#irving does not exist

[irvingbruhxiatel]

the flashbacks of bennybrax content in glory days makes my heart warm and sad at the same time. i just want them to be pals like they were before he fucks the universe over.

[tanadrin]

Imagine that a century or two from now, the eastern half of the United States is conquered by the Canadian Empire, its intelligentsia deported, its land colonized by Canadian immigrants, and its remaining people mostly gradually absorbed into a Neo-Canadian identity. The West reorganizes, developing a new political and cultural center, and comes to regard itself as the "true" United States, with the remnant culture of the East (by now much changed by Canadian rule) as representing an unchanged tradition stretching back to the time of George Washington. The holdout western half is subsequently conquered by the Reformed Mexican Empire, and while most of the population remains in situ, its elite is taken to Mexico City. There, for three or four generations, they do their best to maintain their distinct American identity, focusing on the American "civil religion," the distinctive political ideals and cultural features that mark them out as Americans, and come up with a new way of interpreting their history that allows America to be a perennial idea, something not directly physically tied to the territory of the United States, which no longer exists. They compose a body of historical works based on Washington Irving's rather fabulistic approach to early American history, the half-remembered popular versions of the stories of Columbus and the Pilgrims, the First Thanksgiving, even the Revolutionary War. They don't have access to the original texts anymore--let's say this is all taking place in a post-Collapse North America where long-range travel and communication is difficult and a lot of history has been lost--but they do their best. They append to these books, or include in their text, of history a copy of the Constitution, big chunks of the United States Code, and Robert's Rules of Order.

Subsequently, the Empire of Gran Columbia invades, conquers southern and central Mexico, and its Emperor lets the captive Americans go home. They return north, mostly to California, find that the version of American history and civics that is remembered there isn't the same as the version they have (not that the Californian one is correct--the Mexican Empire has suppressed English-language education and high culture in its Aztlani provinces), and set about reforming and reorganizing the Western States (as they're now called) to be more in line with the forms they brought back from the exile. In the meantime, other bits of important literature start being kept in libraries next to copies of the received histories: some bits of early American literature, like Hawthorne, the Song of Hiawatha, some highly abridged Herman Melville, Thomas Paine--heck, even some John Locke, and quotes or fragments from Shakespeare. Some traditionalists now argue the capital of the United States has always been located in San Francisco, and that Washington, D.C. only because the capital later, under the influence of Eastern heretics.

In the following centuries, the Western States retain their independence for a time, but eventually become a secondary battleground for a lot of other empires--the Mexicans, the Canadians, the Pan-Pacific Federation, and so forth. American culture remains distinctive, insulted in part by its unique traditions, though now everybody speaks Future Spanish, and only learns English to read the old texts. In this period additional material, including later compositions, continues to accrete, forming a distinct body of sacred American scripture, although it does not exist in a single canonical form. Attempts to reconcile distinct sources, like more literal and historically-grounded accounts versus the simplified narratives of figures like Irving, produce hybrid texts that sometimes are full of internal conflicts.

Oh, and through all this, some institutions of American government like the Supreme Court still function, although their rulings only apply to Americans, and there isn't much in the way of a federal bureaucracy.

Finally the Great and Sublime Brazilian Potentate conquers most of the Americas, sets up an American client state that roughly coincides with the heartland of the old Western States (California, Oregon, most of Washington and Nevada), and allows the Americans to elect their own President (subject, of course, to Brazilian approval). During this period, an apocalyptic street preacher from Los Angeles claims to have inherited the authority and power of George Washington, and is executed by the Brazilians; his later followers point to the prophecies of Emperor Norton, and out-of-context bits of a Quebecois translation of Moby-Dick and some Mark Twain stories to say no, really, he was George Washington. Inexplicably, a version of this religion becomes the dominant faith of the Brazilian Empire before it collapses. But long before then the American state in California fails, crushed when it tries to revolt against Brazilian rule; the remnant Easterners likewise dwindle down to only a few hundred souls living in a village in Alexandria, Virginia. Centuries from now, as the descendants of the descendants of the Brazilians colonize Mars, they will point to the sacred Americanist scriptures, the Neo-Americanist narratives of their prophet's life, and the letters written by the early leaders of Neo-Americanism, and say, "all of this was written by the spirit of George Washington, and is free from contradictions." Meanwhile the remnant Americanists, who have been writing about Americanism and how it applies to their everyday lives in the centuries since, and whose commentary has formed around the copies of the last editions of the U.S. Supreme Court Reporter (SCOTUS managed to outlast the final American state by a hundred years or so) plus the thoughts of the remaining Americanist community in Mexico, continue to regard their traditions as the unbroken and unaltered practice of American culture, politics, and ideals as they existed since the Revolutionary War.

This is, as far as I can tell, approximately how the Bible was composed.

[even-in-arcadia]

I was rereading "Lovers of the Human Flesh" by Caleb Crain as one does and I was very struck by two particular lines in relation to one Cornelius Hickey:

Incorporating what you love is a sure way to see that it never escapes from you.

and

Eating something is a way of keeping it with you forever, but it is also a way of destroying it.

I don't need to delve into the implications for Hickey's actual cannibalism - that's been done by those better (and more attached to Hickey) than I. What I want to talk about more is this concept in relationship to Hickey's ambitions to godhood.

Hickey has a plan always, at all times. It's a plan that shifts based on what seems best for him, what seems most convenient, and whatever he thinks his relationship to Crozier is at any given moment. They all essentially make sense in a scrappy, aggrieved, mutiny kind of way. Until: Solomon Tozer tells him, horrified, that he witnessed the Tuunbaq eat Mr. Collins' soul. Hickey says, specifically, that this merits a change in plan. He spends a long time by himself on a hill doing --we'll never know what.

EC/Cornelius Hickey, a man who clearly has never known a love that didn't turn on him or leave, has determined to be become melded to the Tuunbaq, an eater of souls. Gibson turned on him by falsely representing their relationship to Irving; Crozier turned on him by denying the "clear" bond they had and denying Hickey's gift of Lady Silence; he's been betrayed by this entire voyage that was supposed to take him to Oahu. Who knows what other loves have betrayed him.

If the Tuunbaq can eat souls, if Hickey can become connected with that power, then perhaps he too will be able to incorporate souls! Perhaps he will be able to finally ensure that something, someone will never turn on him. And if those souls must be destroyed in the process, what is it to him? Has the world not spent his entire time on earth trying to destroy him? (Conjecture: but given what we learn of him, the Nagaitis lore, and the cultural & economic context in which he exists, I think this is reasonable.) He yells into the Arctic air:

Bugger Victoria! Bugger Nelson! Bugger Jesus! Bugger Joseph, bugger Mary! Bugger the Archbishop of Canterbury! NONE EVER WANTED NOTHING FROM ME

He feels abandoned by every institution of society, and so he is going to create one in his own image. He offers a captain, an officer, a marine, and a ship's boy: the ship's hierarchy in miniature. If he feeds the Tuunbaq their souls and then melds with Tuunbaq himself, he can eat society and reconstitute it not just in his own image but in his own person, with only his chosen loyal followers, those who do want something from him. As Crain says, "In Freud's Totem and Taboo, the cannibal feast is the founding act of crime and sharing that binds society." That's the founding myth Hickey is not just counting on but trying to actively create.

And maybe, maybe! When he has access to Tuunbaq's power - will he have a line on those souls as well? Tuunbaq devours both body and soul in tandem, suggesting they are connected. As Hickey has already eaten of Gibson's flesh, maybe he can reconstitute and reingest that as Gibson's soul. Thus the destruction becomes the resurrection becomes the incorporation. Crain writes: "The body is a convenient boundary for the definition of the self. [...] in practice the peculiar act [cannibalism and homosexuality] violates that boundary. The act offers an ecstatic union." A cannibal rat wedding, if you will.

Crozier says to Hickey, "You must be a surpassingly lonely man." Hickey doesn't deny this. He merely says "Not for long." This is about power, but it is also about an end to loneliness, to his sense of betrayal at all levels and at every turn. Of course, it doesn't work out. In not caring about who suffered the consequences of his actions, he failed to take into account that incorporation & ingestion involve destruction. He thought himself the instrument of this, but by failing to see the Tuunbaq unto itself, as something other than a tool, as the independent Arctic that could never stomach Western society and live: he turned that back on himself and so was himself destroyed.

[merelymatt]

I'm not sure they're ever in the same scene, so it takes a while to dawn, but the contrasts between Irving B. and Ms Cobel—

he's an artistic soul trapped in a world where the only art and literature is corporate propaganda, and even though he's a bit overly pushy about it, it still comes from a place of wanting to share the inspiration and awe he feels ("I think we should take Helly to the Perpetuity Wing today"), and even though he's kind of a stickler, he's not beyond a bit of creative interpretation of the scripture if it helps him and the people he cares about to wring a bit more happiness out of their existence—

and then she, she isn't severed, she isn't cut off from the rest of the art and expression the world has to offer (whatever that looks like in a world with Lumon in it), but she chooses the story of Lumon and the Eagans to the obsessive exclusion of all other possible truths ... and see what she does with it, makes snares of it to catch people out with, and hammers to beat them with, and yardsticks for them to fall short of.

Irving B. is only given one story to work with and causes it to change as he grows beyond it. Ms Cobel limits herself to a single story, rejecting all others, and it makes her rigid enough to shatter

[theterrorreversebang]

Presenting, for your viewing and reading pleasure: the final collection of the first-ever Terror Reverse Bang, a feast of gorgeous artwork, beautiful fic, friendship, laughter, tears, ...some horny. OK, a lot of horny.

You can find the AO3 collection for the event here. Summaries and links to the artwork below the cut.    Thank you all for going on this fantastic journey with us. Eat well and enjoy. - ❤️, Charlie and Vio 

a most noble and enjoyable pursuit (T, multiple ships, 10.6k) artwork and concept by shloodles fic by vfrankenstein

Cornelius Hickey discovers something in the orlop deck that nobody was ever meant to find. Poetry, stupidity, and romance ensues.

anamnesis (M, fitzier, 42k) artwork and concept by camecrawlingback - art 2 fic by crownlessliestheking

The only things the commander leaves behind are these: A scrap of paper with writing that is not his own, and proudly monogrammed boots, now caked in verdurous filth. Both items will be pored over, and over. The boots, encased and displayed as a memorial to Franklin's expedition, in the time where they were yet named and not merely numbered. And the paper will be picked up and encased in glass to be read but never touched, the ink determined to be not ink at all, the words never fading though grief and greed blinds readers to its warning: WE ARE GONE.

and it is now, and it is here (M, fitzier, 30k) artwork and concept by oughtnots - draft fic by 20thcenturyvole

Before the ships are trapped in the ice, James Fitzjames sees a terrible vision of the future, a harbinger of his own death. Before the ships are trapped in the ice, Francis Crozier is visited by a tender apparition, an angel wearing James Fitzjames' face. They are both seeing the same vision. Whether they can heed its warning is another matter entirely.

antipode (T, fitzier, 8.4k) artwork by asparklethatisblue fic by themainthings concept by drfronkensteeen

An antipode of any place is the point on the earth's surface diametrically opposite it. North. Then. James Fitzjames prepares for a walk. South. Now. Francis Crozier witnesses a glacier.

anything you can do (jopson does better) (T, joplittle, 15.5k) artwork and concept by necromcom fic by bastaerd

“There were only a handful of men in attendance– these lessons are often sparsely attended, as you know, but those who do attend come with the intent to improve upon not only their artistic skills but their powers of observation. Today there were… let me see.” Irving looked up at the ceiling and his mouth moved mutely as he recounted to himself the day’s class roster. “Hartnell, Peglar, Armitage, Gibson, Strong, and one other, I believe. Ah. Manson. A class of six.” Little nodded. “Was it one of them?” he asked. “No, no. They applied themselves to their work. It was only that- well, part of the way through the lesson Mr. Jopson arrived.” (or, Jopson's billion talents and the one thing he's dogshit at.)

beyond belief (T, multiple ships, 16.5k) artwork and concept by zdrzemka fic by Jellyfax

In the summer of 1845 'The Royal Society for Improving Natural and Unnatural Knowledge' at Somerset House in London posted a request for teams of Unnaturalists to uncover the nature of a beast spotted in the Highlands, terrorising the ironworkers on the North shore of Loch Camock. Funded by coal magnate Meyrick Holme, a reward of £500 was offered for proof of its existence, and £1000 was offered for the capture and delivery of the creature to the Royal Society. Two teams of monster hunters at the forefront of British Unnatural interests took up the gauntlet, and the hunt was to become a race against time and each other. But this is not really that story, but rather all the stories that lead up to it, and all the Monsters (Natural or Unnatural) found along the way. alternative title: "What if the Grandpa from Princess Bride was reading 'The Cryptid Factor: 1845' instead (but there was still kissing and melodrama and animals of unusual size hiding out in forests)"

blind tiger (M, bridglar, 24.5k) artwork and concept by neptuniite - art 2 fic by shortcrust

It is late in the winter of 1926 in Norfolk, Virginia. John Bridgens is a mediocre agent for the Bureau of Prohibition, and Harry Peglar is an excellent bootlegger.

bones in the ocean (T, fitzconte, 11.5k) artwork by vandrawsing fic by pointyshades concept by tullia

There were a few things James knew to be true: he had been dead, and now he was alive. Then there were the things of which he was not certain: were there others afflicted by his condition?

cliffgate (T, goodgore, 18.3k) artwork and concept by agatadraws fic by whalersandsailors

At the end of the long war with France, Graham Gore takes a holiday to Scotland in search of a place to find peace and to bury his past. But something is off in Cliffgate and her rolling hills: a secret as old as the earth, rivers, and trees. And local doctor Harry D.S. Goodsir seems embroiled in the middle of it all.

don't let them scare you; they are only my dreams (M, edward little & silna's father, 7.9k) artwork and concept by astralwhat fic by camecrawlingback

Edward Little has a nice dream. He also has some weird ones.

dreams of doom (M, multiple ships, 8.8k) artwork and concept by midnightmagpies fic by bilgewater01

When the haunted schooner Octavius sails into Crozier's dreams—and then into view of the stricken men on Erebus and Terror—the captain's suspicions, paranoid yet not without reason, turn towards Mr. Hickey. And then Crozier's men begin to die, murdered by the entity that only Hickey truly understands, and Hickey is not there to see their destruction.

francis and the frog prince (E, fitzier, 19.2k) artwork and concept by vandrawsing fic by sadsparties

James the frog has always wanted to be a prince. He wishes more than anything to have long legs and fancy hair, and horses to ride and clothes to wear. His dreams come true with the aid of a witch, but James soon learns that being a prince is more complicated than it seems. And what do you mean he must find his true love?

free o'er the bright blue sea (E, joplittle, 10.3k) artwork and concept by mitarashi8 fic by orchidae

Tom Jopson needed to make good money as fast as possible, that’s why he became Head Waiter on the Terre d’or, Franklin Ross cruise lines' brand new Mediterranean cruise ship, Captained by Francis Crozier. He figured a ship full of people would keep him focused and busy enough, too bad he keeps randomly bumping into First Officer Edward Little who is so damn distracting.

friday, i'm in love (E, joplittle, 52k) artwork and concept by mitarashi8 fic by manicpixiedreamjop

Mr. Little,Thank you so much for reaching out. While we are incredibly busy here at Mrs. Jopson’s Cleaning Services for the next few weeks (everyone’s excited about spring cleaning, what can you do!), I would be happy to get you on our schedule as early as the second week of April. When Edward’s therapist recommends he hire a cleaning company to help mitigate some of the guilt and anxiety that comes from his flat getting messy when he’s busy or depressed, he expects the "Mrs. Jopson" that he hires to be a sweet, middle-aged woman. He certainly does not expect the young, beautiful man who shows up in his flat, makes Edward's notoriously antisocial cat fall in love with him instantly, and makes Edward feel things he hasn't felt in years.

gods of fear and darkness (M, fitzier, 11.9k) artwork and concept by asparklethatisblue - art 2 fic by shakespeares_girl

After an unwanted arranged marriage to the King of the Underworld, James begins to show signs of a mysterious illness that only grows worse as time goes on. As James explores his new home and begins to grow close to his husband, Francis, and make friends in his new realm, James finds that he enjoys his new life and isn't ready to give it up. But with no cure and his symptoms growing worse first daily, then hourly, James doesn't have much time to unravel the mystery of his illness, or how it may connect to a long-buried trauma from his past ....

leave the light on (M, fitzier, 19.1k) artwork and concept by pretendingday fic by cajunroe

“Rumor has it, you found him eating bones on a beach. Keeping it up?” Francis nearly smiles but remembers just who he’s talking to in time. “You would be surprised how little the rumors of my life mean to me, Fitzjames.” He sets his haul on the table and seeks about putting everything in its place. “Oh, I do not think there’s anything about you that does not surprise me, Francis.”

long after the thrill of living is gone (M, multiple ships, 14k) artwork and concept by sixpounderss - art 2 fic by dimmockdock

Billy Gibson's main goal for his junior year of high school: survive. With the Toms by his side, that shouldn't be hard. But when a mysterious new kid shows up and draws Billy's eye, things start the change.

maths, marksmanship, & manly bonding (T, irving/tozer) artwork and concept by entangled_system

no better shoulder (T, silna & silna's father, 12k) artwork and concept by 20thcenturyvole fic by orchis

When the strangers whose ships are stuck in the ice wound her father, Silna has no choice but to accept their help until her dad heals or she can convince the men to leave. Unfortunately, they don't seem willing to listen to her. As tensions rise among the crew and Tuunbaq continues to lurk out on the ice, the danger grows for everyone involved. A Silna's dad lives AU.

nothing fades like the light (M, thomas hartnell, 8.5k) artwork and concept by silvermagpies fic by scarecrowfan

In January of 1846, Tom buries his brother on Beechey Island, but a part of Johnny seems to linger with him, a constant presence in his thoughts. Two years later, scurvy and lead poisoning have spread among the sailors. As they all struggle to survive their march from the ships, Tom's sense of time deteriorates and the edges of his memories blur. Is his brother's spirit truly with him, or is the failing of his body merely taking its toll? A Thomas Hartnell character study.

sacred and terrible divinity (M, fitzier, 28,9k) artwork and concept by 20thcenturyvole fic by midna_ronoa

The Empress of the Nine Houses in all her kindly glory summons eight necromancers and their cavaliers to take part in what will be the trial of their lifetimes: acquiring immortality. Soon after their arrival Francis Crozier, Head Archivist and Speaker of the Death of the Fifth, will have to decide where his allies and enemies lie in a game, that even if innocent at first, holds many more stakes for the known universe that one may have thought at first.

silent lands (T, silna & goodsir, 8.2k) artwork and concept by pileofsith fic by moonwalkingcrab

As Silna wanders across the land, tugged forwards by a mysterious presence, she contemplates the future and her place in it, if any.

the frozen shore (M, multiple characters, 17.5k) artwork and concept by pileofsith fic by acephalous

It's hungry and it wants to live (a 'The Thing' AU).

the gentleman soldier (E, hickeytozer, 8.6k) artwork and concept by malcifer fic by rhubarb_crumbl

Solomon finds Hickey to be a distraction from the darkness closing in around them, and realises that Hickey might need something to focus his mind on too.

the hidden paw (T, fitzier, 10.5k) artwork and concept by asparklethatisblue - art 2 fic by fadladinida

Francis heard a small mew and looked down to see a cat waiting expectantly on the doorstep. “Mew,” said the cat, apparently affirmatively, as it- he- trotted up the step and straight into Francis’ flat. Francis' fledgling friendship with his former office nemesis is put into doubt after a disastrous dinner date, but when a mysterious cat turns up at Francis' door, it quickly becomes apparent that both their relationship and the strange cat are not entirely as they seem.

the miracle; or, un unlikely series of states in a mechanical universe (E, goodsir/multiple, 7.5k) artwork and concept by bilgewater01 link to the fic

During congress with his mistress Lady Silence, Assistant Surgeon Goodsir discovers that his Membrum Virile, applied rectally, is a Panacea for any and all ailment and disease, as the woman grows back her tongue. He vigorously confirms this finding with Seaman Morfin, who is greatly troubled by his headaches; then is granted permission to perform his miraculous cures on all men in need.

this time tomorrow (M, bridglar, 19k) artwork and concept by silvermagpies fic by poorly_animated

John Bridgens meets Henry Peglar one evening when he nearly runs him over on his bike ride home. Henry doesn't particularly mind being almost run over by a handsome professor, so they walk together, and make plans to keep meeting. When John mentions Henry to his officemate, though, they discover something strange. Henry Peglar is dead.

unsportsmanlike conduct (T, fitzier, 10.8k) artwork and concept by pretendingday fic by othersideofthis (hikaru)

The Greenhithe Terrors are the worst team in the EIHL, and their last-ditch attempt to save their season involves trading for one James Fitzjames. It's too bad that the league's golden boy also doesn't seem to know that there's no "I" in team.

vanished hands and voices still (M, fitzier, 9.5k) artwork and concept by e-merald-terror fic by hangingfire

Or, The Convalescence of James Fitzjames In another timeline, two dozen of Sir John Franklin's men returned from the Arctic. In this timeline, James Fitzjames didn't die. But his great gilded life has collapsed in the wake of the disastrous expedition. Haunted by his failures and the deaths of his men, harrowed by the trauma he has suffered, he takes refuge with his foster-brother's family in Brighton.

your turn (T, hickey/irving, 21k) artwork and concept by pileofsith fic by hypallepse

When John Irving was steeling himself for another dreadful weekend in the Swiss Alps, he only thought he'd have to deal with integrating George's new boyfriend into their strange group. Nothing could have prepared him to have the same new boyfriend's ex-boyfriend crashing the party and turning his whole life around. When Cornelius Hickey decided to crash Billy's new fake life so he could get his boyfriend back, he never expected he'd have to learn how to ski or, even worse, care about another self-centred prat.

15 Recipes Arctic Explorers Can't Live Without (M, joplittle, 6.1k) artwork and concept by entangled_system fic by krewka

In the spring of 1850 Thomas and Edward convalesce in the English countryside. Recovery, relationships, and retirement create an unsavoury mix, made all the worse since no one really knows how to taco 'bout it.

[nigesakis]

one of your patented the Terror listicles but about them running a Summer Camp. (Except Hickey: he failed the background check because he once beat a nun with a collection plate) also i definitely feel like JFJ would be the swim instructor and and lead campfire sing a longs (badly) and Sir Jon is contemplating selling the camp to a mining company.

i feel honored. i dont know shit about camps though

The Terror if it played in a Summer Camp (1980's-2000's)

Francis: staff, camp manager (in his cabin office doing papework most of the time, so when he comes out the kids go OOOOOOH🫨🤙🤙 like in regular show; they like him tho, its in good fun)

Franklin: staff, camp owner (he doesnt have to be here, but decides to check it out once because he's thinking of selling. kids like him 'cause he lets them do what they want; he doesn't know theyre supposed to do tasks (Francis has to do double the paperwork now))

Fitzjames: staff, boys head counselor and program manager (he's everywhere... whys this guy suddenly at the swim instruction and does the swim instructors job? too motivated and the kids know hes trying to get them to like him; works)

Sophia: staff, girls head counselor and photographer/videographer (everyone who hates getting their picture taken doesn't mind if its her. only counselor the kids respect)

Collins: staff, swim instructor/lake guard (lets Fitzjames do the classes so he doesnt have to talk so much)

Blanky: staff, counselor and woods master (i made that up), leads the forest expeditions (suddenly all the kids like walking?? (he has a better prosthetic now))

Bridgens: staff, horsemanship instructor (popular with the kids)

Peglar: staff, overnight counselor (tells good stories when you cant sleep, lets the older ones smoke weed behind the cabins, whys the horsemanship instructor here?)

Hodgons: staff, counselor (easiest to pull pranks on; he thinks theyre doing it because they like him)

Irving: staff, counselor and worship leader (i didnt know this existed but well)

Dundy: staff, archery instructor (i think hed look cool doing it)

Jopson: staff, assistant, nobody knows what hes actually doing here

Little: staff, runs the inventory and snack bar, lets them steal

Wall & Diggle: staff, kitchen staff. you can hear them arguing from the outside

Silna: kid, sneaked in her fucking dog ("You think Neptune is gonna protect us from the killer?" watched Friday 13th before coming)

Tozer: kid, acts like hes a counselor

Goodsir: kid, the others rather come to him than the actual camps nurse (Stanley)

Manson & Hartnell: kids, got lost in the woods tying to smoke weed

Armitage: kid, got lost in the woods because he wanted to go home

Gibson: kid, only came cause Hickey told him he'd be a staff volunteer and let them break rules but now Hickey isnt there?

Des Voeux: missed the bus

[croziers-compass]

wilbur, tell us about your feelings and thoughts on hodge!! is he one of your faves?? who do you like shipping him with? what's his gender and favourite colour??

You've come looking for my feelings and thoughts on Hodgson! Headcannons and thoughts below.

Hodgson is... one of my favourites. Yes. We can say that safely. I have a broad sort of... Opinion on Hodgson from both a Terror perspective and a historical individual which sort of has given me a, we'll call him a "rpf". I did put together a large file of data regarding Hodgson's existence through history. So this is coupled with texts and readings from other various Franklin Expedition books as well as other materials and ... "Sources". So for thoughts or headcannons... He's well read and a romantic. In love with the world and poetry to describe it. He is literate in several languages with a broad spectrum of diverse literary backgrounds and enjoys theatre but not as much as he wishes. Simply because none of his favourite stories and literatures are often made into plays. He can play the piano and violin but is only alright at the piano. He prefers string instruments. He prefers romantic novels and stories to horror but does prefer it if the books refer to oceanic adventures and likes "sea horror" versus gothic horror. Though he did find "The Castle of Otranto" to be surprisingly good and owns two copies by accident.

I have a broad amount of "headcannons" regarding Hodgson that've grown substantially over the months. Some of which include, of course, interpersonal dynamics between him and his friends. He did, of course, know James before the Expedition. Both he and James fought pirates together, actually, during one of their voyages. They have a much closer relationship than what is depicted in "The Terror". They had both served in the same battles aboard the Cornwallis during the First Opium War. I ship him with both James and Dundy as they were all rather close friends as well but imagine him as having a degree of a fascination with the substantiation of certain religious themes which he is attracted to in an almost kinky way. Additionally, I imagine him having a passive but hungry fascination with one of the Barrow sons. This also ties into the concept that he's religious and is sort of "Christian" in a way. But he believes in God allegorically and poetically rather than a literal construct or concept. He's not capable of fanatical thinking or subscribing so densely to a religious ideology in such a way that he could dedicate himself to a singular pattern of thinking and believing in the world - certainly not with how broadly read, educated, and travelled that he is. Such concepts to box the world he has seen into a narrow confine of a book is simply not logical nor possible to him. But the motifs and themes of the predominant religions, to him, are a sort of... food he likes to eat. He's too philosophical to be taken over by one idea. But he does like the idea of the almost sensual allure of Christian themes. There's a romanticism there that he's appealed by and this has him using those themes a little in his social dynamics. Especially if he's trying to get under John Irving's skin or psychologically torment challenge some of James and his other more... conservative friends. Do not even get him started on St. Sebastian. I imagine that he probably was with somewhat long brown wavy hair (not quite curly but almost there) like his sister. And green eyes, historically. But that's just a personal idea. His gender is Second Leftenant. Hands down. Well. Sort of. In a way, I imagine him having an idea of Gender being more in tune with your flexibility on the ocean. In tune with the sea. Very romantic towards the ocean and the struggles of natural life and the turmoil of the oceans as a whole, I imagine he has a fluid gender that connects well to roles on ships. Which is where my whole drunken ramble actually comes from, if you have not seen it yet. I could refine it more. But that's the cruse and misshapen version of it. As for favourite colours, I think of him having a fondness for the hues and tones of the ocean as the gradients go from pale blues to deep blues with the fathoms and leagues increasing the further out you go. Also very fond of the tones and hues of the night sky and the blue-blacks that erupt from dawn and dusk.

How did I do?

[fashionbooksmilano]

Allure   Collection Susanne Von Meiss

Edited by Birgit Filzmaier and Felix Hoffmann

Kehrer Verlag, Heidelberg 2016, 256 pages, 58 color and 121 duotone illustrations,  22,8 x 31 cm,  Half-cloth hardcover,   ISBN  978-3868287134

euro 32,00

email if you want to buy booksinprogressmilano@yahoo.it

"Allure is something that does exist. "Allure holds you...whether its a gaze or a glance in the street or a face in a crowd...it pervades...you are captured by it." Diana Vreeland, Fashion journalist Two vintage photographs by Richard Avedon from the 1950s were the initial inspiration for the Susanne von Meiss Collection. For 25 years now, the Swiss journalist, publicist and entrepreneur has been collecting photography with the special focus on "allure". The Susanne von Meiss Collection representatively covers all genres and styles in the history of photography — from the 1920s through to the present. It includes works by internationally renowned photographers, however for the main part it does not give preference to the iconic photographs but rather to unknown classics. The personal selection ranges from Diane Arbus, Richard Avedon, Rene Burri and Henri Cartier-Bresson through Horst P. Horst, Irving Penn, Paolo Roversi and August Sander to contemporary artists such as Tracey Emin, Nan Goldin, Daido Moriyama, Richard Prince and Juergen Teller. The collection was presented to the public for the first time at C/O Berlin  28.05. – 04.09.2016

27/01/23

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[goongiveusnothing]

(tw: long ass ask lmao) when i stopped being a fan, i was really confused about his level of fame. in the stan bubble i think it definitely seems like he’s more famous than he actually is. he gets these opportunities that you’d think only a HUGE star would get (first male vogue cover, opening the grammys, double duty on snl, met gala chair, residencies at msg and forum, aoty), but he’s not really part of the mainstream the way taylor swift, the weeknd, drake etc are. he’s mostly ever talked about amongst his own fanbase and not much he does moves out of that bubble. i realized later that he only gets those opportunities because of the connections he has-like literally you can find a connection to irving azoff with most of those “opportunities.” he gets to do all those things, his team has all these celebrities tell the same stories about him(always using the same wording), he has a relationship for the public to focus on during each album cycle, and articles trying to convince you he’s a rockstar and super humble (that’s a big thing i realized, because i always felt like i was being gaslit with all these people calling him a “huge rockstar” when he’s really a mid popstar and i was like wait, i am being gaslit by his team lmao), but it’s all fake and manufactured. those things can only go so far and that’s why he’s not as famous as his team tries to convince the world he is. i mean i really have no better way of describing it than they’re gaslighting the public about his legendary rockstar status until it really becomes true (it won’t).

it's all marketing and sales. they tell us he's a huge star so we think he's a huge star. his people did a great job of that. his fans think it's all him, and act like his management even hinder or hurt his success and progress.

harry is not authentic enough, not talented enough, not creative enough, not smart enough, to make this thing work for him. if he were those things his career would be less weird and would feel more real. hell, he'd probably have done more authentic things like touring real clubs and bars like a "rockstar", being more authentic in public, learning to dress himself in whatever he likes, having actual interesting relationships with people who don't have the wit talent and intelligence of a puddle.

so he does have this name recognition of a major superstar. but not the music recognition because the music is secondary to the sales pitch. the music exists to be on playlists and to be inoffensive 70s dad rockish stuff that reviewers love, but that won't make a real social imprint because it's wall paste that could've been given to any generic popsinger doing his thing.

that's why the superbowl is still out of touch for him. he doesn't have the hits. he doesn't have the charisma, personality, the stage presence and creativity, to make anything that spectactular. he exists to be a dude who takes his top off in front of girls in pink feather boas, sell them a fuckload of slave labour merch, and live off the millions. he does not exist to put out music people actually listen to outside of his base.

[familyparadox]

Irving Braxiatel saviour and destroyer of Gallifrey

Irving Braxiatel saved at least one Gallifrey from the War in Heaven and in so doing doomed it to the Last Great Time War. Specifically the Gallifrey Brax. This can also be seen with Bernice Summerfield the only person to have a linear relationship with the War in Heaven and with some very very crude and nasty beating the Last Great Time War (but like said getting it into that shape is hard).

But before we start let’s get a few things right. The Adventures With Charley and C’rizz happen during the interference gap whilst Fitz and Compassion sleep and The Brax on Legion is the same as the one in the Gallifrey audios and has met Bernice Summerfield only once before hand at the start of Dragons Wrath ( the Dellah/Collection era Brax enters latter in the book) this Brax did not serve in the War in Heaven or at any rate is yet to.

This Gallifrey era Brax falls into the Axis and arrives not in another universe but in the Post War Universe Brax misses out on the War in Heaven completely and heads to Gallifrey only to find it is gone and world in a different place but with recognisable geography and cities does, this world which is similar to Gallifrey is Legion right down to the Domed City and unexplored Dark/southern side.

The Eighth Doctor and Mother Francesca are both of having their own Post War adventures.

At the end of The Legion era Brax (now with out Pandora, as Pandora is now involving her self in the War in Heaven which has already happened in the Benny audios and Dellah Book the reason this is possible is because the axis plays silly buggers with us all) heads back to before the War to find his Gallifrey and Romana (now in her third incarnation) and rescues her from the dying TARDIS after Omega escaped.

Now I believe that on Every Gallifrey Omega’s escape and ambiguous defeat heralds the War. This can be seen in both Intervention Earth and the Infinity Doctors. Two stories which have many,many parallels.

Now Brax having been sent back to Romana using the Epoch technology tells Romana about the War in Heaven (something he finds out about from the Collection Era Brax who we know he is in contact with thanks to some Legion era books), the destruction of Gallifrey the failure of the Maximediras plan and the Loss of the Collection. Romana hearing this sends Brax even further back in time to the events of Intervention Earth. Meanwhile Romana begins preparing for the war just in case Brax fails in going back in time to avert the war. This leads to the Doctor Destroying Gallifrey to avert the War in the Ancestor Cell this stops the war but Gallifrey has not yet been restored to heaven. Meanwhile in the Past Brax goes through Enemy Lines and stops the war in heaven from claiming Romana’s Gallifrey and creates a Gallifrey which exists after the Post War (this is a different Post Post War Gallifrey to the one in Cwej (well they are also the same but my opinions of the Cwej Homeworld and the Time War Homeworld are very very complicated and involve at least five different post war universe each to multiple powers and lots of Nine gallifrey’s and bottle universe leaking all over the place and it need a different post) this is why 8 forgets Fitz and Compasion and never mentions Charley and C’rizz until his regeneration (He kind of remembers Charley and C’rizz and that bad things happened to them as the Zagreus incident is vitally important to the Lead up to the Last Great Time War (and the War in Heaven). The restoration does not however mean that the Daleks did not use Gallifrey’s abscess to gain power. Whilst for non time active powers it seems nothing has changed for time active powers it would seem that gallifrey vanished from all time and then suddenly came back in to the gap it filled. The Daleks still gain power, the People still seal themselves away. The Warpsmiths and other temporal Powers are just to polite to mention it (not to mention many of them have also been restored at the same point) it could explain why several Warpsmiths suddenly want to users the Time Lords. I belive the restoration also change the past as well. I believe that most of Big Finishes Seventh Doctor audios (not all) are Post War this explains how a Post War in Heaven Benny can meet a seventh Doctor with whom Ace left to join the CIA (directly contradicting what happened to ace whilst she travled with Benny) and how she can be present for the Seventh Doctor’s last day when she was not originally present but Cwej was. Last Day and Lungbarrow contradict each other the first two New adventures of Bernice Summerfield contradict the VNA’s as well in a way that can not be blamed on Dellah/Collection era Brax and must be blamed on Legion era Brax and the War in Heaven. This “Blip”, as it were, is the reason that from the Time Lords perspective Faction Paradox vanished just before the Last Great Time War. They as Paradox’s where, to some degree atemporal and thus when they where destroyed in the War in Heaven they could not return to a post war gallifrey as they where gone wiped out by Lolita and other powers. I am sure Fransesca is still out there and Sibling Different and Same both slipped back in. I think that this Paradox saved Gallifrey but not for long as nature abhors a vacuum and so the Last Great Time War slipped in to place the Daleks had gained more power and the Time Lords where no longer prepping for a war they once more believed would never come.

This of course is only one Gallifrey the rest who knows.

[morrak]

Untitled Wednesday Library Series, Part 123

I recently attended a gathering of several hundred librarians at which nametags were sorted by first name and lunch was held in the oldest, fanciest, book-cagiest reading room. I say so not because it's especially important — it isn't — but rather to communicate (1) a sense of profound social exhaustion and (2) some degree of low-stakes bemusement, neither of which I've yet gotten over.

Last week concerned Moore's 1970 Foundations of Mechanical Accuracy, which is basically quite important. This week steps back and to the side, but not away: Irving Lewis Horowitz's 1939 dissertation, The Metal Machining Trades in Philadelphia: An Occupational Survey, presented to the University of Pennsylvania in pursuant to a PhD in education.

The How

Like the Moore, this one is only on loan. Unlike the Moore, I wasn't looking for it; I happened to glimpse the title while scanning for another University of Pennsylvania dissertation at work. I'm not sure why the (very definitely non-UPenn) lending library had anything from UPenn at all, much less something this old and rarely used — it was checked out exactly once, to a C. M. Crawford on 12 Jan 1942 — but it seemed interesting enough.

The Text

Per Horowitz: 'The aim of this study is to provide information concerning the number, the nature, and requirements of the machine shop occupations in urban Philadelphia. The purpose of this information is primarily to aid in the guidance and training of youth in public schools.' To that end, he interviewed 172 individuals across as many firms in the city in 1938 and '39, crunched several decades of semiannual wage reports submitted to the Philadelphia Metal Manufacturer's Association, conducted observations of work conditions, and put together some extraordinarily tidy syntheses of his findings.

Much of the text proper summarizes numerical findings, so there's not much purchase for fancy prose or commentary. The structure is sufficient but not very intuitive; the occasional exposition about grinding or tool and die making or piece-work or set-up men is probably necessary but feels efficient only once or twice. Sometimes this works like a business brief, sometimes like a government one, and only at the beginning and end does it (to my much later, not-an-education-PhD-candidate eyes) feel most like a dissertation.

That someone could write such a thing, at such a time as the late 30s, in such a place as Philly, is fucking outrageous. Any amount of information about metalworking in that setting is, to a certain kind of person, as good as gold, especially given the sources involved. It is, of course, inescapably a product of those sources — racial disparities, when mentioned, are treated casually; women only incidentally labor; older workers are liabilities; military contracts lurk in the background but are never mentioned explicitly; geography is left to the imagination. No maps; no real demography; no worker surveys; few data we'd recognize as useful labor statistics.

The Object

Dissertation binding is easy to spot, by which I mean it's usually an afterthought. This one's boards are original and very, very sad. Crispy, really. The stitched self-adhesive strips connecting the text block and spine (which is hand-lettered backward to the American standard) are mostly intact, but only because of limited handling time. Thankfully the block itself is nearly pristine.

Tangential light still shows some very neat artifacts from printing — the heavily ruled lines around tables all left slight dents in the paper, and many of the borders were printed with either loose or slightly imperfectly cast blocks. None of this detracts from the quality and care the thing exudes. Tables and graphs this good AND this old might as well not exist, but here they are: perfect anyway.

In the third image, you can see the pressure artifacts coming through from the verso most clearly. In the fifth, note that the lower graph’s axes are identically numbered in different units — cents/hour and hours/week happen to have lined up nicely enough through those years to make scaling extra delicious. That plus the third one’s layout make me want to [REDACTED] the author, as @girlfriendsofthegalaxy put it, right on the [EXPUNGED].

The Why, Though?

As I said, Foundations of Mechanical Accuracy is basically quite important. This basically isn't at all, and may never have been. I don't know, but it is worth remembering that the trade schools Horowitz discusses are exactly the ones that would've trained the seasoned machinists and engineers employed by Moore Tool 30 years later. Whether anyone cared about this survey in particular isn't really knowable to me. It cites lots of local work, sure, and I bet certain people would've cared, but come on. 1939? In Philly? The Naval Yard was right there, and wartime production measures could've done any number of things to educational policies.

More importantly to us, please remember that the requisite data were taken down on paper and crunched on a slide rule. The graphs were drafted with pens and rulers, then printed in small batches at a college press using bespoke plates. Poor fucker interviewed 172 workshop and factory administrators before even writing. I hope he made that defense committee beg for his mercy.

[hexagonalhavoc]

Romantic with Sado, please! Reader is a another game character, weak, silent, He/Him. Not Angst

Jailbreak 

Sado x Reader

     You never thought you would be in the npc detention center. You didn’t even know what you did wrong. Your memories are nothing but a blur, every time you get a snippet of the past you’re greeted with more questions than answers. You can’t even remember the game you came from. You were wearing some sort of circus outfit but that didn’t help to ease your confusion. Everyone else could remember what game they came from so why couldn’t you? 

You hated it here. All you could do was sit around in your cell and listen to your cellmates talk. It gave you such a headache to hear them all talk at once, screaming and banging on the blue force fields that kept them within their cells. 

It wasn’t unusual to see Irving roaming the halls and acting as a warden. You doubted anyone could leave this place and he made it very clear what would happen if they tried but he still patrolled regularly to make sure no one was planning to cause trouble. He walked with one hand behind his back and the other on his earpiece. The most entertainment you got was listening to him talk to people over the earpiece and even that was boring. 

“Yes I got her. There should be no evidence left that Dosa’s game ever existed.” A game being deleted? You lean closer and press your ear up to the front of your cell. Maybe you can’t remember your game because it was deleted. Irving starts to walk away from your area and it’s harder to hear what he’s saying. You can make out very few words.

“Game breaking…npc hostage…lured…” 

He starts walking your way so you move away and keep your head down. He doesn’t even seem to know you were there, you wonder if he would even care if you’re listening or not. “So keep an eye on her, she’s smarter than she looks. Once we’re sure that she is secured with no chance of escape we can get rid of him, there’s no point in keeping him here.” Irving slams his fist against your cell, causing you to flinch back. There was no reason for him to do that other than to mess with you. This wasn’t the first time he’s done something like this and he only seems to do it to you. 

Someone else is being detained here? But where? You don’t see any new faces. Whoever “she” is, she must be at the very end of the hallways in the cell that has the most security. This new prisoner must have done something really bad. 

And who was Irving talking about? Whoever was the topic of conversation was unlucky as your wannabe warden made it very clear that they wouldn’t be alive for very long. You shuddered at the thought of that. No one that had been locked up had deserved to die. Being a video game character was hard, if you do even one thing out of script you’ll be punished harshly. 

He’s no longer talking but he’s still patrolling. You’re starting to get irritated by the sound his tacky dress shoes made against the sleek floors. You wonder if he has some sort of personal vendetta against you because he’s right in front of your cell again. 

“I bet you feel pretty small in there.” Does he just like picking on you in particular? He ignores everyone else. It’s not like you’ve done anything to him, you haven’t uttered a single word to him. “You want out, right? I bet if you ask your friend for help she’ll let you out.” You lift your head up to look at him. Your friend? You have no clue who he’s talking about. You can hardly remember who you are let alone any people you might have known in the past. If you were braver you would have questioned his words but you just lowered your head down again, assuming that he was just trying to get to your head. 

In reality, he was trying to get into Sado’s head. With how powerful she is he’s unsure if she’s capable of freeing herself from her shackles. Normally you don’t try to provoke a powerful force like her but Irving has a sizable ego which makes him think he’s untouchable. 

He knows that you don’t remember Sado but Sado remembers you. And you ended up being the perfect bait to catch a normally allusive entity like she was. Who would have guessed that her kryptonite would be such a person like yourself? There’s no disturbance on her end so maybe she really can’t escape her confinements. Irving can’t spend his whole day tormenting you so he takes his leave. 

Everything has quieted down for now and so you sit in your cell, your finger drawing invisible patterns on the ground out of sheer boredom. 

The sound of electricity crackling fills your ears. That wasn’t a sound you were familiar with. Then you hear the commotion of your fellow npc’s as a dark void draws near, ready to consume everything in its wake. You defensively curl up into a ball in the corner of your cell. You close your eyes with your hands on each side of your head. Is this really it? Are you meant to spend your last moments in confusion? 

Click! Click! Click! 

That’s a familiar sound to you, the sound of someone’s shoes against the hard floors. It doesn’t sound as heavy as Irving’s footsteps. Slowly, you lift your head up. There’s darkness right outside your cell but it doesn’t dare enter. The voices of the others are gone. Your cell door opens but the darkness doesn’t spill in. 

You stand up and go the very edge of your cell. You’re afraid but there’s no point in keeping yourself cooped up in there. This may be your chance to escape. You have to hype yourself up but you stick your hand out of your cell and into the darkness just to see what happens. The void rips itself apart to make way for your hand. You shakily inhale and step out completely. It’s like an invisible force field prevents the darkness from swallowing you up like it did all the others but why? What’s so special about you? 

The darkness continues to split itself down the middle until you can see a figure down the hallway. This dark clothed silhouette walks over to you slowly, as if savoring each step of her introduction. Naturally, you should feel afraid of a stranger in the darkness approaching you with such a cheshire grin but you don’t. Something in your heart is telling you that everything is going to be okay. You almost feel nostalgic in the strangest way. 

Now she’s right in front of you. She’s so close but you don’t feel the need to shy away like you do with other people. Her smile is uncanny and her eyes are unblinking but you feel safe right now. 

“You don’t remember me?” 

You’ve never been much of a talker. The only thing you can do is nod. 

“That’s a pity.” She takes another step towards you. You’re so close that if she takes another step you’ll be touching. “And yet…you didn’t run away. You know you’re important to me, don’t you?” 

You nod once more. How can her words mean nothing but everything at the same time? 

She tilts her head to the side. A pale hand slowly goes to your face as if she’s trying not to startle you. Black fingernails gently graze your cheek but you hardly feel them. Is this the one Irving was talking about? The one that was such a threat she was locked away with maximum security? But she seems so gentle. 

“I’m not too worried about it. I’ll get us out of here and we can work on jogging your memories together. I wouldn’t mind falling in love with you all over again.” Her expression is still the same but her eyes look glossy and you can’t if it’s because she’s happy or sad. Her voice doesn’t much inflection in it. 

It feels like there’s a hand pressing on your chest and it makes your eyes water. You’ve never heard such words before. You never thought someone could look at you so tenderly. You slowly reach your hand out to hers but then the whole building shakes. You would have fallen over if not for the hands that steady you. 

“Well would you look at that, they finally showed up. They’re behind schedule.” Before you can question her she turns to face you. “You have two choices. You can let the space marines save you or you can come with me. We’ll see each other again no matter what you choose.” Sado was going to wait for one of them to free her but they had came too late. All she had to do was lead one of them to the Hex Artifact. Unfortunately she couldn’t complete the ritual on her own. If she wanted to get you both to the real world she would have to let them take the artifact. 

You grab Sado’s hand, making your choice clear. Her hand tightens around yours. “You made a good choice. Stay close to me, we won’t part ever again.”

[isolaradiale]

ISOLA PATCH NOTES (02/01/24)

Hey everyone!

We've got a new policy update to present to you that includes the results from the member survey that we ran last month as well as some more general changes / reminders. Let's get started!

GROUP MINIMUM AGE

One of the questions we asked within the survey was whether or not the members felt like we should make the group 18+ finally. The results were overwhelmingly in favour of this with 75% of the votes in favour of this change and 25% against. As a result we've decided to enact the following changes:

As of the posting of this update on 02/01/24 the group is officially 18+ only. You'll only be able to join if you are 18 years of age or older. We have a zero tolerance policy if it turns out anyone lies about being over 18, and they will be banned immediately if found out.

If you are currently in the group and are under 18, please contact the masterlist so that we can discuss next steps!

We'll be removing the application field about interacting with minors and it will no longer be mandatory for an application to be accepted.

It will no longer be required to add "18+" to your blog title if you write NSFW. However we still recommend doing so if you believe you'll be writing a lot of NSFW on your blog.

As a reminder our other NSFW policies remain unchanged. Please continue to readmore and tag sensitive content for the comfort of members who prefer not to see it or may find it unsettling.

EVENT FREQUENCY

Regarding the results of the event frequency poll, over the past few weeks the leading results of 3 weeks and one month have been neck and neck. There has been a one vote margin between them this whole time, and they've been going back and forth on which one is in the lead. As a result we've decided on a compromise:

There will be a four week break between events going forward.

While this doesn't sound much different from the one month option, it actually prevents an "every other month" scenario since not all months have the same number of days and weeks.

As a result we can run roughly 7 events per year instead of 6 with the month break, meaning we can guarantee 2-3 reruns per year still depending on the circumstances!

GENERAL UPDATES / REMINDERS

We will be altering the wording on the masterlist for when characters are eligible to be reserved / apped from new media. They specify "12:00:01" and it was worded this way so people better understood that which day we were talking about, but we'll just be correcting it to "12:00:00" to align with similarly worded rules that just specify the day.

The previous events list has been updated to include the remaining 2023 events and is now current!

Just a general reminder that we will be posting an activity check for January in the next few days, but there will not be an activity check for February because it's a short month. This does not mean you cannot be sniped, so please keep this in mind.

If you're sending in a request for personal housing make sure you send it into the Galaxy blog instead of the masterlist blog!

We've noticed that there have been a lot of new minis added to the '#isola mini' tag but at times a lot of these minis are going unreplied to. If you're thinking of posting a mini we encourage you to browse the tag to make sure there isn't something you could reply to first! Likewise this is a more general reminder that the mini tag exists for those who don't use it!

NEW ASSISTANT!

For the past few months we've had a new assistant on the team. We're sure plenty of you are familiar with them but here's a few words straight from the horse's mouth! Or the mouth of assistant Andromeda we should say!

hey everyone! my name's bee! i've been rping on tumblr specifically since 2011, and i've been a member of isola since 2019! i'm a fulltime napper and an avid CLAMP enjoyer– if you get me started talking about those noodles i will not be able to stop, apologies in advance. currently i write lloyd irving from tales of symphonia and link from breath of the wild/tears of the kingdom, but you might see some other blorbos of mine pop up in the group from time to time. though my twitter is locked, you are more than welcome to follow me over at @/SHSLNOODLE! i'd be happy to chat anytime!

-- the island stars.

[celestialvoid-fanfiction]

Imagine a Sleepy Hollow AU where the pack hears about a headless horseman riding through Beacon Hills. Stiles thinks it’s a hoax because the lore of Washington Irving’s Tales of Sleepy Hollow says that the headless horseman is tied to Ichabod Crane and if one exists than the other does and they would have noticed a Civil War soldier walking around. 

Turns out, Ichabod Crane is real and he is immortal... in a sense. He lived but when he was mortally wounded, he was born again in his descendants. A bloodline that can be traced all the way to Stiles.

But because the horseman was tied to Ichabod and his descendants, with every one that died, the horseman was put into sleep until the next descendant was old enough to take up the mantle and fight. 

But now it’s on Stiles. 

Mieczysław Stilinski - the name that means the Great Sword of God. He will be the one to defeat the headless horseman and break the curse.

[artebris]

About MC. Mistakes abd Redemptions.

I joined the Hogwarts Legacy fandom in November. - bit later than others, and just realized that I can actually put my MC in the line of all already awesome existing MCs. Better late than never.

(Art made by me: PS + graphic tablet)

❛ ━━･❪ ❁ ❫ ･━━ ❜ ･❪ ❁ ❫ ･ ❛ ━━･❪ ❁ ❫ ･━━ ❜

Name: Arlene Irving (surname is not the real one).

Age: 16 years.

Date of Birth: 22nd of September (Virgo, almost Libra).

Nationality: Irish.

Blood status: Pureblood.

House: Slytherin.

❛ ━━･❪ ❁ ❫ ･━━ ❜ ･❪ ❁ ❫ ･ ❛ ━━･❪ ❁ ❫ ･━━ ❜

Main choices made:

* The Repository opened. Ancient magic released. Red ending. Fig betrayed (deep regret later.)

* All Three Unforgivable learned and used.

* Sebastian is free from Ministry trial, his crime covered. Though all connections cut with him, her attention turned completely to Ominis.

❛ ━━･❪ ❁ ❫ ･━━ ❜ ･❪ ❁ ❫ ･ ❛ ━━･❪ ❁ ❫ ･━━ ❜

Love interest: Ominis Gaunt.

Best friend: Poppy Sweeting.

Worst enemy: Arlene Irving.

❛ ━━･❪ ❁ ❫ ･━━ ❜ ･❪ ❁ ❫ ･ ❛ ━━･❪ ❁ ❫ ･━━ ❜

Favorite Professor: Dina Hecat.

Less Favorite: Prof. Binns.

Best Subject: Muggle Studies and Flying.

Worse Subject: Theory of Magic and Divination

Arlene is good at practice and terrible in theory.

Practical, pragmatical, logical, mathematical.

Wand hold: Left-handed.

Wand: Pine, white wood with suggillite, 12 and 3/4.

Her heroes: Isidora Morganach, Noctua Gaunt, Matilda Weasleyc Dina Hecat.

❛ ━━･❪ ❁ ❫ ･━━ ❜ ･❪ ❁ ❫ ･ ❛ ━━･❪ ❁ ❫ ･━━ ❜

Height: 4��11/152 cm.

Weight: 58 kg.

Body: very strong physically, muscles toned, hourglass.

❛ ━━･❪ ❁ ❫ ･━━ ❜ ･❪ ❁ ❫ ･ ❛ ━━･❪ ❁ ❫ ･━━ ❜

Arlene is a runaway from rich, close to extinct, Irish pureblood family of sea captains. She is a woman-warrior character type, a fighter, survivor, anti-hero, suffers a lot from being born a woman, as her family wished her to be born a boy. Arlene faces a lot of discrimination on her way. Even her name was chosen by her father with this logic.

She is a curious, rough, brave, ambitious renegade Character who wishes to prove her worth and value despite her family thoughts. Sebastian seduces in learning Dark Magic and breaking the rules captures her attention immediately. She helps him recklessly, engaging in all type of courage he has to suggest, perhaps even fall for him in the beginning a little. Her adventures with Poppy and Natsai are simply meanings to prove her worth moreover.

She never gives up, she’s tough and stubborn, she does not respect any rules. Engages in dangers recklessly, using forces she is given and taught on the full power, not giving it any analysis, if it is good or bad. A Character of the grey morality.

The only one person who can reach her deep conscious and really has an influence on her is Ominis. Dialogues with him always show absolutely other side of Arlene, vulnerable, doubting, gentle, insecure and deep inside light revealing.

In the end Arlene makes a choice to release the Ancient Magic. Though, after all, she regrets this decision, feeling she betrayed the one person who was caring about her, Eliasar Fig. His death changes everything inside of her. Fig is a true Father figure in her mind, his death is a point where she turns absolutely otherwise.

Arlene saves Sebastian’s freedom. Just because she feels she is as guilty as he is in Solomon’s death and it would be unfair for him alone facing the consequences, though, after that she stops speaking with him. In the last dialogue Arlene farewells with Sallow.

Her mind turns to Ominis instead without really asking Arlene’s will.

She falls for him slowly. Day after day, night after night, dream after dream. Irving avoids him a lot after main events end, trying to bury the feeling alive, trying to deny it, all unsuccessfully.

Arlene cannot rid of deep and devastating guilt. But Ominis’ influence makes all inside of her get better. The way he forgives, accepts mistakes of closest ones for him unwillingly, his reluctant and unquestionable loyalty, his deep pain teach her to see the world on the other side.

Irving simply turns very quiet after all, she starts to work hard, searching for ways to get a redemption for her past actions, and as a result, she refuses to use Unforgivable curses ever again, cleaning up, following almost the way of the monk on this path, and starts to study hard and work at Hogsmeade.

She wishes deeply inside that she could get to Ominis once upon a time with a confession and tell him all the truth she hides inside, with all deep love she feels towards him, that her life changed once and for all. She acts a lot behind the scenes for him, trying to help him in all means she only could.

❛ ━━･❪ ❁ ❫ ･━━ ❜ ･❪ ❁ ❫ ･ ❛ ━━･❪ ❁ ❫ ･━━ ❜

Arlene is a Love and Sacrifice, Mother figure person. Her love for Ominis is as deep as Severus Snape’s love towards Lily Potter. Her Patronus eventually changes to whatever form Ominis’ is because of the depth, purity and pain of her love.

She loves him even/despite of his own sexuality. Even if he’s officially gay, she shall not turn the path down, accepting everything about and around him, being a deep supporter and a friend who is always there for him. Her Love eventually turns an only Way for her, that makes her better day by day, not putting any responsibility on Gaunt himself.

Arlene secretly writes poetry, inspired by him. But she writes under different pseudonymous, so she could never be exposed.

Irving dreams to become a sea captain or admiral, having her own multy-sail vessel. She dreams about travels, especially about reaching America and taking Ominis there, away from his family and all dangers.

Her other hobbies are wood carving, building sea-ships detailed models, mathematics, blueprints, sea knots creating, logical tasks, swimming. She even uses lesser magic than she could to test her capabilities.

Arlene loves everything connected to the sea, ships and travels, numbers, sports and activity. She also adores magical beasts and gets very well with them, she loves creamy sweets, milk, berries and chocolate.

Dreams about the son from Ominis who shall be named Dominic in his honor and shall be resembling with his father at everything.

Hates long texts, theory, literature, ladies uncomfortable outfits, social gatherings, team games (though she plays Quidditch as a Beater), masculine men, bullies and idiots. Can’t stand religion. She believes in Scandinavian gods and believes.

❛ ━━･❪ ❁ ❫ ･━━ ❜ ･❪ ❁ ❫ ･ ❛ ━━･❪ ❁ ❫ ･━━ ❜

Characters that are like her: Hinata Huga (Naruto), Chell (Portal game), Simone Grove (Why Women Kill), Helga Pataki (Hey, Arnold), Severus Snape (HP), Amelie (Amelie from Monmartre), Dris (1+1 Untouchables), Eowyn (LoTR).

Appearance inspiration: Daenerys Targaryen (GoT), Five (Terror in Resonance).

[charlesdesvoeux]

top five terror men (this is a command)

I got another ask which is about my favorite tertiary characters so these will be excluded from my ranking so here's my top 5 terror guys (main and secondary characters edition)*

1. John Irving: as I said in my pinned post I am a JIRVGIRL AT HEART. idk man everything about his character is delicious to me. the self-denial and subsequent mixture of self-righteousness ("I'm better than you bc I can repress control myself") and self-loathing ("I'm horrible bc I feel these things and I'm going to hell I'm not good enough") is just. chef's kiss to me. he makes me crazy.

2. Cornelius Hickey: my baby my cult leader my everything. one of the more overtly "villainous" characters but he was so masterfully written and portrayed that he feels like a real human being; i feel like I can *understand* why he does everything that he does, every loathsome action, we understand why he thinks what he thinks why he made the choices that he made. even if the show gives us very little information on his backstory we can fill in the blanks- the "bugger Nelson, bugger Victoria" speech is so telling!!! I love him beyond words.

(Jirv and Hickey are my top 2 characters even including my pet tertiary guys)

3. Edward Little: I was really struck on my second watch by how much *rage* he's repressing, which is something I hadn't noticed my first time around (when I didn't even register his existence until like ep 5). this is in many ways a show about the failures of the people in charge- from the Admiralty picking goldner cans bc of the low price and not sending rescue earlier, to Sir John's hubris and Crozier's MANY failings as captain- and when our boy ned gets put in charge what does he do? he fails ❤️ which was not entirely his fault, the guys' reluctance to go save crozier is due to them both being tired as hell and probably not liking crozier all that much. his relationship to crozier is also fascinating to me, he's soooo eldest daughter coded I felt it in my bones (also an eldest daughter, also a flop). he hates what crozier put him through in eps 4 and 5 due to his faulty leadership, but I think he also develops respect for him due to trying to kick his addiction and everything that followed after they left the ships. by the time crozier gets kidnapped I think he genuinely really respects him. and, you know, dutiful to the end!!!! essentially refusing to die until the captain came to relieve him of his duties!!!!

4. Thomas Jopson: after the eldest faildaughter comes the golden child!!! fascinated by this guy. he gets many moments of tenderness which the other guys (with the exception of crozier and fitzjames) don't really get as a rule, but we see in his confrontation with hickey that he's no pushover. i find the contrast between these 2 fascinating; I think they came from similar origins but their life choices led them to develop vastly different outlooks (one isn't more valid than the other btw!!!!). aside from like blanky he's apparently one of the few guys on Terror who really knows what he's doing which is also commendable. I also just find characters who occupy "servant" positions really interesting.

5. Solomon Tozer: my dog-coded boy!!!! the breaking of solomon tozer is one of the most fascinating arcs in the show for me. at first he comes off as confident, sarcastic (his interactions with hickey as they bury david young!!!), one of the lads (im not British sorry if my usage of the term is cringe). but then one by one the marines fall (bryant killed by the bear, heather with his brains poking out of his skull, alive but not alive) and finally we get the tragedy of carnivale and his desperation to save heather which of course he's unable to do. that's always what tozer wants to do, he wants to save everyone, he wants to protect. the alienation of the marines from the rest of the men is also fascinating to me. and he falls under the spell of hickey bc of this desperation to save the people he cares about and himself and they develop that weird as hell psychosexual shit that makes me crazy. love them forever.

*main character: actor in the opening credits. secondary character: not in the opening credits but gets a relatively substantial amount of screen time/lines/a story arc more generally.