#the geek interpreter

[halloawhatisthis]

CBS Elementary + canon references • cases (part 3)

[fullscoreshenanigans]

do you have any norray headcannons of them growing closer during the search for emma?

☆ First my required hyping of @salsae's (so what am I defending now?) because I've essentially taken it as canon. Beautifully written with loving nuance, her work was (and still is <3) foundational for my interpretations of the trio when I first got into the series in 2021 and was searching for quality REN works.

☆ I also really love this unnamed piece by @p-s-geeks:

There is a flower in your pocket. It’s wild and medicinal. You’re familiar with it. You remember white bedsheets, a pleading whine, two pairs of hands embracing you, and the flower on your forehead, working more wonders that it was biologically capable of (it wasn’t the flower, you know). The flower currently in your pocket is probably in a worse state, has probably shriveled up and wilted after hours of being plucked. It weighs lighter than a feather but feels heavier than diamonds. […] You unearth the flower from your pocket. Ray deserves to see this. Deserves to relive memories with you. And you kind of need him to. Right now, he’s the only one who’s been through thick and thin with you in majority of these trials and tribulations. He’s the only one who can look at it the way you look at it. […] “It’s alright” Ray says, pressing himself closer to you. You hold onto him like he’s the last lifeline on a sinking boat. “It’s alright. You’re not alone. You never were alone” You sleep listening to her gentle words in his gentle voice and it’s the deepest sleep you’ve gotten in a long time. (You wake up to a beautiful orange sunrise. To limbs tangled around yours. To soft snores. To groaning and complaining about morning coming too early during summers. And the hole in your heart subdues itself. It doesn’t disappear, doesn’t stop panging, but you still smile in remembrance and hope.)

How all the little things build and build until they become so deafening, and how so much solace is able to be found in those small‚ tender exchanges on one quiet night, with Ray echoing simple yet loving words he learned from her so long ago that became etched into his being after Grace Field not only by her but through the actions‚ big and small‚ of their family as well (because family is so very integral to each of them). How at first orange is such a painful reminder and how it ends on a most radiant sunrise that’s the true embodiment of Emma, giving them both the strength to continue onward.

☆ This is when they start antiquing together since they're already traveling all over the world, spotting little shops with hidden treasures. ↳ Tying in another headcanon of mine that they find and fix up a duplicate of the music box Isabella gifted Emma for her sixth birthday, I debate whether they find it before or after finding her.

(Mystic Code Book Chapter 1 Q&A | Questionnaire Translation Source)

☆ They also find a vintage chess set and start having matches again. The win totals remain close.

↳ They find it comforting how after so long the other still has the same subtle quirks to how they play, hold and move the pieces. When one takes a bit longer to make a move and the other glances up to see the tiniest familiar tick, it can be hard to stop that warmth from blooming in their heart. ↳ Sometimes the younger kids will watch them play and want to join in. These matches tend to take longer, but they don't mind. The sight of the other gently coaching and encouraging the children leaves them so very fond.

☆ This actually applies to any situation where they're tending to the kids since they're both very family-oriented. Reading them bedtimes stories, helping them with projects or lessons, Ray showing the kids how to cook, etc. He was never cruel or malicious toward them back at the house:

(Chapter 8 | 9 | 15 | 22)

But seeing Ray being able to openly express his fondness for their family without having to maintain a cool detachment and air of indifference heals Norman's heart some. Similarly, seeing Norman fall back into caring for the kids without the mantle of Minerva weighing on his shoulders does the same for Ray.

(so what am I defending now?)

☆ To plug another of sae's fics, when the two end up on dish cleaning duty together it's not uncommon for this to play out:

(to have and to hold)

☆ In a similar vein, in the winter sometimes Ray tells Norman to hold for a second so he can fix his scarf. Norman, in a light and breezy tone, tells him he doesn't have to worry about him, you know? Ray responds with a tch, saying he worries about everyone, in the way he keeps watch and frets in a nurturing way about the rest of their family. The way his fingers linger ever so briefly on the fabric followed with a light pat over Norman's heart to signal he's done hint otherwise.

☆ It's funny watching them get roped into something like a Mario Kart tournament because they don't trash talk each other at all, but they will get insanely intense with the trajectory of their green shells, banana peel placements, snaking, etc., all while keeping relatively calm exteriors. ↳ It's also funny to see Norman be a sore loser in his own way.

☆ Whether it's at one of the Ratri estates or while they're out on another search, if one wakes up in the middle of the night and can't find the other, their first guesses are to check outside or a spot in the establishment they noted earlier as a good vantage point to see the stars. Sometimes they converse, sometimes they don't, but they appreciate each other's company as their minds drift to whether Emma is looking up at the speckled sky, too.

☆ I love how often people will ignore Lambda illness being largely handled and resolved in order to go for some no-brainer hurt/comfort. After waking up from some of the worst bouts of it to even some of the more mild ones where he didn't have to be hospitalized, Norman seeing Ray calmly reading at his bedside or dozing off himself is a welcomed sight. ↳ Combining with an earlier bullet point but I also really like the imagery of them being out on a nature excursion/picnic with Norman having to deal with a milder attack, and after reassuring everyone that he's fine and encouraging them to go off and play while he rests a bit, it whittles down to just him and Ray sitting under the shade of a tree, space left for a third. Watching their family indulge in such mirth without fear of a future cut short, they know even with the lows that have come before and could come again, when they find Emma, they'll be able to genuinely tell her they've been well.

[jesncin]

Process and brainstorming the cover for Sons of Mars! I wanted to avoid more straightforward ideas for a cover and go for something artsy, while taking inspiration from the fun bombastic colors of Joshua Middleton's MM Identity covers.

[king-of-the-gods-zeus]

//Hello, I'm Ares's mod. This is the first time I've come across the idea of a protective Zeus and a non-toxic Zeus in RP. Could you tell us more about this?your oos word tags look very interesting//

[OOC]

In real life I'm a very logical person; I can't rp as someone who would hate on their kid for no reason(yes, i know why Zeus hated Ares in the myths). In the myths, Zeus had legitimate reason for punishing Ares not for hating him, but for punishing him. So I took that, along with the fact Zeus was a logical king and morals have changed drastically over the last couple millennia. And decided that the main reason Zeus was harsh on Ares was because Ares was a soldier and he couldn't have a soldier disobeying his king. Therefore, in modern times, Zeus is actually a decent(ish) person who isn't abusive.

[wheucto]

test tube cannot cook

[spiderslvts]

ㅤ*ㅤ⸺ a huge reason why i love the rpc as much as i do is because all of you put so much damn passion into these characters. watching HH on its own was a good experience, but had i not joined this community, i would've never seen the characters in the light that i do now.

i see vox and i think of the intricacies that opal wrote into his character, the life he used to live, the moral greyness of his personality and the meanings behind his actions. i see alastor and i think of the relationship ivory wrote between him and his mother, or i think of his complicated feelings towards human connection, as written by jack.

i see adam and i see an incredibly complicated character dealing with grief and loss in the worst possible way, because mid wrote him like that. i see lucifer and i see a fully fleshed out man, lingering with regrets, because that's how michelle/luci wrote him. zestial and carmilla were just background characters to me prior to this community, and now they're fully fleshed out characters in the back of my mind.

that is genuinely so cool to me. all of you put so much passion into these characters, and everything you write just feels canon to me now.

[roydick]

Which came first: bad fanon misinterpretation/misinformation of canon events on tumblr or wildly popular "official" youtube channels?

[starmocha]

XIUUU LOOK AT THIS

https://x.com/yizhouxiia/status/1916714151130575206?s=46&t=YVWOrpnzbZ_iukMqHOOs9A

It’s the way I thought the same too when I first saw Caleb’s MC’s dress 😭

It's an empire dress! They are typically loose below the bust. Many maternity dresses are based on this because the loose fabric makes it comfortable to wear as the woman's belly grows.

[halloawhatisthis]

CBS Elementary + canon references • names (part 4)

[greensparty]

This Month In History - April

Here are just some of the landmark pop culture anniversaries I am raising a glass to this month:

April 8, 1975: Toys in the Attic released

In April 1975, Aerosmith's 3rd album was released. It is my favorite album in their discography and I have a vinyl copy autographed by drummer Joey Kramer! Here is my piece I wrote in 2015. Happy 50th TITA!

April 8, 1990: Twin Peaks premieres on ABC-TV

In April 1990, David Lynch and Mark Frost's edgiest of edgy TV shows premiered. Here is my piece I wrote in 2015. 

And here I was at the Twin Peaks’ red room set at the 2019 Rock and Shock. Happy 30th Twin Peaks!

April 14, 2000: American Psycho opens

In April 2000, the serial killer thriller about 80s greed opened. Here is my piece I wrote in 2015. Happy 25th AP!

April 17, 2020: Fetch the Bolt Cutters released

In April 2020, Fiona Apple's 5th album dropped. Released during the pandemic and 24 years since her debut (that means she doesn't release music as often as I wish), it was a song-for-song masterpiece. It has actually gotten better with time too. I named it my #1 Album of 2020. The decade isn't over, but expect this on the Best of the 2020s list! Here is my album review I did in 2020. Happy 5th FTBC!

April 22, 2005: The Interpreter opens

In April 2005 one of Sydney Pollack's last movies was released. I actually worked on it in the art department. Here is my piece I wrote in 2020. Happy 20th The Interpreter!

April 26, 1980: Los Angeles released

In April 1980, the debut album from L.A. punk band X was released. It is my personal favorite of theirs. I have it on vinyl in my collection and I’ve dug them ever since I saw Penelope Spheeris’ doc The Decline of Western Civilization, which features X among a ton of their peers like The Germs and Black Flag. The band’s song “Los Angeles” has also accompanied me on my trips to L.A. In 2023, I got to interview X's Exene Cervenka and see them live and they did some songs off the album! Happy 45th LA!

[kiralamouse]

I think the headcanon of shyness and neurodivergence is a nice shade of nuance to add - but I agree that it utterly breaks the story to make it the primary driver of Darcy's unsociability. I think Elizabeth is 100% right, and it's 100% critical to the story, that Darcy is neither so shy nor so awkward that he can't learn to socialize with apparent ease, and he's not being asked to Live Deeply Masked At All Times, just to show courtesy to strangers during the handful of hours a week he might be asked to interact with them. Which might be a big ask for some people (it's implied that Georgiana's shyness is indeed crippling) but not Darcy as presented.

It bothers me so much that people latch onto this quote from Darcy but ignore the context around it:

“Shall we ask your cousin the reason of this?” said Elizabeth, still addressing Colonel Fitzwilliam. “Shall we ask him why a man of sense and education, and who has lived in the world, is ill-qualified to recommend himself to strangers?” “I can answer your question,” said Fitzwilliam, “without applying to him. It is because he will not give himself the trouble.” “I certainly have not the talent which some people possess,” said Darcy, “of conversing easily with those I have never seen before. I cannot catch their tone of conversation, or appear interested in their concerns, as I often see done.”

This is the big proof that Darcy is shy/socially awkward/whatever. But there are two answers right there! Colonel Fitzwilliam has an explanation that makes Darcy look far worse: he is rude because he doesn't care to be polite.

Darcy likes Elizabeth, and while I'm sure he didn't outright lie because he's a radical truther, he definitely did not tell the whole truth! Because the girl he likes just called his behaviour "very dreadful" and he needs to make himself look better. And then we know what he says later when he feels actual remorse for his prior behaviour (which he does not feel at Rosings):

I was... allowed, encouraged, almost taught me to be selfish and overbearing, to care for none beyond my own family circle, to think meanly of all the rest of the world, to wish at least to think meanly of their sense and worth compared with my own.

Where is his problem with conversing now? It's nowhere, because that was never the real problem. I am sure that Darcy does not converse easily with others, because I don't think he lied, but that is not why he was an unsociable asshole at the Meryton Assembly. It's because he did not think the unwashed masses of Hertfordshire were worth him putting in the effort.

[preeningpisces]

hi lovely!!! i'm a little shy to request something as i know you're busy and so i don't want to seem pushy... but i just find your page to be so fun!! both your writing and your drawings... and so, if i could request something, then could i either request another kenny drawing or something in written form about kenny?? <333

Omg don’t be shy !!! Literally any request makes me do jumping jacks & I’ve been hungry for them LOL

the fact you picked my fave??? My princess??

I’m going feral over here

And that makes me so happy to hear, I'm stoked you like my lil page! I have a lot of ideas and things I want to do. If only i wasn't so SLOW

Also, I come across as a busy person?? That makes me sound impressive & respectable - I like it 😎👍👍 & you’re not pushy at all; you’re an angel sent from above

Thank you thank you for the opportunity … i owe you my life

I feel pretty confident it'll be done later today - sorry for the wait >.<

[kenniuu]

got the seal of approval HUZZAH

gen z au by @dyellogin !!

i think a lot so small notes under cut if you’re interested in that (tw: ed mentions)

Billie:

self proclaimed femcel who’s biggest problem at the moment is that the term has gotten “hijacked” by attractive geek girls with boyfriends

she wants a boyfriend but thinks theyre all normie chads who only want bimbo foids (shes scared of intimacy) so she substitutes with 2d men and otome games that are 9/10 just softcore porn

keeps her hobbies a secret when shes outside or at work so people assume shes just quiet shes far more shameless online. true lover of internet anonymity

thinks shes tomoko and asa mitaka in the flesh and blood

Josephine:

massive selfshipper and aside from the fetish art they commission they also get their selfships done

very open about being a character hater if that makes sense, idk why i needed to include this so bad but i really imagine them to be like that one guy that hates amy rose for some reason. main targets are ones that get in the way of their pairings or selfships

they wear a binder and are not strict about pronouns i haven’t delve too much on my thoughts on this cause i feel like it is a topic i am somewhat unknowledgable on so please interpret as you must

Priscilla:

popular on tiktok and unironically refers to herself as a muscle mommy

very dedicated fan base that defends her against a scandal every month. like she’ll make these insane edgelord videos that aren’t even funny just offensive that people confront her on then some guy with the user columbine2025 is saying how people can’t make jokes online anymore

has insaneeee hybristophilia and secretly saves edits and videos of her favorites. doesn’t think she can fix them but plays into the “i can make them worse” gimmick

Jenny:

a huge pick me mingles a lot with the douchebags on her campus but doesn’t have a lot of friends outside of that

wayyy less chill(?) then her male counterpart. very critical and mean if she doesn’t like you mostly a result of her own insecurities which in turn fuels her need for male validation

the vaping and drinking is really just to cope lol she’s way more depressed when she does it also i think she's a buzzball main

despite saying her art social media is not supposed to be political at all (escapism excuse) she has been picked up as the token yesman of alt right weebs on x/twitter

Jenny is bulimic and has a private account on edtwt. her posts consist of her binges and bodychecks

kept their stuff short since i mainly focused just on stuff i think would be different ^-^ thankyou

[mediumgayitalian]

Will was very young the first time he dreamt of his dad.

"So," said a blond man in a white dress that was Too Short and teeth so straight they were off-putting. "How goes it, kiddo?"

Will was aware he was dreaming. He always was. But he had never quite been capable of pushing his way out of these dreams, so he was as good as stuck. He looked the man up and down.

"Are you a MLM salesman?" he asked, which he at the time felt was a reasonable question.

The MLM salesman looked affronted.

"I am living sunlight," said the man, perfectly straight nose wrinkled in offense.

"Living Sunlight," Will had mused, itching a mosquito bite on his ankle. He straightened and rocked back on the worn heels of his favorite sneakers. Only one side still lit up, but that worked for him. "I've never heard of that one. Is it Vitamin D supplements?"

The salesman sputtered. "Will, I -- I'm your father?"

Will froze in quiet awe, perking up like a watered flower.

"My time has come," he whispered.

No sooner were the words out of his mouth that the salesman stomped one sandaled foot, squeezed his fists, and hollered, at the top of his lungs, "Do not compare me to any character in that no-good loser's movies!" He spit on the ground beside them. Or, well, not really. Metaphysically. "George Lucas is a disgrace to the name of linguistic arts! He has written the worst dialogue known to man! He made Natalie Portman look robotic!"

Will disagreed on principle.

But he inclined his head, because, well. Fair. He did indeed do that.

"The art of the whole thing is the implications," Will said haughtily. He waved a hand the way he'd seen some of his Mama's critics do at shows. "The grander themes and nuances of Star Wars are deliberately left to viewer's thoughtful interpretations." He nodded, once. For emphasis.

The man -- his father, allegedly, but Will had his doubts -- Mama would crush this guy like a bug -- and Will has issue being related to someone so annoying, already -- sighed, and then shook his head.

"Maybe I mixed you up," he mused. He glanced down and frowned. "Are you actually one of Athena's ilk? Mine aren't usually…like this. More cool than straight geek, generally, which the exception of band dorks."

He leaned down -- far down, Will scowled, not fair; if this man is his father this better mean he will be tall -- and squinted.

"You don't look much like me yet," he observed. "I'm not quite so spotty."

"You're an asshole," Will informed him hotly. To his frustration, however, the stupid spots in question were not quite on board with his attempted nonchalance, and begun, as they always do when he's mad, to glow. Like little pinpricks in a window shade. "How do you sell scammy supplements if you're an asshole?"

"Hm," continued the asshole. He had nice hair, which was a third thing about him Will hated on principle. Thick and wavy and fell to his shoulders in nice ringlets. Held off his forehead by some kind of leather headband. What a douche. "Your mother is Naomi Solace, yes?"

"What are you, a cop?" Will said, which is what his mother had trained him to say in response to that question. But if this guy is a cop then Will is an elephant, so he gave up and answered: "Yes, but that's none of your business."

"…She bisexual? Coulda been a double night for her, I suppose. Can't blame her."

Will blinked. "What's that?"

Salesman Loser Dad blinked. "Uh," he said, and continued to flounder. It was a foreign look on him, so Will found it amusing. He counted three entire minutes of stuttered non-explanations and hand gestures.

"Dudes," Salesman Loser Dad managed, eventually, waving a manicured hand. "And women. You know?"

Will squinted at him in much the same way he squinted at raccoons during mating season attempting to seduce a fencepost.

"Both," finished the man eventually. "Both is good."

"Well, duh," said Will, continuing to look at him oddly. "How are you ever meant to choose?"

Salesman Loser Dad barked out a delighted laugh. "Alright!" he crowed, throwing a hand over Will's shoulders and recovering quite gracefully when Will picked it up by the middle finger and removed it not unlike one would a dead snake. "You are mine!"

"I have met you one sum total times," Will noted. "Any attempt to claim custody on your end is laughable by any reasonable court of law."

"Two," dismissed his alleged father. "I said hello to you at a bar that one time. Remember?"

Will did not remember. Will also knew that telling people who frequent bars that you do not remember seeing them in one is generally a Bad Plan -- another lesson from his mother -- so he said nothing at all. Alleged Absenteer was too wrapped up in his own rambling story to notice.

"Anyways," he continued. Will avoided correcting him on the correct use of the term 'anyway' because he is taking these special classes at school called Fitting In With Your Peers -- What You Should Know and has been advised that constantly correcting people may come off as 'combative' or perhaps even 'bitchy'. "Just came to drop by and introduce myself. Figured you should know your old man so you know who to pray to when you make it to camp!"

Adults do this thing where they say a sentence that is entirely incomprehensible without decades of general life experience and then get mad when you don't get half of it. Will, well used to adult bullshit -- his mother is excellent at pointing it out to him -- did not bother worsening this issue. He just nodded , and filed it away in the mental compartment in his brain labelled 'Problems for Future Will (Sorry)'.

He also refrained from mentioning that his father in question did not introduce himself, and Will remained, still, after suffering all this, ignorant of his name.

Another folder in the compartment. Fun times for Future Him.

"I'll be seeing you around," said his dad with a wink, spinning away from his personal space. He skipped off to the distance with a backwards wave and an honest-to-Jesus "Toodleloo!" which would be funny if Will were not stuck watching him prance away.

"There's no way," he said to himself, after a good twenty minutes, hands crossed over his chest. He shook his head, and then again for good measure. His mom's a deeply cool person. She has a cool butterfly tattoo and two ear piercings and everything. She wouldn't do that to herself. "Nah. This is my brain making things up for the drama of it all."

He turned in the opposite direction of the figment of his imagination and walked until he woke up again. He didn't bother mentioning his dream to his mother. In fact, he forgot about it entirely.

Until two years later, when he sat awake on a cot in the Hermes cabin, staring at a half-faded mural of the gods on the poster-cluttered wall. He glared at a salesman-looking guy who's horribly good hair peeked between a poster of Al Capone and a framed Cease and Desist.

"Fucker," he muttered to himself, and ignored it when someone sighed and muttered about the mutiny rehabilitation package again.

-- -- --

for @willsolaceweek day 5 -- will and his dad

[lucifyrfallen]

broppy fan child!!! BROPPY FAN CHILD ALERT!!!!!!

welcome princess vivi to the world! not to be confused with princess vivi from the hit (peak) franchise one piece… it’s a total coincidence that they both have blue hair. totally. ahem.

i have nothing to say!!!! i yearn for broppy marriage and broppy children. maybe i’ll write a fic about them, i don’t have much to lose!!! anyways. which one carried vivi is up for interpretation, all you need to know is that shes a geek

BONUS!!!!

what do you do when your niece is named after you?? FREAK OUT

[poison-into-positivity]

This shot right here is one of my favorites in the whole show, not only because everyone’s here but because it looks like it’s straight out of a stage play.

When you focus on the way they’re sitting, you’ll notice it’s not at all realistic. The crew is all sitting directly next to each other in a somewhat straight line, conveniently all facing the same direction - in reality, people would be facing one another, there’d be some small clusters, and they’d probably more dispersed across the deck.

But the way they’re staged here is indicative of a theatrical production - everyone’s cheating out, posed carefully toward an audience. Not a camera, an audience.

The sails at the top of the shot even look like curtains, framing the scene as if it’s a stage. And Izzy lurking in the back, unseen by everyone else and looking like he’s ready to deliver a Iago-style monologue, adds to this interpretation too.

This shot feels very purposeful — I think the effect of “everyone in the crew is hanging out together” could’ve easily been achieved with different, more three-dimensional camera angles or staging choices but they went with this one and it makes my little theater geek heart happy.

I’ve seen some discussions about how OFMD follows a lot of the same story beats as Shakespearean comedies; I’d bet money this shot is an intentional nod to that.