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l-in-the-light · 3 months ago

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The most embarrassing series of posts about Lawlu you will ever read: edition Dressrosa (part 7)

The soap opera in sunny Dressrosa continues! Let's take a look at Luffy's turn to act overprotective!

Luffy protecting both Torao and Moocy never really gets old. Also look at the last image to the right, Luffy is doing his gatling, and I think it's the first time Law sees it. His eyes are hidden and I get the vibe he's actually impressed. I mean, who wouldn't be, gatling is one of Luffy's coolest attacks :D Luffy's is unaware of course, too focused on his task.

The moment Law speaks up, no matter the chaos and screaming around, Luffy's attention is instantly directed fully towards him (the "Hmm?" bubble). That's how much he's interested in whatever Torao is going to say.

"I've braced myself for this" says Law, and Luffy is so confused by that statement. He doesn't realize yet that Law needs time to adjust or get ready mentally, especially since he's so stubborn. And sometimes he just needs a push. I think Luffy will remember this and use it later, never maliciously though, but to help Law open up to new friendships heh.

It took Law a really long time to actually reach his resolve to beat up Doflamingo as well. Luffy is listening closely. If you read my analysis of Luffy and Law's friendship, you know this is the moment when Luffy might be thinking "I already knew you wanted to punch him up as well".

Law is actually opening up here, it's only like two sentences but I bet it took him a lot to say it, that's how much he actually trusts Luffy. He just told him something he never really shared with people (with exception of Bepo, Penguin and Shachi). And Luffy's mesmerized face says it all. He didn't expect it, he's full of feelings, probably thanks to the trust Law shows here. Luffy never wants to hear about people's past, not even of his own crewmates, because he doesn't have to know anything to want to help them (though he occassionaly listens to his friends like Rebecca), but here it's different. He wants to know, he's interested in Law and his life, probably even his previous adventures.

And again, the very moment Law speaks up, Luffy turns to him to listen. Never ignoring him. Why would he, if Law returns the favour every single time as well? Those two never ignore each other.

Also this moment is funny when put into context, because it happens soon after the enemies were shooting at them, and I guess this is the moment Trafalgar Law finally declared "Nopes, I won't tolerate it any longer, uncuff me finally". Took him long enough.

Luffy here is like "You worry too much, this is an adventure, remember?", because Luffy said something similar back on Sunny when Law worried and it worked that time, so he did basically the same here. He doesn't like Law to worry so much. Sadly, that did not work this time around, I wonder why hm. Luffy clearly smiles here for Law, to cheer him up, he wasn't really smiling before, instead he was constantly in his serious mode.

Law meanwhile worries his ass off again, realizing this can't go on forever like this (he is kinda right about it). This might be also the moment Luffy realized that Law likes to overworry, but Luffy doesn't mind. Law might be way too serious, worry all the time and complain, but for Luffy he will still be the coolest person in the world. He accepts him just the way he is and likes him for that. It's the same for all Luffy's crewmates as well, so it's not that outstanding or exceptional here, but still heartwarming.

They're totally on same page here. One mind.

There's something special about Luffy picking up the snail that belongs to Torao and introducing himself as future king of the pirates <3

Luffy: I told you not to worry!

Law: How could I have not?!

Luffy even makes sure to ask Robin how they will reach them and he does it just so Law won't worry too much anymore. Normally Luffy wouldn't even bother asking something like that.

Law is probably relieved here. Still, he scolds Luffy for his carefree attitude.

Luffy caring more for Moocy and Law than himself here. Supports Law with his hand. No wonder, he carried him all the way through Dressrosa, he's probably very aware how weak Law is here so he's trying to help and support him as well.

Law's worry just went overdrive, because he realized Luffy is gonna put himself in a very dangerous spot. I guess he knows by now how much Luffy cares about people and animal companions.

Luffy looks like he's kinda supporting Law there with the hand on his arm, which probably reflects the title of this chapter "palm" (one of the two possible meanings, the other is the heart key in Doflamingo's palm). He's literally holding Law here in his "battle" with Mingo.

Even Doflamingo thinks Law became "softhearted". He mocks him for sticking with Luffy, but Law's not having any of that. He's sticking with his choice to the very end, even when Mingo tries to kill him right here and now, blaming Law for being weak and dying miserably like that. Law has no way of defending himself besides his words, but he already made his choice. If anything, I think the only regret he would have would be if Luffy died here together with him.

Luffy's also alright with this, he wouldn't do anything differently, because Luffy doesn't want to live with regrets anyway. If it means he's dying here with Law, then so be it.

They realized Mingo actually did save them just to mock them. They both feel extremely humiliated about it. Luffy doesn't even have to feel this way just for Law, but I think in large part he does. He didn't feel humiliated when he learned Kuma send Strawhats away to save them. He didn't feel that way either when Robin saved him in Alabasta, in fact he instead tried to thank her. But as long as Law has a grudge against Mingo, Luffy is not gonna say "thanks" to him no matter what. Sorry Mingo, you should have been nicer to Law.

Yeah, poor Law, can't even complain outloud (after all he did tell Luffy to leave Moocy behind so complaining about it now would be unfair) and it feels like he's too close to other people. This can't be comfortable knowing what we know about him.

Before Kyros hopped in, Cavendish was in front and Luffy in the back, and Law in the middle. When they rode Moocy it was the same, with Luffy in front, and Zoro in the back. They keep positioning Law in the middle to protect him.

Remember when Law was taken aback by Luffy's silly competitiveness and stubborness? Law's not even out of the cuffs yet but he's ready to compete in this field. To be fair, it's also because he wants again to keep Luffy out of trouble, but he's also just silly here with "Mingo is mine and mine alone to beat".

And the silly competitiveness continues on. Bargaining who has bigger grudge is very mature indeed. It's honestly funny how Law wants to protect Luffy but also doesn't want to look uncool or allow him to take all the credit. Those two are hopeless. This is even funnier because Law usually *doesn't* take credit. Luffy jumps on the bandwagon ofc just because he can (or he's still overprotective towards Law, isn't he?). He's probably secretly enjoying the fact he can actually compete with Law, no matter what it's about.

Luffy's concerned face here is also quite extraordinary. He worries because he feels responsible for protecting Law. Usually extra trouble doesn't even faze him. Now it does, but not because of himself, but for Law again. Those two really compete in overworrying about each other, don't they? Both afraid as much to lose the other.

Look, Luffy is directly in front of Law, protecting him with his body. Meanwhile Law has enough again, because he knows he could deal with that danger easily if not for the cuffs. He also wants to protect Luffy back after all. It shouldn't be strange he goes straight to business when Robin arrives, this is constantly on his mind: get rid of the cuffs so he can get rid of the enemies here. Law sometimes proves he also has a one-track mind, suspiciously often when it involves Luffy.

Again, they're on same page, matching each other's pace.

Luffy is with Rebecca exactly the same way Law was wtih Robin few moments ago. One-tracked mind again. Law probably reminded Luffy he can easily get rid of the enemies and Luffy is ready to bet on that.

Mirroring each other's tiredness with those huffs here. Luffy still looks pretty worried. Law meanwhile is putting up a confident front, maybe for Luffy to stop worrying over him. He would totally do something like that. Besides, he's just a show-off.

Same mind, again. No more fights over who will save the other! The determination is still there, tho.

Law tells Luffy to get moving and charges ahead first. But when Luffy stalls back to reassure Rebecca, Law isn't walking so fast anymore, he also changed the way he's carrying his sword. Most likely he stopped and waited for Luffy or walked slower, so that Luffy can easily catch up. If that's not a proof of him being actually a considerate person, then I don't know what this is. They agreed to do it together, so Law is just not leaving without Luffy. Luffy meanwhile runs to catch up to not make Law wait any longer.

"You never listen and toss yourself into trouble, Mugiwara-ya". I could swear he says it in his mind. Luffy's a bit confused, having flashback to Ace and I'm not sure if that's sweet or heartbreaking. After all Ace was the only person in Luffy's life who cared about him like that, worrying and covering up for him. Luffy's face is saying "this is oddly familiar", but he probably didn't realize yet that he just gained another person in his life who will treat him the same way from now on (or even has been already for quite a bit).

Luffy is so impressed with Law's powers. After all this is the very first time Law used it on Luffy.

Can I also just say that Law using his powers should be extremely intimidating: everything in his "room" is at his mercy and he can operate on objects and people in every possible way, but instead it's used here to show trust. Law wouldn't use his powers to harm Luffy, but he easily could have. He actually never uses his powers to hurt his allies and anyone asking him to shamble them shows trust in that. Of course Luffy wouldn't be concerned about this, because he knows and deeply believes Law to be a good person.

Law meanwhile completely refuses Luffy's compliment and instead throws it back at him "good thing you carried me so far away, I could save up my strength". Those two are insufferable like that, lol.

Luffy is so concerned when he hears Law making a painful noise <3 he's like "who hurt you?! Let me punch them!!" or "I hope you're not painful because of me!"

Plotting together their strategy against Mingo. Luffy is actually listening and trying to argue back, but not very effectively, judging from his expression. Law's resolve here can't be broken. Even Luffy can be taken aback by that. Besides, he again is in his "I don't want to disappoint Law" phase.

Both lowered their guard when a child approached them, ffs. And people would still doubt that Law never intended to hurt kids. He cares, it's just that sometimes he will discard that if someone else's life on the line Luffy's. But here? He's fully in his goody-goody self.

And here we go, facing Mingo together. What do you mean fighting side by side isn't a love confession??

Now it's time to go all crazy for the end of this post, all brakes are off! Let's talk about Law's coat here.

Yes, I did a picture case study, why do you ask?

Anyway, let's start from the left. We usually think that this symbol on Law's coat stands just for mockery of Doflamingo's jolly roger, right? But there are some things that don't truly fit. Why didn't Law just make it yellow? His own jolly roger is yellow, Doffy's jolly roger is yellow, yet the mocking symbol Law came up with is suddenly white? And why is yellow instead used only for the border of the circle? Doffy's jolly roger doesn't have an extra border like that. If Law wanted to just make it stand out more by using two different colors, then they should be reversed, right? The jolly roger yellow, the border white. And yet it's not. So it makes me think "yellow border" is an important detail.

And then I noticed that Bartolomeo also has a similar symbol on his back to Law's (on the right of the picture). An X with (his own, I presume) head over it. It kinda looks like a person doing a X pose. And Bartolomeo indeed does the X pose when he's excited over something, just look at him there. It could even refer to his setting up the barrier gesture, when he crosses his hands.

And yeah, that made me think... what if Law's symbol could be seen the same way? It's a person doing an X pose... with a strange yellow circle on his back. What could that be?

Yeah, I really wonder.

There is an image with Luffy doing an X pose with his strawhat off in previous picture for comparison. You can decide for yourself if this fits or not. It's basically a person doing a X pose with the strawhat dangling on the back. Now let's put it back on:

This is basically it lol. And "corazon" means heart, so yeah. Cheesy af.

Now let me quote you Oda from SBS to fill up any remaining blanks:

D: Question. On Law-san's coat, there is a logo that reads "corazan". Is this talking about the Cora-san that Law loves? Is Law's coat specially custom made?

Oda: Yes. So, to be specific, the coat reads "Corazon (corazón)" rather than "Cora-san". In Spanish, this word means "heart". While this is in fact straight up Cora-san's code name, it can be said that there isn't really a problem with the captain of the "Heart Pirates" wearing this coat either. Even speaking ability-wise, Law is a "death surgeon" known with his unique skill of cutting people's' "hearts" out. While to society, it may seem like a symbol of fear and power, I'm quite positive that Law himself had "Cora-san" in mind. It's definitely custom made.

Few things to note here:

Law's clothes are custom made. I think that means he makes them himself. That's why they can have feathers and his jolly roger plastered all over them.

For Law it's important that his clothes refer to his own crew and that his jolly roger is always present on his clothes. It's his pride as the captain! So the "Corazon" stands also for "heart" as in "heart pirates". Seems he cares a lot about that, just look how Oda phrased it: "there's no problem with a Heart Pirates captain wearing a coat with Corazon word spelled out" because heart=corazon. Meanwhile it would be problematic if the captain wore a logo that doesn't belong with his crew, right? For Law that would be no good, he has a reputation to uphold!

Since he has his captain's pride to uphold, he can't make a direct reference to Luffy on his clothes. He hides it instead and makes stupid references that can be understood in more ways than one, but probably he's the only one who gets it.

That's why his coat actually serves three purposes: 1. His dedication to his own crew as their captain 2. mockery to Doflamingo, hoping it could work to provoke him 3. homage to Luffy, because someone is smitten beyond human comprehension, but will hide it in plain sight.

And let's cover the last track left: Law didn't yet have his coat on when they arrived at Dressrosa. Luffy already made his excited X pose when they stepped out and Law is there to witness it (two pictures above). Law's group is also the last to leave (Luffy is deep in his fight in collosseum before Law's group with Robin and Usopp are ready to go, and the meetup was somewhere around noon or later in Green Bit. Remember, it was 8 hours after their early morning ransom call!). In other words, Law had plenty of time to prepare his clothes. He either used thread and needle (a surgeon is probaly quite good with needle work, right?) or painted it, doesn't matter. Point stands. It is freaking possible.

And now I'm satisfied because I found a reason why the circle had to be yellow. Ahahaha. Hope you enjoyed my craziness, but please tell me it doesn't fit. It does, doesn't it?

#one piece #trafalgar law #luffy #lawlu #lulaw #luffy x law #love is a hurricane #I went all crazy this time around didn't I #no regrets hahaha #too bad the “carrying Law mini-arc” is already over #one piece meta

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jumpywhumpywriter · 1 month ago

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Living Weapon Whumpee *BONUS* Scene part 13

Warnings: forced living weapon/fighter, aftermath of being a weapon/semi-retired weapon, lost family, fractured memories, rejection, mentions of blood and gore and murder

Even if the answers ruined her, at least she wouldn't be left wondering anymore. She needed to know what happened.

Jake's mouth tightened into a grim line. "I'll be right back, then." He left, and Miranda wondered if she was making a huge mistake by seeking answers regarding Weapon. Maybe she should let herself remain ignorant and make peace with not knowing.

No, she scolded herself firmly. I have to know the truth.

It wasn't long before Jake returned, wordlessly offering her a manilla folders full of papers.

Miranda took it gratefully, trying to hide her trembling hands as she stepped back into her room and closed the door. She took a few shaky breaths, working up the courage to look inside as she sat on the edge of the bed she'd been given, flicking on a lamp.

She stared down at the folder for what felt like an eternity, her emotions in turmoil, before finally opening it after mentally bracing herself. But nothing could have truly prepared her for what was inside. The first page was about Whumpee, his initial physical analysis and information about his age, eye color, etc. But every page after that was absolutely horrifying, going into gruesome detail about each and every experiment and surgery performed on her lover once he was taken from her.

There were pictures, too, awful pictures of operations showing him cut open and bleeding, showing unknown injections being given to him as he lay limply strapped down on a medical table, eyes glassy and glazed with pain, half-lidded and rolling back in his head. Showed his skin covered in blisters and open wounds, some stitched together while others gaped open. Those ones were on the page titled 'first successful mission on the battlefield -- complete after-fight analysis'.

The more she read, the more horrified she became, stomach churning with disgust and guilt that she hadn't tried harder to stop Leader, even if there was nothing she could have done to stop him. She could have at least tried, instead of giving in so easily and even helping him break Whumpee. She may not have directly harmed him, but she gave Leader the psychological tools to do it.

Miranda flipped through the pages one by one, taking it all in, shocked and mortified. Battle reports, images of victims viciously torn apart in the aftermath of Weapon's attacks, progress and success of missions, the routines they put in place to condition Weapon and keep him under control...

She only made it halfway through the folder before her stomach lurched violently with nausea, and she darted to the bathroom toilet to upchuck everything she had eaten earlier. She didn't stop heaving even when no more came up, shaking all over.

Leader had turned Weapon -- Whumpee - into a bloodthirsty monster.

Miranda coughed up some more bile before finally standing up and going back to the bed. She snatched the file folder up and stuffed it under the mattress, disgusted to even be touching it. Then she crawled under the covers, pulling them over her head, and started crying, tears streaming down her cheeks as she sobbed, until exhaustion got the best of her, and she fell asleep at last.

She could worry about what to do with all this new knowledge later - and decide if she wanted to confront Weapon about it.

⏪️ Back Next ⏩️

Masterlist

@scoundrelwithboba @lumpofsand @isikedmyself878 @iamheretohurt @fleur-a-whump

@ay5ksal @otterfrost @sausages-things @i-don't-know-sal @togzy

@whump-till-ya-jump @cravesunconditionallove @whumpwritinglover222 @silly-scroimblo-skrunkl @cepheusgalaxy

@dragongodryss @theforeverdyingperson

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douglysium · 7 months ago

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Episode 12 TMP Quick Thoughts

Housekeeping and Prologue

Hello, this is Douglysium and you might not know me as that guy who wrote over 100 pages of analysis on the Eye (which can be read on Tumblr here (https://douglysium.tumblr.com/post/735599414228484097/the-relationships-between-the-dread-powers-the) or Google Docs here (The Relationships Between the Dread Powers: The Eye- Knowledge is Fear and Ignorance is Bliss)) or as that guy who wrote an article on the Extinction (which can be read on Tumblr here(https://douglysium.tumblr.com/post/717929126195003392/what-would-avatars-of-the-extinction-be-like-a) and Google Docs here(What would Avatars of the Extinction be like?: A TMA Speculation)). Suffice to say I might be a bit of a TMA fan. Also, spoilers for TMP up until episode 10. You can read my ramblings on the last episode here (Episode 11 TMP Quick Thoughts).

However, Protocol offers a very unique opportunity and experience for me because I didn’t actually get into TMA until after it was over and I binged all of it. So this is my first time experiencing something even remotely similar to what the original TMA fans probably experienced when waiting for each episode week by week and slowly having to put everything together with the limited information they had. So I decided to throw my hat into the ring since this might be my only chance to do something similar. However, I’m working on some longer form TMA content so I can’t spend as much time on these articles giving a bunch of super detailed thoughts. I will try to keep these short and that inevitably might mean some could have questions about why I think or predict certain things and in those cases I would probably recommend you read at least some of the two articles I mentioned above to get a better idea of where I’m coming from. This also means I won’t be giving you a play-by-play of every single thing that happens in the episode so I encourage you to listen to or read them yourselves and feel free to comment if you feel something is important.

These reviews are probably going to end up focusing mostly on the Entities and their manifestations as they are what I have thought about the most and spent the most time interpreting and there’s been a lot of… interesting theories floating around about how the Entities are manifesting that I want to go over.

Finally, I’m just going to say it right now, spoiler warning for all of The Magnus Archives. I know that Jon and co said one could start with Protocol and be fine, and while that’s probably true, media like this tends to be made in conversation with or take into consideration what came before it in the irl chronology in order to connect them. While I’m sure you could skip The Magnus Archives, I don't really see the point of skipping over it when we are already getting characters from TMA showing up in TMP in Protocol. So to me it’s pretty clear that if we want to understand the full picture of TMP and all the things it is trying to say then we can’t just try to pretend TMA doesn’t exist or scrub it away. Just because you could understand what’s happening without the context in broad strokes doesn’t mean you're getting all the nuances.

These articles are meant to be quick and short so sorry if there’s typos and if I don’t address every possible question or possibility. I don’t want to repeat myself too much in this series outside of the prologue so be sure to skim some of my other articles.

Episode 12 “Getting Off”

I think this episode is definitely one of the more straightforward Protocol episodes we have gotten so far, so hopefully this Quick Thoughts won’t br too long (but knowing me I probably just jinxed it).

We take in the scene through a CCTV in the breakroom of the OIAR at night. The transcripts clarify that Celia is very tired and searching through the cupboards for something and it is quickly made apparent that she is looking for tea and, since the break room has run out, Sam gives Celia a teabag from a secret stash that he apparently has. Sam then asks Celia out on a date and while she is busy at the moment she does show that she is willing to go out with Sam on “Saturday, 6? under the clock at Leicester Square. That work? We’ll go for dinner- well, breakfast- you know what I mean.” Once again, we see that the OIAR jobs appear to be very exhausting and have odd work hours. I also wonder what Celia’s end goal is. Does she genuinely like Sam or does she see him as means to an end. Is Celia here to help Sam and co or is she here to harm them?

As Celia leaves, Alice walks in and proceeds to make fun of Sam for clearly being extremely nervous as he asked out Celia. Alice says “(normal again) You know it’s rude to have absolutely no game? Christ, all these years and you still ask people out like a baby foal learning to tapdance.” A reference to the fact that she and Sam dated at some point, and how Sam probably acted very similarly when trying to ask her out. Sam does point out “Look it worked didn’t it?” which seems like it could be a sort of double meaning. Sam’s nervous approach got Celia to agree to a date but also Alice presumably agreed to go out with him in the past too.

Sam apologizes to Alice for dragging her to the ruins of the Institute only to fund nothing… well nothing Sam and Alice know about since something escaped the Institute. Sam says he’s done with Magnus stuff and Alice responds with “So you’re telling me that if I had a case full of emails with the title “Magnus Institute re: Samama Khalid – Massive Conspiracy” you wouldn’t be tempted?” to which Sam says no before asking “You don’t, though. Do you? That was just, like, a joke. Right?” Alice then says “Come on, for now let’s just focus on getting you as jaded and apathetic as possible.” Considering that Alice does appear to be pretty jaded about listening to the cases and piecing them together this could be related to her point about ignoring the talkers and not getting caught up in thinking too much about what’s happening.

NORRIS starts expositing the next case

“Claim Review: EL-56920

Policy Holder: Soho Jack’s Ltd.

Policy Number: 548651-656

Policy Type: Employers’ Liability

Site Address: Soho Jack’s, 9 Carlisle St, London W1D 3BK

Affected Employee: Ms. Jordan Bennett

Date of Incident: 9 March 2024

Incident Location: On site.

Documentation: Crime Report – Submitted

Medical Practitioner Report – Submitted

Incident Book Entry – Submitted First Aider’s Report – Submitted

Supervisor’s incident Report - Submitted

HSE communications - Submitted

Health-And-Safety policies - Submitted

Employment Contract - Submitted

Claim Valuation: £1,560,000 Assessment

Conclusion: Claim Denied Reason: Fraudulent claim (see incident description and police report)”

This, along with some information Jordan mentions later, means Jordan is suing Soho Jack’s Ltd. They go on to say that their lawyer has advised them to cooperate with Soho Jack’s insurance claim as a show of good faith, even if they’re planning on “suing your asses to kingdom-come.” They start recounting an event that occurred on the company’s property and apologize for their terrible handwriting (which we later learn is probably because Mr. Bonzo bit off one of their hands).

They go over how they started working at Jack’s in the spring of 2021 after they had finished Flair Academy. After struggling to find a job they managed to get an interview and then job at the aforementioned Jack’s. The club seems to have a good reputation as Jordan refers to it as “the Soho Gentleman’s club.” The company’s building “...has dances on the bottom two floors with VIP suites for hire above with a dedicated bouncer keeping them separate. Really, it’s just a quieter box with a private bar, some comfy chairs and the option of private dancers.” Despite this being “THE” Soho Gentleman’s club Jordan says “It’s always booked up with swank dickheads trying to show off, but Stags are the worst: they’re cheap, they’re loud, they drink too much, tip too little and only ever hire one dance for the groom. Plus there’s always some “nice guy” that won’t shut up about exploitation without even bothering to stop staring.”

Jordan begins to explain how the party the specific party that led to them wanting to sue Jack’s. They state that this specific party’s lot was not the worst and were “Just a bunch of heavyset, middle-aged lads with names like Ozzer, or Rozzer or whatever. ” and notes that “The groom was fine, acted embarrassed even though he was obviously keen and they were easily pleased. ”

“They started giving the groom gifts. Same old tat as always, cufflinks, poo gags, all the standard stuff. Then the groom spotted the last one on the table, this cheap yellow and purple kids lunch box. It looked old and shoddy and no one admitted to bringing it but the groom just squealed with glee and carefully opened it before pulling out a bunch old souvenir merch. Pencils, postcards, keyrings, all sorts of crap, all the same yellow and purple and last of all a cracked CD case. When they saw it the whole bunch gave this big laughing cheer.” I have talked about how I think Mr. Bonzo is probably tied to The Stranger if we view him through the lens of Smirke’s 14. I will retread some of those reasons later but right now I want to point out that no one admitted to bringing the Bonzo CD. It could simply be that it’s a prank and someone happened to grab an artifact or something tied to Bonzo, and maybe someone from the OIAR even planted it there, but it could also be connected to the idea of The Stranger and the fear of the unknown because it could be that no one actually knows who got that CD.

We also know that The Stranger is no… stranger to dropping off or delivering strange artifacts in order to feed on the fear of people interacting with unknown /mysterious objects. Breekon and Hope’s delivery service are a good example of this (strangers that show up and drop off never before seen or uncanny objects and artifacts).

“I could see which way the wind was turning and sure enough the bestman came over and asked if he could play it. The cover had this awful comic sans title: “Mr. Bonzo’s On His Way” and I wasn't exactly thrilled by this.” Jordan explains that “Mr. Bonzo was way before my time and from what I had seen online he had always looked pretty messed up. But hey, it was their night, if they wanted to spend it on some cringy nostalgia trip, who was I to say no?” Which could mean that Jordan doesn’t know a lot about Mr. Bonzo, and lack of familiarity with something is one of the things that we know entities like The Stranger love to prey on.

“This kind of thing happened often enough that we kept a battered old CD Player in the back that we could patch into the room's speakers, just in case. So, I ducked back there, put it on, turned the volume down as low as I could get away with, and prayed it wasn’t too obnoxious. Immediately the cheering children’s voices blared out the speakers accompanied by bouncy tubas loud enough to drown out the rest of the club’s music. It was awful but I could hear the lads stamping the floor in rhythm and as the kids started singing the men were singing along: “Mr. Bonzo’s on his way, he wants to stay, he wants to play! Mr. Bonzo’s on his way, he wants to stay, he wants to play!” If you want to listen to the song Jordan is referring to it is actually available on Youtube: Mr Bonzo (from 'The Magnus Protocol'). Maybe you can put yourself in the shoes of an annoyed Jordan or ecstatic old man at the club.

Jordan clearly finds the song annoying and after waiting a minute, in order to avoid being a “total killjoy,” they decide to turn off the song before “ Derek came down from the office to “have a word.” I assume Jordan meant Derek would complain about the music. However, when Jordan turns the CD player off it “...just grew louder, rattling the glassware in the bar: “Mr. Bonzo’s on his way, he wants to stay, he wants to play!” I even yanked the cables from the speakers, but it just kept getting louder.” Obviously, something supernatural is going on but Jordan reasonably assumes that the player just broke and begins to reach for their walkie talkie in order to call for some tech support. However, as they do so they are interrupted by a massive crash coming from another part of the room followed by a cheer. Jordan gets ready to reprimand the party goers for whatever mess they might have made but instead sees Mr. Bonzo. “It was hunched in the doorway, a bulbous figure with a purple hat that cast crazed shadows in all directions thanks to the club’s lighting effects. Then it doffed its hat and pushed itself into the room, foam catching on the doorframe with a squeak that set my teeth on edge. Its massive bulbous google-eyes seemed to roam all over the room before settling on the groom and it was almost as if the huge toothy grin grew wider when it saw him.” We know that Gwen delivered a name and address to Bonzo and in the previous episode Lena even tells Gwen “I’m sure you’ve already worked that out. But just in case you haven’t, keep an eye on the case loads over the next few days. It should become abundantly clear.” Implying that this could be the case Lena was alluding to or that the groom (or someone else in the room) is Bonzo’s target (but it’s almost definitely the groom).

Everyone in the room assumes the appearance of Bonzo is some sort of gift or prank and “The rugby boys were tripping over themselves to get in and hug it, laughing and pushing the groom to the front and so I figured at that point it was a prank. Again, none of them took credit for it and there was a moment of genuine hesitation, until one of them yelled out “It's ya lapdance, Baz!” and they all fell about laughing.” Jordan is furious that a coworker named Joey presumably let Bonzo in and the idea that Joey might have bailed on Jordan again by “ducking out for a smoke.” But as Jordan moves forward they notice something- “I began to stride over, readying for the inevitable complaints then hesitated as I saw something far more unnerving than the ugly costume that was capering with the groom in the middle of the group. There was a pair of heavy boots on their side, poking just inside the still open doorway. Joey’s boots, and they weren't moving. Just then the google eyes looked turned to me, and a puffy finger raised cheekily to its mouth.” So Joey was killed by Bonzo and all the while “the men had all started chanting “Bonzo! Bonzo! Bonzo”, stamping their feet and banging the tables in a circle around the pair in the center…” and the music kept getting louder. So loud that it began to sound distorted from the strain the song was putting on the speakers.

Out of all the Entities the Slaughter seems to have a pretty strong connection to music but The Stranger also has a strong precedent for music. For example, The Calliope in TMA is an artifact tied to The Stranger. In MAG 024 (Strange Music) it is mentioned that the instrument has "Be still, for there is strange music" carved into the cover of the keyboard. While The Slaughter’s connection to music is probably due to an association between rhythm and war (think the marching of an army or the phrase “drums of war”) as well as the fear of “violent” music, The Stranger’s connection to music seems to come from the idea of either strange unknown sounds or a song / sound that sounds really uncanny. It is noted by Jordan that Mr. Bonzo’s song grows louder and more distorted overtime which would mean that the song is becoming more and more incomprehensible as it would slowly change into a song with lyrics you couldn’t understand or identify as easily. It could also be that the song sounds uncanny in the sense that it is familiar in some ways but something is off about it.

Jordan tries to call for help on his walkie talkie but can only hear Mr. Bonzo’s theme blaring out of its tiny speaker. Jordan tries to warn everyone and get out but no one can hear him over the music. Bonzo takes the groom and begins to “dance” with him by spinning around faster and faster until Bonzo decides to rip his arms off and even as this act of gorey brutality took place the other party goers present continued to laugh and laugh until Jordan’s scream caused them to realize this wasn’t some sort of prank. Almost everyone begins to yell in terror but some yelled in rage and proceeded to attack Bonzo: “A few of the bigger guys picked up chairs or bottles and began to beat and slash at the thing. It didn’t seem to notice, its bulbous, bloodshot, eyes staying fixed on the groom’s body as it raised it overhead.” Bonzo then proceeds to continue pulverizing the body by smashing it against the ground over and over.

“For a split second, all was still but the music just pounded on, barely recognizable now over the distortion from the smoking speakers as those voices, no longer childlike, still chanted the words “He’s here to stay… He wants to play…”” “Then Mr. Bonzo turned towards us with its head bowed almost reverentially and everybody went silent. Slowly, awfully slowly, it raised its head, titling it coquettishly to one side. Then the seams across its face split revealing its gaping maw filled with even larger, sharper teeth.” Jordan admits that they don’t remember much about what happened after that but “I dream about it most nights. In the dream it digs through all those men to get to me, grabbing fistfuls of them and throwing them to smash against the wall. The strobe fires as its hands plunge into the pile of us and each flash shows a little less flesh between me and it, between me and all those teeth… finally everyone else is gone. I raise my arm to protect myself and it gently but inexorably lifts it into its mouth, smiles and bites… None of us was left whole but I was the luckiest. All I lost was a hand, it wasn’t even my dominant one.” The biting was set up previously in episode 10 when the transcripts mention “Gwen holds out the envelope and Mr Bonzo snatches it into his mouth, audibly chewing it. His teeth are not soft.”

Jordan says that they “told the investigators everything I know, doctors too. I don't know why nobody outside the room heard or saw anything, why the cameras weren't working, why it let me live. But I do know why there weren't any bodies. All I actually want is my hand back so I can tend bar but that isn’t going to happen is it? So I’ll have to settle for the next best thing and sue you for everything I can get, because I don’t know what happened that night but it was in your venue and no one came to help. Not Derek, not another doorman, no one. So yeah, you’d better have one hell of a settlement waiting for me, or I'll see you in court.”

While you could make an argument for themes of Entities like The Desolation, Flesh, Hunt, etc. I’m still going to primarily argue for Bonzo being tied to The Stranger or a similar Entity due to what we see in his previous appearances. For the sake of clarity, if there is any debate about what The Stranger embodies in MAG 200 it is stated “And as they learned to know their friends and kin, so too did they learn to fear the unknown figure, the coming of the stranger” and in MAG 092 (Nothing Beside Remains) Jonah tells Jon “We thrive on ceaseless watching, on knowing too much. What we face is the hidden, the uncanny, and the unknown.” while in MAG 111 (Family Business) Jon says “The Stranger is the unknown. The uncanny.” and Gerard doesn’t correct him.

However, a lot of Mr. Bonzo’s behaviours in previous episodes resembles The Stranger (and The Stranger has violently attacked or killed people in the past). Mr. Bonzo is also described as being a clown. Something we know The Stranger has a precedent for manifesting as, probably due to both the idea of the uncanny valley being achieved with a costume or makeup and the idea of a traveling circus full of strangers you don’t know from out of town in addition to a clown costume acting as a disguise that can obscure whoever is wearing it. Not to mention that Mr. Bonzo is described as a suit, which could very easily connect to an Entity like The Stranger. Firstly, The Stranger tends to have a big emphasis on wearing things like skins and suits. Additionally, Gwen mentions in episode 11 “That… abomination wasn’t a costume. That was skin. It was sagging, it was sweaty!” and we know The Stranger has a tendency for wearing skin, skinning things (such as with taxidermy), etc. as a form of disguise, in order to hide itself, or to metaphorically rob something of their identity.

This also applies to costumes in general since usually wearing costumes or disguises can actually obscure who is wearing them and thus their true identity is unknown. There’s also the fact that costumes themselves can easily fall into the uncanny valley. Ever since Five Nights at Freddy’s became popular there’s been an uptick in horror media focusing on how creepy and uncanny things like animatronic suits can be. Not that Mr. Bonzo is an animatronic but it is a suit. Also, Bonzo apparently has hard teeth and having solid teeth on a suit could look uncanny.

The surprise gift and sudden appearance of Bonzo that others assume is some sort of surprise or prank could also tie into The Stranger and the idea of something mysteriously appearing or not being expected. Bonzo was originally made to prank celebrities. As Nigel explains in episode 10 that his produce ““inviting a famous person on, someone really serious, and we tell them we’re going to have them do a segment with a popular children’s entertainer. Now, obviously these folks won’t have any idea about what kids are actually watching, so we could come up with the most horrendous thing, claim kids loved it and see how long it took for the guest to realize that they were the joke. That they’d been “berried”” and “The problem with a surprise prank is that doing it on Saturday night primetime means pretty soon everyone knows about it, and the guests knew it was coming. A couple even requested it. So the prank part of it sort of died, and he just became an SOS mascot. One of my many tormentors in the dungeon. By the end we’d even retired Mr. Six, and it was all Bonzo.” Once again, a focus on surprise and I think it’s interesting that Bonzo loses his punch the more people know about and understand him. Bonzo is a character that thrived specifically on the guests not knowing who he was and did. So a potential relationship with the unknown again.”

In episode 10 Nigel says to Gwen ““Try not to stare. He doesn’t like it when people stare.” Which could relate to The Stranger. While all the Entities are connected, overlap, and need each other for a ritual bringing them into the world to work, with even seemingly opposing Entities bleeding into each other or having overlapping fears, The Stranger can often have an antagonistic relationship with The Eye and forms of being known. The Stranger tends to thrive off the fear of being unknown so staring at something aligned with The Stranger might make it react negatively. In MAG 092 (Nothing Beside Remains) Jonah tells Jon “We thrive on ceaseless watching, on knowing too much. What we face is the hidden, the uncanny, and the unknown.” In MAG 165 (Revolutions) Not-Sasha says this in regards to The Eye’s Post-Change world “Do you know how it feels? To be – anonymous? And yet known! To have all the sweetest dread I can create tainted by the relentless gaze of that damned Eye. I’ve suffered enough.” So if my theory that Bonzo is tied to something like The Stranger is correct, that could explain a potentially negative reaction to being looked at for too long since aspects of The Stranger often don’t like it when people try to figure out what they are. This could ring extra true if it does turn out that the OIAR is somehow connected to The Eye.

Bonzo’s eating and biting could potentially be linked to The Stranger’s tendency for odd uncanny behavior, like that time Breekon / Hope ate a butterfly. The fact that this monster looks like Bonzo could also be related to the idea of the uncanny, since he would resemble Bonzo but behave and look a bit off. Also, it seems hard to tell if Bonzo is a costume or a monster resembling a costume which makes it harder to know what he is for sure, and The Stranger loves playing up mystery (think how we never know which character is Breekon and which character is Hope from Breekon and Hope in TMA, and Jon describes one of them as “one half of Breekon and Hope”). Also, Bonzo can only say his name which means you never really know what he’s saying or talking about.

Bonzo killing everyone in the room but leaving someone alive is not a completely unheard of idea. The Entities in general often seem to leave witnesses if in doing so more fear is generated and we see creatures like the Not-Them kill and replace people while ensuring that at least one person remembers what the original persona actually looked like even if no one else does. The reason for this is because if the Not-Them’s disguise was perfect and changed every bit of memory and evidence then there wouldn’t be anyone to be afraid of the idea that someone they know has been replaced by a stranger.

Jordan mentions “I don't know why nobody outside the room heard or saw anything, why the cameras weren't working, why it let me live. But I do know why there weren't any bodies.” which emphasizes his confusion about what’s happening. While confusion is often tied to The Spiral, in this case it stems from a bunch of unknown factors and variables, like why there were no other witnesses and why the cameras weren’t working.” As far as there being no witnesses and the cameras failing to work, the Entities are known for usually being on the downlow and not common knowledge but Entities like The Stranger tend to thrive off the fear of mystery and have a precedent for things like mysterious disappearances or hiding people / things. The Calliope I mentioned earlier mysteriously disappeared from the Institute’s archives at some point in TMA and in MAG 092 (Nothing Beside Remains) Jonah tells Jon “We thrive on ceaseless watching, on knowing too much. What we face is the hidden, the uncanny, and the unknown.” Jonah specifically mentions that The Stranger has a connection to “the hidden” among other things. In MAG 102 (Nesting Instinct) Jonah even says that The Stranger essentially hid Jon from him when saying “I was doing everything in my power to locate you. Everyone was working on finding the ritual site.” and “[Irritated] I am sorry, John, that my powers have not yet reached the level of omniscience.” Jordan does say that they know why there weren’t any bodies which implies that Mr. Bonzo probably ate them.

Jordan having trouble remembering exactly what happened actually does have a precedent with The Stranger since the Entity does have connections to memory loss or a loss of identity. In MAG 165 (Revolutions) we see Not-Sasha watch over a Domain that takes the form of a merry-go-round with people fighting over faces. People with no faces must fight over the faces of others to rip them off and regain some sense of identity. When they lose their face it is said “And soon enough they will forget they ever even had one, rest assured; it’s best to step the dance and keep your face secured as much as you are able. Just. Keep. Running.” Jon and co also face memory loss when they interrupt The Stranger’ ritual in TMA and forget who they are and what they are doing for a period of time.

Some other Entities this statement parallels are that of The Slaughter (with sudden brutal and gory violence), The Flesh (via bodily disfigurement by way of losing a hand, Bonzo being described as releasing “some vile mixture of putrid water, rotten foam and rancid meat.” when cut at some point, and Bonzo biting into people), The End (a lot of people brutally die), The Corruption (from the aforementioned vile mixture pouring out of Bonzo), and even The Eye (with the strange and horrifying dreams Jordan is forced to relive over and over resembling how people who give Jon live statements are forced to relive said moments in the form of nightmares over and over). Like always, I have to at least touch on the fact that The Eye doesn’t seem to just be the fear of being watched but also being a witness to something you don’t want to see. Jon can force people to recount and relive terrible moments, Jonah can force information into the heads of people like Melanie and Martin, and in MAG 200 The Eye is stated to have been born from the fear of one’s own eyes showing them too much.

All this being said, I still think the OIAR is somehow connected to The Eye. There’s the cases being like statements but also the fact that they supply sensitive information (such as names and locations) to things like Mr. Bonzo. People like Jonah could almost always know one’s location thanks to their Eye powers and The Eye is connected to the fear of someone / something knowing too much about you (such as knowing where and who you are). I wonder why Bonzo was sent to kill this particular groom when he was just partying? Did the groom know something or overstep some line or was the groom just some sort of offering to appease Mr. Bonzo? How was this person’s name and address obtained? Was it just mundane tracking or something closer to Jonah’s clairvoyance? Nigel acted like he was doing the OIAR a favor so right now it seems like this was a target decided by the OIAR and not necessarily Nigel. Unless you want to argue that the “favor” is aiding in keeping Bonzo pacified, under wraps, or something potentially more mutually beneficial. I wonder if Jordan’s dreams are somehow connected to being directly involved in a case or facing an External of the OIAR? It could also simply be that Jordan is traumatized.

We cut to Gwen and the transcripts say she “is sat at her desk, stunned by what she has just heard.” and she only says “Jesus Christ…” I wonder if this is because the case is unusually brutal or gorey when compared to most others or if she realized there’s a connection between the letter she delivered and what happens in this case. Considering what Lena said it's very possible that some of the cases the OIAR gets are connected to the activity of their own Externals (such as Mr. Bonzo).

ALICE CONT.

“Gwen? Hello?”

GWEN

“(dazed) What?”

Getting sucked into a statement like this and statements having a negative impact on one’s mental state are both things we have seen in TMA. Jon had a hard time stopping once he started a statement and at one point Jon expresses worry that Martin was listening to a bunch of statements for Peter Lukas and his plan in regards to The Extinction. Although, it could be that Gwen is merely shocked.

Gwen explains that she met one of the Externals but Alice seems to think Gwen is just referring to some annoying assholes as opposed to any supernatural monsters that takes the form of beloved childhood characters.

Gwen seems to finally wonder the question that I’ve been wondering for a while now:

GWEN

“What do you think we’re actually doing, here at the O.I.A.R.?”

ALICE

“Apart from mortgaging our mental health for a wage packet?”

GWEN

“We’ve both been here long enough to know this place. We’re not doing good. We’re not just sifting random data. There’s something wrong here.”

ALICE

“What are you getting at?”

GWEN

“You never wonder what the point is? Who benefits from all this awfulness?”

ALICE

“I don’t wonder. I know.”

GWEN

(sitting up) “What? Really?”

ALICE

“(portentous) Oh yeah. I’ve known for a while. What we’re doing here, it’s all part of a grand plan to satisfy one of the most unspeakable evils known to mankind... “

Gwen’s on the edge of her seat.

ALICE

“(almost a whisper) …the UK government.”

In TMA the point of the Institute sifting through statements and stuff was twofold. Firstly, to feed The Eye but also to set up the lynchpin for The Eye’s ritual with the position of the Archivist. I wonder if something similar is going on here but I can’t say since while you could argue that being an Externals Liaison is like the Archivist and shares the role as being a “living chronicle of fear” (especially since Lena remarked that Gwen should show fear via screaming because Externals tend to like that) Gwen had to blackmail her way into that position. I have no idea who was the Externals Liaison before her or if there are other Liaisons, if there even was one(s) before / with Gwen at all. Also, unlike the Institute, the OIAR is explicitly connected to the government and is meant to respond to things (not just watch). So it’s very likely that the OIAR has a role that is different from just “The Mass Ritual / Institute 2.0.” They could still be gathering fear related to the statements and being observed like the Institute in TMA though. However, even the Institute still wanted the Archival staff to do a good job following up statements and stuff. Jon tries to reorganize the Archives after Gertrude purposefully left them disorganized and Tim corrects Jon about some errors he made when reading some statements. The OIAR doesn’t really seem to care how well or poorly their workers categorize the cases and I don’t know if anyone checks.

Alice’s joke about the greatest evil known to mankind being the UK government feels like foreshadowing considering that the OIAR, and by extension all the Externals like Bonzo, are connected to the government.

Alice’s comment “Apart from mortgaging our mental health for a wage packet?” references how stressful this job seems to be.

Conclusion

Yeah, idk. This was a very simple episode overall and it mostly just seemed like it was following up Lena’s point about paying attention to the caseload.

Okay, hold on, before I end this I figured I should actually try to look at the voices in the computer system a bit more closely, since quite frankly, like with the alchemy symbols, I’ve admittedly been neglecting them and not focusing on them as much as I should have. This is because I actually couldn’t tell if there was any kind of correlation between the voices and the kinds of cases they read but a video by Maddie’s Maxis called “This Channel's First Video - The Magnus Protocol Analysis and Theories” (which you can view here This Channel's First Video - The Magnus Protocol Analysis and Theories) hypothesizes that there is actually a correlation. As we all know two of the computer voices sound like Martin and Jon and Maddie argues that the kinds of statements the voices read correspond to something that had to do with the character. For example, in theory NORRIS (Martin’s voice) tends to have statements relating to self-loathing and loneliness. I don’t know what they are feeding Maddie but Maddie is potentially cooking here. So I decided to glance over at some of the statements and see if there are any patterns.

I’m going to start with the theme that seems the most concrete in my opinion. The cases that NORRIS (Martin’s voice) reads seem to often be tied to themes of isolation, losing loved ones, or feeling abandoned. I should make it clear that while I know Martin in TMA is connected to The Lonely I am not saying all the cases NORRIS reads are connected to The Lonely. The mere presence of feeling alone or isolated doesn’t automatically make a statement Lonely related in the same way someone dying, getting attacked, or something taking place at night or in darkness automatically means End, Slaughter, or Dark respectively. Also, it’s important to remember that every Entity, even seemingly opposing ones, have overlap, shared fears, commonalities, etc..

But let’s look at the cases to see if this pattern is really there. The case NORRIS covers in episode 1 involves the Anglerfish, or something resembling it, killing and replacing their romantic partner. Harriet even says “And that voice I have loved for twenty years answered: “Some of him.”” So loss of a loved one.

In episode 3 NORRIS covers a case in which Dr. Samuel seems to feel immense guilt and sorrow about the death of Maddie. Once again, the loss of a close loved one.

In episode 8 NORRIS goes over a report Terrance submits about the effects of brutal liminalism. While no one dies or is replaced in the actual events of the case, Terrance does mention “originally took my role as a night janitor at Forton following a protracted divorce which cost me the majority of my friendships.” So while their partner isn’t dead they did lose a loved one, and if you read my thoughts on that episode you know that I actually think the case has a lot of similarities with The Lonely. The fog, the vaguely familiar but impossible to understand gibberish, people with repeating features, being isolated in a dark void, etc.. Even if you disagree that it’s The Lonely there is still a connection to themes of losing someone close and being alone.

If there was an episode to disprove this theory it would probably be episode 12 since it’s just Bonzo murdering a room full of people. Jordan does say “I don't know why nobody outside the room heard or saw anything” and earlier in the case they mention that they believed their coworker by the name of Joey the doorman might have ditched him again but this definitely feels a bit more like a stretch. Jordan does seem to blame the establishment for what happened and this is because from the perspective of Jordan no one came to help despite how obvious and loud the commotion was. Which could maybe tie into the idea of being abandoned or left alone but this is definitely pushin it and it’s clear that our understanding of what kinds of cases each voice reads might expand as the series goes on.

Maddie argues that CHESTER (Jonathon’s voice) seems to usually cover cases related directly to the Magnus Institute. Which is generally true, CHESTER covers the cases of RedCanary spelunking in the Institute’s ruins in episode 1, and the gambling dice being submitted to the Institute in episode 9 for example. But CHESTER also covers the case about Tom wanting to watch Voyeur in episode 5, the case regarding Hilltop Center in episode 7, Gordon’s encounter with the tattoos and Ink5 during construction in episode 11. It’s very possible that these are just related to the Institute in ways we don’t understand yet, for example some of the characters that appear could be members of the Institute or something, but in my opinion this definitely throws a wrench into some things.

CHESTER seems to have a stronger case for a theme of curiosity and a desire to know in general as opposed to just the Magnus Institute. RedCanary investigates the archives out of curiosity, Tom really wants to see the Voyeur movie for their blog, the narrator explains that they experimented with the gambling dice to figure out how they worked, and Gordon keeps talking about how they “just need to see it. I need to know what’s in the water.” As I’ve mentioned previously, The Eye also has a major emphasis on a desire to know and understand something even if it comes at the cost of yourself and / or other people. Hilltop Center still seems like a bit of an outlier here but while Dianne isn’t spelunking through ruins or anything she does mention that she was looking for people to help her work at the center. Which, while a bit of a stretch, could fit with a theme of curiosity or desire to know in the case of Chester. Or at least the idea of something being searched for as a theme at least.

If you wanted to argue that CHESTER actually related to things being looked for you could say that the case about the gambling dice revolves around the narrator giving the Institute artifacts, and they even say “So yeah, I tell you all about them, how I got them, all that crap and you just… You take them away, right? You accept them? Good. I think. I’m pretty sure that’s how it works. It’s how it worked for me, at least. Put them in whatever vault you like, bury them, drop them in the ocean, for all I care. All that matters is that they’re yours now.” So you could say that the Institute was looking for artifacts. You could also argue that the narrator was looking for people to roll the dice, looking for good luck, or started making their way towards Gary when they found him.

AUGUSTUS has a voice I am not familiar with (and we will get to the popular theory in a moment). I can only recall AUGUSTUS voicing one case, I might be forgetting one or something, so I don’t have a lot to go on. AUGUSTUS could be covering really old statements, as Sam notes the one in episode 4 is from the 18th century, or statements revolving around others climbing their way to their top and doing whatever it takes to do so. It’s kind of unclear until I can see some more AUGUSTUS statements.

There’s also some obvious character associations with this theory. Martin, someone connected to The Lonely, has statements reflecting some kind of isolation or abandonment, Jon, the Archivist with a strong tie to The Eye and someone who was strung along while trying to solve Jonah’s plan and learn the truth about the Entities, has statements involving extreme curiosity or people looking for things, and Jonah, someone who is really old and ruthless (so ruthless that they made the world a fear hellscape in an attempt to avoid death), has had a statement taking place in the 18th century involving someone giving a blood sacrifice to play violin super well.

There’s a popular theory going around that the three voices in the computers are actually Jonathon, Martin, and Jonah, and this definitely seems like one of the more credible theories floating around the community to a degree. AUGUSTUS’ unfamiliar voice could be the voice of Jonah’s original body. Jon, Martin, and Jonah were all in the panopticon when the Change ended which could be the event that got them tied to the computers. It could also have to do with being the pupil of the Eye somehow. Jonah and Jon were both the Eye’s pupil at some point and Jon got his position by killing Jonah to take his spot. It’s possible something weird happened like Martin was about to become the Eye’s pupil after removing Jon from the position, giving them this common link, but I can’t say for sure.

Maddie also points out another big thing to remember in the video. I have mentioned that Annabelle seems generally right about what happens to the Entities’ various Monsters and Avatars after the Entities get pulled into the next universe. Monsters, like potentially the Anglerfish, presumably get sucked into the new universe since they are part of the Entities. Other people may or may not get sucked into the universe depending on how attached they were to the Entity. It’s also possible that they will always just be left behind. However, Annabelle also mentions that it’s possible the Entities will take the aspects of a person that are connected to or are a part of the Entity. So, it’s possible that the parts of Jon, Martin, and Jonah in the computer are not them in their entirety but merely specific aspects of their personality or being. It could literally just be their voices taken by one or more Entities for all we know.

We also know that some Entities, like The End, seem capable of making copies or “memories” of people after / when they die. In MAG 154 (Bloody Mary) Eric states “I know that I’m not really Eric; I’m just a memory someone wrote down. It hurts, most of the time. I don’t like it.” So one could argue that the voices in the computers are not the fully sentient original versions of Jon, Martin, and Jonah but “memories” or copies created by one or more Entities. This could also explain why the third voice might be Jonah even though Jonah potentially died before the Entities jumped universes. This voice could simply be The Eye’s metaphorical recollection of Jonah or Jonah wasn’t completely dead when the Entities switched universes. This also means that the voices in the computers could be more malicious than we first assume if there’s a chance they are in actuality not Jon, Martin, and Jonah or are in truth aspects of The Eye or bits of their personalities trying to achieve a specific goal.

As I’ve mentioned previously, the cases the voices read out don’t seem to be completely random. The second Sam is about to give up his search for the Magnus Institute CHESTER spits out a case that is perfect for reigniting his curiosity with the addition of a new clue, and when Celia takes the job the first case she gets is about Hilltop Center (which could relate to Celia’s questions about multiversal and time travel). I still can’t say if the CHESTER or any other of the computers are trying to help Sam or use him for more nefarious purposes.

I’m not super confident about this being the patterns the computers follow at the moment because frankly there isn’t a lot of cases to go off of, and I need to see more AUGUSTUS. It’s also possible that the cases are more variable or context dependant. What the voices read could depend on the person at the computer, for example: it’s possible CHESTER reads a bunch of cases connected to the Institute because that’s what Sam was most interested in. There are also some cases we don’t have enough context behind yet, for example the mysterious figure in the Hilltop Road case could be connected to something like the Institute in some way, or that some of the voices focus on certain Externals Liaisons, people, etc..

If you want another TMAGP theory video to watch here’s one by Pinkelotje: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MX51EHLy7BQ&ab_channel=pinkelotje.

#tmagp #tma #the magnus protocol #the magnus archives #theory

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confusedspaceotter · 2 years ago

Text

Daily avatrice analysis (day 6)

day1 day2 day3 day4 day5 day6 day7 day8 day9

*takes a deep breath* Oh god here we go

Ep 8 pt 2

Edit: originally I basically told the internt my life story but I've decided to create a separate post instead: here's the link

Now on the the actual analysis itself now that we are done being emotional

Here we have avatrcie reading each other's minds

Well more like Bea understood that if she wanted to help Ava figure out what she really wanted to say

The best way to do it is to directly ask her

And here the little smirk from our dearest Avatrice captain Camila

Girl knows what she’s doing

Also if she had read sister Melanie’s entry does that mean Camila also knows French??

Well at least fluent enough the read the entry

Damn is Camila our secret multilingual queen??

Anway moving on

Most people think that the moment Camila handed the journal to Bea, she took one look at it and she immediately knew Camila was trying to encourage her to come out to Ava?

I actually think here is where she found out sister Melanie is gay

Assuming Bea didn’t flip though the entry off camera

Here we can see that she flip to another page then answer Ava, telling her Sister Melanie is gay

Meaning this information was not on the page where Camila left it open for Bea

And this is a moment Bea realised what Camila is trying to encourage her to do

Look at how she took a breath before she said Lesbich

I think this is where Bea started to see herself in Sister Melanie’s shoes

(Kinda like how when I see this scene and feel oh shit this is me)

And also I think that since she is putting herself in the story, it is remind her how she was treated as well

That why at the end of the entry

When she read the line “I felt unbound.Unburdened.I felt finally myself.”

You can see her voice cracking subtly

Because this is what she secretly wants too

To feel unbound by her parents

Unburdened of the responsibilities in life

(In her case is whatever she was forced to be as a daughter of diplomats)

And to feel herself

Just Beatrice

And that’s just fucking relatable

Here you can see Bea trying to salvage whatever composure she had left but then Ava basically asks if she is okay and she just couldn’t hold it in anymore

Bea then kinda got “mad” at Ava

But is more like a defense mechanism

I bet she had this kind of conversation about her sexuality before and it definitely did not end well

So everything this topic came up she got defensive about it

Which is understandable

Bea’s I’m sorry is more about her feeling bad for her sudden outburst of emotions and sorry that Ava was there to witness it

But I think she feel sorry that she is essentially coming to her because she view her sexuality as a burden rather than just part of her

And Ava’s I’m sorry is her feeling bad seeing Bea crying plus I feel think those nuns at the orphanage would often made her apologize for something that’s not her fault so it could be a reflexive response

And here’s comes one of the best lines in the show

Along with this fucking smile

The pain and sadness in her eyes turned into feeling grateful and full of love the moment she saw Ava

This right there ladies and gentlemen

Is where Bea had her oh shit I’m in love moment

Because hearing Ava’s response she realized she finally met the one person who would be happy for who she is

And will embrace her fully

And they say Avatrice is queer baiting smh

Here we can see local gay nun gets accepted once and decide to ride of die with them

Not but seriously no way in hell that “us” means us here

I’m certain is just Bea’s fear that’s stopping her from saying me

And the “you mean that?” By Ava?

Baby girl get genuine care for once and she is hooked

But it doesn’t stop the voiced in her head telling her this is not real she is lying so Ava asked for confirmation

Which Bea will gladly replied with “you know I do”

Finally we have the not kiss scene

My thoughts on this can be summarized by this gif:

we move on to ep 9 tmr

btw i was thinking taking a short break after i'm done with s1 cause i have actual deadlines this week soooo

stay tuned for more:)

day7

#daily avatrice analysis #pushing 2k words today wtf #I dont think this is what my psychiatrist meant by“try to be more outgoing and reach out to people”#oh well oversharing is very nd of me #kinda scary ngl exposing myself on the internet but if somehow someone needed to hear this then i guess is cool if it helps people #warrior nun #avatrice #ava silva #sister beatrice #theres got to be a typo somehow

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29pageshomestuckeveryday · 2 years ago

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Homestuck, page 2,369

Tavros: Confer with teammate.

Author commentary:

Okay, back into graduate thesis mode. Who was I even kidding with that. This page is a really good example of how Homestuck has a policy of trivializing its own "background lore." It's a bit flippant and exceedingly non-precious about points of lore that would otherwise take center stage as a focal point of intrigue in other fantasy stories. Homestuck does this consistently, often aggressively, with almost an air of derision toward the idea that anyone would actually want to focus on the substance of Sburb's mythological challenge to the players, the dungeon crawling, the secrets, the puzzles. That's why this frog puzzle feels like kind of a background joke rather than anything that could possibly matter to the story. I'm making sure the reader is always being reminded that the substance of the quest, which normally would be THE quest and explicit focus of such stories, is just a farcical backdrop to the actual foreground story. Which is about kids bullshitting with each other, the focus on their characters and themes, and the struggles along the way of their coming-of-age journey. The "Quest," and later the "Narrative Itself" simply serve as convoluted, hostile, and usually satirical environments for that journey. They are analogues for life itself, or the hostile world we must grow up in, full of the many absurd and pointless quest-like regimentations of society. Vriska here again functions as a sort of mouthpiece for authorial scorn toward elements of his creation. She derides these puzzles as a boring and useless expenditure of her time and interest, as well as the reader's. But this expression of scorn is just an accurate observation about the story itself. The story isn't about this stuff, and her inclination to hack or cheat her way through Sburb is actually an insightful reflection of the priorities and logic of Homestuck.

Here Vriska is going on at greater length, saying almost what I just said, but from the perspective of a cutthroat gamer rather than story analysis. There's a lot of moralization that happens in stories, particularly those meant for young people. Little lessons built into everything we consume, which have a way of indoctrinating us on how to consume all stories forever. We always look for the moral of the story, the lessons of right vs. wrong, sort of unconsciously. "Cheating = bad" is a recognizable moral of this kind, so when we see her ranting here about the need to cheat, as consumers of moral tales our alarm bells go off. "This is a bad person who has an immoral ethos, and she will likely be punished for this later, and we should want that as readers," The problem with this view is, of course, it's just not that simple. As a matter of valor and integrity, in a vacuum, yes, cheating is bad and immoral. However, in a situation you know to be rigged against you in certain ways, full of hurdles and milestones that are fundamentally meaningless, or even in some ways designed to mess with you or hold you back, is cheating then okay? Does it even count as cheating anymore, or is "cheating" just a negative word for what's actually the correct and logical solution to a murky problem, partially designed to deceive you and waste your time? This is part of what makes Vriska an intrinsic wedge character. She's always walking through the uncanny valley of morality with just about everything she says and does.

Vriska's "cheating" policy, as a matter of cutting through the bullshit and embracing a strategy of speed-running Sburb to whatever extent possible, actually isn't a remotely bad idea in the context of their session. It seems to be very effective, and though there are a lot of bumps along the way, the trolls actually kick their session's ass and win fair and square. The universe/frog they create turns out to be fruit from a poison tree, but that really isn't their fault. We are somewhat led to believe they had a flawed approach to this game, and were karmically punished for it when they tried to claim their reward. But that's mostly due to Karkat's projection and self-loathing rather than a true karmic sentence enforced by the text in response to their shortcuts and other "moral indiscretions." From the reader standpoint, it's tempting to parse it this way, I think again due to being so well-trained to view stories on such moralistic terms, where rewards come to those who do things the right way, and punishment to those who don't. Characters themselves are motivated to see things this way too, because they, like us, cut their teeth on tales with such morals. So Karkat, and many other characters, are prone to evaluating what happens to them in the terms of "the way stories typically work," which actually is a faulty perspective, verging on being tragic. The only conclusion to draw then, I believe, is this: it's wrong to interpret their misfortune after victory as punishment for either their moral failings or their approach to playing the game. A take I saw fairly often went something like, "The trolls speedran the game, skipping over important challenges that were key to their personal growth, which led to their downfall." This is a misleading and superficial spin on what happened. It gives too much credit and authority to Sburb's various regimentations as legitimate authenticators of one's "personal growth." They are not. Sburb has never been what it appears to be. Not to the players, and not to us.

#gif #pesterlog

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bbbri420 · 7 months ago

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Briana Saroza - Drawing 1300C - Final Curated Art Portfolio

-1st Day Boxes:

-Gesture drawings from week 2:

-Gesture drawing from later in the semester:

-Contour Drawing

-Negative/Positive Drawing:

-Blind Contour

-Composition Analysis

-Cross Contour

-Cross Hatching

-Ink/Ink and Color Assignment

-Museum Analysis

-Sketchbook Pages

-Midterm and Artist Statement

Artist Statement: This assignment's goal was to gather items that show who we are as people, as well as capturing who we physically look like. The items I'd chosen for the assignment had different aspects of my life, as well as things I use in my day-to-day life. I was very hesitant to add my medications for example. I wanted to initially capture more of a positive image of myself. However, I knew the assignment was to show things that represent who we are, and I'd accepted my ailments, so I decided to include them within my piece. At a young age, I'd experienced death to a loved one. I never knew how to process such a heavy topic so young. From then on, I suffered with extreme anxiety and PTSD. Other aspects of my piece show my methods, other than medication, to ease my subconscious. I always used art as a way of expressing myself after that event. I could create my own reality and allow myself to feel at home. The iPad with my Self-portrait is supposed to show my most recent time with myself. And it shows that I'd always been advancing with my art skills by moving from my sketchbook to full on digital pieces. To the right, a pencil pouch, a bracelet, and a Kirby wallet can be seen. It's more of my childish side. I spent a lot of my childhood grieving and shut myself away from a lot of people who'd known me. As an adult I embraced more of my interests and like showing it off with simple objects and everyday tools. The bracelet is from my long-term relationship at the moment. My boyfriend and I have been in each other's lives for nearly a decade and share many memories from our youth together. Saying he was a part of my life still does not credit for the amount of help I've received, especially during these years where I'm struggling to understand the world. Overall, the midterm made me reminisce on my past life and it showed me how much progress I've made with my mental health over the years.

-Final and Artist Statements

Artist Statement: The final focused on capturing one of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. I was assigned article 17: Everyone has the right to own property alone as well as in association with others. I hen I begun research; I’d been taken aback by how little art pieces there was of this topic. I had expected to find any abstract works about the topic, but there were none. I found this project to be somewhat difficult on that regard because I brainstorm by making a picture board and going from there. So instead, I had read more on the topic. I had the idea of having your home taken or just something taken from under your feet; blindsided some could say. I wanted to show a politician's arm serving a neighborhood restriction. Today, a lot of lots for homes are bought by whole corporations who have complete control over those who have been residents for generations. Buying out lands for more infrastructure and leaving families homeless and children lost. I wanted to capture it as this massive cloud, coming and overshadowing a beautiful day.

-Final Artist Statement

Throughout the semester, I was definitely faced with many challenges. I'm very used to using my usual drawing tablet or computer to allow me to just press a button to start over. However, I learned a lot about myself as an artist and how it is important to have the lessons I learned. I grew comfortable towards the Sketching and Charcoal pencils. I love seeing the inner workings of things, art especially. Seeing how even a simple image may take hours or pre-planning is mesmerizing to me and seeing how I was able to learn tricks to help with my own sketching and to even make my sketching look more appealing was my favorite section of the course. That being said, my favorite assignment was the model assignment. As someone who frequents cartoons, I'm very used to exaggerating a body's parts to match an emotion or to emphasize an action. I'm not used to more detailed body parts and never learned how to draw humans. I was very surprised with how much I'd improved and had fun doing the different poses and seeing the sketch marks making a shape. To me it helps ease my brain and allows my thoughts to process properly. Whilst the semester had its positives, I had struggled along the way. I had been dealing with personal issues and mental health issues. Resulting in my procrastination to take over and mix in with my artwork. Some pieces art not completely up to par with what I would've liked. Nevertheless, I'm glad to have pushed through and was able to at least show that I'm able to do what I can if I work hard enough.

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seooptimizacija · 1 year ago

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Link Popularity

Do you need a link popularity tool?

Before discussing the link popularity tool, let's discuss link popularity itself. What is that? Link popularity basically refers to the total number of websites linking to your website or any of its individual pages. The reason it's so important is because it's one of the main factors that search engines use to evaluate your website. And where it will be ranked. If your website is ranked high in search engines, you will appear in the first results. When a potential customer goes online and searches for what your company has to offer. That's why webmasters are concerned about their link popularity.Link Popularity Tool So what is a link popularity tool? It depends on the tool. There are many aspects of link popularity and link building so there are tools that cater to those aspects. Some tools will perform an analysis on different search engines to show you how many sites are linking to your site. They can also tell you which sites they link to. Some will actually give you a grade so you can gauge how well you're doing. Some will give you the opportunity to compare your site to others. Most free tools will only give you results from the major search engines like Google, Yahoo and Bing. You will probably notice that the amount of links varies significantly from search engine to search engine. Because the figures shown represent the number of incoming links that are known to each search engine separately. And it will vary depending on the size of the database. Search engines also detect certain inbound links (again, this varies by search engine) so certain backlinks may not make it into the tally. While you don't want to become obsessed with using this tool or constantly checking your data, it's important to monitor your connections. You want your links to be as high-quality and relevant as possible, and knowing where they're coming from can help you manage that information.Link building Once you've analyzed the information you've gotten from your tool, you can proceed with your link building strategy. Many tools are also linked or related to other services that can also help you in this area of link building. Just remember that the same rules apply if you choose to use a link building service to handle that aspect of your business. You want to get quality service so be sure to do your research to get the most bang for your buck. While many link building tools are free, link building services are definitely not. However, what they save you in time and effort could well pay off in terms of cash.Either way, take advantage of the link popularity tool. And then decide if you plan to go so far as to hire someone else to manage your backlink strategy. Read the full article

#backlink #backlinks #link #links

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smmpanelindiaheresblog · 2 years ago

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So You Think You Don't Need a Social Media Manager

Dealing with a business' web-based entertainment presence is a far-fetched remembered to have over supper, however that is the thing entered my thoughts last night as my better half and I partook in an early supper at one of our number one cafés of the eat however much you can and cook at the table kind restaurant. The café is an extraordinary outbuilding of a spot with near 100 tables which, in eatery speech, implies they can situate 400 covers all at once, which is comparably well as it is exceptionally famous. What made me consider this subject was that about a fourth of the cafes were "playing" with a cell phone. None was making or getting a call. They were all utilizing social destinations.

smm panel india

Taking photographs of the food they were cooking and posting them online was a well known action, and obviously, taking the pervasive "selfie". In certain examples every one of the cafes at a table were involved doing this. This peculiarity has been cleared up for me just like an approach to offering the experience to missing companions and cooperating with them.

That made me ponder why a business ought to deal with its internet based presence. The café I was eating at has extremely sure web-based presence, yet an up-market eatery in a similar town has as of late experienced a totally different destiny following remarks made in a neighborhood gathering by a disappointed client.

A Google search affirmed that this other eatery doesn't have a site, or a Face Book page or some other authority online presence. It does, nonetheless, have a web-based presence as surveys on TripAdvisor and a string in a functioning nearby discussion, regardless of whether the restaurateur knows nothing about this. Sadly for him the discussion in the gathering is by and large negative. More regrettable still, this discussion has been happening for a few days. Not just has this discussion been recorded by Google, it is the main thing in the posting for a hunt against the name of the eatery.

No business can fulfill 100 percent of its clients without fail. It is the means by which the business manages those couple of disappointed clients that has a significant effect. On account of this "other" café, the proprietor is by all accounts uninformed about the harm caused to the standing of his business and that expected clients, like my better half and I, have been put off from going there.

Balance that with how one more little neighborhood business has answered unfavorable remarks via virtual entertainment. This entrepreneur has set up for the Web overall and online entertainment specifically to checked a few times each day for remarks and discussions in which his business is referenced. At whatever point and any place it is referenced, he answers - with thanks whenever adulated, and with expressions of remorse and medicinal measures on the off chance that there is analysis. This business person has a site and furthermore utilizes web-based entertainment broadly to advance his business.

What could we at any point gain from these two instances of virtual entertainment the executives by little neighborhood organizations?

On account of the "other" eatery, there no web-based entertainment the executives occurring. By not being a member in the web-based discussion, the restaurateur isn't drawing in with his clients and expected clients. Nor is he safeguarding the standing of his business and is allowing others to control the discussion to his hindrance. The aftereffect of which is that he has without a doubt lost business.

Conversely, the neighborhood business visionary is actually dealing with his online entertainment presence to elevate his business and to draw in with his clients and expected clients, foster his image, and to safeguard the standing of his business. Therefore, he has a steadfast client base who frequently make rehash buys and his business is succeeding.

Neither one of the organizations is adequately huge to utilize a full-time in-house virtual entertainment chief. While one business has nobody managing virtual entertainment the executives, the other perceived the significance of this capability and has re-appropriated this undertaking, yet on a parttime premise.

Before, a displeased client would tell 12 individuals of his disappointment. Nowadays, he posts his objection via web-based entertainment so that the entire world might be able to see. The Web is social, and that implies except if the entrepreneur guides the discussion in a positive bearing, he is permitting others to control how that discussion creates. The focus point is that no business, independent of its size, can bear the cost of it overlook the administration of its web-based entertainment presence.

The Virtual Diversion Boss is transforming into the primary perspective for associations who need assistance with their web advancing undertakings. Its a verifiable truth the impact social displaying can have on a business and the advantages its brings. Moreover, it's similarly no puzzling that most business people can't manage their social publicizing totally isolated.

An Electronic Diversion Manager does fundamentally some different option from posting sees on profiles. Virtual diversion the leaders incorporates figuring out the who, the what, the when and why. Who does your business have to reach? What is generally anticipated to reach them? Where could they for the most part powerful be? Why might it be fitting as far as we're concerned to include virtual diversion as an element of our displaying tries? Various associations are finding that reexamining or utilizing someone to manage their missions is transforming into a critical piece of including virtual diversion for exhibiting. An outside individual can normally see the end-all strategy even more clearly.

Online diversion the board is a spot that has attracted a massive proportion of thought and interest lately. I see the basic roles behind its popularity as:

Low segment limits

A ubiquity for the organizations

Huge prizes

However, is it really for everyone? Really, there are right now a lot of virtual diversion bosses. Some, amazing. Some extraordinarily dreadful. So how might you filter through the horrendous ones and find the extraordinary ones? To be sure, the incredible virtual diversion chiefs will know an extraordinary arrangement and they grasp the stuff to make progress.

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tangsakura · 2 years ago

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Just Dinner Tonight?: What You Missed On That Hisoka X Machi Scene [A Dialogue Analysis]

+ mini lessons on Japanese language.

Warnings: if you haven’t read chapter 55 of Hunter x Hunter or watched episode 32 of the anime, then it’s gonna be spoiler so don’t go any further if that's the case; bad grammar; unedited; typos.

Remember reading the last three panels of this page, or seeing those in the anime? That time when Hisoka asked Machi for dinner.

In the official manga and anime translations, they translated these lines as Hisoka asking Machi dinner for the night, but that's not exactly the case. Plus, there’s more implications to his words that had been lost in translation and also difficult to express in English.

In the official raws, he said the following lines, which were also said in the anime:

「ところでどうだい? 今夜♥ 一緒に食事でも........」

Pronounced as: Tokoro de doo dai? Konya issho ni shookuji demo.....

So the first part (excluding 今夜♥) is translated like this, literally:

"Anyways, how about it? (or 'how about this?')"

One thing that I found fascinating here is that his question ended with dai (だい). This ending is usually used in male speech and/or if the question they're asking is directed towards someone they're close with like friends and family (or some sort, whichever makes them be close or comfortable enough with each other) or anyone younger like children. Or when asking a question to someone informally and you’re, implicitly demanding or asking for an answer to the question; may sound rude especially if you’re not close with them (unless you’re intentionally rude or indicating you’re not close to them).

I don’t think the purpose of this question is the latter, but the former. For him to use this is like, well for me, breaking a bit of his mask. Showing us how close they are, or at least how much he trusts her. Maybe it's the part of him that wants to deepen their relationship that's peeking through the cracks. Whatever it is, their relationship is clearly not just a shallow, typical give-and-take one. At least, in my opinion, to Hisoka's POV.

Also, I find it funny that in this short scene, he's talking in a more masculine way. I've said before in my Hisoka meta analysis that he speaks in masculine language, but it’s not so masculine and it’s much closer to neutral. But when he transitions the subject from the Phantom Troupe stuff to this invitation, he started off strong, in a much more masculine manner than the usual. To think that he’d be more manly in asking her. Because he can just end the sentence with どう and it will still retain the same translation.

Bonus points for the heart. He’s really presenting himself as excited or thrilled for his proposition to her for that night.

(You can take a break here. Resume your reading when you’re ready.)

The words on the second part, just before Machi slammed the door on him, literally translates to:

今夜♥ - tonight ♥

一緒に - together

食事でも - a meal or something

You would’ve heard this by now that Japanese verbs normally goes at the end. Sometimes they are omitted, but those who know Japanese can infer what the ending is based on context.

So if Machi didn’t shut the door on him, the sentence might’ve ended like this.

今夜♥ 一緒に食事でも【しようか? ♥】

今夜♥ 一緒に食事でも【するか? ♥】

It can also end with the same verbs, but without the か and the question mark. The verb can also be conjugated differently, depending on how Hisoka wanted to present himself to her, his mood, or whatever the variables he’s considering that are present in that scene. (obviously the heart will be at the end cuz he ‘likes’ her)

So the possible full literal translation could be:

“Tonight ♥ [Let’s have] a meal together or something.”

“Tonight ♥ [Shall we have] a meal together or something.”

“Tonight ♥ [We should have] a meal together or something.”

And so on and so forth, depending on the verb conjugation.

But the main message is that he’s inviting her “to have dinner or something tonight”. Because of the formatting the translations team has to take into account and also the size of the speech bubbles in the panels, the proofreader and the quality checkers/control people had to make sure to rephrase the translation until they can perfectly fit it inside the bubble as they desired.

So, we get: “How about dinner......?” in a nice format.

They’re not completely wrong. Hisoka did ask Machi to have a meal with him that night, but there’s also implications in that sentence that are lost in translation.

Allow me to explain that “or something” in my full literal translations previously.

So if Hisoka is just asking Machi to have a meal with him tonight, it would look like this instead:

「今夜♥ 一緒に食事を........」(Konya issho ni shookuji o......)

But we have でも beside 食事. でも means ‘but’ in English, but it can also be used as a particle to indicate open options.

So let’s say, you want to ask a friend to go out for a drink at Starbucks, you can say:

「スタバにコーヒーでも飲みに行こうか?」ー Should (or ‘Shall’) we go to Starbucks to drink coffee (or something else).

If you put を instead of でも, you’re only limiting yourselves to having coffee when you go to Starbucks for a drink. By using でも, you are not limiting yourselves to just coffee. If you change your mind or find something better, you can get other drinks like a frappuccino, iced tea, or whatever it is.

So Hisoka is inviting Machi to dinner, but he’s also open to doing other options should any of them find anything better than having a meal or change their mind about eating dinner for the night. Well, if they’re just gonna be in Hisoka’s room the whole night, then there’s just a couple options available to them if they don’t wanna eat....... and we should know what those are by now. And this is where the famous unofficial translation of the scene came from. You know, the translation when Hisoka asked Machi to spend the night with him directly.

What made me laugh with this 「今夜♥ 一緒に食事でも........」is that it’s so indirect. Like we know Hisoka is straightforward. He literally and directly would state his intentions, especially to those he wanted to fight. Unless it would get in his way or something, then he will lie or come up with a white lie. He’s even not scared of doing the taboo, like the infamous r*pe sign he did when he asked Illumi if he could go after Killua to ‘kill’ him.

But this time he was asking it like normal guy to someone he’s in some sort of relationship with.......... Also, he looks like a shy guy asking this type of question, but this might just be me. Like where’s the bold Hisoka I know? Whomst. But then again, that might just be censorship done since it’s a shounen series......

Also this man staring at the door for moments after Machi slammed the door on him...... Poor boy.

Anyways, that’s the end of this analysis post. Let me know what you think of it. I would love to hear your opinions. As usual, I will answer comments or stuff when I am in the mood.

Until next time.

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vgfm · 3 years ago

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Everyman Theory Part 3: Picking Up the Pieces

HEY EVERY___!

A lot has changed, hasn’t it? Last year I wrote a massive theory post on Everyman’s role in the Undertale/Deltarune series, and a month later I made a follow-up post that went further down the rabbit hole and explored Everyman’s possible relationship to Gaster.

With the release of Deltarune Chapter 2 I debated making a third part to this analysis, but it turned out there’s more to talk about than I could’ve imagined.

One reason this post took so long was that there was a lot of ground to cover and many disparate ideas to explore that never quite came together. To make things easier for you to read and easier for me to write, I decided to divide my original concept for this post into separate “fragments” that each deal with a main topic. The first fragment was my theory about Kris and this second fragment will focus on Everyman, the initial catalyst for this theory series.

Before we delve right into things, let’s recap my original theory once more for those who don’t want to sift through two 40+ page analyses:

Everyman theory, speedrun version:

Everyman was the bullet attack from the Reaper Bird amalgamate in Undertale’s True Lab (the one whose head got eaten by butterflies)

Amalgamates generally follow the pattern of being made from 1 named/important monster combined with several generic monsters

Keeping the above pattern in mind, Everyman was likely an actual person/monster who became part of an amalgamate like Snowdrake’s mother and Shyren’s sister did

Everyman appears multiple times in Deltarune, implying that he’s alive and well (unlike the other amalgamate monsters) and will play a greater role in the full game

Everyman is referenced in both the light and dark worlds, implying that he’s a lightner who’s been traveling between both worlds

Everyman could be connected to “The Knight” who’s creating fountains in Deltarune (we’ll go over this in a bit)

Everyman is connected to butterfly imagery. Notably, the butterflies that eat his head in Undertale are unique sprites named after him and they are distinct from Whimsun/Whimsalot’s butterfly attacks

Jevil and the King of Spades make reference to both the Knight and Everyman, implying they could be the same person

The word “strange” is associated with Everyman; his sprite in Undertale is called “strangeman” and Seam first refers to the Knight as a “strange knight”

The word “strange” is used very selectively in Deltarune Chapter 1, usually referring to mysterious dark-world characters like Jevil or the Knight

Everyman is associated with knight-like characters—the Reaper Bird amalgamate is made from the armor-clad “sword and sorcery” enemies from the Core and Everyman is grouped with Knight Knight and Whimsalot in the official Undertale art book

Everyman is probably connected to Gaster, since they’re both connected to the True Lab

Everyman and Gaster are two of only six characters in Undertale referred to as “man” in the game files. This list includes strangeman (Everyman), mysteryman (Gaster), riverman (River Person), watchingman (bed amalgamate in True Lab), darkman (overworld sprite for Core enemies), and snowman (gives snowman piece)

In short, the broad stroke of my theory was “Everyman will be important,” but the main crux or “hook” was that Everyman is the Knight who’s pulling up dark fountains in Hometown. Chapter 2 has featured more appearances by Everyman and we’ve learned some new Knight lore, so let’s take a look at what this means for my theor—

Oh right, I keep forgetting.

Needless to say Chapter 2’s ending has complicated things. So much so that I needed to create a whole separate theory post (my longest ever) to address whether Kris might be the Knight or not. To simplify this post, I will not be addressing Kris’ “knighthood” here since I’ve gone over that in great detail already.

Regardless of whether Everyman is the Knight or not, I’m more convinced than ever that he’ll continue to appear in future chapters. Before I unpack all of Chapter 2’s implications for my Everyman theory, let’s do a quick rundown of what my original theory got wrong, what it got right, and what’s still up in the air:

What I got wrong

The Knight must have visited dark worlds personally

I assumed that the three kings at Card Castle were imprisoned in Chapter 1 as a direct result of the Knight’s actions within the dark world. However, Chapter 2 shows Kris creating a dark world in their house without needing to step inside of it. Moreover, the Queen explains how the Knight appeared to her as an outstretched hand in the sky, implying that the Knight was outside of the proto-dark world the whole time. It’s possible the Knight has been inside of dark worlds before (regardless of who they are), but it is no longer explicitly necessary as a device to explain away their actions, how they create fountains, or how darkners know of them.

The Knight’s pronouns

Chapter 2 consistently refers to the Knight with they, them, and it pronouns. Seam’s dialogue about the Knight in Chapter 1 made me assume the Knight was the “him” referred to when discussing how the Spade King came into power.

[Image transcript: A dialogue box from Seam that reads “But, recently, a strange knight appeared… And three of the kings were locked away. The remaining king put him and his strange son into power. End image transcript]

I’m now more inclined to think this line should be read as “the king put him[self] and his strange son into power.” The line is still phrased awkwardly this way, but Toby seems to have backed away from this line having any significance, so it was likely a simple error or fluke that I read too much into. Speaking of which…

The Knight’s “strange son”

I was already highly skeptical of this line and now I’m forced to conclude that it was always intended to refer to Lancer. Nothing is mentioned at all about a “strange son” in Chapter 2 and this line would be completely incompatible with the case Chapter 2 is making for Kris being the Knight, regardless of whether they’re a red herring or not (more on that in my Kris post).

Jevil isn’t “aware” of what’s outside his cell

While I haven’t been 100% proven wrong on this in regards to Jevil, Chapter 2 introduces several darkner characters who inexplicably have awareness of not only other beings within their own dark worlds but who also have prior history with darkners from other dark worlds. Most notably, the King of Spades is shown to have previous ties with Queen, and Spamton makes cryptic references to Jevil.

[Image transcript: Two screenshots. On the left, Queen taunts King, saying “You Slept Curled Up On A Dirty Throne Every Day.” On the right, Spamton says “SOON I’LL EVEN SURPASS THAT DAMNED [[Clown Around Town!]]” End image transcript]

It’s now far likelier that Jevil would know about the Knight without needing to meet them personally or be directly told about them.

Chapter 2 would take place in the Hometown’s hospital

A lot of people (myself included) assumed this due to the “tender loving care” act in the Virovirokun fight that was shown in early screenshots of Chapter 2, along with Noelle’s implied importance in early previews.

[Image transcript: Two preview images of Deltarune Chapter 2. On the left, the party dresses up as nurses and the narration states “Everyone treated the enemy with tender loving care!! All the enemies felt great!!” On the right is a Toby Fox tweet from September 15, 2019 of Noelle’s dark world form. End image transcript]

The fact that this chapter still introduced a few medical-themed enemies makes me think that a future hospital dark world is now less likely, otherwise those enemies would’ve been saved for then. This wasn’t an essential part of my original theory by any means, though it does majorly impact a certain Everyman/Knight suspect.

The Warrior will be important

I feel like it’s self-explanatory why this one isn’t true, and the less said about our favorite inscrutable pizza maker the better. We did find out where “giasfclfebrehber” came from in the Monster Kidz Word Search, so that’s a nice consolation prize.

[Image transcript: Kris solving a speak and spell puzzle. The solution is “GIASFELFEBREHBER”. Ice-E’s face is on the screen. End image transcript]

Sans and Gaster may be darkners

This was more of an aside and only tangentially connected to my original theory, but this hypothesis seems far less likely now that the workings of darkners have been elaborated on in Chapter 2. Unless the game establishes that there are “special” darkners who won’t turn into objects or statues outside of a dark world (besides Ralsei, maybe?) then this idea will have to sit on the backburner

What I got right

Dark fountains are created by Lightners

Even before Chapter 2, many theories have suggested that the Knight is a lightner character, but I don’t recall seeing many specifically posit that the Knight has to be a lightner. Queen attempts to create a new “Knight” but only lists lightner characters as potential candidates. Moreover, this revelation seemingly discredits other theories which posited that only humans can create dark worlds. Berdly’s weapon glows with power as he attempts to create a dark world before being stopped by Ralsei.

[Image transcript: Berdly raises his halberd, saying “I will make a new Fountain…” End image transcript]

Apparently Ralsei considers monsters just as capable of making fountains as humans, and Ralsei knows more about fountains than anyone else we’ve met so far.

Dark fountains were made in the light world

This one is mostly correct, since we see Kris create a dark world inside their own living room, but Berdly did attempt to create a fountain within a dark world. There’s no telling what a dark world created within a dark world would look like, but it seems unlikely that any of the current fountains were created inside of existing dark worlds, given how they’re mostly isolated from one another (with the possible exception of the two in the school).

Everyman has made more appearances

I was expecting to get one more Everyman cameo in Chapter 2, but now we’ve gotten two. I’ll discuss these in a bit, but suffice it to say I was pleasantly surprised.

Darkners can voluntarily turn into objects and back

I theorized Gaster could be doing this if he’s a darkner and if he’s the one who hands you an “egg.” While the jury is still out on that, we do see Lancer intentionally turn into a card to fit into Kris’ pocket and then turn back, showing that (presumably) all darkners can do this voluntarily at any time and not just when removed from a fountain.

[Image transcript: Two screenshots. On the left, narration states “LANCER was added to your Key Items.” On the right, Lancer drops out of Kris’ pocket as a playing card. End image transcript]

It’s also not an ability that’s exclusive to “special” characters like Jevil or Spamton when they’re defeated, though their case may still be special because they each have two different items that they can turn into (which may or may not be their “true” forms).

Father Alvin is related to Gerson

This one hardly counts because it was one of those theories that was 99% likely to be true in Chapter 1, like the “theory” that Noelle’s mom is the mayor. However…

The drawing in the unused classroom was of Gerson

This was a 50/50 chance (with the other possibility being that it was Alvin’s self-portrait). However, this does carry significant implications for Alvin as a character, which I’ll elaborate on at another time.

What’s still up in the air

Is Kris the only Knight?

If opening a fountain is what it takes to be considered a Knight, then there’s no question that Kris qualifies. But are they the only “Knight” out there? If so, then will that remain the case for the rest of the game? Hmm, maybe I have a theory post to answer that…

How much do darkners know about the light world?

Certain darkners seem to have memories that go back before the creation of their home fountains. The King of Spades remembers being previously abandoned by lightners and the Queen has footage of her own world’s creation, to say nothing of her prior relationship with King. Seam’s interactions with Jevil seem to have occurred before the Knight (and their fountain?) appeared. Ralsei in particular seems to have keen knowledge of what goes on outside of Castle Town. I don’t have answers to these questions, but they’re something to think about in future chapters.

Is the “strange someone” Gaster and/or the Knight?

In my original theory I suggested the possibility that the “strange someone” who Jevil met could’ve been the Knight. This was mainly to answer the question of how Jevil knew about the Knight after being locked up. Chapter 2 seems to provide more evidence that the “strange someone” could be Gaster or at least strongly connected to him, but we have no idea whether this means Gaster, this “someone,” and/or the Knight are one in the same or if they’re at least related. Time will tell.

The meaning of the term “strange”

Chapter 2 continues the trend of using the word “strange” selectively and in relation to key characters. I won’t go over all of the instances here, but suffice it to say there still seems to be an intention behind the word’s use.

Why were the previous fountains made in those locations and who would have access to them?

Even though we’ve learned a lot about how fountains are made, we still don’t know what the Knight’s motive is for making them or why they were made in the locations we’ve seen so far. Kris undoubtedly created the fountain in their house, but it’s relevant to ask whether they or any other Knight suspect had the means, motive, and opportunity to create the previous fountains we’ve seen so far.

Headshots in Pop-Ups

[Image transcript: Kris fighting Poppup. One of Poppup’s attacks is a browser window with Everyman’s face. End image transcript]

Everyman makes two on-screen appearances in Chapter 2: first as a pop-up ad during encounters with the Poppup enemy, and again as a profile picture during Queen’s PFP/“drama” attack. I haven’t tested these attack cameos extensively, but they both seem to follow the pattern of being rare encounters like the Jevil carousel cameo in Chapter 1. This rare encounter rate, again, implies to me that Everyman’s presence is significant.

Right off the bat I will say that the implications of these Chapter 2 appearances are a little harder to parse than the cameos in Chapter 1 due to the nature of the Cyber dark world. Cyber World contains search results and other personalized content created from (presumably) all of Hometown’s residents. This means that the line is a little blurred as to which dark world constructs are physical objects in the library and which ones are manifestations of data that came from the internet. However, each of these Everyman cameos has a “tell” that caries major implications for the character once we look at the context.

First up, the Poppup attack with Everyman is just one of several possible pop-ups. The other pop-ups include cameos of Maus, Virovirokun’s “demon” attack, the Addisons, and Poppup itself.

[Image transcript: Four Poppup attack windows. From left to right they include: a Poppup, an Addison with a tooth brush, several of Virovirokun’s devil bullets, and a swarm of Maus (Maice?). End image transcript]

Note that these are all dark-world entities. Everyman’s presence here implies that he is known in the dark world as well—not necessarily as a darkner, but as someone who has visited a dark world and interacted with darkners before.

One very interesting detail about the Everyman pop-up is that it resembles the Reaper Bird bullet sprite from Undertale but it’s actually different.

As you can see, the shape of the nose and the neck don’t quite match. This means that an all-new sprite was made just for this attack. This could mean that the Reaper Bird bullet sprite isn’t that different from Everyman’s actual appearance, or at least the head part of it. It’s possible that he could be wearing a helmet or mask of some kind, albeit one that covers his neck as well.

On the other hand, we do see one of Virovirokun’s bullet attacks in another pop-up.

[Image transcript: Kris and Noelle battling Virovirokun, dodging their pink devil bullets. End image transcript]

So it’s possible that the Everyman pop-up may just be another Everyman bullet attack rather than the man himself. This would track with Everyman’s original appearance in Undertale also being as an attack bullet. Still, this implies that Everyman was in the dark world either way since we only see lightners cast magic inside of dark worlds, meaning none of the darkners would’ve been able to see this bullet if Everyman hadn’t set foot inside the dark world first.

Everyman’s Drama-Free Life

Next we have the Queen’s Profile Picture (PFP) attacks. Their sprite filenames include “pfp” so that’s why I call them that. Everyman’s head appears as one of the icons, though this is a random chance. There are several interesting tidbits to be gleaned from this attack. Most noticeable is that Everyman’s icon is the only one that never hurls chat attacks at you, even when the Queen’s icon has enraged the other icons with “drama.”

[Image transcript: Profile pictures scrolling during one of Queen’s attacks. All of them are spouting text except for the two Everyman portraits, which are silent. End image transcript]

Something else to note is that, in most scenarios, Queen uses this PFP attack immediately after she mentions the Knight.

[Image transcript: Queen fighting the fun gang, saying “Is What I Wondered. Until The KNIGHT appeared…” End image transcript]

This isn’t always the case, since the order of Queen’s attacks can vary depending on the progress of the fight and whether her acid shield is up or down, but in most of my playthroughs she used it right after mentioning the Knight. This is not unlike how King showed off his butterfly cloak after mentioning the Knight in the final turn of his boss fight.

[Image transcript: Nine profile pictures from Queen’s attack. In order, they are: a frog, a bunny, Toriel, a sun with a face, Everyman, a human, a bird, a cat, and a dog. End image transcript]

What I find most intriguing about the Queen’s PFP attack is that the profile pictures (minus Queen’s) all seem to represent lightners. There’s a pfp that looks like Toriel and another that looks like a human (implying that humans are commonplace in Deltarune’s universe). This is one of the few times in all of Chapter 2 when outside lightners are visually represented in the cyber world—almost everything else is either a darkner, a dark world construct/building, or some sort of abstract symbol/ad. As mentioned before, even the pop-up ads are pictures of dark world enemies and attacks.

Given how these profile pictures stand out from other pictures in the cyber world, I’m inclined to think these are meant to represent actual lightners and not just abstract characters (i.e., like how a real-life person may have a profile picture of their favorite fictional character). The lone possible exception (besides Queen) is a profile picture that features a sun. However, the Undertale art book shows that Toby has considered sun-based monster designs in the past, so it’s not out of the question.

[Image transcript: Two images from the Undertale Artbook. Both are Toby’s doodles of an unused monster named Mr. Sunshine. The left description reads “Hard mode enemy sketches. I only regret not being able to include Mr. Sunshine and the Troubleboys. The right description reads “Hey, it’s Mr. Sunshine!” Mr Sunshine: “SHUT UP!!!!!” End image transcript]

So what does this all imply? The profile picture attacks imply that Everyman is a lightner, and this fits with my prior theory that Everyman is a monster who lives in Hometown. The Poppup ads imply that Everyman has been to a dark world before, which would be fitting for the Knight. We’ve seen Susie, Noelle, and Berdly’s first times entering a dark world. If Kris is the Knight then that carries the implication that they’ve been to (or at least known of) dark worlds before the events of the game. But, if Kris isn’t the first Knight then that necessitates that some other character has created and visited dark fountains before they did.

Strange Crew

In previous parts of my theory I’ve gone over the significance of the word “strange” in Deltarune Chapter 1. In total, the word is used five times in association with Jevil, twice when referring to Kris’ actions/reactions, once when the Knight is first mentioned, once in regards to the “strange someone” Jevil met, and at least once for Lancer. There is a line from Seam about a “strange son” that the Spade King put into power—this is likely another reference to Lancer but the wording is unclear.

The pattern we saw in Chapter 1 was that “strange” seems reserved for the big players in the Deltarune universe: Kris, the Knight, Jevil, and the “strange someone” he met, with Lancer seemingly being an outlier (barring some greater significance in later chapters).

In Chapter 2, “strange” is used more often than in Chapter 1 but it’s also used more broadly, referring to Spamton (5), shadow crystals (2), Kris (3), the dark world (3), the fountain (2), Ralsei’s conversation with Kris on the swan boat (3), Noelle’s internet searches(1), the Ice-E’s word search puzzle (1), the giant toilet (1), Top Chef and his bakery’s tools (3), and the “Twisted Blade” item crafted from the purified crystal and thorn ring (1).

[Image transcript: Four screenshots. In the first, Kris reaches inside a hole as the narration says “(You reached inside and found something alongside a strange piece of glass…)”. In the second screenshot, the item LoadedDisk is highlighted in the key item menu. The description says “A strange disk. You can feel it smiling in your hand.” The third screenshot is Ralsei saying “Kris, this looks like a strange word, but…” and the final screenshot is of Malius’ crafting menu with the item “TwistedSwd” highlighted. The description says “A strange blade” End image transcript]

[Image transcript: Four screenshots of Kris and Ralsei riding on a swan boat in Queen’s acid lake. Ralsei says “… is it s-strange to say… It’s nice spending time alone with you like this…?” A dialogue choice is presented. The left choice reads “I feel the same” while the right, highlighted choice reads “It’s strange.” Ralsei responds “Ah, s-sarcastic! I was just being sarcastic!” End image transcript]

The Ice-E reference is of dubious importance, since it’s used to describe the “strange” word that Kris must spell in the Cyber world—a word very similar to the long gibberish word featured in the Ice-E’s word search in Undertale. Noelle’s “strange and sad” internet searches are also of interest because the “sad” part implies that these searches may relate to her sister Dess, who will likely loom over what we learn in future chapters about Kris and Noelle’s pasts.

Top Chef and the toilet appear to be outliers this time like Lancer was before, given their overall goofy/comical nature. However, it’s been pointed out that Top Chef has some obscure dialogue that’s very, well, strange:

[Image transcript: A series of dialogue boxes from Top Chef. The dialogue reads: “Mama miba! You returned my cake to me… Mwah! I will never forget your kindness!! Every day, I will give you dizzying flavors! Every day, the flavors will become stronger! That’s the power of [Baker’s Arms]!” The words “Baker’s Arms” are written in brackets like Spamton’s speech. Flavor text reads “(You got Spincake.)” Top Chef resumes speaking, saying “Would you like to take my cake for a spin? Like night and day, the cake and the world revolve!” End image transcript]

In a short span Top Chef references Spamton’s bracketed speech and Jevil’s battle theme, The World Revolving. I have no idea if these lines are pure coincidence or if Top Chef will have some bigger role later in the story. It seems unlikely but who can predict where Toby will take a story these days?

One pattern I’ve noticed with the word “strange” is that Shadow Crystal holders Jevil and Spamton got the lion’s share of “strange” references in each chapter, in keeping with the theme of the “strange someone” that Jevil met. “Strange” only ever seems to refer to dark world characters and concepts, with the possible exception of Kris. Of course, Kris may have history with dark worlds that we aren’t aware of, especially if they’re the Knight.

Previously I tried to link the significance of “strange” to the Knight, in part to tie into the fact that the filename for Everyman’s sprite in Undertale is titled “strangeman.” While this could still be relevant, it seems like “strange” is more closely associated with shadow crystals now and the “strange knight” moniker has been dropped in favor of the “Roaring Knight.” Could the Knight still be the “strange someone” that Jevil met? That’s possible, especially since “strange knight” was written with emphasis in Chapter 1 and it was the first time that the Knight and the word “strange” had been mentioned in Deltarune. Still, I’m far more iffy on this idea than I was previously, if only because of the new hints we’ve gotten regarding that “strange someone” that feel more Gaster-leaning. It’s possible that “strange knight” might’ve been a false positive, and it wouldn’t be the first.

False Sightings

Since the time I made my initial Everyman theory posts I’ve found more analyses surrounding the character—some older than mine and some newer than Chapter 2. I’m happy to see that more fans are aware of this character and discussing his potential meaning—this was the main goal of my initial theory, even if many fans don’t agree with my points.

However, in this Everyman fervor I’ve noticed a few recurring “Pro-Everyman” arguments and pieces of evidence from other fans that don’t quite add up to me. First off is what I’d call “false Everyman sightings,” meaning props or characters that people have associated with Everyman that likely bear no connection. One of the most frequent examples I see is the dolls in Asriel’s room in the Ruins and New Home.

I’ve seen people claim these are Everyman dolls due to their simple facial features and snouts, but evidence seems to suggest that these are just boss monster dolls with simplified features. I think this is most evident by the dolls’ ears, which match those of a boss monster but differ entirely from Everyman (who has no noticeable ears). We can see from Temmie’s original concept art (on the bottom) that the original doll design was even more like a boss monster:

Another example I’ve seen tossed around is training dummies.

[Image transcript: Undertale’s encounter with the training dummy. The narration says “You encountered the Dummy.” End image transcript]

While I could sort of see the resemblance with Asriel’s dolls, I really don’t know what the connection here is. Lots of monsters have snouts and long faces, so Everyman is hardly unique in that regard. Moreover, the Mad Dummy has both eyes facing the same way, whereas Everyman’s face has distinct wall eyes.

[Image transcript: Undertale’s encounter with the Mad Dummy. The narration says “Mad Dummy blocks the way!” End image transcript]

The normal training dummy in the Ruins is a bit more ambiguous with its facial features—you could maybe squint and argue there’s a resemblance, but I think the dummy is simple enough that you could map several characters onto it. Heck, I’ve heard people argue that Susie and the Mad Dummy are related just because their faces sort of look alike, so take that line of reasoning for what it’s worth.

One other false positive I’ve seen, albeit one that’s very rare, is the claim that the swan boat you ride in Queen’s mansion is meant to resemble Everyman. I think this is the easiest to dismiss because the swan’s design is far more specific than the dolls or training dummies. Honestly it just looks like a swan to me.

If I really, really wanted to stretch things I could claim there’s some symbolic significance to the swan, given that Rouxls Kaard (whose face vaguely resembles Gaster’s) rides on top of the Thrash Machine (which may symbolize the discarded Vessel) and he fights you over an overview of a small town (perhaps foreshadowing the Titans awaking over Hometown?).

[Image transcript: An edited collage of the Rouxls Kaard fight. Ralsei’s head has been replaced with Asriel’s God of Hyperdeath form, Kris has scary red eyes, the Swan boat’s head is Everyman, Rouxls Kaard has Gaster’s face, the Thrash Machine has the Goner Maker Vessel’s head lazily pasted on, and Susie is doing her “where the hell are we?” pose in the center while the Titans look overhead. On top of this is clickbait text that reads “deltarune ENDING REVEALED?!” End image transcript]

In that context where everything needs to symbolize something then I could see Everyman/the Knight being slotted into the role of the swan (foreshadowing some eventual team-up against Gaster or Kris fully taking on the Knight role themself?) but that is a huge, huge reach. Keep in mind that I’m not saying I believe a word of that, but that’s the only possible scenario where I could see a connection between the swan and Everyman coming into play or having any meaning. Sometimes a swan is just a swan.

I think some of these false positives tie into the idea I’ve seen floated by fans that Everyman is supposed to be monsterkind’s equivalent to a stick figure. While this is an intriguing idea, I can’t say that I fully agree. However, this is less something that I can outright disprove and more something that remains to be proven, in my estimation.

It’s true that Everyman’s features are very simple, but its shape feels more defined and solid than a stick figure’s. Moreover, stick figures already exist in Deltarune’s world. Queen uses stick figures to illustrate that teens are merely big children.

[Image transcript: Queen shows a picture of a small stick figure labeled “STUPID” and a larger stick figure labeled “BIG STUPID.” She says “Tens Are Merely Big Children And Adults Are Even Bigger Children” End image transcript]

While Queen isn’t a monster, she’s clearly not referring to herself here since she was never a kid.

[Image transcript: Continued from the screenshot above, Queen brings up a picture of two computers labeled “SMART” while saying “No I Am: A Computer (Smart)” End image transcript]

We know that Queen pulls her information from lightners and their internet, so the stick figures she uses can be presumed to match what lightners use for visual shorthand.

However, we know that humans exist in Deltarune’s world, so is there a possible cultural difference where humans use stick figures and monsters use Everyman? I can’t fully rule that out, but that seems unlikely to me since later in Cyber World we see signs with horned figures that also resemble stick figures.

[Image transcript: The Fun Gang looks at a green sign of a stick figure with horns.” End image transcript]

We don’t see many horned darkners, so the implication is that these figures are meant to resemble monsters.

Later on we also see green stick figures in the carnival ad signs (which can appear elsewhere during Snowgrave):

[Image transcript: Noelle and Kris are at the cyber fair. Above one of the stands is a sign with a green stick figure. End image transcript]

I definitely get why people associate Everyman with the idea of a stick figure—just the name “Everyman” screams “one size fits all” and his simplistic design lends him well to that. However, I just find that idea difficult to square with Everyman’s relative absence in Undertale (outside of the True Lab) and the Hometown graffiti of him. I mean, how often does someone spray-paint a stick figure on a wall and label it “stick figure”? Bonus points if they’re not being ironic or “avant-garde” about it.

[Image transcript: A Hometown alleyway with graffiti of Everyman with “Everyman” written alongside it. End image transcript]

Amalgamate Word Association

To close things out, let’s take one more look at where this all started: Reaper Bird. This was the very first enemy to have an Everyman attack, and the only one in all of Undertale. Now Everyman attacks have become a recurring trend in Deltarune chapters. At first I thought Reaper Bird held very few secrets due to its recycled dialogue from the Core mercenary enemies, but over time I’ve only found more and more interesting tidbits.

For starters, the enemies that make up Reaper Bird (Astigmatism, Final Froggit, and Whimsalot) have unique flavor text when you encounter them all together in the Core:

[Image transcript: An Undertale encounter with Final Froggit, Astigmatism, and Whimsalot. The narration says “What a nightmare!” End image transcript]

“Nightmare” is another term that’s used very rarely in Undertale and Deltarune. In Undertale it’s only used three times—once here, and once by Aaron and Papyrus in more humorous contexts. There’s also the title of Flowey’s boss theme, Your Best Nightmare, but this is never stated in the game’s dialogue. In Deltarune, “nightmare” is also said three times: once in Werewire’s check description, once by Noelle recounting her experiences in the Snowgrave run, and once by Jevil:

[Image transcript: Two screenshots of Jevil speaking after being defeated. He says “FROM NOW, A NIGHTMARE WILL AWAKEN IN YOUR HEARTS. IN THE SHADOW OF THE KNIGHT’S HAND…” End image transcript]

While this could be coincidental phrasing, keep in mind that the Core also has Knight Knight as an enemy, who makes puns equating “night” with “knight.”

[Image transcript: An Undertale encounter with Knight Knight. She says “Good knight,” using the spelling for a medieval knight rather than the time of day. End image transcript]

Toby also composed the theme for “Nightmare Knight” from Cucumber Quest—he’s no stranger to equating the two terms.

There was another bit of flavor text related to Reaper Bird that I’ve been holding onto ever since the end of my last Everyman analysis.

[Image transcript: The fight with Reaper Bird in Undertale. The Check description states “REAPER BIRD – ATK ?? DEF ?? This relentless future finally looks brighter and brighter.” End image transcript]

Reaper Bird’s check text, which states “This relentless future finally looks brighter and brighter,” uses parallel language to Entry No 17. Specifically, “brighter and brighter” is parallel to “darker, yet darker.”

“Darkness” in Deltarune can be taken as not only the opposite of light but also the opposite of the future. This idea originally came to me from Chapter 1’s Game Over text, where choosing to continue prompts the (Gaster?) voice to say “THEN THE FUTURE IS IN YOUR HANDS,” while quitting results in the voice saying “THEN THE WORLD WAS COVERED IN DARKNESS.”

[Image transcript: Two screenshots of Deltarune Chapter 1’s game over screens. In the left, the mysterious voice says “THEN, THE FUTURE IS IN YOUR HANDS.” In the right, the voice says “THEN THE WORLD WAS COVERED IN DARKNESS.” End image transcript]

This dichotomy is further reinforced by Ralsei referring to the heroes’ quest as one to bring about a peaceful future.

[Image transcript: Ralsei saying “As heroes, we have the power to make a peaceful future.” End image transcript]

Given that Ralsei’s legend was “whispered by time and space,” he’s likely on the same page as Gaster(?) about this, at least ideologically: future good, darkness bad.

[Image transcript: Ralsei saying “And fulfill the ancient prophecy, foretold by time and space.” End image transcript]

Now, it’s unclear whether this “brighter” future is somehow related to the Reaper Bird or, rather, if it has come about due to the absence of the Reaper Bird’s component monsters. If Everyman is the Knight and Everyman is part of Reaper Bird, then the future of Undertale’s world would be “brighter” because the Knight of that universe has been rendered inert inside of an amalgamate and can (presumably) no longer focus his will on creating dark fountains due to sharing his consciousness with the Core mercenary monsters.

In part 2 of my analysis I pointed out that although “darker yet darker” is often associated with Gaster, the phrase doesn’t necessarily represent Gaster’s goals or what he wants. Given how Gaster and the red soul’s goal involves sealing fountains, I think it’s more likely that “darker yet darker” represents a problem that Gaster is looking to solve. Likewise, although “brighter and brighter” is currently associated with Reaper Bird, that phrase might also represent something that Reaper Bird (or at least its Everyman component) was working against.

As if to reaffirm this idea, the pre-release Twitter messages for Chapter 2 mentioned how “DELTARUNE GLOWS BRIGHTLY FROM YOUR HOPE.”

Gaster praises the red soul (presumably) for their actions thus far, saying “YOU HAVE DONE EXCELLENTLY TO PERSEVERE.”

If Gaster is the man behind the tree who gives eggs then his interactions in Chapter 2 also imply that he has a far more positive and friendly attitude towards Kris/the Soul than he did previously.

[Image transcript: Two screenshots of the secret egg tree in Chapter 2 and two screenshots of Kris talking to one of the cars at the start of Chapter 2. The narration in the tree screenshots says “Well, there is a man here.” The narration in the car screenshots says “(There is even a man inside this one.) (He waves at you happily.)” End image transcript]

This strongly implies that Gaster and the red soul have been on the same page since day one and that sealing dark fountains is not only the red soul’s goal but also Gaster’s desired path to a better future.

Towards the end of Chapter 2 there’s a line from Berdly that plays with this bright/dark dichotomy. As he’s about to create a new fountain, Berdly talks about unleashing a bright future, but then clarifies that this future’s brightness is born from darkness.

[Image transcript: Four screenshots of Berdly raising his glowing halberd, saying “I will make a new Fountain… And unleash a bright future! A future that shines for US! A future whose brightness… is born from DARKNESS!” End image transcript]

While this line is likely meant to carry some irony, it’s a possible nod to the true nature of the fountains.

As I’ve said previously, dark fountains have been associated with holiness. The King calls them “holy” fountains and the name of the fountain theme is “the holy.”

[Image transcript: King saying “Holy fountains, whose shadows are creating a new world…” End image transcript]

We’ve also seen a “holy” element in the Chapter 2 game files but no indication of whether this is meant to represent a “light” or “dark” enemy.

[Image transcript: Unused narration that states “SkyMantle. A cape that shimmers fluorescently. Protects against Elec and Holy attacks.” End image transcript]

Holiness doesn’t really seem to fit Gaster’s MO as a mysterious scientist whose favorite number is 666, whereas the Angel’s Heaven is firmly associated with the creation of dark fountains and, presumably, the Knight. Each Chapter boss has protected the Knight’s fountains. Even Spamton, despite his possible ties to Gaster, intervenes to protect the Cyber World fountain in the Snowgrave route. He’s also referred to by one of the Swatches as praying frequently.

[Image transcript: A Swatch saying “Eventually, he just spent all his time in the basement… praying.” End image transcript]

Spamton seemingly makes this gesture multiple times during his fights.

[Image transcript: Two screenshots. In the left, Spamton bows his head with his hands together. In the right, the narration during the Spamton Neo fight says “Spamton begs to the audience, Spamton prays to the audience.” End image transcript]

On the subject of prayer, I recently remembered that Reaper Bird (and Whimsalot) have pray ACTs that are required for sparing them.

[Image transcript: Two Undertale battles. In the left, flavor text states “You kneel and pray for safety. Reaper Bird seems to remember something.” In the right, the text says “You kneel and pray for safety. Whimsalot remembers its conscience.” End image transcript]

Not only does praying prompt Reaper Bird to “remember something” once all spare conditions are met, but these two are the only enemies with this ACT, which is the only mention of praying in all of Undertale. By comparison, Deltarune seems to have many more references to religion than Undertale does. The only explicit religious references in Undertale (barring casual phrases like “go to hell” or “oh my God”) are all related to Deltarune in some way:

Gerson explains the angel in the Deltarune symbol…

[Image transcript: Gerson saying “Legend has it, an ‘angel’ who has seen the surface will descend from above and bring us freedom.” End image transcript]

Riverperson echoes this idea of the angel…

[Image transcript: River Person saying “Tra la la. The angel is coming… Tra la la.” End image transcript]

…and Whimsalot/Reaper Bird each react to prayer.

Now, I’m trying to remember if there’s a character in Deltarune strongly connected with prayer.

[Image transcript: A dialogue box that reads “Let us pray that the Angel will smile upon her.” End image transcript]

Maybe someone who associates with knights or knight-like characters the way that a certain “strange” man might have in Undertale? Bonus points if it’s in an environment like the Core or a small town suburb where knights seemingly shouldn’t be commonplace.

[Image transcript: Royal Guard 1 and 2 in Hometown, stating “Nothing like admiring the great paintjob, me and my bro did on our church.” End image transcript]

Someone with a background or connection to a “swords and sorcery” fantasy aesthetic that comes with knighthood?

[Image transcript: A dialogue box that reads “Fans of his famous book series, Lord of the Hammer…” End image transcript]

Maybe someone whose past history of “poor” drawing ability could have conceivably created a nondescript character like Everyman?

[Image transcript: Narration that reads “(It’s a yellowed, poorly-drawn picture of a green turtle.)” End image transcript]

Finally, some kind of visual association with amalgamates that might imply what became of Reaper Bird, or rather who took its “spot” in Deltarune’s setting would be helpful.

[Image transcript: Father Alvin standing in the graveyard with headstones for Gerson and the amalgamate monsters. End image transcript]

A character like that could easily take up a whole theory post. Maybe I already started writing that post. Maybe I had to break it off of this one because there was too much to talk about. And maybe that post is fast approaching.

#deltarune #undertale #deltarune theory #Everyman #the knight

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differentkettleoffishalltogether · 4 years ago

Text

#1 Fan [Part 1/2]

Summary: Spencer knows he’s seen his new neighbor somewhere before.

A/N: This was a blurb request from my sideblog that got completely out of hand so here she is as a full fic! (We’re gonna pretend like I know how OnlyFans works)

Pairing: Spencer Reid x Fem!Reader

Category: Fluff & Smut

Warnings/Includes: smut, graphic descriptions of sexual acts, masturbation (male & female), voyeurism(?), please let me know if there’s anything I’ve missed!

Word count: 2.9k

Request: “Blurb about basically the same fic as the other one except she just moved in and he recognizes her as the person he subs to on OF. She’s describing her hot neighbor- and yeah” from @thatsonezesty13

Masterlist

Read Part 2 Here

The first time Spencer sees her in the lobby grabbing her mail he thinks he’s in a dream. Or maybe he’s seeing things. For a second he’s terrified that he’s having a hyper-realistic, yet somehow mundane, wet dream.

He’s been subscribed to her for a while. To be honest once he’d found her account he didn’t have much of a need to subscribe to anyone else. She was almost tailor made for him, it was sort of scary.

So when he saw her that day, and she smiled at him, giving him a small wave as she passed him in the hall, his heart all but stopped.

That night he checked her page. He compared the pictures of the sweet girl in the hall with the ones in front of him. The photos where she was wearing next to nothing, or sometimes nothing at all. The ones where she had her fingers inside of her panties, or her mouth.

He ended up spiraling that evening, partially forgetting why he was even looking in the first place. Until he was watching videos of her, fucking into herself with a toy until she was squirting onto her bedsheets.

The following morning when he woke up he tried to convince himself that it wasn’t her. How could it be? And if it was, would he have to stop looking? Something felt a bit perverted about that.

So he pushed the thoughts from his head. And that lasted all of 10 seconds because there was a knock on his front door. When he opened it up it was her standing there, the girl from the mailboxes, and the girl from the videos. He knew they were one and the same, who was he kidding?

“Hi!” She sticks out her hand to introduce herself, “I think I saw you the other day, I’ve just moved into the building, Y/N.”

He knows her name already, well he knows her first name, and part of him’s a little surprised it’s not fake.

He takes a moment to consider her hand, he wouldn’t usually shake a strangers hand like this but for some reason he didn’t feel like she was a stranger. The real reason her didn’t want to shake her hand was because of all the things he’d pictured her doing with them. Touching herself, touching him.

But he’s hesitated for too long, so he takes her hand, shaking it gently, “Spencer, Dr. Spencer Reid. Nice to— uh, meet you” he has to force his breaths out or they might not come. Looking at her up close, in person, she was too beautiful. And he already thought that about her pictures.

“Well it’s nice to meet you, I always like to know the folks in my building. And especially you if we’re gonna be neighbors”

“Neighbors?” He tries to stop his eyes from popping out of his head but she doesn’t seem to notice. She just nods happily.

“Yup, I’m right on the other side of that wall” she points to her right and giggles, “knock if you need me” she jokes but Spencer’s breathing stops entirely and he can only nod.

“So um, if you wanted to hang out or anything you know where to find me” she smiles at him and starts to head back to her apartment.

He’s not sure what’s come over him, but it feels like adrenaline is coursing through his entire body as he speaks.

“I’m free right now if you’re not busy?” He asks before she can get too far away but she shakes her head.

“I’ve actually gotta head out for a bit but if you’re free tomorrow do you wanna come over and see my place. I’m sure it’s probably the exact same as yours but—”

“Yes!— I mean, um, yeah, that sounds nice, cool” she laughs at him a little, probably at his eagerness, or maybe at the way he’s blushing, he can feel the heat radiating from his cheeks.

“See you then Spencer, Dr. Spencer Reid” she giggles and he’s smitten already.

— —

He’s pretty much counting down the seconds until the following evening. His mind is completely restless, he’s got no idea what to wear or how to act, or what to say.

She was just so pretty, he could barely have a 2 minute conversation with her in the hallway. How was he supposed to hang out with her for an evening.

She slips a note under his door the following afternoon:

I’m on my way out but I should be back around 8! See you then x

He wishes he didn’t stare at the little ‘x’ on the note for quite so long but he couldn’t help it. Even her handwriting was cute.

He doesn’t want to think about why he knows her already but he can’t help it. He decides that he’s not going to look at her page again, taking a cold shower as part of his preparation for that evening before agonizing over what to wear.

He settles on a purple sweater and he already feels like he’s made the wrong call somehow as he’s knocking on her door at 8pm on the dot.

“Well aren’t you punctual” she smiles at him as she pulls open the door. His stomach drops when he realizes that he recognizes the little dress she’s wearing. He’s seen her take it off before. He tries to steady his breathing but it doesn’t work super well so he just waves hello as she ushers him inside.

“I guess you got my note then” she smiles and he smiles back.

“Yeah, your— um— handwriting is really nice” he wants to slap himself in the face. What kind of complement was that?

“Thank you?” she giggles at him, “no ones ever said that before, you’re a bit of an oddball” she points him to the sofa so he sits.

When she comes to sit next to him she’s holding a bottle of wine and two glasses and he has to stop his eyes from bulging out of his head.

“Would you like a glass?” She asks and he nods his head, it probably wasn’t a great idea, but neither was any of this. She hands him a glass of wine and takes the seat next to him on the couch, turning to face him as she tucks her legs up under herself.

“So Spencer Reid, what kind of doctor are you?” she asks as she takes a sip from her own glass.

“I’m—um— I work at the FBI actually, I— I’m a profiler” he’s already conscious that he doesn’t want to bore her by harping on about work, or by rambling like he does right before people usually roll their eyes. But she doesn’t, she leans in.

“That’s so cool, well it sounds like it is anyway? Does that mean you read people or something?” her eyes look like they're after lighting up and she's smiling at him encouraging.

“Y-Yeah? It’s sort of like reading people I guess. We catch killers by getting inside their heads in a way, trying to figure out why they’re doing what they’re doing, and hopefully what they’re gonna do next so that we can stop it. It’s a little more complicated than that, but that’s the gist” he’s smiling now too, the way she’s looking at him makes him feel like he’s actually doing a sort of good job not embarrassing himself.

“So you said my handwriting was nice” she says, gears clearly turning, “Can you read anything about me from that?” she looks like she's challenging him, if he didn’t know better he might call it flirting.

“Well actually graphology—sorry— handwriting analysis has been deemed a pseudoscience by most, the validity of handwriting as evidence in court has always been dubious and many of the techniques used today are the same as those employed in Renaissance England.” he rambles but she’s still engaged when he stops speaking.

“So you’re smart smart, huh?” she smiles at him, and he nods.

“I don’t believe intelligence can be neatly quantified but I do have an IQ of 187” he feels paradoxically stupid saying that, it feels like bragging or something and he already wants to take it back.

“Wow, a doctor with an IQ of 187” she takes a second to mull it over, “What are you doing hanging out with the likes of me?” she jokes, but his eyebrows knit together, he had no idea what she did, other than that thing he knew she did.

“I wouldn't sell yourself short like that, what do you do?” he asks her, at the very least it’ll stop him from spiraling.

“I work in a vintage bookstore, the one two blocks over?” She motions behind her as she tells him, and he knows it well, in fact he spends so much time there that he’s shocked he’d never seen her before.

“You work there? I’m there all the time, how have I never noticed you before?” she chuckles at him.

“I’ve only just started, I just moved in, remember?” and he wants to slap himself again, something about being around such a pretty face slashed that impressive IQ in half.

They spend another while and the rest of the bottle of wine getting to know each other before Spencer has to call it a night. Part of him wished that she was boring, or rude, or hated him, then maybe he’d be able to quell his infatuation. But this just made it worse, now that he knew her, now that he had spoken to her and she was so sweet, so smart, so funny, and still so damn pretty. He was absolutely fucked.

— —

He swears to himself that the wont look at her page again. Now that he knew her and he liked her more than he even did before, it felt like a real invasion. Part of him still felt bad about it in general, like he should've told her right away, been up front. But the moment for that had already passed so this was his next best plan.

Until he returns home the following Friday. He’s exhausted when he crawls into bed but he’s still somehow restless, the gears still turning in is brain. So he does what he always does when he wants to forget about everything else in the world.

His muscle memory opens it up, and he’s on her page before he even realizes he's done it. And she’s posted a few new videos this week. He wishes he had better willpower, or any willpower at all, but he can’t seem to stop himself from clicking on one.

It begins with her kneeling on her bed, wearing lingerie he’d seen before, it was baby pink and it was one of his favorites. She starts by dipping her fingers into her panties, teasing herself as little moans toppled from her lips. Then she started talking.

“I’m gonna tell you guys about a little dream I had last night, well, I’ve been having it all week really” she continues to tease herself a little, her other hand coming up to grab her breast over her soft pink bra as she speaks. Her voice is smooth and perfect, if he only had the audio he’d still be turned on right now.

“It goes like this. I’m lying in this bed right here, doing something a little like this, when there’s a knock at my front door. When I get up to answer it he’s there, with his shaggy brown hair, and his huge doe eyes, and he’s got these lips that are just so fuckin’ pink. I want them all over me. He comes inside and he grabs me with those huge hands of his and he pulls me right into him before he kisses me.” she moans a little as her fingers brush right up against her clit, but Spencer’s vision has almost gone blurry.

He’s not sure he’s even breathing when she starts talking again. “Then I lead him to my bedroom, and I get him out of those clothes. He dresses like an english teacher and I wish I didn’t find it so fuckin’ hot. Sometimes in the fantasy I take his cock in my mouth, I suck him off until he’s whimpering. Other times I can’t wait, I just need him to fuck me right away.” she takes off her panties then, leaving them to one side, while she grabs a toy from her bedside table.

“I like to fuck myself with this, but all week I’ve just been imagining that it’s him. He’s just so pretty, I know his cock has to be too. I want to know what it feels like when he’s buried inside me, so fuckin’ deep” she continues to fuck herself with the toy, and he’s tuned back in now, he’s achingly hard without even noticing, his hand wrapping around his cock as he pictures the other side of that fantasy.

It doesn’t take long before he's releasing, spilling all over his hand in tandem with the video. She takes a moment to relax, steadying out her breathing before she speaks to the camera again.

“I think I have a crush guys” she gasps out, “I moved, and I think I’ve got a crush on my fuckin’ neighbor already”

Not that he needed any more confirmation, but those words hit him like a fucking train.

It’s already midnight, it’s not so late that he couldn’t go over there, but it sort of is late enough that he shouldn’t. He really can’t bring himself to care though, getting out of bed and cleaning himself up he decides to ride this uncharacteristically confident wave as far as it’ll take him.

He’s knocking on her door before he’s had a chance to second guess himself. When she answers she’s in a little robe, it’s ivory and satin, and he recognizes it too. He doesn’t say anything, neither does she. They just look at each other for a little too long, eyes taking each other in. He wants to lean in and kiss her, just like in her fantasy, but he’s not that guy.

“Hi” he breathes out instead, “I know it’s late, sorry, I shouldn’t be here—but I— I just wanna say” he pauses to take in a labored breath, “I like you a lot and I think you’re really pretty and funny and smart and would you wanna go out sometime? With me? Maybe?” he doesn't realize he’s closed this eyes until he’s got to pry them back open.

“Well that’s not how the fantasy was supposed to go” she giggles, her eyelashes fluttering as she looks up at him and the blush that’s steadily spreading up his face and neck.

“What do you— I don’t— what?” he’s stammering, doing a god awful job of playing dumb.

“In my video, you were just supposed to kiss me. This isn’t as sexy but it is a hell of a lot better”

“I don’t— I’m not—” he can’t get a sentence out, he’s got no idea what’s happening right now.

“It’s alright Dr. 187, I know it’s you” some part of him genuinely wants to throw up. Why did he think that would be an innocuous username. He was the stupidest genius alive.

“I’m sorry, I should've told you. I had no idea how, I just never thought— how could I have known you’d move in next door to me? And that you’d be even prettier in person but you’d be so cool too” he’s got to cut himself off before he really starts apologetically rambling.

“Spencer stop. It’s fine. I make that content for people to enjoy, you’ve got nothing to feel guilty about. I made that video because I wanted you to see it, that was intentional.” she reaches out and places a hand on his shoulder, and it’s more comforting than it has any right to be.

“Was that—your fantasy—the uh the video—were you telling the truth?” he can feel his heart absolutely racing in his chest as he waits for the answer. And she breaks out in a huge smile, nodding up at him.

“Every word.” he doesn’t let himself overthink it this time, he just leans right in, pressing his lips to hers. It’s soft and gentle, a sweet kiss rather than a heated one, it’s not just infatuation, there are feelings behind it now. He can feel her lips smiling against his own and his heart’s fit to burst now.

When they break apart she looks giddy with excitement, her hands come down to the little bow that holds her robe closed, toying with the ends of the tie. “I’m actually about to make a video now if you’d like to see behind the scenes?” she asks and his breath gets stuck in his throat.

“Fuck” he rasps, “You’ve got no idea how much I want to do that” he pauses, scolding himself in his head already, “But I think I wanna take you to dinner first, if you still want that?”

She’s grinning at him again, “I still really want that, tomorrow night?”

“Tomorrow night.”

-- --

Comments, reblogs, and tags are always appreciated, I love you all x

Masterlist

Read Part 2 Here

Permanent Taglist:

@pinkdiamond1016

@shadyladyperfection

@catlynhoss05

@ld-1204

@jared-19-cant-reid

@lvndrmenace

@n-ecessity

@aubreyxanne

@spencereidshoe

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douglysium · 8 months ago

Text

Episode 11 TMP Quick Thoughts

Housekeeping and Prologue

Episode 11 “Marked”

And we are back, baby. I’ve actually started writing this literally the second after I finished listening to the episode. I was originally planning to wait until the weekend to write this but I’ve become so excited I can’t help myself, and Rusty Quill has been on top of posting the transcripts when the episodes comes out.

As always, the episode is being told to us through some sort of device. In this case we cut to Celia via her phone. The transcripts make it clear what’s happening “A busy motorway nearby. CELIA is asleep on grass. She starts to make slightly distressed noises as she stirs. A lorry roars past nearby and she awakes with a start.” She obviously seems frustrated upon realizing something has happened again but she realizes something as she begins to pat herself down looking for her phone or some other (most likely communication) device.

CELIA

“(to herself) Yes! Ok, phone in the pocket works. She starts tapping the screen.”

CELIA

“(to herself) If it had signal. She sighs in helpless frustration.”

CELIA

“Shit.” She stretches and starts trudging off towards the motorway.

CELIA

“Hold on, Jack, I’m on my way.”

Celia probably comes from or has some relation to the TMA universe but what this entire situation has to do with it, if anything, is beyond me. I don’t know who Jack is and Celia implies that this entire situation has happened before. It is once again confirmed however that whatever is listening through all the electronic devices in TMP doesn’t need said devices to have wi-fi or internet connection to be able to do so. Which was further emphasized by the fact that it was capable of listening through a tape recorder last episode.

Now that I think about it, did Celia need the phone for communication or some other thing. It’s possible that she was trying to access something like a GPS or online map to figure out where she was or where to go but it’s unclear. I can’t say if Celia implying this has happened before means she has woken up at this exact spot or random areas in general. Considering her questions to Sam about multiversal and time travel I wonder if she attempted some sort of experiment which led to her appearing in this location. Is Celia trying to get somewhere in particular? Maybe she’s trying to get back to the TMA universe or maybe she’s trying to get somewhere new?

We cut to the OIAR offices via one of the computers. I consider the interaction we witness in this scene to be another enlightening one about some of the possible dynamics at play in the OIAR workplace. Alice clearly cares strongly about Sam and they like to tease each other a lot. Sam seems a bit down about finding no clues about the Magnus Institute and Alice tries to cheer Sam up. The two talk about where Celia and Gwen are but neither knows where they are. It makes sense that they would wonder since Gwen seems like a stickler for rules and it seems weird that about half the people working in this office have disappeared with no notice. Gwen brought Sam and Celia coffee while also mentioning “I’ve got a mocha for Celia and I was really looking forward to pretending I “accidentally” forgot to order Gwen anything.” Once again, highlighting how antagonistic their relationship is and how Alice can go beyond just simple teasing and towards just being outright hostile or mean toward Gwen.

Alice seems extremely nervous and mentions “ just… I dunno. When I left the coffee shop, it felt like someone was following me.” Sam jokes “Sounds like maybe you were more bothered by that “soggy ruin” than you admit.” but Alice asks him not to joke about it, which shows that she’s extremely rattled. This level of fear from being watched sort of parallels the Institute in TMA with how Jon was scared from a feeling of being watched in the Institute. In MAG 39 (Infestation) Jon says “Because I’m scared, Martin!. Because when I record these statements it feels… it feels like I’m being watched.” However, it’s clear that what Alice is probably feeling is related to whatever escaped from the Institute in the last episode. I wonder if that being is somehow connected to The Eye. It is an Entity connected to both the fear of being watched and even followed or stalked. Not to mention the creature came from the Institute, a faction that was at least aligned with The Eye in TMA.

However, there’s an argument that this could just as easily be something related to The Spiral, Stranger, Hunt, or some other Entity entirely. The Institute had dealings with all kinds of Entities, not just The Eye. The most obvious example of this is their Artifact Storage, which collected objects connected to various Entities. So it’s possible this is some other Entity’s Monster or Avatar that was being sealed and / or researched. Considering all the alchemical undertones I even have to wonder if it’s some sort of artificial creation like some kind of homunculus.

Sam offers to walk with Alice home, to which she appreciates, and they get to work categorizing their statements. We follow the statement that Sam is listening to as exposited by CHESTER.

This statement comes from emails being sent from Gordon J to Alison Leshi regarding “Padstow civil cemetery exhumations.” In case you don’t know, an exhumation is “the action of digging up something buried, especially a corpse.” Gordon starts off by explaining to Alison that everything is going as planned, despite the sudden cold snap, due to proper planning. He also says “We also did some load testing of the ground near the cliff edge, and it looks like there’s only a few graves where the erosion means we won’t be able to use the Bobcat, and that’s few enough that my boys can do that by hand.” The first few days of this project have gone smoothly and David, their medical examiner, seems happy with their precautions.

Gordon mentions “with all the precautions we’re taking, and while we’ve certainly had our fair share of lookie-loos, there’s not been any sign of the protestors you were so concerned about stirring up. I guess it helps that no-one’s been buried here for over a hundred years, so it’s not like we’re pulling up granddad. The sailors sleeping here haven’t seen mourners since Queen Vic.” I think Gordon raising the possibility that there could be protestors is interesting. I wonder if it’s simply the fact that people might be upset at the destruction of these graves or if there’s some other reason? For example, someone might see it as an important historical site or maybe they view this project as harming the environment in some way? If you want a more supernatural reason, it could be that someone is afraid that disturbing the site could anger someone / something?

Gordon gets more personal and talks about how this job means a lot to them. They say “I know we can’t have been the cheapest company to put in a bid, but as local lads we’ve been coming to this graveyard all our lives (even if just to sneak some booze as stupid teenagers), and now that the cliff’s finally giving up the ghost (if you’ll pardon the pun), it feels right for us to be the ones taking it apart.” I looked up the phrase “giving up the ghost” and it seems like it can refer to “to stop trying to do something because you know that you will not succeed.”

Gordon says they’ll get back to Alison when the job is done but they send an email earlier than expected due to some unforeseen circumstances, and apparently David told Gordon to update Alison on the circumstances despite the fact that Gordon thinks it shouldn’t throw off their current schedule. They encountered some human remains that seem like they are in quite good condition. “...for context, the containers they’re buried in are of really varied quality. I’d say just under half were buried in decent coffins that are still in good enough shape to remove and transport unopened. For others though, the wood has rotted to the point where it’s pretty much impossible to keep the boxes together and some were just wrapped in oil cloth. This means we’re seeing, touching and moving a lot of human remains directly. Don’t worry, this isn’t about a health and safety thing – we have all the right gear and David’s making sure we follow procedure. It’s just that one of the graves had a body in that was too well-preserved for the age it should have been. Or at least, most of the skin was in extremely good condition. The back was completely covered in this complicated tattoo of a ship sailing across an open sea towards an open horizon. It was really impressive.” Take note of the tattoo since this isn’t the first time we’ve encountered a complex and very visually impressive tattoo in TMP and it’s going to come up again in this very episode.

David says that they need a second opinion and some tests since if the bodies have been buried more recently than 1908 it would mean that the cemetery is technically a crime scene for legal reasons. Gordon also mentions that the graves have been getting to him with “I’ll be honest though, I’m glad of the break. Taking up all these graves is starting to get to me a bit. I almost feel sorry for doing it. The waves are so close and getting closer. If I were a sailor buried here, I’d take some comfort in that. As you can see I’m getting morbid. Short break will do us all some good I think. Will update you when I hear word.” These feelings seem like they could relate to either The Vast, The Buried, or The End with the themes of coffins and being buried in a grave potentially tying into The Buried or End but the vast ocean possibly connecting to The Vast. But let’s keep going.

David starts acting weird and Gordon asks Alison to give David a nudge for the sake of the project. “He’s still working on that body we found and he’s stopped responding to my emails. I got him on the phone, but to be honest he doesn’t sound like he’s in any real rush to complete the job and while he’s worrying about salt water and tattoos, we’re out here sat on our hands and I’m paying the lads by the day. It’s almost enough to make you dream of sailing away for real. Like that poor fella’s tattoo. Saying that, I had another look at the photos David attached and I’m starting to think I might have been wrong about it. When I first looked, I thought it was hopeful, a crew sailing towards the sunrise. But looking again, the sun is lower than I thought, and there’s a shape in the water behind the ship. I think they’re being chased by something. Creepy eh?” So Gordon’s dream of sailing away could potentially point to The Lonely, especially given that the Entity also has a connection to the ocean and ships with Peter Lukas and the Tundra, but the whole being chased could relate to The Hunt. While Entities do chase things all the time I could see the fear of sharks or some large sea creature attempting to chase you as potentially relating to The Hunt. However, it could also potentially relate to The Vast with the idea of something massive lurking in the water, like a kraken or whale. There’s also an argument for something like The Dark with something emerging in the night as the sun sets. Well, assuming that the sun in the tattoo is setting and not rising.

And here’s where the tattoo thing comes up again. Gordon says “Oh, and speaking of tattoos, you remember you wanted an update on local sentiment about the move? Well, I don’t know if this counts as resistance – hell, I don’t even know if they’re local – but there’s someone started poking around the site asking questions. Big snake tattoo up their arm and a bunch of other ink. Wouldn’t give their name, but claims to be a big deal “online”. Don’t really know what that means, but they’ve been asking questions about the body.” The person with the “big snake tattoo” up their arm has a description that almost perfectly matches Ink5 from episode 2 (Making Adjustments). When Daria describes Ink5oul (Pronounced Inksoul) she notes that they had “an absolutely gorgeous floral serpent design running up their arm and into their neck that was so vivid it looked ready to slither off their skin and onto the chair.” It’s clear that Ink5 probably has an interest in tattoos, like the one Gordon saw on the body. This person also mentions that they are a big deal online, which would be true if this is Ink5 since we know that Ink5 is a famous tattoo artist online and even does streams. This could even explain why the person in question didn’t give their name since if it was Ink5 we are only aware of their online username. Gordon even mentions that Ink5 said “...the tattoo is an “Oscar Jarrett”, and that’s a big deal to some folks in that community – something to with Sutherland Macdonald whoever that is. Dunno if that’s quite what you were worried about but thought you’d want to know.”

`I did some light research and Oscar Jarrett doesn’t seem like a style or type of tattoo. Which points to the idea that Oscar is a person. Considering all the tattoos we are saying Oscar might be comparable to Smirke in some ways. In the sense that in the same way there was special Smirkean architecture there could be special Jarettian tattoos if that makes any sense. Tattoos that are designed to have supernatural effects of some kind. It’s also possible that Oscar simply learned and taught some kind of supernatural technique, kind of like the techniques that The Boneturner’s Tale could grant someone in TMA or how Martin sort of ended up learning how to “disappear” by following Peter Lukas’ attempt to connect him to The Lonely. Oscar Jarrett and Ink5 are definitely people to look out for in the future. Sutherland Macdonald surprisingly did yield actual search results. He is apparently “a prominent English tattoo artist in the late 19th century and early 20th century, and the first tattooist in Britain with an identifiable premises open to the public.” This makes Sutherland notable for the same reason someone like Smirke might have been in TMA. A historical figure who somehow learned and / or spread knowledge about the Entities. Again, it’s possible that there are Macdonald style tattoos in the same way there is Smirke style architecture. It could also be that the Oscar Ink5 is referring to is in fact the body with the tattoo that Gordon found and Gordon just doesn’t know what they are referring to. It could also be that there are multiple tattoo artists or Oscar is some student or follower of Sutherland in the same way people like Jonah, Maxwell Rayner, and Mordechai Lukas all had a connection to Smirke via being students or associates. In some characters even explicitly got the idea of possible rituals from Smirke and his research, despite the fact that most weren’t concerned with Smirke’s ideals of balancing the Powers.

Gordon considers calling the police on Ink5 due to how much the tattoo artist seems to be creeping Gordon and their team out but Gordon decides not to as to avoid potential backlash from the public. Gordon’s next email involves him giving condolences in regards to David, which implies that the reason he was taking so long with the reports was due to an untimely death at some point. I wonder if David’s death was related to something he came across on the bodies? It could be that there was some artifact or one of the bodies was actually alive? It could also be that if something is indeed up with the tattoos then the tattoos themselves may have had some sort of effect on David? Did Ink5 kill David? Was David the person Mr. Bonzo was sent to target in order to create some sort of opening for Ink5?

Gordon apologizes for the perceived unprofessionalism and says “My thoughts and opinions on maritime matters will no longer be included in my emails. In addition, I should be most grateful if you could see fit to provide myself with appropriate authorisations to contact the medical examiner’s offices to follow up with the cadaver that has been causing such consternation.” Based on Gordon’s next email it seems like Alison thought Gordon was making fun of them or acting condescending since Gordie states “Look, I was not “making fun of you” but I’m not sure what you want. I’m emailing an employer about my work and am getting accused of my emails being “unprofessional”. That’s the best I can manage. I haven’t been sleeping much recently. Weird dreams. Shapes in the water and that. And before you say that it’s “unprofessional” to tell you that I’m just giving an explanation, That’s all. I need you to contact the examiner again, he’s dragging his feet. Besides, I want to see the body again. I dug him up, he’s my responsibility. I just need to see it. I need to know what’s in the water.” Considering the possible change in behavior I wonder if Alison encountered something that made them scared and afraid of people not taking them seriously. I wouldn’t be surprised if Alison and / or David get their own statements in the future.

Gordon also mentions a lack of sleep due to “Weird dreams. Shapes in the water and that.” and also mentions “Besides, I want to see the body again. I dug him up, he’s my responsibility. I just need to see it. I need to know what’s in the water.” This desire to know and see something actually parallels an Entity like The Eye. The Eye, as I end up saying in every article, isn’t merely the fear of being watched but also being the watcher or seeing something you don’t want to. In MAG 200 The Eye is mentioned as having been born from the fear of one’s eyes showing them too much, and Gertrude mentions that The Eye is connected to a desire to know and understand even if in trying to do so you get hurt in the process. These themes also explain why Jonah can force information into the heads of people like Melanie and Martin. It’s the idea of knowing too much or being forced to witness things. Due to this The Eye also has a connection to, and tendency for cultivating, curiosity. Jonah mentions doing so to Jon with certain statements and we know he purposefully left files and information out to stoke Rosie’s more “nosy” personality traits. The Institute itself also sort of acts like bait for The Eye by attracting people looking for answers or closure via the information in its Archives or statements. Jon can also force people to give statements and thus make them relive and recount terrible events so that he can listen to them.

I’m bringing this up now because while I don’t think that what Gordon is going through is connected to The Eye the themes I am talking about will come up later anyway. Entities like The Eye also like to try to prey on the curiosity of people. I’m not saying Gordon is unjustified in being curious (even if I do find some of the behavior obviously strange) but that certain Entities have a precedent for preying on certain emotions or behaviors (like the desire to chase for The Hunt or anger for The Slaughter. No matter how justified that behavior may or may not be doesn’t always matter). You could also potentially relate some other parts of the statement to themes of The Eye. Most notably, the fear that protestors or other people might be observing the dig site, and the fear of being judged by the public. You could even point to Gordon sharing “too much” info to Alison with all the weird thoughts he’s having. Well, Alison seems to not like it, I’m not trying to say Gordon is crossing any sort of technical line or is even unjustified.

Gordon’s next email is titled “Examiner’s office break in” and Gordon insists that it was not him who broke into the examiner’s office and that Ink5 did it. “I saw them hanging around the office when I was waiting. Waiting so long just to see it, just to know what’s in the water. And they took it. They think they’re smart, but I saw them I know where they’re staying and if they think they deserve it they’re wrong. It belongs to the deep. I’m going to go get it and I’m going to find it and if they try and stop me I swear the ocean will claim us all. I can taste the salt and spray. It’s waiting in the water.” Once again a desire to know what’s in the water and the fact that Gordon is defensive of the idea that they might have broken into the office shows that Gordon is afraid what they said earlier about wanting to obtain the bodies might paint them as a suspect. The statement ends with

To: Alison Leshi ([email protected])

From: Gordon J ([email protected])

Date: January 20th 2020.

Subject: Re: Re: Examiner’s office

break-in

There was a problem delivering your

message to “[email protected]”

This email address is no longer in

service.

This statement is a little interesting because it feels like a lot of the stuff is more passive or in the background. For example, while Gordon is perturbed, Ink5 doesn’t attack or tattoo them directly. Gordon’s thoughts and feelings about the water could connect to various Entities. Most notably, all the water stuff could connect to the Vast, Buried, or Lonely. All 3 of these Entities have a notable connection to either water or the ocean. The Vast via the fear of large things with the immensity of the ocean as well as the things the could be in it, The Buried with the feeling of drowning or being trapped / crushed underwater, and The Lonely via boating and how isolated being alone on the open ocean can make you. Gordon’s desire to sail away could relate to The Lonely or The Vast while his comment about wanting to be Buried in the graveyard could be connected to well… The Buried. Not to mention his desire to put the supposed corpse back where it belongs, in the grave, could also relate to The Buried.

If I had to pick the most likely Entities here I would argue The Buried and Vast. If I had to chose between the two I would have to say the Buried. The Vast does have an emphasis on the depp ocean, and Simon Fairchild even attempted to perform a ritual using a submarine and the deep ocean, but Gordon’s desire to bury the bodies seems at least somewhat similar to Hezekiah Wakely in MAG 152 (A Gravedigger’s Entity) and his desire to make sure that people stay in their graves. In the statement Hezekiah mentions “To my mind there are far worse fates. But he has in his head an idea to begin fitting the graves I dig with these new “safety bells” that he has heard of, so that any as might be alive below ground might signal us above for rescue. I dread the idea. If it had been me in that coffin, destined for the peace below ground, I can think of little that I would hate more than the jarring, clanging of a bell pulling me from my rest.” and he also mentions weird dreams with “I had a dream, then. I dreamt a rain had come. A terrible bitter rain that chilled my bones and turned the soil around me dark and sodden. The walls grew damp and slippery, their firm shape lost as they began to slip and crumble. And then all at once they collapsed, the grave filling in a moment with a wave of mud and wet dirt. In a single terrible moment of utter terror, it was atop and around me, covering my face and filling my lungs with its awful choking sod.”

While the emphasis on the deep could easily relate to The Vast, one of The Buried’s nicknames is actually “Forever Deep Below.” So someone referring The Buried as “The Deep” or something similar would not be without precedent, especially given its connection to drowning, being trapped underwater, and deep water in general. Gordon also says “It belongs to the deep. I’m going to go get it and I’m going to find it and if they try and stop me I swear the ocean will claim us all. I can taste the salt and spray.” which could imply that in a way they believe the ocean will bury everything. You could easily relate some of this to The Vast with the idea that the ocean has existed longer and will outlast the erosion of the land.

One part I actually really liked in TMA, despite how little it came up overall, is all the different names people would use to refer to the same Entity(s). So I wonder if, assuming the existing Entities are around in some capacity, Entities like The Buried will be referred to with different names in the Protocol universe. It wouldn’t surprise me if people started referring to an Entity like The Buried as “The Deep” for example due to the idea of being trapped deep underground or in the ocean.

Like always, there are some overlapping themes that seem similar to other Entities. The tattoo possibly depicting sailors getting chased could relate to The Hunt, I already mentioned some possibilities with The Eye, and the emphasis on graves, and dead bodies could parallel The End.

Ink5's appearance in this statement is forcing me to consider some things. I maintain that the statement in episode 2 screams “This is The Flesh”, or at least something similar to that Entity, and I believed Ink5 to be connected to The Flesh. But I remember someone also raising the idea that the effects of Ink5 tattoos could vary, which I considered a very likely possibility since Ink5 doesn’t start tattooing until they are inspired by Daria mentioning that they are an artist. Implying that Ink5 was working off of inspiration and what they make and potentially even the effects of the tattoos could vary from person to person. If this is true that could mean Ink5 is more like Smirke and isn’t directly connected to (or loyal to) a single Entity, or Ink5 could be connected to multiple Entities somehow. Maybe the specific tattoo they gave Daria was connected to The Flesh in the same way Smirke’s architecture was connected to the Entities in a way Smirke himself wasn’t always. It’s still very possible that Ink5 somehow is connected to The Flesh but is also capable of interacting with aspects of other Entities somehow.

We cut back to the OIAR office and Sam also notices the topic of tattoos having come up again and asks Alice if there is a way to cross reference cases.

ALICE

“And? You already know the page to check the scores.”

SAM

“Yeah… but I just thought it might be worth noting somewhere that they might be linked. There’s this tattooist, and I think they might be”

ALICE

“What have I told you about thinking?”

SAM

“Don’t?”

ALICE

“That’s right.” Alice sighs.

ALICE

“(cont.) I don’t think there’s any way to mark cases as connected. They all come in standalone, that’s just how it works.”

Once again Alice’s whole “don’t think about it” vibe. I would argue the whole idea of “ignorance is bliss” and how knowing too much can hurt or scare you often relates to The Eye. I would argue that the OIAR or the computers are probably connected to The Eye, given all the statements and other stuff I mentioned previously, but I’m not saying Alice or Sam are secret Eye Avatars or something. What I'm trying to say is that The Eye likes to prey on certain behaviors, such as curiosity or a desire for answers, and Alice and Sam might have these traits. We know, for example, that Jon and Tim both ended up at the Institute because they were looking for answers about an encounter they had previously.

Alice sighing and then proceeding to honestly indulge Sam’s question is interesting and I think is another implication that Alice is probably more curious than she lets on. Realistically, she has probably been burned from having a similar mindset to Sam or seeing someone else asking too many questions but she consistently ends up indulging Sam’s curiosity or giving honest answers anyway, instead of simply shutting it down and moving on. There have also been times where Alice is noted as listening to something in the transcripts “despite herself.” Implying that sometimes she can’t help herself or her curiosity gets the better of her.

All the cases being sent in standalone sort of parallels the Institute in TMA and how disorganized the Archives were when Jon was using them (due to Gertrude). Even in TMA the statements would sometimes have recurring characters but they weren’t organized by topic or people involved in the case. The most we tend to get about the organization system of the statements is that it’s usually just sorted by date (which could be confusing if two statements have the same date) and sometimes follow-ups on cases were performed for more info and context. So obtuse organization systems that make it harder to connect various details or events aren’t unusual for TMA.

I also once again have to wonder if Sam is being shown certain events on purpose in order to stoke his curiosity or to get him to do certain things. I find the idea that literally every statement is random to be dubious but that doesn’t mean literally every statement is handpicked. Which makes me wonder, once again, what Sam and co’s jobs are meant to accomplish. Are they just supposed to be “an archive of fear” and witness terrible events or someone someone / something doing anything with the information or statements they are given or categorize?

Gwen enters the room and she seems to be in pretty bad shape since Alice says “Christ on a peddlebike, what happened to you?” and Gwen says “(setting up at her desk) Tube was delayed. Points failure.” Gwen also mentions that she had trouble sleeping, but Alice doesn’t seem to waste any time making fun of Gwen despite Gwen’s sorry state. Alice doesn’t seem to spare Gwen any of the concern she has shown characters like Sam and Colin. Sam tries to get Alice to ease up on Gwen but Alice doesn’t seem to let off the ribbing. Gwen eventually notices the third coffee Alice had gotten for Celia but mistakenly assumes that the third cup of coffee was for her.

GWEN

“(cont’d) (surprised) Hang on, did you get me a coffee?”

ALICE

“Uhh…

SAM

“Yeah. You like mocha?”

GWEN

“Yes. She takes the coffee carefully.’

GWEN

“Thank you, Alice.’

ALICE

“I… Sure. Whatever. Don’t get used to it. A slightly awkward silence.’

This interaction makes me wonder about some of the aspects of their relationship. Celia bursts into the room and Gwen grills her for being late (despite the irony of Gwen herself running late).

CELIA

“Sorry, sorry! I know, I know – there was an emergency at home I had to I’m sorry I’m late!”

GWEN

“Do you have any idea what the time is?”

ALICE

“I’m sorry, are you joking right now?”

GWEN

“I have responsibilities now, Alice. I need more of an explanation than just a “home emergency”.”

ALICE

“You arrived literally one minute ago!”

GWEN

“And I gave a full explanation for my lateness. Which, I might add, I didn’t actually need to do for a subordinate.’

CELIA

“It’s fine really’

ALICE

“No, it’s not. You don’t owe her anything! In fact, you should take her coffee as reparation.’

CELIA

“One of my radiators sprung a leak and flooded the lounge.’

GWEN

“I see. Well that’s understandable but don’t let’s make a habit of it shall we?”

CELIA

“Of course.’

GWEN

“See, that wasn’t so painful, was it Alice?’

Alice takes a breath for a devastating putdown.

SAM

“Let it go.”

ALICE

exhales and sips her coffee instead.

GWEN

“Luckily, I don’t think Lena’s noticed, so you should be ok. She’s not as laid back as I am.”

Alice chokes a little.

CELIA

“Good to know.”

GWEN

“Great, well if that’s everything you all really should get to work otherwise you’ll never get out of here. Don’t let me keep you.”

ALICE

“(muttered) I’d like to see you try…”

GWEN

“(already departing) I’ll be in Lena’s office if you need me. She walks off.”

CELIA

“You ok, Alice? It honestly doesn’t bother me.”

ALICE

“I can’t believe she drank your mocha!”

So it kind of seems like Gwen is immediately letting her new promotion go to her head a bit and has already taken the role of a stern boss. However, based on Gwen’s reaction when talking with Lena later and how shaken she is from Mr. Bonzo, it’s very likely that this is Gwen’s way of coping or trying to deal with stress and fear (not that it’s at all healthy). Gwen’s behavior seems to rub Alice the wrong way, especially since it easily comes off as hypocritical since Gwen was also running late. The only difference being that Gwen is now Celia’s superior. This whole situation makes me wonder if any particular person is specifically at fault for Gwen and Alice’s sour relationship. Sure, Alice does come off as extremely mean to Gwen but I wonder if Gwen did something in particular, tried to strong arm Alice, or something else.

Gwen does appreciate the hypothetical gesture of Alice buying her coffee and it’s weird that despite all their bickering Gwen seems to immediately assume that the fact the coffee is for her and from Alice is a likely possibility. I wonder if Gwen has a different view of their relationship or just doesn’t care? In a previous episode Gwen mentions that Alice left “talkers” on to mess with her but I wonder if Alice simply left the statements running so she wouldn’t have to listen to the voices talking and Gwen merely assumed it had to do with her. This could point to the possibility that Gwen has a bad habit of assuming things are about her sometimes or even being a bit self-centered but I’m not sure. It is still possible Alice did in fact leave talkers to mess with her. I wonder if they had a more amicable relationship in the past? I also if Gwen does genuinely think of herself as being more lenient or forgiving than Lena and, by extension, sees herself as tossing Celia a bone.

Gwen leaves the others to their work and goes to talk with Lena. Gwen is clearly upset by her encounter with Mr. Bonzo. Gwen insists that the thing she saw couldn’t have been Mr. Bonzo because Bonzo is just a character played by a guy in a suit. Not to mention that the Mr. Bonzo at Nigel’s house apparently had skin, and appeared both sagging and sweaty. Lena assures Gwen that this was in fact Mr. Bonzo by saying “...He is one of our Externals” and “I’ll grant you that Mr. Bonzo is one of our more… obviously grotesque Externals but I assure he is a valued asset.” This implies that not all the Externals the OIAR works with are as monstrous as Mr. Bonzo. Which could mean that the organization works with various Avatars and Monsters, or at least some of the Monsters they do work with are more humanoid (similar to how the Distortion took on the appearance and personalities of people like Michael and Helen).

GWEN

I thought he was going to kill me!

LENA

“But he didn’t, which means you’ve passed the first part of your probation. Congratulations. Did you scream?”

GWEN

“What? No!”

LENA

“You should. It really helps one cope with the more affronting aspects of the job. And they usually like it.”

GWEN

“What was in that envelope I gave him?”

LENA

“A name and an address.”

GWEN

“But for who?”

LENA

“I’m sure you’ve already worked that out. But just in case you haven’t, keep an eye on the case loads over the next few days. It should become abundantly clear.”

GWEN

“I don’t understand.”

LENA

“Yes, you do.”

GWEN

“But… why?”

LENA

““Why” comes later. For now, it’s best you try to process the “what”. I’ll let you know when I have another liaison assignment for you.”

GWEN

“(defeated) I… Ok.”

Gwen opens the door.

LENA

“Oh, and Gwen?”

GWEN

“Yes?”

LENA

“Get some sleep. You look dreadful. Gwen closes the door.”

So here, Lena outright admits that Gwen could’ve died. Last episode I wondered if Nigel apologized to Gwen in case Gwen ended up hurt or killed. Lena’s comment about screaming confirms once again that the Entities are probably still feeding off of fear. We know from TMA that while a lack of fear can keep you safe, displaying fear only for it to wane overtime can cause the Entities followers or monsters to get bored or unsatisfied and just attack you directly if they know that doing so will make you scared.

The fact that Lena says that Gwen should know who’s address and name was in the letter given to Bonzo makes me wonder. It’s possible Lena knows that Gwen simply checked the letter out of curiosity or came across some statement with clues. It’s also possible that at least some of the statements the OIAR gets are somehow related to the organization’s Externals. Lena even says “I’m sure you’ve already worked that out. But just in case you haven’t, keep an eye on the case loads over the next few days. It should become abundantly clear.” Which could imply that at least some of the statements Gwen and her coworkers (I mean subordinates) sift through could have to do with the OIAR’s externals. Maybe it’s the OIAR’s way of following up on their agents or checking the results of their assignments? Or maybe it’s how the OIAR decides where and when to send their Externals? It could also just be The Eye feeding off of the fear present in statements again (something we know it’s prone to do). It could be that the Externals do their job and The Eye or some other Entity squeezes some extra fear out of what they do by archiving things related to the job. Is the OIAR working with others to try to start another mass ritual, or is it trying to stop possible rituals? Maybe their goal has something to do with some of the alchemical symbols present in TMP (such as the logo)?

Lena comes off as extremely cold in this interaction and it’s clear that Lena’s earlier assessment of Gwen might be right, Gwen is not at all prepared for this and doesn’t exactly know what she’s getting into. But this also makes me wonder what happened to the previous Externals Liaison. Did they die? Did they get promoted / demoted? Are there other Liaisons Gwen hasn’t met yet? If there aren’t who was communicating with things like Mr. Bonzo before Gwen took the position? Was Lena just delivering the letters herself? As always, there’s a lot of questions.

Conclusion

There’s a lot of stuff up in the air but currently whatever is going on with the Externals has grabbed my curiosity the most. Mostly in regards to what they could be doing and why. Is Ink5 an External? Was Mr. Bonzo sent to take care of David to make an opening for Ink5 or was Mr. Bonzo sent somewhere else that will show up in a later statement? Most of the stuff I say are possibilities I’m raising but my current guesses about what’s going on are 1. Smirke’s 14 is still around in some capacity (The Extinction could be too, but there’s no evidence one way or the other for that Entity being around) and these Entities are probably the same ones from TMA (if not they are extraordinarily similar) 2. Celia is probably from the TMA universe or at least has some connection to it 3. The OIAR is probably connected to an Entity like The Eye 4. For whatever reason the OIAR (and potentially other parts of the government) are working with various factions tied to the Entities. Whether they are using these monsters and people to fight more dangerous threats or for some other reason I cannot say. Maybe they are trying to set up a new ritual where all the Entities hold equal power? Or maybe they are actually trying to stop future rituals / threats? Who knows.

#TMA #TMAGP #The Magnus Archives #The Magnus Protocol #Theory

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songbirdstyles · 4 years ago

Text

hangin’ on the telephone

summary: you decide to tease harry on a zoom for his class. he’s less than thrilled.

warnings: smut (18+), masturbation, phone/facetime sex, voyeurism/exhibitionism, some fluff?

word count: 5k

song inspo.: hanging on the telephone - blondie; sometimes on a fantasy - billy joel; love on the telephone - foreigner

author’s note: this doesn’t quite fit with the events of when i’m sixty-four and lola - this is if reader was in harry’s class during quarantine. don’t think about it too hard

Harry’s camera is shaky when the class first begins - his screen seems to quiver in itself as he adjusts it, large hand nearly completely blocking him from view before he adjusts himself properly. His camera quality is higher than yours and anyone else’s in the class, for that matter - courtesy of the expensive computers the university had provided to all of its teachers so they wouldn’t complain about how many Zooms they had to have.

That’s what his theory is, anyway. The university says they think its of utmost importance that all of our staff are treated to the highest levels of technology available - but the Macbooks they gave out were from 2015. Certainly not the highest levels.

In every other one of your classes, teachers hold their class as the only colorful block amongst a sea of turned off cameras, white letters reflecting the name of the student to make up for the lack of facial recognition. In Harry’s class, though, there are at least two pages of turned on cameras, and you don’t pretend to not know why. Surely everyone in this class - girls and guys alike - holds some similar fantasy that your professor will somehow fall in love with them through their grainy video on Zoom -

Well, unbeknownst to them, you’re the only one that gets to live that fantasy. In fact, it’s hardly a minute after the Zoom has begun that Harry murmurs jus’ wait a minute f’everyone t’get here - and the apex of your thighs is already heating up.

It’s been so long. Nearly three months since you’d last seen him in person - since you’d last felt his palms pressed to your cheeks, his hips tight against yours, his lips trailing a path up and down the soft column of your throat. And your relationship had never been entirely about sex but it’s a large part of it, feeling each other, and even if you’ve been calling each other for hours nearly every single night, it isn’t enough. You miss him so much it twists at your heart, most days, though it does, admittedly, feel nice to see him in class Zooms.

He’s donning a pink button up, the top button mercifully undone, curls messy and unstyled, and every so often he brings his hand up to run his fingers through it. You’re sure if you could see his full body you’d be able to see the blue checkered pajama pants he wears during all of your lazy days together - he’d never liked wearing dress pants when he didn’t have to. He’s in his bedroom, sitting at his desk, and you can recognize the curtains behind him from the many days (and nights) you’d spent in that exact room together before the entire world had went to shit, and now you miss those stupid curtains so much you can practically taste the desire on your tongue.

You shift in your seat, desire burning in between your legs. You’re not sure if the quirk in Harry’s eyebrow is due to recognition of the simple movement - he’d teased you enough times to recognize every single one of your mannerisms, even ones you didn’t know existed - or if he’s simply acknowledging that all of his students have finally entered the Zoom, but the movement still brings a small smile to your lips.

“Alrigh’, then - looks like we’re all here, now. May as well get started, hmm?” Harry begins, voice booming over everyone’s muted cameras, and the girls on your screen look like they’re practically swooning at the raspiness in his voice. You would judge them if you were a different type of person, but, God, his voice would bring an angel to her knees. You’re sure you look just as needy for him as they do. “Gave y’some questions from last class, right?” The class collectively nods. “Pull those out, then. We can go over them an’ have some discussions an’ analysis, all tha’ - easy class f’today.”

You minimize your Zoom screen and tap into your Google Docs, searching through your most recent documents until you find the questions he’d pushed out to all of you last class - you click on it and watch as your answers fill your screen before looking back to the Zoom, nibbling on your lower lip as you glance at Harry’s screen again.

He’s so composed in the most casual way possible - you can’t possibly know how he manages it. He looks almost like another student, leaning forward to rest his chin against his palm as he waits for everyone to get to their questions, and your breath hitches in your throat as you stare at him, suddenly feeling entirely too hot in your hoodie (his hoodie, actually) as your skin heats.

Simple fix. You grab the bottom of your hoodie and tug it off in one smooth motion, littering it on the side of your desk with a nonchalance that came naturally to you - the cool air of your parent’s basement does little to relieve the heat you feel, the burn seeming to come from the inside out, but you still relish in the coolness that washes over you like a wave. You’re simply wearing a tank top, the straps spaghetti thin and light blue, and you lean back in your seat with a soft sigh.

Harry coughs. It draws numerous eyes back to the screen at the sudden noise, and you furrow your eyebrows as you glance over towards him -

Realistically, there’s no way to know if he’s looking at you. You know that. And yet, somehow you know that he’s staring at you, his eyes darkening in a way that would be unnoticeable to anybody else but you know him. You know how he gets when he’s horny - like when you bent over in front of him to pick up your pencil, knowing it would make his pants feel just a bit tighter, and when you turned back to look at him you could fucking see the green hue of his eyes deepening in shade.

You hadn’t even meant to make him horny by taking off your hoodie, and that’s the truth. Maybe you’re both a bit touch starved from your months apart - but, no matter. You like watching him get like this, examining the way he shifts in his seat like you had moments before, and a smirk tinges your lips as you discreetly reach for the bottom of your tank top, tugging it down just a little bit further down your chest until your cleavage and the top of your bra peeks through. Then you lean forward, narrowing your eyes as though you’re searching through your computer for the questions, and you swear you can hear Harry’s breath catch.

He clears his throat, then. It’s a casual noise and it brings everyone’s attention back to him. “Let’s start wit’ number one - anyone want t’share their answer? Jus’ need a starting point f’our discussion - Sophie, good girl, go ahead.”

Sophie unmutes herself and begins reading her answer for the first question on your sheet, her voice just a bit higher than it usually is and you don’t pretend not to know why - but you’re not focused on it. Harry is smirking, lips tilted slightly upward as he nods along to Sophie’s answer even if you can tell he isn’t listening, and your heartbeat thumps harder against your chest.

Good girl? That bastard - and you can tell Sophie’s eating it up, too, skin flushed in a deep pink, and you narrow your eyes at Harry, already reaching for your phone to text him and tell him off - he knows how much you’d hate to hear anyone else being called good girl because that’s for you, dammit - but before you can, a small box pops up in the corner of your screen.

You lean in, squinting to read the small, granulated chat box -

Professor Styles: What’s got you looking so sour all of a sudden?

You roll your eyes. Cheeky asshole. He knows exactly what’s got you all sour, as Sophie’s voice drones on and on, further explaining her answer that hasn’t made too much sense to you, truly, and your fingers fly across your keyboard to furiously type your response.

You: you’re such a dick

His lips turn up into a larger smile, but before you can reach in to type a different response, Sophie has finished her answer and he nods. “Good answer, Sophie - what d’you guys think? Jacob, tha’s good.”

And Jacob begins to speak - his so called addition is just a poorly worded restatement of exactly what Sophie had said - and then you get another notification from your private chat with your professor. You click on the box and your stomach flips -

Professor Styles: Serves you right, practically flashing your tits to everyone in the class.

Professor Styles: If you were here, I’d put you over my knee.

You could moan at that. Holy shit, you really could. You cough into your first as someone else unmutes themselves to add onto Jacob, and you take just a moment to think of your response before you gnaw on your lower lip, fingers loud as you formulate your reply.

You: you would never. way too vanilla for that

It’s a damn lie and you know it. He’s fucking obsessed with spanking you, even if he’d never truly put you over his knee like a punishment but you know he wouldn’t hesitate if you showed the slightest bit of interest in the act - and you most certainly are interested.

But you like pissing him off. Like watching the way a vein jumps in his neck as he nods along to what somebody with their camera off is jabbering about and when they’re finished, his voice sounds just a bit deeper when he says, “Good, good. How ‘bout number two - Elizabeth?”

You tug your tank top down a bit further, smiling sweetly into the camera and to anyone else it may just look like you’re wholeheartedly agreeing with whatever your classmate is saying but you watch Harry’s eyes scan his screen before they surely land on you, and they widen slightly.

Another message pops up in record time - and you’d expected it - but it doesn’t make you any less desperate to lean in and read it.

Professor Styles: Or maybe I’d force you to kneel on the ground with my cock in your mouth for hours.

You: i think you know i’d love that

Professor Styles: Can’t move, can’t touch yourself, can’t do anything.

You swallow thickly, feeling your face heat up desperately. Your cunt is fucking dripping, now, surely desperate for your touch and every time you shift in your seat your clit rubs against the lace of your panties, sending jolts of pleasure rolling through your body as shaky fingers type a response.

You: you wouldn’t be able to last

Professor Styles: I’d last all day just to make you stay there.

Well - you have no shame in resting your hand on your lower stomach, just out of view of your camera. Eyes on Harry’s little box on your screen your fingertips slight down into your sweatpants, digits running over the moist fabric of your thong before pressing to your clit, and a wave of pleasure rolls through your body at the initial touch until you’re practically preening into your grasp, still caressing your cunt over your panties.

The class moves on to the next question - you’ve stopped paying attention ages ago, since the words good girl first slipped out of Harry’s mouth and he messaged you for the first time. You hook a finger into the crotch part of your panties, tugging them to the side and you can feel your wetness, strings connecting your dripping folds to the lace, and your breath picks up as you slip your hand into your panties.

The message comes fast. You’d been expecting it, pressing it open with the hand not shoved into your pants.

Professor Styles: You’re fucking touching yourself, aren’t you

It’s not a question. He can read you like a book - knows every one of your reactions because he was the only one who could pull them from you - and the way you tug at your bottom lip with your teeth, glancing into the camera with an air of faux-innocence, is something he’s come to recognize.

You type your response slowly. Take your time, don’t rush, because you love to make him wait as your fingers slowly move in circles against your clit - too gentle to truly make you feel anything, touch feather soft as you spread moisture around the sensitive nub.

You: of course i am, professor. if you’re not here to do it for me…

You lean back in your office chair - to anyone else you look nonchalant and casual, if a bit bored of the proceedings in class - and your hand slides further into your panties, fingers smoothing up and down your folds until your breathing picks up, chest rising and falling as you finally push your pointer finger into yourself, immediately curling it upwards to brush against the sweet spot inside of your velvety walls that has you pushing your hips against your hands. You’re quivering for your own touch - for Harry’s, more so - as you push your own essence in and out of your cunt, heel of your palm brushing against your clit, before you glance back up at the screen.

And Harry is - God, he’s a sight, is what he is. He’s leaning back in his seat, like you, and you watch for a moment at the way his chest rises and falls against the fabric of his billowy dress shirt. The top button is still undone and as you watch, he reaches up and undoes the second one -

It’s like a collective moan rolls through the fucking class at the action. You can see every girl’s eyes widen on your screen as the overhead lights in Harry’s apartment illuminates the thin shine of sweat on his chest, and if you didn’t know better you’d simply assume that the AC in his apartment must be broken because he merely looks hot as he nods along to the current speaker - but you do know better.

If the camera was angled just a millimeter down, you’re sure you’d see the bulge through his pajama pants, thick and hard and desperate for your attention. For your mouth or your hands or your cunt, squeezing him so good, milking him for everything he’s worth until you’re both sobbing -

You add another finger into your pussy, sliding them in and out with a slow pace that gradually picks up until your ears are filled with the sound of your wetness, sloshing in your panties as you suck your teeth, trying to prevent your mouth from opening in a moan. You may look inconspicuous now but if your lips part in a desperate cry you know people will get suspicious -

Caught in your own pleasure, you’d missed Harry’s messages until the third one pops on your screen, and you scramble to click on the notification before it disappears.

Professor Styles: You’re a brat

Professor Styles: Trying to work me up like this

Professor Styles: Don’t you dare stop touching yourself.

The third one has your eyebrows furrowing - God, of course you’d never stop. You don’t think you could even physically drag your hands away from the pearl between your thighs until you’ve finally come over the edge and you didn’t need Harry to say it. You raise your eyebrows and begin typing your response with your free hand, fingers pumping in and out of your cunt desperately, but you’ve barely finished the text when you hear your name in his fucking voice and -

“What d’you think?” Harry inquires, voice even lower than it had been before, and you resist the urge to drop your mouth open in an appalled gasp as he practically stares into your fucking soul even through Zoom. Your heart drops into your ass and now you know why he’d wanted to confirm that you wouldn’t stop - “Why d’you think Steinbeck structured the book like he did?”

What? You don’t fucking know - you click to unmute yourself, fingers slowing down as you take a breath, tapping until you get to the answer written on your Google Doc. “Um - they’re plot chapters followed by intercalary chapters - they invoke an emotional response from readers.”

It’s a textbook answer, short and shitty and anyone with half a brain could tell that you simply said it so you would get the participation points, and you watch Harry’s eyebrows raised with a poorly-concealed smile.

“How d’they invoke an emotional response, though?”

And he’s such a tease - he loves this, watching you teeter near the edge of your orgasm with shaky breaths as you seemingly contemplate your answer for a moment - fingers circle your clit slowly as you say, “They - they show us the historical and societal background - which - which broadens the scope of the novel.”

You, truthfully, think you did a fairly decent job keeping your composure - sure, your voice was a bit airy, a bit breathy, and you’re sure you tripped a bit over your words, but you at least didn’t moan out wildly in front of your entire class - celebrate the little things. And, yeah, it may not have been the best answer, but Jacob is already unmuting himself to elaborate and restate your entire answer, which feels like a win in your book, at least.

Professor Styles: Good girl. Kept your cool.

You’re practically trembling, resuming your thrusting of your fingers deep within your cunt, as you shakily type your response, fingers quivering on the keyboard.

You: wish you were here

And - when you realize that sounds a bit too sentimental to fit the situation at hand, fingering yourself in front of the entire class - you hurry to type something else.

You: to eat me out

You bring your eyes up to the screen again, fast enough to watch the quick smile spread across his face - his eyes dart around the screen for a moment before landing on a spot that you assume to be your box, and you exhale softly, curling your finger upward to that spot that has your back arching forward, tits pushing closer to the camera before you drop back against your seat.

Professor Styles: I’d do anything to have my face in your cunt right now.

You inhale sharply, nearly coughing as you pick up your speed, lips parting the slightest bit in a soft whine that erupts from your throat before you can try to fight it back - your eyes shut, head falling back against your chair, and you’re so close you can feel your impending release on the tip of your tongue like your favorite meal.

It’s the sound of the chat notification on Zoom that makes your eyes open, and you click on it. It’s hard to read, vision going fuzzy as your orgasm comes closer and closer, but you can make it out -

Professor Styles: Eyes open.

Professor Styles: And keep your camera on when you cum.

You practically whimper at the request but you oblige - eyes opened and staring directly at his box, at the way his face is practically bright red, sitting up straighter in his seat. He’s moved his camera angle up more, concealing his abdomen until only his chest and head is visible, showcasing the two undone buttons at the top of his pink shirt.

He sure doesn’t look composed now. Not a total disaster - but not the cool, calm professor who had first opened Zoom nearly 45 minutes ago.

Your eyes are moving towards the camera when you notice something in his box that has your eyebrows raising, eyes wide and alert as you squint, fingers briefly paused in their mission to get you to orgasm -

Your free hand flies across the keyboard as you type the message, mind spinning with the image you’d seen - the way his fabric creased near his shoulder, like his arm had been moving up and down with an unbridled, jerky pace -

You: are you jerking off, professor?

And you can see the exact moment he reads the message, his eyes widening, before he unmutes himself and loudly proclaims, “Question 4, then? W - Who wants t’start us off? Jamie, good, tell us wha’ you’ve got.”

And Jamie goes off in some tangent about their answer, words sounding like mud in your brain, as Harry mutes himself once more, and it’s only another moment until you get the next message.

Professor Styles: How could you expect me not to?

Good answer. You know that if you’d caught him jerking off before you had the chance to stick your hands down your panties, you wouldn’t be able to stop yourself - but it’s still surprising, watching the fabric of his shirt rustle. It’s not obvious in a way anyone else could tell but you can, and that’s all that matters.

You pull your fingers out of your cunt, bringing your sodden fingers up to your clit. You’resoclosesoclosesoclose - your trembling fingers rub hard circles into your clit, pussy fluttering around the emptiness after you’ve pulled your fingers out, and you clench your muscles taut as you pinch the sensitive nub -

Fuck. There it is - a burning sensation throughout your body as flames lick up your body, rocking through every inch of your skin - it’s all you can do to sit there, legs spread, practically biting back the urge to sob out with the force of it all, and keeping a poker face feels like some sort of torture form. Your cunt jolts beneath your fingers as you try and ride yourself through it, sticky wetness coating your fingers with proof of your release until it’s all over your sweatpants, soaking the gray fabric darker.

Harry’s the only person who’s ever made you squirt - twice, it happened, once into his mouth and the other around his cock as he overstimulated you until you were practically sobbing. And he’d loved it, too, pulling out even though he hadn’t cum yet and sinking to his knees to lap the moisture from between your thighs, eyes rolling back into his head as though it brought him such pleasure to sit there and eat you while you grabbed at his hair.

You’ve never done it yourself. Not with just your fingers.

The next message comes before the aftershocks have finished rolling through your body, and you need to take a few seconds to compose yourself before reaching to read it.

Professor Styles: I love watching you cum.

You resist the urge to smile, resting your palm against your swollen cunt as you use the other hand to type your response.

You: squirted all over my hand.. wish you could’ve seen it

You can practically hear the way he chokes when he reads it, even through his muted mic, and your response comes in seconds.

Professor Styles: I’m wrapping up the class early. Stay after.

It’s a demand and one that you’re more than willing to oblige, giving one unceremonious jerk of your head upwards as you lean back into your seat. And, true to his word, he unmutes himself, declaring loudly that since he wanted an easy day you could all leave early - not too early, mind you, a mere seven minutes before the class would officially be over - but he could let the class out twenty seconds early and they’d act like he canceled an exam.

People unmute themselves to say goodbye before boxes quickly begin disappearing, the number of participants dropping down until it’s just the two of you, squares side by side next to each other, and you reach to unmute yourself the second the last person has left.

“Harry - Harry, fuck,” you breathe, pushing your computer back and angling it down more so he can see your body. He unmutes himself and you can hear his gasped breathing as he pushes his own laptop back until you can see him fully and - “Fuck.”

His pajama pants are pushed past his cock, curling towards his stomach and an angry shade of red. His fist wraps tight around it, pumping himself up and down with his chest rising and falling desperately, and the thought of him doing this during your Zoom call has another pang of pleasure rolling through your body from your clit.

“Unbutton your shirt,” you beg him, propping your foot on your desk as you shimmy your sweatpants down your thighs, kicking them off into a pile on the floor. Your cunt is exposed to him, covered only by a sopping scrap of lace that you call underwear, and you’re quick to pull it away from your pussy to show him as you dip your fingers back down to your clit, circling it freely. You’re still entirely too sensitive, and the simple motion has your chest arching vehemently, but you can’t watch him do this without feeling the overwhelming urge to cum again and again -

He obliges, practically tearing the shirt away from his chest until the two halves have split open and you get an eyeful of his chest, littered in tattoos that only you get the pleasure of seeing - the butterfly you love to press your palms against when you ride his face - the ship you always grasp when you’re rolling against his thigh -

“Finger y’self,” Harry grunts, breathing desperate and heavy as you lean back in your seat, exposing yourself further to him, your chest heaving. “An’ take off tha’ tank top.”

You grab the end of the shirt, tugging it up and over your head and littering it on the side of your office chair, pulling the straps of your bra down your arms so you can peel the cups away from your tits, displaying your peaked nipples to him, and he moans at the sight, the noise low and guttural. You slide two fingers into your cunt easily, the dripping essence of your release still lubricating your digits to push in and out of yourself.

It isn’t going to take long for either of you - you can tell. He plants his free palm on the edge of his desk, leaning forward and baring his chest to you, and you push yourself to sit up more, resting your free hand on your tits. Fingers pinch at your nipple, the peaked bud sending rays of euphoria through your body, and you drop your head back with a desperate whine.

“Y’close?” Harry asks through gritted teeth, words interrupted with needy breaths and gasps as you nod, and you can tell that anything he’d said about punishing you is gone - he won’t stop you now, not when you’re so close, not when all either of you want is to touch each other. You want to reach through the camera, to press your lips to his, feel his palms smooth up and down your back before traveling downwards until he can slide his fingers into your cunt - one of his is bigger than both of yours, and he’d fill you up so good you wouldn’t be able to do anything else but cry out.

And you - you’d rest your knees on either side of his thighs, lowering yourself into his lap as his length slides against your stomach. Scraping your nails through his hair always makes him cry out and your fingers tense around your breasts as you imagine it, thinking of the way he’d moan and beg for you to pull it harder, lowering his lips to your nipple as you obey him.

You’ll always obey him. (In bed, at least.) God, you really would sit on your knees for hours, holding his cock in your mouth like it’s your fucking job, and you’d love it, too.

“Look at me, baby,” Harry moans, voice crackling through the speaker of your shitty computer and you oblige, hazy eyes rolling upwards to the camera, and you swallow thickly, pumping your fingers faster in and out of your cunt. “Look at me when y’cum … c’mon, baby.”

You don’t need much more encouragement than that. With one curl of your fingers upwards to hit the sweet spot deep within your velvet core you cum, eyes rolling back into your head with a piercing cry that makes you entirely too grateful that it’s your parents’ date night - your cunt clenches and unclenches around your fingers as you finally hit your peak, breath coming out in needy groans as you release over your fingers.

You’ve barely finished when Harry’s tell-tale groan sounds through the basement and you snap your eyes back to his figure, glancing at him just in time to see him cum, white ribbons spurting out of his cock and coating his hand and the sleeve of his pink dress shirt. He drops his head forward with a grunt, fist still jerking up and down his dick as though he’s trying to milk every last drop all over his abdomen, and your breathing turns more jagged as you watch like he’s a fucking piece of art and you’re nothing but a spectactor.

And then - for a moment - there’s silence. Not silence, in its literal definition, as desperate, heaving breaths pierce the air even screens apart, and you’re not sure which of you will be the first to speak. You can hardly breathe right, let alone say any coherent sentence, and Harry takes the lead.

“Did good, baby,” he breathes, voice so soft you can barely hear it, and you nod, wiping your moist hand on your outer thigh. “I miss you.”

“I miss you, too,” you tell him, pushing yourself to sit up more. “And your dick.”

He exhales a shaky laugh, raising his hand to examine the cum that coats his palm and fingers as though he’s never seen anything like it. “Yeah - I miss y’pussy. Not used t’not cumming in you.”

“Yeah,” you begin. “Feel empty without -”

You’re cut off before you can finish as Harry raises his fingers to his mouth, pink tongue darting out to lick at the bits of cum that decorate his skin. Your lips part needily as you watch him, eyes wide as saucers until he’s fully lapped up every ribbon of cum, and he smacks his lips as though he’d enjoyed a great meal.

“Don’t get how y’swallow so often,” Harry says, and even through his faux-casual demeanor you can see the corners of his lips turning up at your state. “Really doesn’t taste good -”

“Harry?”

“Yeah?”

“M’horny again.”

#harry styles smut #harry styles x reader #harry styles blurb #harry styles writing #prof!harry #harry styles imagine #harry styles imagines #harry styles drabble #harry styles angst #harry styles fluff #harry styles fic

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burnedbyshoto · 4 years ago

Text

hawks_littledove.mp3

— You’re an avid listener to NSFW ASMR artist Hawks. It’s just your luck that he’s offered to have phone sex with you.

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pairing: takami keigo (hawks) x fem!reader

warnings: smut, 18+, slight abuse of power/influence, phone sex, masturbation, degradation, praise, nsfw asmr artist!hawks

word count: 5,018

a/n: my keyboard is broken and i could actually cry. but hey, hawks do be sexy even tho I would never trust him with my life. also LOL this might be a call out to a lot of us, do not be offended or I will cry.

kinktober day 14 main kink: phone sex | kinktober masterlist

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Fantasizing about being in relationships with fictional characters was entirely healthy and normal.

That was something you believed to the core. It was fictional; thus, no one but you were to be hurt at the end of the day. The character, being fake, could never have an opinion because you must be real in order to have an opinion. So when you were between boyfriends, you discovered a new anime, and before you could stop yourself, you fell hard for a character.

It started as a mild obsession.

You had looked up fanart via google images, your heart warming when you saw the plethora of different fanart. The anime itself had been in circulation for a few years now, the manga for much longer, so the content was endless. Then google images wasn’t enough, and you began crossing into Twitter and Tumblr.

The fanart became better, more engrossing, and definitely much more NSFW. And then, one night during your endless rabbit hole down Tumblr after your daily search on Twitter, you stilled when seeing a new type of content.

⇒ grey fullbuster x reader

The obsession grew worse.

So much so that you had followed nearly five hundred self insert writers and artists on Tumblr, and maybe seven hundred artists, meta writers, and thread makers on twitter. But three months into consuming all the content you could find, you came across a new name that made you tilt your head.

Hawks Fierce Wings

It was a name that was being repeated and heavily talked about on both sites. It was an ASMR artist, apparently, and you frowned at the thought. You didn’t have anything against ASMR videos, but you weren’t exactly sure how to handle an anime ASMR artist. Were they cosplaying while making all those weird ASMR sounds? You really didn’t have any idea, but due to the immense boredom of your lazy day in, you decided to hell with it and tried out his most popular video.

It was simply entitled: Hawks is Jealous.

Did you have any idea as to who Hawks was? God, no, you didn’t. But if it was just some random cosplay he was going to do, you didn’t think it was going to matter. So as the only slightly educated ASMR listener, you never truly became invested when it was a thing; you slipped on your earbuds and pressed play.

The introduction screen faded into an illustrated picture of a slightly handsome man, and some calming yet tense music played in the background. You shifted, eyebrows drew as you waited for the ASMR session to begin, and when it did, you were not ready.

“I saw you walking around with that asshole today,” a voice practically growled in your ear, and you froze.

Oh, no.

Oh, no!

For almost an entire hour, you sat glued to your sofa, your fingers digging into your lap as the jealous, spiteful words of this man named Hawks poured bitterly in your ear. His words were a near aggravated assault on you and definitely something you were beyond uncomfortable hearing from a stranger, but there was something about his voice that kept you there. Maybe it was the tenor of his tone or the way there was this sly, cunning scent to his words that he seemed to hide deep within his throat, but there was something that kept you there.

The second the passionate, heated kissing noises and heavy moans began to spill from his lips, you screeched, slamming your laptop closed as your cheeks pounded heavily.

Oh my god?!

It took a bit, but eventually, you were able to finish the audio and quickly figured out why he was an NSFW artist. You had never, ever heard a man eat a pussy fake or real as eagerly or vigorously as he did. Your hands were gripping the pants of your leggings, and your chest heaved.

Oh, motherfucking shit.

Finding out there were almost seventy other videos for you to still experience sent you scrambling for more, and eventually, you had to confess you were obsessed. Despite the anime fandoms you had discovered him for, Hawks seemed to be more famous for the content he created as himself. His real name was unknown by the looks of it, and he was only addressed as Hawks by his audience, something you caught on to quickly. So only after creating a new profile for his Youtube account, you made quick work of liking and commenting on every single of his already published seventy-eight nearly one hour and thirty-minute videos.

Each one was different.

Each one filled with various roadmaps on how Hawks' scenarios would play out for you — the listener. When he used his own persona, he called the listener his little dove or his chicken nugget, sometimes his KFC thigh, or his shish kabob.

You were glad at the very least he didn’t call you by any of those nicknames when pretending to fuck you at a speed only a “porn-is-my-only-education-on-porn” virgin teenage boy. You knew it wasn’t ideal, usually, but for some reason, it just worked. You commented on everything, read his summaries and thoughts on each video. Eventually, when you found yourself on his final, most recent video, you were ready to go a step further.

The Patreon app on your phone seemed jarringly out of place as you opened the app and subscribed yourself to Hawks' highest tiered option for the price of twenty USD.

And when you got your access to his page, you were immersed in more heavier, better content.

It was a goldmine in a sea of fools gold, and you absolutely went insane.

You weren’t sure if you were insane, needy, or just straight-up idiotic for scrolling to the very first Patreon post and indulging in the content Hawks created.

There was a stark difference between the warnings alone between the Youtube videos and the Patreon posts. While the porn was readily accessible on Youtube, the kinkiest thing that ever happened in a video was a slight implication that Hawks had left the listener on a vibrator and fuckmachine as he went to go talk to the visiting neighbors.

It was a slight, tiny zone out and miss a detail, but one you had clung onto like an obsessed psycho and even commented on in your comment on the post. Of course, Hawks hadn’t responded, not that you had ever expected him to because all things considered, a video that was eight months old and hadn’t done that well, to begin with, didn’t seem like anything he would remember: notifications and all.

But Patreon? Oh good, sweet, ravishing Patreon.

The very first video was of the following:

Stepbrother!Hawks fucks Stepsister!Listener in the stairwell during Christmas Dinner.

After praying and swearing to all the deities of the world that you were merely a person with a voice kink for this man and not, in fact, a perverted pseudo-incest worshiper, you clicked on it and began. It was downright sinful.

There were active voices whispered in the background as Hawks laughed about how fucking slutty you were for letting your brother fuck you like this. In the hallway, like a dog, where anyone in your joint family could walk out into. He laughed that you probably wanted it, how your wet ass pussy was greedily sucking him in, so how could you even begin to deny your lust for your brother.

You had to take a break five times during that audio.

Eventually, you do end up catching up.

Each video he had ever posted to your disposal, and most likely due to the different tier levels, you always commented on the videos. Even if it made you feel awkward for lusting over things months old, even if there were no other comments on the videos, which was much more common than you thought, you always commented and liked. It wasn’t anything ever crazy, you had seen the rarest comments bring a whole essay of analysis on why they loved it or the hating words, but you kept it simple.

Just something to keep Hawks spirits high without draining you even further of energy.

A simple: holy shit, that was hot as fucking hell!!!! you never disappoint me!!!

You never expected anything out of it; as a matter of fact, you had merely thought that you were doing the least by merely appreciating his creations when, one night, a few hours after you had gotten home. Your phone chimed with an alert.

Your mouth formed an ‘o’ in surprise; you hadn’t realized there was going to be a new release after he had just updated four days ago. Still, you popped in your earbuds and began the audio with a simple title.

i fuk ur stupid lil pus until u cri

He wasn’t precisely putting much effort into his titles these days, but his tags were definitely accurate and entirely explicit in what was to come. And in this newest video, the prominent tag was degradation.

You weren’t entirely into degradation, but still, you did what you had to do because you weren’t turned off by it. With the beginning sounds of the music playing in the background, you warped into the situation Hawks carefully carved.

But, oh?

Your face simmered with heat as Hawks dirty words dripped from the earbuds, the wet, squelching noise of your cunt and throat being fucked like some inanimate object made you soak through your panties as his disparaging words burned against your spine like a hot brand. After the thirty-minute audio was finished. Your body trembling with the aftershocks of an orgasm that had come despite the lack of actual stimulation of your clit, and you panted on your bed.

Opening your phone once again, you quickly liked the new audio and typed out your comment.

listen, i know i always comment about how fucking hot this shit is, but i have /never/ fucking soaked through my panties… you just did that and i expect a full refund for these panties 💦

You pressed send and, without so much of a second thought, continued your night. You had dinner, talked with friends, and ended the night curled back on the couch with a wine glass in your hand and a simple sit-com playing on the TV. The familiar sound of the Patreon alert rang in your ear, and you frowned, confused.

Grabbing your phone, you opened up the device and nearly shrieked at the sight of the information the notification that said:

Hawks F.W.: lets see those panties before i refund anything

A chill ran down your spine as you quickly put together the indications of this message, and you smirked, despite your quivering hands.

Me: I have a seven inch dick requirement before seeing any of the goods — yes, that includes my panties

And from that very moment, you began a strange arrangement between you and the NSFW ASMR artist Hawks.

Working was the worst part of your life, you would say.

At work, you would sit in your small 4x4 cubicle, your shelves stacked with plenty of papers and items you needed, not to mention the computer that took up the majority of your desk. You weren’t quite sure what your job here was, you sort of sat at your desk and did meaningless assignments when assigned, but you did nothing for the most part.

Before becoming an active Hawks stan, you would spend your time doing nothing playing video games. You had somehow managed to install a VPN onto your hard drive so that your employers wouldn’t be able to see what was on your screen outside of the home screen. They couldn’t trace what you did all day, but they could care less, given you got all your work completed on time and done in an over exceptional way.

But lately, since you had dropped into this… engrossed whore like relationship with Hawks, things changed.

To be honest, it still shocks you to no end when he tells you that he had always been aware of you. Well, with your consistent, ever appearing comments on his posts and overall enthusiasm for everything he posted, it was hard to not be aware. The mental image of your soaked through panties after a long day at his own work had sent him over the edge, and he finally messaged you.

Through the DM’s in Patreon, the two of you grew to become quite the friends with benefits. He would send you countless personalized audio files because you had quickly confessed to your voice kink and how his voice sent your stomach into hormonal knots. In return, you’d send the picture of an occasional soaked panty, and if he was lucky, an audio clip of your pathetic whines back to his audios.

You couldn’t complain about this arrangement.

But as the number of his patrons doubled, and he wanted to entice his subscribers with paying him even more money, Hawks began to offer a bimonthly personalized five minute audios for his $20 tier. The fans poured into that spot, and Hawks and proudly sent you the new number of adoring fans he was getting. On account of growing platforms such as Tiktok, the number of new listeners he got was nearly exponential, as he currently passed one million followers last week.

The cheeky bastard was also making enough money to stop working his regular work hours anymore. Choosing to transition slowly into his Patreon career while recording.

Hawks, however, seemed to have other ideas for your eventual personalized voice audio.

Hawks had simply asked if, by any chance, you were going to be working tomorrow the night before. Groaning loudly in recognition of your work schedule, you had texted him back that you were going to be working. Snidely including the fact that you weren’t rich like him, you needed the tedious old nine to five job.

Hawks: how utterly boring anyway u can b free around 2?

Me: Eh… probably not. Busy girl w busy schedule, ill be back from lunch so no break Why?

Hawks: well, u knw tht uve been amzing & th bst follower so i wanted 2 give u smthing better then the personalized audio

Me: Oh? Well, what is it?’

Hawks: pick up tmrw n find out

He had changed the subject immediately afterward by dodging all of your questions with ease. So you dropped it, and the two of you resumed a night of flirting. But now, sitting in your small cubicle, your eyes flashing to the clock that read 1:57 p.m., sweat began to build on your palm.

You peered down to your phone as you waited for something, anything from Hawks to show up. The fucker was too cheeky, evasive, and quick for his own good. You felt like pouting as you glared at the phone, waiting for the screen to light up.

And you stilled when finally, at precisely 1:59 p.m., your phone gleamed with light. You couldn’t abandon your computer mouse quicker than you did as you grabbed your phone, unlocking it, and reading the message from Hawks.

Hawks: do u have earbuds?

Me: Yes?

Hawks: good put them on n pick up

The moment you had read the first message, you were already pulling out your earbuds, synching them up to your phone, and placing them into your ear. But your jaw dropped when, for the first time, the call feature highlighted onto the screen, the time immediately changing to that of 2:00 p.m. The decline or accept button had never looked as daunting as it did right now.

Despite the call trying to go through, you still saw his follow up.

Hawks: if u dont pick up u wont get shit

[Accept]

You felt your heart hammering in your chest as both fear, apprehension, and excitement boiled through your veins, the hammering blood pounding in your ears as you waited for some sort of noise on the opposite side of the line.

“Little dove?” Hawks' voices filled your ears, and despite yourself, you smiled softly. The naturalness of his voice sends warm thumps down your spine.

“Hi, Hawks,” you whisper breathlessly, your head already checking to make sure your neighboring cubicle mates didn’t try to look over the divisions to stare at you. For the most part, the office building was quiet except for the phone calls, the clanking of computer keys, and the monotonous music playing softly on the speaker's head.

“Whatcha doing?” he drawled, and you felt your skin heat up when you heard the all too familiar sound of his shoes hitting the top of his desk, the soft whine of his chair as he leaned back onto it. “Are you really at work?”

“What do you mean, am I really at work?” you squeaked, half horrified at the way the lazy, warm heat of lust was infiltrating your body at the sound of his voice, and the annoyance that he thought you had been lying? “Of course I am; it’s two p.m. on a Wednesday!”

“Ah, so little dove-chan is a raging pervert who engages in phone sex to bypass her long hours at work?” Hawks sighed his tone that of understanding and dismissal. You splutter. “You never fail to surprise me.”

“I do not do… that!” you stammer, your face feeling like hot cinders, your fingers and eyes double-checking to make sure that the audio was going to your earbuds and your earbuds only. You also couldn’t help the way your eyes swept around you, trying to make sure you hadn’t accidentally invited unwanted attention. “I said I was busy!”

“But, you picked up my call?”

“You said, or else!”

“Mmm, okay, I think I see,” Hawks tutted, and although you had never seen what you supposed to be his handsome face, you could imagine a lazy, toothy smirk on his face. “Don’t worry, I don’t mind using your little cubicle to talk you into fucking yourself good for me.”

Your jaw drops.

It hits the desk, and the muffled shriek of utter humiliation is only silenced because you bit onto your tongue like a rabid animal.

“Aw, you sound so excited for me already, little dove. I bet you want to know what I’m going to do to you, don’t you? I just know that I’m going to make you feel so... good…”

“Hawks!” you plea in a hushed whisper, your heart hammering where you sat frozen like a deer in headlights. Sure, you had definitely played his audios before to pass the time, but never before in your existence had you had actual phone sex. This was riskier than just listening to his audios; his audios always had a pattern, a way to escape from the madness of his voice when people were closer than you’d like. But this? No, there was no escape. “I’m at work! I c-can’t!”

“But, fuck, I want you so bad,” Hawks' voice dipped into a gravely tone, his voice just perfectly scratchy enough that your shoulders trembled in unspoken, untouched want. “I want to feel your cunt around my cock, baby, your pussy is so hot and I want to be the fucking lucky bastard that gets to fuck you through your bed.”

“O-Oh my god…”

“I’ve been thinking of what your tits look like,” Hawks continues on, his voice continuing in the style you liked the most. It was raw, heavy, and deep. No character impersonations, just him, pure Hawks. “I hope they bounce the way they do when I imagine you riding me. I want to see you moan when I kiss the underside of your tit, I want to see your face when you realize that you’re my girl, nobody's else's, but mine.”

Heat floods your panties at his words, your shallow breaths making him chuckle on the other end.

“You’d be so lucky to be just mine, wouldn’t you, little dove?” Hawks snaps, his voice demanding a response, and you heave.

You look around, no one is near, and you croak out: “I’d be so lucky.”

“Louder.”

“I’d be so lucky.”

“Mm, there we go,” Hawks laughs, and your ears prickle for any noise that may indicate that someone was listening in. “What? Are you getting nervous that your needy ass will be heard by your coworkers right now? Answer me.”

“Mhmm,” you hum loudly, your cunt pulsing with more incredible heat and your hands shaking with a slight fear of being caught.

“Aww, don’t worry, little dove. I’m sure your boss will understand that you’re my newest fucktoy and will let me continue. Maybe they’ll want to join in?”

You whimper softly, shifting in your seat at that thought. You didn’t really want your boss coming anywhere near you, he was old and gross for one, and nothing could take the place of this beautiful man's voice in your ear right now.

“Oh, was that a no? You don’t want other people fucking you, do you, y/n? I bet you only want to have my cock in your tight little pussy, bet you want to watch the way that greedy little thing sucks me in, begging for my seed. Would you want me to cum deep inside you? You would like that little dove; you’d like to be full of my cum.”

“H-Hawks,” you keen as quietly as you can, your hips shifting uncomfortably in your seat, your heart hammering in your throat. The pressing heat in your cunt is growing, your panties growing with wet slick as Hawks' voice whispers down your ear, filling every empty and void space in your brain until you were having trouble focusing on the very much public spot you were in.

Hawks let out a soft, guttural moan, and you froze, face entirely combusting into an inferno as the familiar slick slapping of his fapping cock filled your ear. Immediately, you forgot everything.

“A-Are you—?!” you splutter, unable to find the words or the energy to come up with a way to ask if he was masturbating right now. Your eyes spun, your mind in a complete haze as soft, raunchy moans spilled from his lips, striking against your nerves and soul with each successive sound.

“I’m only trying to help you out here, dove,” Hawks growled, undoubtedly in effect to a rather loud smack of his fist colliding with his thrusting hip. “You’re the little office slut who picked up a phone call to entice in phone sex. I bet you knew exactly what I was going to do, and your pathetic, needy whore self caved to my instructions.”

Your fingers curled into the armrest of your chair.

“I bet this makes your boring ass job tolerable, the perfect distraction to a shit job, then imagining a few minutes of fucking yourself against my hard cock.”

“That’s not true!”

“No?” Hawks laughed, not believing you any more than you did. “So you wouldn’t hate it if I showed up and fucked you into the wall of your cubicle? You wouldn’t mind if I claimed your sweet-smelling pussy against your desk for everyone to hear? I know you can scream like a bitch in heat. I know that pretty little cunt of yours would milk my cock dry. Oh, I just know you would look so fucking sexy with your back arched, eyes closed, and you begging for hours just to cum. You wouldn’t cum without my permission, right?”

You gasped, heart fluttering, hammering in your chest as you shook your head, not trusting yourself to speak.

“I need a verbal answer, little dove.”

The heat in your core was blistering, your thighs shaking with your unadulterated lust and need as you ground into the cushion of your chair. All logic and moral long gone as he snarled and moaned your name in your ear, the slick of his fapping cock echoing like a great bell in your ear. You wanted to hear him cum, wanted to listen to the pithering sound of his echoing moans as he spilled the contents of his balls onto his hand — and how you wished it was your womb.

“I won’t cum w-without your permission!” you whispered, your skin shivering with your fear of being caught.

“God, you sound like such a dirty fucking bitch. I bet your pussy is fucking soaked already. Bet you really want to run that slutty embarrassed finger against your clit but don’t want to be caught by your perverted coworkers,” Hawks hissed, his breaths turning into steady, heavy hot pants. You mewl softly, confirming his spoken thoughts, and he huffs out a laugh. “How many fingers do you normally shove up that pretty cunt of yours, little dove?”

“T-Three!” you gasp, your forehead pressing to the cool of your desk, your eyes glazed over and looking at the entrance of your cubicle, fervently wishing that no one tries to check on you as you grind against your stable chair. “O-Only three fit.”

“Fuck, you really do have a tight cunt, don’t you,” Hawks snaps, the wet sounds of his fisting hand around his cock a beautiful melody in your ear that makes you whine at the back of your throat. “Bet you can’t even fit cocks up your cunt without lube, huh. You gotta stay on top, or else you’ll get hurt with how thick and long my cock will be up that baby pussy of yours.”

“H-Hawks!” you grit out, the friction of grinding on the seat no longer working.

“Go to the bathroom, now,” Hawks commands, the small gasps on his voice from his approaching orgasm more than enough ammo for you to do as told.

You sprint to the bathroom, the slick of your cunt hot, and evident to you as you sped to the bathroom. Your phone clenched in your hand as you locked the door behind you, glad the room was empty. Barely managing to get yourself into the stall, the toilet paper placed on the seat as you raised your legs up, already prepared. The skirt you wore was bunched above your ass, and the panties you wore, stretching out around your knees.

“Sounds like you’re ready to start fucking that pussy for me,” Hawks laughs, but there's no humor, just bite. “Put in three fingers, now.”

Without even arguing or caring, three fingers slip into your cunt, and you cry at the feeling of your fingers completely stretching you out. The smell of sex and slick filling your nose as your fingers slick up, fucking your tight cunt as you moan louder and louder for Hawks.

“God, your fucking pussy is so fucking wet, I can hear it from here!” Hawks moans, the frantic sound of his drilling hips gaining speed and momentum.

“I want it to be you!” you moan, your face burning in your humiliation. “I want it to be you fucking my pussy, claiming me in this bathroom. I need you, Hawks, I want your cock so badly!”

“Fuck,” Hawks gasps, something tumbling in the background. “Such sweet words for a fucking dirty ass cumslut,” he growls, and your legs shake, your clit and cunt thrumming with your increasing arousal and pit of tightness in your core.

“HAWKS, FUCK!” you sob as your hips try to start a merciless speed against your fingers, your body trying to match the speed in which Hawks was fucking his own hand.

“Keep screaming my name, whore.” Hawks gasps, his noises of pleasure beginning to grow louder and louder, your eyes crossing in satisfaction. “Screaming my name like the fucking slutty mess you are. All this shit just to get me to fuck you? God, you’re so fucking pathetic y/n. Begging for me, begging for more? I think you’re my favorite little dove ever, gonna make you mine whenever I get to fuck that pussy.”

“Hawks!” you wail his name again, your arms and pussy throbbing with the energy it takes to keep up with his inhumane speeds. Your vision seeing stars as you tremble more and more, your legs slipping from the toilet seat, yet. “I am your whore, your little dove. Please let me come, please! You fuck me so well, fucking hell, please, I needa cum, I needa cum!”

“Cum with me,” he snaps, his voice so deep, so dangerously smooth. It was precisely what you needed, the voice kink you had for his tenor exactly fulfilled entirely with that simple, last command. And just like that, your jaw slackens, head slamming backward, and pleasurable waves crash through you.

Your fingers still rock at your clit, and your vice gripped walls, your toes curling within your shoes as you soundlessly scream. Hawks, on the other end, is practically snarling, voice deep and altogether dangerous as grunt after grunt leaves him, and you can imagine the milk-white cum splattered all over his chest and hand. A beautiful, perfect sight that you wish you could see for yourself.

Exhaustion settles in your bones as you sit on the toilet, still entirely exhausted as you heave for air.

“I think that was the best fucking orgasm I ever had,” you mumble, your eyes closed, not ready to stand up and move. “Thank you.”

“I’m good at what I… at what I do,” Hawks stumbles, husky exhaustion ringing in his own voice. “Now, little dove, finish up work, and I promise there’ll be a surprise waiting for you when you’re done.”

Not entirely agreeing, but not disagreeing with his command to go finish you last… two and a half hours at work, you begrudgingly said goodbye to Hawks before washing your hands and exiting the bathroom.

When five o’clock came, you watched as your phone screen lit up, and your face flushed as you read the DM from Hawks.

Hawks: this is my fav audio now ↳ hawks_littledove.mp3 but you surprised me today, so in case u ever want to have more fun sometime call me 03-9183-2495 ;)

#hawks smut #hawks x reader #bnha #bnha x reader #mha #bbs kinktober 2020

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