#that's how you know Jonny is a great writer

[spacewreck51]

does anyone else feel completely fine and then you come across a MAG200 fanart-or ANY tma fanart, really-and just start mourning fictional people all over again

[annexx27]

some fans organized a q&a with ron nyswaner earlier today using twitter space and it was so lovely! he offered some great new insights so i’d definitely recommend to try and find some of the things he said on twitter if you want to know what was being said, because some fans have been tweeting about it! :)

i’ll try to add some things i remember him saying to this post:

- ron talked about the scene in episode 8 where tim tells hawk to go home, and hawk says “it’s not…” and he never finishes his sentence. ron explained that hawk did this because he didn’t want to burden tim. he was gonna say something along the lines of “it’s not what you think it is” (meaning — he goes home to nothing, since lucy had left him). he didn’t want tim to change his plans for him. so that’s beautiful growth in my opinion!

- ron reaaaally loves hawk and he’s so real for that

- ron talked about hawk breaking up with tim. about that it wasn’t just cruel and convenient, but he was also protecting tim. but his big dilemma is that he loves tim. he fears his love for tim. ron also talked about that scene in episode 1 where hawk tells tim to lock the door behind him. he explained that hawk wanted to protect tim from himself, he didn’t want to repeat what happened with kenny.

- ron talked about a deleted scene between marcus and hawk where they talk about how they first met. they met when they were both wounded during the war. if i remember correctly he said it was something about hawk looking at marcus from behind a curtain in the hospital bed. and the dialogue in the scene was something along the lines of hawk saying “i thought you were jerking off” and marcus replying “you hoped”.

- he talked about seeing many people talk about possibly deleted scenes from the beach scene in episode 7. he said the scene wasn’t longer or whatever than what we saw. (i don’t remember this exactly, so i could be wrong!)

- he talked about being a practical writer and constantly wanting to move the story forward (i believe?) so for example that’s why he made the choice to let hawk have a scar. so tim could ask about it and they could have a conversation about it.

- he said his favorite time period was the 70’s because it was relatable for him, and he loved the way the characters looked during the 60’s (especially tim).

- he and jonny had a long conversation about tim’s faith and jonny said that tim’s faith was his anchor.

- he talked about his favorite scenes from each time period. from the 80’s it’s the scene of tim and hawk in the hospital bed, from the 70’s it’s the scene where hawk has a breakdown and tim comforts him & the conversation at the pool, from the 60’s it’s the ending scene where they stare at each other when tim leaves because of the yearning and from the 50’s i’m honestly not sure anymore! maybe someone else can remember :) edit lol I remember again: i think it’s the scene where tim and hawk argue at the cozy corner in episode 1 about their beliefs.

i might add more to this because i’m trying to remember all the things he talked about!

[4stormfly]

Why Chester and Norris are probably more than just Jon and Martin’s voices

The ramblings of a madman who really wants his silly little guys back

Spoilers for up to tmagp episode 4

First of all, just because tmagp can be enjoyed without listening to tma, that doesn’t mean none of the characters from tma will come back. All sequels are designed to be enjoyable on their own, it would be bad writing otherwise. You never know where a new listener/viewer/reader will start, so everything needs to be able to be enjoyed by itself so that they continue to consume your content, but that doesn’t stop writers from including characters from the original work. Just look at Marvel movies. You don’t need to have watched every single movie that came before to enjoy Infinity War (I hadn’t, and I still loved Infinity War), but it’s still able to reference things from those previous movies without explaining the entire MCU at the time. Characters can come back from tma and tmagp can still be enjoyable for new listeners. These two things aren’t mutually exclusive.

One of the major theories is that the fears are just using their voices from the tapes. This doesn’t explain Augustus’ voice, though. His voice isn’t anywhere on the tma tapes, unless you want to say he’s a recast for Leitner, which doesn’t really make sense for any other reason than they sound similar. It’s much more likely that Augustus is og Jonah, since he was the only one in the panopticon with Jon and Martin (plus there’s no implication that Elias’s body in the rubble in MAG200, so Jonah could have been sent wherever Jon and Martin went).

As pointed out very often, even though we only have four cases read out by the text to speech voices, they all line up pretty well with the characters they would be. Chester reads the case about the dangers of the Magnus Institute, serving as a warning for what’s to come. Norris reads the cases about love and how easily it is to lose yourself to these fears. Finally, Augustus reads the case from the 18th century about a selfish man willing to use the fears to harm other people in order to get what he wants.

Another thing I don’t see mentioned a lot is the censorship around who Jonny, Alex, and Tim Fearon are playing. When the official cast was revealed, the characters they were playing were censored. On top of that, at the end of each episode, when listing the cast members and who they play, Jonny, Alex, and Tim Fearon are always listed as “additional voices” rather than as Chester/Norris/Augustus. It just seems like a weird thing to do if they end up being just text to speech programs.

Finally, the first case with “some of” Arthur coming back and Jonny’s statement on it about being careful for what you wish to come back because it’ll come back wrong just parallel the situation too well. It could be a coincidence, but it could also be some great foreshadowing.

[box-fivephantom]

BRIDGERTON SPOILERS

KANTHONY SPOILERS

I’ve had a few hours to process the rest of season 3 regarding to Kanthony, since it was why I am (or rather) was a fan of the show.

I cannot get over how bad the writing was for them was this season, the choices the writers made lead to nowhere. If I’m being honest the whole season didn’t feel cohesive. I understand Kanthony cannot be have much screen time but at least write something that makes sense within their characters.

In season 2 (and somewhat in s1) it was very heavily emphasized how Anthony was burdened with a duty he could not escape, how he wanted and needed a viscountess to fulfill part of those duties, that’s why he was so unhinged all the time. But Kanthony apparently had a 6 month honeymoon, then returned only to leave again for the extended honeymoon and then when they returned now they are to leave for india?? Where are the duties that were so important? What are those duties? How can you easily leave? In s2 Anthony tells Violet that his future bride would be in charge of his sister’s debut in society and suddenly Violet is the one that is still in charge. Kate threw one party (and not even a ball) and Anthony was like ; yeap baby viscountess duties full filled LETS GO TO INDIA.

I get that marrying Kate changed him, made him free in a way. He is no longer burdened but he should still be focoused on his family it’s one of the things Kate and Anthony have in common, they may no longer feel they owe their family but they sure care for them a great deal . Tell me why a man who was so affected by his father’s death, who almost watched his mother and sister die during childbirth, who almost watched his wife die right before his eyes, are you telling me this man would put his pregnant wife on a ship for several months? Wasn’t that journey alone like 6 months? Anthony tells Kate he wants the baby to be born in India but let’s be realistic…that baby is to be born on that ship. Anthony cannot have changed that much to put his wife at that risk, there must be things he still overthinks…the security of his wife and baby perhaps?

I know India it’s a plot device but the writers could have come up with something more realistic and not OOC.

And to give Kanthony a sole plot line: Have a baby. And then NOT SHOW THE BABY AT THE END was foul.

For two years we’ve been told the lack of Kanthony in s3 was because Jonny was so busy filming fellow travelers and with the rehearsals for Wicked but it turns out it was BRIDGERTON who had priority in Jonny’s filming schedule. The problem wasn’t the amount of time they had for filming its was the writing.

I’ve seen Simone has confirmed she’s returning for s4 and Jonny wasn’t at the premiere yesterday so we have no idea if he returning aswell.

[bonzos-number-1-fan]

TMAGP 27 Thoughts: Uber Eats

We've broken the guest writer run with another Jonny episode and it's quickly apparent why. Super pleased to hear another Augustus incident. As I mentioned the last time we had one of these I was half expecting it to be the last of the season. Glad to be wrong and glad for another fantastic episode.

Spoilers for episode 27 of TMP and general spoilers of TMA below the cut.

There isn't a whole lot to get into for the opening scene. Lena is obviously very anxious for this visit with the minister. I'm fairly sure that's just Lena being Lena but you never know.

As I've mentioned I'm thrilled for another Augustus episode. Tim Fearon has killed it in every performance and I think the style of incident he gets are some of the most enjoyable. In no small part to the gravitas he lends these older incidents. This is going to be another quote heavy breakdown too as there are a fair few bits to really pull apart in the incident.

I really enjoyed this incident. Just a lot of fun and Augustus incidents are always great. I'm not going to get into the plot of this one too much as I feel that's fairly easy to follow. There are some details to get into all the same though. Firstly, our PoV character is an unnamed Magnus and while it'd be tempting to say it's Jonah you can't rule out the fact that their first name, and gender, wasn't mentioned here. There are also few mentions of the Great Work here too. This is something I talked about it my ep 21 post Y2K [Errors] so I won't repeat myself here. This being set in 1845 is pretty important for a few of the details but it also means it takes place just 14 years after episode 4 and so the stranger with the violin could well be our PoV character, as has been speculated by myself and others. Our Magnus' mention of being at work for 3 decades would also line up well with that timeline.

With all the more general thoughts out of the way it's time for a lot of quote.

While I have no hesitation in accepting N’s recommendation, the particulars of the collapse must be confronted directly.

The only N I think this might be alluding to is Isaac Newton. There is a later reference that, while not directly supporting this idea, reinforces it. Newton would potentially be aligned with the Institutes goals. The Great Work is the goal of alchemy and as we've seen from ep 19 it's something he was invested in. However, this episode takes place in 1845. Newton died in 1727. The "recommendation" could be something foundational to the pursuit and as such laid down before Newton passed the phrasing does make it seem more immediate than that. Which probably means this N isn't Newton, or Newton never quite kicked the bucket. Whether because he's achieved the immortality alchemy promises, or is using more sinister means. It could also be a title that's passed down too. That would be fun.

and thus far are still unable to effect transmutations beyond those endeavours we each undertook alone.

This is a very interesting quote. There are two ways of looking at this to my mind. The first is that the Great Work is simply too vast a topic for any one mind to pursue to fruition. The second is that it's impossible for one man to do it alone because the aspects of the Great Work are governed by separate powers and you can only serve/be claimed by one. If it's the second one then this is a set up anyone familiar with TMA will be very familiar with.

No, I must excise such doubts from my mind. Purification is not only to be found in chemical processes, after all.

This one isn't super important but I did want to mention that purification is the second stage in the traditional four stage process to create the Magnum Opus.

It is strange how the work of natural philosophy attunes ones eye to the things that might be termed unusual.

The quote here isn't important. The way this quote is said very much is and I've not seen anyone mention it at the time of writing. There is an unnatural strain on the word "eye" and it's obviously not a coincidence. Given the text itself doesn't have any strong meaning so I can only conclude that the problem speaking the word is with the speaker rather than the text. While it's not exactly revelatory it's likely the strongest hint we have at who Augustus is: TMA's Jonah Magnus.

our London offices

Not a whole lot to say on this bit other than it's interesting they had these at all. We knew they were snatching up a lot of land but had these been particularly prominent you'd expect them to have been mentioned by now.

Perhaps my recent frustrations with our progress and the increased scrutiny by Boyle’s incessantly meddling inheritors have pressed me to put more significance on this than is warranted

This is our second reference to episode 19. You'll all no doubt remember that Robert Hooke wrote to Robert Boyle in that episode about Newton and referenced the "Protocol" multiple times. It would now appear that my earlier speculation is correct. The histories of the Institute and the Protocol are deeply tied together and that whatever the Protocol, or rather its enactors, grows into the OIAR is connected too.

Archibald Cameron’s notebook, and found it surprisingly legible, if somewhat soiled. It is no great loss to the Institute

Okay, so this one is just bizarre. Archibald Cameron is a fairly important historical figure. He was a very prominent figure in the Jacobite rising of 1745. 100 years before this incident is set. He was the last Jacobite to be executed, in 1753. While that's now viewed as a pretty shitty move it does mean he should be well dead. There isn't really another famous Archibald Cameron that would be alive here either. So this is either the "young" 138 year old Archibald Cameron, or it's just a very odd choice of naming/a mistake. If it's the first that also means our as yet unnamed Magnus is much older than 138 if Doctor Archie is "young". Which could very well be the case if our Magnus is famed alchemist Albertus Magnus. He was born somewhere around 1200.

the rate of digestion, for lack of a better word, seems to be linked to his own levels of fear

Fear makes it hungry. Hunger theorists are either in shambles or elated.

I think that's all the interesting stuff to pick out of this incident. A really fun listen and I can't wait to hear more about

I do always enjoy Gwen and Alice hating each other. It seems like strange emails are back on the menu. Although this time I think it's more likely to be from Klaus, or one of his potential associates like Einsamernarr, than it is another John email. Especially as the address was nonsense and it contained files. It's not the first time he's leaked stuff after all, and not the first time it's been direct to Gwen.

Just… junk. Old paperwork. Nothing important. bzzt Sorry. Already deleted. bzzt

Also Alice mentioned she's trans in text now. It was always canon but now people can't deny it.

Sam and Celia's continued Magnussing doesn't have as much to dig into as you might expect here. It's all pretty explanatory and if it isn't there isn't a load to say. The obvious stuff is Hilltop and Oxford. Celia's fascination with this is obvious as she ends up in or going towards Oxford when she "sleepwalks". The Institute, and other powers, interest seems to be tied to other worlds. The Hilltop Centre is where the charity shop the hard to remember strangers packed full of strange antiques. It's also now confirmed to be where the Magnus Institute's "Outreach Centre" was that scooped up Darrien 3 in episode 17. It's also burned down in either case. It's really nice to see Alice getting more on board with all this too. I thought it was rapidly approaching the point where she wouldn't be able to just do nothing. Totally weird Celia is so concerned about the word "Archivist". Its just a job title for boring nerds.

You also have no idea how much I regret not including a joke about Trevor Herbert being the minister. I wrote a joke about the irony of going from killing blood sucking leeches to being one. I cut it because I already made the better joke about Tories that post and thought it was enough politics.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Incident/CAT#R#DPHW Master Sheet and Terminology Sheet

DPHW Theory: 5535 seemed fine but I expected H to be a good bit higher on this. You can, obviously, just not fall for it. It does seem like a hard thing to escape from after it's gotten you though so I'd expect more H here. First one in a long time I've sort of disagreed with.

CAT# Theory: CAT3 is sort of interesting for the "It's not Person/Place/Object" thing. This is another one in the same sorts of realms as Mr. Bonzo or a doll, presumably, where something is ostensibly an object but has some higher level of reasoning. All three are different CAT#s too.

R# Theory: B felt quite high for this one but it's got multiple witnesses who both documented their sightings of it. For one of them they documented it while being victim to it. So that's probably fair.

Header talk: Kidnapping (Carriage) -/- Consumption [Letter]. WHAT THE FUCK DO YOU MEAN "[letter]"‽‽‽ Why did formats stop? Why did they start? Why does it not have a crosslink subsection? Can you only have 4 terms in a heading at once?

This was done to spite me, and me alone.

[impossibleprincess35]

Fic Asks for Writers

Thanks for the tag, @ladylucksrogue!

1. How many works do you have on AO3? Currently, 16.

2. What's your total AO3 word count? Um, 977,851. Fuck my life.

3. What fandoms do you write for? Star Wars, solely for the Obitine ship at the moment.

4. What are your top 5 fics by kudos? Asphodel The Echo and the Stain REPUTATION Peace Hard Candy

5. Do you respond to comments? I used to be super great about it, but I'm slacking lately. I have been trying to stay off Ao3 to avoid fixating on stats, so I log in every so often and reply to what's there. I always try to, even if it takes me a couple weeks.

6. What is the fic you wrote with the angstiest ending? "In Vain" is kinda angsty. (I mean, it's a picnic compared to shit in "Asphodel," but that one's not over, sooooo.. *shrugs*)

7. What’s the fic you wrote with the happiest ending? "Peace." It's super fluffy Satine, Obi-Wan, and newborn baby Korkie sugary goodness.

8. Do you get hate on fics? A little bit. I've had an anon linger about and then drop off, only to return to bitch about the explicit content in my long fics. It seems that sex is a huge trigger for this person. I've also gotten some snarky comments about how I write my ship from people in the fandom. Apparently, my Satine is "down to clown," so do with that what you will before you read. lololol.

9. Do you write smut? If so, what kind? Yeah, but it's romantic M/F hetero sex. I'm not, like, out here reinventing the wheel.

10. Do you write crossovers? No.

11. Have you ever had a fic stolen? Not that I know of.

12. Have you ever had a fic translated? Not that I know of.

13. Have you ever co-written a fic before? No.

14. What’s your all time favorite ship? It's a tie between Steggy (Steve and Peggy, MCU) and Obitine (Obi-Wan and Satine, SW).

15. What’s a WIP you want to finish but doubt you ever will? I will not answer this because if I do, I will curse myself with never finishing it. :)

16. What are your writing strengths? I don't know. *shrugs*

17. What are your writing weaknesses? Probably everything. *shrugs*

18. Thoughts on writing dialogue in another language in fic? Let's be honest here: I don't even think I write amazing dialogue in my native language, much less someone else's.

19. First fandom you wrote for? As a preteen, I wrote fic about "The Real Adventures of Jonny Quest," Hanson, and Backstreet Boys.

20. Favorite fic you’ve written? "Asphodel." It's literally a fic written BY me, FOR me. It has everything I want in it. The angst! The longing! The secret rendezvous! The flirting over comlink! The sex! The sad goodbyes! The tumultuous reunions! The gratuitous sex! The dramaaaaaaaaaa! So, yeah, self-indulgent shit, but it's my favorite and I don't care who knows it.

Open tags to anyone who wants to participate: @bettyxrosex, @grapenehifics, @notaghost3

[curtsycream]

Little Miss Music Muse

Pairing: Drummer!Jonathan x Bimbo!Reader x Vocalist!Steve x Bassist!Billy x Guitarist!Eddie

Warning:

When it came down to the music NightSafe plays Jonathan is usually the song writer. It was almost his calling if it wasn’t for the way he could handle a drum set. While all of the boys pitched in when it came to what the song should be about. The writing of the song was left to Jonathan as the others besides Eddie at times weren’t the wisest when it came to melody and what made a song sound good.

Eddie while he was a good writer didn’t like spending his time writing songs. Usually when he was left with the task he found a quick nap a better use of his time. Or if he was lucky he could sneak away to Y/N where none of their boyfriends had the guts to pull him away from.

Which left Jonathan as the only one committed to the task yet he didn’t mind. Writing songs came easy for him after all especially when he had the perfect inspiration in front of him.

A pen and notebook sat in his lap as the sound of Billy and Eddie practicing in the garage reached his ears. The two had been at it since ten in the afternoon while everyone else sat in the living room. Across from him sat Y/N raking her acrylic nails through Steve’s hair as he watched MTV.

Moments like these gave Jonathan the inspiration he needed to make another great song for his band. Yet it felt a little harder today, pressing his pencil to her lips he huffs. Y/N looks over at the struggling writer with a frown, “Are you okay Jonny?”

Gracing his loving girlfriend with a sad smile he shakes his head, being one of the ones who was rather open with his feelings. “It’s just the lyrics are so hard to write today compared to any other day. I don’t know why..”

“What do you have so far?”

“Well girl, what do you think about staying right here in bed? I didn’t hear a word you said I wasn’t that high I swear.”

A smile rested on Y/N’s lips as she listened to Jonathan’s raspy singing voice. The lyrics felt warm in a way that left her craving to hear more. “That sounds so good Jonny!”

“Thanks lovie, I just don’t know what to write from here.”

“Hmm, I wish I could help-”

The soft beeping of Y/N’s phone cut her off as she tried to reach for it while making sure not to wake up Steve. When she finally reached it the beeping had stopped, “Aww, it was Bill. I’ll just call him back!”

Opening her flip phone she dialed Billy’s number to which he answered right away. Leaning back in his seat Jonathan listened to the conversation between two of his lovers. “Sorry Bills! I was a little preoccupied.”

“Don’t worry just next time pick up your phone.”

Jonathan was a bit nervous to present the finished song not only to his band but to his girlfriend as well. After the quick call from Billy to Y/N he was inspired to continue the lyrics of the song. Normally he wouldn’t be so shy about presenting a song even if it was rather embarrassing in his head. But due to them agreeing to do a studio session release of the song in front of an audience, he felt sick.

As the drummer in the band he usually wasn’t the lead when it came to singing as that was Steve’s job and sometimes Eddie. Yet the fact that the others skimmed the lyrics and said he had to lead certain parts left him spiraling. It wasn’t that he couldn’t sing he had a decent voice one that was raspy when he sang.

It ultimately was the fact that he had never sang in front of his girlfriend or a public audience for more than intended. Of course he sang the chorus and backup vocals with the other members but his voice never stuck out much more than that. It would simply be a new experience.

“You ready, Jon?”

Twirling his drumstick anxiously he looks up at Eddie who held his guitar in his dominant hand. Shaking his head he looks down with a heavy sigh, “I don’t think I will ever be.”

“Wrong answer.”

“How is that-”

“You’re Jonathan the drummer of NightSafe, a lyrical genius, and a amazing performer. You have pipes that deserve to be heard and I’m usually not one to point things like that out. But Jon you were made for this those lyrics were written for you to sing and no one else. I can’t imagine anyone else doing what you’re about to do and I’m sure the others agree. Scratch that I know the others agree with me on that.”

Bringing the drumstick to his chin, Jonathan soaks in Eddie’s words before a smile breaks out on his face. Eddie really wasn’t the best with words at times but he still found a way to edge away the denial and fear clouding Jonathan’s mind. “You’re right.”

“Good evening everyone! We’re NightSafe and today we have a special treat for you all, today our drummer Jonathan will be leading a song we have called Right Here.”

As soon as Steve stopped speaking Billy began to play along with Steve who was handling a keyboard for the session. Taking the position at center mic Jonathan inhaled shakily before making eye contact with Y/N.

“I’m so far from the line, yeah. I’m too deep in my mind, yeah. If she calls, I’ll be right there.”

The unsureness he was feeling earlier melting away as he kept eye contact with Y/N while singing.

“Tell me what you think about staying right here instead, I didn’t hear a word she said I wasn’t that high, I swear.

And she don’t wanna fuck around and I don’t wanna leave this bed, I didn’t hear a word she said I wasn’t that high, I swear.”

“One! Two! Three”

Billy’s count off led to the beats climax before Steve sang the next lines, “It’s happening again, I don’t give a fuck about your friends. I’m right here! Here! Oh, baby, take a look around. I’m the only one that hasn’t walked out.”

“I’m right here! Here! I’m always ready to go, I’m calling you, pick up your phone I’m on my own. Girl, I’ve been taking it slow, you know I’ve been taking it slow. You’re sitting alone, why are you sitting alone? Baby, just pick up your phone.”

The shift from Steve’s direct yet velvety voice to Billy’s gruff singing voice sent chills down Y/N’s spine. The song soon transitioned back to Jonathan and she was captivated.

“Cause I’ve been rolling all damn night! Whoa! It’s happening again I don’t give a fuck about your friends! I’m right here! Here! Oh, baby, take a look around! I’m the only one that hasn’t walked out. I’m right here! Here…”

As soon as Eddie strummed the last note and Jonathan stopped singing the small audience began to cheer and clap loudly. Surveying the crowd Jonathan’s eyes land back on his girlfriend who was cheering just the same as she jumped around. The look of adoration in her eyes was all he needed to know how she felt about the song.

Waving her hand at him she mouth a simple phrase but to him it meant everything and more.

‘I’m proud of you.’

[go-to-the-mirror]

ATTENTION ATTENTION

IF YOU GET NOTHING ELSE OUT OF THIS POST AND SCROLL AWAY WITHOUT READING THE READ MORE OR APPRECIATING MY WINNING HUMOUR PLEASE JUST. PLEASE JUST LISTEN TO THE SECOND OUTLIERS TRAILER. ITS SO FUCKING LIKE- "HE GRIPS MY ARM WITH A STRENGTH I SHOULD NOT HAVE THOUGHT POSSIBLE AND BEGINS TO TELL ME ABOUT THE STARS" WHO LET JONNY BE THIS GOOD AT VOICE ACTING HHH

That out the way, welcome to 154, aka the episode in which jon and martin say fuck! And jonny does a great job with the voice acting here bc of course he does he's like a fantastic actor and writer or SOMETHING. gosh.

i swear the rest of this is gonna be really tma related, but i heard that trailer today and cant stop thinking about it.

without further ado, @a-mag-a-day, it's TIME for the episode that LEFT US ALL IN SHAMBLES!!

(this is all rambling, my words are not the grand words of episode 152)

Shout out to patreon "Jess?", their name gave me a sensible chuckle.

(sigh) Hm. (sharp inhale) I’ve, uh, I’ve been doing a lot of thinking after what happened with Daisy last week. About- what I can do. What I am. What feels right.

Immediately puts me in mind of

MARTIN I’m sorry. That sounds… (small sigh) That sounds horrible. ARCHIVIST I wish it was, Martin. I really wish it was. But it feels… right.

(MAG 160.11)

Hm.

There was one, this one, that my hand…. pulled back from. I dropped it, twice, when I went to pick it up. Even now, I’m… (slight quaver to his voice) struggling to hit play.

Ok, like, his voice puts me in mind of this line

I don’t like this. I don’t like not being sure what’s going to be in my mind, what thoughts are mine and what are from… elsewhere, why I just know some statements are what I should be reading.

(MAG 129)

And how like, yeah, if you think about it, that must be really like... there's something else in your head, pushing unwanted "awful knowledge" in it, altering your perceptions, your wants and needs, yourself in a fundamental and unchangeable way, like. UHM. THAT'S TERRIFYING.

God, why's Jonny such a good voice actor? The way he does Jon's... sort of about to laugh in a very bad way voice? That's just fantastic.

I am the avatar of awful knowledge and revealed secrets, so what does it not want me to know?

EATING YOUR PROSTHETIC MEET YOUR ANESTHETIC-

No, but there's this fantastic edit by instagram user archxvist that I listened to before I got to MAG 154, and it's that line, and I/Me/Myself and it's so coool you want to follow her and listen to it (it's pinned on her profile) don't youuuuu

(also it puts me in mind of this line)

ARCHIVIST Healthy? I am an Avatar of voyeuristic terror, who unquestioned craving for knowledge has condemned the entire world to an eternity of torment; healthy i-isn’t- i,it’s not

(MAG 161)

Which 1. HHHHH JON D: ANJSDFDHVD HHHHNHRHHNRNHNHR and 2. is a line that gets stuck in my head all the time and as you can see from point 1... it's not a great time. :( im so sad about him

"When he opened his eyes, he saw nothing, but he heard her breathing, slow and steady and focused, and he immediately knew that she was finally going to- (slight stumble) -kill him. When the garden shears plunged into his chest, he was surprised by how little actual pain there was- just the sudden feeling of moisture on his chest and the realization that his body was growing weak, fading away. He wished she would say she was sorry she was doing this, that she loved him, that she would miss him. But he knew better, and his final thought was a gentle sadness at how little he was surprised."

Lots of things! First of all, Getrude's little stumble is just like :(. She may have been less of a care about people person, and more of a care about the fate of the world person - and doesn't that ache, to know that all those deaths were for nothing - but she was still upset to know that he died. She was still upset when she read his page. And I'm upset about that in turn.

Secondly, why are their deaths so sad, Gerry and Eric's. Like, I just, was this necessary? Yes, yes it was, I'm glad it's like this, it doesn't make me any less sad at that... poor guy, poor Eric. Fuck you, Mary Keay.

GERTRUDE Yes. Well. I’m sorry. ERIC Wasn’t even hard for her, was it? Handing me over? No sign of regret. GERTRUDE (Still a bit shaky) No. ERIC No. GERTRUDE I’m sorry, Eric; I know this must be hard- I just read your death. I didn’t realize it had been quite so…

:(, poor guy.

ERIC God, I was a mess. I mean, part of me kind of suspected she’d killed before, but clearly she hadn’t done it enough to be a decent hand at chopping up and dumping bodies. She was having a real bad time of it. My legs were all over the shop. (Long inhale) Would probably have been funny, if it hadn’t been me.

I like him, he's funny, also jesus christ, mary why the fuck? Just to be evil? Fuck her.

ERIC I don’t know how to describe it. Never was great with words. Bad. It feels bad. All the time. I know that I’m not really Eric. I’m just a memory someone wrote down. It hurts, most of the time. I don’t like it.

"It feels bad."

I'm sorry, I'm sorry, it's sort of funny. Also interesting, I never really... paid attention to the statement/Gertrude part of this episode, and I mean it's interesting, I didn't know they weren't them. Makes sense, I suppose.

ERIC You too. (beat) You got old. GERTRUDE Better than being dead. ERIC (Short sigh of a laugh) Fair enough.

I love their little dynamic, they're friends your honour :3

ERIC S’pose that makes sense. And Gerry? Have you seen my son?

HIS DAD USED TO CALL HIM GERRY!! (starts sobbing)

ERIC Oh, just thinking. Five years as her husband, god knows how many as her possession, and she just couldn’t stand being bound in the same book as me. GERTRUDE Hm. I’m sorry. ERIC Yeah, it doesn’t feel great.

:(

^ that's going to be like half of my reactions

GERTRUDE James? He died about twelve years ago. Elias is Head of the Institute now. ERIC Elias? Elias Bouchard, seriously? GERTRUDE Hm, he’s changed a lot. ERIC Must have!

HAHAHA! THE WAY THEY TALK ABOUT HIM, IT'S SO FUNNY

also uh. huh. you know i still don't get how the people who got elias was jonah magnus before the 158 reveal did it, but this does make it obvious in hindsight.

ERIC Well, that’s it, isn’t it? I suppose that’s why she gave me to you. One final screw you to the Eye. GERTRUDE Eric. How did you quit? (Eric holds back.) GERTRUDE (warning) Eric. ERIC (short laugh) Sorry. I just- (laugh) I don’t mean to be a dick, but- well, it’s been a long time since I’ve had any sort of- leverage, I guess? Just a- little bit of power. It’s kind of nice.

Hm, both :( and I really like him. he's funny.

GERTRUDE I suppose he might be useful.

...

hhhhhhhh

ERIC I don’t want to disappear on her terms. Or yours. I want to speak my piece, have it recorded.

fuck yea dude!

but the mystery, the promise of secret knowledge, of seeing something that no one else was privy to. A secret world that gripped my imagination.

ok, eye guy. fairly eye.

So when I finished my Masters in library science and saw a vacancy at the Magnus Institute, of all places, I jumped at the chance. The chance to pursue my passion and my career at the same time seemed like too good an opportunity to pass up!

THE ONLY GUY THERE WITH A DEGREE IN LIBRARY SCIENCE IS THE ONE THAT QUIT, LOVE HIM FOR THAT, HE ACTUALLY KNEW WHAT HE WAS SUPPOSED TO BE DOING

(Amused, wistful hm) I knew she didn’t have an uncle. I knew the man was dead.

Good lord. That's... good lord.

She never promised anything, not even in her vows. She never betrayed me. Not like you. She never played dumb when I was stalked by bloated, blood sucking things, or told me I was imagining it when your friend Adelard dropped a screaming box into the Thames. She didn’t try to keep me in the dark just so I wouldn’t stop being useful; she never made me complicit in a thousand nightmares, and lives ruined for the sick joy of some otherworldly voyeur.

Really shitty boss. Really a shitty boss. God, poor guy, poor everyone who worked for her.

And I just... she really had the audacity to kill Emma, with all that blood on her hands?

...

And that’s when you turned nasty, isn’t it? When all your resources, they no longer want to serve your purpose. I suppose you didn’t know there was a way out, a way to escape. But if you had, would you have told me?

Hm

It was fitting, I suppose. Even after everything, she made me taste blood one last time.

headinhands :(

ERIC Then if you don’t mind? I think I’d like to go away now.

hmhnrhr that's just... the way that line is delivered

(The Archivist sighs heavily.) ARCHIVIST Fuck.

INDEED!

MARTIN Look, Peter, I- [The door is thrown open. The Archivist bursts in.] ARCHIVIST Martin! MARTIN (Overlapping) Oh- (quieter) Jon! God, don’t do that!

MAKING A SOUND LIKE A CAT COUGHING UP A HAIRBALL RN NHNHRNHNRR

MARTIN No, it’s fine! I j- you just surprised me, that’s- (surprised) Jesus, you alright? You- You look like hell.

His only description is looking like shit. I love him so much.

ARCHIVIST Oh! Uh, Ri, Right, I um, God, I get weak. Hungry, I guess, sort of. I, I’ve been trying to avoid, being, um- sticking to old statements? Thank you for your little intervention, by the way. MARTIN Look, I wouldn’t have to if you’d hadn’t been- ARCHIVIST (Overlapping) Yes no, I know, I know; I’m sorry; that didn’t come out right; honestly, thank you. It’s been hell, but- I, I did need to hear it.

He stutters so much when he's talking to Martin, dude, get a grip. But also, well, I'm glad, yay! Good for them and stuff. Maybe with the power of heartfelt gratitude and love and stuff they'll gouge their eyes out and elope together? PLEASE!

ARCHIVIST Yeah. But it’s- (heavy inhale) It’s pretty drastic. MARTIN What, you gotta gouge your eyes out, or something? (Beat.) MARTIN (CONT’D) Fuck off.

AHHAHHAAHAHAHHAHHAH THATS JUST SO FUNNY, JUST THE SILENCE LIKE "UH WELL" QAHJDFSHAJDFSHJFJJSF IM SURE IT'LL ALL TURN OUT FINE

right?

ARCHIVIST I, I, I don’t know; I suppose. I, If your vision comes back, the Beholding probably does as well- probably. But i-it’s not like it’s easy to only blind yourself temporarily anyway I-

First thing that popped into my head was that in a nuclear explosion you can go temporarily blind for a couple of hours from the light. Enjoy that factoid, I guess.

ARCHIVIST No, you’re the first. MARTIN Why? ARCHIVIST Uh, because… because, because I trust you. I, I’m trying to think about what to do, and I… (exhale) If I did try this, I- I don’t want to do it alone. But we could leave here, you and me. Escape.

ITS FINE THIS TIME ITS GOING TO TURN OUT FINE, FUCK ITS GONNA BE FINE ITS GONNA BE SO FINE

"because I trust you" "we could leave here, you and me" HHHH

MARTIN I mean, (mirthless laugh) Could you even survive at this stage? Is there anything else keeping you alive? ARCHIVIST Uh, I,I don’t know. I don’t- know. But… maybe it’s worth it? The risk- y,you and me, together, getting out of here- (Martin sniffs.) ARCHIVIST (CONT’D) -one way or another.

ONE WAY OR ANOTHER

one way or another

ARCHIVIST Cut the tether. Send them away. Maybe we both die. Probably. But maybe not. (Emotional) Maybe, maybe everything works out, and we end up somewhere else. MARTIN Together? ARCHIVIST (Emotional) One way or another. Together.

(MAG 200, but you already knew that, didn't you)

it's fine. i'm fine. it's fine

[ID: Drawing of a person sitting at a computer, crying. /End ID]

ARCHIVIST But what if you don’t? (Small exhale) We could just leave. I mean, whatever their plan is for me, I am damn sure that doing that isn’t it. I’d derail everything- we could derail everything, and then just- leave!

THEY COULD HAVE! ALEXA PLAY ROLLING IN THE DEEP!

why... why... why...

[ID: CC!GoodTimesWithScar with his head in his hands. /End ID]

MARTIN Who are you kidding, Jon? You’re not going to do any of that. ARCHIVIST I, I, I could. MARTIN (Still brimming with false laughter) But you won’t. That’s why you came to me, isn’t it? (The Archivist exhales.) MARTIN (CONT’D) You know I can’t do it, not now; you don’t want to blind yourself; you don’t want to die; what you want is a reason to not do those things, so- you come to me. Well, you’re welcome. B,Because I can’t follow you on this one.

im literally, literally, in real life, crying. podded cast. why? why?

ARCHIVIST The Lonely’s really got you, hasn’t it? MARTIN You know, I think it always did.

no words, just sadness.

ARCHIVIST (Quiet) Maybe. (beat) Well, I’ll be here, if you ever need me. MARTIN (Also quieter, softer) I hope so. ARCHIVIST (Faster) Just-don’t-wait-too-long, okay? [He moves towards the door, sighs.] ARCHIVIST (CONT’D) If you haven’t already.

"I hope so" wh yherrghweherfv wdaj "just dont wait too long okay" hnhrfthrjhfsdehhhh hhrhnnhhh hhh h but he just they just htey they thyfruscdafsfidvjjfhvdxnj "if you havent already" AAAA just KILL ME it would HURT LESS

Now, let's see what past me had to say, while current me is sad. very sad /ref

It's so funny how despite me thinking it had 200 episodes the magnus archives ended on episode 154 with Jon and [Martin] running away and getting married wow what a plot twist

(Instagram Story. 2 September, 2022)

Jon and Martin are so lovely together and they are together and they all left in episode 154 and they are all happy did you know that? Also no kayaking or.. freaky tables happened and everyone is ok did you know that wow it's so weird how episode 155 is just nothing for 24 minutes ahaha i love the magnus archives what a satisfying and happy ending

(Instagram Story. 2 September, 2022)

Everyone go home the magnus archives is over and martin said yes to what was essentially a weird marriage proposal and they all left. True & real

(Instagram Story. 2 September, 2022)

Obsessed with how this is the happiest ending for them /neg

(Instagram Story. 2 September, 2022)

I'm going to elaborate on this - I'm really upset that this is the happiest plausible ending. There's no escaping, no preventing Tim and Sasha's deaths, and all they had to go through. Their happiest ending is after so much has already happened. After Jon's gone through the wringer, 13 out of 14/15 (yes, 15) marks. After Martin's gone through the wringer, what with Jane Prentiss, and the lonely, and tim and jon dying, and everything. After Tim and Sasha are already dead. This is their happiest ending.

Not okay!!!

DIVERSITY WIN! LOVE WINS HHH

(Instagram Story. 2 September, 2022)

[(about the edit mentioned previously)] Love that this is from the episode where [Jon] proposed to martin (real not fake)

(Instagram Story. 2 September, 2022)

AND ALSO I FOUND THIS IN OLD MESSAGES TO MY LOVELY BOYFRIEND SLASH PLATONIC (follow !!!)

My brain is so rude fr fr I was having a lovely tiem Well no i wa thinking about season 4 jon I was having a wretched time and my brain said "we can make em worse" [...] So the au would go like this: - canon compliant until post-ep 154 - jon think "well if i gouge my eyes out, then martin will know im serious about this" - eye gouging commences - oh lawd he dying (episode 181 fades in ig?) - either becomes one of those archivist things as the eye tries to stop him [or] dies - times get even worse

Messages to @/asideofsalt (@scarandjoelenthusiast). 22 September, 2022.

Also there were some other things said:

Jon said "is anyone going to be self destuctive" and didn't wait for an answer

He had No Friends, he believed he was a monster, he repeatedly said that he can't die because "they need me". No other reason provided. He... thinks he's responsible for everything that went wrong in the world and has to fix everything and is the only one [who] can. He thinks he's the most important worst person in the world. Which is uh.

ok so jon and martin's love language is martin makes tea for jon and jon comes back from his recent kidnapping and worries about martin's well being

Uhm, well, hope you enjoyed that little ramble, god im so abnormal about this podcast. I wish they'd be okay, but actually I don't because I... I'm listening because I wanted to listen to a horror podcast, that is why i am here. so, rip to them. part of me wants them to be okay, part of me is eating popcorn as they... you know, have this whole tragic thing going on :(

[a-mag-a-day]

MAG 74 - Baking something with apples in the kitchen (I think it was just a pie?)

Original statement given 8th June, 2015. So this cooould potentially be another statement that was given when our Archive crew was already in charge. If Gertrude's death was in May and not March, if could be a close one though. HR works slowly I heard…

"Even as a child, my mother would always check my room to find me reading well into the night. If I heard her coming up the stairs, I would turn off my light and dive beneath the covers to try and convince her I was sound asleep." - I did that with my old Game Boy. The big grey one. I had this magnifying glass with a small lamp to attach to the Game Boy so I could play in the dark (The first Game Boys didn't have a backlit screen. You needed proper light to see anything).

"I work as a freelance writer. It’s not a good job." - Lol, ok considering that Jonny wrote this statement sleep-deprived and based a lot of it of what he was feeling in that state, is there something he wants to tell us with this statement? xD

"There is a man in my living room. He is tall, with sandy blond hair that twists into unruly curls." - Michael's not even subtle with this one.

"Your vision goes strange when you don’t sleep for a long time. I think it’s something to do with changing pressure on your eyeballs. You start to detect faint movements on the edges, on the periphery," - this is what I meant in my ask to MAG 65 when I said I see things in the corner of my eye when I'm sleep-deprived (or filled to the brim with anxiety). I also thought this to be a great plot device for a potential story.

"Your body will go through phases where it seems to be trying to completely shut itself down, and keeping your eyes open is quite literally a physical struggle. Then all at once you’ll enter a period of manic energy, a second, third or fourth wind that leaves you giddy and nauseous, struggling to find an outlet for your sudden rush." - Yep, can relate very much.

The ambient track in this episode is btw one that will get used a lot in the following seasons, I think? It's more subtle then the one I love so much and I'm sad that it got ditched somewhen in S2 and we only once hear it again in MAG 121.

"Michael, did you drive her to this? Another victim of your warped games? Or were you simply drawn like a vulture? Or maybe a shark sensing blood." - Yeah actually, do we know how it works? Sometimes you can see there was a tendency to things that could attract certain Fears, other times it seems completely random. Or maybe it's just that. Some are just unlucky, others attract it.

"I’m rather glad I don’t really drink coffee." - This answers the question if Jon meant it in MAG 163, when he said to Martin "I hate your tea and wish you made coffee instead". It was just to tease Martin in case he could still hear him.

"I decided to get somewhat more proactive and purchased a small motion-sensor camera, which I hid in view of the trapdoor. After a week, I reviewed the footage." - That was actually very clever, good job Jon!

"They appear to be a man, or at least male-presenting. Middle-aged or older judging from the frame, but hard to be sure. They emerge around three in the morning, holding what appears to be an attaché case. Then, they spend about half an hour rifling through archives, and retreat back down after stuffing a handful of files into the case." - Leitner living in the tunnels and sneaking around will never not be funny to me xD

"but what worries me is the manner they leave the trapdoor. Rather than picking the lock or forcing their way through, they seem to move the floor itself out of their way somehow, and replace it when they return." - That book is handy!

Reading this statement got me thinking that maybe Michael was also initially created as a result of sleep deprivation

Jonny started seeing blond curls and long fingers in his peripheral vision and decided to give them a personality

[bakerstreetbabble]

A.V. Club article compares Elementary and Sherlock

The article below is from The A.V. Club website.  It's a very insightful comparison of Elementary and Sherlock, and even though I still lean towards Sherlock in my affections, the author raises some excellent points.  I've mentioned on this blog before that it took me a little while to warm up to Jonny Lee Miller's portrayal of Holmes, but I do think he brings his own unique twist to the role.  Cumberbatch is still my favorite, but Miller is a close second.

You can read the article at its original home here.

It’s Elementary, Sherlock: How the CBS procedural surpassed the BBC drama Zack Handlen   Jan 20, 2014 • 12AM The announcement that CBS would air a modern adaptation of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s most famous character was met with a certain amount of skepticism. This was understandable. The world was not exactly hurting for new versions of Sherlock Holmes, and any attempt to tell more stories about the influential icon smacked less of creative inspiration than of a desire to attract audiences with something almost, but not exactly, the same as something they already liked. Even more damningly, there was already a modern adaptation of Sherlock Holmes on the air: BBC One’s Sherlock, starring Benedict Cumberbatch as the World’s Greatest Detective, alongside Martin Freeman as His Guy Watson. Debuting in 2010, two years before Elementary’s premiere, the series created by Steven Moffat and Mark Gatiss arguably filled any conceivable Holmes-shaped hole in viewers’ lives. Surely another take on the iconic character from creator Robert Doherty would be a disappointing, pale copy by comparison. He’d even turned Watson into a woman. The absolute nerve.

Hopefully the skeptics gave Elementary enough benefit of the doubt to watch a few episodes. Turning John into Joan (and casting Lucy Liu in the role) wasn’t just a gimmick, but rather the central part of a commitment to finding a new take on the Holmesian mythology. Over the course of its first season and a half, the series has defined itself as a thoughtful, sharp, warm investigation into the central characters’ history, relationships, and philosophy. There’s a wholly unexpected, and entirely welcome, vitality to Elementary at its best, a sense of new ground being uncovered rather than old ground being re-trod—and while it’s not perfect, it does more than simply justify its existence. By now, the antisocial genius who solves crimes without being able to understand people is a trope so old it reads like a Mad Lib waiting for the latest iteration of proper noun/verb/adjective. But Doherty and his writers have found new life in the concept by creating an antisocial genius who is more than a cartoon. In doing so, they’ve given us a new, but still recognizable, Sherlock Holmes (Jonny Lee Miller), one who is in many ways superior to his Cumberbatchian counterpart.

The major objection to Elementary before it debuted was its apparent superfluity, but that objection no longer holds water; there’s something gratifying in knowing that for once, the cynical (and sensible) reaction to the news that two different networks were developing the same source material was proven false. While Sherlock’s playful style and Tumblr-friendly leads have their pleasures, the show also has some significant flaws, flaws that Elementary, in its low-key, airs-on-CBS-so-we-all-assume-it’s-for-old-people way, has largely avoided. Shocking as it may be, considering their relative positions in the pop culture zeitgeist, Elementary is a fundamentally better series, with a richer supporting cast, a more consistently rewarding structure, and a far more compelling perspective on its protagonist.

Sherlock’s episodic design is both one of its great strengths and its biggest weaknesses. British television seasons (or series; we’ll stick to “seasons” here to avoid a bad comedy routine) are typically shorter than American ones, but Sherlock takes this to the extreme, with only three episodes per season, each running roughly 90 minutes. On the plus side, this allows for greater dramatic builds, as movie-length stories are allowed to play out without needing to break into smaller, 45-minute chunks. But the limited episode number makes for a severe shortage of distinct mysteries. By and large, each Sherlock entry keeps its focus on a single plotline, and while the best episodes have enough twists and turns to keep that line from dragging, there’s little of the comforting regularity that Doyle’s fiction generally delivered. The few Holmes novels aside, the detective’s main presence was in short fiction, and its familiar routines work best in the aggregate. By limiting the characters’ exposure, the BBC series puts substantially more focus on big moments and iconic surprises, often to its detriment. And in those cases when a mystery fails to live up to snuff (like, say, “The Blind Banker,” with its dimly racist Orientalism, or “The Hounds of Baskerville,” which comes perilously close to Scooby-Doo territory), it means a third of a season’s worth of plotting wasted.

Operating under the traditional American television model, Elementary is allowed more room to breathe. With only a season and a half under its belt, the show has put out nearly 40 episodes; and while not every one of those episodes is a classic, it matters significantly less when a particular adventure fails to live up to expectations. Each episode of Sherlock must be, by the show’s design, an event. This leads to episodes that are wildly dramatic but often lacking in substance, relying on flashy twists and excessive (if frequently effective) emotional manipulation to reach audiences. In contrast, Elementary, with its stolid procedural approach and more conventional pacing, gains strength from allowing character responses in situations to develop naturally over time. Season-long mysteries can fade into the background when necessary, offering the chance for steadier pacing, and far more consistent world building.

This leads to another area in which Elementary is superior to Sherlock: the depth and variety of its supporting cast. Six episodes in, Sherlock has its two leads, and they are unquestionably the strongest figures in the series. That isn’t in itself a complaint; Sherlock and Watson are necessarily the focus of their own stories, and if Cumberbatch and Freeman didn’t work so well together, there wouldn’t be a show. The problem is that the two men don’t exist in a vacuum, and while there is a supporting ensemble surrounding them, that ensemble exists largely to offer straight lines for Sherlock to bounce off of. Mrs. Hudson (Una Stubbs), Molly Hooper (Louise Brealey), and DI Lestrade (Rupert Graves) are likable figures, but they have little selves beyond their relationships with the leads. Even Mycroft, Sherlock’s brother (played by show co-creator Mark Gatiss), who operates in the highest echelons of British government, is largely a distant observer who steps in when a plot needs instigating or resolving. It’s not necessary for every character to have a rich inner life, but apart from the actors’ game efforts, it’s often hard to detect if these people have any lives at all. This limits the writers’ options; outside of guest stars, the only character pairing to generate reliable dramatic energy is Sherlock and John, and the need to find ways to keep them vital together is already showing signs of strain at the start of the show’s third season.

Elementary fares much better. People like Captain Thomas Gregson (Aidan Quinn) and Detective Marcus Bell (Jon Michael Hill) didn’t arrive on the scene fully fleshed out, but over the course of the show’s run, they’ve developed into more than just exposition delivery devices. Gregson’s home life was the subject of at least one storyline, and his occasional issues with Holmes’ methods make him more than just a good-natured doof relying on an outsider to do his job for him; this season, Bell was injured in the line of duty as a direct result of Holmes’ carelessness, and his recovery has become a small but important running storyline. Elementary’s Mycroft (Rhys Ifan) has a complicated relationship with Sherlock that suggests resentments and affection lingering beneath the surface, and Alfredo Llamaso (Ato Essandoh), Sherlock’s AA sponsor, helps keep the detective’s addiction problems a relevant part of the series.

Even Elementary’s take on Watson is more complex and interesting. The Sherlock version is perfectly acceptable: Freeman is well cast, and does a fine job of switching between outrage, awkward double takes, and astonishment. But it was established in the first episode that Watson’s war experience (he served as an army doctor in Afghanistan) had deeply affected him, and this has been largely forgotten, outside of the occasional tossed-off bit of dialogue. Though he’s given the dignity of outside work and occasional love interests, Watson’s main job is to react to Sherlock. As Joan Watson, on the other hand, Lucy Liu gives life to one of the stronger female roles on network television, a former surgeon turned sober companion who first meets Sherlock when his father hires her to help him go (and stay) drug-free. Over the course of the first season, Watson helped bring balance and perspective into Holmes’s world, while he, in turn, offered her a glimpse of the challenges and gratification of investigative work. It’s an equal partnership that allows Watson agency and standing without diminishing Holmes’ gifts.

The best development of Elementary’s first season is also one that requires a bit of spoiling; if you haven’t seen the season, and have avoided learning about it, feel free to skip this paragraph. For both TV versions of Holmes, it was inevitable that Moriarty would eventually come into play. Despite appearing only briefly in Doyle’s stories (and basically having been created so the author could have an excuse to kill off his most famous creation), the evil professor has long been a key figure in Holmesian lore. On Sherlock, Moriarty (Andrew Scott) was a bratty, petulant psychopath, a twisted mirror version of Sherlock’s own childish self-regard. All well and good, but there’s nothing particularly innovative about this take, and the showdown between hero and villain, for all the fireworks surrounding it, was never much in doubt. Elementary, however, decided to combine Moriarity with another of piece of the mythology: Irene “The Woman” Adler. On Sherlock, Adler is a dominatrix who briefly defeats Holmes before her emotions get the better of her (a twist that manages the neat trick of being even less progressive than the Victorian-era short story which inspired it). But the Adler to Miller’s Holmes is a former lover whom he initially believes to have been murdered; her death sent him to drug addiction, which in turn led to his arrangement in New York with Joan Watson. The twist being that Adler isn’t dead, and is, in fact, the mysterious “Moriarty” whom Sherlock spends most of the first season tracking down. The idea of Sherlock being infatuated with his criminal counterpart (and apparent intellectual match), feelings which don’t disappear even when he helps turn her over to the police, offers tremendous opportunities going forward, and, in retrospect, seems like the most natural idea in the world. Who else would a man obsessed with solving crime fall in love with?

The key difference between Sherlock and Elementary comes down to the way each show treats its protagonist. Everything in Sherlock revolves around Sherlock. He is the series’ sole reason for existing, and the dynamic remains frozen in amber. Sherlock will do something outrageous, everyone will gasp, but then he’ll solve a crime or offer a token gesture of commiseration, and everyone will move on. It gets old, because the show simultaneously wants its audience to be shocked by Sherlock’s behavior, and charmed by his roguish self-regard and evident brilliance, without much variation. Elementary takes a broader view. As Sherlock, Miller is often standoffish and arrogant, but he exists in a world that refuses to let him off the hook for his mistakes or his behavior; better still, he recognizes his failings, and is clearly working toward addressing them. This doesn’t mean the series is about “fixing” Holmes, or even that the character is inherently broken, but it allows for the possibility of growth and change. On Sherlock, Holmes is constantly bemoaning that he’s surrounded by idiots, and it’s hard to argue his point. On Elementary, Holmes is engaged in the slow, painful process of accepting that those “idiots” might have something to teach him. The former has its moments, but the latter makes for better television and more rewarding art.

[lonelier-version-of-you]

Alright, I’m ready to move on to S15E05 “To Absent Friends” in my series 15 Holby rewatch, although with this particular episode it’s a stretch to call it a rewatch because I haven’t actually seen any of this ep before. I also know very little about it plot-wise. This should be an interesting watch.

Edit 1: No Henrik in the intro! That is clever.

Edit 2: Sort-of Henrik cameo via phone answering message!

Edit 3: Oh yeah, this episode goes right into the drama!

Edit 4: Wow, Jonny is a bad liar. Lol.

Edit 5: I’m a bit obsessed with Lilah just telling every single consultant that her mentor said she should do her best to work with them.

Edit 6: Although Elliot himself says otherwise, I think he’d be a good acting CEO. He says he’s not the type for the job, and I agree in a long-term stint he wouldn’t fit, but I think he’d do perfectly well in a short stint. Then again, it makes sense he’d say no, as they didn’t know how long Henrik would be gone for so they didn’t know how long they’d need an acting CEO.

Edit 7: Now wait just a minute, is this patient’s mother Lisa Fowler from EastEnders or am I just prosopagnosic??

Edit 8: I was right, it’s Lucy Benjamin! Now that I know that, I can get back to the episode.

Edit 9: One thing Holby was often very good at is casting actors who look like they could be related in real life - I don’t know the actress playing Lucy Benjamin’s character’s daughter, but they really do look like they could be mother and child!

In other news, I already love Ramona the HCA on AAU. And while I love Michael, he kind of deserved it when she said this: “Just because you’re clinical lead doesn’t mean you can be a jerk.”

Edit 10: The Darwin staff gossiping about Henrik’s disappearance! Little scenes like that make the show feel so much more realistic.

Also, LMAO at this:

Jonny: “It costs a lot of money to look this bad.”

Tara: “Well, it wasn’t wasted!”

Edit 11: Chantelle, my beloved!!!!!

Edit 12: Serena in her first acting CEO era!

Also, Ric in this scene is me to the Casualty writers right now: “Look, I really haven’t got time for 20 questions. Just give me a straight answer. Who is running Holby City?”

Edit 13: Lexy?? I didn't know she was in this ep!

Edit 14: I can’t believe I’m giving props to Jonny, but it was nice of him that when Lexy said she was romantically involved with “a certain someone”, he said “let’s get you fixed up and back to them”, i.e. he didn’t assume gender. That was cool.

Edit 15: Oh, Serena is LOVING this.

Edit 16: Chantelle talking about her date with Torchwood Boy. And when Malick says she should just ask him (Torchwood Boy) out if she wants to see him again, she says: “I’m a girl. Girls don’t ask.” I’m becoming ever more convinced she was early-diagnosed autistic and had social skills classes (which, from my knowledge, do tend to include such gender-stereotyped ideas).

Edit 17: Lol okay not me saying that Lucy Benjamin and the actress playing her character’s daughter look like they could totally be related, only for the episode to reveal the daughter was adopted.

Edit 18: Oh, this Ramona is GREAT. She deserved to be a main character.

Edit 19: Good on Ramona calling Michael out for patronising her.

Edit 20: I miss Malick.

Edit 21: The Keller patient storyline in this ep is so interesting.

Edit 22: Mo’s... sleeping with a barman from Albie’s??

Edit 23: Remember when Holby had actual patient storylines?

Edit 24: Welp, my computer crashed. Now I'm gonna have to wait like 15-20 minutes for it to turn back on so I can finish the episode.

Edit 25: I can now resume my Holby viewing, thankfully.

Edit 26: Lexy’s collapsed in the multi-faith room. I’m getting deja vu.

Edit 27: Serena’s meeting with the board is both hilarious and has aged... well I can’t decide if it’s aged well or it’s aged badly. “Under Mr. Hanssen, Holby led the way in groundbreaking procedures which garnered huge amounts of publicity. And that’s fine when things are going your way. When they’re not, you go over budget, and become the focus of too many headlines. Hospitals should never become THE story - that’s how they get closed down.”

(I miss when Henrik became the focus of headlines for things he did.)

Edit 28: SERENA’S MEETING SFSFSFSF I couldn’t make this dialogue up!!!!! “This is a time for Holby to play it safe, to look to the future and ensure its long-term survival.”

Edit 29: Lexy’s getting the Herzig!

Edit 30: Chantelle has arranged a second date with Torchwood Boy.

Edit 31: Serena and Ric toasting to Henrik at Albie’s!

Edit 32: I feel like old Holby was better at developing one-off staff members than later Holby was at developing actual main characters. Karol in the previous episode, Ramona in this one, etc.

Edit 33: Okay, I looked up Ramona’s actress, she’s actually in several episodes! I’m glad to see that, because I really like her.

[backofthebookshelf]

That post I reblogged earlier reminded me that I need to yell about how much I adore Jon Archivist Sims not just as an asexual character but as an asexual horror narrator, because asexuality in horror is usually something that makes me cringe.

Not that there's much asexuality, as a sexual orientation, in horror; like everywhere else it's pretty rare to see it depicted at all. But there are tropes, and just like good writers often write neurodivergent characters without realizing it, they sometimes write asexual characters without realizing it, it's just that people think of sex as foundational to the human experience and therefore something universally meaningful to discuss in horror, and therefore deviations get...weird.

There's the "too busy/too good for relationships" trope that @bananonbinary mentioned, which Vivian Sobchak calls the "virginal astronaut" trope -- which derives from the horrible combined mess of "logic is masculine, emotion is feminine," "sex must be heterosexual and therefore a story with no women can't be about sex," and "sex and emotions are inextricable." Literally every one of those concepts can and should and has been deconstructed by queer horror, but it hasn't made them go away (particularly if, like me, you like 19th century ghost stories a lot).

But so much of horror is about the body, and so much of thinking about bodies is about sex. There's a whole sub-genre of plant horror - from Invasion of the Body Snatchers to Annihilation, not to mention that totally unnecessary scene in the first Evil Dead movie - and so much of that particular kind of body horror is about asexual reproduction. It's not just "what if there was no reason to have sex" but that the lack of a need for sex is the way you can tell that someone is no longer human.

There's also a whole thread of Frankenstein criticism that treats asexual reproduction as the central problem of the novel (which I think is dramatically missing the point) that I found massively triggering to stumble across. The whole reason Victor Frankenstein fails is because he won't have sex with a woman? Great, love to know that sexual relationships are the be-all and end-all of human success. (Again, not the point of the novel, if you haven't read Frankenstein please don't let this ruin it for you.)

Honestly, weirdly enough, I think the only time I don't find a character who's passively depicted as asexual in horror fiction to be alienating is...in Lovecraft stories. Horrific, I know, Lovecraft had every bigotry known to humanity turned up to twelve, except I suspect he actually was sex-repulsed and asexual and so the lack of sex or sexual relationships in his stories seem more like a natural consequence of it just not being something he cared about than as a way to prove that his characters were above messy human emotions or that they were somehow broken or less than human. Trust me, I loathe the fact that Lovecraft is apparently decent ace rep, but...there we are.

But to bring this back to TMA -- especially to start with, Jon is a horror narrator very much modeled on the 19th and early 20th century "researcher accidentally eaten by the thing he's researching" story form. (Not just Lovecraft, but Arthur Machen, Algernon Blackwood, Arthur Conan Doyle, M.R. James - TMA is named after an M.R. James story, even.) (Actually look at the assistants' surnames and that's a pretty good catalog of the inspirations; even Dracula is an epistolary novel featuring a narrator who's accidentally consumed by something he thought he was apart from, although asexual it is not.) And most of those narrators are asexual, of the "virginal astronaut" type, because of the tropes of the day (and because of the stereotypes of academics).

Then through the course of the series Jon becomes a more modern type of horror protagonist, turning into a monster himself, and the series begins to question heavily what it means to be human and where the lines between human and monster are drawn. And the longer this goes on, the more monstrous Jon becomes in his physical dependence on statements and his uncanny healing abilities and his literal return from the dead -- the more human he becomes, too, making better connections with people, reaching out to offer help or even just sympathy, prioritizing his relationships with other people over his own research or his need to not become a mystery.

And I think that's why his asexuality hits so good: the story prioritizes the emotional parts of human connections even while it's diving into the monstrous transformation stuff that so often uses lack of sexual interest as a shorthand to demonstrate that the person isn't fully human anymore. (And not even just romantic connections, although Jon and Martin's relationship is a lynchpin of the series; you've also got Jon repairing his relationship with Melanie, his complex relationship with Daisy, his ongoing struggle to relate to Basira.) TMA isn't just deconstructing what it means to be human, it's also completely removed sexuality from that calculation. There are lots of things that make a person more or less human, by a wide variety of definitions of "human," but sexuality is not one of them.

I'm not sure how much of this was intentional; I definitely assumed that the reason Jon was asexual was because of that tradition of cosmic horror and ghost story narrators, updated for a modern queer audience, and the comments Jonny has made in q&as and elsewhere seem to support that. But this is a great example of what happens when something is written thoughtfully and with care taken to consider implications, rather than defaulting to easy cultural shorthands. And it's also an illustration of the usefulness of queer as an umbrella term -- queer fiction by definition has to sidestep a lot of those cultural shorthands, and the more of those you can deconstruct, the more you're able to create something that includes everyone.

[tellthemeerkatsitsfine]

During the Jonnie Peacock episodes of The Last Leg, I always thought the running joke about Josh Widdicombe being attracted to Jonnie was funny, most of the time. The funniest part of it, to me, was that neither of the men involved really seemed on board with it. They sort of awkwardly said the lines, but had clearly been told to go along with a bit that put them both in roles they weren’t quite sure how to play. I’m not sure if that’s the effect the writers intended, but it was funny. Awkward Josh Widdicombe and awkward Jonnie Peacock were funny as they awkwardly played those jokes out.

I didn’t quite agree with the central premise of the joke, which is that Jonnie Peacock is so very physically attractive that even a very manly heterosexual man such as Josh Widdicombe would be attracted to him. Just didn’t really appeal to my personal tastes, even when he grew out his hair, which is weird because normally I’ll be attracted to just about any male person with long hair. I think he’s always been a great guest on the show and I’m always happy to see his name in an episode lineup, there’s just something a little too smooth about him for me to agree with Josh’s claims about how physically attractive he is.

I saved the Taskmaster New Year’s treat episode for a couple of days, because I had my COVID booster shot booked for today (January 3rd). I don’t much like needles, so I figured I’d give myself the reward of this episode for getting through it. I’m glad I did. The needle is over with, and I am now about halfway through a Taskmaster episode that I’m really enjoying.

I’m partway through the vinegar drinking task right now, and I had to pause the episode to write this post, because I really felt the need to come onto this website and say... God damn. When Jonnie Peacock was the only contestant in this episode to do what seemed so obvious to me, and look around to see if there was vinegar or something to help him outside that table of shot glasses. And then he found the PH strips. And then he got up and looked around the room and found the 85 clue. Like a man who’s either watched enough Taskmaster to know how this works or is just really good at figuring shit out. A switch definitely flipped in my brain. Josh, I've decided I agree with you. Jonnie Peacock is fucking hot.

[disaster-by-chance]

Finally got around to watching Season 4 of Cobra Kai and oh boy,,

Sometimes this show is just painful to watch. And I get it, it's a Netflix original, the acting and production are going to be a "B Tier" at best, but oh man does it make me want to bang my head against the wall.

I enjoy the show, I do. It has its moments where I'm just ecstatic or crying because they showed Mr. Miyagi for like less than two minutes, but every time a character takes two steps forward in character development, it feels like they also take three steps back within the next two episodes. More so with the older seasons, but still.

I guess it's just painful to watch the characters relapse into bad habits and you're just sitting there going, "RIP to them but I'm different," and it gets annoying over time.

Honestly, every episode so far has been "relationship drama, gross kissing, breakups, kick-ass karate, family bonding, repeat."

Look, I love karate and think some of the fight scenes are very fun but holy shit do they happen for the stupidest reasons.

I don't know if it's because I'm aroace or because the writers made these girl characters (Sam and Tori) so annoying, dislikeable, and not all that redeemable, but them having all this drama because of two stupid boys (and over one who looks like the human equivalent to white bread?)? Ugh.

Also, that whole arc of the LaRussos taking Robby under their wing and having an almost family dynamic with him was one of my favorite parts of the show because I'm a sucker for surrogate father and son relationships. However, of course, the writers have no sense of found family and had to have Sam get with (who in my mind) is somewhat of a brother was just,, not great.

I know my own thoughts don't dictate the direction of the show but I think more shows should jump on the found family bandwagon because I'll eat that shit up.

I know that they're trying to make Tory redeemable because her mom is sick but what the fuck man,, it doesn't excuse you for attempted murder?? I know Sam is an annoying rich white girl who does get everything she wants, but STILL. You really aren't that different, you're just poor and take what you want with force :/

At this point, I really just watch the show for Daniel and Jonny (even though they both also make me want to bang my head against the wall due to how stubborn they are) because even though I'm aroace, I appreciate dilfs.

It seems like the writers just know how to write when it comes to the adults' conversations all of a sudden and then they go back to being mediocre and less for all the kids.

The one other thing that's become a pet peeve for me for this show is every time the kids are training and they aren't wearing gis. Instead at the very least, they have active or yoga wear but as a former taekwondo student, it's so painful to watch them kick in jeans and with jackets on. Like,, how are you not ripping your clothes right now?

Other than that, I enjoy the show. It has its moments and I like looking at Ralph Macchio, sue me.

[bonzos-number-1-fan]

TMAGP 23 Thoughts: Not Not NotThem

After quite the hiatus we're back with another guest writer. This time it's Harlan Guthrie of Malevolent fame. A show I likely won't ever get around to listening to but have heard nothing but good things about. So everyone go check it out if you liked this. This one is very obviously from a guest writer too. Its style and contents are pretty distinct from TMA. Which is not a bad thing by any means and it's a really great episode overall.

Spoilers for episode 23 below the cut.

There isn't a huge amount to dig into in the opening scene. I do like that the paperwork is a continuing process and it's pretty likely there will be some sort of pay of too it. Lena doesn't seem to be lying in this scene either. She really does seem to think that it's a prank. So assuming it's not a prank she doesn't seem to have as tight a grip on the office as she thinks she does. It's also interesting how engrossed it makes Sam but that might just be a character quirk rather than anything greater.

I really liked this incident but, honestly, I really don't have a load to say on this incident. I thought it was a really well written incident but quite explicit as incidents go and not a huge amount to dig into for larger puzzle pieces. It's also always tricky to know what's meaningful to the larger story when there is a guest writer. Jonny and Alex do give input but it's not like we know what that input is. Either way there is only two things I can think to mention here for it. The first is the time discrepancy in the post dates. The penultimate post comes a months after the final post. Which might not really mean much of anything to be honest. This is a doppelganger incident and those have typically had time discrepancies in them but the nature of this one doesn't lead to an easy explanation of that. So it might mean something, or it might be a mistake. I don't think it's a particularly important detail as of yet in either case.

The other bit in the mention of copper. Copper is a planetary metal, along with things like silver and mercury that have recently appeared, but the symbolic nature of those is a tricky subject to get into. Alchemy as a subject is mixed up with a lot of newer takes on things and so any its not always wise to assign too much in the way of importance to that. But that being said copper is the metal of Venus, both the planet and the god. Venus/Aphrodite obviously have some strong connection to this sort of incident. However part of the reason for copper being associated with Venus is copper's role as a metal to make mirrors from. That's a more compelling angle to this one for me. Alesis did pretty literally make their mirror double here.

Newman is a very on the nose name here too.

Sam and Celia's Institute sleuthing has not a whole lot of interest for me either if I'm honest. Basira and Helen are Basira and Helen, not much to say there until we meet them. The version of John and Martin Sam identified is weird though. It's weird in that it doesn't actually make any sense. He said they were "close to the right age" but that doesn't really track. It either means they were born at the right time, or died at the right time. But in either scenario it's sort of just nonsense. If they were born at the right time they died around 10. That's obviously possible but it raises a lot of questions about why Celia would be looking into some 10 year olds. If they died at the right age then they're offset by about 20 years which also doesn't track with anything else we've seen. The only other scenario is that she's not looking for TMP's John and Martin but rather TMA's as that could account for a time discrepancy but if that's the case neither of those ages are the right age. So all of that is probably a red herring.

Gwen and Alice opening up to each other is really nice to see too. Even though they do both hate each other outside of Sam and Alice they're the characters with the most history and it's great to see that having some weight. There isn't anything new here from our perspective, other than [Error] having too many eyes but that's not a big shock, but it's nice that the characters are actually talking about this stuff. It did seem pretty likely that they'd all be having their own insular adventures around the mid-season point but having them all come together like this is a nice thing to see.

I’ve not been “arsey”- bzzt

10/10

Great ep all around.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Incident/CAT#R#DPHW Master Sheet and Terminology Sheet

DPHW Theory: 3536 seems pretty normal to me on this one. The more data I get the less I feel like anything comes up that needs explaining in my theory. Beyond the initial shift from my conceptions of these groups as fears to broader thematic elements I think this is proving to be pretty rock solid now. I'll keep this section around but I do think there will be not much of interest in these at this point.

CAT# Theory: 13 is great for my "It's not People/Places/Objects" essay. There wasn't an object in this one. Coral are animals and so count as people, the host is person, the Not Not NotThem also a person. If you say that animals count as objects it creates large problems in the theory. I really should have a sit down to puzzle this one out.

R# Theory: BC is interesting because initially I thought that was a bit low as the most similar case to this format was RedCanary's and that's AB. But that also had a lot more interaction and photos included which would bump it up for my theory there. So this one does actually check out.

Header talk: Transformation (Dysmorphic) -/- Doppleganger (Infection) is very peculiar. Daria's incident has a very similar header but Dysmorphic was the crosslink and Full was the subsection. Hard to know if it means anything but it's interesting in some sense of the word.

[lokis-little-kitten]

Teaching Assistant 2

Title: Teaching Assistant Writer: Lokis-Little-Kitten Pairing: LokixReader Rating: Mid Warning: spankings, mentioning of masturbation, ED, college, teacherxstudent Summary: You get a job as a teaching assistant for you professor Loki Laufeyson. Quickly the relationship takes a turn when Loki offers to teach you the robes of BDSM.

‘’Print Goddamit,’’ you scream at your small printer when it refuses to deliver you your story. You had gotten up in time to print those damn papers but nothing… It was on and everything. 

Angrily you slap your Laptop closed and put it in your bag. Another class awaits you in a moment. You pack up your things and leave for your class. A nervous tingle is in your stomach. This will be the first day that you’re the official teaching assistant from Professor Laufeyson!

‘’There is my bitch,’’ Dimitri calls out when he sees you on campus. ‘’I can’t believe you managed that girl.’’ He pulls you into a tight hug while congratulating you. ‘’Thanks,’’ you shyly reply. 

Then the interrogation starts. Dimitri asks you a thousand questions about yesterday. He buys you your coffee and then you leave for class. 

Meanwhile in professor Laufeysons office. He walks in and turns the lights on. He runs a hand through his glorious hair before striding to his office. The professor gets everything ready for the day when he suddenly notices his printer. A stack of papers hangs out of it and some lay on the ground. 

He sighs deeply and starts to gather it. My Pleasure. Y/N Y/L/N. He frowns deeply. Why would you randomly send this to him? Probably he just needs to read and correct it, it wouldn't be the first time a student wants him to read their work. Sending it ten times, however, is a little overdone. 

He takes a map and places one version of it. Afterwards, he bins the leftover papers since they are unnecessary now. Loki starts to prepare for his first lecture then pushing the story to the back of his head. He’ll read it when he has time. 

The day passes quickly full of lectures and students asking all kinds of questions. He gets quite some papers turned in that are to be graded before he can return to his office. When he arrives you are waiting on the bench for him. 

‘’Punctual are we,’’ Loki sighs unlocking his office, ‘’I didn’t expect you for another ten minutes?’’ He gives you a look as he lets you in. ‘’My professor let me go earlier, professor…’’ He nods a little and closes the door behind himself. 

Loki takes out the papers he received and lays them out. ‘’These need grading. The only thing I expect you to do is grammar and spelling check. I want you to be stern and merciless, think you can do that?’’ Quickly you nod as he hands you a few papers with a red sharpie. ‘’Yes professor…’’ You lay it down on his desk and start the job immediately. 

The grading takes a long time but that’s fine. You learn a lot from it. After a few hours, Loki puts away his marker again. ‘’Could you please go get me a black coffee?’’ he hands you five pounds while still reading. 

‘’Yes… Of course!’’ You take the five pounds and grab your jacket. ‘’Go get yourself one as well.’’ You look a bit surprised when he says that and not. ‘’You drink latte’s, don’t you,’’ Loki frowns while thinking, ‘’get yourself one of those.’’ ‘’Thank you.’’ 

Quickly you get to the cafe close by to get the coffee’s that one cost one pound fifty so you have two pounds left to return to him. When you return you notice the new stack of papers in need of grading and hold back a sigh. This is your life from now on… 

The next days go the same until it is finally weekend! Glorious weekend! Loki has been the same cold, stern and rude professor to you the whole week and you can’t wait to take a well-deserved break! 

You spent your weekend, writing, working on Saturday, drinking coffee and watching movies. Your quite a domestic person. You like being at home without anyone else but you love the occasional party as well.  

Loki lives further from Campus. You are still in the dormitory but have a room for you alone now and made it your own. It is a bit of a maze because of the closets, bed and other things but it is yours. 

You again try to print some of your stories but again your printer refuses to spit out the papers. You mumble something rude and then decide to leave it alone. You’ll print at Dimitri’s later or in the library. 

Back at Loki his office he just came to bring some graded papers and get some other things. He walks in and lays the stab of essays down when he notices his printer is on and loads of papers are printed once again. He gets the papers quickly before pulling the plug from the damn thing. 

Again you… He should have a word with you that you shouldn’t abuse his printer like this. He gets the map in which he placed the other stories you sent him. He takes those home too, he might as well read them then. 

When he gets home to his flat on the top floor of a large building he sits down on a chair near the window while looking out over his beloved city. He starts to read the stories with a flaming red Sharpie in hand to point out all of your mistakes. 

Soon, however, it becomes clear that this is not what he expected it to be, at all… The more he reads the deeper the frown on his forehead gets. What were you thinking? He needs to have a good talk with you Monday… 

Back home you are seated on your four-poster bed watching a show before bed when you get a text from the professor. 

Professor Laufeyson.

We need to talk. It’s important. I have already informed your teachers you won’t be coming to class. I require you to be at my office at 9 AM, you better be there on time!

Y/N Y/L/N Yes Professor. I hope it is nothing too serious?

Professor Laufeyson. I’m afraid it is Miss Y/L/N. I will see you tomorrow.

Nerves are tangled in your stomach. You have been awake almost the whole night. You worried about the situation you got yourself in. What happened, what did you do? You feel like a small child again, kicked out of yet another family for no reason… 

You are now seated on the bench next to his office unable to keep your mind straight. Hot tears burn in your eyes from pure fear of the professor… 

When he finally turns around the corner he doesn’t even acknowledge you. No look, nod or ‘good morning’ he just walks past you and opens his door. He eventually does call you in and tells you to take a seat. 

When you sit down you feel scared and small, even more now you are in the presence of Professor Laufeyson… He looks at you sternly for a second before opening his bag and pulling out papers. You frown a bit. What is that? 

‘’Do you understand that it is highly disrespectful to send your professor such rubbish? If you weren’t my teaching assistant and liked you I would step to the dean right away.’’ You look at the raven-haired man with large eyes. Whatever is he talking about? 

‘’I’m so sorry professor but I don’t know what this is about,’’ you carefully chime in. He slaps the papers on his desk. ‘’So you didn’t write this rubbish?’’ ‘’Write what?’’ ‘’You really do not know what this is about?’’ He stands up and walks around his desk to the side where he leans on it again. 

‘’His hands tangle in hers when his large dick thrusts into her. She screams out while he simply groans. Legs are tangled while Jonny thrust into her womanhood with great force.’’ Tears start to gather in your eyes. 

The stories were printed out here that's why your computer kept saying it was printed but your actual printer didn’t do a thing… That means he read it. Your secret is out and you will be expelled for it! How did this happen to you?

‘’Jenny her hands tangle into the ropes Jonny tied her up with.’’ He sighs deeply and walks towards the fireplace. He is now behind you while tears start to stream down your cheeks. This can only happen to you… 

You can feel Loki his presence right behind you. He throws the papers in front of you. They are full of red marks. Oh no… He actually read it? You expected that he would have stopped after he found out what it really was… 

‘’I’m so sorry. I tried to print them at home. They were never supposed to get to you, professor. I swear it is just a misunderstanding!’’ He lets out a sarcastic laugh. ‘’It better is! It is clear you never even met a treu dom… You clearly don’t know what you are doing or what that community really is.’’ 

Suddenly his large hand crawls up to your neck. ‘’But don’t worry, little girl,’’ he speaks in a now softer tone, ‘’I’m willing to teach you everything you need to know. If you agree to it of course.’’ You swallow unable to say a thing. 

What is he proposing? For you to become… To become his sub? What does that even really mean? He is right after all, you don’t have an ounce of experience. 

‘’I…’’ You don’t know how to reply. Do you want this? Do you want this with him? You have to admit you had the occasional fantasy about him in the bedroom but that won’t be a reality. Maybe you want to find out what that reality is? 

‘’Tell me, little one, are you going with my offer?’’ ‘’Yes.’’ He leans in further until his lips are right next to your ear. ‘’Good. Rule number one then, always address me with Master, understood?’’ You take a deep breath before replying. 

‘’Yes, master.’’ ‘’Good girl.’’ 

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