#tma s 5

[localratwithcowboyhat]

ITS LOOKING BACK!

[freakcliff]

In persona 2: innocent sin, the chances of a flying snake being homophobic to you are not high, but they also aren't zero. I dont know what I was saying here but i want everyone to know thst in persona two innocent sin there is a nonzero chance that you will flirt with your boyfriend and a flying snake will tell you its unnatural

[go-to-the-mirror]

[ID: A drawing of a person in a blue shirt doubling over and clutching their stomach. Above is: "I'm Gonna Fucking Die Disease" and underneath is: "Causes: Read a fanfiction that was just a little too OOC" /End ID]

No because I have such a visceral reaction to fanfictions that have the characters do something that they would never do. “He would not fucking say that,” actually causes a genuine physical ailment in my body. The world is caving in on me. I feel sick

[argo-bolo]

feeding the eye a tasty little treat of

something i should have not seen

[regainingparadise]

Relistening to TMA Season 5, I am again struck by how goddam badly Martin and Jon need couples counseling.

I love them both. I ship them very much. But oh lord they have issues

Like, these are two individuals who, under the very best of circumstances, would really need therapy both individually and together. They are both people with plentiful quantities of relational trauma from childhood that neither of them have worked through even the slightest bit.

And then you throw them into the apocalypse. And you add a metric fuck ton of guilt, helplessness, and the dynamics of being "The Antichrist and +1"?

On a surface level--Jon is in a perpetual state of information overload. Martin is in a perpetual state of "can you please just explain the basics of what's' going on in a given situation and not just say "it's complicated" or launch into a gruesome monologue"

But on a deeper level, their childhood relational traumas have left them each with opposing avoidant tendencies: Jon is unwilling to broach a difficult conversation, which leads him to hide information until he's confronted. Martin, on the other hand, has a finely honed ability to ignore information that he doesn't like until he no longer can hide from it.

Biggest example of their avoidance tendencies: Martin's Domain

Way early on, when we barely understand any of how the hellscape works, Jon mentions it, Martin shuts it down hard and deflects quickly with a bid for affection from Jon

Martin is in deliberate denial, but Jon admittedly wasn't particularly clear to start with.

"We all have a domain."

Jon means it, presumably, as "Me, You, and other 'Avatars.'" Jon is used to being grouped with those empowered by the Entities. Martin isn't. (see also: MAG185: Martin" Is that how these creatures see us now? As one of them?") But that's not what Jon says. And this is MAG167--they've only been through four domains, at least that we've seen. Jon is speaking from a place of knowledge, and assuming his listener has that same knowledge.

And when this issue comes up much later in MAG183, Martin has spent 17 episodes ignoring or forgetting that he has a domain, not letting that information in so that he has never processed it. (See also: Mag170: "Sometimes I wonder if I forget things on purpose. Easier not to think about them, I guess. Easier to just let them… slip away. They can’t hurt you if you don’t think about them.").

Martin confronts Jon on his avoidance (because while Martin may be good at ignoring things he doesn't like, he's far better at bringing up challenging topics), Jon is able to manage some A+ communication on his feelings and the genuine challenging of figuring out how to share upsetting information when he has All The Information, Martin accepts that. I just desperately want a therapist to be there and make them continue this conversation and practice ongoing good communication skills!

Though they resolve this, even though Jon has an explanation that makes sense...he was really leaving this conversation to the last minute. Would he have "[brought] it up at the crossroads" as he claims to Helen? Or would he have avoided it entirely, as she accuses, or waited till they were at the threshold, as he does with The Desolation and the Hunt, leaving Martin to confront terrifying situations without forewarning or planning or explanation.

Again, Jon kind of tried to bring up some of the potential issues with Basira and Daisy before entering the Hunt domain, but kept it Vague and Ominous ("Things aren't...good"). Martin took that vagueness as an opening to avoid engaging with potential bad news. The teensiest bit of therapy for either of them about their communication issues could have let Jon add "I know you're exited but FYI here are some specifics that you should know" and/or Martin go "I'm excited to see them but given that nothing is good right now, can you be more specific?"

Instead, Jon approaches difficult conversations by being Vague and Ominous, Martin gets snarky or passive-aggressive at the vagueness, upset or aggressively avoidant at the Ominousness, Jon closes back up like a turtle into his shell, and the conversation only comes back up when the situation has drastically escalated, leaving them both more upset.

Jon wants Martin to trust him, because explaining what he knows implicitly is an ordeal for him, and because his upbringing by his grandmother has suggested that communicating is generally unwanted and burdensome (See: MAG081 A Guest for Mr. Spider).

Martin wants to know what is going on, because he's in an awful hellscape of shifting rules about what can and cannot hurt them, completely dependent on a brand-new romantic partner for his survival and purpose, and also because his upbringing and coping mechanisms as a caretaker rely on him knowing enough to help, and his time as an archival assistant has given him some not-inconsiderable trauma about being left in the dark (See: MAG118 The Masquerade) (There's also another post in my head about how MAG118 primed Martin for both the Lonely and his development as a more confrontational character in S5)

All that to say.

Martin needs therapy to deal with the way he chooses not to absorb information he doesn't like. Jon needs therapy to understand that sometimes it's ok to bring up important topics even if the other person will be upset. They both need therapy to cope with all the guilt and helplessness around the apocalypse so they stop taking it out on each other. They need therapy together to learn how to work through their conflicting coping mechanisms.

[macabresymphonies]

I've seen a lot of theories about how "TMAGP is not about fears it's about desires", but post episode 5 I'll do you one better, they are not about desires, they are specifically about passions.

You see TMA was specifically and objectively about fears. Yes sometimes your passion for skydiving made you a prime victim for a smiling, dried geriatric dude with a cane, but there were also a lot of them where you were simply tormented by doors for your whole life for no reason or stuck in a slaughterhouse job you didn't like, so the one connecting factor for them was FEAR of something.

TMAGP incidents are obviousily different, the are not specifically about characters being afraid - quite the contrary, some of them are sedated into a paranormal-like serenity. The one connecting factor this time wasn't fear, but weirdly enough they all do speak or hint at things they or other characters are very passionate about:

I love my husband (Harriet Winstead)

I love urban exploration (RedCanary)

I love art (Daria)

I love gardening (Maggie Webber)

I love being a doctor (Dr Samuel Webber)

I love playing violin (Unnamed Virtuoso)

I love horror films (Tom)

You may contend me on Samuel Webber loving his work as a doctor, but it has been hinted on in the incident he's very passionate or at least absorbed in it:

He's on the run and still thinks of his patients, regrets working so long, but it's implied it's his fault he stayed at the hospital too long. These lines from the writing perspective would normally be there to make his character more sympathetic, but I doubt that was the case with a guy who may-or-may-not have killed his wife over unconfirmed affair, instead they seem like a framing device for us to see how passionate Samuel is about his work.

All this talk about love made me think back to what Gerry said back in MAG 111:

Maybe now we know why, because they were present in different universe, but suddelny in some space-time warp incident (wonder what that could be /s) they were met with primodial gods of fear and those corrupted them. Now these fallen gods corrupt and warp people, twisting their passions into obsessions and weapons. Still feeding on love, but they take it by any means necessary.

[gaiusgoose]

I don’t think we’re seeing Smirke’s 14.5

First, I would like to point out that a lot of the point of season 4&5’s “mechanics” was that the fears are not really 14, or 15 but fingers and toes and eyes and teeth of Fear, the singular entity.

For a time it is helpful, understanding how these things function, like Jon’s smiting or how The Web does The Web things, but that’s like understanding that the nose smells and the brain thinks. Really, it’s a singular thing that humans have tried to understand and simplify, abstract and restrict. It’s wholly possible that in tmagp

Now notice how the current few statements have manifested:

First episode we have some more, fairly usual statements:

- the resurrection one, which I think we can all agree would fall into Stranger + Terminus

- Canary, who is definitely, solidly, Beholding focused.

Yet notice that the resurrection one has a blending of fear subtypes, without any distinct dominant type emerging (imo). See how Canary is a subtlety different interpretation of Beholding then we got before, focusing on a fear of the possibility of being seen and ridiculed and all that, while more classic ones are actually about being watched, the action is done. Overall, these points are stretches, and could fit within tma easily, but I think these subtleties are indicative of what is to come

Because next episode, about the artist, is really confusing from a tma perspective. We start with The Eye, focusing on self image then being streamed to the world, yet moving onto a Flesh esque mania of self reformation, but if they’re becoming something of an avatar (generating that fear in others such as their roommate, not themselves, I have another post on this) then they’re probably closer to becoming a part of the stranger. Essentially, the paints are muddled and we can’t just look at it and say “blue”.

Then with about the same level of muddling is episode 3. He’s clearly spiraling the entire time, delusional and fearful. I won’t chalk up his fear of being caught to the eye, that’s probably not strong enough nor supernatural enough to count imo. But as the statement progresses, he becomes more and more corruption + flesh. Corruption and flesh are often packaged together, even Jane Prentiss was the Flesh Hive, it’s honestly quite hard to escape The Flesh, but again like the resurrection from episode 1 it’s muddled to the point where no fear is dominant.

Finally notice the state of Chester and Norris. While I’m hesitant to jump to any conclusions about them, because we know next to nothing, but I suspect they’re some of the first cases of the stated theme of the show “what makes someone a person.” They’re clearly sentient, but they’re also clearly not wholly human anymore. Are they still people? Dunno.

I suggest that in tmagp we might be seeing emergence of a different categorization. I suspect they’re going to focus much more on identity and the loss of it, like tree man and the artist losing themselves.

So uh yeah

[zabala0z]

Welcome back to the first episode of “Listening to TMA S5, blind” I’m your beloved host and guys. Guys guys. I actually am freaking out.

MAG 161: Dwelling

I’m actually screaming. Hearing the old gang actually made me want to cry. SASHA. SASHA I MISSED YOU :(( also Elias: “I’d like to keep an eye out” you think you’re so fucking funny. I loved the very off key singing of Happy Birthday. Accurate. I wonder if Elias/Jonah sent the tapes for a reason. It’s definitely not to gloat. Is this apart of a wider web of manipulation? The Web style? Also, the fact Sasha could’ve been head archivist. Jesus

Hearing the description of the entities, that they don’t care enough to keep humanity fed and watered unnerved me a lot actually. I don’t know.

MAG 162: A Cozy Cabin

GERRY!!! Nice to hear him as a human, without all the ghost-like qualities. Although hearing Jon rewind the tape over and over and over and over again just made me feel bad.

And then Sasha and Tim.

“we had the ill-advised hookup, the awkward aftermath, and the gradually rebuilt friendship, but – that’s all season two stuff. We’ve got like five more seasons before we get the heartwarming epilogue that makes it canon.”

“No. You took it too far! I’m unforgettable!”

So what if I just ended it all?

Also Jon’s monologue. For a bit, I thought he was “knowing” one of Martins poems that he made during this since Martin was the one who did not like staying at the cabin but no, I was wrong. But time to see the outside world

MAG 163: In The Trenches

I wanna go back to the cabin.

I love TMA so much because of how the format switches up every season. Like season 1 was pretty simple enough with season 2 having Jon add in those supplementals and having a new setting (the tunnels). Season 3 cranks it up with having live statements from recurring characters, statements read by others, and dropping some lore. season 4, while similar to season 1 in terms of format, has Martin reading statements, more god damn lore and some new settings. And now season 5 has uh all this. It’s so amazing and I love it and I’m terrified.

Hearing Jon describe everything going on actuslly made me horrified. Like I got spooked out by the statements but this made me feel so much dread like I’m not even kidding. I also wanna know more about that weird ass doctor and the man with the red flower. Avatars of The Slaughter I presume.

Also that phone. ???? What???

MAG 164: The Sick Village

Gross. While the previous episode made me experience horror, this made me feel disgust. Disgust that just burrowed into my bones (get it. Cause..the episode-). I had such a deep instinct of repulsion. Like actually. I also read the triggers just cause you can never be too careful and I remember thinking, “how can xenophobia be involved with The Corruption?”…apparently xenophobia was very prevalent

Now I know where the whole “Martin’s middle name” thing comes from. I’m glad Basira is alive. And heart broken at the tragedy there is. She’s always chasing Daisy and Daisy is always chasing another thing SOMEBODY SEDATE ME

I think Georgie and Melanie are in the tunnels. It’s been established before that Elias can’t see in the tunnels which probably means Jon can’t see them. I’m glad they are safe. They need it.

Helen! Nice to see her again, I actually cackled when she said “check up on the happy couple”. Nice to see a confirmation about the relationship. This is like the worst time to be dating someone though 💀 Helen’s so happy. I’m sure she has a ton of people in her hallways. I don’t know if she’s lying about the “friend thing, but it’d be funny if she wasn’t

Okay. That’s everything. Sorry for the long wait, I had to take a break after season 4’s finale and then ANOTHER one after listening to the first 3 eps. This is like, actually heavy. Kinda draining. But god, I’m actually going insane.

I want to know how this is going to be fixed. Like. There’s gotta be some happy ending. ??? Right??? Please tell me there is one.

[latinotiktok]

Official list for "Canonize your blorbo as LATINO Tournament"/Lista oficial del Torneo "Canoniza tu blorbo como LATINO"/Lista oficial do Torneio "Canonize seu blorbo como LATINO"

Disclaimer: these are characters that have been voted more than once and have "propaganda" on why they are thought to be latino/latina/latine. 64 characters will be selected, there are still spots left. Tournament will began on October 9th/10th and the polls will be up for 24hs for the first round.

Aclaración: estos son personajes que han sido votados más de una vez y tienen "propaganda" sobre por qué se cree que son latinos/latinas/latines. Se seleccionarán 64 personajes, aún quedan lugares. El torneo comenzará el 9/10 de octubre y las encuestas estarán abiertas durante 24hs para la primera ronda.

Esclarecimento: são personagens que foram votados mais de uma vez e fazem “propaganda” sobre por que são considerados latinos/latinas/latinos. Serão selecionados 64 caracteres, ainda há vagas. O torneio começará no dia 9/10 de outubro e as votações ficarão abertas por 24 horas para o primeiro turno.

Shadow/Sonic

Leorio Paladiknight (hxh)

Tortugas ninja pero en especial Miguel Angel

varios personajes de Dorohedoro

Wei Wuxian (MDZS/The Untamed)

Wolfwood (Trigun)

Kung Lao (Mortal Kombat)

Naruto (Naruto)

El equipo Rocket/Team Rocket

Los locos Addams/Addam's family

Gojo (jjk)

Yuuji (jjk)

Peter Parker (Marvel)

Matt Murdock (Marvel)

Todos los Jojos pero en especial joseph joestar y narancia (JJBA)

Crowley (good omens)

Denji (chainsawman)

Jason Todd (DC)

Percy Jackson (Percy Jackson series)

El trio de evangelion pero en especial SHINJI (Evangelion)

Reigen (MP100)

Nishinoya (HQ!!)

Magnus Archives dudes pero en especial Martin (TMA)

Marceline (Hora de Aventura/Adventure time)

Leon s. Kennedy (Resident Evil)

Sanji (One piece)

Chell (Portal)

Simon Petrikov (Fionna and Cake/Adventure Time)

Lelouch lamperouge

the guys from Yakuza (Yakuza)

Dean Winchester (Supernatural)

Claude Von Riegan (Fire Emblem)

Link (Zelda games)

Ruggie Bucchi (Twisted Wonderland)

Jake el perro (Adventure time)

Utena Tenjou y Anthy Himemiya (revolutionary girl utena)

Vriska Serket (Homestuck)

Karkat Vantas (Homestuck)

Candy Candy (Candy Candy)

Murdoc Niccals (Gorillaz)

Michael Afton (FNAF games)

Godot (Ace Attorney)

JESUS FROM LIKE, THE BIBBLE

Catra (She-ra)

Hinata (HQ!!)

Rengoku (kny)

Shrek y Burro (doblaje latm)

Edward Elric (FMA/FMAB)

Hobie Brown (Marvel/ATSV)

Amatista (Steven Universe)

L (Death Note)

Heidi (Heidi anime)

Madotsuki (yumei nikki)

Koby (One piece)

Sasuke Uchiha (Naruto)

Pato Lucas/Duffy Duck (Looney Tunes)

Manuela Casagrande (Fire Emblem)

Hatsune Miku (Vocaloid)

Taylor Hebert (Worm)

Joker (Persona 5)

Yugi Muto >(Yu-Gi-Oh!)

Karamatsu Matsuno (Osomatsu-san)

Satsuki Kiryūin (Kill la Kill)

La piratería (sí, el concepto de la piratería)

Edit: been informed Taurus is already latine so I'm taking him out I'm sorry uwu

[autismprotocol]

TMAGP Theory Board Update (Episode 5)

Hi Guys hope everyone had a relaxing week. what did everyone think of the new episode? After I finished digesting the episode I got to updating the board so Here it is!

I also wanna start adding a list of the new evidence and story we add on the board below in case the image is to blurry or you don't want to try and navigate through the image to find a specific piece of info

What Happened in episode 5: Personal Screening

Sam told lena he's been noticing Colin acting strange avoiding security cameras and installing extra locks on his door ( Is he just a normal paranoid IT guy or is he being watched?). Lena brushes Sam off saying " the problem will solve itself"

Chester (Jon?) gives us a new incident that ends up connecting back to the eye much like his last one (RedCanary) but unlike that incident this one is not connected to the Magnus Institute (I notice a pattern emerging that Chester seems to read statements that connect to the eye and also incidents that occur on internet blogs and/or forums.)

Gwen asks Alice about if she knew anything about the IT guy before Colin "A german guy, lots of tattoos" . Alice only seems to remember that their old IT person Amelia complained about his work a lot (why is Gwen suddenly asking about this person? the german bit ties back into when Colin informs Sam that FR3-d1's source code was written in german. does this IT guy have somthing to do with Chester (Jon?), Norris (Martin?) and Augustus (Jonah?) being part of FR3-d1?)

Lastly Since the first board update I found out about the TMAGP ARG set up by Alex and his team back in fall. I ended up reading through Alex's full post and searched through some of the links that were still running and found some info about the Manchester Magnus Institute so thats been added to the board as well. on a post from the Tumblr blog @strangehauntsuk (this was created for the ARG) at the bottom there is a post about the Magnus Institute ruins saying that the Magnus Institute's main facility burned down on December 24th 1999

It also mentioned that the Magnus Institute ran educational programs for gifted children and adults (had a much different purpose then The Magnus Institute from TMA's universe)

Anyway thats it for me until the next episode drops feel free to leave any comments or send any asks if you have something you wanna discuss or theories you want to propose ask box is always open

-Echo

[localratwithcowboyhat]

Tried pixel art for the first time so here ya go

[alwaysbooyahback]

MAGP 15: TMA 195 & S 5 Act III Trailer

Tossing this out there: the drowning victim in Magnus Protocol 15 has pretty parallels to the victim in TMA 195.

Any chance it’s the same victim, brought in with/by the tape recorder?

Also, just putting this out there, the poem that Arun read in the Season 5 Act III Trailer: The Rime of the Ancient Mariner.

[magpod-confessions]

Protocol just keeps getting worse. It feels like a soulless cash grab fanfiction with none of what made tma compelling but just enough references to tma to keep people listening and bringing in ad revenue. It’s got none of tma’s dread and horror but all of season 5’s shitty fanservice fluff dialed to 100. They took the “office rom com” jokes literally and it’s terrible. With the exception of putting down roots, the statements have been short and feeble, and feel rushed. There’s nothing interesting or psychological about them because with 3/4 the episode being office gossip they don’t have time to build up any sort of suspense and have to resort to random gore to be able to pass it off as horror. They should have ended the series at mag 160.

.

[ego-sum-ex-altiora]

TMP predictions (I know I’m a wee bit late, as of episode 5)

- Sam is going to continue investigation the magnus institute, and we’re going to learn about what happened to it in this universe

- Sam (possibly alone, although i feel there’ll be a “convincing the others that this is serious” whole thing) is going to go into the magnus institute’s tunnels

- there are people in the computers, but they are NOT john and martin (although I think the computers are in love 🥰🥰🥰)

- i think there’s going to be romance, but i don’t think it’s going to involve sam or alice (not counting just flirting as romance)

- i also think the romance is going to be super significant to the plot or anything (similar to tma)

- Gwen being a bouchard is going to either help or hinder sam’s investigation of the magnus institute (i’m leaning more towards hinder)

- the computer voices are going to slowly become more emotive and going “off the script” (ie, asking for help in the middle of reading)

- i DONT think they’re going to get the people out of the computers, but they’ll still be very helpful/important to the plot

- the real world characters are going to develop an emotional connection to the computer people

- either they don’t learn about the Entities system, or they learn a different set of classifications

- while TMP is independent to TMA, i think there’s going to be a detail or something that will make all us TMA listeners go “OHH” or make some kind of connection/realisation

- Sam is gay. not bisexual/pan/ace/anything. he’s going to be a gay man and nothing else.

- there’s going to be some weird development that leads to character/s questioning either their humanity or their existence

- assuming it will have multiple seasons like TMA, the magnus institute will slowly become relevant and something significant about it will happen at the end of season 1 (ie; my prediction about sam visiting the tunnels)

EXTRAS added after relistening to episodes so far

- i take back what i said about the fear Entities not existing. they exist and Celia knows about them

- Celia is either a) an ex magnus institute employee/relative or friend of one, and wants to learn more about what was going on. or b) and avatar, trying to work out how much people know about the paranormal and stuff

- Celia is gonna be evil. Jonny would not just write a super lovely and cheery character to simply lighten the mood.

- might be a bit far fetched but i think colin is going to try to upload himself into the computer (or get uploaded against his will)

- in TMA it was clear that actually paranormal stuff would get distorted trying to digitally record in any way. I think colin’s camera paranoia is related to this, perhaps he has already been taken by one of the fears

- i don’t think anyone is going to have a john-esque “am i a monster” crisis, but i think whoever is in the computer is going to have a “am i even a person” crisis

thank you for coming to my ted talk.

[drinker-of-paint]

TMA Character Arcs- Elias Bouchard

Ngl, I hate this. Im really sorry about the quality of this one lads it's all I've got 😭

But I finished it, so here it is.

s5's is straight up cringe I know I know.

I've already deleted this once so hopefully I'll keep it up this time

Version with season 4/5 spoilers below

[unending-vigil]

give me your most self-indulgent tma headcanon (that you feel comfortable sharing). doesn't matter what or who it's about, that's up to you

hello nem. i finally get to your ask. so, it's not a headcanon, but close enough because i made it all up. in my head. and as such it's very self-indulgent, clearly

I'm Going To Talk About Clara Von Closen (i like clara better than carla so. that's the name i use for her even though she's carla in 127)

putting this under the cut because it's practically a fucking essay

we get... 5 pieces of information about her, shall we say

either she or albrecht (or both) are infertile, as they cannot have a child of their own

she feels something parental towards their nephew

she doesn't want to go out and explore the spooky tomb with albrecht

she plays the pianoforte excellently, but, according to albrecht, does not sing very well

she died of fever a few years before albrecht

now, i believe someone had introduced to me the idea of Web!Clara before I started thinking about her properly, and this influenced how I fleshed out those things. namely, the powerlessness she had—because surely being a woman in the cultural context of the regency era must feel like being a terribly powerless puppet. in what other ways does she feel powerless?

here's where I talk about the characterisation I got for her based on the above:

i started with the way she, reportedly, cannot sing well, but can play the pianoforte excellently. so she's got musical inclinations. i begin to wonder if her singing voice really is terrible, or if albrecht personally just does not like it. perhaps she's got a deep voice. i begin to wonder if perhaps she wanted to be a singer in some capacity when she was a child, and had her dreams shattered by something entirely outside of her control. and she threw herself at learning to play a variety instruments with more passion than before, because this she can control, her body will bend to her whims and she will wring the music that nobody wanted to hear from her throat out of the strings of objects, instead.

and then the fact that one of them is infertile. i consider the way I've given her a craving for control, and i think that if it were just albrecht, she would've found a way to get pregnant, and she would've told him that it was his. so that's another thing out of her control, another thing taken from her by her body. she wanted a child, wanted to shape and mould and watch them grow. and she didn't get that.

it was at this point in characterising clara that I go oh, have I made her intersex by accident? a singing voice perhaps more mannish than is acceptable for her, infertility... so i roll with it. alright. Clara is intersex. another thing out of her control, something that means others might consider her undesirable if she's not careful. she wouldn't have understood why her body changed differently to other girls, but she would've known, intimately, to keep it secret. she learns to do what it takes to keep herself safe.

her secrets have secrets. it starts with her body, but it's a few years, at most, that that's her only secret to keep. does she love albrecht, or is she just fond of him and glad he doesn't pry too hard? is she manipulating him in order to exert control over her life, more than any woman in this time should have? (does she even like men? one more thing to hide, to never tell.)

so—her relationship with Wilhelm, their nephew. "Myself and Clara have since made every effort to provide him with guidance and such affection as he may have lost." he was orphaned at 14, his mother having died in childbirth and his father passing on for unstated reasons.

this is almost as good as a child of her own. he's an orphan, so she's not competing with anyone, and while she may not have gotten to help mould him as thoroughly as she would have a child born to her, she at least avoids the more messy stages of childhood. and adolescents are very, very malleable. what she wants is to pass on all she has, and while she may not necessarily get that, she nevertheless gets something of the sort.

i won't really touch on not really wanting to explore the spooky tomb. i think this is just that she has common sense, frankly. and maybe she has a little of that eye curiosity—blackmail is the simplest way of ensuring someone keeps your secret, after all, and to get that, some investigating is required. maybe she knows that the artefacts of the tomb won't kill albrecht by themselves, and she wants to see what will happen to him.

dying of fever could just be dying of fever. or, well, flies get caught in spiders' webs, don't they? perhaps a corruption avatar got caught in her manipulations and didn't care for it much... enough to strike her down. (and maybe she comforts herself by saying it's all part of a bigger plan. it's surely quite the reassurance, when so much hurts your own plans, out of your control)

here's where i talk about her relationship with the others in smirke's band:

this is something i haven't concretely put down nearly as much for, but i think she's... peripherally aware of their discussions, but of course they're not going to include a woman (love period-typical misogyny /s) and those two that might particularly object to leaving her out... well, it's only an objection in principle. neither like her much, and neither want to be outed as trans. further, while albrecht does try to explain if clara asks directly, he's hesitant to share in full and not the best at explanations besides

clara is definitely very aware that her husband is terribly, terribly smitten with all of his little friends. which is fine. she may not be particularly fond of jonah, the one who's both ringleader and most struggling in society, but they've spoken a few times. he's nice enough, when he's not asking who knows of her secrets, and when she's not having to threaten to expose his in turn.

she most certainly knows doctor jonathan fanshawe better than albrecht does, though. she discovered that he's transgender, and, well... it was perhaps a little shitty of her, but she threatened to out him if he breathed a word of the ways her body might be different to other women's, and especially to her husband (he might have noted some differences, but he's seen more men naked than women. he's easily persuaded that there's nothing "wrong" with clara). an easily blackmailable doctor is a good doctor, for a woman with secrets to keep.

and now i get into rarepair/crackship territory. welcome to skynet.

so. Simon Fairchild, who I will still refer to as Simon for clarity's sake despite not using this name at the time. consider: Simon Fairchild, genderfluid trans woman (sorry if I'm getting it Wrong mach). clara von closen, lesbian who's never actually gotten to be with a woman but just admires from afar.

simon, on the periphery of smirke's band, as clara is, gets to know her. they become close enough that it's improper, but albrecht isn't paying enough attention to know, too caught up in the other men. clara is curious as to why she's attracted to what she assumes is a man, and simon is smitten with this tall beautiful woman.

includes a very "Oh, so that explains it!" moment when simon explains, and simon being Very Very Gaslightable, to the utter delight of clara. her silly rabbit

snd. i am too tired to elaborate further I think so just have the post. Clara 👍 my favourite ruthless manipulative loveless lesbian who also does have a deeply soft side for kids and for her lame-ass gf