#adjustment protocol

[cirrus-grey]

TMAGP 1: Darla

TMAGP 2: Daria

TMAGP 7: Dianne

TMAGP 13: Darrien

I know this is nothing but it feels like Something

(Even if the something is just Jonny and Alex poking fun at us for all the Michael/Mike/Mikaele jokes)

[trash-but-trying]

I really love in ep 2 and 3 how the victims are

A) really cool with the horrors, like painter girl is like, no it's cool, I just wanted to do some adjustments. And plant man is like, oh to be a tree. Despite the visceral pain they describe and

B) very seamlessly blend standard reality into the horrors. Again paint girl goes from talking about the painting to molding her bones in the same sentence without even thinking about it. Plant man just offhand starts pruning his feet as if it's the most natural thing in the world

[gackk]

I can’t imagine Ink5oul writing their name without an @ symbol at the front, I feel they’re that chronically online

[officialcowboylover]

THE MAGNUS PROTOCOL IS OUT WHO CHEERED!!!!

Only two episodes in and we already have an evil non binary flesh avatar what a beautiful day indeed!!!!

Please ignore the fact that Ink5oul is described as pretty unnoticeable I’ve decided that it’s just their powers that are protecting them and that I like having fun more than following canon !!!!! FUNFUNFUNFUNFUN!!!

[dyslexicpolishdude]

MAGNUS PROTOCOL BABES new characters, new fanart designs, so I really want to add my part in creating this beautiful headcanons and even if nothing I made will stick I still want to join the fan

INK5OUL

Do we think we will ever see them again? Are they a Flesh avatar ? I don t know but they give witchy/influencer/ theater kid vibe

If you have some ink5soul fanart I would I’ve to see it

[hauntedfarfalle]

The fact that alternate universe Jon and Martin are disembodied voices speaking out of a shitty computer that runs Windows 95 is very on brand for them tbh

[tma-and-tmagp-stuff]

just bought some turpentine and when at the store it felt like i had “war-like” flashbacks to The Magnus Protocol 2 - Making Adjustments.

specifically this part

[changelingirl]

ok YES the idea that gwen and elias are the same person and she just transitioned is great BUT

her voice sounds relatively young

elias took over the institute (got possessed) in 1996

it's now 2024

look if gwen's not elias, a much more likely answer than sister seems to be daughter.

[leona-florianova]

Magnus Protocol cool, but whenever there are dialogues happening in another room, I zone out and just dont hear what they are talking about...brain doesnt compute.

[femmchantress]

Is it just me or is The Magnus Protocol just, like… okay? Like idk the voice actors playing the ensemble cast are quite talented and I like some of what they’re doing with the overarching narrative, but the actual horror vignettes just aren’t really that great in my opinion.

[cirrus-grey]

I'm in love with Sam's little hums as he works

[syntia13treeman]

Case files 13.01

CAT3RB4622-17092023-14032024

what I think happened in:

Case 13.01, the case of "The Zorrotrade App" or "Play stupid games, win stupid prizes: Cryptobro edition"

What we know about the Zorrotrade App:

It likely has no government oversight.

It does some weird background checks of new users.

It allows users to engage in highly profitable and borderline illegal financial exploits.

They have some shady experimental features that are not advertised, hidden under a tonne of submenus and must be found and opted in by the user. (Free will, babey).

They have an Adjustment Department.

What we suspect about the Zorrotrage App:

It's magic.

One of magical perks is protectingusers phone from being stolen;

One of magical cons is compulsive truth spell included in their support line answerphone.

Another magical con: the Adjustment Department.

So let's meet a Zorrotrade user. Darrien Laurel (account number 428813). He had no shame, no self-awareness and no sense of decency. Also not a shred of common sense.

He came from a poor family (though considering his definition of 'broke' I'm not sure if his parents were actually poor, or just 'won't buy me a porshe' 'poor'). He went to private public expensive high school thanks to a scholarship, which – props to him, for this thing and this thing only. Boo to anything else he did with his life.

After school he took student loan, and instead of spending in on studying, he sunk it all in financial speculations (This has to be illegal, right? Aren't there stipulation in the contract about the permissible uses of the loan?) He used every trick in the book (specifically, the "book of things that are shady as fuck and are only technically legal because rich people benefit from them"). Shorting (and possibly indirectly bankrupting) startup companies and trading in cryptocurrency among them.

He used the funds he acquired this way for the ever so important business of impressing his former classmates, getting plastic surgeries, and buying excessive and excessively expensive shit. (Your suitcase does not have to cost a 1000 dollars, you prick). (Why are you buying in dollars, anyway? Did you have that imported from USA? Use pounds or euros like a proper European, asshat).

Then, in 2020, a tragedy: while he was peacefully sailing with his good friend Oli somewhere south of France, one bad investment left him broke – that is to say, just with a few thousands worth of clothes on his back (and in his 1000$ suitcase) (and the watch on his wrist) (and just a few thousands of savings to throw away on a whim).

Truly, a more devastating blow has never been dealt to anyone in human history.

This is when he discovered that his rich 'friends' really did hate him all along. More importantly, he discovered the experimental feature on his favourite app, "Personal Projection Short Selling". There were no instructions, but by stroke of bad decisions and bad luck (blindly investing most of his remaining money + getting drank + braking his friend's TV, and getting kicked out of Oli's yacht, + getting kicked in the face by some muggers respectively) Darrien worked out that it was functionally a wager against his own good fortune.

Another entry into Things that Darrien Did Not Have: a drop of self-preservation.

Imagine stumbling into an illegal casino in an alleyway somewhere, winning your first game by chance, and immediately deciding to start playing there every night, with loaded dice, winning a lot and occasionally getting caught and getting your teeth kicked in.

Darrien did this, but he skipped a few steps. His new business plan went like this:

Put in a wager that he'll have a Bad Day.

Arrange to get seriously hurt and/or destroy one of your relationships, therefore having a Bad Day and winning the wager.

Profit

He spent several weeks knocking around the south of France, purposefully getting into fights (arguments with friends and brawls with strangers both) and accidents. He was getting harmed and isolated and felt it was all worth it because he got paid every time.

I'm going to give him a pass on never questioning how this worked, because at this point I'm fairly sure it's influence off the app itself. It's not constant supernaturalsurveillanceyou're looking for /Jedi hand-wave/ It's perfectly normal for your life's misfortunes to be monetizable. /Jedi hand-wave/ It's all good! Chill! /Jedi hand-wave/

What I can't just hand-wave is Darrien's grand finale. His famous One Last Job, then I Retire I Promise.

He 'invested' a million pounds (£ 1 000 000), burned all the bridges with his family, friends and even strangers on the internet, and then jumped off a cliff. A literal, honest to gods, not metaphorical cliff.

Sir. SIR. There's gambling with your life, and then there's this.

He lost one leg, along with structural integrity of several pretty important internal organs and bones – and he was happy upon waking, because he was (doped up on painkillers) already counting the money he was surely going to get.

Alas, reality check – this was the Find Out part of his ultimate round of Fuck Around.

He loaded his dice, he stacked his deck, he used his cheatcodes – it was only a matter of time before somebody noticed and demanded refund. (somebody knew all along – they were just waiting for the stakes to be really worth it).

This time, the app did not pay up. This time, the app called foul and demanded that he pay up – or be Adjusted.

Predictably, Darrien Laurel was not happy with this outcome and he wanted to Speak to the Manager of this Application.

He called the support line. He threatened the answerphone with legal consequences. (now they hear you). He told the answerphone his life story, up to and including his current hospitalization. (now they know you). And at the end, almost as an afterthought, he said his full name and app account number. (now they own you).

The answerphone dutifully transferred the call to adjustments department. Somebody from adjustments department crawled out of the phone and onto Darrien's bed. The call got disconnected. Darriel Laurel… got Adjusted.

Well. That sure was something. Final thoughts:

Remember when I yelled about Fae rules in case file 05-01? Do not take their money food, do not give them your name. Darriel broke those rules, and just look what happened! Well,

we don't actually know what happened. My first knee-jerk reaction was to say 'he got eated', but Personal Adjustment sounds… much more painful than just death by Mrs. Spider's mandibles. (I keep calling her that, but for some reason my mental image of that last scene is a weird metal centipede skittering out of the phone speaker that's much too small to fit it). I wonder if we'll meet Darriel, or at least some of him, again somewhere down the line. (Would he be like Needles, or more like Not-Arthur?) The incident happened about 6 month prior to Sam hearing it. Is that enough time for a new unholy abomination to incubate? Or… ripen? Whatever the 'adjustment' process entails.

This is the third time we've seen a man changing their fortune through pain. And we know it's possible to game the system successfully, because the 19th century violinist did it – he died of old age, more or less satisfied with his life. Mr. Die and Darrien could never. (Smh. Kids these days. No patience, no self-discipline).

This is… how many times now that we've seen someone's body being transformed? {Not-Arthur, RedCanary (? missing eyes at least), Daria(? - partial, self inflicted), Dr. 'Jasmine bush' Samuel, Cinema Tom(? - potentially), Needles(?), Mr. Bonzo(?), Error(?), Crypto Darrien} That's 3 up to 9, I think. Something definitely likes to play play-do with human flesh.

[rebeccasteventaylor]

I know it’s only been four episodes, and they’ve all been fantastic, but the episode of Magnus Protocol that has really stuck with me so far is Making Adjustments.

As someone with self-image issues that one really hit hard. And I think that’s one of the great things about good horror - it can explore issues and feelings, and the pain they cause and the lengths we can go to to ‘fix’ them in a way no other genre can.

Other genres would soften the issues, solve the pain, give it all a nice tidy solution at the end. It’s only horror that allows us to say ‘this thing is fucked up and it fucks us up’.

Anyway, thanks Alex, for so perfectly capturing what that damn feeling is like.

[liliavalley]

wip.....

[red-canary]

Ep 2 - Making Adjustments (spoilers under cut)

This statement really hit home with me because you have No Idea how many times I’ve wished I could just change my body at will!!! I think that would be so cool!!!

Bonus points because I’ve always wanted to get a tattoo, so a MAGIC tattoo would be even cooler.

I’m REALLY hoping Ink5oul comes back because they seem like a really interesting character.

And that final line was just so raw. I love it

Also!!! While this was most definitely flesh aligned, I also saw some spiral and maybe a bit of stranger in there. And those are two of my favourite entities so yippee!!

[girlwholovesturtles]

Making Adjustments

The new episode was kinda spoiled for me but that's all good. I just makes me feral to watch these episodes.

The music is still so good. It's just place where I can listen to/buy this track? Is there more to it of just that little bit of music, I wonder?

Okay, so they're just quizzing each other?

DPHW. Okay, so what DOES this mean? W stands for the Watcher maybe?

"Time isn't real." Alice, I love and adore you...

Is this how we're doing live statements now? Fun. I don't actually know who's talking right now.

Oh good, body image issues. Relatable unfortunately...

Ah yes, impulse body modification, that's a grand idea... okay, not so impulsive, sounds like you did actually think about this a bit. Occult symbols you say? Alright, what horror did you accidentally stamp yourself with then?

Ew, influencers... Oh god, no. Forced tattooing sounds terrifying.

Another thing with symbols? Like the fears are trying to forcefully establish themselves.

This is feeling kinda like the Spiral?

Oh! She modified herself to match the painting... I don't LOVE this!

This feels like it could be the Flesh too but no, it feels too maddening. It still feels like the Spiral.

Well that was an upsetting story...

Alice, that seems kind of irresponsible...

Hm... no, I don't think I would take that deal Alice. You're so weird though.

Gwen's worried about outsourcing? Interesting?

Alice has a younger sibling? I want so many details!

Dredgermen. Interesting name.

Okay, Sam's looking into the institute. That's probably bad. Alice is advising against it but I highly doubt he's gonna listen for long.