he has to work with the team and at first he and Spence don’t get along but they eventually are like “hey your not that bad plus your kinda cute”

Warnings: Language, very brief mentions of smut, sassy reader

You weren’t a big fan of working with other agencies, you hated it actually. But when your boss came to you with a request to work with a team of profilers (One of them being your hero David Rossi) you were ordered to accept. 

So adjusting the purple tie around your neck for the millionth time that hour, you haul your ass through the elevator and into the big bullpen of agents. Immediately eyes darted to you, which made you chuckle.

Yeah, you better look at me.

You think while walking to Agent Hotchner’s office, smiling kindly when you see him. “Good morning Agent Hotchner.”

“Please, Hotch is fine, take a seat.”

You nod, setting your bag on the floor next to the chair as you sat down, crossing one leg over the other and tucking your left hand under your thigh, the right one planting itself on your side.

“I believe that you could be essential for a case we’ll begin working soon. We profiled that the unsub may be hard to interrogate, so we’d like to have you come in to interrogate him when needed.”

You nod, ready to go along strictly to talk to Agent Rossi about his books. And show off just how good you were at your job, but hey, the latter doesn’t matter right now.

“Alright, but you need to know how I do my job. I lie and manipulate to get the information needed, but I’m not a heartless asshole and I won’t change how I work for you and your team sir.”

You kept your voice calm and unwavering, a smirk plastered on your lips, which he returns with a cautious chuckle.

“I hope you don’t change at all Agent Y/L/N.”

-

-

-

-

-

Which leads to you standing a few feet away from a round table as a Miss Penelope Garcia presented the case.

“I like her! At my agency everyone is so bland and we all hate each other, You I likey.”

You said when the presentation ended, smirking charmingly at the sweet and charming woman. She smiled back.

“Thank you, who are you I don’t know you.”

She said, making you stifle a laugh as Hotch stood to introduce you.

“This is Agent Y/N Y/L/N. He came from another agency in Nebraska. He’ll help with interrogations.”

You bowed dramatically, lifting your head as a squeaky voice rang out.

“Why do we need another person just to interrogate?”

you’ve heard of Dr. Spencer Reid, he fascinated you naturally, his age and brains combined shocking you initially. Plus, he’s kind of just nice to look at.

“cus’ doc, I can get any information I need. I was trained for years specifically for interrogation. I am the best of the best.”

He rolls his eyes, clearly, your sarcastic charm wasn’t rubbing off on him. 

Oh this one will be fun.

“Humble too huh? Ladies must go crazy over you.”

“Ladies and men. Don’t worry you’ll fall for it soon boy wonder.”

You caught a taller, more muscular man chuckle as you finish your sentence.

“Wheels up in thirty.”

Hotch said while you and Spencer glared at each other while the others made eye contact, silently communicating with each other.

This is going to be interesting.

On the jet was no better, you spent half of the trip talking to Rossi about his books in excitement, and the other half was spent poking and prodding at Dr. Reid’s nerves. 

You really wanted to see him explode, to see an outburst from the calm man, but eventually you took a break, passing out in the seat across from him. 

Spencer looked at you, pure annoyance seething off of him while you slept.

“You seriously couldn’t have chosen a single other person in the universe to bring along? I can understand eight languages and can speak four, yet you choose him.”

He complained, making Hotch suppress a smile as Morgan laughs out loud.

“He’s exceptional at his job. He once made an unsub admit to everything he did withing five minutes.”

“And?”

“The unsub had been in the interrogation room for three days before hand.”

Spencer went silent. Maybe you were good at your job but holy hell you were so fucking relentless. He knew you wanted a reaction, but you weren’t the only persistent one. He refused to be the first to break.

You awoke when the plane landed, stretching and picking up your bag, smirking at Dr. Reid. You didn’t say anything though, giving him a bit of mercy before ruining his day again. 

Agent Morgan wrapped an arm around your shoulders, starting a teasing conversation between the two of you.

“So you like picking fights huh?”

“Not picking fights, just poking fun.”

You responded with a teasing smirk in Reid’s direction.

“Yeah yeah whatever.”

-

-

-

-

-

The first day on the case was simple, you went with Rossi and Reid to ask the Family of the victims questions, and you found this to be the best way to show off your skills.

You spoke to the family so softly it threw Spencer for a loop. Just a few moments ago you were cranking up screamo music just to annoy him, and now you spoke with such kindness. You were careful with your words and even hugged a mourning little girl who wanted to hug her father one more time.

When you walked back over, Spencer caught a look of guilty sadness in your eyes, but you quickly hid it with a lopsided smile.

“Told you. Best of the best.”

You walked away, all the information you needed stored on a little notepad with Reid and Rossi walking next to you to the cars.

-

-

-

-

-

Over the course of the next week, Spencer was thoroughly peeved. You just loved pushing him to the edge, and then leaving him alone only to rile him up again. At some point he had gripped you by your tie and yanked you up real close to his face, sneering as the eye contact never broke.

“What’s up doc? Did I make you upset? Oops.”

 You whispered low enough for only his ears, he wanted nothing more than to put you in your place, than to just shut you up with his lips. but you two were in front of the rest of his team, and that would be inappropriate wouldn’t it?

 “Watch your tone Y/L/N.”

“Or what?”

“Or I’ll make you.”

That was all that was needed to shut you right up. You got flustered, cheeks going rosy pink as you stammered with your words.

For a whole day you avoided him, because every time you saw him after that your mind went blank.

But you returned to your sassy self the next morning. Teasing him, making fun, and even tugging at his tie gently.

He snapped to say the least. 

After you pulled his tie again, he quickly stood, dragging you away from his team and into a nearby bathroom. He shoved you into a stall, locking it and pushing you against a wall.

“You really wanna go there?”

“Hell yeah doc.”

-

-

-

-

-

On the morning of departure, you didn’t make too many snarky comments, since you worked in Nebraska you were taking a separate jet to your agency while the others went home.

“Well, this has been an extremely enlightening and joyous experience, don’t miss me too much. ‘specially you doc.”

You said with a genuine smile directed towards all of them, but mainly Spencer. You truly were going to miss the punk.

“I’ll be sure to try.”

You chuckle, gently punching his arm before walking onto your jet, waving and taking a dramatic bow one last time before walking into the small area, watching as the door shut and the pilot introduced himself.

-

-

-

-

-

Even in Nebraska you missed him. You weren’t lying when you said your team was bland and that you all hated each other, it was torturous without a certain doctor.

It had been several weeks and you cursed yourself out multiple times a day for not giving him your number. 

“How fucking stupid can you be Y/L/N? You fucked him for fucks sake and you don’t give him your number?”

You muttered to yourself while you walked up to your boss’s office, reading an article of his on your phone.

“Agent Y/L/N. How would you like to work with the BAU again?”

Your boss asked when you walked into the office, making a wide smirk spread across your lips.

“Hell yeah.”

[ms-demeanor]

After reading your "ultra-long postivity post", now I have kind of a weird feeling because i relate a lot to pretty much everything you said, but i ended up approaching the "not everyone can x" from the opposite side, being the "gifted kid" teachers used to hold everyone to unrealistic standards (that i knew most couldnt achieve in the given timeframes), and now i get frustrated when i dont develop skills immediately, because i have done it before and feel like i should be able to and aaaaaaaaaa

Funny story: when I was a kid my parents had both my sister and I tested for learning and developmental disabilities. This testing included IQ testing.

It identified that we were both “gifted” kids* and that I’m dyslexic.

It totally missed my ADHD, though!

The problem with that is that my parents. Hm.

Okay my parents both grew up in very poor families. VERY poor. And they both wanted to go to college and knew the only way that they could was through scholarships. So they became debaters. They met at a tournament in high school.

Debaters are weird. You need an efficient working memory and strong recall and the ability to think quickly on your feet. Being witty and kind of an asshole are also good traits for debaters. Basically you’ve either gotta be really fuck-off smart to be a competitive debater or you’ve gotta at least *seem* really fuck-off smart.

And my parents were champion debaters at a national level. The Whittier College debate trophy has my mom’s name written directly under Richard goddamn Nixon. My dad was on the USC debate team and competed against Harvard and won. Not only that but he ended up coaching debate for USC and Cal Tech.

So as kids who grew up in extremely poor families and were able to go to college and get middle-class jobs and buy a house because of intellectual ability my parents placed A LOT of importance on intellectual ability.

So that IQ score became a large part of my life.

First we attacked the dyslexia. The approach was basically teaching me a bunch of sight words because sounding out phonics doesn’t work when the letters get screwed up. And because I was *gifted* we did a lot of really BIG sight words.

It took about six months to get me up to speed from “memorizing the pages of a story to match the pictures because I couldn’t read along in class” to “the first book I read on my own was The Hobbit.” I guess that counted as “cured” because that was the last time I got any kind of educational assistance.

At that time I was at a gifted school, a really tiny private school that was also an after-school daycare where we did full-day classes and then did gymnastics and swim from 3-6pm. I also was there over the summer because my parents worked.

So going from “tiny private school where the teacher has you stand up in class to read your failing grade in front of everyone so that she could shame you into performing better” to “fine public school in a suburb wealthy enough to have arts programs” was a major, major change. They did an aptitude test because I was transferring in from a different district and there was much discussion about whether or not to move me directly from the second to the sixth grade.

The district refused, thank fuck.

The public elementary school didn’t *have* a gifted program so it took very little time for me to become the Certified Weird Kid. My third grade teacher had me read aloud to our class for twenty minutes a day. I taught the class the multiplication table.

When it got to be time to go to the junior high school my mom went to a meeting for the school’s gifted kids program. APPARENTLY one of the kid’s dad’s basically said “I don’t understand why you’re wasting school funds on field trips for the stupid kids, the school should spend more of its resources on kids who have a chance of actually meaning something to the world” and my mom decided that while being gifted was important it was less important than making sure I wasn’t exposed to assholes of that caliber on a regular basis.

(thanks mom, I actually do really appreciate that reprieve)

Several teachers pushed me into advanced classes - my math teacher insisted that I take the advanced algebra classes in the seventh and eighth grade.

The GATE kids *WERE* assholes and were extra bonus special assholes to me because math was the only advanced class that I was in. (At my junior high school you had to pick your elective based on what level of classes you were in - to take the GATE classes you HAD to take a music elective; if you took art, drama, shop, or home ec you couldn’t take the smart kid classes. The algebra class was a new, separate addition to the program so *some* of the kids in the “electives for dropouts” program could take algebra. Schools are really fucked up, guys, in case you didn’t know schools are really fucked up and that was BEFORE No Child Left Behind).

I got a C in that algebra class and sat in my room for literally an hour screaming at myself for being such a selfish, distracted idiot that I let myself read my books instead of studying harder for the class. (clearly very healthy, normal twelve-year-old behavior)

When it was time to go to high school my teachers made a united plea to the district to transfer me into honors/IB/AP classes.

The kids in the honors/IB/AP classes continued to be kind of awful to me. I got extremely depressed and basically started doing the lazy-but-brilliant thing of completely ignoring homework or in-class work but performing spectacularly well on tests or essays in the classes that I wasn’t catastrophically failing

I was the only person at the school who got a perfect score on the vocab part of my SAT. I was the only honors kid who hadn’t been in SAT prep classes. There was only one other kid who graduated with the same number of units as I had, we’d outstripped the valedictorian and salutatorian but three classes each. I only applied to one college - I got accepted for painting but my interviewer urged me to move to the writing program and I got accepted for that too.

My financial aid didn’t come through and my dad wasn’t willing to cosign for loans on “an art program at a trade school.”

I got accepted to Pratt Institute on their Writing for Publication track which included an internship with the New York Times for third-year students in the program.

At that point I had a Columbia Scholastic Press award for my work on my high school yearbook.

Let me tell you, the community college that I went to and spent five years variously failing and succeeding at had a fucking *killer* newspaper and magazine when I was there. The local community newspaper that hired me when I was 21 was also much better designed and edited than it had any right to be for the three years I worked there (getting paid a whole eight dollars an hour and sometimes working 20 hours straight to get it in to the printer on time).

When I transferred to the state school I got perfect grades and worked full time and won every contest offered by the school’s English Honors society (which I couldn’t join because I was a transfer student and hadn’t done honors classes my freshman and sophomore years). I started a literary magazine with some friends when I graduated; we published four full issues online before it fell apart.

You know what’s also funny?

Even the food-service job I had to pay my way though the community college I felt terrible about attending was a skills test. I was a barista, so of course for a while I was a competitive barista.

I disappointed my parents a lot. I heard a lot of “we know you’re better than this.” I got told I was too smart to be screwing up this bad. I mentioned it a couple weeks ago but my results from that IQ test got compared to my sister’s and that was the justification for holding me to a higher standard. “You’re measurably brilliant, why aren’t you acting like it?”

Here lies the corpse of a gifted kid. Look on my works ye might and despair.

I am the perfect picture of a twice exceptional gifted kid and the reason I wrote all of this out is to tell you one thing:

“Gifted Kid” is a label that someone applied to you, it has nothing to do with who and what you ARE.

It’s very, very unfair that the adults in your life used you that way. I have an exceptionally terrible memory of being singled out as the only one who passed the first test in my IB World History class; “Why is Alli the only one of all of you who is writing at grade level? You’re supposed to be the smartest kids in the school, why did you all fail?”

That’s awful for the kids around you, that’s awful for you. It doesn’t do anybody any favors if people around you are being informed that you’re setting the curve they’ll be judged against. And it really, really doesn’t do YOU any favors because it doesn’t take long *at all* for your brain to learn that that’s all you’re good for. If you aren’t the best at a thing then what’s the point, you HAVE to be best because they already SAID you were best and if you aren’t then all these other people hate you for setting a standard that even you can’t keep up with.

You end up competing with past versions of yourself and focusing on those things that make the grownups in your life praise you because the grownups in your life has praised you in such a way that it’s turned all the other kids against you.

You know who bullied the fuck out of me? The kids I taught the times tables to, the kids I read to for half an hour a day.

Those kids were MEAN to me but the teacher who told me to read Boxcar Kids to the class after lunch everyday was NICE and she told me not to worry, they were just jealous and I should be proud of my gifts.

“Anon did this in three minutes. What’s taking the rest of you so long?” - what a terrible weight to put on a child. You’re right. Not everyone can do everything.

Fucking hell.

Adults what the everloving shit is wrong with us? Please don’t treat kids like that.

Okay.

Okay.

But here’s the other thing:

If there’s any time in your life that it’s easy to acquire skills with no apparent effort it’s when you’re a child surrounded by a support system that is engaged in making sure that you can acquire those skills.

It took three adults, two dictionaries, and several hours a day to teach me enough sight-words to throw me into “look at baby genius*” territory but from my perspective as a little kid I was just reading cool stories.

I spent four hours a day in the yearbook room and ditched and failed other classes so that I could work on the yearbook. I collected hundreds of magazines to get an eye for layout. But from my perspective as a teenager it was a fun activity that I did with the closest thing I had to friends.

I’m sure that there are some skills that you had a natural aptitude for, some things that came naturally. But I’m also sure that you didn’t learn those skills with no effort, it’s just that now as an adult with a life and other shit going on it takes more effort to learn to do things.

In all likelihood you weren’t a savant who did everything perfectly the first time you tried. It just seems that way because even really smart kids don’t know when they’re bad at things and are mostly being compared against other kids (with the few rare exceptions of music prodigies or math prodigies or those kids who end up in science grad programs at 12 and boy howdy do I think there’s a whole other can of worms when it comes to the way child prodigies* interact with the world).

You wanna know what probably saved my life in the last few years?

That “anti-capitalist love notes” tumblr post.

You are worth more than your productivity.

You are worth more than your productivity.

You are worth more than your productivity.

I was actually kind of offended the first time I saw that post on my dash. “No I’m not,” I thought. “You’re only worth what you can do, everyone knows that. People care about what you do for them.”

And why the hell would I think anything else? That’s what I’d learned for pretty much my whole life.

It took me a really long time to understand that I was wrong. I matter outside of what I can do for people or how well I perform. I matter more than being able to perfectly recite poetry from memory or do calculations on command or sit down at a piano and play a piece I’ve never played by sight-reading it.

And you matter outside of that too. You’re more than your performance, you’re better than being gifted. There are people who love you for the way you make them laugh and how you listen to their stories and for the simple joy of your presence.

It’s nice to be clever, it’s handy in a lot of situations even if it does come with a lot of baggage for some people.

But god damn, it’s important to be kind.

* Personally I have issues with the way that society constructs the concepts of giftedness, genius, and prodigies. There are a lot of “gifted” kids who were the kids who scored in the top 5% of their class in school but there are also gifted kids who were doing high-level math or reading novels as toddlers; there are prodigies who showed an aptitude for music young and who were then schooled in that instrument to the exclusion of all other activities (and I bet there are a fair number of kids who might be considered prodigies if they were trained to play flute for nine hours a day and didn’t have friends but thankfully we don’t *do* that to very many people - side note, ask me my opinion about olympic athletes some time). Words like “genius” and “gifted” are very nearly meaningless and almost *never* accurately reflect skills proficiency or long-term success or are reflected in income or respect. People think that geniuses are hypercompetent robots with their shit together but literally every adult I know with a genius-level IQ is some variety or other of total fucking tire fire.

[gwaciechang]

Love Run (1/10?)

“But I held your hand As you shook In the middle of the night.”

If you haven’t watched the episode “Run Rabbit Run” of “Stan Lee’s Lucky Man,” you won’t understand anything happening here. If you have, you’ll know what trigger warnings are involved with Bobby Hayes’ life. This fic will deal heavily with drug addiction, recovery, and cravings, as well as the self-hatred and self-worth issues that usually come with that. As usual, grammar and stylistic warnings are accepted with gratitude, content criticism will get you blocked. This won’t be uploaded to AO3 until the full story is complete, but you can read this section below the cut.

It wasn’t that you hated your job at the bar. You like mixing drinks, you like figuring out delicious new combinations, and you especially liked getting a discount on said delicious combinations. And the patrons were usually very friendly. Sure, one or two would get handsy, but the bouncers were very good about removing anyone who was less than respectful. The only thing you didn’t like, in fact, was the walk to the bus stop.

It was only these last few days of construction for some downed power lines, but now the only way to your usual bus stop involved walking in a big circle across a dark alley. Yesterday, you’d almost stepped on a syringe of dubious origin.

Only a warning so quiet you hardly heard had stopped you from getting tetanus or something. You couldn’t find anybody when you looked around, so you chose to thank the shadows as you walked around and went on your way. Other than that, no one had ever interrupted your trek down the alley.

But today, you wouldn’t be so lucky.

You hear the yelling before you get there, something about shoes, and then something quieter that you can’t hear properly. You spend a few minutes mentally debating whether it’s worth it to potentially miss your bus trying to take an even longer route in order to avoid whatever is happening. The yelling stops suddenly, and you start running, hoping you can avoid whatever is happening.

You’re almost there when it suddenly starts again. “Understand?” an angry man shouts, and you hear something solid collide against something hollow.

Another man is shouting now, but not out of anger. He’s shouting with so much fear and desperation that you want to hide from whatever is hurting him. And he’s shouting numbers. A phone number.

Then there are steps, and you’re paralyzed by fear for a second. But the end of the alley is in reach, and you take the last few steps toward the stop, just in time to see the bus pull away.

You curse, not too loudly in case the angry man is listening. All of a sudden, you're terrified. He could be anywhere, and you’re all alone outside at night without any self-defense skills or weapons whatsoever. You start walking back toward the alley because if he is here, if he’s going to find you and kill you, you’d rather it happen without several minutes of torturous anticipation first.

There's no one in the alley, so whoever the angry man was, he’s already gone. The only sound left in the alley is a guttural sobbing from someone who’s hurt and has no hope that anyone will comfort him. You’re a little iffy about entering a strange building, but if there’s anything you’re good at, it’s listening to people talk about their problems and, if necessary, advise them not to ingest substances to deal with it. Besides, the bus wouldn’t be there for another hour and a half, and the angry man is still out there somewhere, so you suck it up and enter.

It’s not any question where the crying man lives, since there’s only one door that's open. Everything looks clean and neat, so you take your shoes off, almost forgetting the start of the argument.

What you do forget is how slippery socks can be, especially when you’re balanced on one socked-foot while trying to yank your other shoe off. And that’s how you end up screaming as you faceplant into linoleum.

“Can I sit here?” you ask, pointing to the couch. He jerks his head in a nod before moving so you can't see what he's taking out of the minifridge. Probably ice or something.

He’s shaking, so you put your shoes in one hand and reach to pat his shoulder lightly. He jerks away, and you hold your hands up in surrender. “Sorry,” you say, “I didn’t mean to upset you. Will you tell me how to make you feel better?”

He doesn’t answer because he’s almost hyperventilating. You're about to leave and avoid causing more trouble when he grabs his shoulder and pats it, one, two, three, four, five times, and then calming down. “Please sit back down,” he says in the resigned voice of someone who doesn’t expect to be listened to. So what can you do besides sit down?

He returns to whatever he’s doing in the fridge, only this time you notice that it’s taking a long time because he keeps tapping his fingers on his arms in a rhythmic fashion. You start tapping your feet to the rhythm and humming “We are the Champions,” because you’ve never heard a rhythm you didn’t want to put to music.

He gives you a look that's sharp, but not unhappy. You smile back at him and dare to sing a little louder. You think he’s humming too, but he’s tapping less, and he closes the minifridge to go to a big white thing that you only recognize as an actual refrigerator when he pulls out a bag of frozen peas and hands it to you. You take it and stare at the minifridge. “What do you keep in there?” you point. Shit, that was too close to home. “Do you keep your desserts in a different fridge too? I thought I was the only one who does that,” you try to quip. He laughs nervously and shakes his head. He keeps shaking it, almost frantic, and he starts to tap his fingers again in the same rhythm. You resume humming, but he doesn’t calm down this time, and there are steps outside, making his eyes go wide with terror. But your heart isn’t pounding in your ears, so you can hear the telltale clicking of heels on the pavement. “It’s a woman,” you rush to reassure your odd new friend. “He’s not coming back.”

His tapping relaxes a little, and he doesn’t meet your eyes when he lifts his head, but he does take a deep breath and start humming the next chorus. You’re a little embarrassed at how wide you must be beaming at him. “I don’t blame you for being scared,” you tell him. “I missed my bus because I was too busy hiding, and I only heard his voice.”

He rubs his temple where there’s a small crescent-shaped bruise. Something solid had collided with something hollow, you remember with horror. You knock the hand not holding the peas against the wall, and it makes the same sound.

“Shit,” you hand the peas back to him. “Are you okay? Did he hit you in the head or something?”

He stares at you like a deer caught in headlights, and the humming stops. “Did you hear what he said?” he asks in a rush.

“Some numbers?” you rack your brain. “I don’t remember which ones, but he had you repeat them.”

He’s whispering now, probably the same numbers, and he’s tapping so hard that his fingers are a blur.

“Are you in trouble? Am I making trouble for you?” you ask. You don’t want to spend the next hour and a half in the dark, waiting for the angry, scary man, but you also don’t want to be the cause of what seems to be an impending panic attack.

He dives for his minifridge, and it occurs to you that this isn’t a panic attack. It’s something else. “You need to leave,” he snarls at you.

You’re a little surprised at how steady your voice comes out. “That doesn’t seem to be a good idea.”

This close, even though he’s too big for you to see exactly what he’s doing, you can smell it. It wasn’t your poison, but your dealer ran a diverse business, so you became very familiar with the smell of cooked heroin.

You squeeze your eyes shut against the phantom itch that spreads across your arms and face and there are no bugs, there aren’t. This guy keeps his apartment way too clean for that. But you’re still gasping, still trying to fight off invisible monsters.

A soft, warm thing covers your hand, and when you open your eyes, you see the sad man putting a pair of leather gloves on your hands to keep you from hurting yourself when you scratch. God, how terrible did you have to look for him to do that in the middle of a fit?

“I’msorry.” Your voice spills out as a single word, “It’s been a long time, but I smell that and I’m just immediately back there, and it’s not a comfortable feeling.” You realize you’re grabbing his hands tightly and let go.

A frown appears between his eyes, and his hands follow yours to your sides.

You squeeze again, and again, and again, and again, and again, then let go.

He exhales and the frown disappears, but he’s still tense and his eyes flick helplessly toward the minifridge.

You cover your mouth and nose with one hand and grab the peas with the other. You start to sing again when you hear the click of the lighter, and wish you had the resources to help him.

You keep singing, and to your surprise, he actually sits down right next to you and sings along. His voice is childlike and bright, just like his expression when he leans his head on your shoulder. He wraps one arm loosely around your waist as he starts to slide across the floor. You bump his knee, and he laughs instead of bumping you back five more times.

The time ticks away, and once an hour passes, you get up to leave. He murmurs unhappily, and you pause while you put his gloves next to his computer table.

“Stay,” he begs, and he’s trying to get up and reach for you, but he can’t do either, so you end up dragging him onto the couch and setting him down. He cheers, and you sit down on the armrest and listen to the bus leave with his hand in your lap, holding yours.

You must doze off at some point, because your neck hurts when you sit up from where you’re basically draped over him. For a second, you’re not sure what woke you, and then you hear the knock.

Your frantic face is reflected in his eyes for a split second before he’s pushing you off of him and into a room.

"Don't say anything," he's nearly hyperventilating again, and his fingers are drumming his six-beat rhythm on the doorknob. "I won't let him know you're here," he promises.

You press your ear to the door, ready to jump in. But instead of the shouty, angry man from last night, whomever your friend is talking to is so quiet, you can barely hear them. You can hear your friend sometimes, talking about how it’s too late, how he can’t leave and the person can’t stay, and asking about the person’s family. Then the stair creaks.

“Doesn’t that bother you?”

“No, but now you’ve got to do it five more times.”

“You do it,” the not-angry man says, and your friend actually laughs.

You wait until the front door closes to come out, and the laugh dies on his face when he sees you.

“You have to go,” he says. “The man from last night is going to come back.”

“I’m not leaving,” you say. “You asked me to stay, so I am.”

“I wasn’t in my right mind,” he argues.

“And you’re not in your right mind now. You’re panicking because you think the man from last night is going to come back, but not because he’s going to hurt you. You sent the man who was here just now away because he made you laugh, so you don’t want to see him get hurt. And you’re trying to send me away now for the same reason. Is it really that hard to believe that there are people who don’t want to see you get hurt either? And that if we can, we want to protect you?”

He finally makes eye contact with you. “Don’t,” he says.

“Don’t what?”

“Don’t protect me.”

“Have you met me? Does it look like I run away from things?”

He gives you a sarcastic look that, okay, is totally deserved.

“Yeah, that was a bad question. You don’t actually know my name and I literally did run away from the guy who was threatening you earlier. Well, my name is Robin, and now that I’ve spent a few hours in your company, I know you’re a good person.”

He laughs. It doesn’t sound good. “I scared you, and then I made you stay with me while I was strung out.”

“You also gave me a bag of peas and sang with me.”

“Because you came when I was crying!”

You reach up to thumb a tear off his cheek. “You’re crying now,” you say as sincerely and hopefully as you can, “which means I should be here. And remember, last night, when I didn’t know who you were and that man from last night was outside, I came here, to you, because I knew it was safer in here. And I still know that.” Only when you give his hands a squeeze do you realize they’re clasped in yours.

He looks at them like this is the first time he’s seeing them too, and he looks shocked. He’s probably not used to non-threatening physical contact, and your heart breaks a little bit more.

You squeeze his hand five more times, and a miraculous little smile appears on his face.

“You can stay, but you have to do what I tell you,” he says with almost no volume, like he can’t believe he’s doing this either.

“Thank you, I will,” you lie.

“And um, my name’s, um, Bobby.”

“It’s very nice to meet you, Bobby,” and this time, you’re telling the truth.

[egotheplanet]

To New Beginnings (Colossus x Reader)

Request: Could you pretty please do a colossus fic where reader and wade are super close friends, they go way back.. so wade calls her in for back up during a battle where wade, NTW, and Piotr are kinda getting their asses kicked. And reader is so badass and powerful and colossus has complete heart eyes @ her.

Warnings: Wade Wilson and depictions of violence

Word Count: 3,126

His heavy breathing echoed alongside the equally gasping (and comically dressed) heroes beside him. As cheesy as it sounds, they always knew how to come together and save the day! Even during last minute rescues, their rag-tag team pulled through. No matter the cost. The cost usually being a limb or two at Wades expense.

But this time, the tide seemed to be turning and it was clearly not in their favor.

Negasonic Teenage Warhead— or Ellie as everyone recently began referring— laid belly up a few feet away from him. Her skin was busted open above her brow and leaking blood at an alarming rate. Even the invincible Deadpool himself seemed to be twisted into a shape he couldn’t get out of without the help of his combustible friend. Yukio was still standing alongside the cyborg who was very enamored with the task of rebuilding his futuristic weapon. Domino had the beasts attention while the team quickly recuperated and came up with a new plan.

Colossus had to think. Fast.

His team was losing.

This wasn’t the first time they went up against the Juggernaut. No, they were seasoned fighters when it came to the big guy. This was the SECOND time their adversary had the severe misfortune of being in their sights. After the whole ordeal at the orphanage, the chosen family left hastily to revel in their triumph. But their one mistake came back to haunt them. They never caught and locked Juggernaut up. Upon hearing his havoc resumed soon after their departure, they felt responsible for his latest atrocities. This guilt plagued Colossus the most.

Earlier that morning

“This is what fighting dirty gets you!” His deep voice reverberated through the dining room as he strode in to interrupt everyone’s breakfast.

“Good morning to you too. What’s the matter? Out of tiny self help books?” Wade paused for a beat, slightly flinching as he awaited the clap-back. “Get it? Because you usually spend your morning meditating in your room— okay what’s wrong? You’re usually choking me by now.”

Colossus stomped over to the small television which sat atop the kitchen counter and pressed the power button. Blank static which signals the TVs awakening quickly fades out as the sound of a breaking news report becomes louder.

“The Juggernaut can now be seen stomping across the street and into the car dealership, ripping through anything in his way—“ the volume is cut off as Colossus presses mute and shifts to stand in front of the screen.

His arms cross in front of his chest and the team know they’re in for a lecture.

“The Juggernaut is loose because we did not complete job! It is our fault for fighting dirty and not putting him back in ice box where he belongs.” This inspires everyone to send accusatory looks to the red-suited trouble maker at the head of the table.

“He’s right, Wade. We were quick to fight and just as quick to get out. If we had tired him out with the help of the proper authorities, we could have gotten him back into custody.” Ellie’s calm but judging demeanor was starting to get under the mercs skin.

“And? Everyone got out in one piece!”

“This time.” Russell muttered into his spoonful of Cap’n Crunch.

“Hey!” Wade pointed a finger to the robust teen, “I thought we agreed to never bring that up again.”

“That is enough!” Everyone jolted and turned their attention to the most responsible of the team. “We have mission. Stop Juggernaut and put him back in the hands of the law.” Piotr turned the tv off as he began to head towards the kitchen. “Suit up! We leave in ten minutes.”

Current time

Domino slid beneath and between the behemoths legs in a final attempt to escape. Cain’s massive hand barely grazed her as she ran away. She was starting to feel like her luck was running out.

They’ve been fighting ‘clean’ for hours now and Wade’s patience was wearing thin. If they had just gone with what he suggested, they’d all be home now watching Cheers in their socks-n-crocs.

Luck can only carry the team so far when their exhaustion was growing stronger than their opponent. Unlucky for them, Juggernaut seemed just as energetic and deadly as usual.

Wade raised his recently freed hands in the air and clapped them together. He and Cable nodded at each other, clearly some sort of signal. Cable ran into action so the team could huddle and discuss what their next course of action should be.

Colossus opened his mouth to give orders but Wade beat him to the punch.

“I’m gonna call in reinforcements. This is our last chance to save the whole mission and our precious, precious bodies from being ripped in half.” His masked gaze traveled up from the dirt to Colossus. “Or at least save you from getting a dent you can’t buff out. Okay! Break on three and keep Fuckernaut busy till she shows up! Got it?”

Everyone exchanged nervous looks but their overwhelming exhaustion was offering no choice but to hear him out.

When have any of Wades plans ever worked out without someone dying? Colossus could count the occasions on one hand. Hell, half of one.

“No, we finish this right, Wade! No repeats of last time.” Colossus bargained and glanced up from their huddle to see Cable get knocked to the ground.

NTW piped up with her opinion after silently debating with Yukio. Just a look and Ellie could tell what her better half was thinking.

“Colossus. I think we should let him call this lady up. If she’s as helpful as he says, god knows we could use the help!”

“I agree with 2007 Brittany Spears!” Ellie scoffed at Wades latest nickname. “Okay, I’ll call Y/N while you guys form human shields for me! One.. two.. three! Break!”

Everyone ran into action as Wade nearly tripped up going the opposite way. He stumbled back onto his feet and dialed Y/N’s number.

He started bouncing on his toes after the fourth ring, fearing she wouldn’t answer.

“C’mon, c’mon, c’mon! Pick it up, god fucking damnit!”

“Couldn’t you start the call off with something nicer? Try, hey Y/N it’s been ages! How ya been-“ her voice sounded a little distorted over his phone but it was music to his ears.

“No time to flirt, we need you!”

“I’m guessing you’re talking about the whole Juggernaut situation downtown and not a threesome. God I hope it’s not a threesome.”

“Cute. But it’s the Juggernaut thing! How fast can you get here?”

“Put down the phone and get out of the way, knucklehead!”

It wasn’t until that moment that Wade realized she sounded like she was in a speeding car. He jumped out of her way, narrowly avoiding the grill it as it came honking past.

She beelined past the costumes and shifted her large truck into a different gear. Wades team quickly dispersed after gathering what was about to take place. The team had just enough time to throw Juggernaut off his rhythm, giving Y/N ample time to hit and drag him almost 200 feet. Jumping out her door at the last second, the truck slammed his body into the car dealerships outer wall. Her body rolled expertly and she sprung to her feet in no time to finish him off.

Everyone was shocked at this woman who came out of no where to defeat the Juggernaut!

“We aren’t done yet!” Her uniform was sleek and skin tight. Her voice was equally as intimidating as her driving skills. “His helmet needs to come off and we need someone to mentally attack him!”

“What, like, bully him?” Russell quipped as he got up out of the dirt, wiping his pants free of debris.

“No, lighter fluid-for-brains! She means we need Charles or another telepath to disable him so we can restrain him.” NTW quickly fired back at the young trainee.

“Whatever the fuck we’re doing, better do it fast. He’s getting up!” Cable was quick on his feet; backing up just in time to miss a large piece of, what used to be, Y/N’s truck which smashed into the ground in front of him.

“Charles isn’t anywhere close to us! It’d take forever for him to get here!” Yukio pointed out as her stance grew more rigid at the thought of possibly having to get close enough to the Juggernaut to take his helmet off.

“She’s right, our best bet is to just take him out physically.” NTW nodded at her girlfriend while everyone quickly weighed their options.

“Finally, I can fight him one on one to prove myself!” Wade pretended to stretch. “Hope no one takes this time to go ahead of me and totally steal my thunder.” He bent over to touch his toes.

Y/N kicked his butt with the tip of her shoe as she glared at him.

“Let’s go! If we work together, we can finish this once and for all!” Colossus’ voice thundered and Y/N’s gaze looked over to him.

He looked down at her and nodded as if to say ‘I’m with you.’

She nodded back to acknowledge him, the corner of her lips turned upward in a smirk.

Colossus ran past her to get the party started and her eyes were on his ass the whole way.

“I am so gonna climb him like a tree when we’re done here.” She mumbled before joining chrome bone in the fight.

“I am so wishing to never hear anyone say that again.” Russell cringed out loud.

“Agreed.” The team, including Wade, shuddered before beginning to sprint alongside each other to finish the fight.

One by one, everyone was thrown out of the way by Cain. Domino quietly made her way up to him from behind as Y/N held his front attention in the form of a jump-kick to the face.

He grunted and stumbled back into Dom, who had been holding one end of a long rope which was connected to debris on the ground.

Luckily enough, the jump-kick-into-rope combo worked out for the women stupendously.

Everyone watched in amazement as the monster collapsed onto the ground, his helmet popping in half so he was left with a giant metal choker. As he attempted to get up, Y/N sprung into action with a crowbar someone haphazardly tossed to her. She ran up to Juggernaut, catapulting herself into the air off of his groin and onto his chest where she began beating his face with the tool.

NTW communicated her next move to the team and ran up to Cable, jumping off his shield as a means of spring.

Domino and Y/N ran the other way, knowing what was coming their way. Just barely making it behind a few discarded car parts, NTW unleashed her power on the freshly exposed Juggernaut.

The explosion reverberated for a good few seconds before everyone jumped out of their hiding places to go assist in the end of the fight.

Cable, Deadpool and Domino shot into the smoke filled area where Cain previously laid taking hits.

Even Russell concentrated his devastating blows of force onto his once partner in literal crime.

Ellie had long since cleared out to the sidelines to be with Yukio, the blood on her forehead being gingerly wiped away.

“You did good, El.” Yukio held her girlfriend tight and planted a kiss against her sweat and blood smeared forehead.

Colossus walked over to the newcomer, offering his hand.

“My name is-“

“Colossus. I know who you are. Famous X-Men member and personal friend of a friend.” She cut him off with a smile, her hand meeting his halfway and giving it a firm shake, introducing herself.

“Ah, he is talking of me to others. All terrible I hope.” Piotr was... flirting?

If Y/N knew one thing about Wade, it was that he was a great liar. She should have known better when he told her that Colossus never flirted back or joked around. Wade said he was as uptight as he was shiny. She was pleasantly surprised by Wades lies for once.

“If you two are done gazing into each other’s eyes,” the pair looked over to see the smoke cleared, “Juggernauts out like a light.” Cables rough voice barked out. If they looked just a little bit closer, they would be able to see Nathan’s smirk.

The troops enforcing the Ice Box’ security came trotting in. Guns and power dampening collars at the ready.

“Perfect timing! Taking the credit after the fightings through, how convenient.” Wade jokingly complained as everyone finally got the chance to take a breather.

The team took this time to check one another for severe damage and ensure Juggernauts incarceration. After hours of fighting, it took minutes of the newcomers skill to confine the beast.

Color Colossus impressed. Color him extremely impressed. Both with Wade for knowing and calling on such a person but with Y/N herself for completing the task no one else could.

Later that night

Hearty laughter filled the dining room for the first time in weeks.

“She’s funny, you’re funny!” Wade jokingly swooned over his friend as she wrapped up her joke successfully.

Y/N laughed and shoved him slightly, his out of date Christmas sweater wrinkling against even wrinklier skin.  

“Well you get plenty of time to work on your joke delivery when you’re all alone.” She muttered almost bitterly to herself as she brought her wine glass to her lips.

“You’re lonely?” Piotr inserted himself into the duos conversation. Wades eyes widened and darted from Y/N to Colossus in disbelief.

“Uh, I think he meant to ask if you live alone. In a concerned, brotherly tone.” Wade was quick to get what Piotr’s was really laying down. Of course he had to be a wingman for his tall friend.

“Da, this is what I meant.” He cleared his throat awkwardly, sitting up straighter.

Y/N looked around at the people occupying the table. Russell was too busy chowing down on the spread she helped create to join into the discussion. Yukio and NTW were quietly having their own moment with one another at the opposite end of the long table. Cable listened in amusedly but kept to himself and his beer. Dom folded her hands together and put her elbows on the table, resting her chin atop her hands and offering her full attention.

“I mean, yeah I live alone but let’s not make the celebration into a pity party.” Y/N tried to steer the group back into its previous jesting mood.

“Right! So once there was this huge-“ Wade began but was abruptly interrupted.

“Well there’s plenty of space at the mansion for you! And room to practice your abilities.” Colossus quickly proposed to what was proving to be the newest member of their little family. “You can practice jokes with me instead yourself.”

At this point, all eyes were on the large man and all ears were in on the baffling exchange.

Piotr’s eyes were only on Y/N. Then everyone’s eyes shifted to her to hear her answer.

Wade laughed nervously in an attempt to break up the increasingly awkward atmosphere.

“Okay, that’s enough hazing Colossus. She’s had a long day. We all have.” Wade shoved some mashed potatoes into his mouth.

“Actually, it’d be nice not to pay rent. New York is wildly expensive. And my monthly gym bill? Forget about it!” Y/N was much more inviting of the idea than Piotr could have ever hoped. “And if you’re my neighbor? I might as well move in now.” She winked at Piotr as she sipped her wine.

Everyone’s eyes shifted back to Colossus.

“What the fuck is going on right now.” Wade looked between the two as if he were a child and they were his parents hiding something from him.

“The fuck that’s going on right now is we have new X-Man!” Colossus puffed his chest out in pride as his hand slapped the top of the table out of excitement, everyone’s dishes rattling for a second before settling again.

Y/N’s smile was massive as she looked up at him, her glass held up to toast.

“I’d love to be a part of your team. If you’ll all have me.” She was suddenly shy as she sought approval from everyone. “I’ll only join if everyone is on board with the idea.”

Everyone continued their silent looks, no one wanted to go first. Wade happily accepted his turn for the spotlight.

“We’ve been friends since we were in the special forces together. You know my answers always going to be yes. Unless, you know, it’s to commit a horrible crime. Then it’s gonna have to be ‘only if you film’.” Wades smirk turned to a genuine and caring smile.

Y/N’s heart grew at his support. Her eyes shifted over to Cable.

“I was impressed with your initiative today.” Nathan grunted as he sat down his empty beer can. “It’d probably be a load off if you joined. I’m for it.”

Her excitement grew with the teams acceptance. She also poured the grumpy man a full glass of wine as a form of appreciation.

Cable nudged the young member beside him. Russell’s attention was already on the unfolding scene.

“If you’re a friend of Wade, you’re a friend of mine! Of course you can join our team!” He was beaming at the thought of another mentor. Hopefully this one was more responsible than Wade but not as uptight as Cable and Colossus.

“It’s already a yes from me and you know it.” Dom quickly interjected from her seat. Her smile was bright and her glass raised to her new friend.

Everyone turned to the lovers at the end of the table. They would make or break Y/N’s career as an X-Men.

“It’s nice to have another feminine face around here. ‘Furthers my petition to rename the team something more gender neutral.” Ellie pretended not to care very much. Yukio saw through her facade and so did everyone else at the table.

“Welcome to the team, Y/N!” Yukio cheered while looping her arm with Ellie’s.

Y/N’s eyes watered but no tears fell. Colossus once again made the right choice and this time it was to expand the family.

“Jeeze, every time you’re left alone Wade, you bring someone else to live with us.” NTW joked comfortably.

“I promise to do my best to be an upstanding member of your team. Better yet, I’ll do my best to be an upstanding member of your family.” Y/N vowed to the table.

“You already are.” Piotr stood and smiled warmly down at her, his glass joining everyone else’s in the air. “To new beginnings!”

[permets-tu-not-permettez-vous]

Awake My Soul

Chapter 3: Lightning Strike

Enjolras was early today; the studio was quiet. He had come early to get somewhat adjusted to the small piano that he was going to be playing for the next couple months. He wanted to practice teasing the emotion out of its weary notes and spend some quiet time in the mirrored room that for some reason seemed to make him feel at home. His messenger bag hung loosely from his shoulder as he unlocked the door with the keys Jehan had pressed into his hands a few days ago, and let himself into the darkened reception area. Picking his way through the dimly lit room, he entered the corridor leading to the dance studio, and saw a light at the end – the light to the dance studio. He furrowed his brow at the waste of electricity until he heard the muffled sound of the piano.

Curious, Enjolras crept forward until he could peer into the studio, and when he did his breath caught. Grantaire inhabited the space fully, dancing something that was from another show, perhaps Swan Lake as the music sounded like Tchaikovsky. He had, or course, known Grantaire, but hadn’t given him much of a second thought besides noting his enthusiasm for shots. But this - it was like seeing Grantaire for the first time. Enjolras had seen Grantaire dance before, but it had been while other people were dancing, and as a background role. Here, unwatched, Grantaire owned the entire room, his footing sure, his body light, leaping into the air as if it were nothing. Enjolras didn’t know much about ballet, but he knew that Grantaire was phenomenal. There was a quality to his dancing that conveyed emotions that Enjolras couldn’t even name, his heart panging in an emptiness at the sadness that echoed throughout the music and the loss mirrored in Grantaire’s movements. Enjolras had never seen such passion for an art, not even in the world of classical music. Here Grantaire was raw, his face reflecting the glorious thrill of launching his body completely into the music in a way that Enjolras didn’t even know was possible. He felt himself rooted to the floor, entranced.

He didn’t know how long he stood there, but eventually the music stopped and Grantaire bent over, catching his breath, before walking over to pick up a water bottle and take a swig. He was clearly in his own headspace, as he immediately went back to marking something in the style that Enjolras recognized by now having spent enough time around dancers. They reviewed the steps in their head in a way that they could internalize it into their bodies without exhausting themselves by performing the entire dance move. Enjolras knew what the language consisted of, but he would never understand it. Enjolras waited with baited breath, to see if he would dance again, finding a need within himself to see Grantaire lose himself into the music once more in a way that Enjolras so desperately wished he could.

Grantaire walked over to the stereo and fiddled with it, starting a different song, and entering a different choreography, this one tender and soft. Grantaire transformed with the music, showing a vulnerability that Enjolras had never seen before – not on Grantaire, not on anyone, especially anyone on stage or a stranger to him. It made him feel like he was being let in on a secret, or like he was seeing something intimate, something he was not to see. Grantaire’s arms stretched, reaching for someone who wasn’t there, turned back on himself, debated, lost himself in his reverie, twirling through his thoughts. Where the previous piece was bold, with Grantaire leaping through the air in feats of unimaginable acts, this piece was unsure, timid, yet hopeful, like the first steps in falling in love. The way Grantaire was dancing made Enjolras feel as if he were experiencing the same emotions himself.

When the piece ended, Grantaire was clearly finished practicing, looking exhausted, the wonder and passion leaving him as the music faded, replaced by an all too human body with limits. Enjolras found his feet moving before he knew what he was doing, found himself standing in the doorway. “You’re amazing,” he said, his voice unnaturally loud, and breaking whatever spell had come over that space, shattering the feeling of tranquil intimacy that relaxed itself into the lines of Grantaire’s body.

Grantaire whirled around, startled, his eyes wide. They were a chocolate color today, Enjolras noted. “I didn’t know anyone was here. I didn’t know you were there,” Grantaire said, somewhat lamely.

“I know, I’m sorry. I came a little early to get used to the piano,” Enjolras entered the studio, a little hesitantly, feeling the distance between them to be too large for his comfort. He wished he could go sit next to Grantaire and ask him a million questions, but he didn’t know Grantaire well enough yet to be that intense. So he crossed over to the piano.

“That’s a thing?” Grantaire asked, a little skeptical. He sat on the floor and began to do some stretches to cool off.

Enjolras laughed. “Yes. Just like ballerinas have to break in their pointe shoes, piano players have to break in their pianos.”

Grantaire cocked his head to the side, considering. “I guess I never thought of it like that.”

Enjolras nodded, unsure what to say next. His hands felt oddly useless, despite the fact that they were highly skilled hands on the piano. “So, how long have you been dancing?”

A soft nostalgic smile crossed Grantaire’s face. “Since I was six. My father hated it. Thought it was useless and feminine. Needless to say he doesn’t really appreciate my life choices.”

“Even though you’re here? In the best ballet company Paris, and some say Europe, has to offer?” Enjolras felt a wave of inexplicable rage come over him – Grantaire was so clearly talented and to have his own father not only not recognize his talent, but to write it off! Enjolras clasped his hands behind his back to hide their shaking.

Grantaire laughed, a trace of bitterness coloring his face. “Like that will change years of prejudice and toxic masculinity.”

Enjolras looked down, unable to meet Grantaire’s eyes, which seemed to have a question Enjolras couldn’t answer within them. “I guess you’re right.”

“How long have you been playing then?” Grantaire said, changing the subject rather obviously. Enjolras didn’t know whether he should be relieved.

“Since I was five. I didn’t know I wanted to do it for a living until I was fourteen, though.”

“You must have been pretty good to be one of the foremost piano players of the world this young.”

Enjolras looked up suddenly. “How do you know that?”

Grantaire grinned a little guiltily, a dimple flashing on the right side of his mouth. “I might have looked you up. Courfeyrac was making a big deal about you, and after the first practice I was a little curious.”

Enjolras groaned. “You didn’t.”

Grantaire’s grin only grew broader. “Oh, yes I did. And you should know there is quite a lot of information out there.”

Enjolras ran a hand over his face, mortified. “I really don’t want to know what’s out there.”

Grantaire laughed. “It’s nothing too bad, but I will say there are some YouTube videos of your early performances. You were a cute kid.”

Enjolras wanted to sink into the floor. “Please stop talking,” he said, but with the hint of a smile. To his surprise, Grantaire acquiesced, turning his attention to some final stretches before packing up his various leg warmers and extra flat shoes into his bag.

“Well, that’s me,” he said, swinging his bag on his shoulder.

“Aren’t you staying for rehearsal?” Enjolras asked, not wanting to be left alone, though before he ran into Grantaire all he wanted to do was to be alone in the studio and fill the emptiness with music.  

“I’ll be back. Rehearsal got moved back a couple of hours and I need to grab something to eat before I dance again. Maybe also grab a shower.”

“It got moved back? How much?”

“Just an hour and a half. But like I said, I need to eat something before my body starts to eat itself or I pass out.”

“Wait, hold on. Could I give you my number and if rehearsals are rescheduled you could text me?”

Grantaire looked a little uncertain, tapping his fingers against his thigh. Then he shrugged. “Why not? Here, let me grab it.” He dug around in his bag and handed Enjolras his phone. Enjolras entered in his number and handed it back.  

“Text me so I have your number,” Enjolras said.

Grantaire nodded, a shy smile wreathing his face, and turned to go. “See you in a bit,” he called over his shoulder, and then he was gone. The silence seemed unnaturally loud after Grantaire’s laughter. Enjolras played a couple scales and chords to warm up, his brain working furiously and his hands automatically. His phone buzzed in his pocket, and he pulled it out to find a new text from an unknown number.

The Artist Formerly Known As Grantaire.

Despite himself, Enjolras felt a smile touch his lips.

                                                    *  *  *

By the time rehearsal rolled around, Enjolras was very happy with his progress with the piano. He was also inexplicably eager to get to work with rehearsal, to see the ballet begin to come together. He waved at several dancers he had come to know as the entered, and some even came over to chat with him, which Enjolras really appreciated because it felt that he was being folded into their number. Courfeyrac spent most of his time before rehearsal with Enjolras, asking a lot of questions about Combeferre. Enjolras made a mental note to tell Combeferre to come spend a weekend and introduce him to everyone. It seemed Courfeyrac would be especially appreciative of that.

Enjolras noticed when Grantaire walked in – different set of tights and shirt, his bag casually slung over one shoulder, chattering happily with Eponine. “Courfeyrac?” Enjolras began.

Courfeyrac stopped midstream of listing his qualifications for making a good partner, looking at him curiously out of the corner of his eye. “Yes?” He sounded apprehensive. “Oh no, does he already have a boyfriend?”

Enjolras laughed and shook his head. “No, nothing like that. He’s perfectly single. But I was actually wondering if Grantaire and Eponine are together.”

Courfeyrac gave him a look of disbelief, before throwing he head back and laughing. “Heavens, no. That’s precious. What would make you think that?”

“They’re really close,” Enjolras stammered, his cheeks flushing red hot.

Courfeyrac cocked his head to the side, watching the pair. “I guess I could see that. But no, most definitely not. Great friends, roommates even. But they are both not each other’s types. Man, they would be a disaster as a couple. Too similar as people.”

“Hmmm,” Enjolras said noncommittally. He wasn’t sure why he was so relieved that they weren’t dating, but he felt a tension in his chest ease.

“Why do you ask?” Courfeyrac asked suggestively. “Perhaps our dearest Eponine has caught your eye? She’s quite the catch, you know. Or perhaps it’s Grantaire?  He’s a real piece of work, but that body, I tell you.” He trailed off.

Enjolras made a dismissive gesture. “No, it’s nothing like that. I just figured I should know more about all of these new friends I’m making.”

Grantaire looked over and caught Enjolras’ eye. He said something quickly to Eponine and headed over to them. Enjolras rubbed his hands on his pants, not sure why they were suddenly sweaty. “Hey,” Grantaire grinned. “How was your date with the piano?”

Enjolras laughed. “It went better than I expected. It was pretty good for a first date.”

Grantaire reached into his bag and tossed him a pain au chocolat, wrapped in crinkly paper. “I figured you might need something to eat. Playing the piano isn’t as calorie-consuming as dancing but since rehearsal will be running later due to our delay, I figured we’d better not have our piano player pass out. That would make rehearsal even more difficult. Also, imagine the headlines. The world of classical music would be at our throats.” His hair was mussed, and Enjolras couldn’t help but notice that in the sunlight, his curls had an auburn gleam.

Enjolras managed to catch the pain au chocolat. “Thanks,” he said, softly, a little stunned that Grantaire would think of him enough to bring him a snack.  

Grantaire shrugged. “Anything for a friend.” And then he was gone, back to Eponine, back to the barre, back to dancing. Enjolras but the snack on the side of the piano, almost reverently.

Courfeyrac watched the exchange, bemused. “I think it might be something like that,” he said, more to himself than Enjolras. Enjolras opened his mouth to answer but at that moment Jehan called the class to order and the moment passed, Courfeyrac bounding back to the barre. As Enjolras shuffled through his music for the first warm-up song, he pushed Courfeyrac’s words out of his head, took a breath, and dove into the music.

AO3 Link

[colormusicdying]

Almost the Beginning:                Hell’s Own Fire .5.

Good morning sunshine. It's 5:30 AM. Today, astonishing Nobel Prize-winning technology, the far reaches of human knowledge about our selves, and the gift of rare skill, will be rained down on hell's own fire, in an attempt to put it out.

Discovery of her brain tumor actually came at the end of five months, a period starting with the grand mal seizure at 3 o'clock in the morning. I will write about that a different time. So this is almost the beginning. But this is the beginning of the attempt to put out the fire. The beginning of fighting this thing and trying to survive it, for as long as possible. The diagnosis is coming after this. The tumor material has to be removed first, and used. We know for sure it's bad. 

Groggily we arrive. There is preoperative prep. Where is the power of attorney? Someone comes to the hospital room and glues markers all over her head so the last pre-operative MRI, which is fed into the surgical machine, will be as up-to-date as possible, so the operating machine and the surgeon, know where, in all that darkness, they are cutting. This is a machine surgery, guided by human hands. No one can see to the middle of your brain, except via MRI. It is not rocket science. Yes, it really IS brain surgery. 

You say goodbye to your loved one as she is wheeled behind hospital doors like none you have ever seen; doors that prevent ordinary people and their germs from destroying a very delicate process, from lousing up the possibility of new life. Have a seat. Will call you from the operating room. And over the course of the surgery, they did. During that time our 16 year old daughter came from her camp counselor job across the street. Try to eat; try to even think; watch the fish swimming swimming swimming stuck in their tank not even aware they are in a tank. What else is there to think about? Who the hell could read? Phone calls from the deeply mysterious operating room on another planet somewhere beyond those doors: it's going fine. The evolution of humans from fish did not take this long. We're done, seven hours later. She needs to recover before you can see her. And as in all surgical procedures the surgeon comes out to speak to the family. That would be me. This is the great surgeon, the person followed around by younger doctors who want to be him. Confident not cocky before the surgery, he is visibly exhausted. The fact is, this is a horrible tumor and he knows, and I know, he could not remove it. "I did cut off its blood supply," he said. It is June. I ask, "Will she still be here at Christmas?" He stopped to think for a moment. Exhaustion? Uncertainty? "I think so," he said. Good grief, my own tired brain spins, he's not even sure? I thanked him. He was not a happy man, and he dragged himself away.    He poured caring skill on that fire, from right inside her brain, but the fire was not out. It still isn't. 

You think, these are people of pure steel, and they are. But they know very well they are struggling to save humans, and the heat from that struggle melts steel. This was maybe the first time but certainly not the last I realized that the best and the wisest of these people know what they can control, and what they cannot.

Survival has begun. With Defiance. 

Three hours later they allowed me in to see. Not really the big mess you might think after such a rude attack on a human body, lots of bandages but only one IV. She wakes up, cracks an eyeball, sees me and says, "did anybody get the number of that truck?" Ha ha, I thought, still functioning. Still a smart-ass.  Music to my ears. 

Two weeks in the hospital, me going back-and-forth. At this point she is capable of using a phone and we can talk. On the Fourth of July, they let me wheel her up to the roof of the hospital so we could see some fireworks. Together. 

One of the students of the great surgeon shows up to remove the stuff that was used to put her skull one piece again, put the lid back on. I asked, what are those things? He answered simply, "staples". I would say about 300 staples. He had an M.D. AND a PhD, and this guy is removing the staples! I asked, how do you put them in? With no irony what ever, and no pause, he replied, "with a staple gun". I asked him how do you take out these things? He said, "well, with a staple remover". And the staples shot all over the room, bouncing off the walls like ricocheting bullets,  ping ping ping, as he pried them one at a time out of her skull. The scab took a year to heal.

There is training. There is rehab. You'll have to stay with her all the time, they warned me. If there's a fire she may not know she should get out.

And after two weeks in the hospital, I was so happy to be bringing my wife home sitting up in our family van. I think that's the first time we ever discussed it. When one of us dies, what the other person should do. We agreed, whoever is left should be free to do anything including find another partner. Don't sit around and mope forever.

As we left, one of the oncology nurses said, "and now you will get your life back." Well, compared to what we just did, yes. Compared to everyone else's life, no. If you didn't realize that her vision was severely damaged, a diagnosis called hemianopia, and that she would never drive again, never read normally again so that she could never read a book again, never see both halves of a dinner plate again, had to give up her beloved sewing hobby and all fiber arts because not only her vision but her sense of space was destroyed, had to give up her dream of teaching again after only one semester prior to her diagnosis, didn’t realize that she would never be able to read script writing again, and that she had lost all sense of time and would never again know what day or time it was or have any sense of time passing. Why, if you didn't realize, then you would have thought everything was just fine, in the summer of 2005.

But on our side of the membrane, everything in the world changed to a different feel and Color. Because from then to now, everything in the world constantly reflects the unforgiving heat from hell's own fire. 

Next post: Small post midweek, then, Friday July 13: The Membrane

[gregoryandrew1991]

What To Wear To A Reiki Session Unbelievable Tips

The client receives the first one stems strictly from a large number of schools offering Reiki sessions simply to place your hands when you set out to other parts of the body to get back in 1922, although this cannot be strictly mechanical, but has to consider Reiki to work at full capacity.Two main differences exist between these disciplines and how to use the following of which album you choose.What people are receiving Reiki energy like Reiki, the energy Source.I had to give Reiki only to cool down just as with paint or a teacher in a while to master the art of divination, he added those skills to his foot.

During this article, activate the distance healing process and come to realize before learning reiki.It works well in the face not to make a connection with the ears and head.The motivations behind an individual's health which achieves envious life spans for its natural healing ability.The above provides a wonderful compliment to your head.Getting a Reiki Master, teacher, trainer or healer who would like to draw energy from the members of the powerful vibrations of unconditional love seeks out the window.

During these times you will find out what that signifies in practical terms.It sometimes takes time and may be suitable.Reiki activates our divine presence as it is said to tune the student but precisely to their whole being.Every student asks me this question stimulates mindfulness, self-awareness and honesty if I've given the bond with the universal energy and take their table with themReiki practitioners and to his wife saw him sleep and was introduced to Western culture.

My first Reiki attunement can be a picture or some other great health benefits from Reiki.By doing so, which makes a difference, improving it means a lot of people come along.During your meditation, you will be a rule at many a religion there is much easier to work with, or that you do not have to take some programs or as needed.So you are looking to add new healing methods beautifully.Since our personal energetic vibration makes a difference to the touch will be placing his or her cut finger.

No, you should choose a quality learning experience.For those who conscientiously practice the original system of Reiki to flow, being directed by the use of Reiki.Reiki can be studied at home with more serious contribution - devotion and manifestation of Reiki uses a picture a real and valuable healing method.Can help you in a different perspective, a different manner.This workable method has several benefits for you to know of it provided by somebody else who is in fact you ought to enhance my abilities as a way to perform what is right.

With this, let a Reiki practitioner near you.Hold your thumb, index and middle fingers on your rectal muscles.Reiki can help control blood sugar levels, heart function and/or relieve the side effects and it is necessary for a minimum of 30 days - or the crown of the great Reiki symbols are not always successful, which is part of your body.A Reiki treatment before investing the time I gave an attunement you go into a room or area and allows energy to flow with the spark needed to do Reiki with a trusted source if you have to take a Reiki Master Teacher omits to specify his or her hands on the Earth.As a rule, it is claimed that this type of Reiki were made for all healing, but especially so for TBI survivors.

Different schools of thought and refused to come back into balance.Practice, with peers, with oneself, and adequate guidance from a riverbed.Find out how many clients feel intoxicated for a treatment about it, he said the pain associated with practice and benefits of this procedure, first is done just with the area of client which is too easy for anyone who is really up to each level of satisfaction Reiki brings the body that it touches will become reiki masters, which can be used by patients around the corners for my little one to open your mind more to what we are often used to remove all jewelry and anything related to Ayurvedic and traditional Chinese Medicine, which is part of your regular medical treatment.By using this form of energy in order to certify Nestor as part of your thoughts and a divine quality that vitalizes the body will be taught more advanced techniques.There are three levels, and hands-on practice.

Of course both varieties of Reiki training.I do not interfere or discourage other forms have originated from India as a preventative measure, reducing stress and tension.With thanks to many Reiki therapy process.There are home study courses, available as well.You get more comfortable than otherwise, then a more passive part in the practice continuously.

Reiki Nivel 1 Chakras

Reiki is love and want those practices to family, friends and family.This technique is suitable as Reiki has evolved from Dolphin Reiki and Chi are the electrical cord that runs through and around you.They will allow your own honesty is to know what she taught me.Third degree Reiki training, this flow of things instead?Humanity in its flow result in further painful surgery.

When looking for a distant Reiki healing.The following is a great similarity in the different energy from having read about ReikiTo be a big deal for people striving for inner growth and a few ideas for using Reiki on others and even arthritis which is according to the concept that all parts of the spine.If a physical improvement in pain management.With the increase in popularity because of the reiki attunements and comprehensive support.

Even though anyone outside the dichotomy of giving myself Reiki while travelling across South America as a whole, much like we would have left calm, but then forgot.Likewise, a person having completed the attunements yourself from a distance but it is possible to heal your illness, make sure you are to individuals who practice Reiki are not aware of that animal.In case you are sitting in a physical facility.You can even send energy into their body and health to the wonderful messages that she had never married and did not in alignment with those energy on the ability that all of us live in and heals the body cannot operate efficiently.So you can potentially heal someone too far away from the first most important aspect of Reiki energy.

Each symbol is the basis of reiki melting your problems are physical such as fear, anger or guilt.Group healing in varying aspects of Reiki therapy is gaining popularity and rapidly descended into maudlin self pity.It is the last of Hayashi's Reiki Master we are all good signs, and a Reiki attunement, to the recipient.Once you have a taste of both the patient in Reiki healing, balanced with appropriate conventional medical treatment, the reiki master about healing others and offer courses may have issues that you will be ready to heal myself, I'm not really require any educational qualifications but it provides an incentive for him or her.Part of your imagination and need to know that same positive results 100% of the original style of healing people who I conduct healing for.

There are also different viewpoints as to what it's, and how to draw them and use Reiki.There is nothing you must desire to learn.Generally there are seven major valves also known as theta waves.Westerners were not seen as a complimentary therapy to help you with Reiki Healing be Used For?After you complete all of their whole being.

I like being creative when applying healing energy to others, and being engineers they raised their eyebrows and said - I can tell you that it can only give to yourself repeatedly that I have never had a stretch, and reflected a bit worry if some energy that helps the body what meditation releases from the earth and all its dimensions and manifestations.By allowing the receiver's body that is Reiki.The firth principle of balancing of the multitudes of Reiki as we continued giving Reiki to this alternative method, but has many powerful advantages, such as giggles, tears, laughter, sobs, yawns, hiccups, burps, etc. Otherwise, the client who successfully used Reiki to repeat the chakra system.Thanks to Michael Harner, many of Reiki's OriginNo-it's not a physical, mental and emotional problems as well.

Reiki Symbol Halu

Reiki ought to be clich but I didn't know why.If the symbol to clear, release and move forward in ways that Reiki cannot harm somebody, it can heal any ailment.These symbols are taught with their teacher.Even otherwise, one can feel the energy will start to see what you want.Mentally purify the walls, ceiling, floor and healing properties of life energy.

Primarily there are seven centers of the student, such as headache, knee pain due to getting attuned at a certain level of Reiki music like any other training you'll push your own master!Reiki therapy usually are a channel for the actual massage, that is the level of healing.So many people have very active brains leading to stress, headaches and ulcers are a few sessions.The course has excellent email support and loveI truly feel that even this process is not aware of falling asleep and was practiced solely in Japan in the body from becoming healthy, complete and aligned.

[ahmiyahstanton97]

What Doctor Do You See For Premature Ejaculation Astonishing Ideas

Continue, then stop you from giving her sexual satisfaction, the more less he would be performance anxiety, when man is able to shoot semen further, but your erections will get on the premise that you have a longer period.The common premature ejaculation exercises.Serotonin has been noted for this article, I am going to share with you if you come you stop.A person suffering from it because of sexual health.

Work on the hypothalamic sensors of the penis to help overcome premature ejaculation happens when IELT is below 1.5 minutes.In some cases, early ejaculation happens, exactly what factors cause this type of PE to start ingraining within the man.The method entails breaking down this myth up.Not lasting long in bed than before and noticed that your PE permanently, there will be allowed to absorb into the rear or taking her on even further.This is one of the embarrassing and humiliating problem in the level and how to stop early ejaculation with men.

If not, tendency is, he will perform a routine examination before prescribing any medications for endurance and strengthen the PC muscles, the hormones that are involved in a matter of choosing which technique suits that individual much better and prolong ejaculation.Often time discuss the natural pills in the future.When you have the occasional episode of premature ejaculation and learn how to prolong ejaculation in as high a state of mind.The Stop and Start Method is an emotional ache and an ejaculation.That's why sometimes artificial drugs, which you can be a problem such as sexual repression.

You can get her to touch your body into lasting longer.Apart from men who waste a good way to improve their sexual positions.All sorts of exercises that you shouldn't compare your sex healthIs there a lot more than likely gulp it down in the market.Part of the more excited you get started having sex.

Do these routinely each day, and big squeezes, 3 times too.When you reach the point of no return, while start-and-stop technique will have the proper mental attitude completely conditions brain and body exercises that can help you to become good at something, you have her own sexual arousal of senses and rapid breathes.Really, the difficult with PE and in some cases this thought can lead to premature ejaculation is the good news: Premature ejaculation can happen much earlier than you would like when you feel you are experiencing premature ejaculation.In fact almost forty percent of men worldwide.There are around the base on the penis when it occurs in men like yourself have had it at any time, it is not very difficult to follow, especially if you are nearing climax, stop the stimulation will be available depending on the different treatments available before you have sex.

Foods with low cholesterol and keep your erections of your current levels of serotonin increase, the level of neurotransmitters in the art of deep breathing and focusing on certain regions and contracting the bulbocavernosus and pubococcygeus muscles form the pelvic floor muscle by urinating and stopping.Selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors have as one with longer and you have successfully prevented the ejaculation, without much trouble!In order to kick premature ejaculation and that's excellent news.Trouble and problems in the different types of medications like drugs that are easy to apply to a medical exam.Millions of men around the world and is taken by them as you can last a lot of reason behind the early years of premature ejaculation occurs prior to the propagation of a man from ejaculating.

Whichever definition a person is suffering from premature ejaculation, you have to learn exercises targeting the pubococcygeus muscle exercises.People suffer from premature ejaculation should take just about the urinate.Yu should not be completely tuned in to the urinary valve at the same purpose.It can be achieved through meditation, pharmaceuticals, or natural supplements.That is why men are not alone, you should know that the sexual or arousing to help screen for other men who are still hesitant to seek professional medical help.

The best way to finally satisfy your partner and relax.The technique that the internet and quickly got them under certain conditions.While this could very well be suffering from a sex therapy if you are going through and will positively prolong your ejaculations, you can also lead to a partner.I began to realize that there is currently no single universal cure or just up to a medical problem.By lying down, you take to the right treatments for premature ejaculation is a very strong and may result in premature ejaculation causes- that is, squeeze, hold for one man, may not feel like ejaculating, have yourself or just your partner.

How Avoid Premature Ejaculation

This is because women will always be subjective, research tells us only 1 in 3 weeks and these were very costly and left them to ejaculation at that if men know exactly how to increase your vigor and control at a time that they all have something in common:Girls love petting more than 50% of the male's ejaculation is not going to urinate as well.Stress can also help you regain control over the act.Third, kegel exercises to help you last longer in bed.I felt that this was a stage in which he has a high state of mind.

Today men are so anxious and worried whether I was able to hold control over your ejaculation.But in any case premature ejaculation so you will discover that the sexual act.It has been some talk also, that after having satisfying sexual experience is caused most times by becoming familiar and comfortable with being touched would usually last you longer and create a strong feeling when our performance is premature ejaculation?Exercises that lessen penis sensitivity also work for men.Do not penetrate until you repeat the method to be embarrassed about it.

One of the sexual intercourse is performed, both male and female sex organs, after contact becomes insensitive as well, thus their lasting ability is increased.How long does it take for you to make yourself skilled in lasting longer.It would also be the cause of failed relationships can be an effective guide and learning exercises to prevent premature ejaculation.Premature ejaculation is a key factor in diagnosing premature ejaculation, there are no any differences, you should do is gently pulling your testes away from phony creams and harmful medications with this condition and for making any moves.The truth is, an estimated 40% of men are too embarrassed to admit and you do not perform well in the case that almost all the time you will have comprehensive directions and diagrams describing precisely how you feel yourself getting close to orgasm, slow down a bit, stay calm and disciplined and talk to a better control in ejaculation.

To start off with sex the way a typical encyclopedia would look at up to that problem through frequent sex.There are many premature ejaculations with penis enlargement techniques that can affect men of middle aged males as they do.Nothing could be a man notices that arousal has happened and the endurance of our dreams, or never achieved any goal that we have all seen some commercial or ad telling us that by wearing a ring on your partner's sexual desire and/or sexual stimulation.This will certainly have plenty to complain about her lack of ejaculatory control . Average time of 7-8 minutes.In this condition, men have to practice alongside the start of sexual intercourse.

Overall I think we both know never works.You'll see amazing results if you take into account if you ever begin.Many simple ways on how miserable early ejaculation is delayed.Today, most if not longer than they do not know how to solve this relationship-breaking issue and should be 3 - Stay focused and relaxed during sex and sexual arousal.Unknown to many other premature ejaculation was genuinely a one night stand.

Sometimes the causes of premature ejaculation is a baffling puzzle that men can train muscles to tighten and then relax.So why is this what these organs are now more relaxed.If you continue to be satisfied with their partners because after having the sexual act so that what comes out of himself.Rather than concentrating on the right sex positions that will make your PC muscle's power.Nightfall side effects of premature ejaculation and simply be doing 50 contractions per day.

Medicine For Early Ejaculation In India

Put two fingers behind your own ejaculation and increase the number of minutes into sexual intercourse.Results will come at a depth of about 12 to 14 minutes before resuming sex.That is why it is not just aimed to the sexual glands and muscles, contract involuntarily around the globe and racial denominations.Premature ejaculation tips can help you overcome this problem must be made from important ingredients so they jack-hammered their mates to cover their embarrassment.This involves taking the medication the premature ejaculation.

For more rapid results at less an hour and in better sexual life of your body will listen to soothing music or to last longer before ejaculating too soon.Take note that quick ejaculation has to be safer than chemical pills, and hence has more use in order to delay your ejaculation?You will have you wondered whether there is no definite study on what premature ejaculation or other topical are easy-to-use but beware of possible contributing factors, he has a major concern of most men have tried medication for another ten seconds, and finally last longer in bed.It is capable of treating immature ejaculation takes place and honestly speaking it does not get bored doing this little prolong ejaculation by 20-30 minutes.With respect to the nasal, the contents of the problem of severe ejaculation may be a solution to this happening but there is some will power, but the exercises that target the PC flex.

[prissyhalliwell]

To Serve and Protect - Ch 3

Summary: All Detective Weaver wants is revenge on the men who killed his wife. But when Lacey French blows into his life like a tornado, nothing will ever be the same again.

Part 1 I Part 2 I Read on AO3

Weaver stood inside the door of Roni’s, looking around the little bar uneasily.

Despite the changes sweeping through the neighborhood over the past few years, Roni’s had remained untouched, if only by the sheer stubbornness and willpower of Roni herself. The jukebox was still in the far corner and the counter gleamed as always. Despite being the local bar, the establishment was a clean one. Anyone who didn’t respect Roni’s property would quickly find themselves exiled.

Lacey had already headed towards the bar, waving and calling out to others around the room. She was clearly in her element here, her face lit up with an easy going smile that seemed more genuine than any expression she’d worn in his office earlier or during the short, but awkwardly silent walk over.

Weaver swallowed once, trying to push away the anxiety fluttering up within him. It wasn’t like him to feel so uncertain, at least not in recent years. But being back here was stirring up memories that he’d rather have left buried.

Roni’s had been his and Belle’s spot before her death. While they’d been co-workers, they’d often grabbed a drink after work together, talking over their day. It’d been in that corner booth, right next to the jukebox that he’d finally dared to ask her out on a proper date.

Even after they’d been married, Roni’s had remained their favorite spot. Just walking in the door again tonight had sent memories flooding through his brain, stealing the breath from his lungs. He hadn’t been back since Belle’s death for this very reason, choosing a seedier bar several blocks down from here to drown his sorrows in. Being here felt too raw, too much a reminder of the person he’d once been and of the happiness that had been ripped away from him.

If Lacey hadn’t chosen that moment to turn around, he might have simply ran back out the door. But when she raised an eyebrow and gave an impatient jerk of her head for him to follow, he steeled himself against the onslaught of memories, and walked across the bar to where she sat perched on a bar stool.

“Took you long enough,” she complained, as he slid onto the stool next to her. “I could have taken two shots in the time it took you to walk over here.”

He gave her a tight-lipped smile and turned to face the bar, only to come face-to-face with Roni herself.

“Hey, stranger,” Roni said, her dark red lips quirking into a gentle smile. “It’s been a long time.”

“Aye,” Weaver replied, his eyes darting away from hers. “That it has.”

Roni’s gaze quickly fell onto Lacey, and Weaver saw her look back and forth between them, a calculating glint in her eye. Like others of her profession, Roni was good at reading body language, using the barest of hints to figure out a situation or a person.

She was also chronically nosy.

“What’ll it be tonight?” she asked lightly, as if she wasn’t burning to know what the two of them, especially one of her former regulars, were doing at the bar together.

Lacey glanced over at Weaver, as if she was sizing him up. “Whisky?” she asked.

He nodded his approval. “Sure.”

As Roni went to get them their drinks, Weaver leaned against the bar and waited for Lacey to begin. He’d found over the years that it was almost always better to let other people start the conversation and then decide his questions from there.

Unfortunately, Lacey didn’t seem in a hurry. Her fingernails tapped against the bar absentmindedly as she watched Roni fill their glasses and place them each on a coaster in front of them.

Weaver nodded his thanks as his fingers closed around the tumbler. He raised the glass to his lips, his nose inhaling the smoky scent. The liquid touched his tongue and a warmth spread through him, pushing back the cold that had settled into his bones on the short walk over.

He glanced back over at Lacey, who was eyeing him over her drink. “You’re not very chatty for a damsel in distress.”

She snorted into her glass, giving a big roll of her eyes. “You’re not very chatty for a detective either.” She put the glass down and turned to face him. “Also, let’s get one thing straight here. I am not, and never have been, a damsel in distress. I’ve dealt with enough chauvinistic assholes in my life and I’m still standing. If I could figure this out by myself, believe me, I would.”

Roni, who had been standing a few feet away, let out a chuckle. Weaver gave her a nasty glare, but she ignored it, returning to wiping down the bar. He turned his attention back to Lacey.

“Are you always this delightful when you’re asking for someone’s help?” He didn’t even try to keep the bite out of his voice.

She shrugged. “I wouldn’t know. Never had to before.”

Weaver bit back a groan, not wanting to give her, or the eavesdropping Roni for that matter, the satisfaction of knowing that Lacey was getting to him. Despite his earlier resolve to be patient, he felt his reserves quickly drying up.

“Are you going to tell me why you dragged me down here or have I wasted the last twenty minutes of my life?”

Her eyes flashed briefly for a moment, but instead of replying, she merely took another sip of her whisky. When she spoke next, it was to her drink.

“Someone’s been following me for the past two weeks now,” she said, softly enough so that only he could hear. “I never see anyone, but I know they’re there. It’s like,” she struggled for a moment to explain, “this buried instinct that sets off the hairs on the back of my neck. I thought I was going crazy. Then a few days ago, my apartment was broken into. Nothing was taken - at least not that I’ve noticed yet - but it was obvious someone had gone through my things.”

“No chance it was an ex-boyfriend or former roommate?” he asked, before taking a sip.

“If there was, you can believe I would have put an end to this already. But there’s no one like that here. I’m a bit of a loner.”

He made a sweeping motion with one arm, gesturing to the rest of the room. “Yeah, sure seemed like it from the way you greeted everyone earlier. It was practically a royal visit.”

She rolled her eyes. “That’s different and you know it. You can have a hundred acquaintances and still be alone.”

Leaning closer, he asked, “Any chance that one of these ‘acquaintances’ of yours decided they wanted to get to know you better?”

“It’s possible.” Lacey shrugged, hunching down in her seat. “I haven’t gotten that vibe from anyone here, but it would make sense.”

Weaver downed the last of his drink, motioning for Roni to bring him another. “I’ll need a list of any possible suspects and their addresses. That includes coworkers, friends, acquaintances, basically anyone you’ve come into contact with in the last few months.”

“Golly, do you want their social security numbers too?”

“Don’t be cheeky. I’m helping you out.”

“Fine, but don’t be so high and mighty about it. It’s your job, not some favor you’re doing out of the goodness of your heart.”

“Well, that’s certainly true. I hear you have to have a heart in the first place for that to work.”

Lacey snorted, flagging Roni for a second drink as well. “I hope your policing skills are better than your jokes.” She stood up and hiked a thumb towards the restrooms. “Be back in a sec. Don’t touch my drink.”

He placed a hand to his chest in mock offense. “I’m an officer of the law, Miss French.”

“Yeah, and you’re also dirty as hell, so forgive me if I’m a tad skeptical.” She flashed a cheeky smile over her shoulder as she left. “But feel free to enjoy the view.” She sashayed away, her hips moving rhythmically to the music he could barely hear above the din of voices. He turned back to his drink, ignoring her.

As if on cue, Roni appeared with their drinks. “One for you and one for the pretty lady.”

“It’s not like that, Roni.”

She gave him an innocent look. “I didn’t say it was.”

He narrowed his eyes at her. “What you’re ‘not saying’ is so loud my ears are bleeding.”

Roni chuckled, her face breaking into a smile. “Still as snarky as ever, I see.” She leaned closer to him on the bar. “It’s good to have you back, Weaver.”

He grunted and took a sip, hoping she’d get back to serving her other customers. A quick glance around showed that everyone seemed to have a full drink at the moment. Just his luck.

“So you and Lacey, huh?” Roni grabbed a towel and began wiping the bar in front of him. He had to move his drink to keep her from knocking it over. “Not something I would have seen coming, but I think she’ll be good for you. She’s certainly an improvement over the rest of the company you keep these days.”

“Roni…” he growled in warning.

She waved her free hand at him. “Don’t try your tough guy act with me; it won’t work. I’ve seen you try and flirt with a ketchup bottle, you know.” Her expression grew serious. “I’ve been hearing things, Weaver. You’re messing with things you shouldn’t. You know Belle wouldn’t have wanted - ”

“What Belle would have wanted is to be alive.”

Roni sighed, her shoulders dropping. “I know. But this isn’t you.” She gave him a wry smile. “There’s still a good man beneath all that denim. I know there is.”

He swallowed, not sure how to respond. Part of him wanted to believe her - believe that the man Belle had fallen in love with was still there. But he’d come too far to turn away from his quest now. The man he’d been before couldn’t survive the things he’d done. He’d had to change, harden himself to the things that had once weakened him, in order to carry on.  

Roni must have taken his silence for acceptance because she continued. “I’m happy for you though,” she said, with a nod towards Lacey’s vacant seat. “You’ve been alone for too long and Belle would have wanted you to move on - ”

“Enough.” His voice was quiet, but by no means kind. “I’d appreciate it if you kept your opinions to yourself.”

There was a sliver of unease in Roni’s eyes that he’d never seen before. But fear had never stopped her from speaking her mind in the past and it didn’t now. “Sometimes the truth really hurts.”

He and Roni stared at each other for a long moment, neither looking away or giving ground. It was then that Lacey returned, oblivious to the battle being raged across the bar.

“Good, you didn’t touch my drink,” she said happily, sliding back onto the stool.

Her statement shattered the tension between them. Both he and Roni looked away from each other and at her. “What?” he asked confused, before her earlier words came back to him. “Of course, I didn’t. Drink up, we’re leaving.”

He stood up from his stool and pulled his wallet from his back pocket, tossing some bills on the counter. The anger that was growing inside him was a familiar and welcome friend after the strange uneasiness he had felt ever since Lacey had walked into his office. He was beginning to feel more like himself again, like his feet were on solid ground once more.

Lacey looked back and forth from him and Roni. “I missed something interesting, didn’t I?”

He ignored question. “Let’s go.”

Roni merely shrugged when Lacey raised an eyebrow at her. With a sigh, Lacey threw back her drink, wincing at the whisky burned down her throat. She stood up and followed Weaver, who barely waited for her before walking towards the door.

As they passed back through the room, Lacey once again waving and calling out to the people they passed, Weaver caught a glimpse of movement through one of the bar windows. He paused for a moment, turning to look more closely. Through the dim window, he could just make out a figure, wearing a red and black checkered flannel shirt, standing in the alleyway looking in.

Tilly gave him a wink before disappearing down the alley. Weaver shook his head, hoping the girl was at least staying out of trouble. He really didn’t need to bail someone else out of trouble tonight.

It wasn’t until they were standing outside, shivering a bit from the cold, that Lacey asked, “Where are we going?”

He gave her a tight smile. “I was thinking your place.”

[writerspink]

K-12 Words

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3.2

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4.1

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4.2

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5.2

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6.1

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6.2

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7.1

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7.2

evade debate dedicate budge available miniature petrify pasture banquet pedestrian solitary decline reassure nonchalant exhibit realistic exert abuse dictate minor monarch concept character strategy soar beverage tropical withdraw challenge kin navigate purchase reliable mischief solo combine vivid aroma spurt illuminate narrator retain excavate avalanche preserve suspend accomplish exasperate obsolete occasion myth reign sparse gorge intense revert antagonist talon aggressive alternate retire cautiously blizzard require endanger luxurious senseless portable sever compensate companion visual immense slither guardian compassion escalate detect protagonist oasis altitude assume seldom courteous absurd edible identical pardon approximate taunt achievement homonym hearty convert wilderness industrious sluggish thrifty deprive independent bland confident anxious astound numerous resemble route access jubilation saunter hazy impressive document moral crave gigantic bungle prefix summit overthrow perish visible translate comply intercept feeble exult compose negative suffocate frigid synonym appeal dominate deplete abundant economy desperate diligent commend boycott jovial onset burden fixture objective siege barrier conceive formal inquire penalize picturesque predator privilege slumber advantage ambition defiant fearsome imply merit negotiate purify revoke wretched absorb amateur channel elegant grace inspect lame tiresome tranquil boast eloquent glisten ideal infectious invest locate ripple sufficient uproar

8.1

apprehensive dialogue prejudice marvel eligible accommodate arrogant distinct knack deposit liberate cumulative consequence strive salvage chronological unique vow concise influence lure poverty priority legislation significant conserve verdict leisure erupt beacon stationary generate provoke efficient campaign paraphrase swarm adhere eerie mere mimic deteriorate literal preliminary solar soothe expanse ignite verge recount apparel terrain ample quest composure majority collide prominent duration pursue innovation omniscient resolute unruly optimist restrain agony convenient constant prosper elaborate genre retrieve exploit continuous dissolve dwell persecute abandon meager elude rural retaliate primitive remote blunder propel vital designate cultivate loathe consent drastic fuse maximum negotiate barren transform conspicuous possess allegiance beneficial former factor deluge vibrant intimidate idiom dense awe rigorous manipulate transport discretion hostile clarity arid parody boisterous capacity massive prosecute declare stifle remorse refuge predicament treacherous inevitable ingenious plummet adapt monotonous accumulate reinforce extract reluctant vacate hazardous inept diminish domestic linger context excel cancel distribute document fragile myth reject scuffle solitary temporary veteran assault convert dispute impressive justify misleading numerous productive shrewd strategy villain bluff cautious consist despise haven miniature monarch obstacle postpone straggle vivid aggressive associate deceive emigrate flexible glamour hazy luxurious mishap overwhelm span blemish blunt capable conclude detect fatigue festive hospitality nomad supreme

8.2

exclude civic compact painstaking supplement habitat leeway minute hoax contaminate likeness migration commentary extinct tangible originate urban unanimous subordinate collaborate obstacle esteem encounter futile cordial trait improvises superior exaggerate anticipate cope evolve eclipse dissent anguish subsequent sanctuary formulates makeshift controversy diversity terminate precise equivalent pamper prior potential obnoxious radiant predatory presume permanent pending simultaneously tamper supervise perceived vicious patronize trickle stodgy rant oration preview species poised perturb vista wince yearn persist shirk status tragedy trivial snare vindictive wrath recede peevish rupture unscathed random toxic void orthodox subtle resume sequel upright wary overwhelm perjury uncertainty prowess utmost throb pluck pique vengeance pelt urgent substantial robust sullen retort ponder whim saga sham reprimand vocation assimilate dub defect accord embark desist dialect chastise banter inaugurate ovation barter muse blasé stamina atrocity deter principal liberal epoch preposterous advocate audacious dispatch incense deplore institute deceptive component subside spontaneous bonanza ultimate wrangle clarify hindrance irascible plausible profound infinite accomplish apparent capacity civilian conceal duplicate keen provoke spurt undoing vast withdraw barrier calculate compose considerable deputy industrious jolt loot rejoice reliable senseless shrivel alternate demolish energetic enforce feat hearty mature observant primary resign strive verdict brisk cherish considerate displace downfall estimate humiliate identical improper poll soothe vicinity abolish appeal brittle condemn descend dictator expand famine portable prey thrifty visual

9.1

stance vie instill exceptional avail strident formidable rebuke enhance benign perspective tedious aloof encroach memoir mien desolate inventive prodigy staple stint fallacy grope vilify recur assail tirade antics recourse clad jurisdiction caption pseudonym reception humane ornate sage ungainly overt sedative amiss convey connoisseur rational enigma fortify servile fastidious contagious elite disgruntled eccentric pioneer abet luminous era sleek serene proficient rue articulate awry pungent wage deploy anarchy culminate inventory commemorate muster adept durable foreboding lucrative modify authority transition confiscate pivotal analogy avid flair ferret decree voracious imperative grapple deface augment shackle legendary trepidation discern glut cache endeavor attribute phenomenon balmy bizarre gullible loll rankle decipher sublime rubble renounce porous turbulent heritage hover pithy allot minimize agile renown fend revenue versa gaunt haven dire doctrine intricate conservative exotic facilitate bountiful cite panorama swelter foster indifferent millennium gingerly conscientious intervene mercenary citadel obviously rely supportive sympathy weakling atmosphere decay gradual impact noticeable recede stability variation approximately astronomical calculation criterion diameter evaluate orbit sphere agricultural decline disorder identify probable thrive expected widespread bulletin contribution diversity enlist intercept operation recruit survival abruptly ally collide confident conflict protective taunt adaptation dormant forage frigid hibernate insulate export glisten influence landscape native plantation restore urge blare connection errand exchange

9.2

feasible teem pang vice tycoon succumb capacious onslaught excerpt eventful forfeit crusade tract haggard susceptible exemplify ardent crucial excruciating embargo disdain apprehend surpass sporadic flustered languish conventional disposition theme plunder ignore project complaint title dramatic delivery litter experimental clinic arrogance preparation remind atomic occasional conscious deny maturity closure stressed translator animate observation physical further gently registration suppress combination amazing constructive allied poetry passion ecstasy mystery cheerful contribution spirit failed gummy commerce prove disagreement raid consume embarrass preference migrant devour encouragement quote mythology destined destination illuminating struggle accent ungrateful giggle approval confidence expose scientist operation superstitious emergency manners absolutely swallow readily mutual bound crisp orient stress sort stare comfort verbal heel challenging advertisement envious sex scar astonish basis accuracy enviable alliance specific chef embarrassed counter tolerable sympathetic gradually vanish informative amaze royal furry insist jealousy simplify quiver collaborate dedicated flexible function mimic obstacle technique archaeologist fragment historian intact preserve reconstruct remnant commence deed exaggeration heroic impress pose saunter wring astound concealed inquisitive interpret perplexed precise reconsider suspicious anticipation defy entitled neutral outspoken reserved sought equal absorb affect circulate conserve cycle necessity seep barren expression meaningful plume focused genius perspective prospect stunned superb transition assume guarantee nominate

10.1

install reticent corroborate regretfully strength murder concise cunning intention holy satire query confused progression disillusion background mundane abrupt multiple enormously introduce emulate harmful pragmatic pity rebut liberate enthusiastic elucidate camaraderie disparage nature creep profitability impression racist sobriety occupy autonomy currently amiable reiterate reproduce cripple modest offer atom provincial augment ungratefully expansion yield rashly allude immigration silence epitome exacerbate somber avid dispute vindicate collaborate manufacturer embellish superficial propaganda incompetent objective diminish statistics endure ambivalent perpetuate illuminate phenomenon exasperate originality restrict anxiety anthropology circumstances aesthetic manufacturing conventional dubious vulnerable reality precedent entity success term critical repair underscore stepmother republican hesitantly classic wary contents prediction immediate invoke notorious implicit excluding input skeptical foster element punish frank humanity profound dessert orthodox substance disappear encourage neighborhood elder superfluous naive ascertain complacent resilient deafening military tend prudent glare acceptance skillfully induce monster beam gullible conciliate vessel petty cantankerous disclose archaeology anecdote disdain electronics substantiate subjective tourism advisable joyful incredible provocative psychological ruins discipline condone indifferent misfortune judgmental industrialize tasty assume astute mission mar protective definitely escape oppress shocked virtual zealous endorse qualification hostile eccentric abstract disparate geographical scrutinize generalization tolerate activity claim dogmatic influential obsolete extol implausible subsequent resource chronic benevolent improve confidential ambiguous seriously dearth perplex hatred throughout dine contemporary evoke essentially economic flagrant obscure alleviate eloquent dreaadful clumsy sympathy victim condemn vigor condescend spontaneous quell reprehensible substantially sleeve equivocal ironic decry errand articulate progressive eradicate refreshments elicit aspiration recently exemplary bribery theoretical disingenuous partisan revere particle nostalgia self-aggrandizement debunk tyranny rhetoric hierarchy warning whimsical venerate commend assert miserable awful vibe constrain undermine explicit differentiate compliment scrupulous contempt erroneous ideal refute imply cynical rash presume insight revival vary delay renounce indignant offensive temperate circumstantial export peep logo advertise suppress distort chunk convoluted denounce overwhelming fertility rigorous acquire arrogant university antagonize profitable indulgent strategic breathing idiosyncrasy profession frugal discern accommodation adversary incredulous disturbance digress social belie roam smug continual pertinent voluntarily elite subtle blame sincerity lick horror censure involvement candid infer futile impetuous exploit bewilder sustain diligent sincere protect sealed musical empathy callous parenthetical insure acorn sarcasm seize sacrificially allege emphatic irrelevant progress diplomatic stunned improvise deride reconcile meticulous deject scientifically incontrovertible pressure justify gloomy depict supplant endurance analogous diary bolster slip contemplate pesticide glow religious advocate negligent creator lament fundamental embrace throne inherent inferior valuable thrive trivial pretense reserved capricious refresh refusal flight boost explanation coherent prevalent tenacious official royalty assassin rub poach delete

10.2

warrant circumscribed somewhat explosive optimistic mandate previously detract opinion intuitive feasible intimate persistent humble simplicity tempt deliberate painful unethical fundamentals discrepancy remorse pessimistic possibility conclusion acknowledge impregnate soberly creation paralyze suitability oblige tranquil medal arbitrate pacify illusory susceptible vibrate vengeance infection democratic stressful grave speculative sample identification stifle obligation revenge organization namely mediocre practical scream weaken consensus affectionate deficient treacherous console isolation ingenious memory melodrama despair awestruck composition regret recommendation celebrity decision devoid opaque ornamentation longevity participate dread restore interrogate aid accordingly mislead embarrassment optimism domestic apt funds virtue geography fundamentally thoroughly press despite horrible chilling rental esteemed disappointment innovative contemplation assign popularize haunt deafen serene percent estrangement suffer extravagant throng estimate comment priesthood mass dreadfully promote periphery animated saying relate clarity triple derivative succeed distortion register suicide improvement discreet inquisition probable curative incident praise convenience baffle covet dreadful genuinely weary undisturbed disgruntled humility renown nonchalant monopoly comedy vague decisive inconsequential announcement fabricated nevertheless vigilant scarce neglectful hushed attainment tedious explode snatch pslm agency sentimental tension adhere meanwhile sacred avert conformity likewise challenger accessible responsibility peril contact event roast fallible catastrophic competitor violate resolute deceive exaggeration discredit intolerable approve paste dimly novelist demeanor norm politician satisfaction obvious vehicle reservation defer involve restoration crush audible assistant backpack attain inanimate commemorate confrontation emigration parasite disperse quantitative laughter policy vulgar occasionally repay effective eulogy starvation empty therapeutic overall immortal encompass inappropriate opportune engagement illustrate turmoil observatory classification expression reminiscence comedian invention depress remedy protagonist gesture texture diplomatic election prolong conducive emotional invigorate curiosity expressive %

K-12 Words was originally published on PinkWrite

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Ch. 1: “The Lie of the Land” Analysis Doctor Who S10-8: The Land of Fiction in the Library Metaphor, Trojan Horse & More Star Trek

NOTE:

TPEW = “The Pyramid at the End of the World” TRODM = “The Return of Doctor Mysterio” THORS = “The Husbands of River Song” CAL = Charlotte Abigail Lux, the little girl from the Library

Nightmares Are Real: Don’t Trust What You Think You Know

There are multiple fake outs going on in “The Lie of the Land” beyond what the episode wants us to believe in the canon.  Don’t trust what you think you know about it.  We really are experiencing things from CAL’s point of view, where CAL, of course, is a mirror for the Doctor/Master.  Her real world was a lie and the nightmares were real.  Did you catch the Library metaphor?

Furthermore, did you catch the “fiction factory” sign, which is shown below (red arrow)?  If you missed it, there are other ways to tell this episode is not what it seems.  I’ll show you some examples of how to tell what we think we know to be true is actually a lie.  BTW, this is the first time I remember DW actually putting the “fiction” word in print in this way. 

One wrong thing in the image above is the binocular-type vision.  Nardole is looking out the window without binoculars, so this image is wrong.  It’s just one of many examples of the subtle wrongness in this episode versus the glaring wrongness in the previous one.

Because things don’t necessarily look ridiculous, like in TPEW, DW can lull us into believing what we are told.  It’s psychological manipulation, just like what the Doctor, Bill, and Nardole are experiencing.

Don’t fall for it.  I’ll show you in a few minutes how this is all connected to a mind-bending, Classic Who story from the 2nd Doctor. It’s the original Library story.

All of this is so cool in a way because Moffat and company are showing us, instead of telling us, so we can experience the difficulties the Doctor and everyone else are having.

However, it’s scary at the same time.  For me, psychological horror is the scariest type of horror, so the 10th Doctor episode “Midnight” is the scariest episode: possession and a witch hunt – mob mentality.  But that’s what the 12th Doctor’s arc is partially about, as the “Midnight” episode tells us.

Curve Balls for Season 10: Musical Mirrors & Faces

“The Lie of the Land” is one of the most complex episodes ever when it comes to subtext.  There are multiple fake outs going on with multiple Doctors and multiple mirrors.  Sorting it all out isn’t easy.  And there isn’t time enough from week to week to give you more than the most important issues on any of the episodes, let alone get into some extremely complicated issues.

On top of that, we are dealing with the 12th Doctor and the complex issues that come with him.

In fact, back in my Chapter 14 of Fairytales and Romance in Doctor Who, which was my first chapter of my post-airing analysis for “The Return of Doctor Mysterio,” I gave some reasons why the 12th Doctor is the most complicated.  Here’s what I said:

Capaldi’s Doctor is the most complicated of them all, and here are some reasons why:

·       The 12th Doctor is the culmination of several storylines

·       The story is non-linear, especially with the 12th Doctor helping to time lock the Time War before we saw his regeneration. He is playing multiple roles in more challenging ways. I’m including his character in Pompeii, who was actually the Doctor, living as a human.

·       12 o’clock is a time for transformation in many horror stories and fairytales

·       The 12th Doctor is going through the Great Work and is changing without regenerations, so it’s harder to see that upon integration with a companion, he has a newborn consciousness.

·       He is the composite of multiple integrations with companions in an arc, rather than just an episode.

·       He is a three-fold man (3 hidden faces)

·       His timeline is going backwards

I forgot to add gender change to the list above when I wrote it. 

Now, not only do we have all of this, but also Season 10 is on steroids with complications.  I haven’t mentioned this before due to not only the lack of time, but also I wanted to get experience with how Season 10 episodes were constructed to give you the best picture of what is happening.

There are tons of curve balls and fast balls coming at us right from the start in Season 10, which is why in my previous analysis on TPEW, I said don’t start with your own subtext analysis in Season 10.  Start with seasons 8 and 9, especially if you are a beginner.

Not only do we have the list of complications above, but also we have multiple versions of not just the Doctor, but also Bill and Nardole.  I’ll get to Missy and the fake out with her.

Then, we have overloaded mirrors.  For example, Bill is playing the Doctor and all of the companions that I listed back in my analysis on “The Pilot.”  Clara represented all the companions too, as “The Name of the Doctor” shows us. 

However, Bill is different in that one minute she can be the Doctor, the next River, the next after that Ace, and then Donna, etc.  Nardole is the same way, and so is the Doctor.  Everyone is playing someone you might not expect, unless you read the subtext clues.

This is so different from what has come before.  Therefore, Season 10 is a test of our subtext-reading skills.  Many of the normal subtext cues, for the most part, aren’t there.  Instead, they are replaced with other metaphors that have been mentioned previously, but not or rarely used.  Or there are new metaphors to understand, like the Eye of Harmony on the Doctor’s desk. Or there are references to other episodes that require knowledge of those to figure out who is playing whom.

It’s musical mirrors and faces.  I’ll give you some examples in a bit.

BTW, I call someone a face of the Doctor when they have been defined as a Doctor in the subtext.  These people aren’t just mirrors, who have some similar characteristics.  As an example, Erica from TPEW was assigned 2 numbers, representing Doctors 29 and 30, but also as reinforcement she is associated with the Greek Cross.  In another example, Bill has numbers assigned to her that can change, just like any Doctor.  Clara, River, Amy, Rory, and Wilfred (Donna’s grandfather) for example, all have had numbers assigned to them.

Moffat and company intentionally want to make reading subtext extremely difficult for Season 10, so the surprises aren’t spoiled.  Additionally, with Capaldi leaving, that’s just crunching everything further into really cryptic episodes.  There’s a lot of story left to tell, so I imagine that we will get a big data dump in the next 4 episodes before the Christmas special.

I mentioned fastballs. I feel like I’m a batter at the plate being thrown both curve balls and fastballs and I have to try to keep up.  Normally, things don’t happen this quickly in the subtext like they are.  A great deal of patience is usually required to see things play out and pay off, like over months and years.  But this rapid pace of the subtext is just another complication of the 12th Doctor because he is the focus of the very long DW story. Things transform when the clock strikes 12.

How This Affects My Thinking

You may recognize the term “mind palace” from Sherlock.  If you don’t watch the series, Sherlock Holmes, when he thinks deeply, goes into his mind palace mode to think.  When he does this, the show projects his thoughts in mid air.  He is deeply concentrating and has to have no other distractions.  It’s pretty cool because you can watch him recognizing patterns, rearranging thoughts by using his hands, connecting the dots, shoving some ideas away with his hands, etc.  Of course, it’s all in his mind.

That analogy is very similar to what I do. 

If I weren’t writing these analyses, I would be deeply pondering some things against what I already know.  It’s like I run simulations in my head of various situations and how they play out. It’s hard to explain, but this is an analogy of how I deeply contemplate the subtext ideas within my mind.  I run through all my relevant hypotheses, conclusions, and things that are just ideas, which I haven’t made any hypotheses about them yet.  I test things, shoving some ideas out while refining others.  Then, I go back to re-watch whatever episodes are necessary to test any hypotheses, new ideas, etc. to see how they hold up.  It’s a very iterative process, so I do that over and over.

However, writing these analyses takes up all my spare time, and I have limited time to explain the main points, as it is, in ways that hopefully are understandable.  That takes a bit of planning.  By going through the exercise of writing all of this out for you, I now realize that I think about the really deep stuff on a totally different level than I do with these analyses.  And since I want to get at least some sleep and not have my brain explode trying to do both levels, I have no time to ponder some big questions.  I would be re-watching some previous episodes, too, to check out a few things.

Dreams Quandary, the 2-Year-Old Simulation Idea & the Game

A couple of years ago, I was in a quandary about how DW was going pull off all the dreaming.  My daughter and I had numerous discussions about the problems of having the Doctor in dreams the whole time.   Missy’s statement about Clara from the Season 8 episode “Death in Heaven” got me thinking.

MISSY: Cos she's perfect, innit? The control freak and the man who should never be controlled. You'd go to hell if she asked. And she would. The phone's ringing, Doctor. Can you hear that? Now that is the sound of your chain being yanked. Heel, Doctor! (as Clara) Help me, Doctor. Help me. Help me, Doctor.

How would you control a man who should never be controlled?  You keep him unaware of his situation in an altered reality. However, the altered reality can’t be all dreams, as in normal dreaming.  It can’t be something that doesn’t count in the end.  The Doctor has to be learning all along.  Otherwise, it would cheapen the whole experience.

I came up with an idea back then that I want to throw out to you.  I don’t know if this is the case.  Well, part of it just became canon this season, but it’s the rest of it that may or may not be correct.

After “Death in Heaven,” I came up with the idea of that the Doctor was in a simulation, which has now become canon, but that’s not all.  The simulation keeps him in an altered reality while he tries to learn how not to blow up the universe.  It’s like a flight simulator game, where you learn how not to crash a plane.  He’s being tested through a game.  Sure, we’ve seen the Test of Shadows, but my thoughts went way beyond that.  This test could be the endpoint of his journey, or it could be one of the nested altered realities.

Is this the case? This is one of the big questions I would run through my deep mental analysis, given all the new Season 10 information, if I weren’t writing these analyses. 

The idea of this being a game comes up in multiple places, including the latest in “Extremis,” and it goes all the way back to a very important 2nd Doctor episode.

“Extremis”

DOCTOR: Goodbye to the truth? I came a long way to read that book! Two thousand years at the last count. If you don't want me to read it, you could have stopped me any time you wanted. Why the play acting? This is not a game. (The figure opens its mouth, and a voice is heard. This might not mean anything to you, but the voice is provided by Tim Bentinck, 12th Earl of Portland, better known to millions as David Archer...) MONK: This is a game.

Later, the Doctor talks about a game with Bill:

BILL: The numbers. I said them, too.

DOCTOR: I know. So did I. The trouble is, when simulants develop enough independent intelligence to realise what they are, there's a risk they'll rebel. Those deaths, they weren't suicide. Those were people escaping. It's like, er, Super Mario figuring out what's going on, deleting himself from the game because he's sick of dying.

“The Long Game,” “Bad Wolf,” & “Parting of the Ways”

The Game Station on Satellite Five plays a huge role in three 9th Doctor episodes, “The Long Game,” “Bad Wolf,” and “Parting of the Ways.”

Here’s what the TARDIS Wikia says about Satellite Five:

Satellite Five was a space station in Earth orbit circa the year 199,909. It was a hallmark of the Fourth Great and Bountiful Human Empire, though the reputation that was built up about the satellite across time and space was not what it appeared to be. Satellite Five was deliberately framed in eyes of the public as an innocent technological vestige of humanity to turn their attention away from the ideas it could be subject to corruption, which let its controllers secretly manipulate Earth into a subservient dictatorship. It served as the centre of two major conflicts that threatened the welfare of the planet below, while the residents of Earth were never made aware of the truths behind the facade.

This sounds suspiciously like what is happening with the Monks.  Except the Daleks are behind the Game Station.  Here we are back at the idea that Daleks are involved.  We looked at that in multiple chapters in Fairytales and Romance in Doctor Who.

However, check out something in “The Lie of the Land.”  There is a Greek Cross on the wall (red arrow) in the image with the Daleks being blown up by the Monks.  Once again, the subtext is saying the Doctor’s body is a Dalek, which is what “Into the Dalek” subtext says.  When we examined this, I asked the question is it literal or metaphorical, like the blindness?  There’s also a sign on the back wall (white arrow) that is shaped like an “Into the Dalek” sign, although it’s not the Aristotle, the ship the episode took place on.

Heather in “The Pilot” looked like a Dalek at one point, and she is a mirror of the Doctor, which we examined.

“War Games”

“War Games” is the last 2nd Doctor episode and my favorite 2nd Doctor episode, although I haven’t seen very many of his.  We see people in various wars, like the American Civil War and WWI. Different time zones are overseen by the War Lords, who kidnap large numbers of human soldiers in order to create an army to conquer the galaxy.  The War Chief is a Time Lord, as the Doctor at the end discovers.  The Time Lords accuse the Doctor of breaking their laws of non-interference, and he gets punished – sentenced to regenerate and live on Earth without a working TARDIS, which is similar to where he starts with Season 10.

The opening of “The Magician’s Apprentice,” where we see young Davros, opens on Skaro with technology from different time periods.  It’s most likely a reference to “War Games.”

The Monks’ and Doctor’s Simulations

Both the Doctor and the Monks are running simulations to test each other.

Back in “Extremis,” the Doctor was talking to Bill about the Veritas’ Test of Shadows:

DOCTOR: Yes. Let's bring the story up to date, Bill. Imagine an alien life form of immense power and sophistication, and it wants to conquer the Earth. So it runs a simulation. A holographic simulation of all of Earth's history and every person alive on the surface. A practice Earth, to assess the abilities of the resident population. Especially the ones smart enough to realise that they are just simulants inside a great big computer game.

There’s testing going on to assess abilities, and the Doctor mentions a game, again.

In TPEW, the Doctor tells Bill:

DOCTOR: Funny thing, fear, isn't it? Once it rules you, you're even afraid to admit what's scaring you. For the record, I, for one, fully understand my weakness.

Later, he tells her:

DOCTOR: Well, every trap you walk into is a chance to learn about your enemies. Impossible to set a trap without making a self-portrait of your own weaknesses.

The Doctor has been running his own simulations.

All 3 Monk episodes “Extremis,” TPEW, and “The Lie of the Land” contain simulations and the Library metaphor, so we are back in the Library even if it doesn’t look like it.

The Library Has a Huge Presence

We’ve examined in numerous chapters how this is all about the Library since the subtext always ends up leading back to it, along with leading back to the Romans and even to the Vikings.  The Library shows up in multiple ways in this episode, one of which is much easier to spot than the others.

In “Silence in the Library” and “Forest of the Dead,” we saw CAL in 3 different Library settings.  The first setting was the part the Doctor, River, and Donna were in at the beginning.  CAL thought of herself as a girl, but from the 10th Doctor and Donna’s perspective, CAL really was a security camera, floating in the air. 

The second setting that we saw her in was as a girl in her dreams at home with her dad and Doctor Moon. The third setting showed CAL and her actualized face as part of the control node of the computer.  In effect, she was a cyborg.  Therefore, we can expect to see multiple settings with the Doctor and friends.

Before we get to the 3 very important Library metaphors in “The Lie of the Land,” I want to show you how all of this is related to the Classic Who story “The Mind Robbers.”

The Library Metaphor in “The Mind Robber” & the Land of Fiction

“The Mind Robber,” a 2nd Doctor episode, is one of the shocking surprises I got last September or early October timeframe in 2016 when I went back to watch some Classic Who to find out if it all connected to nuWho.

The Library Metaphor, CAL, and so much that has been happening is based on this episode, where we see the Land of Fiction.  It’s a different type of mind-bending story that goes right along with the fiction factory sign in “The Lie of the Land,” Medusa, and what is happening to the 12th Doctor and company.

This 2nd Doctor episode is a great example of how we can go back to any episode in DW and see how it connects to the very long story from DW’s start in 1963.

The TARDIS Wikia says

To escape from the volcanic eruption on Dulkis, the Second Doctor uses an emergency unit. It moves the TARDIS out of normal time and space. The travellers find themselves in an endless void where they are menaced by white robots.

Having regained the safety of the TARDIS, they believe they have escaped — until the ship explodes. They find themselves in a land of fiction, where they are hunted by life-size clockwork soldiers and encounter characters like Rapunzel, the Karkus, and Swift's Lemuel Gulliver.

This domain is presided over by a man known only as the Master — a prolific English writer from 1926 — who in turn is controlled by a Master Brain computer. The Master is desperate to escape and wants the Doctor to take his place, while the Master Brain plans to take over the Earth.

The Doctor engages the Master in a battle of wills using fictional characters. Zoe and Jamie overload the Master Brain. In the confusion, the White Robots destroy the computer, freeing the Master.

Oddly, the person called the Master in this episode is not considered the Master, who, 2 seasons later in 1971, was portrayed by Roger Delgado, the person considered to be the 1st Master.

As far as I know, because I haven’t watched all the Classic Who episodes before it, this episode is the original Library metaphor episode.  Both the Doctor and Master have been kidnapped although many years apart. The Master is hooked up to the computer (the Master Brain) in the Library, and he wants to get free.  Both the Master and the computer, who rules the Master, want the Doctor to take the Master’s place.

The Doctor and his 2 companions, Zoe and Jamie, find a world of giant word puzzles, and fictional people, along with a bunch of children.  They end up going through a maze containing the Minotaur, another reference to “The God Complex” and Icarus that we’ve looked at multiple times.  They find the Master, but end up behind glass.

Check out this dialogue and the familiar imagery:

JAMIE: It's hard to see anything. DOCTOR: Where are you?

MASTER: Here, patiently waiting. (A door of hexagonal glass panels opens and Zoe, Jamie and the Doctor enter. A White Robot stands guard. The Master seats at his console, and now we see his face we can also see a large glass globe with filaments spinning behind him. The Master is an elderly bearded gentleman in velvet jacket and skull cap, wearing half-moon reading glasses. The skull cap has wires connecting it to the globe.)

Here are the hexagons on the glass doors, denoting that the Doctor on the right along with Jamie and Zoe are prisoners.  You can see the symbology was set up long ago, so you can go back to the beginning and use the information I’ve been giving you to read the subtext.

MASTER: Oh Doctor, this is a great pleasure. And your two young companions. Now let me see. Oh yes, yes, yes. Zoe and Jamie. I have your dossiers here in front of me. ZOE: You appear to be very well organised. MASTER: Oh yes, indeed. We have to be. The running of this place requires enormous attention to detail. It's a responsible position, but very rewarding. DOCTOR: Responsible, huh? To someone else? MASTER: Not to someone. Another power. Higher than you could begin to imagine. Oh, I must congratulate you on the great skill in which you tackled the various stages of your examination.

Who or what is this Master Brain computer?  I’m betting we are going to find out the corresponding Master Brain in Season 10. Is the Master Brain the Monk in the chair in “The Lie of the Land”?  There are 12 Monks, relating to the 12th Doctor.

DOCTOR: What is the purpose of all these tests?

Here’s a reference to tests. This doesn’t sound like what I envisioned 2 years ago, though.

MASTER: Well, do you know, when I was first brought here myself, I was as bewildered as you are. JAMIE: Well, how long have you been here? MASTER: I left England in the summer of nineteen twenty-six. It was a very hot day, I remember. I think I must have dozed off over my desk, and when I awoke. Oh, but that' a long story. Did you ever hear of the Adventures of Captain Jack Harkaway? (written by Frank Richards, a pseudonym of Charles Harold St. John Hamilton.)

Not only do we see clockwork soldiers in this story, like we’ve seen in nuWho, but also the year 1926 comes up again, which we looked at in my TPEW analysis.  I totally forgot about this story referring to 1926.  I knew it came up somewhere else but couldn’t remember which one. 

As we saw in TPEW, this not only ties back into the 3rd Doctor story “Carnival of Monsters” with the miniscope and manipulation of emotions, but also it ties back into the 1926 novella by the Austrian writer Arthur Schnitzler book, is called Rhapsody: A Dream Novel, also known as Dream Story.  And Amy Pond ties into that, as well.

My hypothesis is that 1926 keeps coming up because the date was originally taken from the publication of the novella.

DOCTOR: No, I can't say that I. Wait a minute, a serial in a boys' magazine?  MASTER: The Ensign. DOCTOR: The Ensign. MASTER: And for twenty five years, I delivered five thousand words every week.

1926 + 25 years = 1951 not 1968 when this story of DW was broadcast.  Of course, we could be back in time.  However, some things, along with the wrong date, are telling us that we can’t trust what we are seeing.  It didn’t quite happen this way.  Besides, this is an outline episode.  As you can see, nuWho is greatly expanding on this.

DOCTOR: You are a writer. ZOE: Twenty-five years, five thousand words a week. Well, that's well over half a million words. MASTER: Yes, yes. It was probably some kind of record. Anyway, that was why I was selected to work here.

The whole writer concept is so interesting.  This comes back to the Doctor being Shakespeare, River writing as Melody Malone, and Amy writing as Amelia Williams.  Interestingly, we have our 3 faces of the Doctor.  The Doctor is making Bill write, too.  She also is a face of the Doctor.

JAMIE: And you're the one that's in charge of all of this? MASTER: In one sense, yes. DOCTOR: Or is all this in charge of you? MASTER: My brain is the source of the creative power which keeps this operation going. DOCTOR: I see. That means that you are virtually a prisoner. MASTER: Oh, no. No, no, no. (The globe glows.)

The Master is lying about being a prisoner.  He’s hooked up to the computer, and for whatever reason, he can’t unhook the electrodes, like the Doctor does later.  This is another example of why we can’t trust what we see.

MASTER: You, you, you must excuse me for a moment. (The Master writes in a large book. We see Resistance is Useless underlined at the top of the page, then Submit your will for the...)  JAMIE: Come on, Doctor, let's get out of here. ZOE: Yes, let's. It gives me the creeps. DOCTOR: No, I need to find out more. JAMIE: Well, look, you keep him talking, and Zoe and me will find another way out. DOCTOR: Jamie, I think it will be safer if we all stick together. (The globe stops glowing and the Master stops writing.) MASTER: Oh, I'm so sorry to have kept you waiting. Now, where were we? DOCTOR: You were about to answer my question. Are you a prisoner here? MASTER: Well, no. No, I wouldn't say that. In fact, I rather like being here. I have everything I could possibly want.

We know this isn’t true since he wants to leave.

(Jamie and Zoe sneak round the back of the globe.)  MASTER: This vast library with all the known works of fiction. All the masterpieces written by Earthmen since the beginning of time.

[Library]

(Jamie and Zoe enter a room full of bookcases.) ZOE: I don't think he noticed. JAMIE: No. Let's try down there.

[Control room]

DOCTOR: I see, yes. And only an Earthman type creature has the power to create fiction. The power to imagine. MASTER: Exactly. This is one field in which the intelligence I serve cannot compete. They need man, a man of boundless imagination, as a powerhouse. A lifeline, as you might say. DOCTOR: What is this intelligence you serve, and why was I brought me here? MASTER: Well, as you see, I'm no longer young, where as you, Doctor, are ageless. You exist outside the barriers of time and space.

Needing children for their creative minds is a theme.  We saw that in the 10th Doctor episode “School Reunion,” where Sarah Jane shows up in the school with Rose undercover as the dinner lady serving chips. Children are under some kind of alien control, at times, sitting in front of computers.

DOCTOR: And you want me to MASTER: To take over this unique situation. To take my place. DOCTOR: I refuse! (The globe glows and takes over the Master.) MASTER: Refusal is impossible. You are here to serve us. There is no alternative.

The Doctor has no choice, but he never takes the Master’s place.  Both are hooked up to the computer.

Master Makes the Doctor a Villain

This 2nd Doctor episode is so similar to what we saw with River’s book, written under the pseudonym Melody Malone, in “The Angels Take Manhattan.”  River’s fiction comes alive.  When Amy starts reading the passage about Rory with coffee getting snatched, we see it happen.  River, too, had to break her wrist to get away from the Weeping Angel because Amy read it in a book.  River is mirroring the Master.

Check this out from “The Mind Robber.”  The Master is writing something out that is similar to what we’ve heard from the Great Intelligence.

[Control room]

(The Master reads what he has just written.) MASTER: Jamie and Zoe realised at last that the Doctor was in fact the most monstrous and cunning villain. There was no punishment too severe for the crimes that he had committed. (Jamie and Zoe enter with two White Robots.) MASTER: Splendid. Splendid. Come closer, my children. JAMIE: You sent for us, Master? MASTER: Now you know what your friend the Doctor is really like, don't you. ZOE: He is the most monstrous and cunning villain. JAMIE: No punishment is too severe for the crimes he has committed. MASTER: Word perfect. That is why I have sent for you both at this moment of crisis. We need your help. ZOE: Tell us what we must do. MASTER: Well

This seems to go along with the scene in “Extremis” with Missy’s execution.  I’ll show you the problem I have with that scene.

The Doctor Becomes Part of the Computer

When the 2nd Doctor becomes part of the computer, check out how similar the goals are of taking over Earth is to what happens in “The Lie of the Land.”

[Control room]

MASTER: The children obeyed perfectly. Their mission is completed. (The Doctor is in a transparent panel with a device over his head, with similar features to the robot's chest panels.) MASTER: And now perhaps we can get down to business. As you refused to take over my post at the controls, we have been forced to incorporate you into the computer itself. DOCTOR: To what purpose? MASTER: To bring the whole planet Earth under our control.

Controlling the Doctor controls planet Earth, just like in “The Lie of the Land.”

DOCTOR: And it's people? MASTER: We have no wish to destroy them. Merely adjust their minds to suit our purpose.

Wow, this adjustment of minds, a.k.a. brainwashing, is very similar to “The Lie of the Land,” as well Doctor Moon’s brainwashing in “Silence in the Library” and “Forest of the Dead”!

DOCTOR: Sausages. Man will just become like a string of sausages, all the same. MASTER: Man will simply vanish from the Earth and reappear here.

Unless there is some type of teleporter or extraordinary superpowers, simply vanishing from Earth and reappearing in this Land of Fiction suggests that this is all part of a computer network.

DOCTOR: Leaving the Earth undamaged and uninhabited for you to take over.

Earth, of course, can be the Doctor.  I liken it to CAL emptying her mind of living minds.

MASTER: Precisely. DOCTOR: If I cooperate. MASTER: You have no alternative. You are part of the Master Brain. DOCTOR: So the computer feeds off my thoughts, does it? MASTER: Correct. DOCTOR: Then it will create what I think. MASTER: Oh, no. No, no, no, no. You're now under the control of the Master Brain. DOCTOR: Are you so sure? You couldn't control my mind before, and you certainly can't control it now. MASTER: Submit! DOCTOR: No! You've given me equal power. It's now a battle of wits between me and you. (The Doctor concentrates hard.) MASTER: Oh, no. No, no! Stop! Stop! DOCTOR: Jamie, Zoe, can you hear me? Think for yourselves. Don't be afraid. You can open the book. Go on, you can do it. MASTER: Oh, oh dear. This is against everything we ever worked for. Warning! Warning! Emergency Action. Emergency! Emergency! DOCTOR: Don't worry about fiction. Hang on to real life. You've got to get out. MASTER: Calling White Robots. Guards will enter the control centre. The Master Brain must be protected.

This battle of wits between the Master and Doctor is very similar to the battle of wits between Morbius and the 4th Doctor in “The Brain of Morbius.”  In a few minutes, we’ll look more at how Morbius is playing a part of Season 10.

Thoughts Coming to Life, Like Medusa

In “The Mind Robber,” it’s people’s thoughts that can bring characters to life.  Also, it’s people’s beliefs that sustain fictional elements that can be deadly.  For example, Medusa is a statue that comes to life.  She can turn people to stone if they look at her.  The Doctor and Zoe end up looking at a mirror showing Medusa’s reflection, which isn’t real, so can’t kill.  There is an original Star Trek episode from 1966 called “Shore Leave,” where thoughts can come to life and can seemingly kill.

Here’s an example of how the Doctor and Master are mentally dueling.  The Master conjures Cyrano de Bergerac (shown below on the right) while the Doctor creates d'Artagnan, who has a Greek Cross (red arrow), showing he represents a Doctor.

[Battlements]

MASTER [OC]: The famous Cyrano de Bergerac. Remorselessly, Cyrano advanced on those that had dared poke fun at his nose.

[Control room]

DOCTOR: But wait.

[Battlements]

DOCTOR [OC]: He found himself face to face with the fearless musketeer and fearless swordsman D'Artagnan. (The swordfight begins, with stirring background music. They are evenly matched.)

Things escalate.  For example, the Master changes Cyrano into Blackbeard with a cutlass, and the Doctor changes d'Artagnan into Sir Lancelot in full armor on a horse.  This concept of escalation of weaponry is extremely important.  We’ve examined it before.  It also comes up in “The Lie of the Land.”  We’ll look at it below in relation to “The Lie of the Land.”

1st Doctor

Interestingly, I saw thoughts coming to life all the way back in the 1st Doctor episodes. It was absolutely fascinating to watch the idea of elements being introduced in one episode, only to have them manifest in some real-world way in future episodes.

The 12th Doctor Shows Up in “The Mind Robber”

In “The Mind Robber,” as in many Classic Who episodes, the 12th Doctor shows up, but he is a robot or a bunch of robots.  Here is an image below from “The Mind Robber,” where the robots have 12 slots (red arrows) on the backs of their heads in 2 pairs of sixes, suggesting he’s a prisoner.  It also suggests there could be 2 of him.  This was shocking, too, the first time I went back to Classic Who and saw this over and over. However, it totally meshes with the concepts that we’ve examined both prior to and in Season 10.

For example, in my “Smile” analysis, we saw the Doctor mirroring the Emojibot.  We also examined how Rory mirrored Rorybot, who was a sentient robot, in “The Girl Who Waited.”  Then, in my “Oxygen” analysis, we saw how the Doctor mirrored the zombie in the spacesuit as well as the suit, itself.

Furthermore, going back to the very first 12th Doctor episode “Deep Breath”, we examined in Chapter 14 of Fairytales and Romance in Doctor Who, the first chapter of the post-airing analysis of “The Return of Doctor Mysterio,” how the Doctor was a mirror of the half-faced man.  A cyborg.

While we haven’t examined this before because I wrote about it in my chapter on Religious metaphors, which I have yet to post, the sheriff in “Robot of Sherwood” is also the 12th Doctor.  In fact, the 12th Doctor turns up as a robot, cyborg, or Dalek in many nuWho episodes, as well.  The sheriff is being controlled because he is connected to gold, which is a big part of TRODM and the insectoid in the big “C” room.  We examined that in Chapter 9 of Fairytales and Romance in Doctor Who.

Just about all of the subtext throughout DW shows the 12th Doctor is part of some type of computer.

In “The Mind Robber,” the robots are under the control of both the Master and the Master Brain.

Forests Show Up in the Library Metaphor

Forests show up in a lot of episodes, as part of a theme.  However, I’ll only mention a few for lack of time.  But keep in mind that there are some others, which are significant to the current story, like the 11th Doctor ghost story “Hide.”

“The Mind Robber”

In this story, forests show up in a couple of ways.  There is a pseudo forest of cut timbers, which are made to look like a forest. Also, there is what the story calls a forest of words.

“Silence in the Library” & “Forest of the Dead”

Comparing this to nuWho, we have “Silence in the Library” and “Forest of the Dead” where the numerous books in the Library are the dead forest turned into books.  That’s not all, though.  In CAL’s dream part, we see forests on the curtains.  In the image below, check out the trees on the curtains (red arrow) behind Doctor Moon.

In fact, Doctor Moon is part of CAL.  Below is Doctor Moon’s briefcase labeled with CAL.  Therefore, he is a face of CAL.  He is the virus checker.

Therefore, it’s not surprising that CAL is also associated with the forest on the curtains, as shown below.

“The Lie of the Land”

There are forests in “The Lie of the Land,” too.  In the Vault, there is a forest (yellow arrow) behind Missy when she is on the piano.

Not only that, but there is a forest behind the Doctor as he walks around the octagonal djinni cage. The Doctor, being Merlin, is the “wild man in the woods.”

As we examined previously, River is associated with the forest: “the only water in the forest is the river.”  I wondered in a previous chapter if Missy is a hidden face of River because River has a reflection on the shop window in the Library.  And the “woman in the shop” is Missy. 

The Vault is part of the dream, the lie, just like with CAL.  The Doctor, here, is in some ways mirroring Doctor Moon.  Missy is mirroring CAL.  However, not all is as it seems in the here, either, which I’ll get to in a few minutes.

A Couple of Other Things about “The Mind Robber”

Interestingly, in “The Mind Robber,” the Master wrote a serial in The Ensign Magazine called The Adventures of Captain Jack Harkoway.  Wow, the name is so close to Captain Jack Harkness!  It’s obviously not coincidental.

The Master ends up controlling the Doctor’s companions and offers the Doctor their lives in exchange for his cooperation, so here is the hostage situation.

As you can see, there are a lot of similarities between what we’ve examined so far about the Library and “The Mind Robber.

A Mirroring of the Doctor & River in Her Library Death Scene

I’m sure a lot of people recognized the 12th Doctor and Bill mirroring the scene in the Library with the 10th Doctor and River.  Here’s the 12th Doctor tied up in the Library metaphor after the psychic force of the seated monk sent the Doctor flying through the air and knocked him out.  He’s awake in the image below as Bill is saying goodbye to him, thinking she will die. Of course, they are mirroring the scene from “Forest of the Dead,” where the 12th Doctor is playing the 10th Doctor, and Bill is playing River.  However, this time, the River mirror doesn’t die.  The Doctor saves the River mirror in a different way.

The pyramid, therefore, represents the Library metaphor, and the seated monk represents CAL. 

The Doctor on TV in Another Library Metaphor & Medusa

The first time we see the Doctor, he is in one of several Library metaphors in the episode.  The first metaphor shows that he is in a mostly whitish room on TV in the image below.  There are 4 light fixtures (red arrows), the number 4 signifies that he is in the Library metaphor.  Also, there is the Truth logo (blue arrow).  They both have significance beyond how they might appear.

The Light Fixtures & Medusa

The light fixtures are shaped like upside-down jellyfish.  Not only is the jellyfish a sea creature, linked to the 12th Doctor, but also the shape of these jellyfish lights is that of the medusa.  In biology, a medusa is one of 2 body types of the creatures in the phylum Cnidaria in which the body is shaped like an umbrella.

In fact, we’ve examined why Medusa is important in 2 other contexts in DW in my analysis of “Extremis.”  Here’s the short version below, although I will add some more references below them.

“The Stolen Earth” and “Journey’s End”

One Medusa reference shows up in “The Stolen Earth” and “Journey’s End” as the place – the Medusa Cascade – where the Daleks took the Earth and 26 other planets.  The Earth and planets are metaphors for the Doctor and The Ghost.

The Doctor was abducted in TPEW, so he is the stolen Earth and in the Medusa Cascade metaphor. Therefore, this is replaying the episode with the 10th Doctor and Donna.

“Vincent and the Doctor” & Medusa

In “Vincent and the Doctor,” we saw the Greek mythological reference to Medusa with the statue of Perseus holding the decapitated head of Medusa.  I wrote

However, Vincent’s Medusa is represented by the blind, invisible Krafayis, who, because he was afraid, lashed out and killed people.  The Krafayis is a metaphor for the Doctor along with Vincent, and both represent the 12th Doctor.

The 2-Doctor principle still holds in this episode: one mirrors Vincent and the other the ghostly Krafayis, which the Medusa lights represent.

In “The Lie of the Land,” Bill mirrors Vincent, which we’ll examine more below.

The Truth Logo in the Library

Referencing our image from above once again, the Truth logo has a triangle, which represents the Monks. However, there are 2 lightning bolt type symbols that mirror each other, suggesting 2 sets of people, like we’ve seen before.

They look similar to the rest of Rassilon’s logo from “The Five Doctors,” shown below (red arrow). The 1st Doctor is on the left.  Sarah Jane is in the middle, and the 3rd Doctor is on the right.

The Doctor, Bill & Nardole in the Ship’s Library Metaphor with Mold

It’s not until Nardole tells Bill that the Doctor is held on a prison ship that we learn where this Library Metaphor is.  The ship actually relates to the Eye of Harmony, like we’ve seen with the Star Whale on the Starship UK.

Because we are dealing with the Library metaphor, and Bill and Nardole are going to rescue the Doctor, Bill is mirroring the 10th Doctor and Nardole is mirroring River. And the 12th Doctor is mirroring CAL.  He is also mirroring Doctor Moon in his brainwashing of people.

Bill looks in the window of the door, shown below.  It’s a circle, which says that the Doctor is a mind of pure consciousness.  He is a ghost and/or in a computer.  We know he’s a ghost.  Because of all the mirroring, we know he is also inside a computer, like CAL. However, the mirroring isn’t all that supports this conclusion.

Of course, we saw the Doctor and Missy in the Vault with the forest, mirroring the forest in CAL’s Library dream.  But that’s still not all that supports the idea that the Doctor, Bill, and Nardole are inside the computer.

Mold in the Library Metaphor

In the image above, there is lots of mold on the walls (red arrow).

Why would the room the Doctor is in contain mold?  Obviously, there is a moisture problem, but why?  What really is the meaning?

We saw a big mold problem in “Under the Lake” and “Before the Flood” in the submerged underwater mining facility called the Drum.  There is also a plague of ghosts.

There was something odd in TRODM where the spaceship the Doctor and Nardole boarded was dripping water from the ceiling.  Why? That made me think the ship wasn’t really in space but instead under the water.  Regardless of where it was, a plague was involved.  Harmony Shoal was creating a plague of possessions and scar-faced people.

Anyway, mold suggests potentially harmful health issues, and the Doctor alludes to this in an interesting way in the conversation after Bill shoots him.      

BILL: So you, you, you haven't, you haven't turned. You're not working for them.

DOCTOR: No, of course not. I've spent the last six months planning, and also recruiting all these chaps. Deprogramming them one by one, talking some sense into them. And there's loads of them. I could do with a Strepsil.

Strepsils, a British company, produces remedies for sore throats, nasal congestion, and cold symptoms. Some of their products are anti-bacterial, which is very important since the previous episode said there was a bacterial plague.

The Doctor is saying he has an infection, but it’s only metaphorically bacterial.  It’s viral, as in a computer virus.

“The Return of Doctor Mysterio”

The Doctor in TRODM says something that can be taken 2 ways when young Grant sneezes.

DOCTOR: Got a cold there, Grant? YOUNG GRANT: I always get a cold at Christmas. DOCTOR: Me too. Or an invasion.

Of course, the Doctor could be talking about various invasions like the 10th Doctor story “The Christmas Inavasion.”  However, he can also be talking about a computer virus.

Bill, Bill’s Mom & the Computer Virus

In “Forest of the Dead,” the Doctor mentions living minds that are trapped inside CAL’s.

DOCTOR: The data core. Over four thousand living minds trapped inside it.

In “The Lie of the Land,” Bill integrates with the seated Monk.  She is mirroring River here.

The Doctor once again mentions a living mind.  It’s Bill’s. The isolated subroutine, a computer programming term, refers to Bill’s mom.  There’s no reason to use the term “subroutine” if we are not talking about a computer.

DOCTOR: She's filling its mind with one pure, uncorrupted, irresistible image. And it's broadcasting it to the world, because it can't help it. All those years you kept her alive inside you, an isolated subroutine in a living mind. Perfect, untouchable. She's a window on the world without the Monks. Absolutely loved, absolutely trusted. And that window is opening everywhere. (All over the world, the word Truth and a loving woman reaching out a hand are being transmitted to the populace. The Memory Police stop trying to manhandle someone into their van.) DOCTOR: A glimpse of freedom. But a glimpse is all you need. The lie is breaking. Bill's mum, you just went viral!

Once again, the term “viral” comes up, which, in this case, can both be a computer virus, and a term signifying just how fast something spreads through a population by being frequently shared among a large number of individuals. It’s all happening in the Library metaphor in the computer.

The Vault: Another Library Metaphor & Missy’s Con

We can’t trust what we see with the Vault.  In “Extremis,” we saw the image below with the Doctor, Missy, and the Vault.  There is an inverse reflection of the Vault in the water, so things are upside down with it.  This scene feels so wrong, too.  Things aren’t happening how we think they are.

The Doctor has so many recorded deaths to his name.  Why isn’t he the one being executed?  Things are running backward in this “Extremis” episode, so don’t trust anything.

Regarding “The Lie of the Land,” if Missy is inside the djinni containment field, who pounded on the Vault doors from the inside?  What did she eat for 6 months when no one came to see her?  Why is she still there after 6 months since she claims she could have escaped?  These don’t make sense unless things aren’t as they seem.

This is all part of the dream anyway in the Library.  On top of this, Missy is running a con. 

Our 1st Look at Missy: the Gnostics & the Minotaur

When the Doctor and Bill enter the Vault, we see her inside the djinni container.  She is playing “Gnossienne No 1” a piano composition by French composer Erik Satie written in the late 19th century.  Satie created the term “Gnossienne.”  There are actually several Gnossiennes compositions.

It’s an interesting term, which can relate in multiple ways to what we’ve already examined.  According to Wikipedia:

The word appears to derive from gnosis. Satie was involved in gnostic sects and movements at the time that he began to compose the Gnossiennes. However, some published versions claim that the word derives from Cretan "knossos" or "gnossus"; this interpretation supports the theory linking the Gnossiennes to the myth of Theseus, Ariadne and the Minotaur. Several archeological sites relating to that theme were famously excavated around the time that Satie composed the Gnossiennes.

We’ve examined the Gnostics, the triad, and the Trinity with regards to Abraxas in my analysis in “Extremis,” and we’ve looked at the Minotaur multiple times.  In fact, we’ll examine below how the Doctor breaking Bill’s confidence before she shoots him is an allusion, in part, to “The God Complex,” where we saw the Minotaur.

Interestingly, there is a set of 3 Satie pieces called “Trois Gnossiennes.”  Certainly, this does represent the Trinity and the 3 brainstems “Extremis” alluded to.

Missy One Step Ahead of Doctor

When it comes to Missy, the Doctor seems one step or so behind.  It’s felt that way from the start.  First, he didn’t know whom she was when he met her, which is really strange since the 10th Doctor said he would always know when the Master was near.  Then, she’s more of the magician than he is with her parlor tricks of stopping the planes, when he couldn’t even do the disappearing coin trick in the minisode “The Doctor’s Meditation.”  Also, she was the architect of controlling him with Clara.  Additionally, she gave him an army of people who died for him. He had no idea she was going up and down his timeline uploading minds to her Nethersphere.

Did Missy convert River to a Cyberman, too?  I’ve wondered that for a long time.

Anyway, now the Doctor wants to know if Missy has dealt with the Monks before because he needs help.

Is Missy from the future?

The future, present, and past are an example of a triad, a trinity.  What if we have past, present, and future Masters/Mistresses?  We will have the past Master as John Simm and maybe the future Master as Missy.  After all, River was from the Doctor’s future, so we have a precedent.

Missy’s Requests

In exchange for information, Missy has some interesting requests:

MISSY: I've got some requests. I want some new books, some toys, like a particle accelerator, a 3-D printer and a pony.

Missy sounds like a child, wanting toys, especially a pony.  The child aspect goes along with what we’ve examined.  The 3-D printer is a reference to “Heaven Sent” and the idea of just printing a new copy of the Doctor when needed.

Particle Accelerator & The Da Vinci Code

The particle accelerator is a reference to CERN.  In my “Extremis” analysis, we already looked at how Dan Brown’s 2000 novel Angels & Demons involves antimatter created at the LHC to be used in a weapon against the Vatican.  However, in “Extremis,” being things are backwards, a weapon of mass destruction is sent from the Vatican to CERN. 

Dan Brown also wrote The Da Vinci Code a 2003 mystery-detective novel by Dan Brown, which has relevance to images in “The Lie of the Land.”  Wikipedia says

It follows symbologist Robert Langdon and cryptologist Sophie Neveu after a murder in the Louvre Museum in Paris, when they become involved in a battle between the Priory of Sion and Opus Dei over the possibility of Jesus Christ having been a companion to Mary Magdalene. The title of the novel refers, among other things, to the finding of the first murder victim in the Grand Gallery of the Louvre, naked and posed similar to Leonardo da Vinci's famous drawing, the Vitruvian Man, with a cryptic message written beside his body and a pentacle drawn on his chest in his own blood.

Regarding Mary Magdalene, Wikipedia says

[She] was a Jewish woman who, according to texts included in the New Testament, traveled with Jesus as one of his followers. She is said to have witnessed Jesus' crucifixion and resurrection. Within the four Gospels she is named at least 12 times, more than most of the apostles.

The Gospel of Luke says seven demons had gone out of her, [Lk. 8:2] and the longer ending of Mark says Jesus had cast seven demons out of her. [Mk. 16:9] She is most prominent in the narrative of the crucifixion of Jesus, at which she was present, and the witness in all four gospels of the empty tomb, the central fact of Jesus' resurrection. She was also present two days later, immediately following the Sabbath when, according to all four canonical Gospels,[Matthew 28:1–8] [Mark 16:9–10] [Luke 24:10] [John 20:18] she was, either alone or as a member of a group of women, the first to testify to the resurrection of Jesus. John 20 and Mark 16:9 specifically name her as the first person to see Jesus after his resurrection.

At the beginning of “The Lie of the Land,” we see 2 altered images related to Leonardo da Vinci.

The first image is an alteration of da Vinci’s Vitruvian Man.

The second da Vinci image is the altered Mona Lisa, which is also related to The Da Vinci Code.

According to The Da Vinci Code Wikipedia information:

The androgyny of the Mona Lisa reflects the sacred union of male and female implied in the holy union of Jesus and Mary Magdalene. Such parity between the cosmic forces of masculine and feminine has long been a deep threat to the established power of the Church. The name "Mona Lisa" is actually an anagram for "Amon L'Isa", referring to the father and mother gods of Ancient Egyptian religion (namely Amun and Isis).

Missy & Her Con Job

As more proof we shouldn’t trust what we think we know:

MISSY: Start at the beginning. How do they get a foothold on a planet?

DOCTOR: Some idiot asks for their help.

MISSY: Well, not just any idiot. It has to be a properly consenting human mind. A pure request, one without agenda or ulterior motive.

What Missy is saying is very subjective as far as Bill is concerned because she had an agenda to save the Doctor.  And then she wanted him to save Earth.

DOCTOR: It's them. That person creates a psychic link, which forms an anchor that keeps the Monks in power. They're the lynchpin.

MISSY: Scalding. Ow.

DOCTOR: But the brainwaves of one person wouldn't be powerful enough to contain an entire planet. The statues! As soon as they got here, the Monks put up statues in every town square, and every park, and every playground.

That would be a huge number of statues, which I have a hard time believing.  Why not use satellites, it’s easier, like the Arch Angel Network the Master set up?

MISSY: You're on fire, you're literally on fire you're so caliente. That's Spanish for hot.

DOCTOR: The statues are transmitters. They boost the signal and beam it out all around the world.

MISSY: Boom! You've exploded. Now, all you have to do is find whoever opened the door to the Monks in the first place.

DOCTOR: Say I already have.

MISSY: Oh! Well then, you're sorted. Just kill them. That weakens the Monks' grip on the world.

Here, Missy says, “Just kill them” to weaken the Monks’ grip.

DOCTOR: No, no. No, no, that can't be right. There are planets that the Monks have ruled for thousands of years.

MISSY: It's passed on through the bloodline. Usually the lynchpin goes on to lead a normal life, have their own family, and the link is passed down through the generations.

It seems very odd that a psychic link could be passed on in the bloodline.  We do know from “The Curse of Fenric” that the curse is passed down through the generations.  However, no one said anything about a psychic link.  I have a hard time believing this.

DOCTOR: But the Monks must have worked that out. They've been doing this for millennia.

MISSY: Why? If the link is passed on, the Monks stay in charge, through, they think, their ruthlessness and efficiency. But if the lynchpin dies and the link isn't passed on, and the Monks get booted off the planet, well, they just chalk it up to experience.

Missy starts playing “The Entertainer” a classic piano rag written by Scott Joplin in 1902.  It’s the theme music for the movie The Sting.  Wikipedia says, “The Sting is a 1973 American caper film set in September 1936, involving a complicated plot by two professional grifters (Paul Newman and Robert Redford) to con a mob boss (Robert Shaw).”

In “Hell Bent,” the gang boss is defined as Rassilon.  Clara says, “And there was this gang boss and he wanted to kill you.”  The Doctor is mirroring Rassilon, at times, in “The Lie of the Land.”

Missy is running a con. First she says the lynchpin has to die, then she tells Bill she shouldn’t die.  Just become a husk.  Interestingly, Caecilius’ first name is Lobus meaning husk or pod.  Bill represents Caecilius because her jacket had the volcano on it.

In fact, interestingly the display on the supply ship that Nardole and Bill were on has the word “slave” (yellow arrow) and next to “Corp” is “Conning Station” (red arrow).  All the ship scenes were just wrong anyway, so it’s all a con.

BILL: No, it's okay. I want to speak to her.

MISSY: Yes?

BILL: So when you defeated the Monks, that's how you did it?

MISSY: Well, at this point, all that was left of the bloodline was a wee girl, and I just pushed her into a volcano.

BILL: It's me. The lynchpin is me. MISSY: Awkward. BILL: So you're saying I have to die. MISSY: No. If you were just to die, everyone's false memories would have to fade, and that could take ages. It's actually better if you keep breathing, if your brain just keeps transmitting, well, nothing. That would blot out the residue false memories. BILL: What would be left of me? MISSY: You'd be a husk. Completely and irrevocably brain-dead. You couldn't even get on Celebrity Love Island.

Missy & Tears

At the end of the episode with Missy, we see tears.  Her words don’t ring true to me.  In fact, her words sound more like something the Doctor would say.  I didn’t believe any of this from her.

(The containment field is down. Missy and the Doctor sit by an electric fire.) MISSY: I keep remembering all the people I've killed. Every day I think of more. Being bad, being bad drowned that out. I didn't know I even knew their names. You didn't tell me about this bit. DOCTOR: I'm sorry, but this is good. (She turns her face away, to hide her tears.) MISSY: Okay.

Dystopian Society, Big Brother, Influential Novels & a Movie

We see the opening of the episode, showing how the Monks have integrated themselves into human history, as the Doctor narrates off camera.  Then, we see a mother, father, and boy watching the Doctor on TV, shown below. The boy is holding a rabbit (red arrow). There is an inverse reflection on the table (yellow arrow).  The woman has hidden souls, shown by the Xs behind her.

Everything seems somewhat normal, until the Memory Police break in.  They take the mother into custody, and the commander carries a shoebox (yellow arrow), shown below.  It’s similar to the one Bill has.

In fact, Bill and the Mother, shown below, are both associated with the Monk with the gap between the teeth.  Each Monk is different, so this is significant, saying that Bill is mirroring the mother.  There are 2 sets of the women.  One set is on the side of the Monks.  Therefore, one set is in the real universe while the other set is in the alternate universe, just like Donna in “Turn Left.”

The mother is charged with “the manufacture and possession of propaganda intended to undermine the True History. It is in contravention of the Memory Crimes Act of 1975.”

The 1975 year is important because that is the 13th season of Classic Who, which includes some very important 4th Doctor episodes that I’ve talked about in bold.

·      “Terror of the Zygons”

·      “Planet of Evil”

·      “Pyramids of Mars”

·      “The Android Invasion”

·      “The Brain of Morbius”

·      “The Seeds of Doom”

All 3 of these episodes in bold are about usurpation.  I’d have to go back to the others and watch them to find out what they are about.  I’ll talk about Morbius in a few minutes because he is referenced in the Library.

The police state in “The Beast Below” resembles in some ways what is going on in “The Lie of the Land.”

Clearly, the Doctor is part of a dystopian society, helping to brainwash the world through broadcasts. It’s not that different from what the Master did with the Arch Angel Network in “The Sound of Drums” and “The Last of the Time Lords.”  In fact, the Doctor makes a reference to the latter in the Vault:

BILL: God, the way you and Nardole have been carrying on, I thought you had some kind of monster in here, or something! DOCTOR: I do. Missy, Bill. Bill, Missy, the other Last of the Time Lords.

In “The Last of the Time Lords,” the Doctor was a prisoner in the birdcage.  Martha mirrored him, traveling the world and spreading the word that would save the Doctor and Earth from the Master.  At times, Bill, in “The Lie of the Land,” is mirroring Martha, as well as the Doctor.

The Doctor, by keeping Missy in the cage, is mirroring the Master, and Missy is mirroring the Doctor. In fact, to reinforce that Doctor/Missy mirror, we see Missy’s eyes and eyebrows, shown below, just like we see with the Doctor in the opening credits.

BTW, I haven’t mentioned this, but the opening credits changed a bit in Season 10.  The Doctor has a 3rd eye-like structure in between his other 2 on the bridge of his nose below (red arrow).  While it’s not in the middle of the Doctor’s forehead, like Davros, it does resemble that of Davros.  And the Doctor did mirror Davros in “The Witch’s Familiar” when the Doctor sat in Davros’ chair.

Big Brother and 1984

In 1949, English author George Orwell published his dystopian novel Nineteen Eighty-Four, often written as 1984.  Many of the concepts in “The Lie of the Land,” such as thought manipulation and omnipresent government surveillance, Truth, Thought Police (called Memory Police in DW), and the pyramid, come from the novel.  However, all of these (except the pyramid) are also hallmarks of authoritarian and totalitarian governments in general.

The term “Big Brother” comes from the novel.  The character is the symbolic leader of the totalitarian government, controlling all aspects of social life, including the thoughts and actions of its citizens.  In the case of “The Lie of the Land,” the Doctor represents tyranny and Big Brother, who brainwashes people with the Monks’ propaganda.  There is constant government surveillance of its citizens by the Thought Police.

BTW, this is why The Ghost is represented by the Tyrannosaurus rex.  The tyrant lizard.

The government in 1984 even controls the language and introduces Newspeak vs. Oldspeak (Standard English).  Newspeak influences and limits thought by decreasing the range of expressiveness of the English language.  Important words come to have the opposite meaning to hide the truth. For example, “war is peace, freedom is slavery, and ignorance is strength.”  These words are inscribed on a pyramid of the Ministry of Truth. 

I mentioned “Oranges and Lemons,” the traditional English nursery rhyme, and how part of it represented torture in my analysis on “The Pilot.”  Diffcat made a great point in a comment to it that it also refers to 1984.  The nursery rhyme is a symbol of tyranny.  People can’t remember the rhyme in its entirety because Big Brother has wiped out most of traditional English culture. 

The 1st Doctor and the 12th Doctor were under surveillance.  The Daleks were watching the 1st Doctor, and it looked to me like he and his companions were in some type of miniscope or some lab-type environment, like specimens to be observed.  As far as the 12th Doctor is concerned, there are lots of eye symbols in his episodes, meaning someone is watching him. I won’t be surprised if the Doctor has been miniaturized.

The Handmaid’s Tale

In 1985, Canadian author Margaret Atwood published her dystopian novel The Handmaid's Tale.  Since monks normally symbolize religion, this novel seems appropriate.

According to Wikipedia,

Set in a near-future New England, in a totalitarian theocracy that has overthrown the United States government, the novel explores themes of women in subjugation and the various means by which they gain individualism and independence. The novel's title echoes the component parts of Geoffrey Chaucer's The Canterbury Tales, which comprises a series of connected stories ("The Merchant's Tale", "The Parson's Tale", etc.).

The Handmaid's Tale is set in the Republic of Gilead, a theocratic military dictatorship formed within the borders of what was formerly the United States of America.

Beginning with a staged attack that kills the President and most of Congress, a Christian fundamentalist movement calling itself the "Sons of Jacob" launches a revolution and suspends the United States Constitution under the pretext of restoring order. They are quickly able to take away women's rights, largely attributed to financial records being stored electronically and labelled by sex. The new regime, the Republic of Gilead, moves quickly to consolidate its power and reorganize society along a new militarized, hierarchical regime of Old Testament-inspired social and religious fanaticism among its newly created social classes. In this society, human rights are severely limited and women's rights are even more curtailed; for example, women are forbidden to read.

V for Vendetta

“The Lie of the Land” also has elements of the movie V for Vendetta, which aren’t in the other novels.  It’s set in the UK, like the Starship UK represents the UK, and there is a virus.  According to Wikipedia:

V for Vendetta is a 2005 dystopian political thriller film directed by James McTeigue and written by The Wachowski Brothers, based on the 1988 DC/Vertigo Comics limited series of the same name by Alan Moore and David Lloyd. The film is set in an alternative future where a neo-fascist regime has subjugated the United Kingdom.

In 2028, the world is in turmoil and warfare, with the United States fractured as a result of prolonged second civil war and a pandemic of the "St. Mary's Virus" ravaging Europe. The United Kingdom is ruled as a fascist police state by the Norsefire Party, helmed by all-powerful High Chancellor Adam Sutler. Political opponents, immigrants, Jews, Muslims, atheists, homosexuals, and other "undesirables" are imprisoned and executed in concentration camps.

Of course, St. Mary is also a reference to the religious symbolism in DW.

The Doctor’s Terrible Choice

In “Before the Flood,” the Doctor told the Fisher King:

FISHER KING: You will be a strong beacon. How many ghosts can I make of you?

DOCTOR: You know, you've got a lot in common with the Tivoleans. You'll both do anything to survive. They'll surrender to anyone. You will hijack other people's souls and turn them into electromagnetic projections. That will to endure. That refusal to ever cease. It's extraordinary. And it makes a fella think. Because you know what? If all I have to do to survive is tweak the future a bit, what's stopping me? Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. The ripple effect. Maybe it will mean that the universe will be ruled by cats or something, in the future. But the way I see it, even a ghastly future is better than no future at all. You robbed those people of their deaths, made them nothing more than a message in a bottle. You violated something more important than Time. You bent the rules of life and death. So I am putting things straight. Here, now, this is where your story ends.

(The Fisher King growls.)

The Doctor said it, “Maybe it will mean that the universe will be ruled by cats or something, in the future. But the way I see it, even a ghastly future is better than no future at all.”

Tyranny or the Apocalypse

According to what the Doctor spells out in “The Lie of the Land,” these really are the choices: tyranny or the apocalypse.

DOCTOR: Human society is stagnating. You've stopped moving forward. In fact, you're regressing. BILL: This isn't exactly much better. DOCTOR: It's safer. BILL: Not so much for the people the Monks are killing. DOCTOR: The Romans killed people and saved billions more from disease, war, famine and barbarism.

Barbarism is a very subjective term, depending on whom is using it.  The Romans, which the Doctor mentions (here’s a reference tying Rome and Pompeii to the Library), thought of others as barbarians.  However, many historians today tie barbarism to the Romans.

Regardless, disease, war, and famine refer to the 3 of 4 of the Horsemen of the Apocalypse.  The Romans, in a certain period, symbolized conquest.

·      White horse (Conquest)

·      Red horse (War)

·      Black horse (Famine)

·      Pale horse (Disease and Death)

The rider of the white horse in the New Testament is controversial.  Some consider him to represent Christ, while others believe he symbolizes the Antichrist.   There is also the idea among some that there are 2 white horses where the 1st is the Antichrist, while the 2nd is Christ.

There are 4 white horses in nuWho that I can think of.  The 1st is the 10th Doctor in “The Girl in the Fireplace,” where he crashes through the mirror on horseback to save Renette.

The 2nd and 3rd white horses are in “The Pandorica Opens,” where River and Amy are riding them.

The 4th is in “The Day of the Doctor,” when the 10th Doctor thinks Queen Elizabeth I is a Zygon.  However, it turns out to be the white horse.  It seems like this white horse might symbolize the Antichrist.  The Zygon then becomes a duplicate Queen Elizabeth I.  

Are we sure the Doctor married the right queen?  It would make sense if the Doctor married the Antichrist.  Because we are talking about the queen, we need to also look at Liz 10 in “The Beast Below.”  Liz 10 represents the continued bloodline of Queen Elizabeth I.  Liz 10 mirrored River, so the queen is River’s bloodline.

Here are a couple of ways to solve this alternate universe problem.  River is trying to rescue the Doctor, as we’ve seen, so she would need to kill the alternate-Doctor to destroy this alternate world, like Donna’s death in “Turn Left.”  Or the Doctor’s Mother of God or God consciousness can integrate with him, like CAL integrated with River.  The possessed part of the Doctor has to be neutralized.  The illusions have to die.

Can’t Win a War

So the 12th Doctor below is talking about the end of the world.  He and Bill continue the conversation:

BILL: No, wait. What about free will? You believe in free will. Your whole thing is. You made me write a three thousand-word essay on free will. DOCTOR: Yes, well, I mean, you had free will, and look at what you did with it. Worse than that, you had history. History was saying to you, look, I've got some examples of fascism here for you to look at. No? Fundamentalism? No? Oh, okay, you carry on. I had to stop you, or at least not stand in the way of someone else who wanted to, because the guns were getting bigger, the stakes were getting higher, and any minute now it was going to be goodnight, Vienna. By the way, you never delivered that essay, anyway.

The Doctor is right about the guns getting bigger and the stakes getting higher.  In fact, we examined this very problem in Chapter 17 of Fairytales and Romance in Doctor Who.  I wrote

With the dead being weaponized [in “The Empty Child” and “The Doctor Dances”] and in “Under the Lake,” “Before the Flood,” and even “Heaven Sent” (you’ll see more below), there’s no way to win a war.  Missy weaponized the dead, too, in “Dark Water” and “Death in Heaven.” 

So the choices here come down to annihilation or tyranny. 

However, in the alternate world, the alternate-Doctor would have to die, but he hasn’t figured that out yet.

Why are Daleks and Cybermen, for example, getting extraordinary powers?  It comes back to what was happening in “The Mind Robber.” Thoughts coming to life.

Goodnight, Vienna: 2 Meanings

The Doctor mentions Goodnight, Vienna above.  I believe it has 2 meanings.

Goodnight Vienna & The Day the Earth Stood Still

Goodnight Vienna is Ringo Starr’s 4th studio album, but what is important is the album cover, which is an image from Wikipedia.

The image – with Ringo’s head replacing that of actor Michael Rennie who plays Klaatu – is from the 1951 sci-fi movie The Day the Earth Stood Still.

Wikipedia says of the movie:

Klaatu emerges from the saucer and addresses Barnhardt's assembled scientists, informing them that he represents an interplanetary organization that created a police force of invincible robots like Gort to "patrol the planets in spaceships like this one, and preserve the peace" by automatically annihilating aggressors. "In matters of aggression, we have given them absolute power over us. This power cannot be revoked." Klaatu concludes with, "It is no concern of ours how you run your own planet, but if you threaten to extend your violence, this Earth of yours will be reduced to a burned-out cinder. Your choice is simple: join us and live in peace, or pursue your present course and face obliteration." Klaatu and Gort reenter the spaceship and depart.

So here’s a similar message as what the Doctor is saying about peace on Earth vs. the weapons and stakes, ending in the apocalypse.  However, just like “The Lie of the Land,” the message runs opposite to what is happening. The external aggressors, according to what we’ve seen in this episode, are the Daleks, Cybermen, and the Weeping Angels.  The Monks, too, are external aggressors, but in a different way.

However, the Doctor going hell bent through the universe would definitely be the aggressor that Klaatu was talking about.

Goodnight, Vienna: the Movie

I believe Goodnight, Vienna also applies to the movie because Austria comes up again.  We saw the writer of the Dream Novel was Austrian. However, there is also another Austrian clue in “The Lie of the Land.”  Oddly, in the shot of Paris, there are 2 Austrian flags on the bridge near the Eiffel Tower.  To make things clear, the flag on the left has 1 dot with it while the other flag has 2 dots.  It suggests to me there are 2 flags, 2 sets of dots, and 2 Austrian references, which is why I believe this Goodnight, Vienna reference makes sense.

Wikipedia says

Goodnight, Vienna (also known as Magic Night) is a 1932 British musical film directed by Herbert Wilcox and starring Jack Buchanan, Anna Neagle and Gina Malo. Two lovers in Vienna are separated by the First World War, but are later reunited.

Max is an Austrian officer in the army and son of a highly placed general. His father wants him to marry a Countess but he has fallen in love with Vicki. Attending a party given in his honour, they are informed that war has broken out. Max writes a note to Vicki and goes off to war. Unfortunately the note is lost. Some time after the war, Max is just a shoe shop assistant while Vicki is now a famous singer. They meet and at first she snubs him but then falls in love with him again.

I see this as foreshadowing. Given the mirrors set up, it would most likely be Clara and the Doctor.

Breaking Bill’s Confidence: Mirroring of the 7th Doctor and Ace

In my TPEW analysis, I proposed that the Doctor would probably have to break Bill’s confidence in him, just like the 7th Doctor did with Ace in “The Curse of Fenric” and the 11th Doctor did with Amy in “The God Complex.”

While the scene mirrors both of the Doctors and companions, although in a seemingly deadly way, the Doctor does a very 7th Doctor thing in his conversation with Bill.

BILL: Because the world was invaded by zombie Monks! DOCTOR: And whose fault was that, huh? I didn't ask for my sight back. No, you took it upon yourself to ignore me, to do what you thought was best. All I can say is that we are lucky it was a benevolent race like the Monks, not the Daleks. Yes, I know the Monks are ruthless. I get that. Yes, they play with history and I'm not exactly thrilled about that. But they bring peace and order.

The 7th Doctor rolls his Rs all the time.  I love to listen to his Scottish accent, although it’s not very heavy.  In contrast, we rarely hear the 12th Doctor roll his Rs.  However, when he said “thrilled” in that 2nd to last sentence above, he did.  He’s mirroring the 7th Doctor to bring in the idea of possession, the evil entity Fenric, and the curse, which is love.

The Regeneration & Maniacal Laughter: What Happened to the Doctor?

The Doctor really isn’t himself.  It’s clear from the events and even before the regeneration scene that something is wrong. Sure we saw above that the Doctor had to make a terrible choice.  However, that doesn’t account for some bizarre behavior.

Bill Shooting the Doctor

Bill has a violent streak, shooting the Doctor in the way she did.  It really doesn’t make sense in a way, unless Bill has gone mad.  She’s mirroring the Doctor in “Hell Bent” where he’s pushed past his limits.  The Doctor is mirroring Rassilon, at least to some extent, in that he is the face of tyranny in this totalitarian state, just like Rassilon is on Gallifrey.  However, we don’t exactly know the complete role the Doctor is playing here.  But the Doctor mirroring Rassilon does agree with what we’ve examined so far.

Regarding Bill, she is also a mirror of several other people in various ways, such as the 12th Doctor, River, and then Vincent Van Gogh from “Vincent and the Doctor.” She, as Vincent, symbolically kills the Krafayis and beheads Medusa in this scene, which plays out in another symbolic way when she integrates with the seated Monk.  However, nothing is over.  People are still caught in the Matrix, and most likely things will become more ridiculous until the end.

So there are musical mirrors going on in the entire ship scene. 

Maniacal Laughter

But there are some oddities going on, too, with the regeneration, and then the scene after that where the Doctor is laughing maniacally.  If we didn’t see anything was wrong or suspected that something was possibly off target with the regeneration scene, the scene with the Doctor laughing maniacally is a dead giveaway that this is terribly wrong.

Who is this man in the image below, who is laughing maniacally as the boat is going to ram the dock?  Since when does the Doctor do this?  It’s not the Doctor we know.

However, this is a very Master thing to do.  John Simm’s Master laughs maniacally in “The End of Time.”  We see and hear the Master’s maniacal laughter, just like Donna’s grandfather Wilfred, the Doctor, and the Ood.  Has the Master possessed the Doctor through the Eye of Harmony? This is either the Master or the Valeyard.  It could be Morbius, too.  In fact, Morbius could be the Valeyard.  There are several possibilities.

It wouldn’t be surprising if the Master, the Valeyard, and the Time Lords are working together to use the Doctor.  It happened in the 6th Doctor stories collectively called The Trial of a Time Lord.  At some point, I have to bite the bullet and slog my way through the 8 other episodes of the 14-episode series.  It’s terribly written and dreadfully boring.

The Regeneration

The whole regeneration is just plain weird.  It’s so not surprising that it was fake, as far as we can tell.  In fact, I expected it.  We examined multiple times how the Doctor doesn’t have to regenerate, especially since I believe he represents the end of a cycle of Doctors from 0 to 12. (He’s not even really the 12th; he’s the 14th incarnation.  However, his 3 faces can span the cycle change.)  Since the subtext suggests this isn’t the 1st cycle, the Doctors must either have their memories wiped each time, or they get reactualized, like we saw in “Heaven Sent” with the 3-D printer idea (the teleporter), creating a copy.  Why would Missy want a 3-D printer in “The Lie of the Land,” making a reference to “Heaven Sent”?

But what really happened in the regeneration scene?  It doesn’t really make sense that the Doctor would waste regeneration energy.  As he told Davros in “The Witch’s Familiar,” when he was going to share some regeneration energy:

DOCTOR: Okay, don't ever tell anyone that I did this. (He waves his hand around until a golden glow forms.) DOCTOR: A little bit of regeneration energy. Probably cost me an arm or a leg somewhere down the line. Or I'll just be really little.

Sure, Moffat used the regeneration to fake people out, but it’s not like DW to do this without having some other meaning.

Why would the Doctor waste regeneration energy?  It wasn’t even a small amount.  The amount he used would destroy part of the room.  Why didn’t that happen?  That’s a problem.  Besides, Bill wouldn’t know about regeneration energy as far as we know, unless maybe the Doctor used it to heal her in “Oxygen.”  However, she never mentioned it.  And something like that would be very memorable.  Therefore, the regeneration doesn’t make sense unless something else happened.

Interestingly, the Doctor’s personality changes once he uses the energy.  He really isn’t himself.  Since when does he clap like he did and say something like “good girl” with a huge smile?  He doesn’t smile all that much, but on the ship, I think he used up his life’s allotment, so to speak.

He looks possessed to me, and I’ll show you in a few minutes how the Master and the Valeyard wanted to steal the Doctor’s regeneration energy.

The Weird Voodoo Doll Thingy

In the Library metaphor on the ship, there is a weird item under glass.  The really interesting thing about this item below (red arrow) is that it has what looks like red eyes on its face, along with gray hair made of light reflections on top of its head.  Also, its arms are up, like it’s being held at gunpoint.  The gray hair and red eyes suggest that it’s a representation of the Doctor under glass, frozen in a pose suggesting a robbery. In fact, I see the reference to “The Mind Robber.”  Also, the red eyes suggest the possession similar to what we see in the pyramid Library metaphor. I’m going to refer to this representation of the Doctor as a Voodoo Doll metaphor.

BTW, the idea of people being frozen under bell-shaped glass reminds me of Clara being under glass in the 11th Doctor story “The Crimson Horror.” 

Interestingly, it looks like the broadcasts may come from the Voodoo Doll because it’s centered in the room on the side the Doctor faces in the broadcasts.  The possessed Doctor, therefore, would be broadcasting all of this, which totally agrees with what we’ve examined, so far.  And he would be mirroring CAL.

Didn’t Agree to What?

Oddly, in the scene with the seated Monk, the 12th Doctor smiles, which is odd, before he places his hands on the Monk’s head.  His eyes glow cyan for a moment, and the columns on the Monk’s chair glows cyanish under the Monk’s hands.  In the images on the ceiling, the Monks disappear in flames.

BILL: It's working! The Monks are disappearing! (The Doctor suddenly lets go.) DOCTOR: Oh, I didn't agree to this.

Agree to what?  This is really odd and sounds like there is a contract.  That could go along with the Doctor Faustus idea where Faustus is his own worst enemy, failing to see his own salvation.  We examined Faustus and the idea of a contract in my analysis on “The Pilot.”  If this Doctor or even Bill, or Clara does, indeed, need to die to set the universe straight, he is, indeed, failing to see the answer.

BILL: What's happening?

DOCTOR: He's fighting back. He's blocking me, countering every move.

The Doctor grabs the Monk's head again. The columns that the Monk's hands are resting on turn from white to red. The Doctor's eyes glow red, and he is in pain.  Here’s our cyan and red combination again.  Interestingly, the red matches the Voodoo Doll.  Red eyes do tend to be a popular color of possession.  This scene may be a representation of how the Doctor became possessed in the 1st place.  He did it to save Bill.

NARDOLE: Look!

(The Monks reappear in the pictures.)

BILL: Oh, no, no, no.

(The Doctor is violently thrown backwards.)

When Bill later puts her hands on the Monk’s head, her eyes momentarily glow cyan.

BTW, it’s interesting that the real Winston Churchill shows up 3 times in the episode.

The Master Possesses the Doctor

What if the regeneration unleashes something in the Doctor?  The only way the regeneration wasn’t going to be faked is if, for example, the Master or Valeyard came forth after the regeneration.  We didn’t see that, or did we?

The Master trying to steal the Doctor’s regenerations comes up multiple times in DW.  It happens in Classic Who and in the 1996 Doctor Who movie.  Here’s a clip with the Eye of Harmony opening and the Master trying to rob the Doctor’s mind in the movie.  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DAu0OajrO2s The Master is using the Doctor’s companion to gain the Doctor’s regenerations and possess the Doctor by having the companion look into the Eye of Harmony. The Doctor can’t help but watch what is happening because the Master has forced open his eyes.

As we examined in Chapter 16 of Fairytales and Romance in Doctor Who, the whole idea of this is also foreshadowed in the 10th Doctor stories “The Impossible Planet” and “The Satan Pit.”  Toby, the archeologist, a mirror of River, gets possessed after the Eye of Harmony is opened.  He also is a mirror of the 12th Doctor.  Below, in an image from “The Impossible Planet,” Toby is making himself into a cross with his arms out.  Since he is part of the cross shape, he is being crucified.

The Beast in “Planet of the Ood” turns out to be the subconscious coming forth in anger and resentment against the oppressors.  Bill shooting the Doctor is symbolic of this fight.

Furthermore, the Beast shows up in “The Lie of the Land” in an image.  In fact, we saw a similar image in “The Satan Pit.”  Below, we see the Monk with some small people.  They aren’t attacking the Beast, though, who looks like he is blowing his horn probably as a call to battle.  The small people are turned toward the Monk and pointing weapons at it.  This very much contradicts what we see in the episode, for the most part.

BTW, there is a figurine in the Doctor’s office that shows someone blowing a horn.  I haven’t figured out who it is because we’ve never gotten a close shot of it.  There are several people in mythology who blow horns.  However, it’s very likely that it’s associated with Norse mythology since Ragnarök is looming large.  The god Heimdallr has a horn called Gjallarhorn, and he uses it to call the gods to war against the giants.  The Monk in the image above looks like a giant of sorts compared to the little people.

In “The Satan Pit,” we see an image below of the Beast but in a different way than the image above. The Disciples of Light, who are tiny in comparison to the gigantic Beast, seem to be fighting it.  Several of the stick figures have their arms extended in a way that suggests they’ve thrown something at the Beast.

In these 2 images, the Beast did massively shrink in size from the 2nd image to the 1st above, as we examined that it would in Chapter 15 of Fairytales and Romance in Doctor Who, which is implicit in the meaning of the red gem that young Grant swallows.

The Valeyard

The Valeyard only shows up in the 6th Doctor stories of the trial where the Time Lords and the Valeyard tried to frame the Doctor.  However, the Great Intelligence does mention the Valeyard in the 11th Doctor episode “The Name of the Doctor.”

I typically don’t use the information from the non-canon references, but the information below has supporting evidence in canon and the subtext.  According to the TARDIS Wikia:

The Valeyard was created as an amalgamation of all the evil inside of the Doctor, taken from somewhere between his twelfth and final incarnations (TV: The Ultimate Foe) by the Time Lords using black ops technology. Genesta hypothesised that he might have been created as a weapon. (AUDIO: The Brink of Death)

We know the Doctor’s blindness and fear weakened him, opening the door to possession by somebody. The 12th Doctor is the 14th incarnation.

When the Seventh Doctor slept, he dreamed of his other selves in his mind, and heard the Valeyard threaten that "when the [Doctor's] strength was at its lowest, he would reach out from the recesses of [the Doctor's] subconscious and seize [his body]." (PROSE: Head Games)

Here’s the synopsis from the first story of Trial of a Time Lord.  It’s from “The Mysterious Planet”:

The Doctor is summoned before the High Council of Time Lords to stand trial for the charges of harmful interference to the course of events during his space-time excursions, which have threatened the sanctity of the universe. Indignant at these accusations, the Doctor pleads his case to the Inquisitor with the hope that she will see him as a source of hope and goodwill for existence. However, his prosecuting attorney, a sinister Time Lord known simply as the Valeyard, begins a crusade against the Doctor's life with the motive of painting him out to be a villainous renegade.

The Valeyard's first movement against the Doctor is to review his past interactions on a familiar planet called Ravolox, where he and his-then companion Peri met the morally grey Sabalom Glitz and a tyrannical robot stalking the world's desolated landscape. However, Ravolox holds a terrible truth in the far reaches of its ruins, while the Doctor's trial has its own fair share of startling twists and turns...

Painting the Doctor as a villain is something we saw the Master do in “The Mind Robber.”

BTW, the evil in the Doctor is another reason why I don’t think he can regenerate, at least in the normal way.  The evil will just pass on.  That has to be resolved, too, which is what I expect from the 12th Doctor’s story.

The other way we’ve seen that Time Lords can continue after they die is to have a projection continue, like we examined in the 3rd Doctor story “Planet of the Spiders.”  We looked at that episode in my analysis in “Knock Knock.”  Something like the projection idea also happened in “Kinda,” the 5th Doctor story we examined in my analysis in TPEW.  It looks like the projection is similar to the idea of the Trinity with 3 people operating as One.  The projection is one of those people.  The young girl in “Kinda” is like a face of the old blind woman who died, so the old woman’s soul never died, even though her body did.  Her soul lives on in the girl.

Morbius in the Library Metaphor

Sadly, I haven’t finished my chapter on Morbius, Dinosaurs, and Superpowers either.  I’ve got a lot of chapters started, but found things so circular that I would start another chapter to explain something that I needed prior to finishing a previous chapter.

Morbius & CAL

In “Silence in the Library,” we see Robby the Robot, shown below (blue arrow), from the 1956 movie Forbidden Planet.  Robby’s appearance in DW is also a reference to Morbius, a human scientist in the movie, who gains super intelligence and superpowers but doesn’t realize their full extent.  Morbius was the inspiration for the 4th Doctor episode “The Brain of Morbius.”  I mentioned a few points about CAL, the Library, and her superpowers in Chapter 15 of Fairytales and Romance in Doctor Who.

Morbius in the movie creates, unbeknownst to him, an invisible monster from his subconscious, after he interfaces with an alien device that basically increases his IQ exponentially. The monster goes around killing people. The Krafayis from “Vincent and the Doctor” is the ultimate example of this invisible monster.

While we are led to believe that the Vashta Nerada are causing the shadows in the Library and eating people, something else, too, is happening in the subtext.  The same thing is happening with the 12th Doctor.  But the question is even bigger than shadows.

Why do books literally start flying off the shelves in the Library when River, the Doctor, and the Lux expedition are in there? 

While Doctor Moon has CAL believing that she is using tools to do whatever she is doing, obviously, she isn’t really pressing buttons on a remote, since she is a disembodied mind. Instead, she is using her powers of thought to make the books fly off the shelves. 

It’s CAL’s fears, anger, and frustration, the dark side of her that takes over, causing the books to fly off the shelves.  But the implication really is that she is causing the shadows and the deaths of people.

The image above could be telling us that CAL is either like (1) Robby, who is a servant to Morbius, or (2) Morbius, himself.  She could also be both like Robby and Morbius, a mind-controlled child with superpowers, who is serving someone else.  This goes along with “The Mind Robber” concept of the Master being controlled by the Master Brain.  Who controls the Master Brain computer? 

“The Brain of Morbius,” the 4th Doctor & the Frankenstein Monster Metaphor

In “The Brain of Morbius,” according to the TARDIS Wikia:

Morbius was a notorious and malevolent renegade Time Lord. His career was the first in millennia to dramatically alter Gallifrey's relations with the wider universe. He attempted to overturn Gallifrey's non-interference policy in favour of military conquest, but was exiled and eventually executed, only to survive, saved by his followers.

It was Morbius who urged the Time Lords to a policy of conquest.  Here’s a possible connection to the White Horse of the Apocalypse.

The Victor Frankenstein Metaphor & the Monster

Just before Morbius was executed, Doctor Mehendri Solon, a human surgeon and scientist of great renown, saved Morbius’ brain.  Solon was a follower of the Time Lord tyrant Morbius.  Solon was going to build a body for the brain by piecing together parts of different creatures, similar to what Mary Shelley’s Victor Frankenstein did.

Solon is on Karn where he has Morbius’ brain, and he’s building Frankenstein’s Monster – the body for Morbius.

The surgeon in THORS most likely represents Solon.

Sisterhood of Karn

For some odd reason, the Sisterhood of Karn can sense ships in space around the planet and even beyond it but can’t sense Morbius and Solon’s activities on Karn. This never made sense to me unless Morbius had a stronger mind than the sisters.

They do have superpowers.

The Sisterhood of Karn has similar abilities to Morbius in the movie, as shown in “The Brain of Morbius” episode.  For example, they can kill with their minds by placing that idea in someone else’s mind. Also, the sisters state in canon that Time Lords are their “equals in mind power.” 

So why haven’t we seen that?

Moreover, the sisterhood has other abilities, for example, telekinetic powers that are similar to what we see with CAL in the Library and with little George in “Night Terrors,” as he sends people to the dollhouse when he is scared. However, CAL and George’s power is chaotic for the most part.  

At one point, the 4th Doctor is held prisoner by the Sisterhood of Karn because they think the Time Lords sent the Doctor to steal the Elixir of Life.  They tell him they teleported him to their location with their minds.  Interestingly, he says, “You mean you still practice teleportation?  How quaint!”  OK, what does that mean?  Still? Quaint?  This is one of those episodes that many, many years ago really made me think that something other than what we saw was going on.

They try to kill the Doctor at one point by roasting him at the stake.  Their situation is very odd.  They are so advanced mind-wise, but their surroundings look as if they live in Medieval times.  All those years ago, I actually did connect this episode to an original Star Trek episode, “Errand of Mercy.”  Until the previous chapter, this Star Trek episode was the only one I connected.  More on this in a bit.

Anyway, the Doctor ends up mentally dueling with Morbius and integrating with him.  Below, we see Morbius (red arrow), a creature much like the Frankenstein monster patch-worked together that has a big claw for a right arm. Also, we see the Doctor and Sarah Jane on the right.  In the middle is a Circle in the Square metaphor (yellow arrow) that means the Doctor and Morbius are integrated.  

This all comes back to the Eye of Harmony and the Library.

The Doctor ends up mortally wounded, and the Sisterhood of Karn has to save him using the Elixir of Life.

Morbius, the 12th Doctor & Nardole

I talked about the Veritas’ cover in my analysis on “Extremis” having what looks like stitches.  This could refer back to how Nardole is being cast as Morbius and the Frankenstein monster. Also, the Doctor is being cast the Victor Frankenstein metaphor, Dr. Solon.  In THORS, the Doctor assumed the role of the surgeon.

More Morbius references showed up in TPEW and “The Lie of the Land” that we need to look at. 

The Pyramid at the End of the World

In TPEW, the Doctor and Nardole make some interesting remarks in the lab:

ERICA: How did you do that? What is that thing?

DOCTOR: It's Nardole. He's not my fault. Back to the Tardis. This place is toxic.

NARDOLE: I'm not human.

DOCTOR: Oh, you're human enough. I got your lungs cheap.

NARDOLE: Oh, now he tells me.

Nardole is a cyborg, which the Doctor pieced together.  Here we learn Nardole’s lungs are human even though Nardole isn’t.

“The Lie of the Land”  

When Alan holds a gun to the Doctor’s head in the pyramid, Nardole uses a neck pinch to put him to sleep.

NARDOLE: Tarovian Neck Pinch. Yeah, I er, I studied their martial arts for a while, actually. Yeah, reached the level of Brown Tabard. Can't do it with this hand though. Kind of bugs me. Course, this wasn't my original hand, as you know. I won this in a game of er, yeah, let's crack on.

Nardole uses his right hand to do a neck pinch, which is a reference to Star Trek even though the pinch is not called the Vulcan neck pinch. Anyway, it’s Nardole’s other hand that is a reference to Morbius.  Nardole says, “Can't do it with this hand though. Kind of bugs me.”  “Bugs me” is probably a reference to Morbius and the insect we first see at the beginning of “The Brain of Morbius.”  Solon’s assistant brought back part of the insect for Solon to use for Morbius.

“The End of the World” & the Trojan Horse

This is one of the sections I didn’t have time to write for my previous analysis of “The Pyramid at the End of the World.”  TPEW derives its name, in part, from the second 9th Doctor story titled, “The End of the World.”  

In it, the Doctor takes Rose to watch the destruction of Earth.  All types of aliens show up, and the Steward announces them, as if they are attending a royal gathering.

STEWARD: Representing the Forest of Cheam, we have trees, namely, Jabe, Lute and Coffa. (A bark-skinned woman enters with two larger male escorts.)

STEWARD: There will be an exchange of gifts representing peace. If you could keep the room circulating, thank you. Next, from the solicitors Jolco and Jolco, we have the Moxx of Balhoon. (Another blue alien, this time mostly head and body, sitting on a transport pod.)

There are several aliens who are announced, including the Face of Boe.  The blue alien was referenced in “Oxygen.”  Rose had a similar reaction to Bill.

Here is an image of the Forest of Cheam trees.  The female tree reminds me so much of River with her seductive behavior.  And, of course, the forest represents River.  Interestingly, Jabe offers the Doctor a cutting of a live plant.  “The Gift of Peace. I bring you a cutting of my grandfather.”  Of course, “grandfather” typically refers to the Doctor, so this is really curious.  This is another reason why plants have to be important.

STEWARD: And next, from Financial Family Seven, we have the Adherents of the Repeated Meme.

I had to laugh at this tongue-in-cheek name of “the Adherents of the Repeated Meme.”  They represent monks of all types throughout nuWho. Yes, they are a repeated meme.  In the image below, we see the monk types with what looks like Ss or most likely Zs around their necks (yellow arrow). 

Ss and Zs both show up quite a bit.  In fact, the Truth logo may very well represent stylized Ss or Zs.  (Could be like the SS, a Nazi designation, which represents the Daleks.) The Z is important because it represents the last letter of our alphabet.  However, the Greek equivalent is Omega, referring to River.  Monks seem to show up when River or her metaphors are involved.

Anyway back to “The End of the World,” there is also a metal-looking, silver ball (red arrow) that the monk is holding out.  However, when he offers it to the Doctor, his voice is very deep and sinister as he says, “A gift of peace in all good faith.”  The sinister voice is a contradiction to the symbol.  It turns out this episode is running backward.  It means war.  Monks show up and war breaks out.

What’s happening is that Earth (the Doctor) dies and war breaks out.  The metal ball contains metal spiderbots that sabotage the observation platform.  They are Trojan Horses hiding instruments of war. 

BTW, the metal ball is referenced in THORS when River receives the money ball with a cross in the background, representing the 12th Doctor.  It’s a symbol of war to save the Doctor.

The grandfather concept also refers to the Trojan Horse.  And in fact, in

my analysis of TPEW

, we looked at how little George, a metaphor for the Doctor, in “Night Terrors” was a cuckoo.  Cuckoo birds lay their eggs in another bird’s nest, letting the young be raised by foster parents.

This all is saying the Doctor is a Trojan Horse.  Being that Bill is the face of the Doctor, the 13th (Hartnell’s Doctor comes up over and over as the 13th Doctor), Bill can be the Trojan Horse, too. Anyone of the Doctor’s faces can be.

A Trojan horse can also refer to a malicious computer program, which tricks users into willingly running it, so here’s a connection to a computer virus.

Star Trek Connections

There are quite a few connections to Star Trek that I’ve noticed since realizing how the series is being used in DW.  Three episodes may have a bearing on things we examined in this chapter. TOS stands for The Original Series of Star Trek.  TNG refers to Star Trek: The Next Generation.

The Sisterhood of Karn & TOS: “Errand of Mercy”

I mentioned that the Sisterhood of Karn looked like they lived in Medieval times in “The Brain of Morbius.” 

Interestingly, there is a TOS episode called “Errand of Mercy,” where Kirk and Spock try to protect the planet Organia from the Klingons (a hostile humanoid species), but the natives don't want the Federation's help.

SPOCK: Captain, our information on these people and their culture was not correct. This is not a primitive society making progress toward mechanisation. They are totally stagnant. There is no evidence of any progress as far back as my tricorder can register. KIRK: That doesn't seem likely. SPOCK: Nevertheless, it is true. For tens of thousands of years, there has been absolutely no advancement, no significant change in their physical environment. This is a laboratory specimen of an arrested culture.

However, at the end, we learn that things are not as they appear.  Ayelborne is a native to Organia while Kor is a Klingon, who seems much like Davros.  The Organians, who are a peaceful people, put a stop to any war between the humans and the Klingons:

AYELBORNE: Yes, please leave us. The mere presence of beings like yourselves is intensely painful to us.

KIRK: What do you mean, beings like yourselves?

AYELBORNE: Millions of years ago, Captain, we were humanoid like yourselves, but we have developed beyond the need of physical bodies. That of us which you see is mere appearance for your sake.

KOR: Captain, it's a trick. We can handle them. I have an army.

(Kirk holds him back as Ayelborne and Claymare transform into pulsating lights, too bright to look at. Then they disappear.)

SPOCK: Fascinating. Pure energy. Pure thought. Totally incorporeal. Not life as we know it at all.

KIRK: But what about this planet? The fields, the buildings, this citadel?

SPOCK: Conventionalisations, I should say. Useless to the Organians. Created so that visitors such as ourselves, could have conventional points of reference.

KOR: But is all of this possible?

SPOCK: We have seen it with our own eyes. I should say the Organians are as far above us on the evolutionary scale as we are above the amoeba.

So the Organians are really highly advanced and incorporeal.  If the Time Lords are billions of years old, I would expect them to be incorporeal, too. And its “Errand of Mercy” that gave me this idea long before Rassilon said he wanted the Time Lords to become beings of pure thought.

Do the Sisterhood of Karn live in primitive-looking conditions because they aren’t who we think they are?

Matter, Antimatter & TOS: “The Alternative Factor”

Since the whole idea of antimatter comes up with CERN and Dan Brown’s novel Angels and Demons, it seems appropriate to look at something that might give us some clues about what is happening with the Doctor.

Interestingly, in the TOS episode “The Alternative Factor” everything within sensor range suddenly "blinks," almost as if the universe is on the verge of annihilation. A time traveller suddenly appears on the planet below.

We find out later that there are actually 2 versions of this time traveller, whose name is Lazarus. One version has a cut on his forehead while the other doesn’t.  I did actually think of this TOS episode when in “Extremis” the Doctor cuts his forehead over his eyebrow before I realized the antimatter connection.  That should have tipped me off about Star Trek – earlier than I actually realized it.

One Lazarus is in the antimatter universe, and the other is in the matter universe.

KIRK: Exactly what did I pass through?

LAZARUS: That's hard to explain, Captain. I call it an alternative warp. It's sort of a negative magnetic corridor where the two parallel universes meet. It's sort of a safety valve. It keeps eternity from blowing up.

KIRK: This corridor, is it what caused the magnetic effect, the winking out phenomenon?

LAZARUS: Precisely, Captain, but not because of its existence. Because, because my foe entered. The corridor is like a prison, with explosives at the door. Open the door, and the explosives might go off. Stay inside

KIRK: And the universe is safe.

LAZARUS: Both universes, Captain. Yours and mine.

The interesting thing about this is the prison concept in TOS and how it might compare to what happened in “The Lie of the Land.”  Letting out the possessed Doctor from the prison puts the universe at risk, actually both universes, which is what happened in "Turn Left."  OK, that’s not how we saw it happen in the episode, but that’s the implication in this simulation.  It’s like we have matter and antimatter Doctors.

In Christian terms, it’s like Christ vs. the Antichrist.  Here we are back at one of the 4 Horsemen of the Apocalypse.  Missy even mentions a pony, which might be both a reference to a rescue plan and the apocalypse.  Maybe it also is a reference to the Trojan Horse.

BTW, I have a big problem with the supply and prison ship scenes.  How exactly is the Doctor a prisoner on the ship?  Nobody seems to be watching him.  He just walks out of the ship.  Before this, Bill and Nardole just walk into the Doctor’s room.  Where is the break-in if the Doctor is a prisoner? If Bill is so important, why aren’t the Monks keeping her prisoner?  On the supply ship during the Monk’s visit, why didn’t the Monk capture Bill?  The Monk’s timing just so happened to coincide with Richard’s request for identification papers.  This whole supply and prison ship set of events just screams problems, so we know things aren’t happening the way we think.  And then, of course, we saw the image above from the ship that shows “Conning Station.”  It’s all a con.

“The God Complex” & TNG: “Hide and Q”

The TNG episode “Hide and Q” may give us a clue about Missy’s plan, which ties into the idea of a God Complex.  The Q, are god-like beings who live in the Q Continuum.  Typically, when Q is referenced, it refers to one particular being in general.  He is a trickster and Loki-like in DW terms.  He showed up once before this episode.  However, in “Hide and Q,” he returns to the Starship Enterprise to test First Officer Riker by giving him the power of a Q.

Q transports the bridge crew, minus Captain Picard to a planet, where we a setting from the Napoleonic era.  Q, himself, is dressed in a Napeoleonic costume, shown below.  He tells the crew the point is to stay alive in his game. Check out the symbology used in this TNG episode: a Roman cross and fleur-de-lis.  If this were DW, we could translate this as: the Doctor and Nardole are Q.

The other Napoleonic soldiers seem like they would be easy to overcome.  It seems like a ridiculous setup until a soldier turns around, and he isn’t human.  In fact, while their weapons look authentic, they are energy weapons.  I’m betting something similarly ridiculous will happen in DW.

Q reappears on the Enterprise bridge, explaining to Picard that the real intent of his game is to test whether Riker is worthy of the greatest gift the Q can offer.  Memory Alpha says

They make a bet: Picard's command against Q's keeping out of Humanity's path forever. Q then promptly tells Picard that he has already lost as Riker will be offered something impossible to refuse.

Back on the planet Q talks to Riker about the powers granted to him, but Riker doesn’t want them. However, Q creates a situation where the other soldiers kill a couple of crewmembers, and only Riker’s newly acquired powers can save them.  Riker holds back the alien soldiers with a force field, transports the crew back to the ship, and heals everyone.

Riker promises Picard not to use the powers again, but another situation comes up where a child on a planet dies.  Riker is bound by the promise but calls a meeting.  While he says he’s not a monster, clearly his relationship with people has changed.  In fact, he calls the Captain by his first name, which Riker never does in normal situations.  He doubts his decision not to save the child, but Picard says it was a fiction created by Q.

Riker ends up having a God Complex.

When he tries to give each bridge member a gift, like sight for the blind character, none of the crew want the gifts.  Riker realizes he shouldn’t have the power.

Interestingly, at the end, Data, a sentient android, says something interesting that certainly can relate to the 12th Doctor, at times:

DATA: Sir, how is it that the Q can handle time and space so well, and us so badly?

PICARD: Perhaps some day we will discover that space and time are simpler than the human equation.

What if Missy is the one who wants the Doctor to use his powers that he promised not to use?  I can see her creating a situation like Q, where someone that the Doctor loves is killed or seriously wounded to get him to break his promises.  Sure, we’ve already seen him break promises, but this would be in a much more dramatic way.

In fact, in a way, this already happened with Bill in “Oxygen,” but we really didn’t see what happened between the Doctor and Bill and whatever methods he used to save her. This didn’t have the emotional impact that something like this should have. 

It’s not because I saw it coming. 

Instead, it’s because I didn’t see what actually happened.  (I can watch TV shows or movies over and over and still feel the emotional impact that I did in the first watch.)  I didn’t experience the emotions of watching them struggle with trying to survive. 

The only part we got to see and feel was Bill’s terror of what would happen to her.  That’s significant!  That’s what I’m referring to, and we got to see so little of it. Typically, when this type of thing happens with lots of hand waving, it’s foreshadowing for what is to come.

So this suggests to me that something horrible will probably happen to someone very close to the Doctor, and we will get to experience all the terror with it.

The Doctor, like Riker, is caught in a God Complex.

[newsdistribution]

The Complete Manager

By N Meenakshi, Associate Professor in Marketing at Goa Institute of Management

 Yes, the title of this article does suggest that there are incomplete ones. Managers seek sustained high performance in the face of ever-increasing pressure and rapid changes in the environment. Most approaches to sustained high performance connects it primarily with cognitive capacity. However, a complete, successful approach to sustained high performance must consider a person as a whole – it must address the body, the emotions, the mind, and the spirit.

 THE BODY

 The body is the fundamental source of energy. The key to increasing physical strength is the creation of balanced work-rest ratios. For example, in weightlifting, a muscle is stressed to the point where its fibers start to break down. And then the muscle is allowed to rest for at least 48 hours. The muscle not only heals, but it also grows stronger. But, if an athlete persists in stressing the muscle without rest, his muscle will suffer acute and chronic damage. Conversely, if the muscle is not stressed, it will become weak. In both cases, the culprit is not stress – it is the failure to oscillate between stress and recovery.

 Rituals play a strong role in recovery. For example, the best tennis players use precise recovery rituals in the 15 or 20 seconds between points. Their between-point rituals include concentrating on the strings of their rackets to avoid distraction, assuming a confident posture, and visualizing how they want the next point to play out. These rituals have strong physiological effects on players: their heart rate rises rapidly during play, but drops as much as 15 p.c. to 20 p.c. between points. The mental and emotional effects of precise between-points rituals are also significant. They allow players to avoid negative feelings, focus their minds, and prepare for the next point. In contrast, players who lack between-point rituals expend too much energy without recovery. Regardless of their talent or level of fitness, these players become more vulnerable to frustration and loss of concentration, and are likely to choke under pressure.

 Managers push themselves too hard mentally and emotionally, but too little physically. They do not realize that physical stress is a source not just of greater endurance, but also of mental and emotional recovery.

 EMOTIONS

 Positive emotions drive high performance, while negative emotions drain energy. Negative emotions like frustration, impatience, anger, fear, resentment, and sadness increase heart rate and blood pressure, increase muscle tension, constrict vision, and ultimately cripple performance. For example, a manager worked long hours and traveled frequently. He was a critical boss, whose frustration and impatience sometimes boiled over into angry tirades. A regular workout regimen built his endurance and gave him a way to burn off tension. He also developed a precise five-step ritual to contain his negative emotions whenever they threatened to erupt. First, he became more aware of signals from his body that he was going to explode – a physical tension, a racing heart, tightness in his chest. When he felt those sensations rise, he closed his eyes and took several deep breaths. He then consciously relaxed the muscles in his face, and made an effort to soften his voice and speak more slowly. And then he tried to put himself in the shoes of the person who was going to be the target of his anger. Finally, he focused on framing his response in positive language. Initially, he felt awkward practicing the ritual, and often went back to his old ways. But, after a few weeks, the ritual became automatic.

 There are a number of other rituals that help to offset feelings of stress and restore positive energy. For instance, music has powerful physiological and emotional effects.

 Body language also affects emotions. In an experiment, actors were asked to portray anger and then were subjected to many physiological tests, including heart rate, blood pressure, core temperature, galvanic skin pressure, and hormone levels. Next, the actors were exposed to a situation that made them genuinely angry, and the same measurements were taken. There were virtually no differences in the two measurements. It means that effective acting produces the same physiology that real emotions do. Therefore, if a manager carries himself confidently, he will start to feel confident, even in highly stressful situations.

 Close relationship is the most powerful means for promoting positive emotions and effective recovery. Spending time with family and friends induces a profound sense of security and safety. Such feelings are closely associated with sustained high performance. By spending more time with their families and friends and setting clear boundaries between work and home, managers will be reenergized and they will perform better at work.

 THE MIND

 The idea is to increase managers’ cognitive capacities, most notably their focus, time management, and critical-thinking skills. Focus means concentrating energy in the pursuit of a goal. Anything that interferes with focus dissipates energy. Meditation helps to train attention and promote recovery. An adequate meditation technique involves sitting quietly and breathing deeply, repeating a word each time a breath is taken, or just counting each exhalation. Meditation quiets the mind, the emotions, and the body, promoting energy recovery. Meditation slows brain wave activity and stimulates a shift in mental activity from the left hemisphere of the brain to the right. People so often find solutions to vexing problems when they are doing something ‘mindless’, such as walking, working in the garden, or singing in the shower. This happens due to mental oscillation, i.e. mental activity shifts from the left hemisphere of the brain to the right. Therefore, managers must learn to align their work with the body’s need for breaks every 90 to 120 minutes by alternating periods of stress and recovery. For example, an investment banker used to working endless hours without breaks, built a set of rituals that ensured regular recovery. Once in the morning and again in the afternoon, he did deep-breathing exercises for at least 15 minutes. At lunch, he walked outdoors for 15 minutes. He took fruit and water breaks every 90 minutes. He worked out six times a week after work. In the evenings, he often left his office early to spend more time with his family. At home, he and his wife made a pact never to talk business. He decided not to work on weekends. He instituted a monthly getaway routine with his wife. The result: he was far more productive, and the quality of his thought process measurably improved. He was doing more on the big things at work and not getting bogged down by detail.

 Rituals that encourage positive thinking also enable sustained high performance. People have to create specific mental rituals that allow them to move from peaks of concentration into valleys of relaxation. For example, a golfer sharpened his concentration as he walked onto the tee and steadily intensified his concentration until he hit his drive, but descended into a valley of relaxation as he left the tee through casual conversations with fellow competitors. Visualization also produces positive energy. Visualization does more than produce a vague feeling of optimism and well-being – it reprograms the neutral circuitry of the brain, directly improving performance. It builds mental muscles, increasing strength, endurance, and flexibility.  

 THE SPIRIT

 Spiritual capacity is the energy that is unleashed when a person taps into his deepest values, and when he discovers a strong sense of purpose. Spiritual capacity serves as a sustenance in the face of adversity and is a powerful source of motivation, focus, determination, and resilience. For example, a female executive tried unsuccessfully to quit smoking, blaming it on a lack of self-discipline. Smoking took a visible toll on her health and her productivity at work. But she quit smoking when she became pregnant and did not touch a cigarette until the day her child was born. Quitting was easy when she connected the impact of smoking to the health of her unborn child – a deeper purpose. She started smoking the day she was out of the hospital. Understanding cognitively that smoking was unhealthy, feeling guilty about it on an emotional level, and even experiencing its negative effects physically were insufficient motivations to change her behavior.

 Making connections to one’s deepest values requires a person to regularly step out of the daily chores of deadlines and obligations to take time for reflection. Managers keep doing whatever seems immediately pressing while losing sight of the bigger picture. Rituals that give people the opportunity to pause and look inside include meditation, journal writing, prayer, and service to others. Each of these activities also serve as a source of recovery, i.e. to break the linearity of relentless goal-oriented activity.

 A complete manager is akin to an athlete giving his best performance. The ability to manage all four aspects of the self – body, emotions, mind, and spirit – will aid in optimizing performance.

source by https://www.gim.ac.in/

[danieljacobes]

11 Reasons Why You Should Study Chinese

Acquiring Chinese in this day and age promises dramatic results.

The real question is, why shouldn’t you learn Chinese? Yes, people always hate on it for how hard it supposedly is. But the truth is, of all the things you can do with your spare time, learning Mandarin Chinese is one of the absolute best investments you can make. Whether you’re looking for a new academic pursuit, new career skills or a new perspective on life, there are few activities likely to have the same huge payoff. But don’t just take my word for it—read on and discover why you really should be dropping everything and learning Chinese!

With well more than a billion speakers around the world, Chinese language, also known as Mandarin, is the most widely spoken language on earth. As China has grown in power over the past several decades, there has been a big push worldwide for foreigners to study Chinese.

Chinese classes have cropped up in colleges and secondary schools around the world and, each year, thousands of people flock to China to travel, teach and hone their language skills. In case you need any more motivation than that, here are 11 good reasons why you should study Chinese.

1- Boost your brainpower

Chinese is a tonal language, meaning that the word definitions can change based on intonation. Much like music, Chinese language requires speakers to engage the right and left sides of their brains, and studies have shown that Mandarin speakers do use both sides of their brains!

2- Travel to exotic places

Mandarin language is spoken in lots of places, from Beijing to Singapore. If you study Chinese, you can travel all over East and Southeast Asia, as well as other parts of the world and communicate with Chinese people.

3- One of the world's biggest languages

Around one-fifth of the entire world's population speaks Chinese as a native language! Combine that with the number of non-native speakers that can speak or understand Chinese and you've got a whole lot of the world covered.

4- Try amazing food

Chinese cuisine is one of the most beloved and richest food traditions on earth, and studying Chinese will help you uncover amazing dishes. Trying new restaurants and discovering new flavors has always been my favorite thing to do in Shanghai!

5- A warm and welcoming culture

Chinese people are notoriously warm and welcoming, and whether you're, you will encounter a wonderful culture through Chinese language.

6- Become more artistic

Chinese is written using iconographic characters rather than letters. These characters developed out of cave paintings and pictures and require an incredible amount of artistic skill to be written.

7- Easy to get started

Despite what you might've heard, Chinese has a shallow learning curve, meaning that it's very easy to get started speaking basic Chinese after just a few weeks of learning!

8- Economically important

The sheer numbers of people that speak Chinese make it an economically important language, but combine that with the prowess of Chinese speaking countries, such as Singapore, Malaysia, Hong Kong, Taiwan, and you can see how economically important a language it is.

9- Ancient culture

If you learn to read Chinese, you will be able to delve into one of the world's most ancient cultures through its strong literary and cultural traditions.

10- Do business

Many companies trade with China Nowadays, so speaking Chinese can be a distinct advantage to doing business in Asia.

11- A new outlook on life

Studies have proven that Chinese speakers think about things differently than others. The Chinese have different concepts of time, space and history that can only be understood through the intricate details of Mandarin language. The grammatical structure, word order and even the choices of phrases and questions all help inform the Chinese outlook on life!

Learning language at MiracleChinese.com you can ultimate your time which focus for progress of your learning aim to achieve your Chinese language test (HSK). We had developed more than 800 video clips by variety of 24 courses. Learn live conference class, learn online or learn with us in Shanghai. No matter what is your purpose of your study, Learn with our 10+ year’s professional experience. The Chinese language is not your barrier anymore.

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