#there might be other reasons this is a bad hypothesis

[a-commas-a-pause]

# also like # from a scientific standpoint # if your hypothesis is ''psychic powers arent real'' # (which is a bad hypothesis but thats beside the point) # then the next step is to try and prove that they are real # thats kinda how it works # like you dont try to prove your hypothesis right. you try to prove it wrong # so investing in research trying to prove the existence of them is a logical step # like # the only reason we can confidently say ''psychic powers arent real'' is because we cannot prove they are real # like unless you have other evidence to bring to the table? # and i know people will say like ''oh it's common sense'' # but common sense has been proven wrong many times over # and like this isnt to say that the CIA was following standard experimental protocol # i dont know if they did # but if you want to confidently state psychic powers arent real you need to try and prove they are real first

Peer reviewed (especially applicable in this context!) tags via @listen-to-the-inner-walrus.

And if you're wondering why it's a bad hypothesis - I don't know what Kai was thinking of, but what jumps out to me is that it's a negative! You can't prove a negative (a famous example is "God isn't real"), because there's no way to prove the absence of something - there's always the argument "but what if you didn't look hard enough" and no matter how hard you look, you could always have looked harder. So the burden of proof is always on the person asserting the presence of something, not the person asserting its absence. (See Russell's teapot for a very snarky atheist example. It's very debatable whether it's fair to apply the "burden of proof" argument to religion specifically - I'm not going to comment on that. We're talking about the scientific method specifically here. If you don't think it applies in the case of faith/belief (very valid, I agree) then don't invoke it!)

In this case, the appropriate way to come at the problem in a frequentist mindset (I'm not good enough at Bayesian statistics to even try to open that can of worms, but that's ok, almost no scientist is 😭) is to take "psychic powers don't exist" as our null hypothesises, H0, and "psychic powers do exist" as our alternative hypothesis, H1. And then we design experiments which allow us to try and prove H1, i.e. prove (to a statistically significant margin) that psychic powers do exist.

And at least so far, no one has been able to convincingly prove H1 in this case. Or, if they have, they haven't published it.

"You say that psychic powers aren't real. But then why did the CIA invest millions of dollars in parapsychological research during the Cold War?" I don't know how to tell you this, but the CIA are dumb.

[locusfandomtime]

Doing the maths: Grian's failure at getting a mending book

lots of talk about maths and probabilities below the cut! but there's a graph and simple explanation at the end if you want to get the gist of it and are bad at maths.

(I am still young and learning maths, critique/advice always welcomed)

What are the odds of getting a mending book in Minecraft?

(I am assuming Grian has been doing all his fishing with Luck of the Sea 3)

The probability of a mending book is actually a bit annoying to estimate. The Minecraft Wiki lists fishing up an enchanted book as 1.9% chance. This is for ANY enchanted book. The Minecraft wiki talks about how the chance of an enchantment being selected is calculated. Mending has a weight of 2. Using the table, mending has a probability of 2/135.

However, Grian is looking for any book with mending, not just a pure mending book. Additional enchantments are calculated in a different way, involving RNG, which means it won't be as easy to model. Due to this reason, I'll just be using the odds for a pure mending book throughout.

TLDR: a mending book has a 0.028..% chance (2/135*0.019*100)

Grian's Data

According to this screenshot, Grian has used a fishing rod 5679 times. This number may not be fully accurate, as it includes the times he's fished other players, rather than just fished for items, but it is a good estimate.

To help visualise this data, with a median waiting time between catches of 17.5 seconds, Grian has spent over 20 hours fishing so far! He may have a problem.

Is this statistically significant?

Hypothesis testing (p-value approach):

H0: p = 19/67500 (the null hypothesis - he has no mending books because of chance)

H1: p < 19/67500 (the alternate hypothesis - he has no mending books due to different odds)

5679 trials, 0 mending books

X ~ B(5679, 19/67500) (binomial distribution, 5679 tries with a probability of a mending book being 19/67500, where X is the number of mending books)

p(X=0) (what is the probability the number of mending books being 0)

p = 0.2021473392

Now, the point at which data becomes significant is subjective. For instance, you *could* get a million heads in a row flipping a coin, it's not impossible, but at a certain point, you can begin to say "okay there's something not normal about this". For this approach, the closer the p-value is to 0, the more evidence there is against the null hypothesis . The p-value here is far above a significance level of 0.01, or 0.05, or 0.1. There isn't a clear line between significant/non-significant, but this is answer is quite a bit far from 0

With this, I cannot reject the null hypothesis.

Personal conclusion: this is not statistically significant, Grian is just unlucky.

Are other values statistically significant?

Gem's proposed 9000: results in a p-value of 0.079... more significant than Grian's number but I don't imagine Mojang would be too concerned. As said though, it's all subjective.

I am bad at maths, what does all this mean?

Here is a graph, showing what number of mending books you might have after 5679 tries. The height of the bar represents the probability of getting that amount. The numbers at the top are the (rounded) numbers I used in my calculation

The pink column is 0 mending books - like what Grian has! As you can see, it is less likely than getting 1 or 2 books, but not too uncommon to happen.

End conclusion: Grian has bad luck. Like, not as hilariously bad as he thinks, but still bad. If he keeps going, chances are he will get a mending book, but I think he should probably stop fishing because at this point he has a problem.

[thecosmicangel]

It’s the law of ASSUMPTION not the law of believing it, so no you don’t necessarily have to believe it for it to true. And you are not new to manifesting you have been doing it your whole life.

Really think about it, why would we need to work hard or be deserving of something to have it? If that where the case then “bad people” wouldn’t have the money or lifestyle that they have. Do you think that if we had to be deserving of things, good people would suffer? Did they deserve the bad things to happen?Since we been born we have been programmed with limiting viewpoint and beliefs saying things like

“Good things take time”

“You have to work hard to earn it”

You have to deserve it

If it’s meant to be it will be

It will happen in divine timing

You have to be completely healed to have it

You have to be vibrating at a high frequency

You have to be positive all the time

You have to be patient, everything happens for a reason

Or you have to be logical , be realistic

And so much more. This is why you can make up your own rules because everyone else is, everyone decided what they choose to believe / assume to be true for them and based on that they experience their reality.

Just because we are born and exist is enough proof and validation for why we deserve to have what we want. We have those desires and dreams for a reason. We were created to experience all of our desires. Do you really think we were born to work a horrible or boring job everyday for the rest of our lives? Do you think you were born to suffer ? Do you think you were just born to desire stuff but not get them? No we were born to experience being god in our own way, by creating our own realities. Creating our own heaven in earth.

Stop limiting yourself by thinking you have to wait,or that you have to earn it. God doesn’t wait , so why would we have to wait? If we were meant to wait we wouldn’t have a burning desire for what we want, that in itself is proof that the desire is waiting on you to accept it and make it yours!!! The bad/ unwanted circumstance we create didn’t have to wait so why does the good or our desires have to wait? I’ll show you how it’s irrelevant to wait , say you want a certain shirt, jeans or whatever that you know is available at a store, well you know you have everything you need to buy it so you will order it or go to the store and buy it because you want it, you are not waiting around to see if the shirt wants you or if some other power wants you to have it, you simply decide you are buying it because you want it. I mean unless you want to procrastinate and overthink if you really want it or not then yeah it might take you sometime to decide on buying the shirt, but it’s all the same thing. Nothing is harder or easier to manifest everything is neutral and only based on your assumptions if it’s hard or easy.

Everything starts of with an idea or thought. Think about all the inventions in the world, someone had that idea and made it happen. Even science is based on ideas/ observations, they start of with a hypothesis.

Your desires are manifesting you, they are calling on you or else you wouldn’t want them ( the desire is calling you, not you calling it, so pick up the phone and answer the call) your desires are here and available for you the second you become aware of them it’s just waiting on you to take it & accept it. Trust that they can happen instantly too, make an assumption/rule on how long it takes for you to manifest things. Create your own rules and what it takes to manifest without doubting it. Do you just want to affirm or assume once and that’s all? Because really that is all you need to do and not contradict it and it will manifest.

If you want to see how it works try it out with something you know you can manifest, for example when I would doubt my power I would set up little test for me, “I would say today I want to see a purple Lamborghini” not even 5 minutes later I would see a purple Lamborghini. Another day I would say I want to see “xyz” I would be as descriptive as I wanted and then I would see it later on that day. This just helped me understand and see proof of how my mind works and how easy it is to manifest. So if you’re having trouble understanding the law try this little experiment out for yourself. The same way I could manifest seeing the things I wanted for my experiment is the same way I could manifest everything else, now the thing is to not contradict myself and stick to one story and it will inevitably be.

-xoxo, the cosmic angel ⭐️🪽

[creature-wizard]

Info For Beginner Witches!

This is basically a masterpost for content relevant to new witches. A lot of it of it's stuff I wrote but I'll also link to material written by other people if I think it's useful.

Practice & Technique

Magical Correspondences 101

Closet Witchcraft: How To Get Witchy When You Can't Come Out Of The Broom Closet

How To Practice: Divination With Dice!

An approach to deity/entity work for the sort of people this sort of thing would work for

Manifestation Without Woo (a compassionate psychological approach to manifestation)

Non-Competitive Affirmations

No, you can't tell anything about a person from their natal chart.

A Brief Introduction to Energy Work

Energy Work On The Body: Hittin' The Right Spots For Tension Relief

Research & Critical Thinking

Critical Thinking: Definition, Examples, & Skills

Caution & Critical Thinking In Divination

10 Questions To Distinguish Real From Fake Science

"A weird thing just happened, does this mean anything? Is it an omen?"

Practicing discernment: Some ways of testing and ruling out the mundane

Research Tip: Remember the Five W's!

How conspiracy peddlers and cult recruiters make you feel like you're "thinking for yourself" when you're actually not

Remember a Previous Life? Maybe You Have a Bad Memory

Why fighting pseudohistory matters

Scams, Hoaxes, Conspiracy Theories, & Cults Everyone Should Know About

On people who assert "things are done this way for a reason!"

Dogmatism is not the solution to cultural appropriation

Some beliefs you might have to deconstruct as an ex-Christian

Avoiding Harmful Stuff & Staying Safe

Recognizing the difference between real history and pseudohistory

Is the spiritual person a conspiracy theorist? A list of red flags

List of red flags to watch out for when joining a coven or online group

Beware of charisma mirrors

When your right to say no is entirely hypothetical

Dog whistles and symbols to watch out for

Eugenicist and bioessentialist beliefs about magic

What is spiritual eugenics?

Toxic Individualism In Modern Witchcraft

New Age beliefs that derive from racist pseudoscience

The Ancient Astronaut Hypothesis is Racist and Harmful

Allyship does not mean seeing yourself as worthless

The rules about responding to call outs aren’t working

History

Debunking the Pervasive Myths About Medieval Witch Hunts

Debunking Myths About Easter/Ostara

Just How Pagan is Christmas, Really?

The Origins of the Christmas Tree

No, Santa Claus Is Not Inspired By Odin

Why Prehistoric Matriarchy Wasn’t a Thing (A Brief Explanation)

Why Did The Patriarchal Greeks And Romans Worship Such Powerful Goddesses?

No, Athena Didn't Turn Medusa Into A Monster To Protect Her

Who Was the First God?

Were Ancient Civilizations Conservative Or Liberal?

PODCAST RECS - Debunking and Fact-Checking for Witches & Witchcraft Spaces

Angela's Symposium (YouTube channel about modern esotericism and witchcraft by Dr. Angela Puca)

ESOTERICA (YouTube channel about the history of Western esotericism by Dr. Justin Sledge)

ReligionForBreakfast (YouTube channel about religion run by Dr. Andrew Henry)

Let's Talk Religion (YouTube channel run by Filip Holm, lots of Islamic content but also lots of other stuff)

OceanKeltoi (Norse Heathenry)

Jackson Crawford (Norse Heathenry)

Conservation & Ecology

The Migratory Bird Treaty Act, Explained (all USian witches should read this, it most likely affects you)

How the Rage for Sage Threatens Native American Traditions and Recipes

(This post is unrebloggable because I plan to use it as a reference post to link, and may add/remove things to it over time.)

[legend-as-old-as-time]

Inspired by @muaka-safari's analysis of Vakama's relation to anger.

My hypothesis: Nokama, while stressed too about fulfilling her duty, has a different core issue in relation to it. Rather than the aspect of fulfilling a command by her leader, she constantly thinks of her behavior. For her, her conduct is part of her duty.

She has to act a certain way. She has to be in a certain way, or she is failing.

Which makes sense. She is a teacher, after all. She has to be a role model for her students. But what if it went deeper than that?

Nokama puts a lot of stock in order, reflecting her Metru and the vahki assigned to this metru: The bordakh. These vahki carry staffs of loyalty that instill uncompromising desire for social order.

Official material depicting in-universe information describes Ga-Metru in a very flattering light. It's the city's spiritual center and said to be favored by Mata Nui himself.

None of the Ga-Metru hold any jobs in terms of repair, manifacturing, or engineering. Matoran from other Metru do these jobs for them. Ga-Metru is privileged.

But like with everything in Metru Nui, this is only one side. The side most would think about first, whether as good or bad. The other one of this reputation means that all ga-matoran must be peaceful, right? They are orderly, spiritual, wise, etc. Otherwise Mata Nui wouldn't love their Metru as much.

Ooof. Of course, some would feel arrogant about that. But mostly, that'd be a lot of pressure. If you're the favorite of the city's most important person - your God - then you have to show it that you're showing reasons why you're the favorite? And keep it up all the time?

I doubt all ga-matoran took it that deeply to heart, but some of them likely did. They have to act responsibly. Among them is Nokama.

Remember what I said farther up in the post that she thinks she has to act in and be a certain way? We see it regularly.

Nokama in the movie and in the movie's novelization [[gave the Po-Matoran a sharp look. “Your negativity pollutes this sanctuary, builder.”]]

She snaps at Matau and tells him they have to take their duties as toa seriously.

She scolds herself after she argues with Vakama in the Archives. Never mind that it's a genuinely stressful situation and the others barely ever consider that they themselves need to make an effort to argue less. In my reading it felt like she deemed it more a moral failing of hers rather than a practical concern?

She tries to mentor Vakama and steer him into the direction of being leader. We're never given a concrete in-universe reason. (Out-of-universe, the writers clearly pushed the fire toa into the leader role.) But maybe Nokama saw it as her duty and responsibility to keep teaching in the one way she could, if she wouldn't teach matoran anymore? (Not to mention that's the only connection to her old life that she still has.)

She asserts that she's a toa in the comics when Nidhiki mocks her, Matau, and Vakama to be overgrown matoran.

Feeling rejected by the Great Temple when she enters it as Toa Hordika deals a heavy blow to her. She feels impure, as if she's longer fit as she is to serve the Great Spirit in his regard.

She has a rage breakdown, yelling that "She's still a toa!"

On the other end, Nokama notably has moments as Toa Hordika, while she's trying to calm down and find stability with Gaaki's help, where she doesn't seem to care about her previous high standards anymore. She feels tempted to give into her hordika side and is much more reckless, less thinking about how she acts as a toa.

She also makes an effective and chaotic team with Matau. As @crystaltoa pointed it out, they both are now "hold my beer" types, while they act about each other as "I can't take you anywhere with me!"

As if the transformation into a hordika beast, which looks nothing like a toa's supposed to, has freed Nokama from a great weight.

(@crystaltoa She might still think back on the Great Temple, however, and wonder if the stain on her from being transformed into a Toa Hordika remains.)

[featherwingfae]

Gonna try to make this a "Quick post".

(warning some light swearing)

Maybe, just maybe one of the reasons we're seeing so many new Therians nowadays is because humans have fucked up the earth so bad that the universe just went fuck it and threw in a bunch of nature brains to balance things out. People who wouldn't just be able to look at the devastation of wildlife and their homes and just move on like nothing happened. Because they can see themselves in those creatures, and it hurts them to know that they are suffering. And maybe if there's enough nature brains, seeing themselves in the withering world around them, then more and more people might stand up and say this isn't right. We need to fix this. And maybe in a human world where one of the most lovely traits of humanity is being able to work together a bunch of nature brains with human faces can make a difference. They say animals can't speak human. Well they can, and are. Maybe Therians are the voices of nature coming out from the wilds, to places and bodies where they're not comfortable, where the air is heavy with pollution and trash litters the ground. And they have to learn weird shit like math, and work exhausting jobs that are often just to pay the bills that allow them to keep surviving. All so that they can see the damage from the other side and better understand the problem and together find solutions to stop it.

I'm not saying humans (and others) can't and/or dont do anything. I'm saying it's harder to do nothing when you look at creatures suffering and see yourself. Empathy is a beautiful thing. It helps connect us. But in a world where almost no one can afford the barest minimum just to survive. Where finding happiness feels like a struggle because you're constantly grinding and pushing yourself beyond your mental, emotional and/or physical boundaries, how easy is it to just shut yourself off. To put on the blinders because you're stuck yourself and you don't feel like there's anything you can do, so why upset yourself further by caring. It's sad. Terribly sad. Soul crushingly, heart wrenchingly sad.

Most people nowadays suffer from anxiety, depression or some other mental illness. And yes those illnesses are more known and understood now, and are more easily diagnosed. But I think the reason we see them everywhere now, is as simple as everyone is suffering. The human world in its current state, is not a healthy place. Fun times are often merely distraction from the crushing reality around us. It hurts to accept how much hurt there is right now.

I'm not saying it's all on the shoulders of Therians. I'm not saying you have to quit your job or your school and run off into the wild picking up every piece of litter and chaining yourself to trees. That's not what this post is about.

This post is about the increase of Therians and my personal hypothesis as to why there's so many now. And it's as simple as this. One Therian does not shoulder all the burden of the earth. Just as one human does not. But if there are Therians in schools, going "hey look at this little/big guy isn't he cute/cool" showing their friends and classmates"it's so sad he's going extinct because his home is being destroyed" , Therians on trails, streets, beaches seeing litter and using just a little bit of their time to remove at least some of it. Therians in stores refusing to buy certain products because of animal cruelty/testing, Therians manifesting/praying to help even if it's just a little bit, Therians on the Internet/TV spreading awareness, Therians in government actually trying to do what's best for the environment and the people, instead of just what's best for their bank account etc etc.

In reference to that horrible math stuff, a million ones together doesn't equal nothing. No matter how small an act it still adds up to something. Therians everywhere means more people who can't forget, who can't move on, who can't just shutdown and hope for the best. People who feel like they have to do something. So they don't eventually see themselves disappear (go extinct).

The universe and the earth can sometimes have a funny way of balancing things out. Maybe Therians are one way to at least try regaining that balance.

I'm overjoyed to see more Therians. Because I feel like more Therians means more voices for nature, and more chances to save this beautiful planet ☺️✨🌍🌎🌏💚

Anyway that's my two cents. Sorry this post ended up being longer than I intended 😅

And now my fascinating and fantastic creatures, great and small, furry, feathered, scaled or whatever-ed, and all others of open mind who took time to read my ramblings, I wish upon you a most glorious day/night. May we all follow our hearts/souls to do what we feel we can for this magnificent planet. ✨

👁️🪽✨🌟🌱❄️🪻🍀🌎🍄🌹💚🌍🌵🌈⛈️🌠🦊🐁💙

Till next time

[kerubimcrepin]

Wakfu Season 3, Episodes 1-6

//tw mentions of SA

Episode 1 - Fallen Heroes

I had a very long discussion with a friend of mine, who is a fan of medical settings, about how cool the existence of IV within the lore of Krosmoz is.

We didn't come to any conclusion. It was just us fanboying about this. Because my friend loves medical things and I love putting character into situations (some of which would not be survivable, if them being put on IV wasn't possible) (big fan of the concept of Joris getting poisoned and very sick and Kerubim and Atcham freaking the fuck out).

Funnily enough, during the making of my YouTube series, I discovered that there are two Sram-venerating women named Toxine in this franchise.

Adamai harbouring feelings of violence towards the members of the brotherhood is a good idea, (<- obviously the guy that wants Joris to beat the shit out of Kerubim would say this), but man, it could have been so cool if someone competent was working with this idea.

Episode 3 - Oropo's Tower

I should admit, this moment was probably a big win for Tristepin Mental Illness fans. Also, this is sadly the most explicit they can get with the reasons why Tristepin might hate being the Iop god in a cartoon.

He has plenty of reasons. Not only had Iop had 394824 demigods who hated him and felt abandoned by him while suffering fates worse than death (all gods have those) and just as many mortals he took advantage of using the power imbalance of godhood and promises of love (all gods have done that), he also canonically sexually assaulted a woman.

Ngl, if I was Tristepin, I would be considering killing myself — however, the kids and the wife would be sad.

They shuoild do this to Yugo too. He also had other wives. Albeit in an infinitely less insane way than Tristepin. Ankama.., please stop ignoring how existentially horrifying the Eliatrope demigods are.

In the Dofus MMO Kerubim pretty much calls the brotherhood of the forgotten an emo club of people with too much free time on their hands doing nothing but whining about their daddy issues.

And he was so real for that.

Btw canonically, Mishelle/Coqueline makes him feel intimidated (due to her grand age) while she herself doesn't really care about him (besides liking his good attitude towards animals), and is actually besties with Otomai.

Episode 4 - Beastly Girl

I like to headcanon that Joris's relationship with Coqueline is that he projects onto her ("oh god.... being 7 forever would make me kill myself.... even being 3ft tall is already horrible and makes me want to die..... the poor woman must be suffering") while she's like,, 1. probably doesn't think of herself as a "woman". I think she would describe herself as a creature, maybe a girlcreature, and 2. is literally chilling and doesn't give a single shit about anything but animal welfare and direct anti-god action.

I think talking to her would kill Joris because he'd realize that not every immortal person is as insecure about Literally Everything as he is.

She literally says, "the only good gods are ex-gods". We stan a leftist girlcreature?

This screenshot can be used as a reaction image for so many different shows. More fictional parents should say "my child is NOT ascending to godhood and shedding their mortality, becoming something beyond my comprehension, before they're of age. Fuck you."

Episode 5 - A Iop Hides Himself to Cry

You want to read @bitter-panacea's analysis posts about Goultard so bad.

Despite my negative feeling on s3, this is a WIN for Goultard fans, as far as I'm aware. (and Goultard enjoyers, since I kinda consider myself one)

I;'m going to walk into the sea.

Episode 6 - The Ecaflip's Scratching Post

YEAH BABY, A FULL ON IN-SHOW CONFIRMATION OF MY "USH HAS A DIFFERENT MOM THAN KERUBIM AND ATCHAM" HYPOTHESIS.

This might not seem like a contentious issue to normal people. Gods have... a lot of different lovers, so it seems normal to assume that Ush has one mom, while Kerubim and Atcham are twins like Eleley and Flopin, and have a different mom...

But a cancelled game that Tot really liked and still considers canon had really weird "there's an Ecaflip priestess who is the CEO of Giving Birth" lore, and was planned to be the mysterious mom of Kerubim and Atcham (and many other demigods), which contradicts a lot of previously established lore (ankama LOVES retcons. sadly).

I am quite open about thinking this is stupid and not considering this canon until they show her to me in an actual released media (and even then I will find a way to headcanon a better reality). Seeing the series itself acknowledge that Ush is not Atcham and Kerubim's full brother makes me feel quite better.

Hi Ush were you doing [SEXUAL ACTS REDACTED] upon cats again.

Cute...

A normal thing for a Bontarian to do. Blue-clad (metaphorically, he isn't wearing blue but white. Still very Bontarian though) man over here protecting kids and women. While also beating them up.

But unironically, I think it's cute that he has this gap moe of being an evil man who also saves people and cares about honour (because that's a proper thing to do) despite cheating constantly.

Somehow, his shallowness and "I mostly care about appearances, even if I do have a moral code" sort of behaviour is just as Extremely Bontarian as Joris's.... 30 mental illnesses.

THE OST IN THIS EP IS SO GOOD. ECAFLIP FANS WINNING ONCE AGAIN.

Hey past me! Maybe he really does pay these cats to put up with his insane behaviours. 🤨

Yugo, I'm gonna be real with you:

he's probably heard Joris and Kerubim say these exact words at least twice before,

He is reallllllly weird about cats and I am unsure if that's illegal in your setting,

He lured in people to kill in his tower for sport serial killer style.

He's bontarian. -20 morality and honor points immediately.

[buckingham-ashtray]

SHERLOCK DID CHOOSE THE RIGHT PILL. STEVEN SAID SO

After rewatching ASIP again today, I think I might have finally discovered the truth about if Sherlock has chosen the correct pill.

The answer is YES.

I will save you time and tell you right here right now that the truth lies simply in how certain shots were particularly framed. However, if you do wish to discover the Why, then here is the other end of the handcuffs, be my most welcomed guest.

Let me start with a notice that I am as well aware as I can be that A LOT of people have already analyzed this mystery countless times from every possible angle. And while I remain confident in “The Princess Bride Theory” and am sure it's still the most possible solution (given the impossible odds), it might not be the case in Sherlock's situation. Here are two possibilities:

According to Mr Cabbie (Jefferson Hope), Sherlock's "fan" / his sponsor (later revealed to be Moriarty) has warned him about Sherlock in advance:

SHERLOCK: How did you find me?

JEFF: Oh, I recognised yer, soon as I saw you chasing my cab. Sherlock ’olmes! I was warned about you. I’ve been on your website, too. Brilliant stuff! Loved it!

SHERLOCK: Who warned you about me?

JEFF: Just someone out there who’s noticed you.

Now, Mr Cabbie’s kids get money every time their dad murders someone, yes, but since Moriarty has particularly warned Hope about Sherlock instead of warning him OFF Sherlock, it could be possible that the pay would be higher if Hope succeeds in murdering Sherlock. (But also given that Moriarty was much more interested in making Sherlock dance rather than killing him, this assumption is very likely wrong)

The second possibility is that could it be for both types of pills to be harmless to Hope (with his aneurysm), and only one of them deadly to the victims? (This hypothesis is also very unlikely, due to the fact that Hope did not have a real gun and was unlikely capable of strangling full-grown adults to death with his hands if they’ve actually chosen the harmless pill)

Thus, in this meta we are temporarily abandoning The Princess Bride Theory, assuming that there actually were a good pill and a bad pill for Hope as well, and focus entirely on the framing.

[I watched Ben’s new TV series ERIC a month ago and was astonished to realize that I was able to pick up on hidden messages so rapidly during the show. (Really recommend it! And if you’re into interpreting intricate movies as well, definitely watch The Power of the Dog too! I like it so much I am currently reading the novel.) A huge thanks to all you clever clever TJLCers, for that if it wasn’t for you and TJLC I would never have developed this ability at all to write this short meta.]

The key idea is to constantly ask yourself “Why?”. Why is this shot framed that way? Why did that light go out first? Why is this seemingly unimportant detail included here? Why did this dialogue happen?

Why did Steven Moffat write in the script that Hope chose the building on the right?

If there’s one thing I know for certain, it is that NOTHING in BBC Sherlock is there without a reason. So, why was the right building the “right” one, instead of the left? Does it parallel how the two bottles of pills were placed on the table? If we make the assumption that Right is correct and Left is wrong, is there any other evidence to support it?

YES.

1. The pills

WHY is it that EVERY TIME the two pill bottles were given close up shots side by side, it was ALWAYS the one on Hope’s right in focus?

2. The doors

WHY is it that Sherlock and Hope entered through the right side of the door in the right building, and John ran through the left side of the door in the left/wrong building?

WHY is it that John burst through the right side of the door AFTER Sherlock has chosen the pill on the right?

3. The positions

WHY is it that Sherlock was ALWAYS on the left side of the frame and Hope the right without ANY exceptions?

WHY is it that they switched positions AT ONCE, the moment Sherlock chose the pill on the right? (Also note that Sherlock held his pill in his right hand and Hope his left)

Why Why Why?

If it’s just once or twice, we could still dismiss them as “coincidences”. (What did we say about coincidence?) But this many? Implicated in such platent ways? I was an absolute idiot for not seeing this sooner.

If every single shot implies that right is Right and left is Wrong, Hope slid the pill on the left to Sherlock, and Sherlock chose the one originally on the right, is there any possibility that he chose the wrong one?

NOT. A. CHANCE.

All screencaps taken from here.

(I really wanted to tag someone but sadly I don’t know any of you wonderful people and it feels terribly intrusive and impolite to tag someone you don’t know :( Please definitely let me know if you wish to be tagged and thank you so much for coming to my ted talk.)

[isagrimorie]

What do you think about the very popular theory going around that the Road actually never existed? It was something Agatha made up back in the day to steal witches' powers and this time it was created by Billy subconsciously. That's his tell, that's why Agatha was so surprised when it actually opened, that's why everything in the road can be found in his room, that's what "I didn't think you had it in you" means. What if it really was Agatha all along?

Right now a lot of things are possible. We're in the Schroedinger's series finale...

I have seen it floating around, but I haven't really thought about it. However, I do think the Road does exist. I think it's because Lilia, who is a good hundred years older than Agatha, knew about the Road.

I'm just skeptical that Agatha ever walked the Road. Maybe she has before and she was able to assemble a full coven to make it happen. I know Agatha, is essentially, a noted serial killer among the Witch community but it doesn't feel right to me that Agatha would do something that's so deviously predatory.

Agatha targets powerful witches. Any witch that would seek out the Road would not be a powerful witch. Agatha told Wanda she only took power from the undeserving.

(Of course, who the undeserving witches are is subjective. Agatha's playing Judge, Jury, and Executioner.).

So for me, Agatha setting up the Witches' Road to lure unsuspecting but mediocre Witches doesn't (to quote Criminal Minds) fit the profile.

Especially, if this was all done before she got owned the Darkhold.

Then again, the two-part series finale might prove me wrong.

I'm more partial to the idea that Billy unconsciously created or influenced the Road now ala Labirynth. I do think Agatha suspected Billy had something to do with Sharon Davis's death but I don't know if she's right about it. I think she's still missing some details about her hypothesis.

It is clear, Agatha already suspected Billy early on, of shenanigans.

Also, I've always believed Agatha never intended to Open the Road, she looked far too surprised when the Door appeared. And she continued to brood about the Road in the first few minutes of episode 3. She was trying to put things together. She did look at Billy in a funny way when she told him the Road 'suited him'.

But, I have always believed whatever this whole thing is-- This was Agatha All Along.

Someway or another Agatha kicked off the events of the show. I fully believe that Agatha is smart enough to have a backup plan in case she finds herself in a tight spot.

Agatha Harkness is like my other favorite fierce survivalist queen-- Katherine Pierce.

Jac Schaeffer didn't just title this show 'Agatha All Along for the 'vibes''. If we learn something from watching the show, everything is there for a reason. Even if the reason is the commitment to the Bit.

The whole internet search for Agatha? Wildly suspicious to me how convenient everything fell into place for Billy to find Agatha.

Jac Schaeffer used the phrase 'timey-wimey', and solidified my theory that Agatha is Bad Wolf-ing an escape plan for herself. She left messages to herself.

Somehow involving the lyrics of the Ballad. (Agatha started humming the Ballad before Rio or Billy ever made an appearance).

The lyrics of the True Crime Ballad had missing lyrics and borrowed a lot from Lorna Wu's version.

Agatha knew events that she shouldn't know about while she's Detective Agnes. (William's car crash, Wanda 'dying').

The show borrowed and references The Wizard of Oz a lot, and someone has to be behind the curtain. The Man behind the curtain was a huckster and a con man. And that description can fit Agatha.

I don't know if Agatha accounted for Rio during her daring escape.

Unfortunately, for Agatha Harkness, she didn't count on the only enemy she ever really lost too: Herself*.

Somehow, in all the escape scenarios, Agatha didn't anticipate that some part of herself would actually like the dream reality of Detective Agnes.

*Agatha gave Wanda way too much information about the fundamentals of magick. Let herself do the whole Evil Speech of Evil monologue. And, lost.

So, it's very fun and interesting that when Billy asked Agatha what Tell he shared with Wanda was Agatha coyly stated: "Very inconvenient for you."

Anyway, I'm not going to count my girl, Agatha, out in anything. She always has a trick up her sleeve somewhere, and a backup plan.

There is a reason why this show is called Agatha All Along. There's a reason why the pilot episode started with a Mare of Easttown parody, beyond sharing a lot of key issues with Mare. There's a reason why Agatha as Agnes hummed the Ballad's Road when the show opened.

These are some of my theories and thoughts. I hold them loosely in my hand, so I'm not too invested or married to my theories.

It will help me be nimble in my predictions and theories for the finale.

But I hope I was able to help.

[s7-evermore]

Ch. 3 - Terms and Conditions

This is The Boyfriend Contract series, Chapter 3. Inspired by The Love Hypothesis and The Business Proposal. Azul Ashengrotto x fem! Yuu (reader). You can view this on ao3.

Ch. 2 | Next chapter

Terms and conditions, in contracts, refer to the contractual rights and obligations of a party to any contract. Also known as that long list of word vomit you skip when downloading a new game or app— but when it comes to Azul Ashengrotto, one must lay down some sort of groundwork.

A lot of unexpected things happen in Yuu’s life. A good example is suddenly waking up in a new world after accidentally falling into a nearby river upon seeing a carriage pop up behind her.

Not a fun story.

Aside from that, one of the most unexpected things she had done her whole life was what she was doing right now.

Standing in front of Azul’s office.

Floyd willingly escorted her there but left as soon as they reached the door. He gave her a toothy grin, wishing her luck before leaving her alone. Weirdo. But then again, that word alone wasn’t enough to describe Floyd Leech.

(As a magicless student, Yuu was at the very very bottom of the chain. This made her a consistent target of whoever felt like messing with her, fellow freshmen or upperclassmen. Today, however, people seemed too intimidated to do or say shit to her face, and she was sure that it was thanks to a certain rumor that spread like wildfire throughout the school.

During a joint class with a second-year class in Potionology, some students stopped stealing her vials and ingredients when she wasn’t looking, and none of them tried to put the chemicals she needed on higher, unreachable, shelves (which was a common prank they liked to pull on her, all thanks to her five-foot-three ass).

In Gym class, when one of her classmates accidentally hit her with a soccer ball, he apologized so profusely that Yuu almost felt guilty for getting hit.

In Sam’s store during a free period, when she wanted to get the last pack of her favorite Gummy worms, the student who took it from right under her nose had generously given it to her when he realized who she was.

And during lunch, no one dared to cut in front of her when she lined up, they wouldn’t touch Grim or her friends either.

“Damn, seems like being friends with a housewarden’s girlfriend comes with some perks,” Ace grinned as he took a bite of his lunch. He managed to snag one of the good items on the menu before they sold out, all because those in the line with them were too afraid to mess with Yuu.

“Guess Yuu dating Azul isn’t so bad after all,” the ginger boy added.

She felt a little guilty exploiting a huge misunderstanding, but this was Night Raven College. She will take what she could get.

And maybe… just maybe… this would help her out.)

She took a deep breath and flexed her fingers before knocking on the door.

“Who is it?” Azul’s voice, muffled by the door, called out.

“Um, it’s me. Are you busy?”

She heard a little bit of shuffling from the other side before hearing him say: “No, not too much. Come in.”

She took another breath before twisting the doorknob. He was seated behind his desk, and from the looks of it, he must have been working on some documents. He had a small stack of them on his left, indicating that they were done with, and on his right was a sheaf of papers.

“Take a seat,” he gestured to one of the couches before standing up to sit in front of her. “I take it you came here to talk about last time?”

Straight to the point, but then again, she wasn’t planning on stalling either.

“Uh, yeah. I thought about it for a bit, and…and it might actually be a good idea.”

For several reasons, the contract would get a lot of people off her back, persistent admirers, and bullies. Her friends didn’t seem to be as strongly against it as they had been during the weekend, and if they had their suspicions, they kept it to themselves.

Whatever happened during the weekend, Ace simply said that he and the others were willing to accept whatever she had with Azul as long as he wasn’t holding her hostage with a contract. They didn’t press for an explanation either, only saying that she could tell them and the others when she felt ready.

They may be troublemakers in their own right, but she loved these boys to death.

Azul had a small smile on his face, very professional, but it had a little something in it that Yuu couldn’t pinpoint, “Very well. Shall we get to the details?”

He stood up momentarily to pick up a sheaf of papers from his desk before settling back into his seat. He placed a piece of paper in front of her— the first page of their contract.

“I’ve written down the basic terms and conditions of our agreement after you left,” he said.

She tilted her head, “Did you already expect me to say yes?”

“To be honest, not really. But my foresight allows me to be prepared for any eventuality,” his face had its usual modest expression, it was as if he wouldn’t care at all if she decided to discard the whole fake dating idea.

To be fair, since it was Azul she was dealing with, she was sure he would have found another way to get the deal he wanted one way or another.

She picked up the paper and read it carefully. After dealing with his contract in the past, she learned to read all her contracts properly despite how long they might be. She made sure to look for fine prints that she might miss, just to be safe.

Once she was sure that the conditions were written correctly with no elaborate wording that may cause misunderstandings, she nodded and placed the paper back down.

“Is it sufficient for you?” He asked, “If you wish to add more to our terms, you may do so, but keep in mind that I might have to make some changes of my own as well, you know, to keep the balance.”

“The conditions are fine, and… actually, I would like to set some ground rules, my own terms, if you will.”

There was a hint of a smirk on his face, “You seem to have thought this through more than I expected you to. And here I was thinking you would thoughtlessly sign this one.”

She shrugged, “it’s standard protocol when it comes to fake-dating relationships.”

He raised a brow, “standard protocol?”

“Mhm.”

“Have you done something like this before?”

“The contracts or the fake-dating?”

“The latter.”

“Nope. I just know the trope.”

He blinked, “The what..?”

She ignored his confusion and shook her head, “Okay, first of all, you will not use our agreement as an incentive to lure my friends into a contract.”

He sighed, “I suppose I expected that. You’re strangely attached to those boys.”

“You’d know how it feels if you had people you consider precious to you, outside of business that is,” she said, waving his remark off. That seemed to shut him up. “Anyway. Second, before making any relationship-related decisions, you will always, and I mean always tell me first before deciding anything. Ask for my consent, and I’ll ask you for yours.”

“Deal.”

“Third rule,” it was going to be weird, but it was necessary. She braced herself, “No sex.”

His eyes widened as he stared at her with parted lips. He didn’t move, not even a single inch save for the way his Adam’s apple bobbed up and down. His reaction made her heart sink to her stomach, was he… was he expecting to…with her… at some point…? Was it…? Did he…?

Panic rose in her heart as she tried to stand up, “Um, I’m sorry, if you were expecting us to, uh, do that, then I’m afraid I can’t—“

“No!” Life returned to him in an instant, “No, no it’s nothing like that. I was just... surprised. I didn’t think it would be important enough to bring it up.”

Oh… then maybe she was the weirdo here.

“S-Sorry… I was just—“

He shook his head, “No, it’s alright. You’re straightforward. I wouldn’t want to do anything that made you uncomfortable. Terms like that are important for setting up mutual agreements after all…” he coughed into a gloved fist. “My apologies.”

His awkward movements weren’t hard to miss, the professional persona he had built up in front of her crumbled, and all that was left was an awkward teenage boy.

He then nodded firmly, “Okay, no sex.”

And, well, it is awkward, because she’s sitting in his office alone with him, talking about sex. Of all things.

“Yes, no sex,” she repeated.

Okay. Don’t think about it. Back to the rules.

“Anyway, uh fourth rule— or whatever. It’s not really a rule, but you can hold me accountable for it: during the duration of our agreement, I won’t date anyone else. Like real real dating. You know, to make it believable. I don’t do real dating anyway.”

He simply stared at her.

“Uh! But you can date others if you’d like!” She hastily added, “Just— just not on campus or anywhere anyone can see. It’ll look…kind of stupid.” I’ll look kind of stupid.

He shook his head, “No, it’s fine. I won’t.”

“Awesome! And if ever you do end up dating someone else, then—”

“I won’t date anyone else either.”

…Oh.

“Oh,” she said, rather dumbly. Well, what did she expect, honestly? If Azul was interested in someone else, he wouldn’t be asking her to fake-date him for a potential business contract. “Okay…cool, cool.”

“Anything else?”

“One last rule,” and the most important one.

He nodded, staying silent to let her continue.

“We must never fall in love with each other.”

Something changed within Azul when she said that. She couldn’t exactly pinpoint what it was, but even though the only thing that changed outwardly was the way his eyes widened a fraction, something with his aura, his being, wavered.

It’s like the way the music changes-- when the vibe of the song changes the atmosphere. It’s the way the air shifts when you realize it’s going to rain soon. It’s… well, it’s the way the look in his eyes changed into something she couldn’t comprehend.

It’s weird, but it’s there.

“Pardon?” He finally spoke.

“I know it sounds weird, but… well, I feel like it’s necessary to say it, as unlikely as it is to happen,” she replied.

It wasn’t as though Azul was unattractive, the complete opposite actually. He was handsome, intelligent, talented, ambitious— he’s probably a lot of other girls’ dream boy. Maybe in the future, he’d find someone for him, but they weren’t there yet. They were right here, right now.

Right now isn’t the time for her to fall in love, not when she has to go home, to the world where she belongs.

Right here isn’t the time for him to fall in love. No… he was ambitious, and she knew that he knew the time wasn’t right for him yet. Not when he’s chasing too much.

Right here, right now, isn’t the time for the both of them.

“Don’t fall in love with me, and I won’t fall in love with you,” she continued. “If any of us starts feeling anything similar to love for each other, we must terminate the contract immediately.”

“Understandable,” he said, pushing up his glasses. They reflected the light well enough that she couldn’t see his eyes for a moment. “No falling in love.”

“No falling in love,” she nodded.

“Are those all?” He asked.

“Yup! All five of my terms. Well, if you can even call them that… uh, is there anything else you want to add?”

“No. I’ve already put down what I wanted, which is everything you’ve initially read.”

“And you’ll consider my terms?”

“There’s no consideration needed. Your terms are reasonable, so I must comply.”

“You’re…weirdly compliant with this.”

“It’s a mutual contract, is it not?” He said questioningly, “While I don’t need to use my signature spell, a contract is a contract.”

And he stays true to them… 

“Alright! Then I must keep up my end of the bargain. So how should we go about this? Should we start getting coffee together or something?”

“Coffee? Like coffee dates?” He asked.

“Oh? So you’re familiar with them? Have you ever had a coffee date, Azul?” She asked teasingly.

He frowned, “You know full well I haven’t.”

“I know. I was kidding,” she giggled, “it’s nothing to be ashamed of either. Well, unless you were me on my first date.”

He raised a brow, looking rather interested, “Oh? Sounds like a nice conversation topic--" he smirked, "--for a date."

“Well too bad, there are other more interesting topics,” she rolled her eyes, “when are you free? Since you’re a housewarden, your mornings must be packed.”

“We can have coffee and breakfast together in the cafeteria on Tuesdays and Thursdays. Occasionally Fridays too, but I will have to contact you on that every now and then,” he explained.

“Tuesdays and Thursdays then,” she said with a smile, "And maybe Fridays."

“Is that a deal?” He extended his hand.

With a deep breath, Yuu took his hand. His fingers wrapped around hers like tendrils, and he shook them, firmly and gently.

She noticed they were warm, big, and...... gloveless.

“It’s a deal.”

[codename-mom]

Is Hotch autistic?

Well, if you take into account the official material, the answer is: no. Or, at least, he’s never shown like that, and it’s never mentioned that he could be.

Now, if the question is: do I think Hotch is autistic? The answer is: yes.

Why do I think that?

First of all, I want to precise that my knowledges in that domain are limited, so there will be inconsistencies and imprecisions in the text below. I’m sorry if I hurt some of you doing so, it wasn’t the purpose of it (feel free to correct me, with manners please). And, on the other hand, it’s a very personal point of view. As so, this post is in no way canon.

TW: mention of child/domestic abuse, anxiety, CM violence

The first two aspects of his personality which might fit with the autistic Hotch hypothesis, and which are pretty obvious are:

His lack of expressiveness

Hotch is able to smile, we saw it in a few episodes, to laugh, to cry and even to be very angry (do I need to specify which episode I’m referring to?); so he feels emotions like anyone else, but his ability to express them is far below how JJ, Derek, Dave or Emily does. Most of the time, the character appears stoic, eyebrows furrowed, straight mouth, no matter what’s going on around or other protagonist reaction.

Yet, we know that he has empathy (he’s moved when Foyet killed seven innocents people in the bus, he’s about to fall in tears with that burnt woman (S02E19) and he cried when he accompany that man who has to watch his son’s death (S07E10)), we know that he’s careful about his men (he reassured Penelope after he was harsh with her, he took Spencer in his arms after they freed him from Tobias Hankel, he worried (a lot) about Emily when she was with Cyrus, etc.) and we know that he’s sensitive to what people say or don’t say to him (he returned Derek’s words about his defaults (S03E02) and he’s hurt when he realizes that JJ hide her pregnancy to him) BUT he doesn’t show it.

We can argue that he was trained for that purpose, but it’s supposed to apply when he is with witnesses, victims, or suspects; not when he’s with his men or his relatives. And he’s not especially expressive with Jack, for example.

(Look how happy he is! /o/)

He is, however, more with Haley and Beth, but not that much.

What are the reasons for this difficulty in expressing emotions?

If, like we can suspect it by listening to his dialogue with Vincent (S01E08), his father was violent (to him, to his mother or both), he could have learnt to hide his emotions to survive. Now a grown-up, he doesn’t know how to express them the right way.

Or he is shy/introvert. I already talked about that in a previous post, but Aaron is a shy guy, who pull himself away, who avoid spotlights and who don’t want to disturb people around with his problems. Laughing out loud, ranting loudly or shouting out of rage, it’s not his temper (for the last point, we can flatten it because we know that he’s able to yell to be the bad cop (S04E13), because something touched him personally (the husband who beat his wife in Alaska) or because we’re stepping on his toes (he’s mad at Jordan because she defied his authority in front of everyone and she lied to witnesses to obtain information, two things he doesn’t like at all)).

Or he doesn’t simply know how to express them. He’s not able to identify them clearly, so he adopts a neutral expression, which cracks when he’s feeling the strongest emotions (joy, sadness, or anger). And that is closed to autistic’s features. 

He stares at people

It’s impossible to not note that point. Spencer himself said at the beginning of season 5 that he had never seen Hotch blink since his arrival at the BAU.

Neurotypical people don’t do that. During a conversation, gaze moves all the time: it could stay put for a moment, but it’ll move when the person will try to remember something, think to what they’re going to say, watch at something around or be attracted by a movement somewhere near. It’s not what Hotch do: he stares continuously at the person who he’s talking to or who’s talking to him. He looks away when he estimates that the conversation is over. And no matter the status of the one in front of him.

And autists are known for having trouble with how they’re supposed to place their gaze during a conversation: they can stare at everything else but the people in front of them (that’s what Spencer do), or they do like Hotch. In an episode of L&O: CI, Goren and Eames faced an autistic suspect who has learnt to not stare at people after a certain amount of time. Well, it’s not a reliable source (far from it), but we find again the fact that autists can stare intensely at people.

And, as a shy person, I can assure you that we don’t do such thing (on a contrary, we’d rather look away to not be perceived as intrusive or aggressive).

Now, let’s talk about his less obvious features that can attest his neuro-divergency.

Proprioception issues

What proprioception is first? To make the thing simple, it’s all the nervous messages continuously sent by every part of our body to our brain and which it uses then to manage our moves and actions. To give you an example: thanks to our proprioception we are able to know that we’re falling and then our brain can order us to rise our arms or to move our foot so we won’t be hurt much, or we will stay standing up. It’s also thanks to our proprioception that we know that we’re hungry, thirsty, cold, hot, sleepy, or hurt.

Autistic people have trouble with their proprioception because they don’t recognize their internal sensations: they can be hurt and don’t notice or suffer from sunstroke without being conscious of it.

And we can see many times Hotch being hurt and still continues to act like everything is fine. In New York, despite is ripped eardrum and his many wounds, he runs everywhere like a young puppy (adrenaline can do the trick however). When he stops that unsub provoking a car crash, he��s stunned but still ready to chase him (S04E23). When his ear bleeds again, still in New York, he doesn’t pay attention (but, again, adrenaline can have anesthetic effects). 

We can counterargue underlying that he may pretends to not worry his men (because he’s shy, remember), but in Route 66 episode, he suffers from internal bleeding without him to notice anything. He realizes that he’s not okay a few seconds before he passes out (so hours after the beginning of the problem). And that, it can’t be allocate to his will to not disturb people around (the “excuse me” can be, cf. my previous post).

We can also add that, very often, we see all the other characters drinking coffee and eating, when he doesn’t. He does when everyone is around a table at the end of a mission (Las Vegas, in that Mexican restaurant, etc.), but it could be led by a group effect: he’s not specifically hungry, he just follows his subordinates.

And we can’t count the number of time where he’s awake late at night. In fact, the simple fact that he’s at Quantico very early in the morning and very late at night induces that he doesn’t sleep much. JJ and Emily both have remarks about it: first one saying that he stays as much as she does (S03E09) and the second one asking when he slept (S04E08).

All that can be signs of his autism.

Hyper-fixation

Hyper-fixation is not only to be interested by a subject to the point to collect everything about it and to do deep research about it. Any music band, movie or TV shows fan could fit in that box. No, hyper-fixation designates the fact that the person who suffers from it deep dives so much into their task that they forget to answer their most basic needs of their body, like eating, drinking, going to restrooms, cleaning themselves, or sleeping. It’s not harmless, far from it.

And Hotch is a master to stay late at night without sleeping (I won’t do the list of every episode where he’s the only one left on the sixth floor or where he’s working in his bedroom when all the other sleep). And to think that he also forgets to eat and to drink, there’s only one step to do.

We can put that on the fact that he’s not especially motivated to go back to his place after his divorce, but he was already doing it when he was married (to Haley’s dismay) and he’s still doing it when his son is waiting for him (and it’s very kind of his ex-sister-in-law to take care of him in his place).

And for his hotel insomnia, we can suggest that his (extreme) professional conscience pushes him to continue to work far after the usual schedule. But the others are not less conscientious, and they sleep.

So, it’s possible that in addition to the fact that he doesn’t feel his body calls, he can also lose notion of time and space regularly. And that fits with the autistic Hotch hypothesis.

Change issues

Autists can have difficulties to apprehend and handle changes in their daily routine. We can see it with Spencer who is very disturbed by Gideon and Blake’s departure, who are two people with who he had a strong connection.

And we can see it also with Hotch who shows difficulties to adapt to changes. First, he’s always wearing the same outfit, even when it’s not necessary (we see it with the others: suit and tie are not mandatory), which means that he’s following a daily routine.

Then, when JJ has to leave the first time, he expresses his discomfort multiple times: he doesn’t appreciate the news of her pregnancy first (S03E20), he underlines that they’re going to be lost without her (S04E05) and, most of all, he struggles a lot to accept Jordan Todd’s presence in his team. Some will say that it’s because he’s sexist and racist, but it’s forgotten that JJ is a woman, that Derek is a POC and that, later, he’ll hire Tara willingly.

We don’t have many elements on the way he adapts to Jack’s presence in his daily life after Haley’s death (we only know that Jessica takes care of him most of the time, but he taught him to read and he and JJ clearly help themselves to drive their children to school), so it’s difficult to dig more in this feature. Moreover, that this aspect is reduced, then muted in the following seasons.

No social life

Unlike all the other members of his team who interact with people who are not federal agents (JJ and Spencer with their mother, Derek with his mother, his sisters and his aunt, Emily and her childhood friends, Penelope and her brothers, and Dave with his ex-wives, his daughter, his grandson and a certain amount of acquaintances), Hotch has no interaction with someone else but his team and other federal agents (curiously, mostly women). Outside of them, he interacts only with Jack and Jessica. Even Spencer is seen with former classmates (S02E18, S07E11).

There are several explanations for this.

It may be a hole in the script because the writers didn’t want to dig into this aspect of the character (we already see him a lot on the screen, the others need some space too). So, he has friends, but we don’t know them.

Or he doesn’t have any. Because he never succeeded to make some or because he wasn’t able to keep contact with them through time. In any case, it can be relevant of the fact that, like many autists, social interactions are landmine field for him. He can’t analyze emotions of people around him, as he can’t analyze his, so he avoids interacting with strangers or, when he does, he doesn’t act the right way and people run away from him.

Knowing that he is a profiler, it makes this suggestion absurd, unless if you think that he’s only able to identify specific behavior from sociopaths and everything else is just nonsense for him. We see multiple times that his reactions or replies provoke astonishment for the people who are not part of his team.

But it can also fit with the shyness theory. When you are shy and/or introvert, talking to stranger is hard as hell. As so, shy people don’t have many friends and/or acquaintances.   

[Well, yes, I forgot: he has his brother - and they don't appreciate each other - and his former father-in-law - who hates him deeply.]

Tactless

I don’t think any of you will contradict me on that point, but Hotch can be very direct. And he doesn’t hesitate, and he doesn’t seem to care about the consequences of his words on his target’s hubris or self-esteem.

And, for someone who studies to become a lawyer/prosecutor, it’s quite peculiar: he’s supposed to be eloquent, to know how to handle the verb, and to be able to reel people; instead, he humiliates a lawyer in front of the Court underlying his too short pants, his low-cost clothes, and his habits of (bad) gambler. He could have used statistics to make his point but preferred this brutal method (S03E19).

And he acts like that many times during the show: he says to Strauss that she’s a bad mother, he scolds Prentiss at the beginning of their cohabitation, he is harsh multiple times with Derek, Penelope, Jordan, and with police officers and others… well, many examples. The guy is upfront, and he doesn’t care about good manners. He says what he thinks.  

By the way, we can remark that politics and him don’t match. Every time he has to play a political game, he refuses, or he fails in the end (S02E11, S02E16, S04E16). To lie, to be a hypocrite, bowing, it’s not his thing. Which means that he’s more the frank type.

If we add to this that it’s more than obvious that he was doing well with Kate Joyner who was also the frank type, we can suppose that he appreciates honest and direct people, like him. Why? Maybe because he doesn’t get innuendo, unspoken, pretense… that are, I think, difficult to catch for autists.

However, we can’t totally discard the fact that he is also the provocative type. We know that he has a juvenile record and that he can be very sarcastic, which means that behind his good manners and his controlled speech, he has a rebellious temper and a real issue with authority. The fact that he wasn’t much expressive can’t help us determine when he voluntarily speaks frankly to have a reaction or when he hurts people by mistake.  

Rigidity

Hotch is stiff. And I don’t say that because is as straight as a chopstick. No, he’s mentally stiff. Derek says that he is a drill-sergeant and JJ, a bully, which means that their boss is quite uncompromising. About what? We don’t really know, but as he read/write all the reports of his team members, that he asks Emily for a missing piece in her report and that he tramples on Derek when he did the correction of his draft (when Derek noticed that they don’t have enough for a profile), we can suggest that he’s uber fussy about that.

Seeing how he’s mad at Jordan when he catches her lying to the family of a victim, we understand that he hates that. As much as he hates when his men play solo (Spencer, Seaver, Derek) putting themselves in danger and/or putting all the team in danger – notice that HE can. He also hates when people give nicknames to serial killers.

Maybe this is going to be a headcanon, but I think that Hotch is typically the kind of person who is incapable of breaking rules; rules made by society/the institution he works for (ex: driving above the speed limits/having an intimate relationship with one of his subordinates) or rules made by himself (ex: not lying to witnesses during an investigation). To break these rules asks him a real effort and he’s immediately uncomfortable with it. And when he sees people around breaking them, he’s as much uncomfortable (he’s tolerating Kevin around Penelope in the limits he has made).

This struggle can come from his autism.  

Anxiety

First of all, it’s important to say that if autists suffer of anxiety (because of everything above), it doesn’t mean that every anxious people are autistic nor that every autist is anxious. But it’s part of the many symptoms of autism.

This said, let’s go back to Hotch who is with no doubt an anxious guy. We see him regularly expressing nervous tics when he’s in an uneasy situation for him: he presses his fingers into his fists, he digs his nails into his skin, he bites his lips, etc.

The fact that he’s always wearing the same outfit and that he sticks to a daily routine is typical of anxious people, because it’s a way for them to soothe their anguish. The shyness is also a factor of anxiety and, we see it, that outside of a professional context, Aaron is not the coolest person ever: he’s clumsy with Jack, he’s clumsy with Beth, he’s clumsy with this woman Dave pushes into his arms, etc. Actually, he’s uneasy every time he’s not protected anymore by his suit and his FBI badge. He’s uneasy when he has to go out of his comfort zone and when he’s facing random events he can’t control.

Besides, Hotch says to Derek that he’s writing his subordinates’ reports for them. He adds that it’s to give his agents more free time – it’s probably the official reason he gives to himself – but, for real, it’s because, as an anxious guy, it reassures him.  

Peculiar sense of humor

When Hotch tried to motivate his men to throw at him his worst defaults, he started saying he has no sense of humor.

But, for real, he has one. His humor is really dry: he says his humorous lines with the same monochord tone as usual and his face shows no sign that could help people around to guess that it’s supposed to be fun. So, you really need to know him well to catch that.

Hotch: "I'm wearing it [his cape]"

But he clearly has a sense of humor: we can see it with JJ, with Beth, with Spencer, with Dave, etc. Haley asked him, as her last words, to show their son how funny he can be, how he was able to make her laugh. He can also be very sarcastic, which is another form of humor.

He’s able to understand puns too because we can see him smile and laugh multiple times, but we can also notice that sometimes he takes the lines right to the letter (S04E07).

And autistic people don’t necessarily have the same sense of humor than neurotypical people: they can laugh on something that won’t be funny for neurotypicals or not laugh on something that will make other people laugh (ex: the remark about the flowers in the middle of a crime scene).

Huge knowledges

It’s a point I put very low on the list because as he always avoids the light, Hotch doesn’t expose his real knowledge (on the reverse, Spencer talks a lot about what he knows, not necessarily at the best time). But we can guess, paying very attention, that the guy is quite clever.

First of all, we hear him quoting books or recognizing quotes, exactly like Spencer. Which means that he memorized precisely what he has read. Which is not easy at all (try to quote me a book you love you’ve read ten years ago. Difficult, isn’t it?).

Then, we catch from one spare line here and there that he has many knowledges: he collected pennies when he was a kid, he knows the meaning of tarot card, he recognizes the scale model of a James Bond car, he knows theatre (even if he was a poor actor), etc.; it’s quite an heterogenous knowledge but he can spill it anytime it’s needed.

And we can’t forget that he was in law school to become a federal prosecutor, which induce that he studied for years and that he has to remember a ton of laws for all the country.

Ability to understand autistic people

Hotch is, at multiple times, the only one able to follow Spencer complicate reasonings. Now, Spencer is undoubtedly autistic (and if you think he’s not, I invite you to rewatch the show). What can make us think that he can understand him because he has the same way of thinking.

---

With all this, we can add his singular way of speaking (monochord tone, polished language), the fact that he doesn’t talk about his feelings to his relatives (there was clearly a communication issue between him and Haley), and his huge empathy for his subordinates (about whom he worries a lot all the time).

Actually, you have to keep in mind that a good part of this troubles can be explained by his rough childhood he seems to have had (“seems” because the only real thing we know is that his father was unfaithful, period), his anxiety, and his natural shyness too.

But, for me, he’s autistic and he doesn’t know it. It’s not the reason why I felt for him (this point of view hit me way after I started to write about him) and it doesn’t make him any sexy-er or something, it’s just a part of his character I add to the pile of the many aspects of his personality. It’ll be briefly treated in my main CM fanfic: “Code Name: Mom”, but deeply treated in my two Hotchniss fanfics. So, don’t be surprised if you read from time-to-time innuendos about his neuro-divergency, it’s on purpose.

And happy autism acceptance month everyone! 😊

(And remember, this is a personal point of view, you perfectly have the right to think differently. ;) )

[gemsofgreece]

Hello!

This is a genuine question tangentially related to the response you posted:

Do you think the characteristic of the God of the dead in Greek myth as someone comparatively more positive of a person (as close as a God gets to being one, at least) is something based in cultural/historical/archeological/mythological evidence or the absence of it? As in, when you view him through a more positive lens, do you base your opinion on any particular local idea of him, or on the lack of "negative" myths about him?

I know there are certain parts of the general cluster of info on him that point towards his positive traits (some epithets, seemingly positive take on H/P in Lokri area, and so on), but what do you think is the main reason for him to be viewed positively? What is your reason?

I do agree with you, by the way, that there's a lot of weird... hypocrisy in how people now treat different Greek Deities. So, my question is more to ponder with you on the topic, don't consider it a nuanced attack or anything. Thank you in advance!

Hello! This is a great question.

I do have a reasoning and it is based on the general information we have about him rather than the lack thereof.

First of all, Ancient Greeks generally did not like Hades and avoided mentioning him but this was not because of some presumed cruelty or flaw of his character. They simply thought of him superstitiously and feared that too much engaging with the worship or even thinking about Hades would bring - what else - death upon them. (This superstition is huge even nowdays - don't mention / analyze something bad or unfortunate or it will come to you). This avoidance and the fear are perhaps the reasons why there are relatively fewer myths about him compared to some other gods.

However, it seems they were also aware of this avoidance and in the back of their minds they were concerned that it would anger the god and have the opposite result (bring them death out of spite / vengeance). I believe this is why they also developed positive traits about him (the most important being that he was also the god of wealth - Pluton). The fact that this name and domain of divine authority was attributed to him a little later in time supports the hypothesis that they were trying actively to make his worship more palatable in order to appease him.

But I think there's another reason why Hades had generally positive traits and this is that... he was the God of the Underworld!!! OK, hear me out! Unlike the major Olympians, Hades was the only one who was not ruling over living beings. The other gods domineered life and all of the nature with its elements. They domineered over things that underwent changes constantly, sometimes unexpected or violent. So their personalities reflected that constant change and this unpredictability - be it in nature, in the sky and the sea, in the animals and humans themselves and the livings they led. On the contrary, Hades ruled over the dead, the unchanging eternity, the ultimate silence. It didn't make sense for him to be a noisy, lively or volatile god because this is not what death is. I bet this is also the reason why he was the only one who was viewed as mostly monogamous and interested in longterm romantic relationships - he was not a god who contributed to creation and procreation, he was associated to the exact opposite. It would be jarring for the dead to have a god that constantly has sex and has babies and births life. I believe the few partners given to Hades and his few children (three and three respectively) were likely even serving some necessary concepts Greeks had to attach to some symbolism (i.e Persephone and nature), otherwise Hades might as well be portrayed as celibate. Him ruling over the eternity of death made him stable, consistent, more sensible, generally quiet and calm and capable of more profound, undying emotions.

Hades was also responsible and decent. There are some insinuations in the myths and their variations I think that he wasn’t all that happy for being assigned to be a ruler of the underworld. He accepted his fate with dignity however, even though he was the oldest brother, out of respect for his younger brother Zeus saving all of them from Cronos and perhaps out of wisdom for deciding it’s not worth it to argue it out with super strong Poseidon for the seas. After that, he ruled the Underworld with dignity, total responsibility and great care. I think this might be some symbolism associated with the solemnity, decency and sacredness people treat their dead.

Furthermore, he was viewed as just. This also makes sense because upon observation Greeks could guess that Death is just. It comes to all, lucky, unfortunate, rich, poor, privileged and loved or marginalized. No one ever escaped or returned from death. Death was fair and absolute. Surely the Greeks would also like to imagine the Underworld as fair and equal towards all the souls of the dead [with a special treatment for extreme wrongdoers - Tartarus, rarely for normal human beings - and rare glorious legendary heroes - Elysian fields - and then all the average souls together in Hades (the place)]. Hades (the god) also employed three srict but good judges to determine how a soul was to be treated in the afterlife, based on how they had fared once alive. Despite being generally good and fair, he was stern and cold because how could the god of the dead be joyous or overly expressive and animated? And he was adamant at keeping the souls to his realm, greatly guarded, because who ever came back from the dead?

So this is why I think Hades was viewed as quiet, consistent, just and reliable. Because this is what death is - reliably it will come to us all and we will all receive the same treatment.

And now, sorry, but I have to do this:

[autosadist]

Hi, I’m admittedly a total idiot and I understand it is NOT your job to educate me, but I’m curious what about “estrogen person” or “testosterone person” is offensive? I really don’t mean it in any kind bad way just really want to understand (blame the autism) bc it does seem like the reasoning for this phrasing is due to the hypothesis that it is the higher levels of the hormone that relates to paraphilia. It seems like maybe it would be better than saying “man” for t people and “woman” for e people. Obv there’s something lacking in my understanding here and it’s making me feel sooo ignorant tbh

i don't mean to be short/unkind here but i can't afford to mince words and don't have some carefully-structured response like usual so i'll just talk straightforwardly: associating someone's sexual fantasies with their hormones is textbook bioessentialist garbage, it comes from the same line of thinking that has kept many trans women gated from countless "women's events" by defining them by their penises and defining those penises as a sort of symbol of violence/potential threat, it's just a way of recategorizing people back into two distinct categories of biological sex but this time it's ! woke ! because now we're saying "testosterone-people" and "estrogen-people" and surely that accounts for trans people, right? but it doesn't, not in any useful way. it still very plainly reduces people down to blood tests and body parts and what we believe those blood tests do or don't say about what they might do with their bodies. at the end of the day, language like this is going to be used to other trans people and transfems specifically. imagine for a moment a trans woman who cannot get access to hrt - or doesn't want hrt - being called a "testosterone-person" here, and imagine for a moment what the crazy shit being said about testosterone and paraphilias might further imply about those women. It's just yet another avenue to frame transfems as violent predators, and i understand that someone looking at the phrases "testosterone-people" and "estrogen-people" who knows and cares about trans people might find that odd because you might be inclined to say "well, naturally a trans woman is an estrogen-person," but (1) most people will not try to be so charitable with language like this and (2) some transfems aren't on estrogen and some transmascs aren't on testosterone and these terms ultimately have things to say about those of us who aren't on hormones. sorry that this is kind of disjointed, maybe i will try to write a clearer post about this after some food and coffee

[geneeste]

🎶 when you get this, put 5 songs you actually listen to, then publish. Send this ask to 10 of your followers (positivity is cool) 🎶

This is a fantastic ask, and because I love music so much I'm giving you way more than you asked for. XD (I used to do music dumps on LJ, boy I miss that.)

Here's my top five most played, according to iTunes:

Fortress by Bear's Den And a coward might call it a conscience / and a liar might call it the truth / nothing could ever make me more frightened / than the thought of hurting you / how could I hurt you?

This one because I listened to it nonstop while I was writing Reclaim (I really should have called it The Fortress Remix).

Which Witch by Florence + The Machine I'm not beaten by this yet / you can't tell me to regret / been in the dark since the day we met / fire, help me to forget

This is is just so good, reminds me of Sam/Jack, and is (along with two other songs on this list) seminal songs on my playlist for the sequel to A Goddamn Blaze in the Dark. (A lot of these are going to be about that series, because I'm trying desperately to finish writing it.)

Wild Roses by Of Monsters and Men A serpent on a bed of leaves / in the month of May / what do you want me to say? / you keep me still when all I feel / is an aimless direction / when I think I'm losin' connection / I see you

One of the seminal songs for the sequel to AGDBITD. Also just very good.

No Light, No Light by Florence + The Machine No light, no light / in your bright blue eyes / I never knew daylight could be so violent / a revelation in the light of day / you can't choose what stays and what fades away / and I'd do anything to make you stay

This one I was surprised by because I don't think I ever put it on specifically, so if it's played a lot it's just by chance. Having said that, it is on my playlist for the sequel to AGDBITD, my Sam/Jack playlist, and my Faves playlist.

If U Love Me Now by MUNA There's me in the corner / throwing a fit, making a mess of it / don't you love me now? / there's me under the table / hiding from my lovers and my allies / don't you love me now? / it's just a hypothesis or test / that I should not exist / don't you love me now? / there's me in the doorway telling you, please / you should just let me leave / if you love me now

Oof, this one is just pure Sam from AGDBITD. But like, later. You'll see.

These are the last five songs I added to my Sam/Jack playlist (which often doubles as my AGDBITD playlist when I don't want to include the 90s songs, LOL):

Face Down In The Moment by Nathaniel Rateliff & The Night Sweats You keep waiting on the night / you keep waiting on your pain / and every moment that you wait now / is a moment slipped away / I think you're gonna have to come out and face / all the fear you can't explain / and all your life, you've been face down / now it's time for you to see

Okay, so there are actually, in total, 3 sequels to AGDBITD and I'm working on them all simultaneously (because of course I am). This song reminds me deeply of the third sequel, for reasons I can't tell you. XD

God Needs The Devil by Jonah Kagen Mm, mm, I'm in love / in a nightmare, please don't wake me up / got a bad case of making bad love / it's who I am, not who I was / but that's life, boy, what can you do? / I need someone, and I need 'em soon / I called the doc and got new shoes / but all roads still lead back to you

Another one that reminds me of the last AGDBITD sequel. For reasons.

(midnight) by Lewis Watson We ran to the border line / where the northern lights flew over us / another cold midnight / but I could lay right here forever / and in distant skies / beyond the trees and rolling hills / we watched the city die / but I could lay right here forever

Just a good, solid Sam/Jack song.

Destroy Destroy Destroy by Transviolet I didn't come here to beg you for what is mine / gun to my head, we've been here a thousand times / and you're scared to death 'cause I'm seeing red / with eyes known to set fires / and I didn't come here to beg you for what is mine

This one reminds of the second sequel to AGDBITD. Again, for reasons. I'm so mean. It's also just a banger.

Your Design by Grace Mitchell Keep calm, color in the lines / no grey, only black and white / big eyes little appetite / long run on a short line / I've been pushed into overtime / it all turned on me on a dime / kind heart with a filthy mind / somebody tell me this is real life

I'm sorry to keep doing this to you, but it's a great song for the second AGDBITD sequel. And of course it's just a excellent song.

Finally, the last five songs I added to my Faves playlist:

Here & Now (Alternative Version) by clay pigeon I could have been your victory, I'll probably be your loss Could have been everything you wished I was not Or every grave detail running through your head Could have been that picture you keep above your bed But I'm here and now

I love a melancholy breakup song.

Heal by Sleeping At Last As I grow older, I hold tighter to a world hell-bent on change / I'd be lyin' if I told you that I wasn't afraid / in the currency of memory, nothing costs more than pain / but you remind me fourteen thousand days or so I'm still okay / you remind me that my body was born to heal / you remind me that my body was born to heal over time / you remind me that my body was born to heal before it dies / you remind me

In the grand tradition of Ryan O'Neal ripping one's heart from one's chest, putting it back better, and making it as though nothing happened, there's this song.

You (feat. Hermanos Gutiérrez) by RY X I woke up falling / and press into your side / your body's an ocean / pull me into your tides

RX Y is a really interesting band in that their songs are often more about the actual instrumentals than the lyrics. This is one of those.

Gone With Your Ghost by Black Match Did I make you happy / or was it pretend? / you know that you had me / but you jumped the fence / did I make you happy / or was it pretend? / 'cause all that we had just / slipped through my hands / gone with your ghost

Another fantastic breakup song. Also a good one for the third sequel to AGDBITD. Oops! Forget I said that.

Cover To Cover by Nathan Ball Take your time / turn back to the lie where I'm hoping to find you / if only to feel bad / there's no need to feel bad / see your eyes, two stars in the night / and my mind's taking over / time is a healer / this time it's hurting

Yet another fabulous breakup song. A companion to Gone With Your Ghost, if you will. Ahem.

[bromcommie]

Do you know (or have a theory about) what Bucky's role in the Thunderbolts will be? I assume he'll be part of the team but he also blows up the car with the T-bolts in it. That paired with the fact that he's in some of his WS gear, I am worried that the plot involves him getting brainwashed again :/

Ah, nonnie—idk if I’m the best go-to for this question seeing as how if I’m being completely honest, I’ve been checked out of the more detailed side of the “theorizing about new Marvel projects” game for a long while now, even (and maybe especially) when it comes to Bucky. I’m afraid every new bit of info is making me think they’re going to keep doing whatever the hell they feel like with him by taking that brand of inconsistent I’ve unfortunately come to associate with his storyline to brand new heights. Not for nothing, but there’s very little even in the way TFATWS “concluded” his arc that’s indicative of him having any place being in the Thunderbolts in the first place.

All of that said, lemme give it my best go based off of gut feeling and previous experience. We do only get so much from that trailer however, and I’ve only seen it the once, and I also might just be completely off-base, so take all of this with a sizable grain of salt:

First of all, I’ve seen the brainwashing hypothesis thrown around a bunch, but here’s the thing: I really don’t think the WS getup has anything much to do with anything. Not to be too cynical, and as lovely as seeing everyone on here picking over some of the details in the costuming and props is—‘tis what I love about this fandom, after all—I truly think we’re past the point in the MCU (if we were ever really there to begin with) where those elements actually have a deeper narrative motivation other than simple vibes, especially in a major team-up like this one.

Now, would I personally love to see one last badass, hurts-so-good farewell omage to the Winter Soldier in all of his Henry Jackman-SKREECH-soundtrack-fueled glory, no matter how thin the justification behind it is? Hell yes. Do I think that’s what we’ll be getting? Nah, not really, and somehow that’s not necessarily better.

If I had to take a guess, I’d say the gear’s there to evoke a sense of him not being entirely his own (a la the Zemo/Madripoor ruse in TFATWS) but that the whole thing’s not really looking like brainwashing at all. Partly because even in those 20 seconds or so we get of him, sure: there’s the grenade launcher, there’s the bike, there’s the wham-bam-thank-you-ma’am of it all, but I’m not really seeing any of that near-manic, laser-focus Winter Soldier energy. I’m just seeing a kind of grim, tired, possibly very pissed off guy-who-is-supposed-to-be-Bucky. With some mean shades on.

The second reason is more on the Doylist side of things: this is them making him a full-on, credit-carrying main character the second time around. At this point, no matter how much I wish it weren’t the case, I honestly doubt they can afford to backpedal on their decision to mostly ignore the previously established canon of Bucky being an unwilling victim of HYDRA’s violence, and am assuming they’ll continue to lean in to him instead being a somewhat conscious perpetrator of it and therefore a viable contender for the Main Character mantle, as well as a part of the Thunderbolts in the first place—seeing as how their whole schtick is that they’re essentially Discount Bin Bad Guys Redeeming Themselves. (I will hereby refrain from discussing all the OTHER characters in that team-up who have also been set up as having all their autonomy very explicitly stripped from them. But know that I am thinking it and shaking my head.) In the framework that they’ve created which has one too many weird victim blaming pillars, having Bucky once again be under direct and full mental and physical control of someone else would be simply incompatible with that protagonist qualifier. And even if they were to backtrack on that decision, it’d still make for an ever more contradictory and regressive storyline, not least of all because they’ve also already established that the brainwashing doesn’t really work anymore. Which leads me to my last point—

There’s really nothing left for them to brainwash him with, I feel like. The Winter Soldier stakes are gone and doubly buried with TFATWS. The code words are gone, or at least that’s what they’ve made a big point of making us believe. Unless they decide to pull another hitherto unknown device to replace them with out of their ass last minute, or to, for some godforsaken reason, reintroduce The ChairTM (which again, seeing him be subject to torture and literal brainwashing and very much not in control wouldn’t really work with the whole “he needs to make amends for the crimes he Definitely Committed Knowingly and Willingly, No Guys For Real” thing they’ve decided to roll with), I frankly don’t see a way for anyone to have that kind of absolute power over him.

Ultimately, I just don’t think they’d even waste that much time setting up those aspects of the character again, especially since from what I’ve seen Bucky’s not even going to be in the movie all that long. Which makes the reasoning of why they’re going for that particular facet of his aesthetic even more confusing, other than, once again, pure ~vibes~.

So, to summarize: no, I don’t think he’s going to be brainwashed, or at least there’s no way for them to do that without once again trampling all over their own canon. Which on one hand, yay! (Said oh so very tiredly.) On the other: I think what that leaves us with is something way closer to 616!Bucky’s comics arc than what we’ve ever had so far, meaning Bucky once again “atoning” for his misdeeds as the Winter Soldier, and likely being under the government’s boot for much of it. And look, while I love 616!Bucky, identical brothers he and MCU!Bucky are not. Any setup we get for this transition would have to be…speedy at best, and nonsensical at worst. How and why his arc would suddenly entail going after a bunch of random rogues as, I’m assuming, some kind of twisted arm of the CIA/Valentina/the US government at large (??), when the last time we saw him he was supposedly finally free and readjusting to society or whatever—fuck if I know. Regular old extortion/blackmail/emotional manipulation of some kind is my best bet, or some last-minute addition to his pardon made for political gain.

In any case—sure, better than the regular old 2015 Bucky brainwashing angst, but only in the way that it’s more of the same done in a different way. I personally don’t like any of the implications this has any better.

But that’s just me going off of the minimal visuals we got so far + wariness derived from unfortunately being a Bucky fan for a good decade now, lol. I still have no idea how any of it’ll play into him being the supposed “de facto leader” of the team, or whether he’ll get there willingly, or even whether the writers of this project will have taken into account any of the previous installments as some others have decided against in the past. (Looking at you, Spellman. Good lord.) My second best guess is that they’ll have him play some kind of mediatory role between the government and the Thunderbolts, seeing as how he’s been around the longest—some fucked up kind of big brother act, if you will, as an extension of that whole “redeeming himself” business—and then possibly kill him off/retire him for good. But other than that I really…don’t know, and haven’t really thought that far ahead since I cannot for the life of me get a feel for what the hell this movie’s tone is even supposed to be, and it’s making me uh…not care too much about it, I’m sorry to say.

But then again and in that same vein, I’m also trying not to assign any particular meaning to anything I’m seeing. For all I know they could decide to retcon him again or shoot him up into space to be Nick Fury’s Man on the Wall instead of killing him off. It’s the Wild Wild and Yet Still Sadly Often Predictable West out there.

I guess we’ll just have to wait and see?

[sixpossumsinatrenchcoat]

Natural Satellite [ch 2]

An In Stars and Time AU. In chapter two, Siffrin phones a friend. Isa consults a confidante. You can read ch 1 here.

“Mira,” Isabeau says seriously, taking a knee in front of the bench so he can grab both of her hands. “Is there a hallway in the House called the Death Corridor?” She blinks at him, owlish. “Um. Well… yes, actually. How did you—” “And your roommate, back in the House. Is her name Claude? And you don’t really get along?” “I’m not sure I’d say that we… Well, maybe we could get along better, but—” “And you— Did you teach a class once? But it went really bad?” “Isabeau!” Mira huffs, drawing herself up. “What is this about! And—how do you know all of that?” Isabeau takes a breath. He lets it out. “Mira,” he says. “I think maybe I can see the future.”

[In Stars and Time spoilers through at least act 4]

Chapter 2

Isa remembers.

Except Isa can’t remember, because… because he just can’t! Loop promised. And, and—and if the actors are starting to remember, then what’s even the point? All this time you’ve been saying your lines for them, smiling and winking and playing along to protect them. If you can’t shield your family from this, why go through with it at all?

And what are you supposed to do when the others start to remember? You can’t even imagine how dangerous Odile would be. And how angry. And Mira, stars, Mira will be so disappointed; but even worse, she’ll blame herself, you know she will. And oh, stars, Bonnie—

“What makes you think they’re going to remember?”

You whip around, bristling. “Weren’t you listening? It’s already happening! Isa knows!! He saw what happened last time and he, he doesn’t know it’s real yet but when it happens again… Why are you laughing???”

“Who, me?” Loop hides their smirk behind one hand. “No reason. I just, ah, remembered a joke.”

“You’re the one who should be upset!” you hiss. “You lied to me! You’re supposed to be helping me and you said, you promised that no one would remember! That it was only me!”

“That’s certainly the impression I had, yes.”

“How am I supposed to do this if you’re just going to lie to me???”

“Ohh, stardust,” Loop sighs. “You always take everything so personally! It isn’t all about you, you know.”

“He saw me use the dagger!!!”

Loop shrugs innocently. “I did tell you not to do it. I hate to say ‘I told you so,’ but…”

“No! No! You are not blaming this on me!!!”

“I’m not the one who put the dagger to your throat, stardust.”

“You put it in my hand! You put it in my head! It’s the same blinding thing!!!”

For the briefest instant, Loop almost looks pained. But the moment you blink, it’s gone. “Haha. Maybe. I suppose it doesn’t really matter who’s to blame.”

“So what do I do?”

“We~ell,” Loop hums thoughtfully. “What makes you think that all of them are going to remember? It might just be the Fighter.”

Your forehead furrows. “Why would it just be him?”

“Why not?”

You shoot them a murderous glare.

“Oh, come on, stardust,” Loop giggles, “don’t look like that. I’m trying to help you! Besides. Did it ever occur to you that this might be a good thing?”

“No.”

“But if you had a co-conspirator… Someone to provide a fresh perspective; to help you think things through…”

“No!!”

Loop gives you a tolerant smile. “Alright, stardust. Enlighten me. Why not?”

“I don’t need help!!” But—no. That’s not the reason. “No. I mean. It’s… Isn’t it already bad enough? And Isa’s…” Soft. Honest. True to the bone. “…sensitive. His feelings all come spilling out. And he’s a coward. He couldn’t handle the truth.”

“Haha, ouch! Mee-yow! Who knew you had such sharp claws?”

“You did.”

“Yes, I suppose I did, at that.” Loop stretches and yawns. Whenever they pull in a really deep breath, their face glows just a little brighter. “So? What are you going to do?”

“What can I do?”

Loop taps their chin thoughtfully. “Sometimes a nightmare is just a nightmare, no? It sounds to me like you need to test your little hypothesis.”

“And how do I do that?”

“Hm… You could smell him!”

Ha, ha. Hilarious. It’s so funny, you forgot to laugh.

“What!!” Loop protests. “I’m not joking! Your Kid said that Time Craft smelled like sugar, didn’t they? If your Fighter smells sweeter than usual…”

“And how am I supposed to know what he usually smells like?”

“Aw. Stardust. My sweet, adorable, stupid little stardust. You know there’s no point trying to lie to me.”

…Okay, so maybe they have a point. You have spent 100-some nights—100-some of the same night sharing a bed with Isabeau. Curled under the blanket just a heartbeat away, so close your noses nearly brush. Listening to Isa stammer his way through a cut-short confession. Watching him sleep, face slack, cheek scrunched against the pillow. By now you could trace the outline of his face with your eyes closed. Of course you know how he smells. Like fresh laundry and cut grass. Like sweat and salt and good clean dirt.

“Okay,” Loop says tolerantly. “If you really won’t smell him, I’m certain you can find some other way. Sleep on it, stardust. Unless you’re ready to give up…?”

You wrinkle your nose at them. “Is that what you want?”

“Stardust!” Loop gasps, clutching their pearls. “You insult me! You know I’m only here to help.”

“Yeah, right.”

“Ohh, don’t be like that! There’s no one keeping you here, you know. If you’re upset, you’re welcome to storm off anytime you like.”

“No,” you say on reflex, and then hesitate. Of course you’re upset. You’re always upset. But this is the only place where you get to be upset without upsetting someone else. “I mean. Um. Is it okay if I stay?”

To your immense irritation, Loop reaches out to tap you on the nose. “You’re the master of your own destiny, stardust. Do what makes you happy.”

* * *

It’s a beautiful day. Dormont is a beautiful town! It’s all steep, sloping rooftops and cozy clay facades, and you can always hear the gentle burble of the river running through it. There’s a buzz of anxiety in the air, but the whole town seems to have agreed to point all their nervous energy toward preparations for their end-of-the-world party. Isa can’t think of a better place to spend what might be his last night on earth.

By the time he finds his way back to town square, he’s more-or-less calmed down. So, of course, that’s when the deja vu hits.

“Good morning!” the boulangier greets him, holding out a picnic basket. “You’re one of the saviors, aren’t you? A friend of little Mirabelle’s? I wanted to give you all a treat! It’s nothing much, just a token of our appreciation!”

A chill drips down Isabeau’s spine. Hasn’t he heard this before? Every word; every pause for breath and sheepish smile… He saw this already, didn’t he? But that was just a dream. It wasn’t really real.

The boulangier is still smiling, waiting for an answer.

“O-Oh! Haha, wow, thanks so much! That’s really nice of you! Aw, but we couldn’t possibly—”

“But you must!” the boulangier laughs, again, exactly like he did in Isa’s dream. “Besides. If you don’t succeed tomorrow, there’ll be no one left to sell to, heh. It’s really the least I can do!”

“Ahh… Haha, well, um. I guess if you insist, we’ll take you up on it!” He grins at the boulangier, trying to look like someone strong enough to put your faith in. (Just like he did the last time.) “But once we beat the King tomorrow, we’re coming back to pay for ‘em!”

The boulangier pats him on the shoulder. If you beat the King, I’ll— “—bake you all the croissants you can eat!”

…Right.

* * *

And then. It just. Keeps happening.

The kid standing at the north end of town challenges him to a rock-paper-scissors-off. Odile gives him a distracted nod on her way into the general store. The runner jogging around the statue of the Change God whacks him on the shoulder and grins before wishing him good luck. Just like Isabeau remembers. Every step, every smile, every shift in the wind… it’s all exactly how he remembers.

…What is he supposed to do with this????

He needs a sanity check. A sounding board. So Isabeau does what he always does when he needs to make sure he’s not being completely stupid: he goes and finds Mira.

* * *

He finds her sitting in front of the library, exactly where he found her yesterday. (No. Not yesterday. His dream of yesterday. His dream of… today? Whatever.)

“Mira.”

“Oh, Isabeau!” she says, brightening. “Are you feeling any better? You looked a little out of sorts, earlier.”

He can still feel the fear crawling over his skin, but Mira’s voice makes the itch recede a little. Just looking at her is enough to make him feel more relaxed. He can always trust Mirabelle to act exactly like herself.

Isabeau isn't here for advice, exactly, because Mira doesn’t really give advice. Mostly she listens intently, her whole face scrunched with focus, and asks leading questions until she’s very gently nudged you to the answer. If pressed, she’ll insist that you got there on your own. (By now, Isa’s learned that it’s pointless trying to argue.)

It was just the two of them, once. Before they found Odile; before Siffrin found them, and then saved Bonnie… Just a little more than half a year ago, their little family was only Isa and Mira. And it was already good!!!

“Mira,” Isabeau says seriously, taking a knee in front of the bench so he can grab both of her hands. “Is there a hallway in the House called the Death Corridor?”

She blinks at him, owlish. “Um. Well… yes, actually. How did you—”

“And your roommate, back in the House. Is her name Claude? And you don’t really get along?”

“I’m not sure I’d say that we… Well, maybe we could get along better, but—”

“And you— Did you teach a class once? But it went really bad?”

“Isabeau!” Mira huffs, drawing herself up. “What is this about! And—how do you know all of that?”

Isabeau takes a breath. He lets it out. “Mira,” he says. “I think maybe I can see the future.”

Whatever she expected, it clearly wasn’t that. She takes one of her hands back so she can rest two fingers against his forehead. Checking for a fever, probably. He almost wishes that he was sick. At least it’d mean that what he saw was just some stupid fever-dream.

But he’s out of luck. Mira draws her hand back, frowning. “You… um? Or? What… makes you think that?”

“I’m pretty sure I just dreamed, like, this whole day.” Just saying it out loud makes him feel a little lighter. “And I don’t just mean a normal dream. I mean, like, accurately. All the little details and everything. And tomorrow, too. I thought it was just a dream, but—stuff keeps coming true!! I keep knowing stuff I couldn’t have known, and recognizing stuff I shouldn’t have seen, so… So what the crab else am I supposed to think????”

“Hm,” she hums. “Hmm. It’s not— I don’t understand how it would work, but… if you really knew all that, then I suppose I can’t just deny it.”

“How did it feel when you got Chosen?” he asks hopefully. Generally speaking, he tries not to ask about the Change God’s blessing—talking about it always puts Mira in a weird mood, and the last thing he wants to do is upset one of his favorite people in the world—but these seem like extenuating circumstances. “Was there, like, a moment? Where you felt… you know. Magic?”

Sure enough, Mira’s face darkens. “Haha. I, ah… no. No moment.”

“So someone could get blessed and not even notice?”

“I—ah—theoretically? I suppose?”

Isabeau nods slowly. “Mira. I think maybe I got blessed.”

She snorts, and then very quickly tries to look like she didn’t. “Oh. You’re serious. W-Well, um… I suppose it could only be a good thing! Theoretically speaking! Especially if you can warn us about potential pitfalls. Did we, um… In this vision of yours, did we beat the King, or…?”

Oh. Oh. Isabeau absolutely cannot tell her why they didn’t beat the King. “Uhh. We… didn’t make it that far. But!! But we definitely will this time!!”

“Yes,” she agrees, nodding fiercely. “We’ll make sure of it.”

* * *

Sif doesn’t show his face until dinnertime. When they finally turn up, they’re almost their normal self again. A little quiet, but that is normal, for Sif. If Isa hadn’t seen what he saw, he wouldn’t think anything of it.

But he did.

Unfortunately, he can’t just ask about it in front of everyone. So Isabeau bides his time. He doesn’t try to talk to Sif until he’s sure that the others are definitely asleep.

“Sif,” he whispers.

Siffrin’s feet twitch.

“Sif. Siffarooni. Siffrin.”

Grudgingly, Siffrin rolls over. (Isa tries not to look at his neck.)

“Um. Sorry? To wake you? I just—sorry, it’s kind of a weird question b-but you, um. You wouldn’t… hurt yourself, right?”

Sif’s eye widens. Surprise, then wariness. “What is this about?”

“N-Nothing!! Nothing!! I just—I had that nightmare, remember, from earlier? And I guess it freaked me out pretty bad cause I— I trust you, of course I trust you, I just. Um. C-Can’t get the image out of my head.”

Siffrin stares at him. Their expression is completely unreadable. Almost as blank as they looked before driving that blade into their neck. The ragged edge of tearing skin. Blood on your hands. Blood on his—

“Sorry,” Isa whispers, squeezing his eyes shut, “Sorry, sorry, I just—I know I’m being really crazy, I know you don’t like to be touched, I just— Can I touch you? Just for a second? I know I’m being stupid, I’m really sorry, I just—I think it might, um…”

“Okay.”

Isa’s eyes fly open. “O-Okay?”

Sif nods.

“Really?”

Another nod.

“‘Cause there’s really no pressure!! I know I was being… s-sort of dramatic, but it’s really totally fine if you don’t— I really don’t wanna feel like I forced you, or—

“No. It's okay.” Sif goes quiet for a second, considering. “Tomorrow's important. We all need you to get enough sleep.”

“R-Right. Right!! Then I’ll just, um…” Isabeau hesitates. Sif’s neck is almost always covered by their cloak. Even when they share a tent, Isa’s always careful not to look too close. He wouldn’t want to weird them out by staring—or, worse, make himself look like an even bigger loser than he is. But he has permission, now. And he kind of really needs this.

Lightly, with just the pads of two fingers, he brushes the side of their throat. Whole, now, and unblemished. Not torn open, not seeping blood. Warm under his hands.

—But the second his hand meets their skin, Siffrin flinches violently.

Right away, Isa jerks his hand back. “S-Sorry!! Sorry!! Maybe if I just— Can you give me your wrist? And I can, um, f-feel your pulse, maybe?”

He can see Sif's throat bob as they swallow.

“Sorry!!!” he yelps. “Never mind!! I was just—”

“No,” Sif whispers. “Um. Here.”

Sif’s hand creeps up the mattress, settles on the pillow between them. It is so much smaller than Isa’s. (Don’t think about it. Don’t think about it. Don’t think about how it would feel if they let you hold their hand; if they wanted you to. OH FOR CHANGE’S SAKE, YOU’RE STILL THINKING ABOUT IT. PLEASE. JUST. STOP.)

As soon as he finds their pulse, Isa feels like the world’s biggest crabhole. Siffrin’s heart is racing, their pulse pounding like a terrified rabbit.

Isabeau lets out his breath and gives Sif their hand back. “Um. S-Sorry. And, um… thanks for humoring me. And... sorry for being so selfish?”

Sif shakes his head. “I don't want you to have a bad dream.”

Isa’s chest swells. He beams at them, dizzy with love. “Well!! Don’t worry!! I definitely won’t now!!!”

Sif gives him a puzzled look, their face half-tilted like a dog hearing a sound it’s never heard before.

“U-Um! Just because, um—”

—there’s a blur of white, and a pillow collides with the side of his face.

* * *

If walking into town yesterday was unsettling, entering the House is downright chilling. Everything is exactly as he remembers.

As soon as they step into the Death Corridor, Isa elbows Mirabelle. “So this is—“

“Yes!” she gasps, disbelieving. “Wow! Yes! It really is! I don’t understand how you could—“ When she looks up, she startles, reaching out with both hands. “Ohh, Siffrin, do be careful!! This wing is called—“

And a boulder the size of a two-bedroom apartment crashes down from the ceiling. (Just like Isabeau remembers.)

…Wow. Okay. So this is really happening.

“So there’s this floating water everywhere,” he whispers to Mira, as they make their way past the boulder. “They’re called Tears and I guess if you touch them, you get frozen in time? But to get past them, we use these, um—“

“What are you two whispering about?” M’dame Odile asks sharply.

“Nothing!!” they chorus.

* * *

They make it as far as the second floor. That’s when Sif wanders up to a Tear and glances over his shoulder to stare straight at Isa. “Hey. Isa.”

“Siiiif~?”

“Why did the time traveler break all of his clocks?”

“Wh–Huh? Uh… I dunno, why?”

“He wanted to kill some time.”

—And Sif plunges his arm shoulder-deep into the Tear.

Isabeau’s eyes widen. He opens his mouth to scream but he can’t make a sound, he can see the scene getting darker—

[ h e   f e e l s    a    t u g    a t    h i s    s t o m a c h ]

—and he wakes up.

* * *

Siffrin’s in the field again. But this time, they don’t look surprised to see him. “Hey, Isa.”

“H-Hey, Sif.”

“Hey, Isa?”

“Sif?”

“Why did the time traveler break all his clocks?”

All the hair on Isabeau’s neck stands up. “Hhhhhha! Um! Because he… wanted to kill some time?”

“Oh, stars,” Siffrin whispers. He squeezes his eyes shut, covers his ears with both hands. “You remember.”

If you wanna find out about updates even when I'm too anxious to post on tumblr, feel free to follow the series on ao3!