#oh yeah tma is a horror tragedy

[elinekeit-artstuff]

ARCHIVIST: Sometimes... I imagine if none of this had happened. If we had just... met. Been together, without... all of this.

[chaoticpinetree]

Okay so I listened for a whole bunch without writing posts about it but in my defence let's just say that it's been hectic, going back to both studying and working :C

So, let's make one thing clear: the bits with Sasha and Tim broke my heart. 'Nooo, you took it too far! I'm unforgettable!' OH YE MAYBE JUST RIP IT OUT OF MY CHEST HUH. ;-; But also oh god, Elias's whole behaviour on that tape. Did I already mention that Elias's motivation is evil in a very simple way? Oh yeah I did. Oh wait I'll add the read more because this will be a bunch.

So. So every single human being in the world is now tortured except for the ones who are doing the torturing and Jon because he's <checks notes> Ceaseless Watcher's Special Boy and Martin because Jon basically protects him. And maybe Basira who is chasing after Daisy apparently. Gosh it's like. Obviously it's fiction, obviously when you think about it, it's horrible. Throughout the whole four seasons I was really chill about the statements and well, objectively I still am because it's not that easy for me to find something in fiction 'scary' but it is a bit easier for me to find something 'disturbing' and a lot of these domains quickly become such if I think about it for a while.

Since this is honestly my first proper, deep experience with horror, I have to admit that it's a feeling I'm not very used to when consuming fiction but it's also a very interesting one.

Anyway, this aside... I mean this feeling will likely follow me for a while but you know, it's not all I think about this season. So this aside, a bunch of other stuff.

CEASELESS WATCHER, TURN YOUR GAZE UPON THIS WRETCHED THING. Oh that scene was so damn cool, love it, Jon can just smite people <3 The way Martin's reaction was an immediate whoa! omg we gotta do it again! Jared was so chill with being smote lmao

Helen is such a shipper of Jmart and she's so valid for it. My friend described season 5 as only fluff and comedy and I was like literally no way. And it is very much NOT oh god. I mean she has really strong powers of denial. I told her hey you... Know that TMA generally is more of a tragedy right... And she said that it really only hit her once she started reading fanfics heh. I mean she's valid for her denial powers, that's for sure, but STILL

AND ALSO OH GOD EPISODE 170. I got so emotional over this one. There was just something about the way Martin kept losing his train of thought and starting over again and again and he realised something was wrong a few times and called out to Jon but lost that thought too, it was. Damn. Damn.

By the way, I see the way Jon finds it all horrible and fascinating at the same time, the way he kind of... Does want to drink all that fear in. He told Martin 'you are my reason' regarding the quest, regarding walking through all of it but I think it also applies to not... Losing himself, so to speak.

And also oh damn the children. There is something... I mean it's like, it's like the danger almost doesn't exist. Are those monsters there or is it just their imagination that Callum nudges into even scarier directions? And the fact that they're basically cultivated by the fears until they grow up and their fears become something more interesting to the Eye. Damn.

Things also sound rather tense between Jon and Martin at times, but honestly I'm not surprised, considering... The whole situation. I'm just glad they can be there for each other even though the world sucks :C

[go-to-the-mirror]

wtnv 190 + mag 160 spoilers. if you have not listened to both, do not hit the read more, trust me it’s better when you’re surprised first watching.

I think the reason that I… wasn’t thrilled at wtnv 190, but I was quite thrilled at mag 160 is because of how I viewed the two podcasts. Wtnv is escapist to me, and I expect to many of you as well. It’s surrealist horror, yes, but it’s also a comedy, it’s also set in this small desert town that doubles as a surveillance state, but it’s safe, and accepting, and after the weather Cecil gives you some really good life advice.

Can I talk about Street Cleaning Day? Can I talk about how that episode made me feel, after the weather, it’s like when you’re out late and it’s humid and you’re with the people you love and you’re so connected. Connection, community. I love Night Vale for that.

Tma, on the other hand, is literally the opposite. Horror tragedy! Also all the characters hate each other! Like oh my god? They all hate each other. Lock three characters in a room together for an extended period of time and one if not all will come out crying. If you want something comforting, every ounce of happiness in this show comes also with the fact that… oh yeah! The world’s going to end! Or has already! And every bit of that sweetness is going to get ripped away.

It doesn’t make you hopeless. It just always hurts, there’s always more fresh pain, and god help you if you get extremely attached to one of the characters. Like I have. I’m so upset all the time. But, paradoxically, that makes it easier to accept when the world is going to shit! When things change beyond recognition! The world was already ruined, all the podcast does is get worse and worse, it’s not something safe, it’s something that hurts (in a good way) so if the world gets wrecked, then it’s just more of what I signed up for.

Night Vale is a different story. It’s something safe, it’s escapist, its social commentary is there, but it’s coated in a layer of humour, it’s not enough to remind you that the world you live in and the world of night vale are, in fact, fucked up.

So, in episode 190, when Night Vale was revealed… well, it destroyed that safe place. Changed it. I was worried it would change the very.. foundations of Night Vale, I knew there’d still be a radio show, and occasionally Cecil would have a bit of a Moment and we’d get more information on his monumentally fucked up childhood and present day, but how much of that small town in the desert stop? How much influence on the outside world would happen?

I’m worried it’s a turning point, like episode 160. I’m worried that Night Vale is never going to be the same.

[aflyingcontradiction]

The Magnus Archives Relisten: Episode 190 - Scavengers

Laverne: Besides, you know that they sometimes go to a side tunnel for “private contemplation”. I think it’s sweet.

... is that what they call it these days?

Martin: Celia? Celia: Probably. The, um… place I was trapped in, they took my name. I never got it back. But I like Celia, so… yeah! Celia it is.

So Martin clearly knows Celia from before the apocalypse but I haven't even the slightest clue who she is supposed to be (having zero ability to recognise voices probably doesn't help with that). Somebody refresh my memory?

Jon: Well, that’s a fair point. I suppose, technically, ‘saviours’ would be the correct –

Jon is having way too much fun with the whole "cult" thing.

Georgie (angrily smashing tape recorders): I can do this all day!

You clearly cannot!

Georgie: There are seven with us now. It used to be more, a lot more. But… um, we got greedy, pulled too many out. We… attracted attention. And… well, now there are seven.

Have I mentioned how I love the way TMA evokes horror (or, in this case, tragedy) by circling around the actual events rather than actually describing them explicitly?

Jon: I promise… I promise that they’re not here for you. They’re here for me. And maybe a bit for Martin. They seem to like him.

Not getting Web!Martin was still a lost opportunity, tbh. There was SO MUCH SETUP.

Jon: I did wonder about the ‘Ennui’-brand coke bottles. Georgie: Yeah, it’s convenient, not subtle.

Okay, that one made me snigger.

Georgie: He’s, uh… he’s fine. I guess. He’s enjoying himself, at least. He wasn’t immune, not like me and Melanie. And he’s a predator, pampered piece of fluff that he is. Turns out, there’s a place full of cats. And their prey.

I know this is being played for tragedy here but Admiral-the-Avatar is just ... kinda funny. (Not if you're a mouse, I guess.) Also I suppose there's not really any other way Johnny could have gone with Admiral's fate in the apocalypse, given that he had already promised the cat would be fine!

Melanie: I’m actually one of the prophets chosen to walk the end times unscathed. (...) Martin: Oh, I’m the antichrist’s plus one.

The banter in this episode is deeply, deeply enjoyable.

Melanie: Well, we were, we were out, and we found this Spiral maze, uh, and who did we find inside but Laverne, my therapist.

Okay, that makes perfect sense - the therapist being the perfect fodder for the Spiral.

Melanie: Um, and she’s, and she’s far, far too good for me. And I, I only hope she doesn’t realise that while there’s an apocalypse on.

Yeah, I've been THERE (except replace apocalypse with more mundane crises. Obviously. Though those still feel pretty apocalyptic at times.)

Martin: Oh sorry! Didn’t mean to sit on the prophet’s throne.

What is it with Martin and CHAIRS? This is a whole THEME now!

Arun: I-I, I realise that you dislike that k-kind of thing, your humility is… humbling. - Melanie makes a squeak of distressed exasperation -

I just ... I love that noise. I can't quite describe it, but I love that noise.

Georgie: We generally err on the side of caution and sleep in.

Wise choice!

My impression of this episode

The tone of this episode is, obviously, a bit different from most - no statement, for one. A lot of banter but with an undertone of exhausted sadness. Not really what I came to TMA for, but definitely suitable for this point in the series, and I did really enjoy the moment of sort-of-but-not-quite-respite for the characters.

[lyrebright]

I posted 500 times in 2022

That's 187 more posts than 2021!

62 posts created (12%)

438 posts reblogged (88%)

Blogs I reblogged the most:

@lyrebright

@starcrossed-sky

@causalityparadoxes

@vaspider

@rinastray

I tagged 250 of my posts in 2022

Only 50% of my posts had no tags

#xbc3 - 34 posts

#lyre does tma - 31 posts

#lyre rambles - 19 posts

#niafic - 14 posts

#lyre writes - 11 posts

#laugh tag - 7 posts

#critically acclaimed mmorpg - 6 posts

#tma - 5 posts

#inspo - 5 posts

#lmao - 4 posts

Longest Tag: 137 characters

#first of all his almost breakdown centered in around having to read the ones that need the tape. thinking about what i observed in mag032

My Top Posts in 2022:

#5

niafic wordcount progress

10k! 

23 notes - Posted September 5, 2022

#4

i am going to finish this noelfic chapter for pride month i swear on all that is good and gay

27 notes - Posted June 2, 2022

#3

I think a lot of people online these days that consume media and participate in fandom completely misunderstand and disregard the value of tragedy

59 notes - Posted May 30, 2022

#2

Season 2 of The Magnus Archives was an experience.

Season 1 was fun and atmospheric, but even as the plot outside of the statements became more and more prevalent, the vibes of it were still very anthology horror. From the start, S2 diverged from that with the addition of Jon's supplementals at the end of each statement--with the meta plot and the statements being far more tightly interwoven. The mystery is no longer whether or not what is going on is real, or Jane Prentiss: Prentiss is dead, and we know the supernatural is real for certain, and more to the point, so does Jon, and he always has.

Hearing that in MAG039 that Jon has always believed the "real" statements--the ones that would not record on modern equipment, only on tape--but had pretended not to because he felt watched was something of a reframing of everything for me.

Until then, I hadn't really thought about how, oh, yeah, they're still doing the bogus ones that record easy peasy as well as the ones we hear.

Maybe it would have been easier to keep it in mind if I was listening to the episodes as they aired (like one a week, I believe?) instead of binging them. Like...that would have really sold the toll you can hear them take on Jon. Once a week, you encounter a statement that won't record like the rest, and the dread creeps up on you as you know, you know, what is written down here on these pages is different to the vast majority of what fills the archive, and you desperately do not want to think that means it is real, but you sit down with your tape recorder and you do your job and as you recite those awful awful words you can Feel you are not alone. Something Is Seeing You.

It Really makes the accidents he makes re: dates and names in some statements more understandable, actually. And explains why he doesn't want to re record them to fix those mistakes--sounds exhausted at the very idea.

I was keeping this in mind as I went through S2, using it to inform my new understanding of Jon's character and the progression of his arc and development--

--and then the finale, and perhaps more pertinently, the first episode of S3, broke that understanding once more down to its foundations.

(Keep in mind that I have not seen past MAG081. I stopped myself from progressing further so as to not give myself even MORE backlog on my liveblog posts to finish, and to write out my thoughts on Jonathan Sims as he and they stand right now, before canon gives me more to work with.

I reiterate: I have only seen up to MAG081, 'A Guest For Mr. Spider;' please do not spoil me for anything further along in canon.)

The revelation that MAG081 gave me is both very layered and very simple (and, I'm sure, has been discussed to death already because I am very late to this party :P): Jon's character is best understood through the lens of his trauma.

Of course, it makes his hatred of Leitners make so much more sense, as well as his hatred of spiders--I think it personally even made some things click as to why he was so quick to believe Jane Prentiss as Real when he denied other events with similar amounts of evidence; while I have since come to the conclusion that whatever the spiders are, They ARE Their Own Thing, I was initially lumping them in with the other bugs, and Jon, encountering a worm woman, could very well have done the same--these are things he has survived, and thus fears all the more intently, because he knows them.

What's quite a bit more telling about Jon As A Person to me, though, is the things he says in his own statement that he seems not to think much of. Jonathan Sims was, by his own words, a "deeply annoying child," and I can't begin to explain how much that hurts me, as an ND adult who related to a lot of how he explained his reading habits, though in the other direction (I would fixate on only one thing and read it and only it for weeks).

It opened up my eyes to the fact that Jon definitely sees himself in a negative light. I'm not sure just yet how deep that self hatred runs, but there's no denying it's there. Somehow, he buried his pessimism under his mask of skepticism and snark, but it's almost more real than either of those things, and it's only aggravated by the survivor's guilt he carries even to this day.

It's a lot. This man--I don't yet know Jon's exact age, but from context clues of his personal timeline he has to be around thirty, I think? Maybe just before or past it?--underwent a severe trauma at the age of eight. It's very much understood that the first decade of life very much does inform a lot of who you'll grow up to be, and Jon didn't undergo anything so easy to explain as a car accident or physical abuse. No, on top of the already damaging record of being an orphan and being raised by a grandmother he knew resented having to do so, Jon's greatest childhood trauma came in the form of watching a bully twice his age getting taken by a giant spider that had initially been aiming for him.

That's...not something you can explain, and have believed, and Jon knew that. But it also means it's something he couldn't get support for; it means that even as he knew it was real and remembered it as real he was likely asking himself: Was That Real? and that sort of doubting of your reality is damaging for anyone, let alone a child under ten!

Is it any wonder, then, that he found himself drawn to puzzling out the paranormal? Is it any wonder, then, that when encountering more cases of true encounters, that his idea was equal to the childish and simple ideal of If I Can't See You, You Can't See Me?

And is it, then, any wonder, how spectacular a mental breakdown he has in the lead up to the S2 finale?

Going into TMA, I was told by almost all my friends who have listened to it that I was going to like Jon. "He's your type," they told me, "total blorbo material," and listening to the early episodes I could only think...surely not. What do they think of me?

But I first started to change my mind around the time of his first live statement; Naomi Herne. Maybe I read this differently than most, but for all his bluster and terrible bedside manner (which actually got him a complaint, which is still hysterical, I'll be more lovely, he says, like this is something he's been harped on at before, in those exact words), I sincerely do think that when he suggested she reach out and maybe speak to someone: he was being sincere. She just took it poorly, because Jon had spent the rest of their time together acting poorly.

This is a running theme as time goes on--even more so throughout S2, to be honest. But it doesn't just start after the trauma of the S1 finale; Martin is being menaced by Jane Prentiss, because he encountered her trying to prove himself to Jon's exacting standards, after Jon has spent the rest of the season thus far being hypercritical of him? With MAG081 in mind, it's easy to see how Jon's survivors guilt immediately kicks into gear and berates him for how he's been acting when he knows, he knows that the supernatural is out there and it's deadly.

He immediately tells Martin to stay in the archives, where he thinks it will be safe. And this compassion continues as a core part of his character, even if that's really all we get to see of it--the core, under the mask. He's gentle and concerned with Sasha in her live statement, too, and immediately goes to argue with Elias about better "defenses" for the archives with new knowledge in mind. And it doesn't end there! He's still a snarky little bitch about it, but each interaction with Melanie throughout S1 and S2 made me :D. And, one of perhaps the most standout moments in my mind, currently:

Helen Richardson. God, I'm still having so many feelings about that episode.

Imagine you're Jon. You've spent all this time thus far trying desperately not to see the things you are seeing so as to not be seen by the thing you are sure is seeing you, but then a worm woman attacks you, and you're badly scarred, and your predecessor was murdered, and there's an itching sense of Something Is Wrong, Someone Here Is Lying To Me that you cannot shake, and it is only aggravating your paranoia. On top of that, you can no longer hide your head away in the sand; you have admitted your skepticism was an act, you are throwing yourself headfirst into chasing after the spooky things you've only been reading about up to this point because you need answers, and even when you're not running around in creepy tunnels, you cannot escape the new reality that you have found yourself a part of because it is now choosing to intrude on you directly.

Jon's instant connection with Helen--and his recognition of Michael and, no doubt, his subtle, unconscious fear that Helen could have very well been Sasha--is currently one of the most tragic things that have happened in TMA, outside of Sasha herself (don't worry, ha, I am Bracing For Worse).

Jon's history with the live statement givers isn't the greatest; outside of Martin and Sasha, they all seemed to find him short or abrasive at best, even if they didn't all lead to a formal "knock it off" from Elias. But with Helen, he's sympathetic, he's empathetic, he's gentle, he believes her, and when she's taken once more by the very monster that she had managed to escape, right from his office--well, he attacks that monster. Give her back, he says, of a woman he's known for five minutes, and gets stabbed for his trouble.

I am not a brave man, Jon says of himself, but I think that's more of his negative self framing, because you can be brave and still afraid, brave and still a coward; the antithesis to bravery is not fear, it is antipathy, and if there is one thing Jon is firmly good at it is feeling things, deeply.

Helen, I think, is the real firestarter to the pinnacle of this part of Jon's development, that culminates in all that Sasha was. When he was a child, a monster snatched away a life right before his eyes, one he can't help but feel like should have been his own.

And when he was an adult, two monsters did the same to two women he felt a connection to--though he didn't realise the first one had happened til much, much later.

S2 had me riding a highwire of tension. I've mentioned in my liveblog posts that what happened to Sasha struck at a personal, deep-seated and fairly irrational fear of mine, so I was waiting, the entire season, for something to happen with Not!Sasha. Hearing Jon later muse that his paranoia was aggravated and worsened by the presence of Not!Sasha was honestly highly validating, because it was doing that to me, too.

See the full post

74 notes - Posted July 9, 2022

My #1 post of 2022

so! you want to rip a fic from fanfiction dot net?

I’m sure at this point we’ve all seen the posts about FFN’s inevitable demise. Not to downplay how much that would suck, for all we riff on FFN--but people have been saying that for literal years at this point, and while I do not doubt that FFN is dying, it’s probably not going to up and vanish on us in the next week. It’s got some good time of chugging and wheezing along left yet.

But among the panic there are people asking sincere questions about what can be done to save fics from FFN in the case of the site going down and taking literal decades of fandom history with it, and I’m seeing a surprising amount of people saying that the only way to do it is to either screenshot the fics or type them out yourself because copy/paste does not work on FFN. And that is just blatantly not true. There are many ways in which you can save fics from FFN. Here are just a few:

You can copy/paste directly from the mobile site. This is probably one of the easiest methods for anyone to do. Just click on the URL of the chapter you’re reading, and change the www. to m. Hit enter and the page will reload in mobile mode. You can now copy/paste the chapter right into a word document. You will have to go chapter by chapter.

CTRL+S. Go to the fic you want to save, and hit ctrl+s. Save the damn webpage. This will keep it in the exact format of the webpage, which you could see as a pro or a con, but it will also keep the ads, which does suck. You’ll also have to go chapter by chapter with this method but it does go a lot faster than manually copy/pasting the text.

HTML to PDF. This method I’m admittedly a little less sure about, since when I used it it was like, 2013 and I was in highschool so I’m not sure how viable it still is, but--just a quick google search should find you a website that will let you save a webpage as a PDF file. I have folders and folders of fics I saved back in highschool using this method. It will again have to go chapter by chapter and just like saving the webpage will keep the format of the site intact--down to keeping the ads.

Use a fanfiction downloader. Two I’ve been using for years are FF2eBook and FicHub. You put in the link of the fic you want to download and it converts the entire thing into a file for you. Yes, the entire thing--you don’t need to manually go through chapter by chapter. By default, both sites download in epub format, though FicHub does have a few other options. I’ve never really experimented with them though because I’m personally fine with epub, and there are a million epub to pdf (or other file type) converters out there.

And there you go: a handful of ways for you to save your favourite fics before FFN goes under. Again, I don’t think it’s something to be too worried about, but the best time to do your part for fandom preservation was yesterday. The second best time is to get started right now. There is no reason to wait for FFN to be on its death bed to start saving fics. I’ve been doing this for years just so I have fics to read offline. 

I’m a little too young to have been around for livejournal, but I was one of those weirdos that posted their first fics on quizilla. I remember when quizilla just...changed. And so much was lost. Looking back, almost none of what was posted on quizilla was actually good, but it was still something that someone put time and effort and passion into creating, and it was important.

There is almost no way that when FFN inevitably goes down that its entire archive will be saved. But we can do our best to save as much as we can. Stop panicking and start saving.

1,129 notes - Posted September 20, 2022

Get your Tumblr 2022 Year in Review →

[caviezels]

god. the way martin was literally set up to be a part of the web since like s3? and johnny fell through. thinking abt the whole martin putting the tape recorders out and playing jon’s voice to guide him out of the buried and not knowing why but he was Led to do it vs. annabelle literally spinning her web with the tapes/jon’s voice because that was how she manifested in jon. like. IT MEANT SOMETHING THE WHOLE TIME. and then it didn’t. because it didn’t work for the ~romantic plot~. annabelle herself even said as much in 198. just. fuck you johnny.

[spacedykez]

so. the otterverse. or: what the fuck is going on with pacific's anons

im gonna regret this post. scroll #divorce anon or #the otterverse at those links, if you'd like!

the mutuals (don't worry about remembering us, this is for ref): pacific/otter/paci/c!paci - @pacificseaotter - she/they/star/paw/rain felix/nix (c! and cc!) - @felicityphoenix5 - she/xe wisp - @branzy-craft - he/him & moth/disc neos wallace/divorce anon/:D anon - @wallace-marte - he/they/it/void/sun/gore/dead gumy/lawyer anon - @gumy-shark - she/xe c!phil - @pancake-syrup​ - he/they/it/bur vester/captain - @casinomoths​ - he/it/they art/mooch/joobies anon - @l-art-stuff-l​ - any pronouns

i use they/them for all anons unless explicitly told not to.

the otterverse is a roleplay series that my mutuals and anons are doing in my inbox. it all started in the STUPIDEST WAY POSSIBLE.

you see, this all started with reddits. if ya want info about that, this post is the history of the cloobies war. but tl;dr is reddits are a name for reddoons tits. yeah thats fucking right this all started with MINECRAFT YOUTUBER BOOBS.

it was actually pretty much a bit from the beginning, even if it wasn't ROLEPLAY. so from the very start we were Characters, not necessarily ourselves. it begins with divorce anon, named because of the argument they started between c!paci and c!felix.

what you need to know about divorce anon: they began as an anon asking about cloobies. read the history post linked above if ya wanna know about THAT. and then, this ask.

[deep breath] oh, past Pacific, how naive you were.

from this moment, divorce anon and c!paci began their love arc, waxing poetics to one another while c!felix was nowhere to be seen.

Additionally, please note :D anon was 'divorce anon's therapist /bit.' if you see them mentioned, that's who they are.

c!felix is, understandably, not pleased. I honestly do not know where or when or how to find the posts, but I'm sure at some point xe yelled /lh at c!paci for cheating on xem. again.

It should be noted that this whole time, the Lifesteal Brainrotting Discord was plotting and trying to figure out who divorce anon was. divorce anon spoke through my asks, until at some point they created an alt Discord account in order to actually join the Discord.

c!paci begins to go insane.

or, really, star was always insane. but now her more deranged side really begins to show. star murders someone, and asks if divorce anon is proud of them.

it's at this point that divorce anon warns c!paci, don't try to help them. c!paci doesn't listen.

and now the real chaos begins, because now more anons appear. wisp is accused of being divorce anon. lawyer anon and divorce anon's lawyer (@lawyer-lore) show up to defend moth.

so then everything gets really crazy for a while. lawyer anon and divorce anon's lawyer are in love now. wisp is NOT divorce anon. c!paci is increasingly annoyed and finally snaps.

divorce anon and c!paci begin quoting hamilton. the inbox quiets. all are watching them.

the infamous (at least to the mutuals) ask is sent.

Several asks later, c!paci shoots the ceiling of the theater (oh yeah, did i mention this is all happening in a theater? I believe it was meant to refer to the fact that some of this happened on lifesteal-headcanons, on that "stage"/before the audience of Lifestealblr).

c!paci and divorce anon are killed. a tragedy, a love that was never meant to be. c!felix lives (xe's a phoenix) but is bitter that c!paci left her for divorce anon. and so it ends.

wallace reveals itself as divorce anon. there's a day of quiet.

cc!felix and cc!paci write poems/stories about the newly named otterverse. u can find those HERE (paci) and HERE (felix).

and then act two begins.

Right, so you know how act one was hamilton, secret identity, cloobies, tragedy, etc? Well act two is cosmic horror, TMA, and wendys.

so while act one was pretty straightforward, I’d say act two is where it gets a bit confusing.

now, to be clear. c!paci is DEAD. this is c!otter, a new character.

so why don’t we just start with the arg? run by [REDACTED], it begins with a sequence of asks in binary code and continues with several cryptic messages. i haven’t spent much time figuring it out yet! but if anyone’s interested, read the saga HERE

next up, the cosmic horrors. blood (🩸) anon who is some sort of otherworldly being or something, lung (🫁) anon who wants to be god but is failing horribly /affectionate, pedant anon (aka the one who sent the copypasta) and several others, including crescent (🌒) anon, raccoon (🦝) anon, rose (🥀) anon, and my little guy worm (🪱) anon who sent exactly one ask and is now my (cc!paci’s) favorite lil dude ever.

this whole arc can be summarized as office worker who is not paid enough to deal with this shit meets cosmic horror entities and absolutely does not fear them. okay maybe slightly. also c!otter has adhd, fries dipped in milkshakes are good, and c!otter is taking the cosmic horrors to wendy’s.

if you see anons involved who aren’t mentioned, they’re returning anons. off the top of my head: harbinger anon, fairy (🧚✨) anon, joobies anon, paper anon, and suffering anon have all popped in to comment today.

[wordsintimeandspace]

Somewhere to Belong

Until the incident with Jude Perry, Jon used to wear a black ring on his right middle finger. In the safehouse, Martin finally understands why and plans a little surprise for Jon.

Happy Ace Week! It’s been really wonderful to get into the TMA fandom last year, not just because of the representation but also because there are so many ace people here. So I wanted to put a little fic out there for the occasion. :) For anyone who isn’t familiar with it: an ace ring is a black ring that a lot of aces wear on the right middle finger as a symbol of their asexuality.

Jon/Martin, ~1.7k words, rated G. Read on AO3!

Jon wakes to a kiss pressed to the top of his head. He smiles and blinks his eyes open to find Martin standing over him, his cheeks red from the cold autumn air outside.

“Hey,” Martin says warmly. “Had a good nap?”

“Mhh. I did.” Jon stretches his arms over his head with a squeak, and shifts until Martin can sit down on the couch next to him. As soon as he’s seated, Jon plumps back down, his head in Martin’s lap.

Martin smiles down at him, brushing a strand of hair out of Jon’s eyes. Jon shudders at the touch and groans. “God, your fingers are cold.”

“I did just walk back from the village, Jon.”

“We need to get you some gloves,” Jon grumbles, curling closer until he can press his forehead against the soft wool of Martin’s jumper.

“Yeah, well. Didn’t quite expect to be still here in late October. We probably both need some winter clothes soon.”

“We can go shopping next time we visit the city. Did you get everything we need today?”

“Yup. Got milk and toothpaste and squash for the curry tonight. There was also a package from Basira at the post office.”

At that, Jon finally opens an eye and blinks up at Martin. “More statements?”

“Yeah. So, if you’re a bit, uh, peckish, I suppose-”

Jon snorts. “I’m alright, thank you. Don’t want to spoil my appetite before dinner.”

“Okay.”

Martin smiles, but now that Jon looks at him a bit closer, he can see that it’s a bit strained. Jon frowns. “Was there anything else? From Basira?”

“Not really? She just apologized for the delay. Apparently something was wrong with the latest batch, but she said she would handle it.” Martin lets out a sigh and shrugs. “Dunno, she was a bit cryptic about this.”

Jon watches him for a moment longer, registers all the little ways that are off about Martin - the crease between his brows, the nervous fumbling with the hem of his sleeve, and the fact that he doesn’t quite meet his eyes - and finally pushes himself upright.

“Martin, what is it?” he asks in concern and Martin’s gaze snaps to him. He looks a bit like a deer caught in the headlights, his eyes wide.

“Um, it’s- it’s fine, really. I- I just had another delivery. Nothing to do with the statements, don’t worry.”

“Martin?”

“I just-” Martin stops himself, taking a deep breath. A blush creeps into his cheeks. “I got something for you.”

That’s not quite what Jon expected. He’s become so used to horror and tragedy that something mundane like a present suddenly throws him off course. He blinks. “Oh?”

Martin nods and bites his lip before pulling a small box out of his pocket. Jon eyes it curiously - it’s a plain grey colour, maybe two inches wide with a lid on top. He can feel the Knowledge of the contents pressing in at the back of his mind, but he’s getting better at blocking it out. Even if it sometimes leaves him with a headache, it’s worth it for the thrill of a surprise. He can’t even remember the last time someone gave him a present.

“So, can I open it?” he asks, a little impatiently as Martin seems to hesitate.

“Uh, yeah!” Martin blushes even harder, and unceremoniously shoves the box into Jon’s hands. “Of course. I… I hope you like it.”

The box is light. Jon runs his fingers along the lid, and at Martin’s encouraging nod finally opens it.

Inside, protected by soft padding, is a ring. Jon’s heart skips a beat, his breath catching in his throat at the first implication that pops into his head - but no, it’s not that kind of a ring, although it leaves him speechless all the same. It’s a simple black band, a few millimeters wide. A design that’s more than familiar.

Eyes burning, Jon looks up. Martin gives him a soft smile.

“I noticed you used to wear one like these,” he says quietly. “Before… well, before you burned your hand.”

Jon nods. He gulps around the lump in his throat. “It- it was destroyed,” he finally says, a little choked up. “They had to cut it off me in the ER. I never got around to getting a new one.”

“I figured. I- I never understood what it meant to you until recently. And, well, the way you explained that you’re asexual and what it means to you after we arrived in Scotland, I felt that this is important to you. That people see and understand and accept it. And, uh, I said I support you, and I mean it, but I just… I wanted to show it as well.”

Jon lets out a shuddering breath. A few tears trickle down his cheeks, and he surges forward to wrap his arms around Martin’s waist and hide his face in the crook of his neck. Immediately, Martin’s arms are around him, holding him tight.

“Oh,” he says softly, breath tickling against Jon’s ear. “Jon, I’m-”

“You daft man,” Jon interrupts before Martin can do something ridiculous like apologize. “You already show me every day. You didn’t have to do that.”

“Maybe. But I wanted to. You deserve the extra effort.”

“Martin.”

“I- I wasn’t sure if it would cross a line to get you one. I mean, it’s such a personal thing, and maybe it would be better if you get a chance to pick one yourself-”

“Stop it,” Jon protests, pulling back to interrupt Martin with a firm kiss. Martin makes a choked sound of pleasure from the back of his throat, and gently cups Jon’s face in his hands as he kisses back. “It’s perfect,” Jon says when they pull apart, a little breathless.

Martin smiles hesitantly, brushing his thumbs over Jon’s wet cheeks. “So, these are good tears?”

“Very good tears. Thank you.”

Martin’s smile blooms into a bright grin and he leans in to press a kiss to Jon’s forehead. With a smile, Jon looks back down at the box still sitting in his lap. Carefully, he takes the ring out of the box and runs a finger over the shining black metal.

“The ring,” he starts slowly, searching or the right words, “it’s less about telling people I’m asexual, and more... a symbol of community and belonging, I suppose. Something I haven’t experienced a lot in the last few years at the Institute.”

“Oh, Jon…”

“I suspect that’s part of the reason why I put it off for so long. It would have felt too much like an empty platitude while I was feeling so alone. But now…” Jon trails off and looks up to find Martin staring at him, eyes shining with unshed tears. Jon smiles and squeezes his hand. “Put it on me?”

Martin’s cheeks turn crimson, but he still plucks the ring out of Jon’s grasp with only slightly trembling hands. His touch is careful as he takes Jon’s burnt hand in his, caressing the palm for a moment before he slips the ring onto Jon’s middle finger. Jon’s breath catches in his throat at the gentleness of it, and he blinks away a few more tears.

The ring fits perfectly onto his finger, despite the jagged scar that still remains after his encounter with Jude Perry. The sight leaves Jon a bit breathless. He didn’t quite realize how much he missed this, but seeing the black band marking his finger feels a bit like coming home.

“Do you like it?” Martin asks quietly.

Jon can’t help but grin, smiling up at Martin. “I love it.”

“Okay. Good.” Martin smiles and raises Jon’s hands to his lips, pressing a kiss to his knuckles. “I was a bit scared. You looked a little shocked there for a second when you first opened the box.”

“Oh, I wasn’t-” Jon stops himself, clearing his throat. “I mean, I just saw it was a ring, but I didn’t quite recognize what kind of ring it was, and, um…”

Martin blinks before his eyes widen in understanding. “Wait, did you think I was going to propose?”

“I- no, I just...”

“You did!” Martin laughs and Jon lets out a groan, hiding his face against Martin’s chest. “Jon, we’ve only been together for… what, three weeks? Four weeks?”

“Yes, yes,” Jon grumbles, his cheeks burning. “I know. No need to rub it in.”

Martin wraps his arms around Jon, his chest rumbling with laughter. “Maybe I should have expected that this is the pace you set in a relationship,” he teases. “Especially after you asked me to gouge my eyes out and elope-”

Jon pulls back to glare at Martin, even as he can’t help the smile tugging at his lips. “Shut up, Martin.”

Martin only grins wider. Jon huffs and climbs into Martin’s lap to straddle him. That alone is enough to take the wind out of Martin’s sails. He blushes, settling his hands on Jon’s hips. Jon cups Martin’s face in his hands and his eyes catch once again on the black ring he’s now wearing.

He tries to imagine what it would look like, to have another ring to complement the black one. A silver one maybe, with a shining gemstone set into it. He has to admit he quite likes the mental image.

“Just for the record,” Jon starts with a grin, “if you would have proposed, I might have said yes.”

Martin’s eyes widen, full of surprise and a bit of shock that is readily replaced by sheer delight, but before he can answer Jon leans in to kiss the dazed look off his face.

By the time they pull apart Martin looks thoroughly kissed, his cheeks flushed and his lips shining. He's looking at Jon like he still can't quite believe he gets to have this, and Jon has never been more in love with him.

Martin takes a few seconds to catch his breath until finally, Jon’s last words seem to catch up with him. He lets out a groan and buries his face in the crook of Jon’s neck. “Christ, Jon.”

Jon laughs, rubbing a hand up and down Martin’s back. “I just wanted to make that clear. In case it comes up again at some point in the future.”

Martin lets out a long breath that makes Jon shiver. When he pulls back his cheeks are still flaming, his smile shy, but his voice is steady. “I- I’ll keep that in mind,” he says. “For the future.”

[definitelynotshouting]

tma discord made a joke about martin bringing jon's stuff to his flat post s3 for safekeeping, so ofc i had to make it sad. enjoy the marto angst!!

~~~

He doesn’t mean to open up Jon’s yearbook, in the same way he doesn’t mean to pick up all of Jon’s things from his flat, or tell Jon's landlord that he’s the next of kin, smile stretched too tight over trembling his lips. He doesn’t mean to garner the old woman’s sympathy, either, but he receives it anyway in the form of a half-hearted pat to the shoulder as her brows crumple together-- like it's her first time trying on the expression.

“Terribly sorry for your loss,” she murmurs, eyes downcast. Proper respect for the dead, and all. Martin doesn’t bother correcting her-- it’s true, isn’t it? Dead is dead, and maybe Jon wasn’t his, but--

But he could’ve been. Martin had been so sure, just before the Unknowing. They could’ve been something.

Not that it matters anymore.

Martin reaches deep for his inner well of strength and patience, and cobbles together another fixed smile. “Thanks.”

“Right proper tenant, he was,” she continues, brows furrowing further. “Didn’t see him for a while, mind you, but I--”

She stops with such abruptness that Martin’s ears ring. At some indeterminate point his facial muscles had started moving of their own accord, freezing in a series of strained, rigid lines.

Whatever Jon’s landlord sees in them, it unnerves her. “I. Um. That is-- ah… you, you take all the time you need.” She fumbles another pat to his shoulder, before fleeing out the way she came. Jon's front door shuts with finality; the click reverberates through his head long after the sound dissipates.

Alone at last, Martin’s polite grimace slips.

It’s so cold here. Jon has curtains over the blinds-- thick, dark things, meant to block out everything from sunlight to prying eyes. Martin chokes on a hysterical laugh; there’s on the nose, and then there’s on the nose, and it’s so pathetically not-funny that he has to cover his face with his hands, biting down on the hiccups that keep tearing out of him.

There’s more, of course. Jon was-- was, god-- a living person, and it’s astonishing just how much people accumulate over the years. The procession of cheap tchotchkes lining the mantle surprises him, the mountain of books less so. Tapes, mugs, and discarded take-out receipts litter every surface of the sitting room; endearing, if circumstances were different. And when Martin moves further into the flat, he discovers a stack of cardboard boxes in the corner of Jon’s bedroom, still filled with whatever contents Jon had been too busy to unload.

The utter normalcy of it punches a gaping hole in the center of Martin’s chest. Deep, vicious grief pours out of it, claws at the tatters of his heart with oily, ink-stained fingers. Martin’s next breath takes the form of a rattling inhale-- just a week ago, Jon had walked these floors. Had pulled things out of those dusty boxes. Had, had, had. Things he’ll never do again. That’s the important part.

“Right," Martin tries, but his voice strangles, falls harsh and reedy in the dusty flat. Wrong. He cringes; silence is what reigns here, thick and impenetrable as stone.

The thought floats up unbidden: This isn’t a place. This is a tomb.

It knocks his knees out from under him. “No, nono--” Martin claps a hand over his mouth too late, stifling the sob that trips from his throat. The vice around his chest squeezes; he can’t breathe around the pressure, lungs fluttering for air. This-- and, god, Tim too-- it’s too much. The wall between himself and the emotions he's been holding back shatters, pooling onto the floor in a storm of frenzied weeping.

When he comes back to himself, he’s sitting cross-legged on the floor, propped up against one of the boxes. “Alright,” Martin croaks at it. Anything for a distraction-- at least these won't need packing up. “Let’s, uh. Let’s see what-- l-let’s see what we’ve got, yeah?”

The box’s flaps are arranged in a square, overlapping so they can hold themselves shut without tape. Martin digs a finger under one of them, prying it loose-- the others unfold without encouragement, blooming outward like a flower.

Strictly speaking, it doesn’t hold anything special. Just Oxford paraphernalia: Jon's folded dress robe, a leather-bound folder containing his degree, the black square cap with its equally black tassel. And a book. Slim, resting on top of everything else, the imprint of Jon’s fingers lingering against its glossy cover.

Martin thumbs its corner without thinking, his other fingers curling to hover over each print. They’re too big, blocking out the whorls of Jon’s fingers; Martin sniffs, wipes his nose on the back of his sleeve as fresh tears dribble down his cheeks.

He doesn’t mean to open the book. But somewhere in the haze of tears, his thumb slips beneath the cover, lifts it, and he finds himself staring at the inside cover of a yearbook.

“Oh.” Breathed out on the softest exhale, gently ruffling the pages. Martin sucks in another quick breath, but this one doesn’t hurt so much. His own curiosity overshadows the grief for a few precious moments; Martin sinks into it, flipping each page with that curious detachment that comes after a long crying jag.

None of the names and faces are familiar-- and why would they be? Martin never went to uni, much less Oxford. Each stranger’s features slide away when his eyes move on to the next. These are people he'll never meet; people whose lives are, with any luck, untouched by the horrors that have dominated his own.

Martin skips over the entire S section. Best not to risk it.

After the parade of portraits are other pictures, professional candids of student organizations at work, social clubs meeting up after class, interviews with some of the students. Standard fare, really. Everything drifts past without actually sticking, the accompanying text blurring as he skims over it.

He flips to a new page at random, and freezes.

That’s Jon. Younger, yes, face unlined, without a grey hair in sight-- but undeniably Jon. The picture is as crisp as the rest of them, catching the bronze highlights in Jon’s skin, the delicate bones of his wrist as he gesticulates on a stage. Theater Club, Martin reads. Bold, underlined. He reads it again, some itching, crawling thing at the back of his mind suddenly desperate to drink in this new information. Theater Club.

He’s so young. Locked in time, frozen on the page. For once he resembles his age; his posture is looser here, eyes trained on someone off camera. The hint of a smile poises on his lips, softening the jagged cut of his cheekbones with a dash of warmth.

Martin stares. He shouldn’t be looking at this-- it’s private, something Jon must’ve come back to many times, judging by the fingerprints. But in his mind’s eye, he can’t help but compare this picture to the last time he saw Jon: ashen, unmoving, and lifeless under tons of whirring machinery.

They don’t match up. One is vivacious, thrumming with energy. And the other is--

Is--

A drop splashes against the page, wrinkling Jon's image. It’s joined by another, then a third-- hot tears carving the skin of his cheeks, dripping from his chin onto the paper.

Did Jon ever know how numbered those happier days were? Could a part of him sense, back then, how long he had until his life cut short? The tragedy of this image, its bittersweetness, sends a bone-deep ache rippling inside of him. He’d give anything to go back in time and warn this Jon away from the Institute. Christ, he’d do anything right now just to have him back.

When the sob comes, it comes from deep in the core of him. Shreds something vital on its way out; Martin chokes on a great, heaving cry, breath punching from his lungs.

He doesn’t bother putting the book back. Just hugs it tight to his chest, clutching it with the same desperation that a drowning man would a life preserver. “I’m sorry,” he sobs, folding to press his forehead against the cover. “I’m so, so sorry.”

The Jon inside the yearbook, with his fond smile and glittering eyes, never responds.

[holyfuckjarchavist]

Misjudged by @shastafirecracker

Rated: T

Word count: 35k

Warnings: RPF adjacent, holiday depression, self-worth issues, a smidge of internalized acephobia, parasocial relationships

Summary

Martin's been a longtime listener of What the Ghost, so when Georgie gives a shoutout to her flatmate's Twitch channel during a Q&A, he checks it out - only to discover that her flatmate is also his most terrifying coworker at his new job. The first time they crossed paths, Jon yelled at him for incompetence. But on the streams, Martin sees an entirely different person - someone fun and relaxed, engaging and unfairly attractive. Over time, Martin begins to find that Jon buried inside his dour, awkward coworker. He also learns to live with the fact that his crush is painfully one-sided... or is it?

So I finished my second listen of TMA, like a perfectly normal person, no big deal. And I have no idea what to do with myself now. But I have read a bunch of lovely fics so I decided to try and shout into the void about the ones I've adored.

I've read Misjudged (and its spicy sequel Curiosity) about seven times. There are so many things I love about it and that I think about it all the time.

First, which is what resonates so much about this story for me, is the relationship between Martin and Georgie. Martin (like me) is just a regular person who listens to his favorite podcast and has a friend crush on Georgie (like Jonny and Alex and lbr the rest of the cast-- right now my big crush is on Lydia Nicholas). It's such a real feeling and the way it's written is so delicate and careful and thoughtful.

One of my favorite scenes is when Martin finally meets Georgie.

And then Martin was being handed a phone, on the other end of which was Georgie fucking Barker.

“Hi! Is this Martin-from-work?”

“Oh God!” Martin yelped, then clapped his hand over his mouth.

“Sorry?”

“I – yes, yes it is – I'm so sorry, I um, I listen to uh, I've been a fan of yours for – a while.”

Yeah, this is me if I got to meet anyone from any media I've ever consumed.

I'm not going to go as in-depth about everything else I love, but this fic is such a balm to my soul after ep 200. It's funny and sweet, fluffy and sad. The emotions hit me in just the right way.

And I've ordered Thai food like six times in the last month.

Tim and Sasha also play a big part in the fic which is fantastic. Plus there are a bunch of fun cameos.

So if anyone out there needs an office-comedy AU to balance out the horror tragedy that is Magnus Archives, then I fully recommend Misjudged.

Read Misjudged on Ao3 here!

[archived-lara]

So... I don't know about this plan you guys. Like yeah sure it sounds good, it makes sense and they discussed it. But I just. I don't think it will go according to plan (obviously, there is a whole episode) but on top of that, I'm not entirely sure this will be another Unknowing where things go wrong but the end result is close enough to what's planned.

I kinda feel like there should be a different solution. One where they don't have to pass the Fears along. One where they may even destroy them. And my primary reasoning (i feel like i can come up with at least a few more if i think about it but they don't matter as much) is that... that's not a satisfying ending? I mean maybe it could be. It would be an ending but idk i came to expect a bit more from TMA.

(Oh and by no means do i mean "an ending where they all live and be happy!" no. That wouldn't fit our horror tragedy. And besides, they kinda pointed it out at the end there, the explosion will most likely hit all of them.)

[murple]

liveblog-ish pt. 2

Once again, some of these are from while I was listening, some are in retrospect. I find that typing while listening takes away from the ~full experience~

Anyways here’s my thoughts from episodes 10 - 15. spoilers, obviously.

(I forget how I formatted it last time so you’re stuck with this)

Ep 10 • Darius? DARIUS!!!! • Dont worry jared I'm just as dense as you. My friend had a crush on me for a year and almost confessed like 3 times and I never noticed • "Not trying hard enough" I'm gonna fistfight this therapist • I'm falling in love with darius by proxy • Oh god oh god camera • HELL YEAH STATIC AND GLITCHES

Ep 11 • WHAT • CASTIO?????? • OH GOD WTF • THIS IS JARED'S LAB PARTNER? THE CREDITS LADY???? • OH GOD • "Some... thing" Aghhhhhhhh • Oh god oh no oh god oh no • "Its" fuck you • Ok I'm gonna shut up and listen • Note from relisten: fuck he's being observed so much • "Creatures like those" this rules out option 1 • NO STAY AWAY FROM GROVE!!! I'm scared of dog sounds but I love him so STAY AWAY • Mr Zimmer sounds like the classic evil podcast man, like cutter • Note from relisten (bc I was too shook and angry the first time): FUCK ZIMMER • Dr rahal????? No he can't be evil too!! • "Human shell"???? • Note from relisten: this puts all the 'curse this flesh prison' in a very different light • Ok I'm gonna listen now

Ep 12 • Yup I knew they were evil therapists • Jared run away with darius. Just. Elope. • Not many notes bc I'm still reeling from ep 11

Ep 13 • IM CRYING THIS IS SO SWEET • Half of the truth is out! Congrats!! • He took that really well, but,,, oh my,,,,, the classic 'staring in horror at your loved one's scars',,,,,,, I have Emotions

Ep 14 • "Pacification of various creatures" fuck • Tbh I forgot abt this guy but he has extreme Long Term Shadowy Big Bad vibes. I feel dread about him • Yes Jamie hacker

Ep 15 • Ace mood. Pls no more details • Oh fuck did past-Jared kill Jamie's friend • I feel like my observations are highly influenced by the fact that I'm listening to this after a year long tma obsession which made me very suspicious of anything that even resembles something nice for the main character. My brain just automatically prepares for the path of deepest tragedy. Anyways I'm still convinced that Jared's past holds some pretty terrible stuff that he'll be horrified by if/when he finds out about it, including but not limited to his involvement in Jamie's friend's death. This is due to both how the blue lady said he changed so much since they last met (which ig could be referring to lots considering the whole "human shell" thing but STILL) and my "we can't have nice things" mentality • (My tone in the previous point was far too stuffy, imagine me saying all that very emotionally and distressedly like the conspiracy theorist I am) • But other than the looming dread, I'm so happy abt jared and Jamie's friendship!! Going from him thinking that he couldn't call her bc they never really talk to inviting her over to his house. Progress!!!!

• I’m completely hooked on this podcast now. Jared sounds like a Friend and I care him so much. I need him and Darius to be okay but at the same time I eagerly await the spooky horror stuff that’s bound to come next

• YIKES after the ep 11 revelation I’m so excited for the next episode,,,,, that feeling of excitement and dread and anticipation and agggghhhhh

• that rec list that said ‘here’s podcasts to fill the tma shaped hole in your heart’ wasn’t lying,,, I daresay this is better than tma. completely different vibes, but more my style (THE PROTAGONIST ACTUALLY HAS FRIENDS!!! GOD I CARE THEM SO MUCH)

• also something I haven’t really mentioned but I’m absolutely LIVING FOR is the sheer amount of queerness....... like, a canon nb protagonist??? with other nb friends???? and they actually like. Talk about gender????? (and also the whole not changing name and pronouns makes me so happy bc I also like my given name and don’t wanna change it, obviously for different reasons than jared, but it’s still nice to relate to) God it just gives me so much good happy feels, I don’t think I’ve ever heard a podcast that has so much good rep, and that’s not even starting about all the other queer relationships and how normal it all is. oh, to live in a queer small town full of cryptids.......

(also just to clarify, jared IS still using he/him, right? bc I’ve seen some fanart descriptions using they/them but I don’t remember hearing him say that he was gonna try that. maybe I missed it. I can be quite oblivious. if so, apologies, my brain decided to blank out at the wrong time and I’ll correct this post)

[the-cookie-of-doom]

2, 6, 9, 10, 14, 22. Release the salt!!

Gladly >: )

2. Are there any popular fandom OTPs you only BroTP?

That depends, how popular is Sciles? I could never ship them; Scott treats Stiles like shit throughout the entire show. The one, single time I wrote them being romantically involved was in a super fucked up fic where a very traumatized Stiles was taking advantage of Scott’s desire to help him recover. It wasn’t even a little bit happy; Stiles was seriously screwed up after everything that happened to him, and he knew Scott wasn’t into guys, he was just trying to make him uncomfortable. 

Aside from that, I’m not really into Thiam. Nothing against it, but I prefer Steo xD

6. Has fandom ever made you enjoy a pairing you previously hated?

Hmmm not sure if there’s one I hated, but fandom has def gotten me into stuff I wasn’t interested in before. I can’t think of any specifics off the top of my head, though. All of my TW ships were pretty much there before I ever watched the show/got into the fandom. I read a ton of fics for like 2 years before finally giving in.

9. Most disliked character(s)? Why?

Scott. He’s the most useless, hypocritical “hero” I’ve ever seen, and a product of lazy writing through and through. And the sad thing is, I didn’t even care when I first watched the show. I didn’t actively hate him until the Delusional Squad kept trying to bludgeon people into worshiping him, and seeing the various counterarguments for how shitty Scott really is. Now I can’t fucking stand him. 

Aside from him... Allison, maybe? Which sounds terrible. I promise I actually love her, but season 2 Allison?? Total bitch. And it was such a weird path for her character development to take. Like, okay, she’s pissed off, she just found out werewolves are real and one killed her mother, almost killed her best friend, and her boyfriend is one. But to immediately start trying to hunt down her classmates? No. That is totally sociopathic behavior, what the fuck. You don’t get to play Allison as this sensitive sweetheart, and then pull that shit. It’s the inconsistency that really gets me.

Coming back from the next question to say: fuck Monroe. She was a shitty fucking character with the most basic, shallow motivation. They needed a Big Bad for the final season and instead of taking the time to really build someone up, they just decided... what? “Oh, monsters are real, I almost died and this one guy didn’t save me because I was hidden under a pile of bodies, guess it’s time to kill everyone!” Really? And she’s supposed to be a psychologist. 

10. Most disliked arc? Why?

Oops, I basically answered this with the last one xD Allison’s arc infuriates me, and so does Scotts. He doesn’t make any character growth - which would be fine, if the writing reflected that. But it doesn’t. We’re still constantly told that Scott is the Very Best Werewolf Jesus, all the way up to the end, when in reality? He fucking sucks. And oh yeah, he finishes the show be recruiting child soldiers into a war he could’ve prevented, if he just killed Monroe. But no, Werewolf Jesus always has to let the bad guys go, because hey, who cares if they kill people so long as the blood isn’t on his hands.

14. Unpopular opinion about your fandom?

Ohhh I’m sure I’ve got plenty. But actually, I’m going to answer this one for TMA because I have way more hot takes in that fandom. Like, I stopped actively participating last year because I was tired of the bulll shit, and didn’t go back into the tags until my spam yesterday. 

Love the show, love the talented people in fandom, but god fuck there are so many cold takes and “Friendly Reminders UwU” and “We Really Need To Talk About This/Thing About Why You Headcanon This”. There’s a ton of purity wank for a horror-tragedy fandom, I stg. And the mob mentality? Fucking disgusting. I’ve never been more ashamed to be part of a fandom that when everyone mobbed Jonny over multiple episodes last year, but Locked In was the worst. He shouldn’t have to come out with his own trauma to justify the subject matter he writes about. That’s a trend that needs to stop across all fandoms; no one is entitled to someone else’s trauma.

22. Popular character you hate?

Actually, I should’ve answered all of these as TMA, my answers would be way more interesting and less predictable xD (except the character arc one, bc there’s not a single arc I didn’t like in TMA. They were all so well written) 

Again, does Scott qualify as popular? I wouldn’t say so, given how much of fandom is Sterek, and how much of us can’t stand him for how he treats Stiles and Derek respectively xD But yeah, let’s go with that lmao. 

And, just to be clear for anyone that may read: this is a salty ask game, not a debate. If you disagree with any of my answers that’s chill, I promise I won’t care, just don’t try to convince me otherwise. 

[thearchivistsmanyeyes]

hi askf;hdf I fell down the TMA rabbit hole, 1st time, just at ep 120, & thing is JON IS MY LOVE, & I dnw be spoiled but of course went through some of your posts and like.. how... likely is it that my baby's gonna.... cant even say it.. DIE. how likely is he gonna die. Cos I can't. Like. I CANNOT deal with this atm. Would u recommend waiting with the listening until I could deal or do u think it'd be safe???? Also do u know how long tma will still be? Id thought it was finished already...

Oh sweetie 🥺 I will be very glad to help, Jon is the love of my life as well 😭😭😭 goddd I love him so much. Lmao so tma is in its fifth season right now, we’re not quite halfway through it I think??? And this is the last season, so it will end around February I’m pretty sure. I would love to tell you that Jon will be okay, but the thing is...he most likely won’t be 😭. First and foremost, tma is a horror & tragedy podcast, and Jonny has been pretty clear that it’s not going to have a happy ending. We don’t know for CERTAIN exactly that Jon will die, so there’s always that hope, but it’s pretty likely tbh? If you look at Jonny Sims’ other works (like the mechanisms) he hasn’t really...EVER...written a happy ending where the main characters live before. He’s more into the tragically beautiful endings I think, like where the main goal is accomplished but to do so the characters have to sacrifice themselves etc etc. or just completely heartbreaking endings. So yeah the fandom is pretty much in agreement that in some form Jon will not survive the end of this podcast which is DEVASTATING but I also trust in Jonny’s writing skills that it will be at least a satisfying ending. Either way I’m 100% certain it will make me sob

So yes, I know this probably wasn’t what you wanted to hear, but it’s sadly true. Honestly tma kind of fucked with my mental state especially in like season 3 bc it was just super depressing so I took a break & came back to it later, that seemed to really help me?? If that sounds like something you want to do it might help. Season 5 is actually not that depressing so far? Like SPOILERS they hehehe sort of ended the world which is Not Great but 1) yay fluffy gays and 2) people are actually getting called out for the shitty ways they’ve treated Jon which is super cathartic for me at least? So that might change eventually but for right now I think you’d be safe to keep listening, at least until this season heats up

This was SUPER LONG omg but I hope this answered your question??? From one Jon Stan to another I am so sorry 😭😭😭😆😆😆

[sorakoudo]

hiii! do you think tma is worth getting into? ive been thinking of listening but dont know if i want to fully commit yet

Oh totally, I’ve personally really enjoyed it myself 👀

The voice acting and storytelling is on point, pretty much all the characters are some variety of queer (or rumored to be)

It’s a long listen through if you’ve got the time, each episode is ~25 minutes long

So yeah?? If you like yourself some horror tragedy then absolutely 😎

[spectra-bear]

Warning for TMA: it's a horror tragedy podcast that the creators have repeatedly said will end sadly. Further, the latest season has beenmuch much heavier than the previous ones. It's a great podcast but proceed with caution and mind the trigger warnings.

oh dang, *sets up a comfy spot to sit in* guess ill have to be careful, *prepares boxes of tissues* wouldnt want to get hurt or anything *brings snacks* yeah