#the happy medium

[iviarellereads]

A Wrinkle In Time, Chapter 6 - The Happy Medium

(THIS PROJECT IS SPOILER FREE! No spoilers past the chapter you click on. Curious what I'm doing here? Read this post! For the link index for the Time Quintet, read this one! Like what you see? Send me a Ko-Fi.)

In which those don't sound like very useful tools for this sort of rescue mission.

Everyone watches the crystal ball as it moves to another place, still in the Milky Way, where a planet is overcoming the Darkness, and overcomes it fully, returning the planet to peace. Mrs Whatsit, however, is sad about it. When Charles asks, Mrs Whatsit says that was a victory, but a star had to give its life in the process. Mrs Which asks if Mrs Whatsit's incident was recent, and Charles observes aloud that she was a star, then, who did just what they just saw for another place.(1) Charles Wallace offers an embrace and a kiss on the cheek, which Mrs Whatsit accepts. Meg would offer, but feels it would be anticlimactic after Charles.

The Happy Medium slowly falls asleep and starts snoring, sitting up and all. Meg starts asking what's next, but Mrs Who quotes that "[w]alls have ears", and Mrs Whatsit agrees, they should go outside. The Medium wakes and asks if they were leaving without saying goodbye, she was going to offer them refreshments. Mrs Whatsit says they should be going, but Meg realizes how hungry she is. Charles Wallace tells her in a whisper that the Mrs don't need to eat the way humans do.(2)

The Medium offers to do something nice, since the children had to see such horrible things. Meg asks to see her father, but Mrs Which is very clear that they're going there soon enough. The Medium offers to show her mother, then, which Mrs Whatsit says should be fine. Meg asks for Calvin to see his mother, too, and she's not sure if his reaction is "thanks or apprehension". Mrs Which thinks it's a mistake, but allows it all.

Meg asks for Calvin's mother first, but when the Medium zooms into her, she's committing child abuse.(3) The Medium apologizes, and Meg reaches out to Calvin to comfort him, thinking how just yesterday she'd have laughed at anyone who said she'd be doing it now for someone like Calvin, but now it feels as natural as it would to comfort her brother.

Next, the Medium shows Mrs. Murry, writing another letter, probably to Mr. Murry. She lets herself sink into her deep unhappiness, in a way she never lets the children see.

And now the desire for tears left Meg. The hot, protective anger she had felt for Calvin when she looked into his home she now felt turned toward her mother.(4)

Mrs Whatsit murmurs about Mrs Which being right again, and the Medium wails that she only meant to help. Meg reassures her that she really did help, because now Meg's mad, and there's no room for being scared anymore. The Medium, asks the children all to kiss her goodbye, for luck, and asks where they're going so she can watch over them. Mrs Whatsit says they're off to Camazotz, and for the Medium not to upset herself watching a dark planet, but the Medium wants to know what happens to the children, of course. As she falls asleep again, they leave quietly.

Outside, Mrs Which says they must not be frightened, and Mrs Whatsit reminds Meg to stay angry.(5) And, they tesser once more, to Camazotz, which I'm probably going to misspell at least once.

Mrs Whatsit says that the Mrs won't be able to stay, or speak to them, or help, but they can provide small gifts. She gives Calvin a greater strength to his ability to communicate with people, and she gives Meg all her faults, which she will find more useful here, much as she resents them. All she can give Charles is "the resilience of [his] childhood." Mrs Who gives Calvin a hint in the form of a quote from Shakespeare's The Tempest,(6) and Charles one in the form of Goethe which is much more straightforward. But, to Meg, she leaves her glasses, to be used only in "the final moment of peril." Mrs Which simply gives them all a command: go into the town, and do not let themselves be separated.

Charles is confident he can protect Meg, but Mrs Whatsit cautions that Charles faces the greatest danger because of his abilities. He should be particularly cautious of "pride and arrogance". Charles says he's afraid, and Mrs Whatsit says only a fool wouldn't be. Meg, her voice trembling with her own fear, says they should get going, so they do.(7)

The three children enter the town, which is uncanny. Every house is just the same, Meg is even sure they have the same number of the same flowers as each other. The children of each house are playing, all bouncing their balls exactly in sync. Every mother opens the door at the same time to call them back inside. All but one boy, whose ball bounces erratically, and is lost to him. Our three are unsettled AF, but Charles wants to investigate, and Calvin refuses to split the party.

Charles gets the ball and rings the doorbell at the boy's house, and they hear the sound echo down the street. Every door opens at the same time, and every mother's head pops out to listen. The mother of the boy in question is confused, it's not time for the paper delivery, milk delivery's already come, and all her papers are in order. Charles says the boy dropped his ball, and offers it back. The mother is horrified, children on this street don't drop their balls, not ever. Not a single capital-letter Aberration in three years!

Leaning past the mother, despite her protests, Charles offers the ball to the boy, who's about his own age. The boy darts forward to grab it, and runs off. The woman pales and slams the door, followed by every other door up and down the street. Charles couldn't get a read on them, and wonders aloud what they're all so afraid of.

They continue forward, and run into a paper boy on his route, riding a strange combination bicycle-motorcycle. He's curious why they don't know the rules, that they're out when only route boys are allowed. Charles notes that he's quoting from something for his listed regulations.

"The Manual, of course," the boy said. "We are the most oriented city on the planet. There has been no trouble of any kind for centuries. All Camazotz knows our record. That is why we are the capital city of Camazotz. That is why CENTRAL Central Intelligence is located here. That is why IT makes ITs home here." There was something about the way he said "IT" that made a shiver run up and down Meg's spine.(8)

Charles asks where Central Intelligence is, and the boy corrects him, CENTRAL Central Intelligence, before saying they can't miss it if they keep on this road. He starts to ask if they're really not from around here, but Charles asks if the boy should be asking questions, which makes him go pale just like the woman did, and send them on their way.

So, on they continue again, discussing somewhat heatedly what to do next. Charles thinks they should go right to CENTRAL Central Intelligence, as that's surely where Mr. Murry is being held. Calvin is more concerned with how the mother and the paper boy were both very clear about having papers in order, perhaps they need passports or something. But Charles insists, if they needed anything, the Mrs would have provided it.(9)

Charles explains that he's sure they're not robots, they have minds, he just can't access them. He tries one last time.

The three of them stood there very quietly. The doors kept opening and shutting, opening and shutting, and the stiff people hurried in and out, in and out, walking jerkily like figures in an old silent movie. Then, abruptly, the stream of movement thinned. There were only a few people and these moved more rapidly, as if the film had been sped up. One white-faced man in a dark suit looked directly at the children, said, "Oh, dear, I shall be late," and flickered into the building. "He's like the white rabbit,"(10) Meg giggled nervously.

Charles is distraught that he can't reach the people, and then that he might not recognize his father. Meg insists, on the latter count, that he'll recognize his father just like he recognizes Meg, without needing to see her, because he can sense her. This is just what Charles needed to hear, and he's ready to move forward.

Before they go, though, Calvin reminds them of how he was in their path because he had a good feeling he had to be there, just then, to meet them. Well, now he has an opposite feeling, that they're walking into great danger.

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(1) I know some people get annoyed at this sort of explanation, and want the text to trust the reader to figure some things out. I can go either way: sometimes a story that does subtlety and subtext works for me (see: The Locked Tomb) but other times I want a story that doesn't make me work so hard to understand. (2) Never to be addressed again in this chapter, naturally. (3) The story doesn't seem to support the abuse, but there's also… there's not really an indication that it should be stopped. Perhaps we could say, it's a side effect of the Darkness? It feels icky in a way that only feels half intentional to me. (4) This sort of character resonates down through the ages, but the other one that first comes to my mind is Tiffany Aching of the Discworld, who I unfortunately only met as an adult but nevertheless spoke to some of the same parts of me as Meg once did and still does. (5) Not always the best advice, it requires nuance. Don't fight your anger, but find ways to use it that aren't destructive as much as possible. March at protests, make phone calls or write letters to your representatives in government, research and write sourced posts about issues that matter to you. You can't let it eat you up and you can't let it hurt the people around you. But, it's still kind of revolutionary to see any children's book acknowledging that anger isn't inherently bad. (6) The quote is about Ariel, the spirit servant of Prospero the magician. The Tempest is full of illusions, the island is run by Prospero who manipulates the wills of others, and Ariel was imprisoned in the pine where he remains, and Mr. Murry is imprisoned here on Camazotz which parallels the lot. (7) And Meg, of course, is no fool. (8) And it's not just the old Stephen King book or either of the adaptations it's had, since that was written WAY later than this. Funny how many authors in history have chosen to simply capitalize a non-person pronoun as a villain. I have neither affinity nor distaste for the use of it/its for myself or others, but thinking about it seriously as a person-pronoun takes away some of its horrifying consequence as a villain-name. And, use of it as a villain-name reinforces the distaste most people have for it as a person-pronoun. (9) Which raises questions as to how they knew what would be needed. (10) Alice in Wonderland, a touchstone I assume most people are familiar with but still worth establishing just in case.

[world-of-izaver]

hrnnngggggg design is hard

[astronomodome]

The way I think about bdubs is funny because like he’s like an old man you take an art class from over the summer between 9th and 10th grade and he’s very nice and kind about it and his skills make you look like a toddler drawing with crayon comparatively. He drives you home one day after your mom’s car breaks down and the advice he gives you changes the course of your life forever. And then I watch one of his life serieses and it’s just like what a gaslighting little fuck you are. Killing and exploding him in my mind

[lylahammar]

Zorella, the centaur pop queen ✨

Thank you to everyone who helped me by voting on her final design in the poll from last week! I'm so so so happy with how she turned out 🥰

[b4kuch1n]

podcast people in my phone

[nelkcats]

The Medium and his assistant

Amity Park was a roller coaster, but after eliminating the GIW, talking to the Fentons, and getting some sort of alliance with the ghosts, Danny felt like he didn't have much else to do. He took Ellie's advice to travel a bit, but tried to make it a little more exciting.

Although the money he had been given could last forever (and longer with Vlad's card in his pocket), he wanted to earn his own money. So he made his trip a fun job, turning part of his vehicle into a trailer. Thus was born his career as a medium and fortune teller, traveling around the world, listening to the dead, advising people, etc.

Technically, thanks to Clockwork Danny could see the future, but he doesn't need it, or at least not always. And talking to the dead was practically his day-to-day, so he thought he had chosen well.

During one of his trips, when he passed through Gotham he found a zombie (which turned out to be a halfa!), the poor thing was lost, and wandering, so he helped him and did the most sensible thing possible: he offered him a job. Jason, who hadn't been back for a long time and his memories were scrambled, decided that he needed a vacation anyway, for his own sanity (not seeing the Joker's face was a bonus) and accepted the offer. Of course, he covered his face in case someone recognized him as the son of a millionaire, Danny approved.

Both traveled around the world, offering their services and bothering a certain Constantine who complained every time they had the same client (Danny replied that it really wasn't his fault, but the British man was still upset). A year later they returned to Gotham.

The Batfam assumed that Danny's business was a scam. But Bruce was desperate, he wanted to talk with Jason, to hear about him, even if it was a scam, so he visited them. When Danny asked who he wanted to contact, Bruce replied "Jason Todd."

Danny, who knew full well the identity of his employee, raised an eyebrow and glanced surreptitiously at his assistant, who was avoiding his gaze. He sighed before continuing his 'work', glancing at Jay from time to time.

A few days later, Dick Grayson showed up with the same request, and Danny made sure to kick Jason as soon as he left.

[ahhrenata]

he’s forgotten what he was going to ask

but when faced with a sweaty, post-training thorin, who can blame him 😅

[buttercupshands]

Halloween Siffrin!! A vampire one too!!

My mind started thinking about isat while listening to hi3 7.0 trailer and so this idea stuck until I was home

Timelapse under the cut

I was struggling to choose if I'll add music or not, but too tired to re-edit you get the music version, it's ISAT OST music by Studio Thumpy Puppy Floor 2 to be specific

[alternativeulster]

tbh i dont think the finale was as complicated as everyone makes it out to be. sutekh is a viewer, just like us. hes obsessed with the "mystery". ruby's mum isn't the reason it snows, or the reason that christmas eve 2004 is "raw and open" and keeps changing. its sutekhs obsession. he gave that night its importance by building it up and obsessing over the answer to the one question he couldnt find, in the same way that we did. we gave rubys abandonment its huge significance with all our theories and our desperate need to understand. in a way, we are sutekh. voyeurs of a deeply personal moment that we never had any right to. building ruby into a mystery when shes really just a person. shes special because we believe she is. time is memory.

[intotheelliwoods]

them. Take them. The sillies

[iviarellereads]

A Wrinkle In Time, Chapter 5 - The Tesseract

(THIS PROJECT IS SPOILER FREE! No spoilers past the chapter you click on. Curious what I'm doing here? Read this post! For the link index for the Time Quintet, read this one! Like what you see? Send me a Ko-Fi.)

In which we start getting answers.

Mrs Which says that Mr. Murry is on the other side of the darkness. Meg starts crying, loudly. Mrs Whatsit comforts her, saying they wouldn't have come this far if there was no hope. He needs help and courage, and his children may spur him to do what he can't alone. Mrs Which wants to get underway to get behind the shadow as well, but Mrs Whatsit assures them they'll be tessering in stages. But, when she asks if they understand, Meg says no.

Mrs Whatsit and Charles try a few different methods to try to explain. First is how a modern reader has likely encountered wormhole theory,(1) like folding a piece of paper to pass directly from one to the other instead of crossing the whole paper. Then, Charles Wallace says Mrs. Murry, when he kept at her while Meg was at school, told him to think about it this way: the single dimension is a line, two dimensions make a square, three make a cube. The fourth we can't really conceptualize but it's broadly considered to be the passage of time. Only, to travel, one must pass through a fifth dimension.

Just for a moment, Meg finally gets it, enough that she's no longer resistant to the process. So, they tesser across another stretch… but they land in a two-dimensional world!(2) They're moved on again before any major damage can be done, but Charles is furious at the mistake until he's sure it was an accident.

They've stopped on a planet in Orion's Belt, where they have a friend and can get a look at Earth. Meg asks when they can go home, and worries about her mother, but Mrs Whatsit assures Meg that they wrinkled time as well as space, so they won't be missing at all.(3)

Calvin remarks that they can't exactly see much of the planet, and Meg finally notices that they're surrounded by thick fog. Mrs Whatsit suggests they walk to where they're going from here, it'll do everyone good. Soon they come to a cave, where Mrs Whatsit says the Happy Medium works, and oh, the children will love her.

Mrs Which comments that Mrs Whatsit is talking so much, even for one so young. Calvin asks her age, and she says she's "2,379,152,497 years, 8 months, and 3 days" old.(4)

They enter the cave, and soon see flickering light. Mrs Whatsit says they asked the Happy Medium to have a bonfire going, to help keep it warm enough for the children. When they finally meet her,(5) Mrs Whatsit asks her to show them Earth. The Happy Medium asks why they should look at something so unpleasant, but Mrs Which tells her there won't be pleasant things to look at if someone doesn't do something about the darkness.

So, the Happy Medium zooms her crystal ball in to view Earth, shrouded in the shadow. Meg asks if it's only come since they left, but no, Mrs Whatsit says it's been there a long time. They all hate it, and when Meg asks what happens next, Mrs Which says, they will continue to fight. This heartens the children, and Mrs Whatsit adds that there are people all over the cosmos helping too, and people throughout human history have been fighting as well. They start naming famous figures, starting of course with Jesus, and especially focusing on white ones.(6)

Meg asks where they're going, and Mrs Which says, to her father, on a planet that's given in to the darkness. Then, the Happy Medium bids the children watch something else, making to change the image in her crystal ball.(7)

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(1) L'Engle surely wasn't the only one to be writing about this stuff, but so many of the concepts that were revolutionary in the 1960s are so commonplace now, as to not necessarily need these explanations at all except for quite young readers. And, I still think it's kind of fun to see wormhole theory right alongside such deep Christianity. (2) Not literally possible in our universe, but nice try. Also, who could have seen this coming after the dimension talk? (3) Do you see what she did there? (4) Certainly, we have no concept of how long aliens might live. (5) Well, Meg has finally found a Happy Medium, though perhaps not the one everyone kept suggesting she look for. (6) Yep, that's children's lit in 1962 for you. (7) Now, that's no place to end a chapter!

[johnwickfucker]

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[horsegirlrehab]

the hole at the center of everything

[flowerakatsuka]

hello, my fellow karamatsu comrades.

⛔ BLMATSU / PROSHIPPERS DNI!! ⛔

[church-of-crayak]

hes so easy to draw

[parasolladyansy]

Sorry if you've answered this! In the Scarlet x Violet, Ansy and Ikirit are in the uniforms which implies they are taking classes there. Is there a reason they decided to?

Also if they instead were going to teach a course there, what course do you think each of them would teach?

(Hey, NP! Part of your question involves something that didn’t make it in the Scarlet x Violet highlights post anyways - gives me an excuse to share it! ^_^)

For your first question, I sorta answered in the last panel of one of the multi-panel comics I made for SxV:

When Ansy & Ikrit were separated & ended up on the Scarlet & Violet timelines respectively, they could still keep in touch via their Rotom Phones for a mysterious reason that may or may not show up again in DxP - they figured out their situation together, & decided to go to Naranja / Uva Academy. There, their respective Director Clavel offered a place at his Academy in order to make them less conspicuous, & seeing as there are literal senior citizens in class with the player (canonically about middle-school aged), their being in their 30’s wasn’t that odd lol. XD

As for your second question, meet Ms. Ansy & Mr. Ikrit (& helpers!)

Going off what the mister & I majored in school, Ansy would’ve worked under Professor Hassel in Art while Ikrit would just straight teach Astrophysics (&/or Astronomy, as Ikrit canonically works for a meteoriticist). As Ms. Ansy assists in a pretty hands-off subject that already has a very capable professor (honestly, she probably would just sub when he’s serving as a member of the Elite 4), she could easily make her way around Paldea between classes. Mr. Ikrit had a similar arrangement, but for a different reason: as his subject is very specific & very advanced, he doesn’t have a lot of students, & so would have plenty of free time to solve Paldea’s mysteries.

Honestly I really wish we had an option to be students or not, or at least not have to wear school uniforms - felt very kid-coded, & if we didn’t have to have uniforms, we could’ve used our imaginations. At least I got to use it for a joke eventually lol XD