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caligvlasaqvarivm · 4 months

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How do you analyze so good I'm really impressed and honestly wonder if I can learn from you

It's a skill, so the good news is, you can practice and get better at it!

Read A Lot/Gain Context

Analysis often means making comparisons or drawing from external context - one of the best things you can do if you want to be better at analysis is to try to cram your head with as much knowledge as possible. The time period, culture of origin, and where the author slots into those are usually major influences on a work (in Homestuck's case, much of it is a direct commentary on the internet culture it emerged from, and missing that part of it can drastically influence how the story reads).

Also important are the works the author themselves are inspired by. You've likely heard some variation of "nothing is original." We're actually really lucky with Homestuck in that regard, as the work is highly referential, and you can glean a lot by looking at what it references (for example, if you watch Serendipity, one of Karkat's favorite movies, which is titledropped during the troll romance explanation, you will understand Karkat so much better). This applies to things like mythological allusions - you'll hardly know why it matters that Karkat is a Christ figure if you don't know what the general outline of the Christ story is, nor will you pick up on the Rapture elements of Gamzee's religion or the fact that Doc Scratch is The Devil, etc. The key to picking up a lot of symbolism is being aware that the symbols exist.

And last, it helps to read a lot of media and media analysis so you can get a better understanding of how media "works" - how tropes are used, what effect language has, what other entries into the genre/works with similar themes/etc. have already done to explore the same things as the piece being analyzed is doing - and what other people have already gleaned and interpreted. I've mentioned before that many people seem to find Homestuck's storytelling bizarre and unique when it's actually quite standard for postmodernism, the genre it belongs to. But you're not going to know that if you've never read anything postmodern, y'know? I also often prepare for long character essays by reading other peoples' character essays - sometimes people pick up on things I miss, and sometimes people have interpretations I vehemently disagree with; both of these help me to refine my take on the matter.

Try to Discard Biases/Meet the Work Where It Is

Many will carry into reading media an expectation of what they want to get out of it. For example, one generally goes into a standard hetero romance book expecting a female lead, a male love interest, romance (of course), and a happy ending for the happy couple. If the book fails to deliver these things, a reader will often walk away thinking it was a bad book, even if the story told instead is objectively good and interesting. We actually see this a lot with Wuthering Heights, which receives very polarizing reviews because people go into it expecting a gothic romance, when it's really more like a gossip Youtube video spilling the tea on some shitty rich people (and it's really good at being that).

There's nothing necessarily wrong with this when reading for pleasure and personal enjoyment, but it presents a problem when attempting to analyze something. There's a concept called the "Procrustean bed," named after a mythological bandit who used to stretch people or cut off their limbs to fit them to a bed, that describes "an arbitrary standard to which exact conformity is forced." Going into a media reading with expectations and biases often results in a very Procrustean reading - I'm sure we've all seen posts complaining about how fanfic often forces canon characters to fit certain archetypes while discarding their actual character traits, etc.

Therefore, when reading for analysis, it's generally a good idea to try and discard as much bias and expectation as possible (obviously, we are never fully free of bias, but the effort counts) - or, perhaps even better, to compartmentalize those biases for comparison while reading. For example, Hussie talks at length about what they INTENDED Homestuck to be, and, while reading, I like to keep Hussie's words to the side while I try to experience the comic fresh, seeing what choices were made in accordance with Hussie's intentions, or where I think Hussie may have fumbled the messaging. At the same time, I try to let the work stand on its own, set in its proper context.

I'd say this is the number-one problem in fandom analysis. For example, people hear from the fandom that Eridan is an incel or a nice guy, so they interpret everything he says and does to fit that belief, or ignore any contradictory evidence. Or they fall for the character's façade that's meant to be dismantled by the viewer. Some works are fairly shallow and accessible, wearing all their meaning on their sleeve (or are Not That Deep, if you prefer meme-talk), and problems arise when a work is, in fact, That Deep, because someone biased towards the former will discard evidence that a work is the latter. This isn't exclusive to HS - it's happened in basically all of my fandoms - which is a statement to how easy it is to fall into this way of thinking.

Even without knowing that Hussie had coming-of-age themes in mind, for example, characters will talk about being kids and growing up. Knowing that Hussie has explicitly said that that's one of HS's themes serves as extra evidence for that interpretation, but the work itself tells you what it's about - if you're willing to listen to it.

Even If the Curtains are Just Blue, That Still Means Something

This is the next biggest fandom stumbling block - thr insinuation that when things in a work are put into the work without more explicit symbolism, that that means they're a discardable detail. This one is more about making a mindset shift - details aren't discardable, even if they don't appear to have been made with the explicit intention to mean something. Everything kind of means something.

First of all, whether or not the curtains are Just Blue is often highly dependent on the work. For example, in something made in large quantities with little time, staff, and budget - say, for example, one of the entries into the MCU's TV shows - there likely isn't too much meaning behind a choice of blue curtains in a shot (although you'd be surprised how often choices in these constrained environments are still very deliberately made). In a work like Homestuck, however, so terribly dense with symbolism and allegory, chances are, the blue curtains DO hold some special meaning, even if it's not readily apparent.

However, even in cases where a choice is made arbitrarily, it still usually ends up revealing something about the work's creative process. Going back to our MCU example, perhaps the blue curtains were chosen because the shot is cool-toned and they fit the color grading. Perhaps they were chosen because the director really likes blue. Perhaps the shot was filmed at an actual location and the blue curtains were already there. Or, even, perhaps the blue curtains were just what they had on hand, and the show was made too quickly and cheaply to bother sourcing something that would fit the tone or lend extra meaning. These all, to varying degrees, say something about the work - maybe not anything so significant that it would come up in an analysis, but they still contribute to a greater understanding of what the work is, what it's trying to say, and how successful it is at saying it.

And this applies to things with much higher stakes. For example, Hussie being a white US citizen likely had an effect on the B1 kids being mostly US citizens, and there was discourse surrounding how, even though they were ostensibly aracial, references were made to Dave's pale skin. Do I think these were deliberate choices made to push some sort of US superiority; no, obviously not. But they still end up revealing things about the creation of the work - that Hussie had certain biases as a result of being who they were.

Your Brain is Designed to Recognize Patterns, So Put That to Use

So with "establish context" and "discard expectations" out of the way, we can start getting into the nitty-gritty of what should be jumping out at you when attempting to understand a work. One of the most prominent things that you should be looking for is PATTERNS.

Writing is a highly conscious effort, which draws from highly unconscious places. Naturally, whether these patterns are intentional or unintentional is dependent on the author (see again why reading up on a work's context is so important), but you can generally bet that anything that IS a pattern is something that holds significance.

For example, Karkat consistently shows that he's very distraught when any of his friends get hurt, that he misses his friends, even the murderous assholes, that he's willing to sit them down and intervene on their behalf, despite all his grandstanding to the contrary. We are supposed to notice that Karkat actually loves his friends, and that he's lying when he says he doesn't care about them.

Homestuck is very carefully and deliberately crafted; if something comes up more than once, it's a safe bet to assume that you're supposed to notice, or at least feel, it. Don't take my word for it:

Basically, [reusing elements is] about building an extremely dense interior vocabulary to tell a story with, and continue to build and expand that vocabulary by revisiting its components often, combining them, extending them and so on. A vocabulary can be (and usually is) simple, consisting of single words, but in this case it extends to entire sentences and paragraph structures and visual forms and even entire scenes like the one linked above. Sometimes the purpose for reiteration is clear, and sometimes there really is no purpose other than to hit a familiar note, and for me that's all that needs to happen for it to be worthwhile. Triggering recognition is a powerful tool for a storyteller to use. Recognition is a powerful experience for a reader. It promotes alertness, at the very least. And in a lot of cases here, I think it promotes levity (humor! this is mostly a work of comedy, remember.) Controlling a reader's recognition faculty is one way to manipulate the reader's reactions as desired to advance the creative agenda.

But this applies to less deliberately-crafted work, too; for example, if an author consistently writes women as shallow, cruel, and manipulative, then we can glean that the author probably has some sort of issue with women. Villains often being queer-coded suggests that the culture they come from has problems with the gays. Etc. etc.

This is how I reached my conclusion that Pale EriKar is heavily foreshadowed - the two are CONSTANTLY kind to each other, sharing secrets, providing emotional support, etc. etc. It's why that part of my Eridan essay is structured the way that it is - by showing you first how consistently the two interact in suspiciously pale-coded ways, the fact that a crab is shown in both Eridan's first appearance AND his appearance on the moirallegiance "hatched for each other" page becomes the cincher of a PATTERN of the two being set up to shoosh-pap each other.

A work will tell you about itself if you listen. If it tells you something over and over, then it's basically begging you to pay attention.

Contrast is Important, Too

Patterns are also significant when they're broken. For example, say a villain is constantly beating up the protagonist. Here's our pattern: the hero is physically weaker than the villain. In a straight fight, the hero will always lose.

And then, at the mid-season two-parter, the hero WINS. Since we've set up this long pattern of the hero always losing to this villain, the fact that this pattern was disrupted means that this moment is extremely important for the work. Let's say the hero wins using guile - in this case, we walk away with the message that the work is saying that insurmountable obstacles may have workarounds, and adaptability and flexibility are good, heroic traits. Now let's say the hero won using physical strength, after a whole season of training and practicing - in this case, we say that the work says hard work and effort are heroic, and will pay off in the end.

In Homestuck, as an example, we set up a long pattern of Vriska being an awful, manipulative bitch, and a fairly remorseless killer. And then, after killing Tavros, she talks to John and admits that she's freaking out because she feels really bad about it. This vulnerability is hinted at by some of her earlier actions/dialogue, which is itself a pattern to notice, but it's not really explicit until it's set up to be in direct contrast to the ultimate spider8itch move of killing Tavros. This contrast is intended to draw our attention, to point out something significant - hey, Vriska feels bad! She's a product of her terrible society and awful lusus! While it's shitty that she killed Tavros, she's also meant to be tragic and sympathetic herself!

Hussie even talks about how patterns and surprises are used in tandem:

Prior to Eridan's entrance into the room, and even during, the deaths were completely unguessable. After Feferi's death, Kanaya's becomes considerably more so, but still quite uncertain. After her death, all bets are off. Not only do all deaths thereafter become guessable, but in some cases, "predictable". That's because it was the line between a series of shocking events, and the establishment of an actual story pattern. The new pattern serves a purpose, as a sort of announcement that the story is shifting gears, that we're drifting into these mock-survival horror, mock-crime drama segments, driven by suspense more than usual. The suspense has more authority because of all the collateral of unpredictability built up over time, as well as all the typical stuff that helps like long term characterization. But now that the pattern is out in the open, following through with more deaths no longer qualifies as unpredictability. Just the opposite, it would now be playing into expectations, which as I said, can be important too. This gear we've switched to is the new normal, and any unpredictability to arise thereafter will necessarily be a departure from whatever current patterns would indicate.

Patterns are important because they tell you what baselines the work is setting - what's normal, what's standard, what this or that generally "means." Contrast is important because it means something has changed, or some significant point is being made. They work in tandem to provide the reader with points of focus in the story, things to keep in mind as they read, consciously or unconsciously.

Theme

I'm talking about this stuff in pretty broad and open terms because stories are so malleable, and so myriad, and can say so many things. There are stories where horrible cruelties are painted as good things - propoganda is the big one, but consider all the discourse around romance books that paint abusive/toxic relationships as ideal. There are stories where the protagonist is actually the villain, and their actions are not aspirational, and works where everyone sucks and nobody is aspirational, and works where everybody is essentially a good person, if sometimes misguided.

This is, again, why outside context is so important, and biases need to be left at the door. For example, generally speaking, one can assume that the protagonist of a children's cartoon is going to be an aspirational hero, or at least a conflicted character who must learn to do the right thing. However, there are even exceptions to this! Invader Zim, for example, features an outright villain protagonist - a proud servant of a fascist empire - and for a lower-stakes example, the Eds of Ed, Edd, n' Eddy are the neighborhood scammers, constantly causing problems for the other characters with their schemes.

Thus, how do we determine what any particular narrative's stance on a given topic is? It's a difficult question to answer because every narrative is different. If I say something like, "the things that bring the protagonists success in their goals are what the narrative says are good," then we run into the issue of villain/gray morality protagonists. To use moral terms like "hero" and "villain" instead runs into the problem of defining morality within a narrative in the first place. But you have to draw the line somewhere.

So that brings us to themes.

Now, as with a lot of artistic terms, "theme" isn't necessarily well-defined (this isn't helped by the way the word is used colloquially to mean things like aesthetic, moral of the story, or symbolism). Wikipedia says: "In contemporary literary studies, a theme is a central topic, subject, or message within a narrative," but this is still very broad and hard to work with, so I'll give it a shot.

A theme is what a work says, beyond the literal series of events. Sometimes a theme is obvious - the theme of Boy Who Cried Wolf is that if you become famous for lying, you won't be believed when you tell the truth. Sometimes a theme is one of many - for example, Disney's Cinderalla says that kindness and virtue will eventually be recognized and rewarded, and that cruelty is interlinked with ugliness. Sometimes a theme is unintentional - for example, how Disney's body of work tends to villainize queer-coded characters. Sometimes context and the passage of time changes the theme - for example, Snow White originally held a message of hope for wartime families that domestic normalcy would one day return, but is now seen as anti-feminist as it appears to insinuate that a woman's place is in the kitchen, and her happiness is in marriage to a man. And sometimes a theme is not something you agree with.

In any case, a theme is a meaning to be gleaned from the text, more broad and universally applicable than the text itself. After all, we humans have traditionally always used story to impart meaning; our oldest epic, The Epic of Gilgamesh, contains within it several themes, most famously that of accepting one's mortality. It's startling, really, how applicable the story is to this day, even if specific details have become obtuse or unsavory to a modern reader.

This is, again, why it's so important to engage with a text on its own terms, in its own context, with as little bias as possible. A story's themes are not necessarily apparent, and commonly implied rather than stated outright, and approaching the story with expectations can easily lead to a Procrustean twisting of the facts to fit those expectations. A theme should emerge to the analyzer out of the reading, not the other way around.

Identifying theme gets easier with practice, and largely comes down to identifying patterns within the narrative (alongside looking at context and symbolism, of course). What does the narrative consistently touch base on? Are there any references; is there any symbolism? What does the story deem "normal," "good," or "bad"? How are ideas developed, and why? Why did these events happen, and are those motivations echoed anywhere else?

Homestuck is very complex and tackles many topics at once, and explaining why it's a coming-of-age would basically require a whole second essay, so I'll use a simpler and more popular example (like I've been trying to do) - let's say, Shrek.

The most obvious theme of Shrek is that beauty does not equate goodness, that one mustn't judge a book by its cover. The opening sequence is LITERALLY Shrek ripping out pages of a fairy tale book to use as toilet paper, and the movie ends with Fiona finding that her happiest, truest self IS as an ugly ogre. Shrek's main character conflict is that people immediately judge him as cruel and evil because he's ugly, and the characters' lowest points occur because Fiona is similarly insecure about her ogre half, considering it unlovable.

But there's other stuff in there, too. For example, if you know that Dreamworks and Shrek were founded after a falling out with Disney, then the beautiful, sanitized city of Dulac, with its switchback queue and singing animatronics add to this theme of a direct refutation of traditional Disney fairytale values, mocking them as manufactured, inhuman, and even cruel in the way that they marginalize those who don't fit an ideal of beauty. Again we see the opening sequence - defacing a fairytale - as support for this, but also the way that Dulac is displacing fairytale creatures. There's a moment where Gepetto literally sells Pinocchio, which can easily be read as a commentary on the crass commercialization and exploitation of fairy tales Disney likes to do.

And then, of course, there are lesser, supplementary themes. Love being a powerful positive force is one - Donkey is able to rally Shrek after he truly reciprocates Dragon's love for him (which echoes the theme of not equating goodness with beauty, as Dragon is still big and scary), and it's true love's kiss that grants Fiona her happy ending.

And then there's stuff that's unintentional. There's all this work done about how beauty =/= goodness, but then they made the villain incredibly short, which is a traditionally unattractive physical feature. So, does that mean that ugly things can be beautiful unless that ugliness is specifically height?

Sometimes, authorial intent does not match up with result - but in those instances, I think the most is revealed about the author. Modern Disney products tend to be very cowardly about going anti-corporation and pro-weirdness, despite their usual feel-good tones and uplifting themes - and that says a lot about Disney, doesn't it. That's why I think it's still important to keep authorial intent in mind, if possible, even if they fumble what they say they've set out to do.

Obviously, Lord Fuckwad being short doesn't REALLY detract from the overall message - but it's still a weird hitch in the themes, which I think is interesting to talk about, so you can see where personal judgement and biases DO have to be applied. There are two options here, more or less - either one believes that Shrek is making an exception for short people, who are of the Devil, or one believes that the filmmakers did a bit of an oopsie. Barring an outright statement from the filmmakers, there's no way to know for sure.

We can say a work has very complex themes when it intentionally explores multiple ideas very deeply. We can say a work has shallow themes when it doesn't have much intentional meaning, and/or that meaning is explored very lightly. The labyrinthine storytelling of Homestuck, with its forays into mortality, morality, and growing up, chock full of symbolism and pastiche and allusions, is a work with complex themes - especially as compared to the average newspaper comic strip, although they ostensibly share a genre.

We can say a work has very unified themes when these themes serve to compliment each other - the refutation of Disney-esque values, and love as a positive driving force, compliment the main theme in Shrek of not judging books by their covers, of beauty not equating to goodness. Ugly things are worthy of love, and those who push standards of beauty are evil and suck.

Similarly, we can say a work has unfocused or messy themes when the themes it includes - intentionally or not - contradict, distract, and/or detract from each other. Beauty has no correlation to goodness... unless you're short, in which case, you are closer to Hell and therefore of evil blood. To get a little controversial, this is actually why I didn't like Last Wish very much - there are approximately three separate storylines, with three separate thematic arcs, going on in the same movie, none of which particularly compliment each other - so the experience was very messy to me, story-wise, even though it was pretty and the wolf was hot. This is why we feel weird about Disney pushing anti-corporate messages, when they're a big corporate machine, or why it's easy to assume Homestuck was written poorly if you don't like Hussie - we want themes to be coherent, we want context to be unified with output.

Tone

Tone is somehow even harder to define than theme. It's like, the "vibe" of a work. For example, you generally don't expect something lighthearted to deal with the realistic, brutal tragedies of war. Maybe it'll touch on them in light, optimistic ways, but it isn't about to go All Quiet on the Western Front on the reader. By the same token, you don't expect fully happy endings out of the melodrama of opera, or frivolous slice of life from something grimdark.

Tone, too, is something people often wind up Procrusteanizing, which makes discussion difficult if two people disagree. If I read Homestuck as unwaveringly optimistic, with its downer ending the result of an author fumble, I'm pretty much going to irreconcileably disagree with somebody who reads Homestuck as though it's always been a kind of tragedy where things don't work out for the characters. Since it's even more difficult to define than theme, I'm not even really going to bother; I just felt like I had to bring it up because, despite its nebulosity, it's vital to how one reads and interprets a text. Sometimes I don't have a better answer for why I dislike a certain interpretation other than that it doesn't suit the work's tone. I generally try to avoid saying that, though, because it winds up smacking of subjective preference.

In summary... analysis is about keeping everything in mind all the time! But i swear, it gets easier the more you do it. Happy reading!

#homestuck #literary analysis #critical thinking

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idyllcy · 1 year

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I'm so impulsive, got a flight to the east coast already

word count: 1.5k

summary: As Tim sits on the plane, he can only— shit. You're cute.

Three days, four hours, two minutes, and eleven seconds counting.

That's how long Tim's been awake.

Sure, he should do something that isn't flying out for personal business last minute in economy class— but he should also really not be allowed to stay awake for so long. He needs to fly back to Gotham from Jump City, and somehow, for some wretched, cruel twist of fate, he's stuck flying economy class because Bruce is using the private plane for WE business. First class is somehow, cruelly, awfully booked full, and even business class was not let up. Tim Drake, for the first time since birth, is stuck sitting in economy class, cramming with others. He's sure this is payback for being awake for three days without a single nap.

Maybe he'd get kidnapped for ransom on top of it.

"Here's your ticket. You'll be at gate 20." The lady at the register smiles.

Tim has no carry-ons other than his messenger bag, and for the first time in ages, TSA is hell to go through. He waits in line with the rest of the people, hands them his ID, gets a plethora of questions asked to him about why he was flying economy, and finally makes it to the gate. He wonders if he should use his card to check into the VIP lounge, but he has barely any time to think about it, noticing his flight's already about to board.

He ends up being one of the last ones to board, running to his gate and handing them his ticket before entering. God, he needs to get a plane of his own with his inheritance sometime. Flying in economy sounds like the worst experience yet, and sure, he's privileged to say it— but he'd much rather stick to first class or even business at worse.

Though, as he meets eyes with the person he's sitting next to, he pauses.

Oh. Shit. You're cute.

"Awh..." You pout playfully. "And here I thought I'd be able to get three whole seats to myself."

Tim laughs to the best of his ability, sitting next to you and tucking his bag under his seat, yawning as he slouches back.

"Long day?"

"Long week." He mumbles.

"Yeah? Tell me about it." You yawn too, slouching back into your seat. Tim glances at you as you tilt your head at him, curious to see what was his problem. Maybe it would pique your interest. A six-hour flight really doesn't sound that bad, but then again, Tim needs some sort of sleep before he knocks out. Right. Shit. He forgot his neck pillow.

"Call me privileged, but this is my first time flying economy." He blinks. "God, I'm tired."

"Want my pillow?" You pull it from your neck, holding it out for Tim.

"Are you an angel?"

"Erm, not quite." You smile awkwardly, shrugging. "But I don't sleep on domestic flights."

"What are you flying for?" Tim clips the pillow around his neck, moaning quietly at the comfort.

"Family. I heard one of my parents got hurt. I bought the only ticket left."

"Funny. I'm going back for family business too." Tim snorts.

How you have not yet called Tim out for being a Wayne is beyond him. He's too tired to analyze you, sinking into his seat as he closes his eyes, humming as you continue rambling.

"So? Why this flight?"

"Got a call from my old man this morning about how I needed to attend a meeting for him." Tim mumbles. "God do I hate him sometimes."

"Business meeting?"

"Yeah. The worst part is that those old geezers weren't willing to host it on Zoom like a normal person." Tim sighs. "They made me buy my own ticket too. The disrespect is wild."

"Do they do this to your dad?"

"Never." Tim groans. "If I fall asleep while you talk, I'm sorry."

"Don't be. Sounds rough." You smile. "Any drink orders?"

"Zesti." He mumbles. "But a can, please."

"I'll let them know." You hum.

Tim knocks out cold. It's the quickest he's slept in ages, and the neck pillow feels so good he thinks he's going to heaven. He wouldn't mind dying on this plane— Not when he's sleeping so well. God, maybe he'd actually have a better flight experience on economy. (it would, however, NOT be a more than once experience. Economy was a nightmare. That was his sleep deprivation speaking, not him.)

You open your laptop, go back to your document, and join the free internet as you continue typing on the document. You text the server for advice, bouncing ideas off of each other as you go on a tangent about the cute boy next to you at the airport. The chat goes insane as you try to explain that there is no way you are going to meet him again; the universe simply would not allow it, but they ignore you, spilling story prompts and stirring the worms in your brain. Fuck.

You grumble quietly as you start a new document for the idea.

Halfway through the flight, Tim leans onto your side, head meeting your shoulder, his lips parted as he drools a little, eyes still closed. You blink at him slowly, making sure he was still asleep before going back to typing. You order him a can of Zesti when the flight attendants come by before typing on your laptop again. You wonder if he knows anything about the vigilantes of Gotham. Maybe you'll ask him when he wakes up. Though, as you write fanfiction for a meet-cute with a vigilante on a plane, you think you'd rather die than ask him a question about vigilantism. Your boldness could only go so far.

When you finish your drink and doc, you glance at the time. You had another two hours to kill before descent, and you were kind of starting to regret not bringing another neck pillow. Listen. He's cute. You'd give your neck pillow to him any day if it meant he would call you an angel. His voice? His face? God, he was so hot it was kind of daunting. Maybe you'd ask him for his number later. Then again, he'd probably say no. What kind of a Gotham elite would give his number to a random person?

Hell, it's not as if you even went to school in Gotham either. You try and put your finger on which Gotham elite he is, but you come to no fruit as you think of the big ones. There's no way he's Bruce Wayne despite the uncanny blue eyes and black hair combo. Maybe one of his sons? But then again, Dick Grayson was much taller than the boy next to you. You don't actually recall what his other two sons look like. Two? Three? You don't remember if his second son is alive. Last you checked, he is. So it'd be three, huh? It's also definitely not his Asian daughter.

You give up on figuring out who he is and settle for closing your laptop and putting it back in your bag, closing your eyes as you rest your head on his, racing heart only calming when you fall asleep.

The two of you stay that way until a flight attendant wakes you up to put your tray back, waking Tim too on accident, the boy blinking slowly as you close the tray, tilting his head at you.

"God, maybe I am in heaven." He mumbles.

You laugh much brighter this time, warmth flushing your skin and blood rushing to your neck, embarrassed as Tim registers his own words, horrified at his boldness.

"I'm so sorry—"

"No, no." You continue laughing, the joy still in your voice as you continue. "I'm touched. I don't get called angel often."

"Really?" Tim mumbles. "How long until landing?"

"Thirty minutes." You smile. "They had me put my tray back. You can go back to sleep if you want—"

"Can I have your number?" Tim blurts.

"A-ah?" You stare at him wide-eyed.

"Oh, is that too much? I just really wanted to go out with you for coffee, you see. You can say no if you're uncomfortable, really. You're allowed to do that. Actually, please do that. I don't know if I'll be able to—"

"Yes!" You cut him off. "Yeah. Yeah. You can have my number."

The two of you exchange numbers the last thirty minutes of the flight, names and information exchanged, a light flush on your cheeks, and a visible one on Tim's face.

Tim thinks this is his reward for flying economy for once. (And maybe, just maybe, he'd fly economy back if it meant he would be with you again.)

#tim drake x reader #tim drake imagine #red robin imagine #red robin x reader #dc x reader #☾.fics

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unseededtoast · 1 year

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Light As A Feather | Spencer Reid x F! Reader

Summary: The gravity of your job begins getting to you, and you come to realize you've forgotten how beautiful life can be. And one tranquil night, it's like Spencer is able to lift the weight and makes you feel light as a feather. Inspired by Hozier's "I, Carrion (Icarian)"

Cross posted on Wattpad and AO3 and here is my masterlist!

Word Count: 8.7k

Warnings: General violence, angst, pining. Poorly Edited

a/n: howdy folks. I'm still in my spencer reid/hozier brainrot era and so here's another. I hope you all enjoy it and thank you for all of the support I've received, it means the world!!

His presence is enough to make you forget about the horrors of the world, of your job. Right now, it's just you and him, and you've never felt lighter; so unburdened. You're convinced that if he wasn't there, holding onto you with his magnetic pull, that you may just float away in the breeze like a feather.

You had never been to Colorado before, and now you wish you could be here under different circumstances. It's the beginning of fall and it seems as if the people of Boulder are head over heels in love with the season. Which is understandable, you think you'd love fall this much too if you lived in a place this beautiful. The trees are painted in vibrant shades of yellow, orange, and red and the distant mountains stand proudly in the background with their snow capped tops. Your eyes are glued to the lush landscape as the SUV drives through Boulder to reach your destination.

You, along with the rest of your team, were called by the Park Rangers from the Rocky Mountain National Park about a few bodies they had discovered. Your superior, Hotch, decided their case was odd enough for you all to pay a visit. At first you hadn't wanted to come, convinced that there would be something closer to home to tend to, but now you're glad you agreed to come. Fall time in Quantico just isn't as picturesque.

Eventually, the SUV you're crammed into alongside three of your other team members drives up a long winding driveway to a hidden cabin in the woods. Hotch had booked the place, seeing as how close it is to the National Park and how secluded it is from potential people of interest. Once again, you tried to argue that the cellphone reception would be terrible up here and that it might hinder the case, but you were outvoted, and the rest of the team wanted to stay here. You hadn't understood why, but when the venue comes into view your jaw almost drops and you understand.

The cabin isn't at all what you had been expecting. Instead of some run-down, small, stuffy house, you see a large, sprawling log mansion. There are large windows adorning the front, accompanied by a wraparound porch on the second level. It's very reminiscent of a tasteful ski lodge.

"Wow." You breathe out as the car comes to a stop outside the front door.

"Still think it's a bad idea?" Hotch smarts off as he opens the trunk and starts handing people their bags. Fighting the urge to roll your eyes, you grab your bag from him and stare up at your home for the next few days.

The rest of the team wastes no time in going inside to claim their room, but you're happy to meander around for a little bit to familiarize yourself with the layout. You'll let them fight over the rooms and take whatever is left. After all, in a place of this size, even the smallest room is bound to be plentiful.

As you go through the halls admiring the artwork on the wall you spot Spencer doing the same, staring at a particular painting on the wall. You take just a second to appreciate the way he looks, standing there and analyzing art. You've always had an appreciation for Spencer, and not just for his good looks, but also his intelligence and his company.

Since your first day at the FBI you've felt drawn to him, he made you feel important, and heard, when others dismissed you. In fact, he's the reason you're on the BAU team in the first place. He was the only one to recognize your abilities and talents. You try not to hold a grudge about the fact the rest of the team was ready to let you transfer out after your internship. But instead of standing there and gawking at him like some braindead fool, you walk up to him, setting your bag on the floor beside your feet.

You look at the painting that's caught his attention and try to see what he does, try to think about how he interprets it. His mind is an amazing, complex thing, and you hope that one day you'll be able to understand just a small portion of it. It's a painting of the Great Rocky National Park, you can tell from the mountain formation and the river running through it. The painting is almost an identical match, as if it's actually a picture rather than painting. However, there's one small spot on the painting that looks like it's been painted over and over, it sticks out to you.

"What do you think happened there?" You point out the flaw and look up to Spencer, whose eyebrows are drawn closely together as he leans in and looks at the spot. After a few moments of quiet reflection, he stands back to his full height.

"I'm not sure. It looks like maybe the painter had difficulties finding the right shade." He says, still staring at the spot. Your eyes linger on his face before tearing them away before he catches on.

"You're probably right. I'm going to go find what room they left me." You say, grabbing your bag from beside you. Spencer bends over to pick up his as well,

"I should probably do the same." A small smile adorns his face, and the two of you begin walking through the cabin to find the empty rooms the team left you. According to the venue's website there should be one room for each agent, and you're thankful for that. You had never been a fan of sharing room with your coworkers, something about it just feels wrong, but when there's no way to avoid it you endure without much fuss.

The two of you check every room on the first floor only to find that they had all been claimed, meaning you two had to climb the stairs for rooms on the second level. Of course the rest of them would all claim the first floor rooms first, nobody likes to bother with stairs first thing in the morning.

You and Spencer find the empty rooms, side by side with direct access to the porch. You suppose there are worse rooms to have. Eager to step out onto the porch, you toss your bag on the bed and open the sliding door. Colorado's crisp air envelopes you as you step out and you take a deep breath. The air out here feels so clean and refreshing. Great Rocky National Park is directly in front of the porch, giving you an eagle's eye view of a portion of it as you lean onto the banister. Might as well enjoy a little bit of peace before you start working the case.

-----

"Three women were found in the same spot days apart from each other. All bludgeoned and stabbed through the heart." The Park Ranger speaks, indicating to the crime scene that's been barricaded with yellow tape. The Ranger stares at the scene, which is now an inconspicuous patch of dirt and grass, as if there weren't several dead women resting here. The scene is right beside a big body of crystal blue water.

You hang back from the rest of the team, opting to look at the surroundings instead of the immediate scene. The team knows now that finding the tiny details is your forte, and they leave you to your own devices in the beginning of investigations. The cold breeze causes you to hold your too-thin jacket closer to your body as you begin your observations.

"They were all found in the same spot?" Hotch asks the Ranger, who confirms that all of the victims were found in the exact same spot. As you examine the landscape, your eyes narrow in an attempt to find even the subtlest detail. Before too long, you see something out of place in the lush grass and walk over to it while pulling on a pair of gloves.

There's a pamphlet laying in the grass and upon further examination you see that it's been marked up like someone gave the traveler directions. Directions right to this spot. The killer lured at least one victim here. This trail is far off the beaten path, it's not marked by the Rangers. Only someone familiar with the area would know about it.

"Look at this." You call out to your team, and soon a few of them join your side to examine what you found. Spencer and Morgan look over your shoulder at the pamphlet, which is in better condition than you would've thought considering it was laying in grass beside a body of water.

"They're familiar with the area, they had this planned." Spencer speaks up and you nod your head, agreeing with him. Morgan holds out an evidence bag once he's done looking at it and you slip it inside, protecting it from any further damage. Morgan walks off with the pamphlet, leaving you and Spencer together, both deep in thought.

"What have you come up with so far?" You ask softly, curious to see if his theories line up with yours. Spencer shifts his weight and sighs, looking back to the crime scene.

"The killer is organized. They lured at least one victim right to this spot, and I'm assuming they did the same with the others. And they had to have brought the weapons with them. While there are branches to bludgeon people with, there's no evidence of anything nearby being cut down recently. If they used a natural object, it's likely they would've tried to blend it back in with nature." He explains and you nod your head along with what he's saying as you observe the scene and the scenery surrounding you.

"Unless they tossed the weapon into the water. They could have easily used a rock to bludgeon the victims." You counter his explanation. Spencer and you always did this with one another when forming theories. Not as to dissuade, or prove the other wrong, but to make your theories and explanations stronger. It's one of the qualities you most like about him. His eyes drift to the water.

"They could have. But they had to have brought the knife, there's no natural substitute that would leave that precise of a wound." He says, and you relent, agreeing with him.

"I want to question the Rangers, get their work schedules, and see the call logs. I also want to know where the victims were staying and if there's any camera footage of them in the welcome center." You shiver with a gust of wind and hold your arms tighter around your body as you walk off to gather the information you want.

Spencer decides to join you in going to the welcome center, claiming that in a huge national forest that none of us should be traveling alone. He has a good point, but you wouldn't have objected to his company either way. The Ranger from the scene escorts you two to the welcome center in his cruiser, the warm air letting your fingers regain their feeling.

"Who found the bodies?" You ask as you hold your hands in front of the vent emitting warm air. The Ranger looks at you through the rearview mirror before focusing on the road again.

"I found one and Birch found the others during his patrols." He answers and you mentally make a note to find Birch.

"Is that area regularly patrolled?" You push further for more information and the Ranger shakes his head.

"No, it wasn't, until I found the first girl. She had to have been out there for at least three days. After that I sent Birch out to keep an eye on the area. He found victim two a couple days after the first, and found the third a single day after the second." He says and you look to Spencer, both noting the decrease in time between kills. A sinking feeling in your stomach tells you that if you don't find the killer soon, then you may be finding a fourth victim any day now.

Once you reach the welcome center, the Rangers are more than happy to provide you with the security camera footage, work schedules, call logs, and anything else you may need. In fact, it's Ranger Birch that hands over the information himself. He's a young man, maybe mid twenties, with meticulously groomed hair and pressed uniform pants.

"Thank you." You tell him with a warm smile, taking the footage and other information off the counter and into your hands. He nods back with a wide, white-toothed smile and tells you and Spencer to come back if you need anything else. The moment you step out of the welcome center you give Spencer a pointed look with a raised eyebrow.

"What do you think?" He asks you before you can ask him. You lick your lips and glance back into the welcome center, Ranger Birch still looking at you. Your eyes find Spencer's and you motion for him to follow you.

"I think he takes pride in both his appearance and work, and he knows the park well." Hotch pulls up in a black SUV to pick you and Spencer up to return you to the cabin, where the entire team will discuss what's been found so far.

-----

The trip up to the cabin only takes about ten minutes. Your mind works to put pieces of the puzzle together the entire trip back, but there's just not enough known information yet, and it bothers you. You like to have answers quickly because the faster you get answers, the less people will die. Your leg bounces up and down the entire way back, eager to begin deciphering the evidence.

The SUV comes to a stop outside the cabin and before Hotch can turn the car off, you're out and making your way to the entrance. A man dressed in a casual flannel shirt hunched over the flowerbeds stops you in your tracks before you get to the front door. He wipes the dirt from his landscaping gloves onto his worn overalls as he greets you.

"Good afternoon ma'am, I hope you enjoy your stay here. I'm James, I do the landscaping work around here and a few other cabins nearby." He offers you a warm smile, which you try your best to return, but your anticipation is causing you to become short.

"Nice meeting you." You go to walk into the cabin, but James' voice stops you once more. Spencer and Hotch approach, engaged in a conversation likely pertaining to what happened at the welcome center.

"Wait, ma'am. I never caught your name." James smile is reminiscent of an old friend, and he looks at you expectedly. Against your best wishes, you answer him, not wanting to be unnecessarily rude to your host.

"We'll, it's been a pleasure to meet you. Maybe I'll catch you around before you head out. Are you here for work?" He continues his conversation as Spencer and Hotch walk into the cabin undeterred by the landscaper. Maybe if you had just slowed down one of them would've been caught instead. James' eyes linger on the items in your hands.

"Yeah, the whole team is here for work." You answer, shuffling some items around in your grasp. James nods his head and tears his gaze away from the items, the warm smile returning to his face.

"Must be some important work if a whole team is here. By the looks of you all I'd say you're some sort of police." He guesses, eyeing the firearm that's strapped to your thigh. Your eyes narrow at the man, and you nod.

"Yeah, something like that. I really have to get going, they're probably waiting for me in there. Have a nice night, James." You find your exit route out of the conversation with the friendly mannered landscaper. As you step through the door you hear his voice call out to you once more.

"If there's anything I can do to help, number's in the guestbook." The door closes, and the conversation finally ends.

Taking a cleansing breath, you join the rest of the team who are all gathered around the rectangular dining table, which has been designated as the investigation headquarters. On the table are a slew of files, photos, and papers. You add the information gathered from the welcome center to that collection and Hotch starts the conversation.

Hotch reviews the known information and circulates photos of the victims. They're all beautiful young women, and according to Garcia, were staying at nearby resorts and cabins for vacation. The photos get passed to you and you look at them intently, committing to memory every detail you can absorb before you pass them along. It's obvious that these victims were chosen because of their physical appearance, they all share the same basic features such as hair color, eye color, and stature. And eerily, you seem to match the profile as well.

"The physical appearance of the victim is important to the unsub. Having three victims with similar features is no mistake, nor is it a coincidence." You add to the conversation, seeing your team members look from you to the photos on the table.

"Maybe the victims represent someone who scorned the unsub? Extracting revenge through them." Spencer suggests, and it's a good theory. You chew on the skin of your bottom lip as your mind races with theories and trying to piece the information together like a puzzle.

After the general briefing, Hotch assigns Morgan and Prentiss to interview the Park Rangers to establish alibis, JJ and Garcia to continue conducting their online investigation, and Spencer and yourself to go over the welcome center footage. Hotch was going to speak to the people running the cabins the victims were staying at to see if there are any leads there.

You and Spencer are on the second hour of footage when your eyes start becoming heavy. Reaching for the remote, you pause the footage and stretch, needing to take a break.

"You want some coffee?" You ask him, needing something to keep yourself awake. He nods his head,

"Yes, please." You stand from your seat and go to the kitchen to prepare the two of you some coffee. You're sure to put an ungodly amount of sugar in Spencer's, knowing that if you don't you'll hear him complain about it. And most times you enjoy the sound of his voice, but you don't know if you can stand hours of CCTV footage and him complaining about a lack of sugar right now.

You return to the table and place his mug in front of him, steam rising from it. You sip your own and resume your position at the table and reach for the remote. Spencer reaches for it at the same time, your hands brushing one another's. His hand is warm and soft, perfect for the chilly autumn air.

"Sorry." You say, pulling your hand away and forcing any other thought than the footage from your mind, knowing that there's already a faint pink adorning your cheeks. No matter how long you've worked with him, even just simple touches is enough to send you spiraling if you let it. You try not to delve into what that might mean; you profile people for a living, the last thing you want to do is profile yourself. Without a word, Spencer just smiles back politely and presses play.

The footage rolls and you two identify the victims who all showed up unaccompanied, which you find odd considering they were on vacation with their families. Your hand jots down quick notes in sloppy handwriting as you critically examine what you do, and don't, see in the footage. Spencer and you replay the footage showing the victims easily five times each, both silently taking notes, knowing you're going to compare soon. After watching the third victim's footage for the last time, you look over to Spencer, who's face is illuminated by the golden glow of the setting sun.

"Do you want to go first?" He asks and you nod, trying not to stare at how the sunlight reflects the amber color in his warm prismatic eyes. You look down to your notes and try to get your thoughts straight before speaking.

"I noted that all three victims walked into the welcome center with a pamphlet already in hand. None of them took the ones provided by the park. They all showed up alone. I can only assume that the unsub gave them the pamphlets with instructions on how to find the scene. Only, I'm willing to bet it was framed as a good-intentioned suggestion. There's no way those women would have gone if they didn't trust the unsub to some degree." Your eyes glance from your horribly written notes up to Spencer, who's leaning on the table, clinging to every word you say. He hums in consideration before he speaks up.

"I would agree. And if the victims were all staying at tourist destinations, those pamphlets were likely already there. So now the question is whether or not the unsub talked to them at their cabins or before they walked into the welcome center." He says, and a lightbulb goes off in your mind.

"Wouldn't it make more sense for the unsub to speak to them at their cabins? I mean, if the unsub caught them in the parking lot there's a chance they might have their families with them. But if the unsub spoke to them at their cabins, the women might be persuaded to leave their families behind for some reason." You say, going with the logical deductions that pop into your mind. Spencer mulls over your words, his eyes narrowing, staring back at you in deep thought.

"You're right. The unsub likely works for the resorts. It would give them access to the victims and it wouldn't be weird for them to give suggestions to guests." He confirms what you thought and you look back to the screen, seeing the third victim frozen in time.

"We should let the team know." You say and Spencer nods. The two of you finish off your coffee and wait for the rest of the team to arrive. You're confident that the two of you have a solid lead on this case. You only hope you can find the unsub before there's a fourth victim.

-----

The sun sets on the scenic landscape and you lean against the banister of the wraparound porch. The rest of the team isn't back yet, and the last thing you want to do is stay inside when it's so beautiful out here. The snowcapped mountain in the distance gleams brilliantly, and it's almost blinding, but you can't look away. Sounds of water rushing and birds chirping fill the air and if you let your mind relax enough it's almost like you're not here to solve murders.

Your head rests atop of your arms on the railing and you breathe in the cool air. The breeze gently blows your hair around, sending a shiver up your spine. You had severely underestimated how cold it would be here, and as a result, you failed to pack adequately because you were basing your packing off of Virginia fall time temperatures, which are noticeably warmer.

The sliding door opens and you turn to see Spencer walking out of his room. He joins your side and leans forward on the railing, looking out at the breathtaking view. His curly brown hair gets blown into his face, and you have to stop yourself from reaching out and tucking it behind his ear. You're also enjoying the breathtaking view.

He looks at peace, which is not something you usually see in him. His mind works overtime almost twenty four hours a day, especially on cases. It has to be torturous sometimes, to never get a reprieve from your own thoughts; and that's something you know all too well. There are some nights where you can't sleep because gruesome memories from the job haunt you.

Noticing that you're staring at him, you turn your gaze back to the colorful trees. The two of you enjoy a moment of tranquility together, a rare moment in the fast-paced career you pursued. A bird flies by, and you can only imagine what that freedom feels like. Most times you feel like your job keeps you cemented in one place, always dealing with death and the most heinous monsters that reside in this world. You often forget just how beautiful and free life can be.

A particularly crisp breeze comes through and you visibly shiver, which Spencer notices. Without a word, he goes into his room and comes back moments later with the throw blanket that was folded at the bottom of the bed. It's burnt orange in color and is made of faux fur, warm and soothing. Spencer drapes it over your shoulders and you hold onto the ends, keeping it secure around you. If you could stay in this moment forever, you would.

Spencer stands so closely beside you that you feel his warmth coming through the blanket, and without much thought, or care, you lean into him just slightly. He makes no effort to move, and the two of you stay like that for what seems like an eternity. His warmth and his smell are so comforting and makes you feel safe. Deep down in your heart you know he makes you feel at home.

The two of you enjoy each other's company in a peaceful silence. There's never been the need to fill the silence with him, like there is the others. While you two are quite talkative in the team dynamic, when you find yourselves alone it's often relaxed with no expectations. You two talk when you want, or is needed, but when there's nothing to say you're more than happy to just be around him. And you hope he feels the same about you, and you think he does, but you're never brave enough to ask for fear of ruining whatever relationship it is that you two share.

Sighing, you cuddle yourself further into the blanket as the sun dips lower and lower, the golden hue turning orange. Spencer moves beside you, and you see his fingers twitch, like he was going to reach out for something but doesn't. Your head turns to look at him above you, and his head lowers, so that your eyes meet one another.

You had always known his eyes were beautiful, but up this close you can truly admire the depth of them. The golden hues remind you of the sunsets, the green in them is like the rich moss that adorns the sides of the rocks; or like the pine needles on the tall trees, and the brown is reminiscent of swirling espresso. Taken aback from his closeness and the heat creeping up your spine, your lips fall open and his eyes glance between them and your eyes. He's so close to you, your bodies practically pressed against one another. You feel yourself being drawn to him, like he has his own magnetic pull.

But whatever was about to happen is cut short by the rest of the team arriving back to the cabin. You and Spencer seem to come back to reality and step away from one another. Flustered, you unwrap the blanket from your shoulders and hand it back to him, already missing the warmth.

"Thank you." Your voice is soft and tender, and his hand brushes your own as he grabs the blanket from you.

"Of course." He smiles softly back, and the two of you part ways to join the rest of your team downstairs to catch up on the latest information. But you can barely pay attention to what is being said, for your mind is drowning with flashes of Spencer out on the porch.

-----

The next morning you wake up as the sun shines in through the windows, illuminating the room beautifully and warmly. Hotch had given everyone the night to mull over the information and said that the investigation will pick right back up in the morning. After you get dressed and ensure your service weapon is properly attached to the harness around your thigh, you make your way down the stairs for a morning cup of coffee. Morgan, Prentiss, and Hotch are already sat at the table, picking at some toast for breakfast as they get the sleep rid from their systems.

You make a cup for yourself and Spencer, knowing he will be up any moment now. As per usual, too much sugar gets put into his and then you pour your own. The warm drink calms your nerves and you close your eyes, trying to get your mind prepared for whatever the day may bring. You know there may very well be a fourth victim found soon and you need to be on the top of your game to find the unsub.

"Good morning." A raspy voice makes your eyes open, and you see Spencer walking into the kitchen, dressed in a button up and tie. It's quite casual for him, but you like it, it looks nice on him.

"Good morning, made yours right here." You say and nod over to the mug on the counter. He looks from you to the mug with a smile on his face.

"Thanks." He says, and the two of you stay in the kitchen, sipping on your coffee and waiting for Hotch to give everyone orders.

"Feeling good about today?" It's something you always ask when an investigation seems to be coming to a close. You think it sets a tone, an expectation that the team will succeed. Spencer sips his drink and nods,

"I feel good about today." He confirms, flashing his bright white smile.

Last night, after the team had arrived, Hotch had shown everyone the list of employees from the neighboring resorts and cabins and today the team will be interviewing those employees. You're convinced the unsub has to be on that list and you intend to find out who it is. The questions have already been sorted in your mind, though you're able to adapt to anyone's personality and are prepared to get answers.

"Same teams as yesterday, we're going to divide and conquer." Hotch says, handing each team a list of names. You look down at the list he handed you and see that there are a total of fifteen employees for the small resort that you and Spencer are covering. It catches your attention that seven of the fifteen are women, and you mentally place them lower on your suspect list. This doesn't seem like a crime women usually commit, no, this seems like the work of a man as evidenced by the brute force used.

Morgan and Prentiss take off in one car, Hotch takes another, leaving you and Spencer with your own SUV. The two of you gather your needed materials, such as photos and notepads, before you head out. Spencer grabs the keys and tells you that he's going to warm up the car as you finish organizing your things, and you're grateful for that. Sitting in a cold car doesn't really appeal to you right now.

Once you're content with the items you've chosen to bring along you head out of the cabin. The bright light almost blinds you, and you squint in order to see. From the corner of your eye you see something move, and when you turn to look you see it's the landscaper from the other day, already flagging you down. Resisting the strong urge to just ignore him, you wait for him to reach you on the porch steps. He looks like he's already been hard at work today, he's covered in dirt and sweat.

"Well good mornin'. Got anything interesting going on today?" He asks, shielding his eyes from the light with his gloved hand. You shift your weight and look to the running SUV, already planning your escape route out of this conversation.

"Uh, yeah, you could say it'll be an interesting day." You reply as politely as you can. James smiles widely at your response.

"What sort of thing you have planned?" He asks and you sigh, not wanting to be part of this conversation any longer.

"I'm not at liberty to say, but I've gotta go, my partner is waiting for me." You excuse yourself from the conversation before he can get another word in. From behind you, you hear him say.

"Well alright then, I'll be around if you need anything." As you slide into the driver's side of the car and hand your bag to Spencer, you see the man heading back to the tool shed.

"That's twice now that he's singled me out." You say, keeping your eye on him for a moment longer, watching his moves. The fact that you match the victim profile is not lost on you, and you think it might be making you just slightly paranoid.

"I noticed that too. Could be that you were the first one there the last time, and the last one out this time, but it's definitely something to keep note of." Spencer says as you drive off to the tiny resort the two of you had been assigned. You know he might be right, but the man went out of his way to flag you down this morning and completely ignored everyone else. An uneasy feeling in your stomach tells you that the landscaper should be looked into more thoroughly.

When you and Spencer reach the resort you waste no time in beginning your investigations. The two of you are laser focused on the task at hand, and agree to split the list equally. Spencer volunteered himself to question the extra person. Luckily, the front desk attendant was more than helpful and secured two rooms for the interviews to be conducted.

The first four interviews go by without incident, all front desk attendants and kitchen workers who have no indication of manipulative traits and answer your questions openly. You've done this enough times to spot exactly what you're looking for, you know what gets under the skin of unsubs, especially the organized ones who think they have it all figured out.

A couple other interviewees give you good information about the victim who stayed here. They tell you how they remember seeing her with her family in the hall, and how nothing seemed out of the ordinary in the room when it was cleaned. Hotch had questioned the families last night, and cleared them from the suspects list.

By the time you reach the end of your list, you know you can safely cross every one of them off. None of them responded to the misinformation you sprinkled in the questions, things the unsub would've been known to be untrue. And none of them had any sort of reaction to you insulting the intelligence of the unsub, something that would have surely set them off in some way. But to your dismay, none of them had any clue of who could be capable of this kind of malice. Typically, there's at least one person who's able to spot something weird about someone, but not this time.

You group back up with Spencer, the two of you comparing notes in the room he used for his questioning. He had the same results as you and you both were hoping someone else on the team was more successful.

"We got all of them except for James Hilton. The others said he bounces around to each place and some days he's not even here." Spencer says, pointing out the only uncrossed name from the list.

"James Hilton. That's the landscaper." You say, barely able to recall his name from yesterday. The uneasy feeling in your stomach grows.

-----

In the afternoon, the team reconvenes in the cabin around the table to compare findings. Every other agent was able to interview everyone but James Hilton. Granted, his job requires him to go from location to location, but it seems like he's been hanging out around this cabin often. However, he was nowhere to be found when everyone came back. But maybe he went to another location to work on their flowerbeds.

"We'll need to get his statement today. Anyone up to track him down?" Usually you volunteer to go after someone like this, but something is telling you not to, and you listen to your instincts. Thankfully Morgan offers to track him down, and Prentiss joins him once more. You pick at a piece of paper on the table as your mind works, mulling over what you know about the case and the overly-friendly landscaper.

Before Morgan and Prentiss leave, Spencer informs the team about the conversations that James has dragged you into. You tell them exactly what happened, and they all agree that it seems suspicious. Hotch goes off to make some calls to JJ and Garcia, leaving you and Spencer at the table.

"Hey, are you okay?" Spencer asks, leaning forward on the table. His voice snaps you out of your trance and you cease to fiddle with the paper.

"Me? Yeah I'm fine, why?" You ask, not sure why he's concerned. He looks conflicted, opening and closing his mouth a few times before he answers.

"Well, it's just that you fit the victim profile and the conversations with the landscaper seem to be suspicious. And you keep playing with the paper which is an indication of anxiety." He says, trying his best to not profile you in front of your face.

"Spencer, I'm okay, promise. I was just thinking." You tell him, and it's the truth. While James makes you feel uneasy, you're confident that nothing will happen to you. Spencer nods and you stand from the table, wanting to inspect the cabin with finer detail and stretch your legs.

After going from room to room looking for the tiniest thing that might be relevant to the case, you find yourself staring at the same photo that caught Spencer's eye when you all first arrived. There's something about it, something about the discolored spot, that you just can't let go of. It's bothering you for some reason. Frustrated, you take it off the wall and bring it to where Spencer is in the main living area, nose in a book. He looks up from the page when he hears you coming, his eyebrows scrunching closely together.

"What are you doing?" He asks, putting the book on a side table. You place the painting on the large coffee table and put your hands on your hips.

"There's something about this that's driving me insane." You say, eyes drifting from Spencer's face to the painting. It takes Spencer all of ten seconds to analyze the painting again.

"It's the same place the bodies were found." He says and your eyes widen, taking in the scene again and realizing he's right.

"Wait. If this is the same place the bodies were found, then that, is the exact spot they were in." You say, pointing to the discolored spot. The discoloration is where the grass meets the water, the mountain in the background. Your eyes drift to the bottom corner of the painting where you see a cursive 'J' painted in white.

"Do you think the killer is the one who painted this?" Spencer asks you, and you nod.

"I'm sure of it. There's a J painted in the corner. It has to be Hilton. Can you call Garcia?" You ask, mind feeling like it's running a marathon. Spencer doesn't hesitate to get Garcia on the phone.

"Hello my beautiful boy genius, what can I do for you today?" Penelope's voice sounds throughout the room and you smirk at her entertaining phone greeting.

"Hello my beautiful computer genius, can you do me a favor?" You speak first and you can hear her laugh through the phone.

"Oh my darling anything for you." Her voice is melodic and you shake your head at her antics. You love Garcia, she's one of your closest friends inside and outside of work.

"Can you find anything on a James Hilton from the Boulder, Colorado area?" You ask her, knowing your answer is about to be served on a silver platter in just a few moments. Garcia's quick typing echoes through the phone.

"James Hilton, born and raised in Boulder. Has been working as a property manager for the last ten years at the property you all are staying at. Has one traffic record from the nineties, but other than that he's clean." She says, but you were hoping for something more incriminating.

"Anything about a wife, or a girlfriend? Maybe even a sister or mother?" You ask her, staring down a the painting.

"It looks like he was in a long term relationship with Valerie Wilson, also of Boulder. But according to her Facebook page, they are over with." She says, Spencer and you looking at each other, knowing you may have just found a potential piece of the puzzle.

"Perfect. Can you tell me what she looks like and how to contact her?" You ask and write down the details Garcia recites. After you get the needed information, Spencer hangs up and calls Hotch to inform him of what the two of you just found out. Hotch tells us that he's on his way back to the cabin after he's done with the last interview.

The painting lays in front of you two, and you take a seat on the arm of the chair Spencer is sitting in, your leg brushing up against his and your arm resting behind his head to keep yourself stable. Your eyes are glued to the discoloration, and you know there's just something about it that's more than just not being able to find the right shade.

"Is there a way to see if something has been painted over?" You ask Spencer rather than Googling it, knowing he can probably get you an answer faster. He clears his throat and nods his head.

"A few years ago it was found that Vincent Van Gogh painted over several of his works due to the cost of canvas. Experts used x-ray to see through the layers, revealing the original painting." His answer is exactly what you were looking for.

"We have to get this thing x-rayed. And someone needs to contact Valerie and ask her about her relationship with James. His tool shed should be examined as well" You jump off the chair's arm, ready to leave immediately, but having to wait for Hotch before you can proceed with anything else.

-----

Hours later, your leg is bouncing up and down, eagerly awaiting the results of the x-ray. The hospital staff had never encountered something quite like this, but you were thankful that they were cooperative. Spencer had come along with you while Hotch stayed back to get in contact with Valerie. You check your phone every ten seconds to see if you have a new message for him, but your screen is blank.

Thankfully, a few minutes later an x-ray technician comes out and beckons you to a dark room where she clips the x-ray images onto a lightboard. While the images aren't in color, you can still see exactly what you need to. The images show that where the discoloration is, there used to be a woman standing and a man on one knee. A gasp leaves your mouth, the pieces finally fitting together in your mind. Without a doubt, James is the unsub.

Spencer and you race back to the cabin and spill the findings to the rest of the team. Hotch informs you that Valerie had confirmed that James recently proposed, but she turned him down. All of the victims match her appearance. He must have been killing to fulfill some sort of revenge he felt was necessary.

The team calls each of the resorts that James is employed at only to find that he's not at any of them. While the others scramble to try and find a way to find him, your eyes land on the guestbook.

"Guys. I can call him. He told me his number is in the guestbook and we know I fit the profile. He won't be able to help himself." You say, and the others don't have any good reason as to why you shouldn't do it. Your hands shake from the adrenaline as you dial the numbers and the phone rings, your heartbeat resounding in your ears. You're so close to catching this depraved man.

"Hello?" He answers finally. You let go of a breath you weren't aware you were holding and speak up.

"Hi James, you told me to call you if I needed help with anything. And, um, I think I might have broken one of the outside lights." You quickly come up with a lie, hoping to lure him out here for the arrest. You hear him moving around on the other end and the start of an engine.

"Of course, I'll be there in just a moment, honey." He says and you hang up the phone, trying not to gag from his pet name.

It takes James all of fifteen minutes to reach the cabin. When he pulls up, the entire team is waiting for him, but you were the one with cuffs in your hands. As soon as his feet hit the ground, Hotch and Morgan were out the door ordering him to the ground. With smug satisfaction, you step over the man and secure his hands in cuffs behind his back.

As the local police show up to take him away, he's spitting every expletive in the book at you. Rage and hatred show themselves very clearly on his face, and you see who he really is. You smile sickly sweet at him as he's shoved into the back of the cop car. Another monster off the street, unable to do harm to another woman. It's like a weight gets lifted from your shoulders.

-----

After the excitement of the arrest, you come down off your adrenaline rush. The rest of the team are packing, getting ready to leave in the morning, but you can't find it within yourself to do it. You're too struck by the beauty in front of you to worry about going back home. You just don't want to part with this yet. So you find yourself out on the wraparound porch once more, the sun retreating far too quickly behind the horizon for your liking.

Despite the waning sun, the landscape looks brighter, more vibrant now that you know that the killer is in custody. Usually, the team gets only a few hours of celebration before you're saddled with paperwork and the next case. A bird flies past again, and you appreciate its freedom again. Its sweet melodies carry in the breeze and soothes your weary soul.

You love your job, you can't imagine doing anything else, but it does wear on you. Both physically and mentally. Before you had started working with the team, you never could have imagined the kind of evil lurking everywhere, even in a place as gorgeous as this. But now, it's like wherever you look, no matter how beautiful the surroundings, you can always spot something amiss. You feel weighted by the knowledge of what reality actually is.

The familiar sound of the sliding door catches your attention, and you see Spencer coming towards you, blanket in hand. A smile finds its way onto your face as he closes the distance between you, securing the blanket around your shoulders. Just like yesterday, he stands right beside you, admiring the view.

"The others are all leaving tonight, they said they want to get a headstart on the papers. But I told them we'd go back in the morning." His voice is raspy, yet soft.

"But what about the plane?" You ask, eyebrows knitting together. He shrugs his shoulders and looks down at you.

"I told them we'd fly back in the morning, already have the tickets arranged." He says, easing some of your anxiousness, but not satisfying your curiosity.

"Why?" You search for the answer on his face.

"Because I saw how much you like it here. You deserve one workless night." He says with sincerity and your heart swells at the sentiment. You fully turn towards him, soft blanket draped lightly across your shoulders. You notice that Spencer has traded his button up for a simple pullover. Something so simple has never looked so good before.

"Thank you, you really didn't have to-" He cuts you off with a smile,

"I know, but I wanted to." He admits, pink coloring his cheeks. You stare up at him in awe, not quite sure what you did to deserve his thoughtfulness. Not being able to hold back your affections, you reach out and engulf him in a hug.

"Thank you, Spencer." You reiterate into his chest, feeling his arms wrap around you. After a few fleeting, precious moments, you let go of him. Staring up into his eyes, you reach a hand up and stroke the soft skin of his cheekbone with your thumb. He doesn't flinch from your touch like he does with others, no, he leans into it as if he's savoring the feeling.

His arm that was around your waist come up to cup your cheek, and he gently brings your face towards his, pressing a tender kiss to your lips. You hold him close, a flurry of warmth spreading from your face down to your body. His other hand finds its way around your waist, securing you to his body.

You break the kiss as your chest begins burning with the need of oxygen, and he rests his forehead against yours. Your hands come up to gently grasp the sides of his face, keeping him in place so that you can admire his beauty. After minutes pass by in silence as you two appreciate each other, Spencer tilts his head up and kisses your forehead.

He turns you around so that you're facing away from him, and he grabs the blanket from around your shoulders. Seconds later, you feel him standing behind you, wrapping the soft blanket around the both of you. His chest is behind you, and he hands you the edges of the blanket so that his hands might find the soft curve of your waist. Spencer pulls you in to him so that you're leaning back on his chest.

Spencer rests his head atop of yours as the two of you relax your minds and bodies, focusing solely on each other and the scene in front of you. Your hands come down to entwine themselves with his with a soft smile on your face.

A lone tear falls from the corner of your eye as you're overcome with emotion. You cannot recall a single time in your life that you've felt this serene, where everything just feels perfect. Your soul is well nourished and full from Spencer alone. All of those cases you worked together, the stolen glances across the office, the simple acts of kindness and thoughtfulness for each other has culminated to this one precious moment in time; and you've never felt more content.

The sun eventually sets behind the horizon, the chilly breeze billowing the blanket around you both. Above you in the sky, the stars shine brightly, and you tip your head back to admire them. You can never admire their true beauty in Quantico, their shine is dulled by light pollution, but you can see them clearly here. You can see everything clearly here.

"You know, scientists estimate that there are about two hundred sextillion stars in the sky within the Milky Way." Spencer whispers in your ear as you two bask in their soft white light. You turn around in his hold and smile up at him,

"And yet none shine as brilliantly or as beautifully as you." You say, and pull him in for another soft, heartfelt kiss. As you pull away, you watch as his eyes flutter open and he smiles endearingly. You've never seen such a beautiful sight, never felt comfort as warm as him, and you know as you lean into his embrace, that you will not bear the weight of this world or this life alone.

#spencer reid #spencer reid x reader #dr spencer reid #criminal minds #emily prentiss #derek morgan #aaron hotchner #spencer reid fluff #spencer reid fanfic #spencer reid fanfiction #hozier #spencer reid x you #Spotify #criminal minds fandom #criminal minds x reader #spencer x reader #spencer reid comfort

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auzlon · 9 months

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I read. SPOILER!!!!!!!!!!!!

Isolation by bexchan

Okay, quick background I have read and listened to a many Dramione. I don't consider myself an all knowing, but I have some over analyzed thoughts on this subject.

I am not done listening to this story. This is subject to change possibly....

Let's begin..

Isolation is considered a top tier dramonie fanfiction. I am currently listening to the story and understand that may not allow me to dive into it as much as I would like.

I have the thus far considered the story ...... interesting but not inciting.

Ranking key points. On Chapter 27 right now.

PLOT: picks up after HBP (half-blood prince) Hermione does not go on the quest for the horcrux instead stays to help Hogwarts. Ron and harry go off send her owl every fortnight, Hedwig is not dead nor Moody eye. The events of that night never happen. Professor Snape shows up with Draco Malfoy looking for somewhere to hide him. Snape did kill Dumbledore and Malfoy did let in the death eaters so he is considered partially responsible. McGonagall task Hermonie to take in Draco in her dorm as prefect she has a dorm with 2 rooms. He can't leave so Isolation. They live like that for a while and eventually begin a sexual and emotional relationship. Around January the ministry is taken the death eaters are going to Hogwarts to get all the muggle born wizards. Here is when Hermione and Draco get separated. He gets sent to his Andromeda Tonks and she to her daughter Nymphadora Tonks. so far--

Smut.... good. The smuts good I definitely think that really helps in the overall rating. In order to have a well written fan fiction the fantasy of a good fuck is paramount. That being said the over all tone of when they did the deed varied. He NEEDS her. He listens to her soothing noises when she showers. They do it to vent yet it does become this sweet thing that they can cherish. They also have many sweet moments. Personally them reading together is sooo cute. ughhh shakespare. omg.

Hermione's depth. unfortunately, I have not yet experienced the power of this character. She lacks something of self-driven force. she was never the most confident person but in this version she withers at the hands of Draco. Leaving a bad taste. I did appreciate the MLK bit when she's trying to convince Draco of the 'mud blood' word basically being racist. I don't really feel like Shes helping in the war effort much. She has literally only read books. This is halfway through may change. AT this point we will see if their affection for each other goes beyond being stuck together.

DRACO is a fun character to analyze he changes so much depending on the story. THIS IS A TOXIC MANNNNN. He is cussing everyone out Hermione, McGonagall, himself. I don't love that every other word he says is Fuck. fucking. Hell. It lacks the sophistication of noble born pure breed wizard that's all I'm saying. IT IS REFREASHING to SEE Draco Malfoy be in need. He needs Hermione beyond his eventual attraction, he needs her to keep himself from going crazy and not give him up to death eat. He is forced to trust her well before she ever really has to trust him truly. I dislike how difficult it is for him to truly consider having given up the death eater life. He grapples with it; I get that he does not throw off everything has learned. But he doesn't on his on consider that being force into isolation because he couldn't kill Dumbledore. Might be that moment he realizes ' oh I don't want to do this. ' Hermione' Is cramming that done his throat making it feel just forces. HE also yells at he a lot in the first bit to leave him alone.

WE have nooooo ron or harry still.

we got luna and blaze, that intro to that was the sweetest thing thus far.

The War is progressing in different events.

The story is very English.

I will update as I get through the story.

#love #dramione fanfiction #dramione #isolation #harry potter #fanfic #draco malfoy #hermione granger #story review #spoilers

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tumblingxelian · 4 months

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Something I think you might like.

That was an interesting video, thanks for sharing.

For anyone unsure its analyzing how Zuko & Hunter have totally different character arcs.

I do think the opening a bit too much on the "ATLA was the first and most amazing story driven cartoon ever" train though. Saying the show lightning in a bottle, first of its kind ETC when stuff like Gargoyles, X-Men were there first.

But yeah, the video does a great job noting how fanon tends to water characters down to a couple of tropey terms and as a result crams characters into boxes they don't fit. Loved their breakdown on the "There was once an emperor" very clever.

Their take on Zuko started solid, acknowledging his frankly violent/explosive temper and elitist attitude. But the rest felt eh, the themes align but I have come to regard Zuko's arc rather poorly over time. Plus Azula was very not cruel when bringing him home. The point on the scar and lightning bending was solid.

I really liked their breakdown on childhood VS perceived adulthood and how it differs in each series and gosh it is easy to forget how fucked up Hunters life was and how utterly different it was to Zuko's.

The conclusion showing their contrasts worked well and I love the mental image of grouping redeemed villains together & none of them seeing the connection because their arcs were all so different.

But yeah, fanon is a huge problem and frankly people really should go back to the source material sometimes for a refresher.

#Ask #Text post #Analysis #redemption arcs

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parfumieren · 2 years

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1740: Marquis de Sade (Histoires de Parfums)

My maternal grandfather, a gruff London-born Irishman with a deadpan sense of humor, preferred for his teatime a particular sweet known as the Garibaldi biscuit-- or as he called them to our delighted disgust, "fly sandwiches".

A direct descendent of Dublin gur cake, the fly sandwich consists of a layer of sticky, sweet filling between two layers of rather dry glazed pastry, which is scored before baking so as to be easily broken into pieces. Without hot liquid to soften it, the "fly" part of the sandwich adheres to teeth like cement, so one must subject it to a lengthy soaking in tea or coffee before cramming the whole delicious shebang in one's mouth. Indelicate, yes-- but one of life's minor pleasures.

The traditional filling for fly sandwiches is a puree of dried fruit-- currants, dates, figs, apricots, raisins, or sultanas. The fruit is soaked in water, mixed with spices, and cooked down until it compacts itself into a sweet, tarry sludge. Were you to analyze its scent molecules and base a perfume on them, you'd end up with Histoires de Parfums' 1740.

The first time I wore 1740, I couldn't keep my wrists away from my nose all day. Rare is the perfume that divests you of shame to the point where you're compulsively sniffing yourself in public. I actually rushed home from work to reapply it just so that I could experience it all over again from the top. Not that I really needed to-- 1740 possesses formidable staying power -- but each stage of its development held so much of my attention and interest, it was impossible not to want to prolong our time together.

1740's dried-fruit aspect -- dark, sticky, almost chocolatey in its intensity -- may come across as a little high-calorie on paper, but the welcome addition of astringent wormwood and burnt-bitter immortelle save it from Sugarplum Fairy territory. The heart of 1740 is all lush suede and coffee notes, and the drydown bears enough of an odd resemblance to the opening chords of Muscs Koublaï Khän to make me think that some experimental layering might be in order.

Still, just as with 1805: George Sand, I find myself groping to imagine a plausible explanation for Gerald Ghislain's choice of perfume mascot. The Father of Sadism is the absolute last person this ultra-homey, cozy-kitchen perfume summons to mind. Leather? The fruit kind, sure. Cruel? Not even close. Addictive? Absolutely.

Scent Elements: Immortelle, bergamot, artemisia, patchouli, cardamom, cedar, elemi, leather, labdanum

#1740: Marquis de Sade #Histoires de Parfums #perfume review #parfümieren

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8thhousepriestess · 2 years

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help me w astologyyyy there’s so much information everywhere, i don’t even know where to begin 😩 what were some of the things you first researched ?

🖤 Hi Hailey!!

It is definitely normal to be overwhelmed and confused by all the conflicting information out there. I was the same exact way when starting out. Don't feel like you have to rush the process and cram all the info in. There is a lot to study and it's a never-ending learning journey which makes it that much more interesting and fun 🙂 you'll never get bored lol.

I first started on my Astro learning journey when I came across the App TimePassages. I started looking at the learning section and then started trying to analyze my own chart on there and looking at my transits every day. Totally hooked and learned so much from that app! I suggest downloading it. I still use it every day.

Also, there's a well-known Astrologer Chris Brennan on YouTube. I learned a lot from watching his videos. They can be lengthy but very knowledgeable and in a way you can easily understand. I took a ton of notes!

I suggest starting with his videos:

Zodiac Sign Meanings part 1

Zodiac Sign meanings part 2

Significations of The Twelve Houses part 1

Significations of The Twelve Houses part 2

Meaning of The Planets

[ 👆🏻All underlined are clickable links to the videos ]

From there you can check out the rest of his videos. So so much knowledge to be learned there. Even if you already know some basic Astro terms or meanings, sometimes starting from the beginning can really give new found clarity.

If you don't already have your birth chart you can get one on Astro.com.

There is conflicting info out there on which house system to use. Everyone has their preference and you will too eventually.

I started out using the Placidus House system only but then I started learning the Whole Sign house system. I use both now. The Whole Sign system was easier for me personally to understand and learn first before going back to Placidus.

So to sum it all up...

Research and look into the basics first:

Zodiac sign meanings

Planet meanings

Meanings of the 12 houses

➖ I hope this helped ☺️🪐✨!

#astrology #astro observations #witch community #witchblr #witches of tumblr #astroblr #horoscope #zodiac #astro community #divination #witch #witchcore #tarot community #tarotcommunity #tarot witch #tarotblr #8thhousepriestess

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mbaexcellencebangalore · 13 days

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How to Prepare for the IBSAT 2024 Quantitative Techniques Section

The IBSAT 2024 exam is a gateway to securing admission into the prestigious ICFAI Business School (IBS) programs. One of the key sections in this exam is the Quantitative Techniques section, which tests your mathematical abilities, problem-solving skills, and conceptual understanding. Preparing for this section effectively is essential to achieving a high score. This article provides a detailed guide on how to prepare for the IBSAT 2024 Quantitative Techniques section.

1. Understand the Exam Pattern

The first step to excelling in the IBSAT 2024 Quantitative Techniques section is to understand its structure. This section typically consists of 25-30 questions, focusing on areas such as arithmetic, algebra, geometry, number systems, and data interpretation. The questions range from easy to moderate difficulty, so mastering the fundamentals is key.

2. Brush Up on Basic Concepts

Start by reviewing the basic mathematical concepts you learned in school. Topics like percentages, ratios, proportions, time and work, speed and distance, and simple and compound interest are frequently tested. Make sure to refresh these concepts thoroughly. You can use reference books or online resources to brush up on the fundamentals. Strengthening your basic concepts will help you solve problems more effectively.

3. Focus on Data Interpretation

Data interpretation (DI) is a crucial part of the IBSAT Quantitative Techniques section. This portion requires you to analyze and interpret data presented in the form of charts, graphs, or tables. Practice is essential to mastering DI, so solve as many practice problems as possible. Work on understanding trends, comparisons, and calculations based on the given data. Familiarity with different types of data presentation will give you an edge in this section.

4. Practice Mental Math

Speed is crucial in competitive exams like IBSAT 2024. To improve your efficiency, practice mental math regularly. Learn quick calculation techniques, such as Vedic mathematics, to save time during the exam. Additionally, practicing with shortcuts for common arithmetic operations like multiplication, division, and percentage calculations can enhance your speed and accuracy.

5. Solve Previous Year Papers

One of the most effective ways to prepare for the IBSAT 2024 Quantitative Techniques section is to solve previous year question papers. This will give you a sense of the types of questions asked, the difficulty level, and the time required for each section. It also helps in identifying recurring patterns and important topics. Try to solve these papers under timed conditions to simulate the actual exam experience.

6. Take Mock Tests

Mock tests are invaluable for assessing your preparation. Regularly take mock tests specifically focused on the Quantitative Techniques section of IBSAT 2024. Analyze your performance after each test to identify areas of weakness. Work on improving these areas and track your progress over time. Mock tests also help in building exam stamina and improving time management skills.

7. Time Management

In the IBSAT 2024 exam, time management is crucial. Allocate time to each question wisely during the exam. Don't spend too much time on a single question, as it might cost you valuable time. Develop the habit of moving on from difficult questions and coming back to them later if time permits. Practice managing time efficiently during your mock tests to ensure you can complete the Quantitative Techniques section within the allotted time.

8. Stay Consistent

Consistency is key to success in the IBSAT 2024 Quantitative Techniques section. Make a study plan that covers all the topics and stick to it. Dedicate a few hours each day to practicing quantitative problems and revising concepts. Avoid cramming at the last moment, as consistent practice over time yields better results.

Conclusion

Preparing for the IBSAT 2024 Quantitative Techniques section requires a combination of strong conceptual understanding, regular practice, and time management skills. By brushing up on your basics, solving previous year papers, taking mock tests, and practicing data interpretation, you can improve your chances of scoring well in this section. Make sure to stay consistent with your preparation and manage your time effectively during the exam. Following these tips will help you excel in the IBSAT 2024 Quantitative Techniques section and move closer to your dream of joining ICFAI Business School.

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educationalknowledge2555 · 13 days

Text

How to Prepare for the IBSAT 2024 Quantitative Techniques Section

1. Understand the Exam Pattern

2. Brush Up on Basic Concepts

3. Focus on Data Interpretation

4. Practice Mental Math

5. Solve Previous Year Papers

6. Take Mock Tests

7. Time Management

8. Stay Consistent

Conclusion

0 notes

reygwenwrites · 6 months

Text

Astro's Magical Musical Adventures!!!

By Rey Gwen

March 15th, 2024

When I was 13 years old, I thought Astro was (very simply put) cool as fuck. I’m 20 years old now, and I still think Astro is cool as fuck. Being in musical spaces alongside Astro has opened my eyes to the versatility of his work- not only does he know anything and everything about music theory, but he also works on conlangs (by definition: a language that has been artificially created; a constructed language) and assortments of other hobbies that make him all the more interesting and super fun to talk to.

The release of Mint Gum at the beginning of February marks the 13th album Astro has put on Spotify. My favorite track is “ok girl !”, an electronic journey that feels like being whisked away to the liveliness of a big city in the summertime. The next track “Era” (my second favorite track) provides the same sense of being transported into whimsical life which is a skillset that Astro has proven time and time again he has mastered.

Needless to say- I'm thrilled to be talking to one of the most talented people I know, and I'm honored to say that Astro is one of my best friends.

REY GWEN: How do you even begin making music?

ASTRO: If I were to give a total newbie steps to making music in the way I make music, I would suggest they first learn to play the piano. My childhood self would have hated this advice, but playing the piano is both an unbelievably useful tool for musical expression and a gateway to music theory. If you learn to play all your favorite songs on the piano, you will learn quickly enough about chord functions and scales.

Speaking of chord functions, learn about chord functions. You can call it functional harmony, or roman numeral analysis, or whatever, but naming your chords in relation to the key is, I think, the most eye-opening thing you can do when learning to analyze music. Patterns are so much easier to identify and understand in roman numeral analysis. When I was teaching myself tonal music theory by just making music, I gleaned some intuition about how chords function, although I had no clue how to communicate that intuition. The sooner you start naming your chords things like "IV" and "vi" and so on, the better.

Western pop music has the advantage of mostly consisting of the chords I, IV, V, and vi. I could write a million words about the Discourse this has caused, but I'll say here that it's useful for beginners because there's so much beautiful things to be said about and expressed through the relationships of those four chords. Learn I IV V vi, and learn them well.

While I'm cramming advice,

Save everything you create. Make archives. Export as .flac or .wav. I am so angry at myself for not saving full-quality exports of anything before 2019.

Don't be shy to make remixes, or covers, or to 'steal' ideas altogether. You'll learn so much. You're probably competent enough to recognize what it means to take and transform an idea. You're not intending to lie about the sources of your material, so don't even act like you would be taking credit for others' work (which is immoral). Copyright is bullshit anyways, and I mean this sincerely.

Know that your music will perpetually sound bad. You will never stop pointing out flaws in your own work. That just means you're getting better! Isn't that sweet?

In the same vein, be smart about receiving critiques. When people point out the ways in which your music sucks, you will feel horrible. But they will be right in some way. You should try your hardest to feel grateful that someone isn't willing to lie and placate you. Instead of lingering on your ill-advised choices, come out as a smarter person who will make even better art. (This is much easier said than done!)

Ask a trusted adult to help you pirate FL studio

GWEN: Most of your songs provoke certain emotions, is this something you take into account before you start creating, or do the emotions unfold upon further work on the song?

ASTRO: I don't really consider anything before I start a song. Every song starts as some random synthesizer I wanted to hear, or a chord progression I wanted to play around with. I only think about the emotions I want to evoke as I'm developing a song, thinking about the album it will sit on, and reflecting on my evolving relationship with the song.

I've realized my perspective on a song's emotional presence totally depends on my experience with the song, which is radically different from my audience. Looking at your above description of my song "ok girl !", I've realized I have a totally different view of that song. To me, it feels intimidating, claustrophobic, obsessive, painful, and shameful. And I can't just listen to that song in a way that doesn't make me think about those feelings. By contrast, you saw it as brighter, like a bustling city in the summer. I find it incredible how (instrumental) (electronic) music invites such vivid yet disparate imaginations.

In general, I want to be more purposeful with my music's emotional aspects than before. I've been working on this song called "Obsession" where I'm again trying to tackle obsession, claustrophobia, and shame through the language of an energetic, electric sound. Honestly, I've been here before — this is the vague idea that drove my 2020 album 10k Degrees.

I doubt my real intent will come across in "Obsession" to my audience, and I'm okay with that. It's probably better to have my art inspire every person to inspect and extract their own emotions, rather than being so obvious as to cause the same emotions in everyone who experiences it. Isn't that why modern art is so interesting?

GWEN: How do you decide which songs go on albums? Do you have any songs sitting in a vault somewhere?

ASTRO: I made a promise to myself back in like 2019 that I would never again release a song if it weren't part of a bigger album. I don't feel like I can say a whole lot with one song alone. So, in short, every (non-remix) song will be released as part of an album, hopefully for the rest of my career. Except "ROSALIE", I guess.

I used to make albums sequentially, but lately I've been working on several simultaneously. This approach has been fun. It lets me think less of each album having to be better than the previous, which was an annoying, critical, unproductive feedback loop that binded me during 2022 and 2023. somewhere in the milky way was gonna be the blueprint for this new method of creation. I had another few album concepts in mind around that time (namely The Lakefront, Beloved, and Mint Gum) that didn't get past 2 or 3 songs, so I kinda just left them in their vaults. I was (and still am) adamant about not releasing them unless I had a whole album to put out. 2023 had me feeling stupid and unproductive because I had no full albums, only little collections of songs. 2023 also had me feeling stupid because I really wanted to make an album with vocals (more about that later), and felt guilty about the mere thought of releasing an instrumental album without finishing that vocal album first.

Mint Gum was a cute remedy of sorts to my conceptual slump. I took these little collections of 2-3 songs, which were made to fulfill some album concept that I gave up on, and just released them as one big album. Mint Gum is composed of a few vaults of mine. And it was so much fun! As I was releasing it, I was worried that I wouldn't develop an emotional connection to Mint Gum the same way I have with every other project, but I already have cherished memories and associations with the album.

I also have one very special vault from 2021 that I'm finally getting around to releasing very soon.

GWEN: Your remixes you put on Youtube are iconic, see: Katy Perry's Magical Musical Adventures!!! , how do you decide which songs get the Astro-treatment?

ASTRO: My remixes are really just an expression of the songs I love the most, the songs that I just can't get out of my head and want to hear through my own lens. In the past, I would sometimes go into a remix thinking "I want to make my own version that fits better with my taste". This is still pretty true — a lot of my remixes are non-EDM songs shoved into an EDM context because I just like the instrumentation of electronic music.

But lately I've been thinking of my remixes not as forward but as lateral. My remix of "Anti-Hero" by Taylor Swift isn't straight up 'how I would have produced Anti-Hero if tasked with it'. Because Taylor didn't ask me to do that. It's a reaction essay and a love poem. And I can expect the listeners to already be familiar with the elements of "Anti-Hero", so there's a musical lingo I can play with. I can be eccentric if you already know the original song. Sometimes this musical lingo even involves incorporating other songs, albeit I never know how well this lands. I don't know if sampling Yiruma's "River Flows in You" hits as hard for other people in my "Anti-Hero" remix, because I really can't be certain other people have the same history with that song as I do.

Most of the remixes I make honestly don't go anywhere. I feel like I'm starting a new remix every day or every other day, usually just some song I catch myself lip syncing to. It only works out if I'm feeling inspired to produce and compose too, the same way I would need to be for an original song. The pop acapella acts as scaffolding and an idea elicitor. I think pop vocals have so much harmonic richness to give, in a way that usually goes unappreciated in the original production.

GWEN: Who are your main musical inspirations? How did you start getting into making music?

ASTRO: I first got into making music when I was a wee lad forced to take piano lessons. I quit after three lessons and instead played video games about music, namely Wii Music.

As an aside, people HATE this game with all their hearts and I will not stand for it. It infamously has no score metric, so performing a song is actually reduced to self-expression. That is the best way for art to be, because this game isn't about being right, it's about making art. When I was a little boy I would queue these popular songs like "September" by Earth, Wind & Fire but refuse to play the 'right' notes, instead creating a new work all my own. When you play 'wrong' notes, the game fills it in with plausible pitches and chords. You can learn a lot about this algorithm and know precisely how to play the 'wrong' notes to create what you want. Wii Music is an incredible game and I credit it with my music career.

My parents were kinda disappointed in me for quitting piano lessons. They said my music would go nowhere if I couldn't play piano. They were pretty much right (the piano is an invaluable skill) but in rebellion, I took up drum lessons with the (very cool!) John Sparrow from the Milwaukee band Violent Femmes. I drummed along to Minecraft parodies with him like the very normal child I was.

I picked up piano later, had an incredible pitch recognition (I don't know if it was innate or if I acquired it from Wii Music), and wrote a ton of music for piano in notebooks. The irony is I can read and write sheet music when I concentrate, but I'm not fluent in it like a musician really should be.

I got free composition software on the family computer and started composing there. I don't know at what point I'd say I started producing (as opposed to just composing), probably somewhere in 2017. Learning to produce has actually been an arduous lifelong process. I spent so many years being mediocre, and at any given time, I only really like my last year or two of work. Everything old feels bad, which means I'm still getting better and more aware of my own process.

My biggest musical inspirations are:

Porter Robinson and Madeon. These come as a pair because they really defined my middle school taste for electronic music, which I still draw from today. I guess I'd call them pop, in contrast with the more experimental EDM I listen to. Their music has the polish you'd expect from a popular artist while still holding onto incredible character in every song.

Jane Remover. I've been a fan since Spaceage Radio (dear God that was so long ago) and it's insane how catchy everything she puts out is. No project of hers have any skips. I sincerely credit her remix of Teenage Dream for fueling my summer 2020 nightcore renaissance, an awakening which still influences my perspective on electronic music.

SOPHIE. Her songs are the pinnacle of pop earworms, which is especially mystifying considering how strange most of her music sounds. Her soundscapes are sparse with the most extraterrestrial instruments, but every element feels perfectly at home. I'm really jealous of how cleanly she can mix her strange sounds, because even mixing conventional sounds is difficult for me.

GWEN: I know you just released, but do you have any more projects planned?

ASTRO: I have so many projects planned. The next album is already done and coming absurdly soon, it's the very special vault I was talking about before.

I'm also actively working on two other albums. Album 15 is actually a sincere attempt at baking particular emotions into the fabric of my music. I'm trying to get the listener to feel the same madness/obsession I felt through my song "ok girl !". It probably won't come across to the audience because of how particular the experiences are to me, and it's still basically an instrumental album, but it's been a meaningful exercise to sonify these feelings.

Album 16 has been my precious project since 2022. Progress on it is so insanely slow, but that doesn't really matter, right? I really want to work with vocalists on this one because I have anthems that must be sung, God damn it! I've toyed with the idea of using UTAUloids to get the job done, and I definitely do want to make an UTAU album at some point, but Album 16 is not the place for that. Maybe when I do a Toki Pona album?

I also have a (comically large) remix collection in the works. Who knows when that will be done. It'll be waiting for you.

Astro on Spotify

Astro on Youtube

Astro on Bandcamp

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