#no time skip actually happens. clarifying just in case^^

[tophat-69]

How long did it take Vander to pspspsps Silco back to rhe Drop in the five year time-skip of "it's the good, defining itself"? Considering how long it's taken Vander to get Silco to trust him in Singular Fate, I can't imagine it's been easy with a Silco who knows to be weary now (and hells, might still have some hideouts he won't tell Vander about just in case)

Less time than you'd think! But keeping him there for any length of time took some work. Fortunately, Vander had a secret weapon.

(And here we go, time for another overlong response!)

The big thing about "it's the good, defining itself" that I left unstated is that I imagined this as sort of "the one world where things ACTUALLY work out." It becomes the ideal set of circumstances. Not a clean happily ever after, because Viktor is not miraculously cured, because Jayce and Viktor carry the scars of their past with them, but the one true success story out of all of the realities that Viktor shuffled through like a deck of cards.

And part of that is that for Zaun to truly have freedom you need Vander and Silco on the same side. They're the unifying force of Zaun. Unless they reconcile, there's always the possibility of a later rupture. You see what they can do together in Ekko's AU, but it's still not perfect. Vi is dead. Ekko and Powder still have the crystal fragments, and Powder has cause to use them. There's still a possibility of Jayce's work bringing destruction in the future of that world.

But, in an ideal set of circumstances... Vander and Silco need to be aligned IDEOLOGICALLY again. We saw in both on-screen universes that Silco genuinely hoped that would happen. He cared about that even more than the genuine trauma of the man he loved effectively killing him.

In "good, defining" we get that. Not only that, we see it be prioritized by both men. As soon as they nearly kill his daughter, Vander's shifted out of inaction and complicity. Meanwhile, when forced to choose between revenge and revolution, Silco shifts as well. They meet in the middle, not by compromising their ideals but by clarifying them. It's not that Vander "wins," it's that they reunite.

That is a huge thing for Silco.

Then you throw in the other thing that motivated him. Silco loved, and Vander stole that from him. He blamed Silco for the deaths of the people they cared about, and even after he realized it wasn't entirely Silco's fault he still let the very community that Silco helped to build view him as sort of the monster lurking in the dark. He took away everything that Silco loved, himself included, and left him a pariah.

But in "good, defining" Vander is offering that back to him. Not just himself. Not just the spot he once held in their community. But family who he can love. And you can be certain that the pspspspsing came from them, too. Particularly Powder.

So, for timeline... He'd keep a separate place for at least two years, setting the where and when Vander can see him very strictly. Only staying over at the Last Drop on his own terms. Testing if Vander will respect his boundaries. Stubbornly refusing to let Viktor 'win' for being a meddling little shit.

Because Vander broke that man. Not just his face, not just his eye, he shattered his faith in things he wants.

But the entire time those sharp edges are being worn down because it's sort of being dropped off the deep end into family when you've got five kids around who are fascinated by this glimpse into Vander's youth. None of them really got the time to see Silco as THE big bad, because he was still mostly operating in the shadows, and Viktor's actions derailed the moments that would really cement him as "the villain" in Vi's eyes.

After the five year timelapse, ZaunDads being married is still a bit new (at least officially. I think Benzo et al have basically considered them married for years). There's a moment where Silco's still trying to pretend the kids are Vander's, not theirs together, and Viktor calls bullshit on that. It's still a work in progress, and it's two steps forward and one step back for a while there.

But Vander can be patient. And Silco wants that life he's offering so very much.

(...Plus, Powder is his daughter the second she gets her claws in him. The girl adopts fathers without their say-so left and right. He was doomed to be Dad from the start.)

[poisonousquinzel]

also clarifier skdjsksks regardless of how I'm currently feeling about the relationship writing for Harley and Ivy, it changes nothing when it comes to me shipping them in general.

I don't think they're being super well written when it comes to their relationship side plots as of this moment. I think a lot of narrative steps have been skipped or ignored, and in Ivy's case my issue is primarily with Janet, how Janet is written and how others are written specifically when in a scene with her.

@harlivycentral has a really really great post about Ivy's characterization, in gen and in these situations. It's a good read! The bit about the stuff with Bella really makes sense and personally I could definitely believe that, I just struggle to fully believe it's an intentional writing decision. 😭 (But as we all know there's a lot of great comic bits that're definitely not intentionally written skdjdkks)

So regardless of the creative intentions, it does make digesting and even understanding why Ivy may be reacting in certain ways a lot easier. so like truly, ty

Creative intentions wise though, it never feels like the narrative treats the "romance" infidelity side plot in her comic with the severity the actions would realistically cause. Harley doesn't react in character most of the time and frankly she's not really well written in #14/#17.

And personally for me Janet comes off as having a lot of biphobic stereotypes in her characterization thus far, characteristics that gww has had sole control over since her creation, Janet is her original character. And it makes enjoying her overwhelming presence more and more agitating to experience the longer I think about the fact that she's perpetuating harmful stereotypes about my sexuality, and no one seems to give a damn outside of folks here.

The way gww has decided to write her up until this time (regardless if she fully realizes it or not) is that of an irrational, pushy, promiscuous and impulsive bisexual woman who continues to romantically pursue and kiss the people around her without them giving any indication that they want her to and being self-assured that these mostly nonconsensual encounters were legit Romantic Moments between herself and these people. (this view is not challenged by the narrative)

She has described herself as a seductress, a femme fatale and a homewrecker. And apparently believes her relationship with Ivy can be partly summed up with "person you sleep with when you're bored".

This line from the chapter released a few days ago continues to give me no hope that the writing is ever gonna acknowledge or have Janet acknowledge that nothing that's happened between her and Ivy (or her and Harley) have been real Moments in the published product we have been presented. This was an issue in #23 when Janet said as much, to Harley's confusion.

Ivy did not sleep with Janet because "she was bored". She was High. She unknowingly consumed drugs and said herself that she "stopped resisting" the hallucinogens and JANET. the idea that what happened in #10 was because of boredom is actually absurd tbf.

the next kiss in #11 is unsolicited. her kiss with Harley in #14 is unsolicited, one that she does after immediately insulting Harley. and Harley makes it clear in #17 that that is exactly how she views the interaction.

but even that rude, unsolicited moment in #14 was mentioned in the summary with the statement that it was potential cheating.

BACK IN GOTHAM CITY! As Poison Ivy investigates the inner workings of a strange new skyscraper in Gotham, she finds herself up to her neck in a surreal and slimy mystery. And at its center? A brand-new villain in the Poison Ivy pantheon of rogues! Plus…is Janet-from-HR cheating on Ivy?!

even her kiss with Croc was unsolicited, and I'm glad they seem happy and all, but Janet is acting like she's gotta hide this from Ivy as if they're not just friends. Why the hell would Ivy care 😭

The overall idea from the post linked above about Ivy potentially self sabotaging after the reunion and thats why she slept with Janet is a really good one that I think could have worked in the published product if the narrative was treating the encounter as just that. If it spent more time with Ivy's personal inner workings, feelings and thoughts about the situations, and less time focusing on Janet and attempting to legitimize her factually incorrect takes about them having a Thing when Ivy told her minutes after their hook up that it was a mistake sjdjjdksksk 😭😭

I also don't think that this thing between Janet and Croc is going to end happily :(( given the way gww has talked about it on her bluesky. she's also kept silent on anything about Ivy's relationship with Harley despite people asking.

So I wouldn't be surprised if DC is pushing to have them in a very separated, "open relationship" again.

Thankfully comic characters and ships always tend to have great highs and low lows, unfortunately I think we're just dipping down again.

And, remember it's been a very good few years for them, having their relationship be made more public and irrefutably Romantic. they've been allowed to kiss on the lips countless times now and be openly gay and in love on comic covers. Harley has said the actual word bisexual in reference to herself!!! We've had a lot of incredible progress.

The main timeline harlivy is also not the only one that's canon, so while this may be coming into an arc / few years we're not gonna particularly enjoy writing wise, there's still numerous other universe harlivy's to appreciate and latch onto in the meantime if the current writing is making enjoying the harlivy ship difficult for you. ❤️

BTAS, DCeased, Injustice (comic) Bombshells, DC Superhero Girls, The Strange Case Of Harleen & Harley, Wayne Family Adventures, etc. I'm sure I'm forgetting some skdjsksks

[nggtsdotcom]

Yo yo yo !!!! Long post alert !!!!!

Japan (he/they [?]) !!! As I mentioned haha

Clarifying some things of him because I need to dump stuff somewhere. (TW for SUD [substance use disorder], overdose and abuse [probably?]) Reminder that this is not exactly the full thing and I might change things later, so please be patient with my still (kind of) thin knowledge of stuff (⁠ ⁠╹⁠▽⁠╹⁠ ⁠)

First of all: he's not a vampire. The sharp teeth and pointy ears may be a big factor of him that makes him look like one – but he is not. And they hate it when someone goes "are you a vampire? Like dracula?" They go mad pls don't do that (he bites) (he's crazy enough to do that)

"Kimmy, why do they have different eyes?" That's because one part is his actually normal consciousness going "this is wrong and this is right" to things, while the other (white and red) is just "go cray cray !1!!1!!!11!! go stupid !!!1!1!!1!11!!!1!!" . Yeah . One is more prominent than the other (due to a kind of drug that he takes, which was given by the US [try not being mentioned impossible challenge] to "keep control" of their thoughts because by the US – they can supposedly be brainwashed of the "communist scum"), which is the go crazy go stupid one because of how he's being in control for like 24/7

What happens if he doesn't take it? He goes nuts. Insane. Like the world had the colors torn away from them, being bleached into a monotone background and a buzz in his ears. That normally makes him – unusually – quiet. Calmer, even. I mean sure he gets desperate to feel it all over again, to escape the sensation of reality, but if he stays too long he'll either get depressed over every choice he took or accept it with a deep breath and go "yeah I should move on until I receive my pills again."

The US won't take the drug (because of course why would he, it's to control the others, not him!!), but he will take other things because, well, who would want to be alive in the US nowadays (or in any epoch tbf)? They don't get to overdose, but do get dizzy and go "yeah we should stop before we fall and wake up in a hospital for the next few hours and things go bad for both of us..."

They are insane. Like every other part of his family (except for his mother, even though she is slightly insane for marrying J.E) (but she's a helper guys dw she regrets it and plays a [good] role on DPRK's lore too) is, so he wouldn't get away with it LOL,, anyways. He did go through a few up and downs here and there, but this part is mostly empty because I still don't got to look much into J.E stuff and I don't think I want to go through it any time soon (yes I'm very icky about it and I don't think I want to go further on that rabbit hole yet). Some times he'd see DPRK (DPRK wasn't born as just the DPRK, they were born in like 1855 [iirc] when the US put fire down Pyongyang and the popular force fought back without help from the Joseon, so it makes him way older than people think he is) because J.E would go on trip to there and etc etc but they weren't best buddies just "hi" "hi" and then turn around to do stuff they were supposed to do (or just don't, which is the case for most of the times Japan had something to do and skipped it until his father came banging the whole house looking to tear the child apart.)

During the start of the American occupation, when Japan was still weak because of the bombs and stuff like that (while also weak for the loss of colonies and things they explored from it) this little guy right here wasn't going through the best. His mother died of sickness, and his father was killed by his own colony (DPRK) (🎉🎉🎉🎉🎉🎉). Japan wasn't sad because of his father passing away – at least not totally since a part of him still went "well, he was family one way or another" – he was sad because his mother passed away in the blink of an eye. I mean, sure, there wasn't much to do, it's not like she could outlive the empire after it fell, but still, he wanted her to stay close and at least keep him a little sane. In that weakness and vulnerability, American soldiers took advantage and abused him for a good while expecting to put more fear into Japan and put superiority over the US (it worked, but they fragmented the poor Japanese even more than before). The scar on their neck was caused by it, a consequence of his lack of strength to fight back. Did he kill them all when he felt good again? Yes, he went around looking for their faces even if in front of their family (something that he despised, but for the smallest time ever, he wanted to recreate the gruesome practice his father used to do but this time for the 'best')

Their relationship with the US is complex, and extremely difficult to explain. They hate each other to the guts (not much by the US side since he's just there to keep Japan at bay and not bypass him on the imperialist power), but they kinda also need each other because they are gruesome but gruesome in harmony.

"If you can't fight them, join them, to then fight others who are "weaker' than you."

Japan knows he's a menace, knows that there's no chance to go back, but he already fell for it and now there's no time to sit back and think "I'm happy I didn't fall for the guy that occupied me! Haha!" Because he's too deep in the hole to even find a way out – even if carving the dirt. They're doomed into each other, even if they don't want to admit it.

[nfoxysun]

What's your rising sign

isn't this question sus since i wrote it into my bio?

libra rising, btw, i can't believe you found this profile, we should talk, no more hiding, I'm serious about it and you really should reply to me, i didn't like the thing that you ghosted me after that.

y'all, do you want some proof about how I know who this person is and how they're related to me?

I'm sick and tired, fr

this person is really tired, guarded but still standing and trying to build something meaningful with me. did you remember that one soul tie post that i wrote before, yes, this is the person and as soon i saw this question i recognized the pattern and his energy, I'm not a fool. so, i was saying, he knows he's been taking a lot from me, there's an imbalance and that's why they felt a desire to give something to me, in this case this question, a breadcrumb, as always.

as you can see by a lot of cards, i have a soul tie with this person, i don't get the lovers, 2 of cups and the 2 of cups with everyone, and this person has a pattern in my readings other than those cards: the devil card.

I'm actually surprised that there are so many positive cards in here, love, did you grow up? did you mature? or are you still stuck? i didn't appreciate you invading my personal space here too, I'm actually hurt by this, it's not yours, it's for ppl who actually believe me and treat me well, not for someone like you, that doesn't even want to talk to me fr

so, i was saying, this person actually sees me as someone worth it (i hate talking about me in my readings, let's skip this part but he sees me as the empress) and he wants to become better BUT he's still defending himself, trying to recover from something they did to me. he betrayed me but at the same time they hit the rock bottom too. they realized how bad they hurt me.

feelings are still here, renewing themselves, tied to sweet memories, and wanting to actually take the leap for a new beginning BUT he's too in his mind, he wants control over his feelings, he rationalizes everything bc he's afraid of that, of my intuition and feelings.

he's confused but yet obsessed by the spiritual bond we share. he knows i see through his mask, the feelings are mature but still he can't accept them fully and yet, he obsesses over it, he's stuck in fears "what if i show i care? what if they abandon me" and that's how he justifies his bad action. he's a really good person, but with me he's an asshole.

however, he's starting to think to actually balance the scale and tell me the truth about this situation, why? he's afraid i might really leave him alone and part ways with him. he feels the desire to act but he's battling with himself, his thoughts, that's inner conflict at its peak, maybe about how he should reach out if he decides to do it sweet and caring but emotionally manipulative or more boldly, fiercely, difensive but still attacking me? we'll find out.

and yes, it's him, love, i know it's you. i knew from the beginning what was happening, who you were and everything else, do you really know I'm naive and that i didn't look up to anything? btw, i just want to talk to you heart to heart, no more lies. you hurt me like no one else when you do it, there's no bad way to talk to me if it's truth, even angry truth is good to me, but just tell me the truth😞💗

9 of wands and 10 of pentacles clarified by livers, 10 of cups and 6 of pentacles

king of pentacles and empress clarified by sun, 10 of swords and 7 of wands

ace of cups and fool clarified by 6 and queen of cups and king of swords

7 and 2 of cups clarified by king of cups, devil and high priestess

back of the deck: justice, 9 of pentacles, ace and 5 of wands, knight of cups and wands

[epickiya722]

"It's misogynistic that Gege didn't have Nobara for the large part of the story."

She was in a coma?

Also, I feel like you're the misogynistic one for expecting a female character to do more within a story when in the same story a bunch of other male characters weren't present for a large part of the story and/or barely did much.

Nobara got a freaking eye blown out and was put in a coma. Same energy as Toge and Todo not being involved in the story for a while and showing up in the final battle when they, too, had severe injuries from Shibuya.

"She wasn't mentioned."

Actually she was. Twice.

Yuji asks about her in chapter 144 and again Yuji is the one to bring her up in chapter 210 when he admits to Megumi that he didn't like the idea of her being replaced. Which thinking about it, this was probably also Yuji not accepting the idea of her being dead (which, thank goodness she wasn't). He was probably holding onto the small chance of her surviving that Arata told him about.

Heck, you would also say three times, if counting he does think of her again in chapter 265.

"It wasn't foreshadowed she was coming back."

I don't know about you, but Arata shouldn't have mentioned Nobara potentially surviving if that was the case. Heck, I would say Hana not really having a solid place within the story was just reopening Nobara's spot within the main trio.

Even Yuji keeping his fingers covered to trick Sukuna into thinking Rika consumed his last finger could also be used to foreshadow Nobara's return because as we seen her do, it takes using a piece of someone or something for her to use her technique on and twice she had used someone's limb (an arm) to do it.

Sometimes foreshadowing isn't explicit.

While I did wish Nobara had some more involvement in the story, I also think it's absurd that some people expect so much more from female characters but not from male characters. That's the misogynistic part, to clarify.

She was in a coma, woke up and immediately got to work. What more do you expect someone who was in a month long coma and was only awake for like an hour to actually do?

Had Nobara been male none of this would even be up for discussion and you know it.

I feel like sometimes some people in fandoms need to learn when to use the word "misogynistic" just like the words "toxic, queerbait, fraud" and so on.

Is the creator actually misogynistic or was the writing just a bit flawed and the character involved just so happened to be female?

Because if you're thinking it doesn't make sense for Nobara, who again did have a small chance or surviving and if Gojo's ass can survive from Toji's attacks (but Kiya, the healing--- SHE WAS HEALED TOO), to come back after being gone from the narrative for a while then why does it make sense for the male characters to?

Sometimes the writing can also be flawed for male characters but people just like the bypass that.

EDIT: To be more clear, this isn't to say that Gege can't be misogynistic or is.

This is to say, some of the things that some people say when it comes to female characters tend to show that they themselves are misogynistic or is unaware of it.

Again, I get wanting Nobara or any female character having more development and involvement in the story or any story. This is coming from a Takako Uro fan.

However, do you not see the issue of only focusing on a female character for having that lack of being more and not for male characters?

Male characters can have flawed writing and people will still love them. A female character can have flawed writing and people want to expect more just to love her.

And I know Nobara has her fans, I'm one of them. But I feel some fans tend to only focus in her being "hot" and "badass" without considering her backstory, the people in her life and her goals and morals.

I have watched anime recap videos of where someone will focus on what Nobara can do and then say "her backstory bored me so I skipped that". How do you like a character for who they are but not care to see why they are that way?

Which then makes me question, had Nobara not be in a coma and involved in the Culling Games, would you have been interested on how the CG could have brought out other sides of Nobara we haven't see or shaped her? Or you just care to see her be badass?

[douglysium]

Episode 12 TMP Quick Thoughts

Housekeeping and Prologue

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

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

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

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

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

Episode 12 “Getting Off”

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

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

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

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

NORRIS starts expositing the next case

“Claim Review: EL-56920 

Policy Holder: Soho Jack’s Ltd. 

Policy Number: 548651-656 

Policy Type: Employers’ Liability 

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

Affected Employee: Ms. Jordan Bennett 

Date of Incident: 9 March 2024 

Incident Location: On site. 

Documentation: Crime Report – Submitted 

Medical Practitioner Report – Submitted 

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

Supervisor’s incident Report - Submitted 

HSE communications - Submitted 

Health-And-Safety policies - Submitted 

Employment Contract - Submitted 

Claim Valuation: £1,560,000 Assessment 

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

ALICE CONT. 

“Gwen? Hello?”

GWEN 

“(dazed) What?”

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

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

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

GWEN 

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

ALICE 

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

GWEN 

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

ALICE 

“What are you getting at?”

GWEN 

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

ALICE 

“I don’t wonder. I know.”

GWEN 

(sitting up) “What? Really?”

ALICE 

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

Gwen’s on the edge of her seat. 

ALICE 

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

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

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

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

Conclusion

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

[trashlie]

hello there! I recently read I Love Yoo for the first time and first off, wow what a series. as I've been diving into the fandom I found your blog (your analysis posts are absolutely amazing) and since you've been around the fandom a long time I was hoping you could help clarify a few things for me. obviously there's seven years of fandom and meta context I'm missing out on, but I keep seeing references to two planned time skips and seasons that I'm a little confused about. everything that's out now I think is still the first season? but I'm wondering what exactly the author has shared over the years of the planned timeline, time skips, etc. thank you in advance for any clarification you can provide! very excited to dive into more of your analysis in the future

Oh wow! I feel like getting to jump in and just binge ILY from this point is SO amazing - having this much of the story already out, so many episodes and being able to see how those threads connect and where they go! 🤩 The dream! (Also thank you!!!! I really appreciate that! Esp since I haven't made any ILY posts lately; they're in my head, I just haven't gotten around to finishing typing them out lol)

But to answer your question, quimchee has told us there will be two timeskips. The first is a short timeskip that will bring us to graduation, and the second is a much bigger timeskip of around 4 years or so. 👀 I have a little write up in the ILY Discord server about this that I should finally add to my blog today after work about how I think the timeskips coincide with Yujing's article - that is, I think she's likely working on two articles.

Now, this part is speculation and not from quimchee - she's only told us when the timeskips are and how long they'll jump us. But Nol's sentence is 120 days (less if he's good, as Yujing noted) and 120 days takes us to April. What else is in April? Shinae's birthday! Timing-wise, it depends on if quimchee is using a Korean calendar for school; after all, she did use the college entrance exams that Korean school systems utilize. In this case, graduation happens in February, but given that ILY doesn't strictly add to Korean or U.S. culture rules (quimchee refers to the setting as The United States of Asia lol) we might see this budged to adhere to a more U.S.-centric graduation era where Nol's release times up with Shinae's birthday (no way are we skipping over that!) and graduation. This is likely when Yujing will drop her first article about Nol, possibly exposing that he was framed for a crime he didn't take, made to take the fall, and most certainly exposing that he's the true legitimate heir of the Hirahara family by Mukoyoshi law. Yujing noted that Nol pleading guilty actually helps them/their case, and I think this is so because it isn't the first time he's taken the fall for someone else because he's the "other son"; it's heavily implied that the altercation that occurred between him and Kousuke was not Nol's fault/doing.

Now, the other timeskip will likely see our cast reuniting after Shinae finishes college. I think she will end up taking Yui's offer - whether because she's backed into a corner or because makes the choice we're yet to see - and I think we might actually see her come back as Kousuke's assistant to finish off her contract (or perhaps as part of the Yui trap). Nol will likely go to college abroad and Kousuke... well. I think we can see where he's headed 😭 This is also when I think Yujjng will REALLY go after Yui and Gun, what all those articles she was researching are leafing to.

Something quimchee mentioned on a patreon stream is that during the timeskip (and it wasn't specified which), she'd like to show the passage of time by showing the characters keeping in touch via letters, emails, texts, etc which I'm REALLY looking forward to!

In the past, we were told ILY would be divided into 2 seasons, and that season 2 would start after the big timeskip, but quimchee has said before that's not going to happen? However, sometimes a lot of us still refer to season 2 as "post-big-time-skip" for brevity lol. Maybe we'll still see it as s2 in the future but last I heard it won't be broken up into seasons.

I know this was more than what you asked but I always get so excited talking about the timeskips, I can't wait for them!!! I know the first one is SO close! I think quimchee was trying her best to get to it before her birth so she could do a little break before the first timeskip but alas. But we are SO close, I can almost taste it, AAAAAAAHHHHHH!!!!!!

I'm so glad you found ILY and are enjoying it!!! It really is not what it first appears and the way it subverts those expectations will always be one of my favorite aspects of this series. Seeing nre readers find it at this time, when there's so much of the series to consume and feed on is so exciting! 🥺 Happy reading! Please let me know if you have more questions!

[reigningqueenofwords]

Dad

Pairing: Steve x Reader, Bucky x daughter!Reader

Part 19 of Looking for the Captain

Bruce was in his lab when Steve called. “Hello.” He answered quickly, worried. “Is everyone okay?” Did something happen? He couldn’t think of another reason for Steve to be calling.

“Well.” He sighed. “We..don’t know.” He told him awkwardly. 

He froze. “What do you mean you ‘don’t know’?” He was clearly confused. “Is anyone hurt? Sick?” 

Steve ran a hand through his hair. “I’ll skip all the details, but would Plan B work for us? Me and Y/N?” He clarified, wincing. Who else would he be talking about? Bruce was smart, and could have figured that out for himself.

“Uh.” It wasn’t like there was a ton of research on this topic. When would they have been able to do research on this, and then publish the findings? “I honestly can’t say…” He admitted. 

While Steve was on the phone, you took the pill anyway. It couldn’t hurt to try, right? “Oh, uh, I should warn you. The cashier said that you won’t feel too hot for a few days, and your period might feel way worse.” Bucky told you. “His girlfriend had to take it once and hated it. Said it felt like Freddy Krueger was in her stomach or something.” He made a face. He didn’t like thinking of you dealing with that. It was something else he couldn’t protect you from. 

You made a face. “Well, that sucks.” You grumbled, not looking forward to any of that. “Kinda wish I was at the tower for that.” You admitted. “Could have asked Bruce for some pain killers.”

Steve came in and his face didn’t give you hope. “So, he can’t say.” He started. “There’s obviously no research on this. He suggested taking it as a just in case, because it might work.” He felt bad now. This hadn’t even crossed his mind last night, and it really should have. He shouldn’t have let himself get so carried away. 

“Already did.” You told him, slightly worried. “Apparently I won’t feel hot for a few days, and my next period might be worse than usual.” You scrunched your nose. “So, I’m sorry if I’m a bitch.” You half joked.

He let out half a chuckle. “It’s okay.” He assured you. “When is your period due?” 

“A week and a half.” It would probably feel like much longer. 

“Do I need to go back to the store for supplies?” Bucky asked, clearly hoping that the answer was ‘no’. “Or do you want me to head to the tower to ask Bruce for something?” It would be a long drive, but he’d do it in a heartbeat if it meant you wouldn’t have to deal with the pain. 

You shook your head. “I packed for it, don’t worry.” You assured him. “I’ll let you know, though. If what I packed isn’t enough.” Who knows if you’d want something closer to that time. “So, should we get your camp setup early? Then we can spend the rest of the day playing board games and watching movies?” Maybe this would be a good way for the three of you to bond and get over this awkwardness your father felt. “Then after dinner I can make us some drinks.” You offered. “Relax and all that.” 

Bucky nodded. “Sure.” He easily agreed, pushing that morning from his mind. “Stevie can help me pitch the ten-” He gave you a bored look as you giggled. “Haha. Very mature.” He rolled his eyes for effect. “Anyways. We’ll get the tent set up, how about you work on getting the air mattress blown up. I can bring it out after.” Sure, he grabbed a sleeping bag, but why not put that on the air mattress. 

“I think I’ll only have a drink or two.” Steve noted. “I want to remain alert. The chances of someone getting to you here is low, but I don’t want to risk it.” That was the last thing that he wanted. “But, I’m sure that there will be a party once this passes.” He chuckled. “Tony will throw one himself. Then I will let myself let loose. Deal?” 

You grinned at that. “Deal.” You agreed easily. 

It didn’t take long for everything to be set up out back. It actually looked like a comfy little camping set up, if you were being honest. “How about a game of Sorry!, and then I’ll make lunch?” You suggested, looking at the two guys. 

“Sure.” They both agreed easily. 

“HAHAH! Sucker!” You laughed as you once again sent one of Bucky’s pawns back to home. 

“That’s like the fourth time!” He groaned. “Are you cheating?” He teased. 

“How would I cheat? You see what card I draw, and how many spaces I move.” You giggled, pulling your hair up. You were clearly very amused. 

Bucky gave you a playful glare. “You were a mean little shit when you played Candy Land, weren’t you?” 

You played along, putting your hand on your chest as you gasped. “I will have you know , I was a delight playing Candy Land! It was Chutes and Ladders that did it.” 

Steve chuckled, shaking his head. He was glad that things were calm at the moment. Maybe this cabin would help you have a better relationship with Bucky. Taking his card, he sighed. “Go back 4 spots.” He read. “I know I won’t be winning this round.” He mused. 

“Awe.” You patted his arm. “Should we move to go fish next?” You grinned. 

“I’d say poker, but I have a feeling you can play that, too.” He raised an eyebrow at you as Bucky took his turn. 

You made a ‘so-so’ motion with your hand. “I’m not like really good at it, but I know how to play.” You shrugged. “I learned how to play at a frat party my freshman year in collage. I got bored and found some playing cards. A couple of the frat twins and their dates taught me.” 

“They weren’t bothered that you weren’t enjoying the party?” Bucky asked.

“Not really. They were seniors and used to the parties at that point. They knew it wasn’t for everyone. They were more shocked I wasn’t in a sorority.” 

“Why weren’t you?” Steve was honestly curious. You were very sociable, and would likely thrive in that environment. 

“I actually planned on it. Found one I thought I would love. Then pledge week started, and so did the hazing.” You scrunched your nose. “I bowed out. I think hazing isn’t as bad as it used to be, but still needs to just stop.” 

Bucky shook his head. “Proud of you for not putting yourself through that.” He’d seen hazing in a couple movies, and couldn’t understand why people agreed to it. It didn’t seem all that worth it to him. 

You couldn’t help but smile at him. “Thanks.” It was a nice change from the pair of you butting heads so much. There was a glimmer of hope that maybe you could have an actual father-daughter relationship with him. 

You won Sorry!, and then went to make some sandwiches while the two of them hung out in the living room. Steve offered to help, but you declined. You had a feeling the pair of them hadn’t had a chance to hang out in years. You took your time so that they didn’t have only a few minutes. As you made each sandwich, you hummed to yourself. 

Bucky lounged in a chair as Steve sat on the couch. “It’s been awhile, huh, Stevie?” He mused. 

Steve nodded, a sad smile on his face. “It has. Too long.” He agreed. “Hopefully once this is over with it won’t be years before I see you again?” He glanced at his best friend. 

He chuckled. “That’s the plan. What, think I’ll take off and just show up again for the wedding?” He felt that maybe joking with him would help. He was taking Nat’s word to heart- what if Stevie was dating literally anyone else that made him this happy?

“Jesus, Buck.” He glanced at the kitchen, hoping you hadn’t heard. “We literally just started dating. No one has mentioned that.” 

Bucky raised an eyebrow at him. “I’ve known you since we were kids, punk.” He reminded him. “And Stark said he sees that in your future with her.” Bucky admitted softly. “Then pointed out I’d be the grandfather to my best friend’s kids.”

He furrowed his brows. “When did he say that?”

“When I went to ask him for the address for the cabin.” He shrugged. “Anyways, what should we watch while we eat?” He could hear you coming back, and knew Steve could, too. 

“Oh, I vote something funny. Save the scary for at night.” You said as you set the tray down with their plates and drinks. “How about you pick?” You suggested to Bucky as you went to get your food, making you wonder if you’d ever call him ‘dad’. The idea was so foreign to you. And you were so wounded in the parent department at the moment. With everything that had happened with your father, and then your mother attacking the tower. Clearly she hadn’t been herself, but could you ever look at her and not be afraid? Was your relationship shattered? 

Resting your hands on the counter you hung your head as you took a deep breath. You pushed off the counter and swallowed those emotions. Rolling your shoulders, you got your lunch and went back to the guys to see what Bucky picked. 

Thankfully you’d managed to keep those thoughts from your mind all day. They didn’t sneak up on you again until you were on your third drink. The last thing that you wanted was to ruin the really good day the three of you had going. You’d played card games, board games, played with Goliath in the back, and watched a couple movies. 

Downing the last half of your drink in one go, you let out a breath. “You boys have fun, I think I’m gonna get some sleep.” No need to add you hadn’t slept much the night before. “You guys have fun. Have some guy time doing whatever it is guys do.” You chuckled. “Night.” You leaned over, giving Steve a quick kiss. “Night, dad.” You said without realizing it before heading upstairs to the bedroom and gently shutting the door. 

Bucky and Steve stared at each other. “Did she just call me dad?” Bucky asked, feeling a bit emotional. 

“She did.” Steve smiled at him. 

Tagging: @vicmc624 @hisredheadedgoddess28

[blank-house]

Hello! After reading the post about the characters' sexualities and how there will be room for change, and players cannot expect every LI to be interested in their MC, I am a little confused, because this seems to contradict an earlier post where you said the LIs do not have preferences for any seasonal personality type. If it isn't the seasonal personality that affects each LI's interest, it must be something. Is it the choices the player will make throughout the game?

Hi!

It still holds true, LIs will never have a preference for a seasonal personality and yes, it will be the choices that affect their interest in the MC! I suppose a good way to show this is with an example.

In one event we planned out, the cast members (save for Reynah) find themselves playing in the rain. There's a group event that happens near the end, and you get an option of who you'd like to do the event with. Reaching out to Elio would increase his interest because he would be touched that he is the first one you thought of even with your friends included. The same goes for Jamie, he knows he comes off as standoffish, so you attempting to include him would raise his interest (though whether he agrees is still up in the air because he's trouble like that).

So because you wanted to hang out with them, they'll recognize that and it could raise their interest.

You can also raise their affection based on your response. An example of this (and I actually don't believe I've hinted this event before so feel free to skip to the line break if you want to avoid some spoilers) is when MC runs into Jamie during an errand. You discover a hobby of his and if you decide to press him on it a little, he'll ask if you don't believe him. Your choices are as followed:

“Pretty much, yeah.”

“It’s not that. I'm just surprised to find out.”

“It’s a little cliche, don’t you think?”

“I’m double checking.”

The choices are linked to an attribute, so you can increase one of them and/or increase Jamie's interest in you. Not all of the choices will raise his affection because there is a time and place for a behavior. (Also just to note but just because one attribute coincided with a raised affection doesn't mean it's always going to lead to that)

- - - - -

If it still doesn't make sense, then the best way for me to explain this is how you might end up developing feelings for someone in real life.

It's not the same case for everyone, but if someone were to show interest in your opinions or your thoughts, you might grow conscious of how they always value your inputs. If someone were to laugh with you and start inside jokes, you might start to feel a bond with them. If someone were to state that they liked hanging out with you, then it might dawn on you how special you are to them.

It's the same way in the game. Each guy will pick up if you've been interested in what they have to say or if you've been playing along with them on occasions. They're not immune to these little things (even the most stubborn of them all), and if MC keeps it up then of course they're going to fall in love with the person who makes them feel seen, heard, and special.

I only say that they have no preference type on seasonal personalities because every seasonal personality is capable of being that kind of person to them. Just because a Spring MC often likes to joke doesn't mean they're unable to lend a shoulder during their vulnerability. And just because a Winter MC often holds their tongue doesn't mean they can't partake in a joke or two.

But like I've been saying, please don't get so caught up in the finer details. I know people are aiming to romance the guys, and would like to be successful in it, but just be the best person that you can be and they'll see you, too.

~*~*~*~*~

Hope that clarifies things for ya! If not then shoot another ask and I'll do my best to make things easier. :)

[mizuki-foreshadowing]

The Climax: Kamiyama Cheer Squad! Episode 1

It's time for the Kamiyama Sports Festival, and Mizuki is actually excited to participate! Mizuki had tried to skip the last big school event, which turned into one of her first event stories: Kamiyama High Festival. An had reached out to her, respected Mizuki's fear of her classmates bullying her for being trans, and convinced her to spend the day together.

That wasn't the case this time though; Rui reflects that cheer squad members were selected the day the event was announced, and Mizuki is one of them, so she just happened to be at school today.

The episode, as its very first line, clarifies to western readers that the cheer team is co-ed and there's no particular stigma about boys being on it. This is relevant later.

Rui gives some exposition to the reader that the cheer competition gets every bit as much hype as the sports festival itself, but he's only passingly interested.

Mizuki brings An with her to try and find Rui; Mizuki wants to get Rui involved if she's going to have any fun during the festival.* An is the only student Mizuki gets along with from her class; even those two girls who'd heard her out in Episode 9 of N25's Main Story thought Mizuki was being obstinate on purpose despite, or potentially for, the negative attention.

Rui plays along with the theme of this year's cheer competition, the Three Kingdoms epic, and Mizuki plays back. Rui will consistently not understand why Mizuki cares about this school event.* However, Mizuki isn't just here to joke with Rui about something irrelevant.

There's a bit to unpack here. First, this is where opening the event story with the cheer competition being completely co-ed is relevant; the writers are clarifying that the point isn't Mizuki wanting to be on the cheer squad because she's a girl.

Second, An and Mizuki were chosen by their class for the cheer squad.* We see Mizuki determined to have fun and there's also no stigma or joke for her class to dig into about Mizuki's gender and her being on the cheer squad, but Mizuki's also not popular in her class. An is, and she's mentioned before that the person in her class she's the closest to is [the only other named character in it] Mizuki. An asked Mizuki to be part of the cheer squad and her class accepted it.*

Third, one of Mizuki's most prominent personality traits is she likes to have fun, and Rui already acknowledged to himself this is a school event that everybody very enthusiastically gets into, so why can Rui not understand Mizuki wanting to be on the cheer squad. The answer is he hasn't really interacted with Mizuki since she transitioned.* Mizuki and Rui have each alluded to something causing their junior high friendship to take a break, (Mirage of Light 3 for Mizuki and Rui: Runaway Thought Process 1) and whenever we see them together now, there's a disconnect. It's pre-transition Mizuki who would never have cared to be on the (co-ed) cheer squad, and that's still Rui's conception of her personality. He knew Mizuki well back then, but Mizuki's a different person now; that personality he was so familar with really has changed.*

Mizuki and An give their best pitch to ask Rui for help. Mizuki knows this is nothing Rui would go in for, so she appeals to Rui as him being someone creative, and An backs her up on this, referencing how Rui took charge as the impromptu director of a bride's flash mob for her wedding in An Ode for the Pure of Heart.

Rui may not be able to understand why Mizuki is getting excited for an event like this, but after she asks him to please consider it, he does finally believe it.

Rui reflects that this could be another opportunity to grow as a director and finds reasons to enjoy being a part of it.

Mizuki and Rui have been estranged for so long that Mizuki believes she can read him but is no longer able to read him.

The episode closes with Rui thinking that, perhaps Mizuki is only pretending to care about the cheer competition and is plotting something. The event really is about her being excited to get into it though; Rui no longer understands Mizuki either.*

* I actualy wrote this post immediately after watching the episode. In Episode 2, it's revealed that Mizuki was selected randomly for cheer squad, truly didn't care about it (Rui was right), and it wasn't even Mizuki's idea to get Rui involved.

[greenerteacups]

how do you feel about forwards in literature? do you skip them or are they required reading? (me personally, i’ve only recently discovered that i fucking love them, like, yeah, get me in that freaks mindset before i read this compilation of his life’s work)

I think forwards are usually a fine idea, but they're put in exactly the wrong place! Starting a book with somebody else talking about the book is an annoyance to the readers who want to get to the actual text, it fucks with your pagination, and it doesn't make any difference to the people who like them. If a publisher wants to include an extra credit essay about the book they're publishing, that's cool, but the presumption that the essay should get top billing just grinds my gears.

Two exceptions:

1. Forwards that are written by the author herself, either to complement the text or clarify her stance on its status as a published document (importantly, NOT as amendment to the actual canon itself - get that George Bernard Shaw-ass whining out of here. If you don't like how I'm interpreting your work, you shouldn't have published it in a free market, buddy.) I mean stuff where the author's going "hey, when I published this X was happening, but now Y has happened, so cut me some slack," or, in rare cases: "I didn't realize I had to say this, but I believe that [insert bad thing that happens in the book] is bad." (Nabokov's "On a Book Entitled Lolita" fits this bill but, like a real one, he puts it in a postscript.) I still think these types of disclaimers are annoying, but I don't get mad at them, because they're often authors responding to harassment/backlash/criticism that they can't effectively answer elsewhere.

OR:

2. Historical texts where the unwritten context is the primary reason someone would be interested in reading the book, i.e., ideological screeds, propaganda collections, letters of historical figures, etc. In that case I barely regard the forward as a forward — it's more a part of the text that the publisher is presenting, like: "Here is the reason we are publishing these words from these voices, because we are trying to communicate something about the world by offering this to you."

I always skip forwards the first time I read, because I'm crotchety like that. Sometimes I'll come back to them once I'm done with the book, but a good forward can't make a bad book good, and a bad forward just wastes everyone's time. A good forward to a good book is a treat, but I'll still rather have the book first, please and thank you.

[fancyfeathers]

“The history book on the shelf is always repeating itself"

Father Like Daughter (Yandere William James Moriarty and his darling having a genius daughter)

Okay I have been having the image in my mind of this post I made awhile back of the Moriarty children reflecting the brothers and so on, and I had the thought of what if the events of what happened pre time skip happened again.

And just to clarify they would not be after corrupt nobles or even kill, especially since Eloise promised not to ever to take a life, but catching criminals in classic detective fashion.

Like similar to the fire that the brothers set as children, their story starts when their home is set fire in the final problem. Just like how the brothers killed Albert’s parents, Eloise and Madeline think they lost their father that day when he fell from the bridge and Andrei, Hyacinth, and Marguerite’s father is locked away in the Tower of London and he is certainly dead to Andrei at least.

Then in those three years they find themselves, Eloise as a detective, Andrei as the new Earl Moriarty, Madeline as a teacher, and well Hyacinth and Marguerite may still be figuring it out but they at least know who they are as people in their values and morals as well as what they are good at. Then also in the time they find allies like how their father’s found allies like Moran and Fred, Eloise and her husband find Clementine and pull her out of the life she had been living with the promise of a new start, along with her they make friends and allies with all sorts of people from all sort of people.

Then cases begin appearing and falling into the hands of the lot of them, like going by chapter arcs…

Chapter two of the manga you could put it as a scammer costing many people in the countryside hundreds and nearly make them loose their homes and lives, which Madeline would notice since she lives in the countryside during the school year and she writes to Eloise to inform her of what is happening for her to investigate and the crook is arrested only a day later.

Then skipping ahead a tad to the Noahtic, it could be set as a trip Eloise is taking with her athe time fiancé, Nathanial, and their entire shared family, his mother and father and sibling, and her sister and cousins. There could be a series of murders on board which Eloise could uncover and it could possibly frame out similarly to how the Noahtic did, but with no intent to kill the killer would get caught and arrested.

Then A Study in “S” could be the first time Eloise encounters her criminal mastermind, not one with a goal like her father had, but rather her rival’s goal was simply to find an equal and escape the boredom they felt. I love the idea of this actually being a replication of the murder in Study in “S” so it would toy with Eloise’s mind, send her for a spin, see if her mind is as strong as it seems.

Then of course when poor Eloise’s mind is knots from her latest case she gets the news after sitting down in what feels like days that her father is not dead like she had previously thought.

[sttoru]

Hi! So would you rather not have people that age up minors period interact with you at all (even if it’s just fluff)? Genuine question, I want to make sure I’m not making you uncomfortable or crossing a boundary!

disclaimer: i’m not attacking anyone. nor is this targeted. this ask is meant to INFORM about my boundaries. this is in no way or form meant to be hateful towards the people who do age up.

HEYY i think i should clarify this since i never actually did on my page & i think i have a clear understanding of what im comfy and uncomfy with now:

first of all, if you’re pro aging up and you can’t stand it when people give their opinion on the matter in a mature and respectful way (aka when their opinion is not the same as yours), you can block me asap. grow up and learn to maturely discuss stuff with proper communication.

if you age up minors or read aged up fics wherein the minors are portrayed in SFW situations, i don’t mind you following or interacting with me at all.

if you age up minors (17- / under 17) or are fine with aged up fics wherein the minors are portrayed in NSFW situations + you yourself are in your (mid) twenties or above… i’d rather not have you follow or interact with me. again, no hate. let’s just leave each others places in PEACE.

if you age up minors (17- / under 17) for NSFW purposes only or are fine with NSFW aged up fics when a canonical time skip didn’t happen in the manga or anime + you’re in a weird age range to even sexualise any minors (fictional or not), i’d rather not have you follow or interact with me. if a time skip did happen and the character is an adult in the manga, then i don’t mind obviously.

if you’re a minor who sexualises minor (someone your age range): man you shouldn’t even be on my page on the first place but 😭😭 just in case there are some undercovers; i dont really care for yall when it comes to this LOL i’m still thinking of what my opinion is on this point.

then again: im not attacking anyone. im not hating anyone who does it. i’m just setting BOUNDARIES & just forming my opinion on this whole matter and making it clear rn. can’t stand that? block meeee.

[dreamii-yume]

I'm so happy that you're rewriting the euphoria fic ┏⁠(⁠＾⁠0⁠＾⁠)⁠┛(I honestly have no problem with the previous/current chapters of it cuz I think it's already so good)

To be honest, I haven't seen nor played the visual novel/game of it. I just stumbled upon the hentai of it when I was like browsing the internet and was mind blown about how filthy it was (minus the pooping scenes, (⁠~⁠_⁠~⁠;⁠) i hated them and I'd always skip those scenes. I know I'm quite nasty but not that nasty, u know? Me don't like feces ew)

And I also can't remember the plot of the hentai so I'm excited for the retelling of it in yumi's story/version~

I'm really excited for the love interests, mostly for the problematic ones (like the TEACHER and the big BROTHER MHMMM) there's just something about the forbidden ones that hits different (of course I only like it cuz it's fiction)

I'm the euphoria anon that you first responded too btw ^⁠_⁠^

Keep up the good work and take a break if you feel tired, yumi. Thank you as always for feeding us~

Thank you for your support, my first Euphoria anon! I’ve changed a few signifcant things about it and I double-checked my plans so that I won’t regret anything when I’m in the middle lol

It’s alright if you haven’t played the game! ♥︎ Though I personally think it’s a good game, I don’t recommend most people to play it lol Mostly because it’s an acquired taste and I know not everyone enjoys that kind of stuff ☠️ Even I took years to finanlly decide to play it because I too found it just as fucked up the first time🧎‍♀️The hanime did not do the essence of the game justice and just focused on to controversial parts lol But I don’t really expect hentii adoptations to be great anyways ☠️

And yes, I do agree with you on the scat part 😖 I am NOT a fan of that, just to clarify!! 😭 I can handle watersports, but I’m completely staying away from the brown stuff, so please rest assured—I’m not going to incorporate it onto the fic lmao ☠️

Quite a major spoiler for the game below here though : Please don’t read if you want to play the game yourself—

The idea of adding an incest character in my Euphoria fanfiction came from the true ending of the game where it revealed that one of the girls in the facility was actually the MC’s daughter ☠️ Now, I could explain the logic behind that like a nerd 🤓 but I don’t want to reveal more of the plot just in case someone is actually playing the game here and wants to experience the twists for themselves—But yeah, Euphoria has almost every major hentii tag you can think of lmao

I just happened to decide why not reveal the incest early ☠️ That’ll be fun lol I’m not really into Father-daughter dynamics though, but I sure do love my brother-sister incest angst.

[thewomanwithamessedupmind]

Alright. It was voted yes that you all would like to hear more of my dreams. I'm back from my short hiatus of grieving. I'm in a better headspace but got sick in the process. But I'm willing to share a dream that freaked me out, confused me, and even embarrassed me a bit. Here we go.

This dream took place around 2019-2020 when my sister was pregnant with my nephew. I dreamt that I was in a relationship with Doflamingo. Add that I had gotten pregnant with his child and that makes it even more weird. (Yes. We had sex in my dream.) But I'll skip that part.

In my dream, I got pregnant before time passed and I was around 8 months. So, pretty much ready to pop at any given moment. Also, we lived together in a mansion that was right beside the ocean. So close the water was right outside my bedroom.

Many things happen in this dream, but I will provide the main two that occurred. The first one, in chronological order, was when Doflamingo and I got into a fight. Well, to get back at him, I changed into my bathing suit and decided to go outside into the ocean right outside my room.

There is a small part of the house that dips in and I swam over to it. From where it was, it was near impossible to see me unless you went out into the ocean and swam a few feet away. Well, after a bit, Doflamingo came into my room to talk about the fight. But started to panic when he couldn't find me. Everyone in the house (we lived with Baby 5, Trebol, and a few others) started to search for me. I just listened to the chaos I brought from sneaking around. It wasn't until an hour later that I decided to leave my hiding spot.

Baby 5 was the one to find me and broke down in tears before alerting the others. Doflamingo and I had another small argument about disappearing when I'm so close to giving birth. Then, we had make-up sex.

The second part I remember vividly was when I walked to the store from our house. While there, I ran into my sister (remember that in real life she was pregnant but she also was in my dream). She cooed over seeing my belly before asking who I was there with. Not seeing the big deal, I told her that no one was with me.

That enraged her. She scolded me for leaving the house without someone with me. I explained that no one was at the house to begin with. Whelp, that was the wrong thing to tell her. She went back home with me and waited for Doflamingo to come home.

As soon as he stepped through the door, my sister started berating him for leaving meat home by myself when I'm so close to popping. And... he just took every insult she threw at him. Called him neglectful, uncaring, clueless, unsympathetic, and a few others.

When she calmed down, she called him a terrible husband and father before leaving. That left us alone. Doflamingo just came over and cuddled with me on the couch, telling me my sister is overprotective and emotional. Neither were a lie.

And that's all I remember. To clarify, I believe we were married and in a loving relationship. I just only remember my sister calling him my husband once. It was never brought up before that.

I remember waking up and immediately checking my stomach in case it was real. To my great relief, it was not. Yes, I was happy it wasn't true. In reality, I wouldn't be able to handle all that.

Also, I told my sister the part she was in. She confirmed that she would've actually done the same thing. So, my sister is very protective no matter what.

This is the second in many dreams I have to share. But this one was one that centered around One Piece again. I have no idea why. But I hope you all found amusement in my random, weird dream. Have a lovely day.

[theurbanloftco]

Mistakes to Avoid When Searching for Apartments for Rent

Looking for apartments for rent can be an exciting yet overwhelming process. Whether you’re relocating to a new city, searching for a better deal, or moving into your first apartment, making the wrong choice can lead to financial stress, unexpected issues, and regret. At The Urban Loft Co., we want to help renters make informed decisions. Here are some common mistakes to avoid when searching for your next apartment.

1. Not Setting a Budget Before You Start Searching

One of the biggest mistakes renters make is searching for an apartment before knowing what they can afford. Rent is just one part of the cost—utilities, parking, renter’s insurance, and other fees can add up.

Follow the 30% rule—try not to spend more than 30% of your income on rent.

Factor in additional costs like security deposits, pet fees, and moving expenses.

Ask about hidden costs (e.g., application fees, garbage collection, maintenance fees).

2. Ignoring Location and Neighborhood Research

Falling in love with an apartment without considering the neighborhood can be a costly mistake. A great apartment in a bad location can make your living experience frustrating.

Research crime rates, nearby schools, and amenities in the area.

Check the commute time to work, school, or other frequently visited places.

Visit the neighborhood at different times of the day to observe noise levels, traffic, and overall vibe.

3. Rushing the Apartment Tour (or Skipping It Completely)

Photos can be misleading, and some landlords use filters or staged images to make a unit look better than it actually is.

Schedule a physical tour before signing anything.

Look for signs of poor maintenance, such as water stains, mold, or broken appliances.

Check cell phone signal strength and test water pressure in sinks and showers.

4. Not Asking the Right Questions

Many renters sign a lease without fully understanding the terms, only to find out later about restrictions, additional costs, or maintenance issues.

Important Questions to Ask:

What is included in the rent? (Utilities, parking, internet, trash collection, etc.)

How does maintenance work? (Who to contact, response time, emergency repairs)

What happens if you need to break the lease early?

Are there any rules about decorating, guests, or pets?

5. Failing to Read the Lease Carefully

Your lease is a legally binding contract, so never sign it without reading every detail. Many renters overlook important clauses that could cause problems later.

Watch out for unexpected fees (late payment fees, subletting restrictions, pet deposits).

Understand lease renewal terms and rent increase policies.

Ensure all verbal agreements are in writing to avoid disputes later.

6. Overlooking Parking and Transportation Needs

If you own a car, not checking parking availability can lead to frustration and unexpected expenses. For those who rely on public transportation, proximity to transit stops is crucial.

Ask about designated parking spots and visitor parking rules.

Check the cost of parking permits if applicable.

If using public transportation, research bus/train schedules and routes.

7. Forgetting About Renter’s Insurance

Many people assume that the landlord’s insurance covers everything. However, your personal belongings are not protected in case of fire, theft, or water damage.

Get a renter’s insurance policy (it’s usually affordable).

Check if the lease requires renter’s insurance before move-in.

8. Not Understanding Security Deposit Policies

Some landlords have strict policies on security deposits, and getting your full refund back can be challenging if you’re not careful.

Document the apartment’s condition when you move in (take photos/videos).

Clarify what is considered normal wear and tear vs. tenant-caused damage.

Ask how long it takes to receive your security deposit refund after moving out.

Final Thoughts Finding the perfect apartment for rent takes time, research, and careful decision-making. Avoiding these mistakes can save you money, stress, and frustration in the long run. If you're looking for modern, comfortable apartments for rent  in Fayetteville,AR, check out The Urban Loft Co. for stylish rental options that fit your lifestyle. Happy apartment hunting!