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dwobbitfromtheshire · 1 year

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Part One

Part Two

Part Three

Part Four

Part Five

Part Six

Part Seven

Part Eight

@estrellami-1

Version 2: Bat Baby

Today was the day of Steve’s c-section. Steve woke up early and slipped on his large night shirt before wandering outside. He fixed himself a large glass of iced water and sat outside in one of the lawn chairs. It was colder now, which Steve always used to hate. He always preferred the warmth of summer. Since he was bitten and gotten pregnant, it's been the opposite now, more so since he's been experiencing hot flashes. He now loved the way the cool air felt against his naked legs.

"Today's the day, baby girl," Steve whispered. "Are you ready? Because I don't think that I am. Can't you stay inside me forever? I promise to keep you safe. Of course, I don't really mean that. I know you need to come out. I don't think I'll ever be ready for you to face the world. Me and Daddy will do our best, but you know, we're not perfect. I hope you know how much we love you."

"I love you too, Daddy," a squeaky voice said.

Steve looked over to find Eddie peering out of the sliding glass door with a grin and a blanket over his head. Eddie came all the way, closing the door behind him before patting his way over to Steve. He pushed the other lawn up against Steve’s and plopped down. He had his own cup, but it was just filled with crushed ice. Eddie shook a handful and poured into his mouth, crunching it with his teeth.

"I don't think I'm ready either," Eddie said.

"Scared?"

"Terrified," Eddie said, pausing. "But at least we're scared together."

Steve took his free hand in his, and they watched the sun rise together. Eddie stroked his hand and began to sing. Steve grinned when he started to sing the Beatles' Yellow Submarine. It was one of his favorite Beatles songs. Steve chuckled when he got the idea. He opened his mouth and began to sing Master of Puppets. Eddie giggled with delight.

Master of puppets, I'm pulling your strings

We all live in a yellow submarine

Twisting your mind and smashing your dreams

We all live in a yellow submarine

Blinded by me, you can't see a thing

We all live in a yellow submarine

Just call my name, 'cause I'll hear you scream

We all live in a yellow submarine

Master, master

Just call my name, 'cause I'll hear you scream

Master, master

"That's a scary mashup," Eddie giggled.

"It shouldn't make sense," Steve said.

"But I love it," Eddie and Steve laughed.

"You're going to be okay, Stevie."

"I know."

When they arrived at the hospital, they were surprised to find that everyone was waiting for them there.

"Like we would miss this," Joyce said.

"As if I would miss my best friend having a baby," Robin said.

Everyone gave him supportive hugs, the moms lasting longer than anyone else. Claudia wouldn't stop crying.

"Come on, Claud," Wayne said in amusement. "Let the boy go."

"I'm going to be a Grammy," Claudia cried.

"Damn, I didn't think to bring any tissues," Sue said, sniffling.

"Oh, I got plenty in my purse," Claudia said.

"I think Max might need some of those," Mike said.

"I will push you in the quarry," Max snapped and walked over to hug Steve. "You're going to be a great dad."

As she walked back over, she flipped Mike off. She sat down in the waiting room and pulled out some knitting supplies.

"Are you knitting?" Mike asked.

"What did I just say?" Max asked.

Erica sat beside her and pulled out her own supplies.

"I'm competing with Max to see who can make the better baby blanket," Erica said.

"Did you know about this?" Mike asked Lucas.

"Yeah."

Eddie and Steve laughed as they were guided off to the operating room by Dr. Owens. Hopper and El followed behind them. El had Jonathan's old camera strapped to her neck. They were joining them in the room just in case anything happened. Although, El had insisted that she hadn't felt anything bad coming from the baby. As they prepared him, Steve laid on the table he stared up at the ceiling.

"I'm going to miss being pregnant," Steve said.

"Is it because it's made your hair look really good?" Eddie asked.

"No. . .well, not just that," Steve said. "I just - what if I turn into my dad?"

"Not possible. I haven't seen you turn into your dad with any of the kids we babysit," Eddie said. "You've been really great with the kids, and you're going to be really great with ours."

"What if she is part bat? What if she starts climbing the walls?!" Steve asked.

"Then we'll get a ladder. That was going to happen anyway. She's part of me too," Eddie said.

"We both work during the day. What if she ends up sleeping during the day and awake at night?" Steve said.

"Then we'll figure that out too," Eddie said. "We'll figure it all out together."

"You have all the answers, don't you?" Steve muttered.

"Only when it comes to you, sweetheart," Eddie replied and paused. "Do I need to get a mom?"

"I'll get Joyce. She's had a c-section," Hopper said and left the room.

Joyce came in a moment later and knelt at Steve's side.

"You a little nervous?" Joyce asked.

"A little," Steve admitted.

"I was just as scared when I was in your situation. I had no clue what was going on. My biggest fear was that they would cut into Jonathan. It's been 18 years now, and medicine has gotten somewhat better. These doctors, they know what they're doing. The doctors I had knew what they're doing, and Jonathan turned out fine," Joyce said. "But if you need me, then I'll be with you and make sure they don't hurt the baby too. That's also what El is here for. We won't let them take her, either. You've got an entire army out there prepared to do the same."

Steve looked at her with watery eyes, knowing how hard she fought for Will, and he knew she would do the same for their baby.

"Thanks," Steve croaked. "You can stay."

Joyce stood on Steve’s other side and took his hand. Eddie smiled at her, his own eyes filled with tears.

"Thank you."

It was weird not being able to feel or see what they're doing, but judging by the looks on El and Hopper's face, they saw the entire thing. Eddie could clearly see what they were doing, and he watched his face turn into a look of awe, then they all heard it. The cry. It sounded weirder than he thought it would. It sounded more like a screech than a cry. Then, the nurse was bringing her over and putting her in Eddie's arms. Eddie was sobbing.

"Oh, fuck, Steve, look at her, she's beautiful," Eddie sobbed.

He held her close to Steve’s face, and Steve started crying with Eddie. She was so perfect. Her skin was slightly gray, but they apparently weren't worried about that. Eddie leaned his forehead against Steve’s. El smiled as she took their picture.

"We're parents, Steve, we're goddamn parents," Eddie said.

A little while later, Steve laid in his hospital bed while their daughter laid against his chest. Eddie sat next to him while everyone filled the room. She wasn't wrapped up in the blanket. She preferred the cold. Steve smiled as he rubbed a hand over her back.

"Oh, look at her little wings," Dustin cooed softly, tears filling his eyes. "Oh, man. I am so not ready for this."

"Is she - is she going to have a tail?" Robin asked.

"Looks like she's going to have three," Eddie grinned.

Just above the diaper was a small cluster of bumps.

"You gonna tell us the little stinker's name?" Wayne asked.

"Alice," Steve said.

"That's my mama's name," Eddie said softly.

"I know," Steve said softly. "I know how much you loved her, and I know how much you want her to be here. In a way, she is. I also love Alice in Wonderland, so there's something in it for me, too."

Eddie cried as he kissed Steve and placed a gentle hand on Alice's back.

"Everyone," Eddie sniffled. "This is Alice Wynonna Munson. It's the closet we could get to the girl version of Wayne."

"Oh, hell," Wayne said and burst into tears.

"I thought you were going to be cool about this, honey," Claudia teased.

"They named the damned baby after me," Wayne said.

Wayne was the first to hold the baby, followed by Robin and Dustin. Steve thought for sure Robin was going to fight Wayne when he was hogging the baby. There wasn't a dry eye in the hospital room as everyone cooed and passed the baby around. Erica was the last one to hold the baby before passing her off to Steve.

"She doesn't like being warm?" Erica asked. "Our baby blankets are just going to be decorative, aren't they?"

"Yeah, sorry," Steve laughed. "Oh, I think she's hungry."

Everyone began clearing the room, offering their congratulations as they left. Steve smiled at his daughter as she suckled at his breast. It felt weird and wonderful at the same time. It was definitely strange to feel his breasts to be so swollen with milk. Eddie smiled softly as he stroked Alice's head.

"We're a family," Eddie said. "Tied together forever through her. There's no going back."

"I never want to go back," Steve said.

Eddie kissed him.

A/N: one more chapter to go!

Part Nine

#stranger things #eddie munson #stranger things s4 #joseph quinn #eddie stranger things #eddie munson lives #steve harrington #steddie #steve x eddie #steve harrington x eddie munson #steddie fanfiction

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gayofthefae · 1 year

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Acceptance is a GREAT culmination of Will’s arc! But here’s the thing...

He got that. Jonathan accepted him. You can increase the quantity of acceptance from here or make it more explicit but we still have a season to go.

In fact, I think a lot of the misunderstanding is that arcs don’t finish one season early and then the last season is for the supernatural loose ends. Because that would imply that the stories were entirely disconnected or that the supernatural aspect were somehow the “main” thing. Which just isn’t true.

If Will’s arc was acceptance. And Mike’s arc was communicating his feelings. And El’s arc was being loved by Mike in a different way than Brenner etc.

The show would be over. We wouldn’t need another season. THAT’S where the confusion lies and always has: in the idea that the show could have ended at any season just because there was closer. It couldn’t have. Seasons 1 and 2 would have had no hero’s journey. Season 3 ended in a place of loss: loss of Hopper, loss of the Byers (including El) through moving away, overall separation of the party and a general sadness.

And season 4, obviously, ended with the big bad still at large - but emotionally, one would think it ended okay on the surface: Robin is implied to get the girl, Jonathan and Nancy are back in the same place, Mike said I love you to El, Lucas and Max are back together (she is in a coma but we’re separating the supernatural plot out remember).

And I think that’s also why they’re accused of plot holes so often - this idea that some level of closure = ending. It doesn’t. This isn’t 5 separate mini series with the same cast. It’s one show. They aren’t meant to tie up everything in one season and then create new setups. And they’ve never been trying to, not fully anyways. They’ve done it a lot with the supernatural stuff and I think that’s the confusion. It feels like that chapter is over so any loose end must be a plot hole, right? Because next season is a new chapter and they’ll forget about everything from previous ones. But saving payoffs is different then a pattern of forgetting, though I understand why they’re confusable.

M*levens are happy. That’s fantastic. Genuinely, I like it when people are happy, believe it or not. But that’s actually a bad sign for them. Because there’s more. The show isn’t over which means more has to happen. And if this was it, they would have ended it.

And this happens often enough in storytelling when a plot point is subverted: the assumed arc is ACHIEVED. And they deliver the blow of “...now what?” The characters ask, “why didn’t that fix everything?” (as demonstrated quite literally by the giant gate in this case). What you thought it was all building up to happens and...it doesn’t...end. And the mere fact that it doesn’t end is proof that that wasn’t supposed to be the ending (in the case that the creators have the integrity to tell one story and aren’t just trying to run on cable TV as long as possible* *although I acknowledge there is also financial privilege to be able to have this��“integrity” and decide to stop).

When you get everything you’ve ever wanted and nothing happens. You get the magical stone or whatever but the wind doesn’t lift up and the prophecy doesn’t come true. Because you were wrong about what it was that you needed.

El feeling real love as opposed to being used and obsessed over is a GOOD ARC. Will being accepted is a GOOD ARC. Mike expressing his feelings is a GOOD ARC. If those were their arcs. But the mere fact that there IS a season 5 tells us that these are just tools, stepping stones towards their true arcs.

El being genuinely loved and supported will allow her to be supported into her independence.

Mike learning to express his emotions better will help him to when the time comes for him to express them in a scary situation - such as queerness - and take that risk for what he really wants because he will believe he is lovable enough that he might actually have a shot rather than taking what he can get.

Will feeling accepted is the first step to realizing that he can be safe and have a happy future and will allow him more confidence to accept that the idea of him getting to experience romantic love is real.

This does not mean that the season 4 endings were bad. This does not mean they were false. They were not “fake outs”, they were important steps towards their finales - just like every other season arc’s ending. And they don’t only function for that ending. El being loved by Mike and Mike telling her he loves her and Jonathan accepting Will are still beautiful and important in their own right outside of just being narratively useful.

But they aren’t the endings, if only because this isn’t the end.

#byler evidence #i trust the duffers #stranger things #el hopper #will byers #mike wheeler

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autolenaphilia · 2 years

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I finished listening to The Magnus Archives many months ago. It is a horror audio drama podcast that was very popular here on tumblr. Yet i felt underwhelmed. It was okay, I guess? I felt that the statements were actually scary in the first two seasons, and by season 5 I was not scared at all, despite horrific things happening regularly.

Like there was nothing outstandingly bad in the writing. The characters were fine, nice representation of cis gays I suppose. Although the only trans woman being a single statement giver who doesn’t actually appear in the show is a bit disappointing. For me, perhaps the most important point of media representation is to get creative people from marginalized communities employed. I get it's a single-writer thing, Jonathan Sims writes every episode, but employing a trans woman actor to give the statement (something that happens with plenty of other statements) for the only transfem statement giver would be nice.

Well the only trans woman if you don’t count Nikola Orsinov. Oh Nikola, she is literally a man turned into an evil fake plastic mannequin/doll woman who hides her malevolence under an exaggerated cutesy performance of femininity and like Jame Gumb, steals skin to appear like a human woman. Giving potentially another meaning to the acronym TMA there, but I’ll give the writer the benefit of the doubt and say that’s probably not intentional. even if it does express some anxieties about gender. Besides, she’s my favourite villain by a long shot, Nikola Orsinov is a lot of fun.

I also disliked one of the canonical lesbian couples, Basira Hussain and Daisy Tonner. It's a typical example of the trope where the butch lesbian character is a cop, and on top of that, the series does a police brutality arc with them. It's not like women can't be violent cops, but like come on, Magnus Archives. When police brutality happens and a non-white lesbian like Basira is involved, they don't tend to be the perpetrator in the incident.

Anyway, the show was entertaining but felt underwhelming.

And I think I finally figured out why. It’s because the basic idea of the series is that it starts out seeming like a horror anthology series. It’s seemingly disconnected stories of people being menaced by the supernatural, with no explanation of what the supernatural actually is, as in most horror stories. The statements in Magnus can be good, solid horror fiction, if a bit derivative.

And then it reveals its true face: it’s actually a horror serial. The series actually has extensive worldbuilding which connects together and explains all those seemingly disparate stories.

The shift from horror anthology to serialized drama is frankly just awkward in general, it's such a radical shift in story structure. The show sticks with the statement structure for continuity reasons long after it makes any dramatic sense, when the story is carried forward by dialogue rather than any information gained from the various statements..They interrupt the story by the final seasons rather than develop them. In season 5, characters are literally annoyed with the statements because they interrupt the plot progression.

Yet the problem with this storytelling shift I think is far more deeper. That’s because I think horror is kinda antithetical to worldbuilding. I think horror needs some mystery to it, a sense of the unknown, of humanity being menaced by inexplicable forces. When you can explain the supernatural, as extensive worldbuilding tends to do, it ceases to be really scary. And The Magnus Archives has macabre and dark worldbuilding, but it also explains far too much. It tries to be a metafictional commentary on horror fiction, but it ends up showing how bad it is at understanding the genre

It presents these very genre-typical horror stories, with all their unexplained supernatural events and it seems writer Jonathan Sims saw their unexplained nature as a promise of a future solution instead of actually standing on their own. And that’s not how mystery works in the horror genre for the most part, and for good reason.

I’ve sometimes heard The Magnus Archives described as Lovecraftian, but looking at what Lovecraft said about horror in the classic Supernatural Horror in Literature, I think he would agree with me. “The oldest and strongest kind of fear is fear of the unknown.” And in what he claimed in the true weird tale “A certain atmosphere of breathless and unexplainable dread of outer, unknown forces must be present; and there must be a hint...of that most terrible conception of the human brain—a malign and particular suspension or defeat of those fixed laws of Nature which are our only safeguard against the assaults of chaos and the daemons of unplumbed space.“

This is a kind of horror ethos that is antithetical to worldbuilding. Worldbuilding maps out and explains a setting’s fantastical elements, which works best for a kind of Tolkienian fantasy, whereas horror relies on the unknown. Lovecraft’s Cthulhu mythos is often seen as the kind of explanatory worldbuilding Magnus engages in, but that’s something his lesser imitators such as August Derleth engaged in far more than Creepy Howie himself. It’s an impression created more by the Call of Cthulhu RPG than Lovecraft’s stories.

M. John Harrison’s criticism of worldbuilding is also relevant to The Magnus Archives:

“When I use the term “worldbuilding fiction” I refer to immersive fiction, in any medium, in which an attempt is made to rationalise the fiction by exhaustive grounding, or by making it “logical in its own terms”, so that it becomes less an act of imagination than the literalisation of one. Representational techniques are used to validate the invention, with the idea of providing a secondary creation for the reader to “inhabit”; but also, in a sense, as an excuse or alibi for the act of making things up, as if to legitimise an otherwise questionable activity. This kind of worldbuilding actually undercuts the best and most exciting aspects of fantastic fiction, subordinating the uncontrolled, the intuitive & the authentically imaginative to the explicable; and replacing psychological, poetic & emotional logic with the rationality of the fake. “

This is harsh, but describes the problem of The Magnus Archives quite accurately. I would add that in horror this kind of worldbuilding also undercuts any genuine horror. The “rationality of the fake” is no substitute for fear of the unknown. Supernatural horror without any mystery regarding the supernatural things just becomes a depiction of fantastical torture.

In season 1, the Archivist tries to deliver "rational" explanations for the supernatural events described, and they deliberately ring hollow. It reads as a man trying desperate to shore up his worldview against events that defy them, showing a "malign and particular suspension or defeat of those fixed laws of Nature" It's a classic horror writing trick. But by season 3, the archivist knows the basics of the story's worldbuilding, and starts explaining the statements with a new supernatural logic, which is shown to be correct.

And Sims doesn't seem to realize that he has simply replaced a naturalistic rationality with a supernatural "rationality of the fake." The stories in the first two seasons show the supernatural disrupting the laws of normal existence, and are therefore scary. Yet then the story creates a new "safeguard against the assaults of chaos" in the form of worldbuilding explanations of these events. Its fantasy with a lot of suffering, rather than horror.

The Magnus Archives might seem like a story that is very certain of itself. It has built this extensive worldbuilding construction to explain its every fantastical flourish, and even its genre and medium. We get explanations for genre staples such as "why are people able to give such articulate and clear statements of horrific and traumatic events?" And because it's yet another audio drama that has a "found footage" or rather a "found recordings" gimmick, we even get an explanation for why everything plot relevant is recorded.

Yet this is to mask a deep uncertainty, as it clearly feels a need to deeply justify its fantasy. A story that was more genuinely certain of itself would allow things to remain unexplained and not need to justify its own flights of imagination.

I don’t care much about spoilers, but I have some further more specific thoughts under the cut. I won’t summarize and explain concepts and plots from the series because it’s boring to write, so think of this as supplementary criticism for those who have listened to Magnus.

The problem with The Fears as explanations is that they are so boringly anthropomorphic. In fact they are explicitly explained in the final episode as arising from the human emotion of fear, a final bit of worldbuilding that adds explanation at the cost of actual horror.

And their motivation is so boring, in that they are basically sadists, whose goal with everything they do is to create fear in humans. It’s such a mundane motivation for interdimensional amorphous powers. That’s about as scary as the serial killers in the most boring kind of mystery and horror fiction, which is not much.

And it sucks all the actual surrealism and imagination out of the setting. Anytime Magnus borrows from surreal horror fiction, it’s not actually surreal, because everything is explainable. Things are surreal because surreal supernatural events scares humans and the supernatural entities want to scare humans. So things that are meant to be surreal horror like the Stranger ritual in the season three finale or most of the hellscapes in season five aren’t actually surreal.

Speaking of season five. For all my criticisms of the series overall, I have to praise the season four finale. It ends on a revelation that the supposed hero’s effort were all meaningless and that actually he has been manipulated into bringing out the apocalypse he hoped to prevent. This revelation is really effective tragedy, especially as it comes after what seems to be a happy ending for him and his partner Martin. Good shit, the series could very well have ended there. It would be a bleak ending, but that fits a horror series.

Yet then the series continues with another season. And by this time the transformation into Tolkienian worldbuilding fantasy is complete. The story of season five is how Frodo and Sam must journey through Mordor to defeat the eye of Sauron by destroying the source of his power. Sorry, I meant that Jon and Martin must journey through hellscape Britain in order to defeat the rule of the Eye and destroy the source of its power. The parallels are obvious.

This season feels so unnecessary, a fantasy quest to undo the tragedy of the fourth season finale. And they largely do, Jon and Martin are gone, but the fears leave the world. It is all justified with the worldbuilding, but again ending on this note of world-saving heroic sacrifice has barely anything to do with horror.

The hellscapes of season five are dark, but they are not effective horror. It’s the final confirmation that Jonathan Sims did not truly understand why his horror stories in the earlier seasons were so effective. And that was because they were set in a largely realistic and contemporary world. People living mundane lives before they are menaced by the supernatural. Most horror fiction does this, not only because it gives a “it can happen to you” quality but because horror most easily comes from taking a safe, mundane and explicable world and subverting that with unexplained and frightening supernatural events.

The Magnus Archives does have stories like that and they work, but then it undermines it by explaining the supernatural in rationalistic terms. And in season 5, it even takes away the mundane setting. Now almost everyone except the servants of the entities live in hellscapes literally designed to make them suffer over and over again. There is no longer any normal world to provide contrast, just entire landscapes of torture. It may sometimes present bitter parodies of realistic situations, but so removed from real life that is hard to connect with or regain the sense of horror from those early stories.

And again, because the rationalistic worldbuilding of The Magnus Archives there is no real surrealism to these hellscapes, because why they exist is explained. There is just torture and no mystery or wonder to the fantasy of season 5. It’s just suffering for the sake of suffering, the worst and least interesting kind of horror. And it’s a deep-seated problem within the show, developed to its utmost extreme.

It's fiction that feels the need to justify itself at literally every turn. It doesn't dare have something happen without explaining why. So we get this fake surrealism, where if anything weird happens it's because supernatural powers want to scare people with the weirdness.

Apparently there will be a sequel, a Magnus Archives 2, despite earlier promises there would not be. And considering the original show went on for far too long and explained its world too much to be truly scary, I don’t think there is much fruitful to be gained there, but we’ll see.

#my writings #the magnus archives

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taceolsaol · 2 years

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MAG 100-106

What is even happening anymore??

Okay so in 100 we had the team taking, frankly awful, statements after Jonathan was kidnapped by The Circus.

101

Michael! Is it bad how much I love that weird creature? I mean before (and still) he’s mostly been a mystery and definitely one of the cooler monsters, but his backstory! Poor actual Michael was fucking sacrificed by Gertrude.

Seriously? I understand she was under pressure to stop the end of the world, but that was a cold hearted woman. Michael obviously respected and cared for her and she literally sacrificed him to a monster. It’s weird to hear Michael talk from the perspective of whatever he is now as separate and the same as being Michael the Assistant.

Also, him both taking this opportunity to kill Jon and offering him a better solution than The Circus. And Jon taking him up on the offer!! Then getting saved by Helen because she locked Michael out of his own door. The one time Jon was nice to a statement giver and she eventually comes back to save him as a monster (this is why we don’t burn bridges).

102

Elias is cocky as hell. I cannot believe Jon was kidnapped for a month and he just tries a casual “whoops, my bad.” And he didn’t tell anyone? I mean, I don’t think anyone would have cared except Martin (which Elias didn’t tell him because he would have cares too much <3) but still. What about Georgie? She can’t be happy because to her Jon just vanished! And Melanie with the shitty murder attempts, get it together!

The statement, although gross af, doesn’t feel insanely relevant right now. Although, I’m super jealous of the knowing other languages power.

And his talk with Martin!! They were so akward, but Jon was clearly trying. Checking in on Martin and everyone, even if he has to keep referencing it back to work. Especially him worrying about Martin giving statements! Martin was worried Jon would be jealous and instead he was just worried about his health 😭 Those stupid boys, I love them.

103

The flesh/meat statements are the worst. They aren’t that scary, but they’re disgusting.

The only other thing is Jon getting Daisy to protect the squad. He must be worried for them if he’s going to Daisy! It is fun that Jon is going out to figure out what the hell Gertrude was doing, but also this seems like a bad call.

104

Tim… oh, Tim. This poor guy has been through hell. I’m glad Martin was able to get him to talk and I really hope Tim got the “giving a statement” benefits where people feel better after. I know it was to Martin, but Martin seems to have some Eye powers or something. Obviously not like Jon, but still.

No wonder Tim is so angry about The Circus and not being told. Martin is right though, Tim hasn’t exactly been interested in what they’re researching.

I’m hoping this is a moment that gets Tim going again, because I’m really worried about him. Challenging Elias like that isn’t gonna end well, but I appreciate the passion.

105

This one was so depressing. I mean for obvious reasons. I guess a good reminder that humans can be just as bad as any of the fears all on our own.

It is so cool to have Jon casually speaking Mandarin? with the librarian. And now Jon on his way to America? He’s gonna hate that…

#the magnus archives #the magnus archives spoilers #tma spoilers #tma #jonathan sims #martin blackwood #tim stoker #elias bouchard #melanie king #daisy tonner #basira hussain

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mothmanriley · 4 months

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I genuinely forgot how much consuming certain pieces of media helps to rationalize the scarier parts of DID. in honor of being able to name the horrors, here's a list of guys I gotta watch out for (all of them have been extremely very present the past week or so):

- eye guy. classic, he's been around since I was a Babey, big fan of Jonathan Sims for a obviousreasons and I'm not unentirely convinced he ain't part of Jon's subsystem.

- (also. Jonathan. Lord Of Evil. I love you man but you're terrifying, and also weirdly normal??? and I do not know how you have so much power within the system? you cant say its bc you've been around the longest bc moth's (i?) been here longer & theyre just a lil guy. although I appreciate the fact that you're helpful. although although how do you have relationship drama with a person who also lives in our head. why. we share a body what do you MEAN you're exes. one of the few 'in the know' that fronts pretty often. vibes of a man haunted.)

- the recordkeeper/the archive - again. love them. I liked being around them more when they were just a fictive of my tes self insert oc & not a constant observer perpetually and constantly in the background making me feel like I'm Always Being Watched.

- The Static Man, who I have never had a pleasant interaction with. I cannot express how genuinely, actually terrified of him I am. he has no shape, he has no voice, only TV static. if he's around it's very, very bad.

- the ever-shifting mound of flesh and blood that isn't even a person, she's just a memory thinly veiled bc if I think about too much I start thinking I'm Dead, so I turned her into a Creature and put her in The Ocean

- THE HIVE. twitch chat, if you will. they're a lot of eyes & I get the feeling they're individuals but there's wayy to many of them so they're just the guys watching me. the audience. separate from the eye guy, bc that's just Jon in a bad mood, but similar in ... function?? purpose?

- Miriam, who is spooky in that she is the first one from the inside to come to the outside and *have feelings* about it. that's not supposed to happen. the inside people stay inside. she also seems to be a big part of the audience? when they start freaking out she's the only one who can really calm them down.

- MOTH !!!!! I AM SCARY AND HOLD POWER BEYOND COMPREHENSION < jon takes care of me >:] < spooky bc They Know Things. and are relatively unaffected by this knowledge. how is this 12 y/o more chill about our past than me

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olko71 · 8 months

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New Post has been published on All about business online

New Post has been published on https://yaroreviews.info/2024/01/red-sea-scary-for-ships-crews-says-captain

Red Sea 'scary' for ships' crews, says captain

Reuters

By Jonathan Josephs

Business reporter, BBC News

“The situation is quite scary. It’s dangerous actually,” Captain Chirag tells the BBC from on board his ship.

Along with his crew, he’s worried about the ongoing attacks on commercial ships in the Red Sea area.

Since November, Iran-backed Houthi rebels in Yemen have repeatedly tried to board vessels or hit them with missiles.

Despite US and UK-led air strikes, they have vowed to continue attacking a vital route for global trade.

Captain Chirag, who didn’t want his full name or that of his vessel disclosed because of security concerns, says that on the day those air strikes happened his company told him to have an evacuation plan ready to get to a safe location. In the end it wasn’t needed.

Warning of inflation risk from Red Sea disruption

What do Red Sea assaults mean for global trade?

Who are the Houthis attacking Red Sea ships?

Several ships have been hit by missiles in recent weeks, although no injuries have been reported.

The welfare organisation Mission to Seafarers says there are almost 1.9 million men and women working on ships around the world. Collectively they move 90% of the world’s goods across the oceans.

Speaking from his vessel in the Gulf of Aden, Captain Chirag explains the stress the attacks are causing.

“The safety of the crew, their life, it comes first and after that safety of the vessel and environment,” he says.

“You cannot be at mental peace always. You will be worried. So even my family – they are scared all the time and they were anxiously praying [for] the vessel [to] come out of this area safely.”

Crews on other ships that he has spoken to are also quite scared, he says.

Houthi handout

The wellbeing of seafarers is “paramount”, according to Arsenio Dominguez, the secretary general of the UN’s International Maritime Organization (IMO), whose responsibilities include keeping international shipping safe and secure.

Mr Dominguez told the BBC that whilst there has been a lot of focus on the global economic consequences the attacks are causing, the seafarers are “unsung heroes”.

“It’s the seafarers that are out there day in day out, making all these things possible,” he said.

“We need to remember that they are actually victims, innocent victims, of this particular case and we have to remember that they are just as human as you and I.”

The first ship to be attacked was a car carrier, the Galaxy Leader. The vessel and its crew are still being held by Houthi rebels in Yemen and they have turned the vessel into a tourist attraction.

Mr Dominguez says “there’s a lot of diplomacy” going on behind the scenes to secure their release.

The wider crisis, he says, “is one of the biggest challenges that the IMO has faced” and the interruptions to global trade “will have a negative effect on you, on me and everyone on this planet”.

Financial services group Allianz has forecast that “if the crisis persists for several months” global inflation could be pushed up by half a percentage point to 5.1%, just as it appeared that the worst of recent price rises were over.

This increase would largely be driven by the rise in shipping rates, which are due to the extra costs the industry is facing as a result of avoiding the Red Sea by taking the longer, safer route around the south of Africa.

That could in turn reduce global economic growth, Allianz forecasts.

Extra costs include higher pay for crew, more fuel and the huge increase in “war risk” insurance that ships need to navigate the Red Sea region.

Insurance broker Marsh says rates have risen as much as 70-fold since early December. The premium to insure a $100m container ship has jumped from $10,000 to about $700,000.

“This is a significant development, given the strategic importance of the area as a key sea route for global trade and supply chains,” says Marcus Baker from Marsh.

A growing number of companies including Danone, Michelin and Ikea are facing delays in getting goods and raw materials where they want them.

But Vincent Clerc, the chief executive of Danish shipping giant Maersk told the BBC earlier this week: “We don’t really see another solution right now than to sail south of the Cape of Good Hope.

“We have ships that are being shot at. We have colleagues whose lives are at risk when this happens and we can simply not justify sailing through these dangerous zones.”

Captain Chirag says that long-term resilience could come through the use of remotely controlled ships which mean seafarers like himself face less risks, but he expects that is at least 50 years away.

For now he and his crew are content to take the long way round the south of Africa. “We just need the weather report and the charts for that area so that we can navigate safely.”

You can watch Vincent Clerc and Arsenio Dominguez’s full interviews on Talking Business with Aaron Heslehurst on BBC News. Viewers in the UK can watch on BBC iPlayer from 23:30 GMT on Saturday. In other countries it will be on at 23:30 GMT on Saturday, 05:30 GMT and 16:30 GMT on Sunday and 08:30 GMT on Monday.

More on this story

What do Red Sea assaults mean for global trade?

12 January

Who are the Houthis attacking Red Sea ships?

5 days ago

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maximoff-pan · 2 years

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reader holding steve’s hand (but their really only holding one or two of his fingers) and steve’s like “you alright there?”

this is such a cute idea, I love it <3

pairing: steve harrington x fem!reader

word count: 1.7k

warning(s): mentions of the mindflayer and demodogs, unedited writing, set in season 2 (because I’m currently rewatching and that’s where I’m at rn), so if you haven’t seen that, you have been warned… although it has been five years, you’ve had your chance for it not to be spoiled...

quick a/n: this is very much an AU of the season 2 scene where the kids make a plan to go help El (no Billy because I didn’t feel like including him)... hopefully this is okay, and thank you all for sticking with me!

Holding his hand seems like such a small thing, something so easy and so instinctual that it shouldn’t be this hard. But it is. Because for whatever reason, this doesn’t feel real.

You’d think it would feel grounding, that it would maybe force you back into a clearer head space. But it’s doing the opposite. As the butterflies fly freely through your stomach, you feel yourself falling further and further from reality.

This is what all the girls at Hawkin’s High meant when they said Steve Harrington was dreamy. But all that gossip could never have prepared you for this feeling right now. Oh lord is his touch ever hypnotizing. Even if it is just a platonic attempt at reassuring each other that everything is going to be okay. Even if it is nothing.

Despite it all, you want to curse yourself for falling for it. As if you ever should have thought yourself immune to his charms; you were so naive, so adamant that you could never like someone like him. Little did you know how quickly he could crack that superiority complex of yours.

And as the saying goes, oh how the mighty have fallen.

Or is it, the pride comes before the fall? Either way, you’re fucked.

More than anything, it’s such a strange thing to feel yourself fall into something (or someone) that you promised yourself you never would. Never in your wildest dreams did you think you would be sitting in Jonathan Byers’ living room, your hand reaching for Steve Harrington’s as you await answers on what feels like the fate of the universe.

Holding his hand seems like it should be the least of your problems, and yet it has wormed its way to the forefront of your mind.

Honestly, for the life of you, you cannot seem to grip his entire hand. You convince yourself that it must be nerves, your fingers merely clinging on to the tips of two of his. It’s more of a grazing touch really… a weak bid at trying to hold on. If your mind was in a more settled state, you might not have missed the blatant metaphor shining in your face. You also might have even laughed.

But this? The impending doom of the mind flayer and its pack of demodog minions? Not a laughing matter…not in the slightest. And all you can do is wait.

You don’t even want to think about it, how much longer you’ll have to stay here, just waiting. Let alone allowing yourself to stew in the immense pressure you’re feeling right now. If you’re being honest, it’s the most soul crushing stress you’ve ever felt; it’s like you can almost feel the grey hairs forming. Because these kids, they’re just, kids, innocent and losing their last ounce of childhood by the very second. Fuck, you’re barely an adult yourself. And as much as you know you’re not their parent, you feel responsible for each of them in your own silly way. You’d die before you’d let anything happen to them, and you know Steve would too.

That’s what makes this all so scary, and yet paradoxically, reassuring all the same. You’ve got something to live for, people who are depending on you to be okay. And that’s oddly comforting to you, as much as it can be.

“You alright there?” Steve’s voice echoes in your ears. You’re not sure how long he’s been trying to gain your attention, but by the knowing smile on his face, you’d have to take a guess that this isn’t the first time he’s asked you how you’re doing.

Breathing even, he lets go of your fingers, the warmth of his touch suddenly gone, and equally as noticeable. To your surprise, it doesn’t last long before he’s nudging you playfully, his arm gently meeting yours with a soft bump.

When you don’t respond like you usually would, with a bubbled up laugh or a reassuring sigh of, perfectly peachy, Steve’s shoulders drop. He follows your gaze to the kids who are gathered at the Byers’ kitchen table, arguing over what to do next.

They want to fight back and help their friend, an admirable if not risky idea to act on, you must admit. But they’re brave kids, — albeit impulsive ones — much braver than any other kids you’ve ever met. So, you’re not surprised when you overhear their plan to lure the demodogs away from El, allowing her better access to the mind flayer.

It doesn’t draw the most confidence in you to know that you and Steve are at a disagreement. While you know where Steve’s opinion lies, and you agree with him that keeping the kids safe is one of your top priorities, you can’t help but want to hear them out. Maybe it’s delusion talking, or maybe you’ve taken one too many hits to the head, but the more time you spend here waiting for any news, the more your heart wants to fight back too, even if your brain knows how stupid that would be.

“I think we should go.”

Steve’s head turns so fast you think he might have whiplash, and when your eyes meet his, they’re wider than saucers. His deep amber orbs blink in confusion as his brow furrows in surprise.

Shock even.

“You, what?”

Standing from your previous spot on the couch next to Steve, you make your way over to the kids, hands placed firmly on your hips. Facing him now, you echo, “I think we should go.”

“Fucking right!” Dustin’s holler causes a chorus of ‘yeah’s’ and vigorous nods to be shared amongst the group. All except for Steve. He’s less than impressed.

You’re supposed to be on his side, not theirs.

“No, no, no, no, no, no.” He repeats the word like a mantra, flicking his wrist in objection while simultaneously signalling to the kids to keep quiet from agreeing any further with your declaration. “Absolutely not.”

Clenching your jaw at his immediate dismissal, your voice raises ever so slightly. “We’re supposed to protect them Steve.”

He almost scoffs at your words, because how could bringing the kids into the most dangerous place they could go, possibly be classified as protecting them? That sounds like pure ludicrous, the exact opposite of what you’re supposed to be doing. But then you say something that somehow makes sense to him. And for a moment, it has him rethinking everything.

“All of them.”

It’s Mike’s added assertion that seals it for him, his voice stern and steady. “That includes El.” He says, lips pulling into a tight line.

Steve doesn’t know this El girl very well, only having just met her a few hours ago, but already, she means a lot to him. Because she clearly means so much to everyone else. By proxy, that makes her important in Steve Harrington’s world.

“We can’t sit here and let her get hurt,” Max’s eyes shine with tears, gaze pleading with him, “especially if we know we can help her.” It’s oddly strange to see her like this. Max doesn’t show emotion at the best of times, let alone the worst, so despite having known her for less time than the rest, Steve is more than aware how much this means to her.

Tilting your head, you lay on the most convincing voice you can, while still maintaining a genuine tone. You don’t want him partaking in something he’s not comfortable doing. But, you suppose, at this point, it’s far past that.

“Steve, I know how risky this is, and I know you’re doing the logical thing, because God knows I’ve been nearly incapable of it” your (e/c) eyes find his brown ones and he can feel himself beginning to give in, “but nothing about this shit is logical.” You can see it in his demeanour that he’s fighting with himself not to give in. “If we have a chance to help her, we have to take it.”

“We have to.” Lucas cuts in.

“C’mon Steve.” Is Dustin’s attempt.

Whether it’s your words that do it, or Mike and Max’s pleadingly puppy dog-like stares, he’s not sure. But in a matter of seconds, his posture is deflating, and a long sigh is released from his lips.

One second passes in anticipation, then two, and lastly three, before:

“Fine.” Steve finally agrees with a huff, realizing he was never going to win this fight. He hears a quiet mumble of victory from Max and notices a quick fist pump she shares with Lucas, but it’s your beaming smile that assures him that he’s made the right decision. You look not only relieved, but genuinely happy, something that Steve wishes he could see more of from you. It’s hard to be happy when it feels like the universe is crumbling at your feet, but it’s nice to see nonetheless.

Grabbing the car keys, he tosses them to you as you lead each of the kids out the door.

As you usher them out, you lean your head over your shoulder, sending Steve a soft smile, and mouthing a quick thank you to him. You’re grateful, truly.

Wordlessly, he nods. I’d do anything for you, he thinks to himself. He’d give you the world if you asked. Not that you would. You never ask for anything from anyone.

He wishes you’d change your mind on that.

Taking note of the brief moment shared between you two, Dustin hangs back with Steve, eyeing the older teen in amusement. He watches him lock up the Byers’ residence, hands shaking slightly from the adrenaline of it all. Following a few steps behind the rest of the group, Dustin smiles at Steve slyly, his gaze full of mischief.

“Not a word.” Steve warns, the sound of the car engine starting is enough to put a pause to his words. But Dustin doesn’t listen. Since when has he ever?

“You’re so whipped man…” Steve doesn’t deny it as Dustin shakes his head with a smirk. He watches as Steve steps through the passenger side door, a slight grin on his face.

Muttering to himself as he slides in beside Max, Dustin huffs, “So fucking whipped.”

#steve harrington x reader #steve harrington x fem!reader #steve harrington x y/n #steve harrington x you #steve harrington imagine #steve harrington imagines #stranger thing imagine #stranger things x reader #stranger things imagines

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queenshelby · 3 years

Text

The Arkham Patient (Part 3)

Pairing: Jonathan Crane x Reader

Words: 3,357

Warning: Smut, Violence, Murder, Gore, Medical Procedures

Please comment and engage...it means the world to me.

*****

Within less than twenty minutes, you found yourself restrained into a strait jacket and in a padded cell in one of Arkham’s most secure floors.

You didn’t bother to put up a fight in order to avoid being tranquilised by the guards and you weren’t bothered by the fact that you were on your own, in a dark and somewhat scary looking cell.

After all, it wasn’t the first time you were put into solitary confinement nor was it the first time you were subjected to punishment here at Arkham Asylum.

Within minutes, you were visited by one of the female psychiatrists who was on duty that night but, of course, you didn’t intend to talk to her about how you got hold of the scalpel which really was all that she was interested in knowing.

You did, however, make a point of telling her why you tried to kill the guard, although it was not that she cared.

‘Listen Love, I am not going to tell you anything else, no matter how often you are planning to shock me with this thing’ you laughed as the female psychiatrist held up a large taser.

‘You will talk Miss Y/LN. I will make you talk’ she then insisted before disappearing and shortly thereafter returning with a syringe which was filled with a green coloured liquid.

‘You aren’t going to inject this shit into me’ you yelled at her before crawling backwards, kicking and screaming before, eventually, your foot kicked the syringe out of her hand.

The woman scrambled to the floor and, just as she picked up the syringe again, you leashed out at her with your right leg once more.

‘I am telling you bitch, you ain’t injecting me with this shit’ you said angrily as you stood up and the psychiatrist called for the guards once again.

Within seconds, two guards came running and held onto you, ensuring that you would hold still so that the female psychiatrist could inject you with the drugs but, just as she held the syringe to your right leg, you heard a sharp male voice from the doorway.

‘That’s enough’ the man said angrily, causing the female psychiatrist to move away from you.

‘Dr Crane’ she said somewhat surprised before explaining to him what happened and what she was doing.

‘I don’t care Miss Langford. No drugs on this patient. She is part of a trial that I am conducting. I need her mind to be clear’ Dr Crane said as he took the syringe out of the woman’s hands.

‘I am sorry Dr Crane, but she wasn’t cooperating’ the woman then explained and Crane told her and the guards to leave before closing the door to your cell behind him.

He kneeled down in front of you and caressed your face somewhat awkwardly.

‘Next time, you need to aim for the area right here Miss Y/LN. This way you will cut through the carotid artery and most defiantly inflict a fatal injury. I am disappointed in you, because you missed’ he said as he quickly pushed your neck to one side and ran his finger firmly over the large artery in your neck.

‘It was dark’ you said as you swallowed harshly before giving Dr Crane a lust filled look.

‘That’s no excuse Miss Y/LN. The guard is still alive’ Crane then explained before evaluating your facial expressions.

‘Aren’t you glad that he is?’ you chuckled somewhat surprised by his comment.

‘I don’t care much for men like him. Laying a hand on a woman like this without her consent is too immoral, even for a man like me. Your fellow inmate told me about what happened and, for that reason, I will ensure that no charges are pressed against you Miss Y/LN. This does, however, not mean that you won’t be punished for your actions’ Crane then said and you looked at him with a devilish smile.

‘Punishment? You know this kind of shit doesn’t work on me. Even your fear serum doesn’t do anything to me’ you laughed, causing Crane to sigh before chuckling himself. You intrigued him and amused him all at the same time.

‘You know what’s interesting Miss Y/LN?’ Crane then said, ignoring most of what you had just said to him.

‘No but, no doubt, you are about to tell me doctor’ you smirked and, indeed he did.

‘I did some research on you. You only moved to Gotham two years ago and lived in Russia before then. You changed your identity three times within the past two years. You didn’t only just kill the three drug lords down at Gotham Mall, but this was simply the first time you got caught. You are experienced and well trained which also makes me think that, the fact that you missed this guard’s artery, wasn’t an accident. You wanted him to live. Why?’ he asked.

‘Like you Dr Crane, I have morals. I only kill people who have wronged me personally or who have hurt the people that I love. I like my fellow inmate but I don’t know her that well and whilst I won’t kill for her, I will ensure that she is safe just because I can’ you explained.

‘A woman with morals…who would have thought’ Crane then said before asking you the same question again, which was a question he had asked you over and over again throughout the past six months.

‘Yet none of this explains why you don’t feel fear…why don’t you feel fear?’ Crane then asked, causing you to laugh again.

‘Whilst you experiment with fear and how to inflict it in the most efficient way, in Russia, we experiment with drugs that take fear away. This way, we can create soldiers who are fearless for when we need them to be fearless. I grew up in an orphanage and was one of the early test subjects in the so called ‘FeX Trial’. I was restrained and injected with serums over and over again for years. Ironically, the men who invested the most money in to the trial are American, Dons and Drug Lords, wanting to create an army for themselves. Most of them are dead now, except for one, one who is a patient here at Arkham’ you then said, causing even Crane’s chin to drop.

‘You wanted to get caught so that you kill this man in here’ Crane laughed before realising who the man was. The only man held in Akrham who had this kind of money and influence was Carmine Falcone, who was put under Jonathan Crane’s care after having been arrested for the second time.

Dr Crane himself despised him, but due to his connections to the local drug trade, couldn’t kill him himself and you were very well aware of this.

‘I hope your curious mind has now been satisfied Dr Crane. Now, you were referring to some kind of punishment earlier. Would you care to elaborate?’ you then smirked.

‘You have some kind of twisted mind Miss Y/LN. And a death wish too it seems. You have every reason to be in here if you think that killing Gotham’s elite criminals is a good idea’ Crane then said with some amusement as he ran his fingers over your naked thighs and all the way up to your cotton panties which were the only other piece of clothing you were wearing in addition to your strait jacket.

‘Think about it doctor, your trials would be so much more valuable if the FeX Trial was to be discontinued and it’s investors were gone. You can take the illicit drug trade in Gotham. I could help you’ you said, biting your lip seductively, causing Crane to look over his slim glasses.

‘We are both just as crazy as each other, which makes all of this so fucking perfect, doesn’t it? You are so sick and sadistic and I kind of like it’ you then smirked.

‘And how do I know that I can trust you, hmm?’ he then asked and you shrug your shoulders.

‘I don’t know, maybe you can’t’ you winked before carrying on. ‘Now, don’t you think that it is time for my punishment doctor? I am really in need to be punished’ you then said, spreading your legs for his viewing.

‘Giving you what you want is hardly a punishment Miss Y/LN’ Crane then chuckled before evaluating the situation further. ‘But then again, I have needs and you look quite delightful in this strait jacket Miss Y/LN’ he then said with a smirk, causing you to giggle.

‘You have my consent to do whatever you like to me in here Dr Crane’ you winked and he seemed quite happy by your submission.

‘Very well’ Crane then said before taking off his suit jacket and lying it into the corner of the cell.

‘How about you come over here and show me what this little mouth of yours can do?’ he then commanded.

‘Make me’ you teased and, quick as a flash, he pinned you against one of the padded walls.

‘So, you want to do this the hard way Miss Y/LN?’ he asked as he held you against the wall, pushing you deeper against the cushions at the back and making you squeal.

‘Yes’ you wiggled, trying to escape his grip, but he was a lot stronger than you.

‘I know you like it like this, taking me the way you want, making me struggle’ you yelped, pushing against him and still trying to worm your way out from beneath his hands.

‘Indeed, I do’ Crane said as all of the wiggling around and rubbing against him was arousing him more and more. In fact, you saw his cock stiffening, pushing up against the fabric of his suit pants and it excited you. Nonetheless, you played along and tried to push him off you again, but he still didn't budge.

‘This will be perfect because I know exactly how to punish you for your actions’ Crane then said as he leaned in close and spoke softly, directly next to your ear.

‘I will fuck you and you won’t get to cum. It will be pure torture for you’ he said as you shifted slightly, pushing his cock against your face slowly.

‘That is not what I had in mind Dr Crane, please…I beg you…let me cum when you fuck me’ you huffed out somewhat worried.

‘Having an orgasm is a privilege Miss Y/LN. Do you think that you deserve such privilege after stabbing one of my guards?’ he asked as he kept you pinned against the padded wall.

You shook your head as he groaned, rubbing his hard-on up against your lips, just two thin layers of cotton separating your mouth from his hardness.

‘Please, I do anything…’ you gasped against him, shocked at what he was going to do, fucking you without allowing you to reach climax.

‘Please Dr Crane’ you cried, knowing that, even after he leaves, it would be impossible for you to finish yourself off while wearing this horrible strait jacket.

‘No’ he said. ‘I know, it's okay. Shhhhh...you deserve this punishment’ he said with devilish fire in his eyes as he ground against your face.

‘Now be a good girl and open your mouth’ he then said as he opened the zipper and button on his pants and pushed them down to his knees.

Within seconds, he impaled his cock into your mouth, thrusting straight into the back of your throat.

‘The fact that you don’t gag is incredible’ Crane then moaned as he thrusted into your mouth, in and out, hitting the back of your throat each time while you gasped for air.

You moaned around his cock as he was fucking your mouth hard and fast, just the way you liked it. His hands had a firm grip on your hair and he was clearly enjoying your submission.

Then, after about five minutes, he had enough and pulled out from your mouth, leaving you to drool as you tried to catch your breath.

With one quick move, he pulled your whole body forward, making you lie on your back before he adjusted his weight, holding you down with one of his hands, so that he could plunge the other hand down the front of your panties.

‘Don’t you dare cum. If you cum, you will stay in here for a whole fucking week. Do you understand?’ Crane asked as he rubbed your wet clit in little circles, making you jump involuntarily.

‘I understand Dr Crane’ you stammered out as you were getting wetter and wetter by the second.

Jonathan Crane had skilled hands that teased your opening, sliding across your slick labia and sensitive clit. His fingers didn't penetrate you yet, but rubbed up and down until your pussy was dripping onto the floor cushion below you. You squirmed, trying not to moan.

Then he plunged two fingers inside you, slowly but firmly. Your walls were velvety smooth and gripped him incredibly tight, even just around two fingers. He buried them in you up to the last knuckles and began stroking.

‘Dr Crane, please…oh god’ you moaned involuntarily as he was curling his fingers upwards to brush your g-spot. He could tell your body was responding well and was ready to climax.

‘You should see yourself, dripping all over my hands’ Dr Crane observed as his cock had gotten so hard and swollen that it was physically hurting him now. He shoved a third finger inside you, stretching your pussy a little wider and making you cry out, then left them buried inside you for a few seconds.

Eventually, when you were close to climaxing, he paused his finger fucking to pull down your soaked panties.

‘You won’t be needing them while you are in here and the thought of my cum dripping out of your bare pussy all night has me all excited Miss Y/LN. I might even stay in my office and check the camera to see what you are doing in here, all wet, hot and bothered and in need to orgasm’ he then whispered while his hard cock pointed straight at your naked slit, throbbing with need.

‘Oh god’ you moaned again as Dr Crane rubbed the naked tip of his cock across your dripping pussy lips, and finally forced the head of his cock inside you.

With the strait jacket, you were unable to move and Crane held your legs around his waist tightly as he impaled his cock on you.

‘Please…fuck this feels incredible…please let me cum’ you howled at the intrusion before you tried to wiggle away, knowing that you couldn’t take it without reaching an orgasm.

‘No’ Dr Crane simply said before he almost lost his grip on you.

Looking into your eyes, he pulled his cock out, then firmly pushed back in, succeeding in squeezing another inch or two of his cock into you as you were so incredibly tight. It felt like heaven. You were so incredibly soft and your pussy gripped his cock in a hot, wet vice, almost causing him to cum instantly.

He closed his eyes, not wanting to cum so soon. Then, he moved his hands upwards and squeezed around your neck with both hands, partially cutting off your breathing, but being careful not to crush the front of your throat.

‘Fuck’ you moaned and Crane took a deep breath and thrust hard into your petite body, stretching your pussy painfully wide.

‘I need to cum, fuck’ you huffed out as Crane started pumping slowly in and out of your insanely tight pussy.

‘No’ he said again as you screamed in pleasure and frustration.

You could still breathe okay, although he had one hand still around your neck. His other hand was roaming all over your strait jacket covered upper body, rubbing over your breasts, then moving down and gently stroking your clit. He settled into a steady rhythm, moaning in pleasure as he fucked you raw.

Your screams became gasps as Jonathan Crane filled up entirely, rubbing against your g-spot every time he bottomed out, driving you crazy. You felt your hips shift automatically as your body opened up to accept his cock to an even deeper spot. It felt amazing and you struggled to hide your reaction.

‘That's a good girl’ Crane then cooed, revelling in the way your pussy contracted around his cock, milking it. Your breaths were coming in short gasps now, and your legs were trembling.

‘So, fucking tight aren’t you?’ he then groaned as he was trying to control himself because it felt like your pussy was going to force his cum out. He grunted, increasing his tempo and thrusting into you harder now. A slapping noise filled the room, as his balls hit your ass with every thrust.

‘Please, I beg you, let me cum’ you squealed as the thick base of his shaft stretched your abused hole even further open and you felt so close.

‘No’ Crane said harshly in response as he was thrusting so hard now that he had pushed you up against the wall, and you felt like you couldn't take it anymore.

You were both gasping and panting now and Crane’s eyes glazed over as he pumped into you roughly until, eventually, he burrowed himself deeply inside of you and his movements came to a halt.

Dr Crane then grunted as the first splash of cum shot out of him and splattered against your insides. He pulled back for a second, then speared into you again, shooting another spray of cum as deep as he could.

It felt incredible and it took all of your willpower not to cum then and there while Crane held you there, grinding his hips against you, as spray after spray of hot cum defiled your hole.

He surprised himself by how much he came as he slammed into you hard as he felt each jet spurt into you, filling you up so full of cum that it was starting to leak out with each thrust.

With a few last hot sprays, Crane finished up and you could feel the hot liquid gushing around inside you while he kept his spent cock planted deeply inside your pussy, bottling his cum inside you and pushing it deep into your recesses.

‘That was delightful Miss Y/LN’ he then said eventually as he finally pulled out and cleaned himself up with his handkerchief before pulling up his underwear and zipping up his pants and before straightening up his glasses.

‘Are you going to clean me up too?’ you asked somewhat disappointed as he had denied you to cum.

‘No’ he smirked devilishly before running one of his fingers through your pussy and bringing some of his cum up to your mouth.

‘Now, you have a good night, Miss Y/LN. I will see you tomorrow to discuss your proposal’ Crane then said, causing you to gasp.

‘How long will I have to stay in here doctor?’ you then asked.

‘A week’ he said, causing your chin to drop.

‘A week? But I didn’t cum and you said that…’ you huffed out but, just as you did, he had already left.

‘Fucking Asshole’ you grunted angrily and with that, you were left in your straight jacket and without any panties.

You were hot, bothered and most certainly horny as you could feel the stickiness between your leg and his warm fluids leaking from you.

There was nowhere you could find some friction and this was indeed pure torture.

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#jonathan crane #jonathan crane x you #jonathan crane smut #jonathan crane x reader #scarecrow #batman #arkham #arkham asylum #dr crane #crane #cillian murphy #cillian murphy smut #Cillian Murphy x Reader #cillian murphy imagine

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aspoonfuloffiction · 3 years

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I’m tired of the book changes and now according to Charitra and Jonathan they’re making it a love triangle? I’m so angry they’re ruining this series

Did you see the EW interview? The side plot and love triangle comment are worrying-Are they going to ruin the Kathony?

Are you worried about the EW cover story?

Sigh….

Alrighty lets talk about that article.

(If you are panicking like so many people in the fandom thats ok!!! You are totally valid! But if you’ll allow me, please read the whole thing and consider letting me try to temper your fears just a bit???)

This EW story and the conversation surrounding it has been quite a case study in internet discourse

EW does this incredibly infuriating thing where they break one story over 3-4 individual articles for traffic so admittedly it is easy for things to be misinterpreted and then in the age of social media a single misinformation becomes the consensus. So lets try to piece together this story as much as can be done.

Also a blanket reminder that there is a devastating pandemic happening not everyone on the cast can be everywhere. Have a bit of grace and don’t hold someone’s absence over someone else’s presence. This press tour is going to look different unfortunately this is the period we are in right now.

The love triangle

"You can understand why he's drawn to both," teases Bailey. "And they're both drawn to him in turn. It's an interesting love triangle; it's dangerous when it's siblings. It's bestial between them in a way season 1 wasn't. They're all animals with each other."

Both JB and EW are trying to sell a product-Jonathan the show and EW the article so they’re going to lots of buzzy words and attention grabbing pull quotes. Calling it a “love triangle” which it is in the source material as well is an easier way to draw in fans than explaining the the complicated premise of the story to the average fan. (A reminder that articles like these are not written for fandom they’re for the average audience member).

But the ironic thing is that numerous times in this story and the other articles they actually do dive into Anthony’s mindset heading into the season but this line is just further up because the article sells better that way it sounds enticing.

"Edwina and Kate are the embodiment of his approaches to love — one is head, one is heart," says Bailey. "The push and pull [illustrates] how intense it is to fall in love in a society that is so rigid, where the gender roles are so specific, and how much those roles can be completely counterproductive to happiness, progression, and to love."

“It spurs Anthony on to propose to who he would believe is the most suitable diamond rather than who he’s in love with” -Claudia Jessie

"We meet Anthony at a time where we can understand his decision to find a suitable lady who will be able to serve the purpose of being a viscountess as opposed to someone who he is falling in love with or has any sense of emotion towards." -Jonathan Bailey

(Any sense of emotion towards? Thats quite a repudiation of Edwina😳 lol)

And then there’s this quote:

Chandran views [Anthony and Edwina’s] relationship as one built on mutual understanding of their responsibilities and place in life. "Both Anthony and Edwina have been brought up to fulfill a role," she adds. "In her case, it's to be [the perfect wife]. In his case, it's to be the viscount. And that is something they connect to each other with and understand each other in a way a lot of other people wouldn't. Edwina genuinely falls in love with the viscount. It's a naive love, but her feelings are very genuine."

I get its this is a scary one and I also momentarily was like ummm? What? But put this quote in context with other lines and it feels increasingly innocuous.

For example:

“The show is about all the different types of love that you have. And I would say for Edwina and Kate, although yeah it is a love story, they are each other’s soulmates” -Charithra Chandran

I would not be surprised if the two quotes were pulled from Charithra responding to the same question. Not all love is romantic and I think we tend to forget that but clearly Charithra doesn’t so she could be using love in a familial camaraderie sense.

Which makes total sense by the way. The books treat Edwina as a means to an end-She is Anthony’s reason for knowing Kate. She is Kate’s reason for hating Anthony. Then she is Anthony’s way to needle at Kate. After she is Kate’s reason for being self sacrificial. And it doesn’t even stop once they’re married because Edwina’s plotline with Bagwell is truly just to have Kate fall deeper in love with her husband and to set up the carriage scene.

Julia Quinn briefly touches on how Edwina had felt trapped in her life but there’s no deeper follow up into it. That story is told through Kate’s perspective because such are the rules of a book but such rules don’t exist in a TV show and it would be a disservice to the character and the story to treat Edwina as a roadblock or as a catalyst for Kate and Anthony.

I like that the show is going to give Edwina some agency. Anthony courting her is no longer a unilateral decision he doesn’t just get to decide by himself she gets to be an active participant in this choice. Because to her as well on paper this is the best match for her family-and that is something two people can bond over.

But lets say Charithra is referring to romantic love she’s notes that it’s quite naive, and in other places she underlines several times that Edwina is watching her sister fall deeply in love. To me that implies that any romantic “love” that Edwina has for Anthony is not an accurate representation of the idea. Kind of like a girl who thinks she can convince herself that kind compliments and pleasing words can be enough for love. Someone who believes she could convince herself to fall in love with a man who hasn’t “any sense of emotion towards” her.

Am I just now discovering that Edwina Sheffield/Sharma is the real victim of TVWLM…?

Also between JQ’s Instagram post about the core of the sister relationship being one of the things she’s most proud of and it being preserved in the show and that both Charithra and Simone talk about a lot and how important that is to them I do not think they are going drive something as banal as relationship jealousy into it.

Secondary characters & Show only creations:

So I’ll be honest my favorite parts of season one were largely show only creations. And that’s because I hate the book Duke and I. There is nothing remotely interesting about Simon and Daphne to me. (That said Regé Jean Page and Phoebe Dyvenor did a lot to make me like the characters to a certain degree).

And Shondaland famous for its ensemble pieces knows that. They know you can’t tell a story on tv about a singular person or couple because if the audience doesn’t connect to that one person or a couple, they are not going to watch the end and once again they’re selling a product so they’re going to appeal to as many people as possible.

And so they create characters fill out the Ton and give non book plot lines to the other siblings—which in my opinion enriches the story. If we went by strictly book text we wouldn’t get any build out in season 1 for Anthony’s rakish history or Benedict’s distrust in himself, or Eloise’s rebellion towards societal norms… all of this is just told to us in the novels but here we actually see it. Its infinitely better writing. It increases audience investment in the characters so that when you get to their season your extra excited for their HEA.

And I like that CVD and Shondaland have brought shades to the Ton- Portia has always been a character but her expansion has made her a whole new force to be reckoned with and is a real gift in the show. Both Delacroix and Will are a look inside Londan outside of Mayfair. Henry forces people to face the less savory truths of the regency romance genre.

The London that Julia Quinn wrote is deceptively small it seemingly starts and ends with the Bridgertons but thats not accurate. The Ton is supposed to this force that weighs on the principle cast all the time but because of the confines of a book we never really get to see why. Personally I think having the Ton feel like an actual presence raises the stakes for the decisions these characters makr.

But I truly do not think that they’re going to dramatically alter the core stories of the books and I think because Chris Van Dusen said so:

"There's always going to be differences from source material, but the fans of the books are going to see that the elements they love of the books on screen too: the way the siblings banter, the way Violet loves her children, and the love stories at the hearts of each book - these moving, sweeping romances with all the twists and turns, and their steaminess."

Also I’ve been seeing some fear induced vitriol around Theo’s character descriptions so lets look at it.

A printer's assistant dedicated to intellectual pursuits and the fight for equal rights. Hmm, sounds perfect for a certain Bridgerton. "Theo is an original character to the series," says Van Dusen. "Bridgerton is about a whole world. It's always been interesting to me to see what happens outside the confines of Mayfair and Theo is very much not a part of Mayfair."

The line regarding him perfect for a certain Bridgerton (I think they mean Eloise?) is an aside from the author of the article not CVD. Y’all I truly do not think this character will be noticeably more than Will in S1…

Could I be totally wrong? Absolutely!!! But my philosophy is always try to go into anything hoping for the best. If you go into S2 disappointed I think you start at a disadvantage in your viewing experience!! So friends breathe!!! I think we’re gonna be ok!

And if its not you know I’ll be here talking about that too!!! But till then we’ve got just under 50 days to ride the wait out💜

#bridgerton #anthony bridgerton #kate sheffield #kate sharma #benedict bridgerton #daphne bridgerton #eloise bridgerton #edwina sheffield #edwina sharma #asks

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rueandherblues · 2 years

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Also I said it on Reddit but I’ll say it here too! I need a scene with Robin and Will! Because queer people find queer people. We just naturally gravitate to one another so I would love love if in season 5 they have these little moments because they are both aware of how dangerous, lonely, and scary being not “normal” in fucjing Hawkins, Indiana can be. Like just a moment of solidarity.

what if Robin tells Nancy that she’s a lesbian or Nancy being the smart girl she is figures it out after noticing Robin get nervous around her crush. Later, Jonathan makes a reference to Robin and Steve being a thing and Nancy is like “oh no, that’s not ever happening 🫢” and Jonathan isn’t stupid either so he deducts the meaning out of that and goes up to Robin and starts asking sus questions like “how did you know? When did you know” and Robin is like “🥸🤨🧐” between Jonathan and argyle “oh my god does Nancy know?” (That’s funny). Jonathan has to clarify that it is not for him but maybe Will. And so it happens that Robin and will talk and Robin tells him about her crush and wills little face lights up when he realizes that although different it’s still the same and he’s not all alone or weird or bad or strange or broken.

#stranger things #will byers #robin buckley

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boredout305 · 3 years

Text

Kid Congo Powers Interview

Kid Congo Powers was a founding member of the Gun Club. He also played with The Cramps and Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds. Powers currently fronts Kid Congo and the Pink Monkey Birds and recently completed a memoir, Some New Kind of Kick.

The following interview focuses on Some New Kind of Kick. In the book Powers recounts growing up in La Puente—a working-class, largely Latino city in Los Angeles County—in the 1960s, as well as his familial, professional and personal relationships. He describes the LA glam-rock scene (Powers was a frequenter of Rodney Bingenheimer’s English Disco), the interim period between glam and punk embodied by the Capitol Records swap meet, as well as LA’s first-wave, late-1970s punk scene.

Well written, edited and awash with amazing photos, Some New Kind of Kick will appeal to fans of underground music as well as those interested in 1960-1980s Los Angeles (think Claude Bessy and Mike Davis). The book will be available from In the Red Records, their first venture into book publishing, soon.

Interview by Ryan Leach

Kid Congo with the Pink Monkey Birds.

Ryan: Some New Kind of Kick reminded me of the New York Night Train oral histories you had compiled about 15 years ago. Was that the genesis of your book?

Kid: That was the genesis. You pinpointed it. Those pieces were done with Jonathan Toubin. It was a very early podcast. Jonathan wanted to do an audio version of my story for his website, New York Night Train. We did that back in the early 2000s. After we had completed those I left New York and moved to Washington D.C. I thought, “I have the outline for a book here.” Jonathan had created a discography and a timeline. I figured, “It’ll be great and really easy. We’ll just fill in some of the blanks and it’ll be done.” Here we are 15 years later.

Ryan: It was well worth it. It reads well. And I love the photographs. The photo of you as a kid with Frankenstein is amazing.

Kid: I’m glad you liked it. You’re the first person not involved in it that I’ve spoken with.

Ryan: As someone from Los Angeles I enjoyed reading about your father’s life and work as a union welder in the 1960s. My grandfather was a union truck driver and my father is a cabinetmaker. My dad’s cousins worked at the General Motors Van Nuys Assembly plant. In a way you captured an old industrial blue-collar working class that’s nowhere near as robust as it once was in Los Angeles. It reminded of Mike Davis’ writings on the subject.

Kid: I haven’t lived in LA for so long that I didn’t realize it doesn’t exist anymore. I felt the times. It was a reflection on my experiences and my family’s experiences. It was very working class. My dad was proud to be a union member. It served him very well. He and my mother were set up for the rest of their lives. I grew up with a sense that he earned an honest living. My parents always told me not to be embarrassed by what you did for work. People would ask me, “What’s your book about? What’s the thrust of it?” As I was writing it, I was like, “I don’t know. I’ll find out when it’s done.” What you mentioned was an aspect of that.

When I started the book and all throughout the writing I had gone to different writers’ workshops. We’d review each other’s work. It was a bunch of people who didn’t know me, didn’t know about music—at least the music I make. I just wanted to see if there was a story there. People were relating to what I was writing, which gave me the confidence to keep going.

Ryan: Some New Kind of Kick is different from Jeffrey Lee Pierce’s autobiography, Go Tell the Mountain. Nevertheless, I couldn’t help but think of Pierce’s work as I read yours. Was Go Tell the Mountain on your mind as you were writing?

Kid: When I was writing about Jeffrey—it was my version of the story. It was about my relationship with him. I wasn’t thinking about his autobiography much at all. His autobiography is very different than mine. Nevertheless, there are some similarities. But his book flew off into flights of prose and fantasy. I tried to stay away from the stories that were already out there. The thing that’s interesting about Jeffrey is that everyone has a completely different story to tell about him. Everyone’s relationship with him was different.

Ryan: It’s a spectrum that’s completely filled in.

Kid: Exactly. One of the most significant relationships I’ve had in my life was with Jeffrey. Meeting him changed my life. It was an enduring relationship. It was important for me to tell my story of Jeffrey.

Ryan: The early part of your book covers growing up in La Puente and having older sisters who caught the El Monte Legion Stadium scene—groups like Thee Midniters. You told me years ago that you and Jeffrey were thinking about those days during the writing and recording of Mother Juno (1987).

Kid: That’s definitely true. Growing up in that area is another thing Jeffrey and I bonded over. We were music hounds at a young age. We talked a lot about La Puente, El Monte and San Gabriel Valley’s culture. We were able to pinpoint sounds we heard growing up there—music playing out of cars and oldies mixed in with Jimi Hendrix and Santana. That was the sound of San Gabriel Valley. It wasn’t all lowrider music. We were drawn to that mix of things. I remember “Yellow Eyes” off Mother Juno was our tribute to the San Gabriel Valley sound.

Ryan: You describe the Capitol Records Swap Meet in Some New Kind of Kick. In the pre-punk/Back Door Man days that was an important meet-up spot whose significance remains underappreciated.

Kid: The Capitol Records Swap Meet was a once-a-month event and hangout. It was a congregation of record collectors and music fans. You’d see the same people there over and over again. It was a community. Somehow everyone who was a diehard music fan knew about it. You could find bootlegs there. It went from glam to more of a Back Door Man-influenced vibe which was the harder-edged Detroit stuff—The Stooges and the MC5. You went there looking for oddities and rare records. I was barely a record collector back then. It’s where I discovered a lot of music. You had to be a pretty dedicated music fan to get up at 6 AM to go there, especially if you were a teenager.

Ryan: I enjoyed reading about your experiences as a young gay man in the 1970s. You’d frequent Rodney’s English Disco; I didn’t know you were so close to The Screamers. While not downplaying the prejudices gay men faced in the 1970s, it seemed fortuitous that these places and people existed for you in that post-Stonewall period.

Kid: Yeah. I was obviously drawn to The Screamers for a variety of reasons. It was a funny time. People didn’t really discuss being gay. People knew we were gay. I knew you were gay; you knew I was gay. But the fact that we never openly discussed it was very strange. Part of that was protection. It also had to do with the punk ethos of labels being taboo. I don’t think that The Screamers were very politicized back then and neither was I. We were just going wild. I was super young and still discovering things. I had that glam-rock door to go through. It was much more of a fantasy world than anything based in reality. But it allowed queerness. It struck a chord with me and it was a tribe. However, I did discover later on that glam rock was more of a pose than a sexual revolution.

With some people in the punk scene like The Screamers and Gorilla Rose—they came from a background in drag and cabaret. I didn’t even know that when I met them. I found it out later on. They were already very experienced. They had an amazing camp aesthetic. I learned a lot about films and music through them. They were so advanced. It was all very serendipitous. I think my whole life has been serendipitous, floating from one thing to another.

Ryan: You were in West Berlin when the Berlin Wall was breached in November 1989. “Here’s another historical event. I’m sure Kid Congo is on the scene.”

Kid: I know! The FBI must have a dossier on me. I was in New York on 9/11 too.

Ryan: A person who appears frequently in your book is your cousin Theresa who was tragically murdered. I take it her death remains a cold case.

Kid: Cold case. Her death changed my entire life. It was all very innocent before she died. That stopped everything. It was a real source of trauma. All progress up until that point went on hold until I got jolted out of it. I eventually decided to experience everything I could because life is short. That trauma fueled a lot of bad things, a lot of self-destructive impulses. It was my main demon that chased me throughout my early adult life. It was good to write about it. It’s still there and that’s probably because her murder remains unsolved. I have no resolution with it. I was hoping the book would give me some closure. We’ll see if it does.

Ryan: Theresa was an important person in your life that you wanted people to know about. You champion her.

Kid: I wanted to pay tribute to her. She changed my life. I had her confidence. I was at a crossroads at that point in my life, dealing with my sexuality. I wanted people to know about Theresa beyond my family. My editor Chris Campion really pulled that one out of me. It was a story that I told, but he said, “There’s so much more to this.” I replied, “No! Don’t make me do it.” I had a lot of stories, but it was great having Chris there to pull them together to create one big story. My original concept for the book was a coming-of-age story. Although it still is, I was originally going to stop before I even joined the Gun Club (in 1979). It was probably because I didn’t want to look at some of the things that happened afterwards. It was very good for my music. Every time I got uncomfortable, I’d go, “Oh, I’ve got to make a record and go on tour for a year and not think about this.” A lot of it was too scary to even think about. But the more I did it, the less scary it became and the more a story emerged. I had a very different book in mind than the one I completed. I’m glad I was pushed in that direction and that I was willing to be pushed. I wanted to tell these stories, but it was difficult.

Ryan: Of course, there are lighter parts in your book. There are wonderful, infamous characters like Bradly Field who make appearances.

Kid: Bradly Field was also a queer punker. He was the partner of Kristian Hoffman of The Mumps. I met Kristian in Los Angeles. We all knew Lance Loud of The Mumps because he had starred in An American Life (1973) which was the first reality TV show. It aired on PBS. I was a fan of The Mumps. Bradly came out to LA with Kristian for an elongated stay during a Mumps recording session. Of course, Bradly and I hit it off when we met. Bradly was a drummer—he played a single drum and a cracked symbol—in Teenage Jesus and the Jerks. Bradly was a real character. He was kind of a Peter Lorre, misanthropic miscreant. Bradly was charming while abrasively horrible at the same time. We were friends and I always remained on Bradly’s good side so there was never a problem.

Bradly had invited me and some punkers to New York. He said that if we ever made it out there that we could stay with him. He probably had no idea we’d show up a month later. Bradly Field was an important person for me to know—an unashamedly gay, crazy person. He was a madman. I had very little interest in living a typical life. That includes a typical gay life. Bradly was just a great gay artist I met in New York when I was super young. He was also the tour manager of The Cramps at one point. You can imagine what that was like. Out of Lux and Ivy’s perverse nature they unleashed him on people.

Ryan: He was the right guy to have in your corner if the club didn’t pay you.

Kid: Exactly. Who was going to say “no” to Bradly?

Ryan: You mention an early Gun Club track called “Body and Soul” that I’m unfamiliar with. I know you have a rehearsal tape of the original Creeping Ritual/Gun Club lineup (Kid Congo Powers, Don Snowden, Brad Dunning and Jeffrey Lee Pierce). Are any of these unreleased tracks on that tape?

Kid: No. Although I do have tapes, there’s no Creeping Ritual material on them. I spoke with Brad (Dunning) and he has tapes too. We both agreed that they’re unlistenable. They’re so terrible. Nevertheless, I’m going to have them digitized and I’ll take another listen to them. “Body and Soul” is an early Creeping Ritual song. At the time we thought, “Oh, this sounds like a Mink DeVille song.” At least in our minds it did. To the best of my ability I did record an approximation of “Body and Soul” on the Congo Norvell record Abnormals Anonymous (1997). I sort of reimagined it. That song was the beginning of things for me with Jeffrey. It wasn’t a clear path when we started The Gun Club. We didn’t say, “Oh, we’re going to be a blues-mixed-with-punk band.” It was a lot of toying around. It had to do with finding a style. Jeffrey had a lot of ideas. We also had musical limitations to consider. We were trying to turn it into something cohesive. There was a lot of reggae influence at the beginning. Jeffrey was a visionary who wanted to make the Gun Club work. Of course, to us he was a really advanced musician. We thought (bassist) Don Snowden was the greatest too. What’s funny is that I saw Don in Valencia, Spain, where he lives now. He came to one of our (Kid Congo and the Pink Monkey Birds) shows a few years ago. He said, “Oh, I didn’t know how to play!”

Ryan: “I knew scales.”

Kid: Exactly. It was all perception. But we were ambitious and tenacious. We were certain we could make something really good out of what we had. That was it. We knew we had good taste in music. That was enough for us to continue on.

Ryan: I knew about The Cramps’ struggles with IRS Records and Miles Copeland. However, it took on a new meaning reading your book. Joining The Cramps started with a real high for you, recording Psychedelic Jungle (1981), and then stagnation occurred due to contractual conflicts.

Kid: There was excitement, success and activity for about a year or two. And then absolutely nothing. As I discuss in my book—and you can ask anyone who was in The Cramps—communication was not a big priority for Lux and Ivy. I was left to my own devices for a while. We were building, building, building and then it stopped. I wasn’t privy to what was going on. I knew they were depressed about it. The mood shifted. It was great recording Psychedelic Jungle and touring the world. The crowds were great everywhere we went. It was at that point that I started getting heavy into drugs. The time off left me with a lot of time to get into trouble. It was my first taste of any kind of success or notoriety. I’m not embarrassed to say that I fell into that trip: “Oh, you know who I am and I have all these musician friends now.” It was the gilded ‘80s. Things were quite decadent then. There was a lot of hard drug use. It wasn’t highly frowned upon to abuse those types of drugs in our circle. What was the reputation of The Gun Club? The drunkest, drug-addled band around. So there was a lot of support to go in that direction. Who knew it was going to go so downhill? We weren’t paying attention to consequences. Consequences be damned. So the drugs sapped a lot of energy out of it too.

I recorded the one studio album (Psychedelic Jungle) with The Cramps and a live album (Smell of Female). The live record was good and fun, but it was a means to an end. It was recorded to get out of a contract. The Cramps were always going to do it their way. Lux and Ivy weren’t going to follow anyone’s rules. I don’t know why people expected them to. To this day, I wonder why people want more. I mean, they gave you everything. People ask me, “When is Ivy going to play again?” I tell them, “She’s done enough. She paid her dues. The music was great.”

Ryan: I think after 30-something years of touring, she’s earned her union card.

Kid: Exactly. She’s done her union work.

Ryan: In your book you discuss West Berlin in the late 1980s. That was a strange period of extreme highs and lows. During that time you were playing with the Bad Seeds, working with people like Wim Wenders (in Wings of Desire) and witnessed the collapse of the Berlin Wall and the GDR. Nevertheless, it was a very dark period marred by substance abuse. Luckily, you came out of it unscathed. As you recount, some people didn’t.

Kid: It was a period of extremes. In my mind, for years, I rewrote that scene. I would say, “Berlin was great”—and it was, that part was true—and then I’d read interviews with Nick Cave and Mick Harvey and they’d say, “Oh, the Tender Prey (1988) period was just the worst. It’s hard to even talk about it.” And I was like, “It was great! What are you talking about?” Then when I started writing about it, I was like, “Oh, fuck! It really wasn’t the best time.” I had been so focused on the good things and not the bad things. Prior to writing my book, I really hadn’t thought about how incredibly dark it was. That was a good thing for me to work out. Some very bad things happened to people around me. But while that was happening, it was a real peak for me as a musician. Some of the greatest work I was involved with was being done then. And yet I still chose to self-destruct. It was a case of right place, right time. But it was not necessarily what I thought it was.

Ryan: Digressing back a bit, when we would chat years back I would ask you where you were at with this project. You seemed to be warming up to it as time went on. And I finally found a copy of the group’s album in Sydney, Australia, a year ago. I’m talking about Fur Bible (1985).

Kid: Oh, you got it?

Ryan: I did.

Kid: In Australia?

Ryan: Yes. It was part of my carry-on luggage.

Kid: I’m sure I can pinpoint the person who sold it to you.

Ryan: Are you coming around to that material now? I like the record.

Kid: Oh, yeah. I hated it for so long. People would say to me, “Oh, the Fur Bible record is great.” I’d respond, “No. It can’t possibly be great. I’m not going to listen to it again, so don’t even try me.” Eventually, I did listen to it and I thought, “Oh, this is pretty good.” I came around to it. I like it.

Ryan: You’ve made the transition!

Kid: I feel warmly about it. I like all of the people involved with it. That was kind of a bad time too. It was that post-Gun Club period. I felt like I had tried something unsuccessful with Fur Bible. I had a little bit of shame about that. Everything else I had been involved with had been successful, in my eyes. People liked everything else and people didn’t really like Fur Bible. It was a sleeper.

Ryan: It is.

Kid: There’s nothing wrong with it. It was the first time I had put my voice on a record and it just irritated the hell out of me. It was a first step for me.

Ryan: You close your book with a heartfelt tribute to Jeffrey Lee Pierce. You wonder how your life would’ve turned out had you not met Jeffrey outside of that Pere Ubu show in 1979. Excluding family, I don’t know if I’ve ever met anyone who’s had that sort of impact on my life.

Kid: As I was getting near the end of the book I was trying to figure out what it was about. A lot of it was about Jeffrey. Everything that moved me into becoming a musician and the life I lived after that was because of him. It was all because he said, “Here’s a guitar. You’re going to learn how to play it.” He had that confidence that I could do it. It was a mentorship. He would say, “You’re going to do this and you’re going to be great at it.” I was like, “Okay.” Jeffrey was the closest thing I had to a brother. We could have our arguments and disagreements, but in the end it didn’t matter. What mattered was our bond. Writing it down made it all clearer to me. His death sent me into a tailspin. I was entering the unknown. Jeffrey was like a cord that I had been hanging onto for so long and it was gone. I was more interested in writing about my relationship with him than about the music of the Gun Club. A lot of people loved Jeffrey. But there were others who said they loved him with disclaimers. I wanted to write something about Jeffrey without the disclaimers. That seemed like an important task—to honor him in a truthful manner.

Ryan: I’m glad that you did that. Jeffrey has his detractors, but they all seem to say something along the lines of “the guy still had the most indefatigable spirit and drive of any person I’ve ever known.”

Kid: That’s what drove everyone crazy!

Ryan: This book took you 15 years to finish. Completing it has to feel cathartic.

Kid: I don’t know. Maybe it will when I see the printed book. When I was living in New York there was no time for reflection. I started it after I left New York, but it was at such a slow pace. It was done piecemeal. I wanted to give up at times. I had a lot of self-doubt. And like I said, I’d just go on tour for a year and take a long break. The pandemic made me finally put it to bed. I couldn’t jump up and go away on tour anymore. It feels great to have it done. When I read it through after the final edit I was actually shocked. I was moved by it. It was a feeling of accomplishment. It’s a different feeling than what you get with music. Looking at it as one story has been an eye-opener for me. I thought to myself, “How did I do all of that?”

I see the book as the story of a music fan. I think most musicians start out as fans. Why would you do it otherwise? I never stopped being a fan. All of the opportunities that came my way were because I was a fan.

#kidcongopowers #interviews #gunclub #jeffreyleepierce #cramps #Badseeds

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hopecountyisforlovers · 3 years

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Case#0122208

rating: spooky stuff in here but otherwise general

pairing: none

words: 1727

summary: Statement of Roger Tao regarding his time lost at sea. Original statement given August 22nd, 2012. Audio recording by Jonathan Sims, Head Archivist of the Magnus Institute, London.

( this was my go at writing a statement about my newest magnus archives s/i, alexei underwood ! i wont give away much more than that BUT i will say tumblr really fucked up the formatting on this one. it was set up to look like a transcript on word. oh well )

----------x----------

Archivist

Statement of Roger Tao regarding his time lost at sea. Original statement given August 22nd, 2012. Audio recording by Jonathan Sims, Head Archivist of the Magnus Institute, London.

Statement begins.

Archivist

I've always loved the ocean. The crash of the waves against the shore, the cries of sea birds, the way the sun dyes the water orange and red, the reflection of the moon against the rippling water. The serenity of it.... on the beach at night, it almost feels like you could easily be the last person on earth.

I used to.....to find that a comfort, believe it or not. That it was just me- that I had no worries in regards to taking care of anyone else, no family, no job that I hated that I still had to get back to once my short respite was done. Don't get me wrong, I love my wife, and my kids, I just- a man needs his alone time, doesn't he? An escape from the... hectic pace, of everyday life.

It was like a routine- every Friday afternoon, after getting off work, I would make the hour-and-then-some drive to Whitstable Beach. I'd bring, you know- a folding chair, maybe a beer or two.. and stay just long enough to get my fill of what I was seeking all the way out there. Peace, I guess.

That night was like most others- I had had a few. Not enough to be proper drunk, mind you, just enough to put a buzz in my head and a tingle in my fingertips. The sun fell in the sky as it always did, and still does- the moon shone up off the water, full and fat and round, a distorted image that didn't quite match its partner in the sky.

I had just risen from my folding chair to stretch, having sobered up enough to consider making my way home, when... when I saw someone, standing a ways down the beach from where I was. It sent a shiver down my spine- how long had they been there? It's a scary thing, to suddenly realize one is not as alone as they previously thought they were. But even more frightening than that was... was their stillness. The water washed in over their trouser legs, soaking them, but... but they just. Stood there. Staring out over the ocean. Just like I had been, I guess, but. Something about looking at them... made me feel....cold, despite the balm of the summer night.

I didn't realize I was getting closer until I could start to make out their features. It was a man, albeit a feminine one- long, mist-and-water colored hair flowed down his back, blew in the sea breeze that didn't seem to bother him despite his wet clothing.

I stopped, dead in my tracks, making for the first time that night an audible shuffling sound as my feet planted in the damp sand. It was barely loud enough for me to hear, and...and yet...

He turned, slow, fluid- and looked right at me.

His face was soft and round, I could tell even from a distance. But his eyes... they glowed, bright blue-white, with all the force of a sunny sky. It hurt my eyes to look at, and I felt all at once vertigo, and that bone-chilling cold- as if I had been shoved off of a frozen mountaintop.

I could have sworn I saw him smile.

And... and then. Well, here's the part where you're going to start thinking I'm crazy. Or that I was drunk, I guess, but I swear to you that I wasn't. Even if I had been... No. No. I saw what I saw. What happened to me... what happened to me was real. It had to be. He has to be.

He turned away from me, and... and he walked onto the water. Not into it. On top of it. The man took a few steps, looking back at me expectantly- I wanted nothing more than to run, at that moment. To turn the other way and get back in my car and never come back to this beach again. Except that I didn't- that was what my rational brain was screaming at me of course, but.... but something much, much deeper, more ingrained, a part forgotten by modern society... it begged me to follow him.

So follow him I did.

I truly don't know what I thought I would accomplish. In a way, it almost didn't matter- when I took my first step on top of the water, he turned back to look at me. Up close, his smile was sweet and demure. He giggled, honest to God giggled, and although looking him directly in the eyes made my knees weak and my fingers cold and my stomach feel like it was about to evacuate it contents, I couldn't look away. But no- I didn't want to look away, anymore than I didn't not want to follow him.

It's embarrassing to say, but... that was all it took. I had forgotten my family, my life- all I wanted was to see that smile again. It dominated my mind so easily that I didn't even notice when he had begun walking forward again, away from the safety of the shore and into the deep, inky black of the ocean we were standing on.

I don't know how long we walked. It could have been minutes, hours, days... but the moon never moved from it's position in the sky, so I figured it couldn't have been too long. The ocean stretched on and on for miles and miles, and I watched him. I kept such a close eye on him, the new focal point of my universe, the only thing that mattered. Every so often, when my legs would go weak and I'd consider the traitorous thought of turning back, he would stop and turn around, eyes lighting up the night, smile making my heart race, and.. and I would be refreshed.

It went on like that....until he....disappeared.

There isn't a better word for it, really. He turned back towards me, smiled his incandecant smile, and....and it happened so instantly, like he had been swallowed up by the mist and fog that rested gently atop the water, that I thought for sure it must be a trick of the dark. Surely, he had to still be there. Surely.

But.. but he wasn't. He was gone. And I realized with a newfound panic when I spun around that the shore was gone, too. That I wasn't even sure what direction it was in, or if we had been walking in a straight line the whole time. It wasn't even a pinprick in the horizon.

That wasn't... wasn't the worst part of it, though. If it had been cold, to look at him, being without him now felt like...like whatever warmth lives inside us and makes us human had been all but extinguished. I fell to my knees on the water, but not through it, somehow, soaking my pant legs, clutching my chest where that flame had once lived so happily like it was the bloody hole it felt like as heaving sobs overtook my body.

They wouldn't stop, incensed by the pain that ripped and tore it's way through my chest. Tears fell to join the ocean water, the mist that covered it rising and swirling and wrapping around me like it was overjoyed by my pain. I know... I know I heard him giggle, again. The same way that he had when I had first started following him.

I don't know how long it was, how long I spent out there, pouring my anguish and grief into the unforgiving ocean, before the energy left my body so thoroughly that I collapsed onto the water. Only that when I awoke on the beach the next morning, waterlogged and with a sore throat but no worse for wear, families were just starting to gather on the sand, setting up blankets. One of the children even waved at me, although they were quickly chided by a protective parent for doing so.

I packed up, got back in my car, and drove home. Linda was speaking with the police, when I got there and was all but overjoyed- if not incensed, to see me in one piece. She told me... told me that I had been missing for almost 3 days. She hugged me, and I apologized, but..

I wish I could say I never went back to that beach. I wish I could say that I didn't see him in my dreams every time I manage to fall asleep, beckoning for me to follow him, smiling that angels smile. I wish I could say that I didn't still want to. I wish I could say I'm still a devoted husband and father of two.

But it would be a lie. I'm there every night, now. Watching. Waiting. I need... I need for him to come back. I need to see him again. The empty space in me that he created.. the light that he snuffed out. It hurts. It hurts. I can't.. laugh. Or smile. When I try, it... it just sounds. Looks.

People have stopped inviting me out. I think my wife might leave me.

I just have to see him again.

Archivist

Statement ends.

This one is rather easy to corroborate, but much harder to actually prove, if such a thing is possible. Police reports do indicate that Mr. Tao was reported missing by his wife Linda on the 10th of August 2012, stating that he had been gone without a trace for 48 hours, a missing persons inquest that was succinctly called off when he returned home the next day while the officers interviewed her.

I had Martin do some digging, and unfortunately, Mr. Tao was found dead shortly after a motion was filed for his divorce. Someone who lived in a home near Whitstable Beach reported seeing him simply walk into the ocean and never come back out. The police eventually did locate his body- cause of death was, unremarkably, drowning. On his person was what seemed to be a letter, although it had become soaked through to the point it was quite unreadable.

One can only hope it was not a love letter.

#my writing #s/i: alexei #im so proud of this wtf #i didnt even think id be able to finish it #much less that it would flow out like it did and actually be well #REALLY GOOD i think #i know its only tangentially selfship related but please read it and let me know what you think

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cloudyskywars · 3 years

Text

The Magnus Archives, Season One

I’ve been listening to The Magnus Archives for a while now, and have just finished Season 1. I would like to make a record of my listening to the show, because if it’s taught me anything so far, it’s to record everything. Before we’d begin, I’d like to thank @reese-haleth for introducing me to this wonderful podcast. Thank you, Reese, for listening to my screaming as I made my way through these first 40 episodes.

My statement is below the cut.

Statement of CloudySkyWars, regarding her experiences listening to Season 1 of The Magnus Archives:

When I started listening to the show, I was a bit creeped out. You can ask any of my friends; I don’t do well with scary things. But from the very first episode, I was intrigued. I never listened to it at night, mind you, I’m not stupid. The dark- it hides things, it makes your fears more real. I didn’t think I’d get attached to the characters, to voices that I couldn’t put a face to. I was wrong.

The first few episodes were good. I enjoyed them, truly, but they were very ‘monster of the week’ type episodes, you know? I had no idea what was coming. Soon enough, a cohesive narrative was forming. The same characters, the same names, kept popping up in the statements, and I was fully invested in the podcast. Even now, there are so many questions that have yet to be answered. Who are Gerad and Mary Keys? Who runs the strange moving company? And who in the world is Jurgen Leitner, and why does he have so many odd books?

At least one of my questions was answered in the final episodes of Season 1. I was desperate to see how the storyline with Jane Prentiss would end, and it appears as though for now, her story is over. I can’t say I’m disappointed. I am much more afraid of worms now than I ever thought I’d be. But the resolution, if you could even call it that, poses more questions that it answered. Two of the most pressing being: what happened to Sasha, and who killed Gertude Robinson?

I am afraid that Sasha is dead, or else she’s missing and no one even knows she’s gone. The fact that the mysterious table from statement 0070107 was the last thing that Sasha looked at before she vanished is- concerning, to say the least. As we know, in that particular case, the man who went missing was seemingly replaced, and no one but the woman across the street was any the wiser. I can’t help but think the same thing happened to Sasha. Wherever the man from Episode 3 went, I believe that is where she is as well. It did not escape my notice that Jon and the others seemed to not notice the ‘New’ Sasha. That disturbs me.

Episodes 39 and 40 served as our first real introduction to the character of Elias Buchard, and I don’t quite know how I feel about him as of yet. He seems amiable for the most part, and he did install the CO2 extinguishers throughout the Institute, so I must give him credit for that. He also appears to be fully aware of the workload that Jonathan is taking on, and has encouraged him to get some rest. We are in agreement in this regard. All in all, I don’t know what to make of the head of the Magnus Institute yet. But I feel that will quickly change in the coming episodes.

The final two episodes of Season 1 also served to give us more insight into the character of Tim Stoker. He had appeared in previous episodes, but I believe 39 and 40 served as our best look into him yet. He is a bit of a jokester, but knows when and how to get things done, apparently. Tim displayed bravery when faced with the worms and the being formerly known as Jane Prentiss, and it is due to him that the maze of passages underneath the Institute was discovered. He also claims to have seen a strange group of worms forming a doorway of some sort. I can’t help but feel this matter will return later.

There are other concerning matters, of course, such as Gertude Robinson’s apparent murder. Throughout the season, we were lead to believe that her disappearance was paranormally involved, although now there appears to be evidence to the contrary. Martin claims that she died from three gunshot wounds to the chest. As Jonathan Sims (head archivist of the Magnus Institute, and Gertude’s successor) stated, he believes foul play was involved in her murder. Jonathan believes that she was murdered because she made a discovery, of some larger interconnectedness amongst the statements that the Institute records. Perhaps the most concerning bit of information is the Jonathan believes that someone inside the Institute was behind Ms. Robinson’s murder. Despite this, he has said, “I’m going to figure this out, and I’m not going to stop. They’ll have to kill me first.”

I’m not ashamed to say that this frightens me. Throughout the course of these first 40 episodes, I have grown quite- attached to Jonathan Sims, and would be quite put out if something serious were to happen to him. He’s already survived the Prentiss situation and being half infested with supernatural worms; he shouldn’t have to go through more. He especially shouldn’t be at risk of being murdered for doing his job properly. I am nervous for what the remaining seasons have in store for him.

Statement Ends.

#cloudy listens to TMA #the magnus archives #TMA season 1 #in case you can't tell i'm rather obsessed with this show #thank you reese for showing it to me #statement 2021154 #tma spoilers #TMA #i apologize to my followers who don't listen to this #i will be screaming about it for an indeterminate amount of time

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kaypeace21 · 4 years

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i’m a survivor too, and i found that certain scenes/stuff will said just really struck me as ‘csa-survivor’-like? i felt a bit uncomfortable about headcanoning it happening to someone else, especially for a fandom as wild as this one, but your metas have really been a comfort to me because they’ve been able to pick out and explain things that i couldn’t necessarily find the words for myself.

and yeah, i would love to have a character like me that is powerful and who finds love and who gets a happy ending. the people who call the theory disgusting always kinda hit wrong with me because although csa is a difficult subject, we shouldn’t be ashamed about sharing it. they sound like they’re trying to say that it’s a bad topic to talk about and implying that it can’t happen to kids, which uhhhhh-

(i’m sure that’s not what they mean, precisely, but it’s still what they sound like, and i wish that they would stop implying that we can’t exist, especially in popular media. we do, and i’m not gonna pretend we don’t, and if they feel uncomfortable with the topic they can just use the block button. we deserve to have some well written representation just as much as anyone else. also, i really really hope that will gets a happy ending.)

anywayyyy i love your theories and i can see your post in the tag so i think you’re fine?? have a good day ❤️❤️❤️

SORRY, this ask took so long to respond to. It always warms my heart to hear other survivors speak and say they found comfort in my theory.

Yes, I think I and a lot of c*a/r*pe victims (subconscious or otherwise) were triggered by some of the symbolism/visuals in s1-3. And s3 made it hard for most of us to ignore the past imagery- since s3 wasn’t as subtle.

I get why people have reservations about the theory. But the debates to the contrary are usually just plain offensive. Or people trying to be respectful but being the opposite. There’s the obvious bad-apples . I got many anons after part 1 of my DID theory saying it “ruined/tainted byler”, and “if that happened to Will i’ll stop shipping byler” , or that it “ruins the best gay character” , and to “remove the post immediately”. And this was when I was open about being a gay c*a victim. I obviously blocked them. Many survivors don’t come forward because they’re afraid people will see them as “tainted”, “ruined”, “ just their trauma”, or blame them for what happened. So yeah, it pisses me off when people say similar stuff about Will (and thus other c*a victims). Not even diving into the messed up psychology about byler/mileven shippers (knowing i was a lesbian c*a victim) but purposely spreading bs rumors about me being a p*do that was into Will/Noah-all because of the theory. -_-

Then there’s the people who try to be “respectful” but literally do the opposite.

I’ve heard numerous times it’s somehow “less offensive” to just use r*pe imagery to make monsters scary. Rather than have the monsters have that imagery cause Will created the monsters from his memory/imagination-and st is a story of Will healing from that trauma. SORRY- I disagree. Using the worst experiences of peoples’ lives (and triggering their trauma) for no real purpose- except to make their monsters scarier to the normal/general audience who haven’t gone through it so won’t be triggered like us - is MORE OFFENSIVE to victims! NOT LESS! At least to me.

Then there’s the people who say “c*a should never be talked about (in stories).” Which I disagree with. V*ctims have already been told by ab*ser’s and enablers of the ab*ser- to never talk about what happened to us . So it rubs A LOT of us the wrong way when people say this. Because (subconscious or not) you remind some of us of the people who used to hurt/silence us. People say this -simply for their convenience (like ab*sers) and cause deep down they’re uncomfortable with our existence and equate the despicable act to us the innocent v*ctim ...or just want to deny the horrible reality of the situation (like many enablers who deny the truth and hurt us because they don’t want to accept reality) . And 1) It brings us back to a time where they told us to NEVER talk about it- and makes us feel like we did something wrong when we didn’t! 2) Every psych professional says with-holding/keeping the ab*se a secret is detrimental to our mental health.

Plus, there’s a HUGE difference between sugarcoating/minimizing trauma or WORSE glamorizing, condoning, or romanticizing C*A in stories (ex: pretty little liars) VS showing how the action is wrong, causes trauma, but showing recovery and happiness is still possible for v*ctims. if the story shows how accurately traumatizing it is (instead of minimizing/glamorizing it)- it’s incredibly rare for that character to get a happy ending. Having a story about recovering from that type of trauma and finding happiness despite such hardships would be amazing for US survivors! We rarely get stories with a happy ending- it’s more harmful to us survivors to never see ourselves get happy endings in tv/film/books. How can some survivors (in a dark place) think there’s a light at the end of the tunnel- if it’s never shown?Also if Will has DID too- it’s good mental health rep, along with queer rep (and survivor’s rep.) All 3 groups rarely are treated well or get happy endings in media. A lot of people may feel more heard, seen, and a bit more hopeful for the future - If Will (and other characters) get a happy ending.

And even though st has many themes- like say homophobia. To try and hand-wave all the disturbing r*pe imagery away as ‘Will is just gay so the monsters are like that”. IS SOOOOOO offensive. Trigger warning for examples. I’m sorry what part of Max saying when Billy had c*nsensual s*x it’s “good screams” but when possessed by the mf he causes Heather to do “bad screams” read as gay???! Having the possessed ch*ke/dr*g people before throwing them in trunks (like it’s implied Lonnie did to Will -since Jonathan checked Lonnie’s trunk for Will in s1)?Tying their arms and legs up/ g*ging them and getting on top of them and saying “stay VERY still it’ll all be over soon”-before a monster shoves it’s tentacle into someone’s mouth and inserts a goo - just gay??? Similar to the sentient vine/shadow monster forcing itself down Will’s throat. Let alone Will saying things like “he made me do it”, “i felt it everywhere”, or being tied to a bed and screaming “help! stop! it hurts! let me go!” While Jonathan is the only one who’s visibly triggered by this and has to literally turn away and hug someone . Or barb, billy, and El spiting up a white liquid from their mouth (similar to will spitting up a slug and lying to his mother about it ).El/billy touching a suspicious looking slime with their hand and looking at the substance confused . El drawing Papa with 3 legs (the middle one being shorter) , trying to undress in front of the boys , and Benny saying “I think she’s been ab*sed or something”.The theme of ab*sive dads- brenner , Lonnie, and Neil . Even when the demogorgan (called in d&d the “deep father”/ in the show “a man without a face”) attacked Barb it’s chopped up with scenes of Nancy having c*nsensual sex (the monsters are doing the opposite symbolically). There’s way more examples but NO- to try and hand wave /equate ALL OF THIS to just “gay imagery” or an “a*ds metaphor” is WAY more problematic. And just offensive (specifically to gay people) than just admitting what it may actually represent. R*pe imagery and gay imagery is NOT THE SAME THING!

Also ST has never been a kid show- maybe rewatch the show and see the rating of tv-14 . Goodness sake- s1 has a st*ged su*icde, k*dnappings, m*rder, discussions of physics, h*mophobia, and s*x (with stancy in s1 & jancy in s2-s3). S2/3 discuss at their finalies recovering from tra*ma . S2 had gra*ic de*ths, a man causing a women br*in damage/ and faking her m*scarriage, and a gang of vigalantes k*lling criminals. s3 had critiques on capitalism /media/s*xism, many d*eaths, and questionable imagery like the prior seasons. The Duffers constantly reference movies & events from the 80s (capitalizing on 80s nostalgia /subverting 80s motifs that middle age people from that time remember)! Those people were their intended age demographic . Most 80s centric refs go over most kids’ heads (heck a lot went over my head too since I wasn’t alive in the 80s XD).The Duffers even said in the book “worlds turned upsidedown” “it’s not a kid’s show despite having kids”. And maybe it’s a coincidence but when Lucas in s3 hands Will the “devil’s baby” firework (a hint about Lonnie) he says “18 and over only.” Which idk is a weird/random af line unless it’s foreshadowing that the show will get darker about various themes- and maybe even change ratings.

I get people wishing nothing bad ever happened to Will or Jonathan. And being apprehensive and not trusting the Duffers to do such a story justice (cause it’s difficult to do). But personally i trust them to do so tastefully with tact and not be exp*itative, (overly gr*fic) or offensive to v*ctims. You can disagree and think the show is about something else (or not trust the Duffers)- but it’d be great if people could stop using these other messed up talking points. While trying to appear ‘(fake) woke’ and like they care for victims- cause we see through it that you really don’t.

Have a lovely day anon ❤️ ❤️ ❤️

Update- I just really agreed with and appreciate the tags in this reblog

#tw: csa #tw:r*pe

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overanalysingfandoms · 3 years

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Jonathan Stroud's newest book, The Outlaws Scarlett & Browne arrived today.

Needless to say I have already finished it lol,

So if you haven't had a chance to read TOSAB yet please don't read the rest of this post, there are spoilers

I have zero idea how to do read more, soooo sorry for clogging up your tags?

I'll probably do a more in-depth review later but here are some of my thoughts after literally just finishing the book 5 minutes ago:

I want to adopt Albert

I really loved the book

Stroud's worldbuilding, as always, was absolutely on point, I felt as though it was a completely different world but also the same, it was *chefs kiss* beautiful

I immediately loved Scarlett, she kind of has aspect of both Lucy and Lockwood with Lucy's harshness, attitude, boldness and people skills and Lockwoods calculations, timings, finesse and charm

It took me a while to warm up to Albert but by the middle of the book I absolutely adored him, he kind of reminded me of a mix of Bobby Vernon and Danny Skinner with his way of addressing people, lack of good timing and wit etc.

The villian was amazing, during the final scene I kept putting the book down to just process all of her lines and squeal at how cool she is, she really gave me Marissa Fittes vibes and Big M (as the skull would say) is one of my favourite characters, so needless to say, although I've already said it and I'm sure I'll say it again, I loved her. And I'm really intrigued about what's going to happen next with the plot

I know I keep making references to Lockwood & Co but it's only because I really can't help comparing them and I really liked the characters personalities and how familiar I felt with them because of reading Lockwood &Co

I also absolutely adored Scarlett and Albert's relationship with Joe and just Joe and Ettie as characters, they were really well done and I got a strong feel for how loyal Joe is and how much he loves Ettie, as well as how Ettie might struggle in the future being mute, it really gave us an insight to how the laws around deficiencies affect normal people on a personal level without shoving it in our faces and to do that at the same time as giving a more to the side character good motivation and depth was pure genius

Scarlett saying 'Thomas' in the final fight gives me the same vibes as Lockwood saying he thought Lucy was 'someone else' (meaning Jessica) so maybe we could have another dead sibling on out hands? I don't know, but I'm very curious and excited about it

I love how the people in the 'free lands' were portrayed through the book, at the start being spoken of as perfect and saviours while at the end being seen as cowardly and not much better than the others, while I started to see it coming by the middle, it was definitely a great pay off when it happened and fit in really well narratively

I think the Tainted were really creepy, during the descriptions of them, I couldn't help but grimace a bit, I found them to almost be as scary as the Fetch from The Hollow Boy was and the way that Albert described one of them as being just a normal girl his age when he saw into it's mind really freaked me out, I can not wait to see what's going to happen with them, there's definitely tonnes of potential there, especially with how they came to be

Talking about how things came to be, I must admit that I'm very intrigued by the 'Great Cataclysm', what it was and how it came to be

I literally couldn't not think about Chat Noir whenever this was mentioned lol, so I have come up with a very crack, doesn't explain anything, non-canon, completely for my own self indulgence, theory that this all took place during Chat Blanc when he cataclysmed like the entirety of France and destroyed the moon and stuff. The theory makes no sense, but that's what my, very twisted, way too fandom centric, mind came up with

Getting back on track, I also absolutely adored how the dynamic between Scarlett and Albert evolved, at the start feeling really rocky and less fun to read, with neither of them really trusting the other and both, especially Scarlett, feeling like they could snap at any second to a really comfortable dynamic that (yes, another Lockwood & Co reference, I can't help myself) that really reminded me of Lockwood and Lucy's dynamic during the final books at some points

Overall I loved it and am really sad that it will probably take what will feel like forever for another one to come out, probably shouldn't have read it all in 4 hours, but Oh well, I can just keep rereading it over and over again until another one comes out, just like all my other favourite books

If you made it this far then WOW, thank you for reading my nonsense rambling, I appreciate that, I literally just typed out my, probably very incoherent, thoughts out as I thought them

I have not proof read this so if there are mistakes then, whoops?

TLDR; TOSAB is an amazing book by a wonderful author and you should all go read it

Also if someone could explain to me how to do the whole 'read more' thing that would be super helpful because I have no idea how to do it and don't want to keep clogging up tags with these super long posts XD

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