#the grip that this podcast has on me.

[fastidious-and-a-mess]

i love how in roughly 48 hours i’ve gone from “yeah i’ve heard good things ab batman unburied, i’ll give it a listen” to “i’ve listened to every episode at least once, including the spinoff, and i’ve read over 1/4 of the entire fandom tag on ao3 with the full intentions of going through the rest tomorrow”

[everkinshi]

Spoilers for mag 92

Jonathan Sims please try to get some sleep 🫶

[liquidch4os]

“His consciousness faded in and out like the tide. He tried to refuse their drugs, though for what purpose even he could not have said. Perhaps he was simply trying to push away the smell of disinfectant and grief that rose from his hospital bed. She was there sometimes, the one he had followed around the world. There was almost sadness in her eyes. He felt himself begin to slip, the icy certainty of what was happening seeping through his flesh, and as he fell away for the final time, he felt that all-consuming fear. And his only thought was to cry out for his mother. But with the last vestige of his stubborn will, he refused. She would not claim his last moment. He was silent.

And so Gerard Keay ended.”

Little something I scribbled after listening to MAG111. It's sloppy, but for now, I just needed to suppress my urges. I did love the episode.

[localteawizard]

"Knight in stolen armor", "Say the one thing that matters", the return of the thief without a name theme, "If you can't trust family, real family, the kind you've made out of people who've earned it ... who the hell can you trust?", the door between them again, "Then say the one thing that matters", MUSIC: VARIATION ON JUNO’S THEME.", "Where are we going?" "I don't know, but we're going together", found family troupe saves the universe, "Just hold me" "Live, dammit! Live when it's easy and live when it's hard!", one half of the ruby with each of them, "I love you, you moron", "there he is" Juno still trying to save slip even after, holding each other as the work ends around them, "everyone it thought of as its family", "a galaxy full of beauty and someone beside you to see it with"

How we feeling Penumbra fans?

[druidposting]

So gossip rags and magazines and newspapers are a common comodity in the Highest Light. All of these items (as demonstrated in appendicies) almost always have pictures attached to them, or on their covers, or between headlines.

Its also known that the incendiary imaging device is the only way to capture photos in the Midst Cosmos - this process is time consuming, lengthy, and dangerous. Its a whole ordeal every time you want your picture taken.

So what I'm thinking about is that Sev-Un-Teen appendix. Im thinking about Spahr's face plastered on the cover with that bright and shining smile. And im thinking about how many other magazines and papers and tabloids have images of him in them, because we know he was the Trust's media darling. But if its a potentialy deadly endevor to get your photo taken, i really dont think that these are actually photos of Spahr getting put on these magazines. I think theyre drawn portraits. I think a lot of the images published in Trust media are drawn portraits.

And theres a kind of horror to the idea that whatever artist is doing Spahr's portrait for the latest tabloid kind of has free reign over how they go about depicting him. They can dress him up, style his hair, do his makeup. Is there a new hairstyle trending in the Upper Trust? A piece of clothing they want repped? A specific emotion they need his face to convey? Now Spahr's depicted as wearing it, too, and he doesnt even know. He has no say in this. Its live photo shopping, but instead of just smoothing out pimples and blurring blackheads, youre building the entire image of the person from the ground up.

He's a doll to them. Something they can pose and dress and make pretty and consumable in whatever way they need.

[rustyelias]

Urrrgrgrgrgr rusty quill gaming urrgrgrg rusty quill gaming

[absoluteocellibehavior]

I am having such intense John and Noel thoughts. Fam help. They’ve taken over-

[melonpond]

before getting into it I really thought welcome to night vale was like a super creepy horror podcast, I didn't realize it was basically twilight zone but funnier and with the added bonus of making me feel like a schoolgirl kicking her feet in the air listening to Cecil talk about Carlos

[ceaseless-watchers-special-girl]

you guys. you guys you guys. i think i know what i want from the final season of the penumbra podcast. i have spent the past ten minutes pacing around my room. yesterday i read up to chapter 17 of prydon's fic separate but syncopated (https://archiveofourown.org/works/30943430/chapters/76417991) which let's be honest, you've probably read already. it's phenomenal. if you haven't, you should.

so i've been thinking. i just really want to go back to brahma. i want to go back to brahma and take down the guardian angel system.

the thing is, the junoverse is a very character driven storyline, and i love that about it. the second citadel is more event driven i think, and it was more difficult for me to get into that storyline and stick with it (i'm weak i'm sorry). for example, although the first season focuses a lot on juno solving the whole martian artefact doodah, back then the penumbra crew were still finding their feet.

then junoverse season 2 happened, and the entire point of that season was basically "get juno over his trauma" (that's why it was so long oh my god). sure, there was a whole plot with ramses and the theia souls, but i think we can all agree that was secondary to juno's character development.

next, season 3. season 3 is definitely character driven, you literally can't deny it. it focuses on each member of the carte blanche in turn, and it uses the plot, finding the curemother prime, as a secondary tool to further the true point of the season: getting to know the characters.

season 4 i'm a little less certain about because i'm typing this post straight into tumblr fresh out of my brain (if anyone wants to help out with the analysis i'd love that). but i think the point of season 4 is to test and showcase the bonds of the carte blanche with each other, and juno rescuing them all is not only a good story, but also a good way to show off the relationships they built in season 3. his relationship with nureyev is shown through periodic reading of the journal, and juno's copious inner monologues (i say like i'm one to talk when all of these thoughts are swirling around in my own head).

then, season 5. the point of this season mirrors that of season 2, but this time, we need to get nureyev over his trauma. this is way trickier, because we're not inside nureyev's head, we're still in juno's. it's still character driven because the aim is to help nureyev, but the plot is given by juno having to chase him across the galaxy. hence, juno's hesitation when he finally finds nureyev.

well, steel, you've caught him. now what the hell are you going to do with him?

there is no plot to drive the character study anymore. our goal was to help nureyev, and juno (poor juno) has done all he can. the ball falls squarely into nureyev's court now, and juno has no say in the plot of the rest of the story. this is why i have been chewing myself alive since the last episode — we know what's next for the characters emotionally, but we have absolutely zero idea what's happening next plot-wise. it's killing me.

(what was the point of this post again?)

OH WAIT I'VE GOT IT. so. since our whole thing for this season is helping nureyev, and we all want him to go batshit fucking insane, i really want nureyev to go back to brahma, and finish what he started two decades ago. i think it's the perfect circular story arc to keep them occupied while nureyev heals emotionally from the fallout from everything going on with slip.

also, sorry to get real for a second, but i've just been tearing myself apart being morally outraged at the world we live in, and the fact that i'm barely able to do anything about it. maybe one day i could, but until then, it would be nice to see my favourite space gays set an example.

now, i know there's complications with this. nureyev refused to take the guardian angel system down in the first place because of the damage it would cause, and i'm willing to bet he hasn't excised that moral core just yet, no matter how hard he's trying. but i'm sure they can find a way to make it work. they have rita, after all!!

they're definitely hinting at a homecoming arc for juno. i think nureyev needs one too, is all.

[vanigoghhomeplease]

hello from the hallowoods is like the opposite of cosmic horror because you get to listen to an eldritch god slowly become more and more human

[teepussilakana]

tmagp silly theory below

colin becher better appear doctor Ock style with wires instead of tentacles

he better appear period

if they find him and he is just filled with wires-

[sleepy-energy]

LOSING MY MIND RIPPING STUFF OFF THE WALLS OMG WHAT ???

THE RUBY 7 BEING SOME FUNKY SPACE GUY?!

SASHA AIMING TO KILL JUNO!!!

CUREMOTHER PRIME FUCKING GONE?!

PETER IS FUCKING GONE AGAIN???!

EVERYONE IS CAPTURED

IM LITERALLY LOSING MY MIND

I'm trying so hard to be normal in the middle of my class. NO ONE CAN KNOW. I HAVE PLACES TO BE AFTER THIS AND I HAVE TO ACT LIKE A FUNCTIONING MEMBER OF SOCIETY AFTER THAT ????

The way this podcast constantly makes me lose my mind is INSANE.

I genuinely can't tell if this is hitting me harder than monsters reflection. Banger after banger story arcs. I literally can't focus on one thing right now like my mind is jumping from place to place so hard omg!

Literally me rn

[roguecanoe]

Those Blue Eyes

[bittershins]

hate getting whammied with story-brain and reaching the point where I need to change my phone homescreen just so I can carry a little guy around in my pocket

[stoleyourgender]

i apologize to all my mutuals for the redval reblogging insanity that I've been on all of yesterday evening and today morning. I spent all morning looking through every single post in the bryony halbech tag and I have no regrets

[ikigaisvt]

listening to seungcheol's live and im just so :( thinking about his lil blonde hair and his pretty smile and his pretty voice im just so in love with this man