#Henry Jekyll does men

[crypticmoth-art]

I need Edward Hyde and Dorian Gray to kiss.

#two men who do what they want because of their physical appearance #with the difference being their view of their respective reputations #edward exists BECAUSE of henry’s reputation #whereas dorian does what he does despite his reputation #edward hyde #dorian gray #the strange case of dr jekyll and mr hyde #dr jekyll and mr hyde #tpodg #the picture of dorian gray #it wasn’t a ship i used to care for but i was thinking about it at work this morning and now i UNDERSTAND

[showtoonzfan]

The Glass Scientists webcomic is that EXACT “messy gay story” that I’m looking for. It involves two men from the earliest century, one of them (Henry Jekyll) has internalized homophobia and spent years convincing himself that any gay or LGBTQ+ relationship is doomed to fail due to the heartbreak he personally experienced in college at the time of meeting his lover, and the other (Robert Lanyon, the POC one) is a stubborn self centered yet deep down caring man who’s afraid of commitment and emotional attachment. Even after they separated after having a fuck buddy fling in college that supposedly on the surface meant nothing to them yet EVERYTHING deep down, they remained close friends as they grew older, Jekyll opening his science society and continued with his work, only this time he has a counterpart, Edward Hyde, who brings out everything he doesn’t like about himself, everything he’s afraid to be. Having Hyde be this unhinged openly sexual person yet someone who paints himself as not having any deep emotions makes sense for the story. Hyde doesn’t need to be this big bad murderer because this is a different adaptation of Jekyll and Hyde. It’s not about a man who wants to do whatever he wants so he creates a potion to get off scott free for everything including murder, it’s about a man who suppresses not only his emotions he feels like he dare not feel, but himself, keeping a perfect gentleman facade in constant fear of what others would think of the real him.

Not that too recently in the webcomic, Jekyll has started to question if Hyde truly is “evil” since that’s all Jekyll saw him as. He doesn’t see Hyde as the suppressed version of himself, being in denial and thinking this is black and white. That’s what I love about this webcomic. Characters like Laynon and ESPECIALLY Jekyll are flawed people who need to be bonked on the head about their emotions and how to deal with them in a healthy way, and the comic doesn’t shy away from that. It opens different perspectives, different beliefs on why the characters act the way they act and the hardships they’re going through. Many of these characters are engaging and likable, even if they are flawed and make mistakes or have not the best beliefs, including a trans character named Jasper, a day manager with a dark past named Rachel, and even Dr. Frankenstein. Recently Jekyll and Lanyon are currently in a clash. Laynon never cared about science, that was Henry’s passion, and yet he still stayed by his friends side. Lanyon was at first thinking about quitting, giving up after trying to help Henry in whatever was going on with him (since no one knows about Hyde) but now due to the fear of losing Henry, Lanyon wants to shut down the entire society before it slowly kills his best friend completely. Henry on the other hand doesn’t react so easily.

I love how both characters are in the wrong, and yet you can see both of their perspectives as well. Lanyon has been worrying about Jekyll since the beginning of the comic, only for Jekyll to keep his “perfect easy going” facade and push him away. Lanyon is just done, and meanwhile with Jekyll, all those repressed emotions are starting to come out. As readers we learn that Hyde held resentment towards Lanyon, but he never knew why since in his eyes, Jekyll handles the “emotional” aspect of themselves. It’s clear to say however, that despite Jekyll caring deeply of his friend and even putting him up on a pedestal in his brain (something that was revealed in an earlier chapter) he deep down hates Laynon for what he did, leaving him after Robert had to get married and acting like it was nothing. Jekyll spent years hiding everything from everyone, and Robert does have a point, he’s overworking himself and has been for so long, but Jekyll is a very stubborn character, and I love that. This is the most recent page and I have no idea what will happen next, but I’m all for this, these two characters have been bottling SO much up and I think it’s time they snap. Can’t wait for the next update.

#there’s so much I’m leaving out btw #this comic is kinda long #I’m being vague in some areas as well #but yeah go try this comic out #if you like fantasy/monsters/old Victorian era stuff and of course great character conflicts I recommend a read #there’s so much I can say about this comic it’s SO well written and I adore it #Jekyll is my favorite character he’s written so realistic and layered #and the other characters too #I love the themes this comic tackles as well #probably will talk about this comic again sometime but I just wanted to give y’all my thoughts #unrelated #the glass scientists #webcomics #gay #lgbtq+ characters #comic

[henrysglock]

James' Working Master List

My Bullshit Theories:

Mother Is God In The Eyes Of A Child (Mothergate origins, Vecna’s mother imagery)

Psycho Killer, Qu'est-ce Que C'est? (Neither Henry Nor Vecna Are Psychopaths: An In-Depth Behavioral Analysis)

A Night of Monologues (Splicing together the released 4.07 script and the transcript of One’s filmed monologue. Spoiler: They’re two halves of a whole speech)

Shattered Mirrors and Cracked Walls (An analysis of Henry’s dematerialization scene, the aftermath, and a determination that we’re being shown all 4 timelines interchangeably in the NINA version of the 1979 HNL Massacre)

One Does Not Simply Lose A Gate (The 2nd part of the 1979 massacre aftermath and proof that a timeline exists where Henry/Edward did nothing wrong)

Where Is All The Blood Coming From? (A comparison between the NINA massacre's smeared blood and the carnage resulting from democreature attacks)

A Tale Of Two Vecnas (An analysis of Vecna's scorching in Dimension-X, which shows us two distinct and physically different men)

Pick A Damn Jumpsuit! (Matching up the Dimension-X jumpsuits to NINA massacre jumpsuits)

Barnes And NO!! Where Did He Go!! (A write up on the discrepancies in One’s appearance, tattoo, and color grading in the closet scene as evidence of his disappearance from the plot)

Why Do You, As The Big Bad, Have No Lines Or Powers? (Vecna’s physical form in the UD has no dialogue and doesn’t use psionic powers: evidence and theories)

So Which Is It: Night or Day? (Discrepancies in time-labeling in the released 4.07 script and how they might link to El’s 1983 escape)

Plinko Power! (NINA's plinko game as a microcosm of timeline theory and Henry's time-based powers)

The Mystery of the Move-In Date (Physically speaking, there’s no possible way that the Creels moved in in 1959)

Our Lord and Savior…Vecna? (Why Vecna/001 is God, Based On Analysis Of ST4, The Bible, And Other Supporting Media)

The First Shadow: Who Knew Whom in 1959 (Why Certain Character Were Removed From Hawkins Prior To ST4)

Proto-HeIIcheer: Who Did George and Betty Become? (Why Patty Newby and Allen Munson may be the pairing to watch for in The First Shadow, rather than Patty and Henry)

Fics:

Paper Faces — POTO x ST fusion fic (Complete)

ptolemaea (blessed be the children) — Henry’s fix-it fic (3/?)

Spider Fact, Anyone? — 1959 RPG-style ST minific

Featured Art:

Creel Siblings Outfit Swap

Creelarke Aesthetic Board

Featured Edits:

NYMPHOLOGY (ft. HNL)

The Colors of ST4 (ft. Le Monde)

Henry Creel: Brainless Borzoi

Art:

TUNNEL VISION (ft. Henry Creel)

Edits:

Would’ve, Could’ve, Should’ve (ft. Henry Creel)

Left-Brain, Right-Brain (ft. Henry and Edward Creel)

House of Leaves (Mini-Library):

House of Leaves Initial Analysis

House of Leaves Excerpts

Creel Files:

Henry Files:

Rebuke of Apologism Claims

A Note on Script Analysis

Our First Impression of Henry Sets Him Up For Failure

The Seagull

Stand By Me

The Divine Comedy

Henry and Edward, Jekyll and Hyde

Young Henry, Adult Henry, and the Rabbit Scene

Multiple Henries: Screenshots and Brenner Comparison

Perspective On The Length of Henry's Imprisonment

Vecna as the Villain: Defining Stranger Things' Narrative

I, Tonya and Perspective-Based Truth

Henry's Unseen Costumes

Kate Trefry and The First Shadow

Henry Didn't Manipulate El Re: Soteria

Details the Duffers Must Address

The Fallacies in Henry's Spider Schtick

NINA and Vecna’s Black Obelisks

Henry and Brenner Expansion Pack

Expansion Pack!

Creel Cousins:

Eleanor “El” Creel

The Stare Runs In The Family

Room (2015)

And Soon, Others Were Born

Sleepyhead

She’s Mike’s…Cousin! Second Cousin! Lots of family in Sweden.

Luke and Leia vs El and Mike (Stav’s Post)

Luke and Leia vs El and Mike (2)

Luke and Leia vs El and Mike (3)

Henry/Edward…Anakin…

Family Files:

Heritability of Powers

Psychopathy: Learned or Genetic

Karen, Virginia, and Tortured Husbands

ST5: Which Wheelers Live and Why?

Alice Creel: Admission of Innocence by Omission of Fault

ST4 Victims: A Story By Proxy (AKA The Breadcrumbs Post)

Even if Henry killed Virginia, It Would Be Self Defense

Brenner and Virginia Expansion Pack

Pedo-Files:

Mamas and Papas: Spiders, Flowers, and Bathtubs

Karen, Billy, Virginia...Henry

Will and Vecna Expansion Pack

Will Files:

Expansion Pack

The First Shadow/Creelarke:

Creelarke Origins

IT (1990) Reddie Aesthetic Similarities

Scott's Funeral Scarf

A New Timeline

IT (1990) Aesthetic Updated for TFS

Radiationgate:

Radium Files:

Eben Byers, Radium, and ST3's Soviet Plot

Chemistry Class: Maria Skłodowska-Curie

Radiation Sickness Files:

Psionic Powers and EM Radiation

Vecna's Curse: Radiation Sickness Symptoms

ST5 Predictions

Nuclear Disaster Files:

Henry Creel Literally Nuked Hawkins

Chemistry Class: Nuclear Explosion Imagery

Chernobyl, Hawkins Earthquake and ST4's Soviet Shadow (1)

Chernobyl, Hawkins Earthquake, and ST4's Soviet Shadow (2)

Phantomgate:

What in the POTO Visuals?

POTO 2004: Film Analysis

Dart and Gustave: Love Never Dies

Secret Admirers: Puzzle Tales Connection

Anime/Manga References

Coming Soon: Fullmetal Alchemist

Rambles:

1: On Byler and Rink-O-Mania

2: On Demoslugs

3: On Byler and Open Secrecy

4: Sad Thoughts About Post-S2 Will

5: On Spore Lore

6: On The Rain Fight

#phantomgate #radiationgate #henry creel analysis #creel massacre analysis #stranger things and the bible #rambles #the wheelers are creels #timeline theory #st casting #stranger things #stranger things: the first shadow

[rose-tea-and-strawberries]

Ok so, I was literally dying to talk about this but didn't know how to, until I saw this so I'm shooting my shot.

What do you think would happen if Miss Yuu sang "Bring on the Men", from the Jekyll and Hude musical in the HoM Au? I personally think it's the perfect song for all the simps lol.

My best friend and I have this as one of our go-to karaoke songs! It's such a banger

(even though I don't really like the fact that the musical added on two unnecessary romances that were never in the original novella, both Lisa and Lucy are well-written characters that have incredible songs. I just wish the musical focused more on the facade of society/propriety, good and evil, addiction, Jekyll's temptations and hubris whilst playing God and Hyde becoming more powerful than they did on the love triangles. Also, who the hell is John Utterson? In the novella, Henry had two best friends: Dr Hastie Lanyon (who unfriended him after differences in opinion) and Mr Gabriel John Utterson, who was literally his ride or die BFF - a lawyer who was loyal to that man until Jekyll died. Their friendship is literally the reason why the novella takes place and the musical doesn't even do it justice but anyway I digress it's still one of my favourites)

So there is no way Yuu is going to be singing that song in the HoM in front of children and her parent figures. Maybe she's doing a karaoke night with her friends in the Mostro Lounge and they choose a random song from her music app on her phone for her to sing and it ends up being this. Why does the universe hate her. Honesty, she was incredibly flustered but she hid it well and just sang it for a fun time.

Needless to say that the simping levels have doubled and they were already maxed out. Ace, who at first was making fun of how embarrassed she looked at the beginning, is now redder than his dorm leader's hair. Rook is in the middle of composing a poem to describe the beauty of Ramshackle's prefect. In iambic pentameter and rhyming couplets.

Imagine if she sang it during the Noble Bell College Arc? Like this was her version of Esmeralda's dance where her performance is what caused Rollo to get attracted for her. (Fun fact: I have really dark brown hair that's often mistaken for black - everyone actually thought it was black until I turned like eight/nine so the 'sun caught in her raven hair' line in Hellfire fits my Yuu since I'm basing her appearance off of me). Like you know at one part when she sings, she gives her attention to Rollo and winks to him like Esmeralda did and now she will burn

Okay, I like the latter version more. You heard it from me. Jekyll and Hyde caused Rollo to sing like a mad man in front of a fireplace. Fitting since the devil/God and angels are mentioned quite a lot in the play.

#house of mouse au #asks #fem yuu #twst yuu #twisted wonderland #twst

[ape-like-fury]

The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Utterson | One

We all know that Utterson and Jekyll are completely and utterly hopeless in terms of communication -- so I found myself what henriel antics would happen if Utterson wound up thinking Jekyll was in love with Hyde?

This does contain elements of internalised homophobia from Utterson, and uses the different faces/same person version of Jekyll and Hyde, not the split-personality variety. Tagging @gabriel-shutterson. Hope this was worth the anticipation :D

Gabriel Utterson was not someone easily caught up in flights of fancy. Down to earth and pragmatic in what he certainly hoped was an endearing sort of way, there was no mystery to the dry realism with which he viewed the world.

He'd long stopped pretending to himself that, deep inside, he was anything resembling the noble and respectable gentleman society expected him to be. He supposed he could only be the last respectable influence in the lives of down-going men before he too found himself...resembling them, in some way.

By that of course, he meant his recent interest in one Henry Jekyll.

They had long been fast friends, but of late, Utterson hadn't half found himself wishing that they could be something more. He saw glimpses of a future with Henry, plaguing him at the most inopportune of times.

Late nights together, hand in hand, reflected in the golden shimmer of candlelight in his wine glass. Morning walks with Enfield where he found himself dreaming it was Jekyll by his side instead. Where he imagined their hands brushing together as they walked. Where he imagined Jekyll pulling him aside into an alley as they walked. It was in the darkest corners of these such daydreams that they would busy themselves with all manner of ungentlemanly things.

But Lord knew, even if Utterson wasn't, Henry was too good for that. Too good for him, and men like him.

Or so he had thought.

Then Hyde had come along. Hyde, whom had a key to Henry's house and kept strange hours, stealing into Henry's rooms when the man was certainly in bed. Hyde, whom lived in Soho, the land of rent boys. Hyde, whom Henry had left everything in his will to.

Hyde, whom Jekyll wouldn't breathe a word about.

"Jekyll," Utterson urged. "As your lawyer, and not least as your friend, I simply feel it would be appropriate for me to know the nature of your relationship with Hyde."

Henry shook his head softly. "Utterson, my dear man, I beg of you to drop this topic. Pursuing it would only serve to disincline you to me, and heaven knows such forced separation would pain me greatly."

Utterson sighed, and Henry raised his wine glass to him. He had a strange sort of glint in his eye. "You are such great company."

Utterson inclined his glass in the same way. "Only for you, dear Henry."

"Then please, for my sake, leave all talk of Hyde aside when we are together." Here he set his glass down, leaning forwards in his plush red armchair so that he was staring right in Utterson's direction. "I would much prefer to focus on brighter prospects. For example, can I hope to see you again tomorrow evening?"

Utterson paused, taking a short sip of his wine as he came to a decision. "I'm afraid not, Henry. I fear I will tomorrow eve find myself greatly pre-occupied."

Henry's face settled into the softest sort of frown, and Utterson found himself fighting the urge to smooth the lines away with his thumb, or even double back and change his mind, but no. He held firm, on both counts.

Tomorrow evening, he would go visit Hyde. And from Hyde he would figure out exactly what he needed to know about Henry — and the company he kept.

---

Hyde's house in Soho was an interesting place to look at, and Utterson was half inclined to think it was as strange to the eye as the man himself. Thin and slender in a way its owner was not, even the door loomed over him.

Sucking in a deep breath, he steeled his nerves and rapped his knuckles against the peeling wooden surface. Barely a second later, it swung open. Although Utterson was of the impression that there was at least one housemaid in Hyde’s employ, it was the man himself who opened the door.

His attire was of a nature considerably more ratty than Utterson would have considered appropriate for an acquaintance of Henry’s, his beige shirt unbuttoned down to the navel and his dark green jacket pulled down from his shoulders so that it hung propped up only by his elbows. His hair was strafed out in messy patterns like he’d spent the last hour or so raking his fingers through it, and his red-rimmed eyes (which had an indescribable yet thoroughly unpleasant sensation about them, like that of a child who knows something he is not meant to) widened at the sight of Utterson.

“A respectable gentleman?” He choked out. “In my corner of the world? What a lucky man I am.”

With that, he ushered Utterson in and shut the door with a soft click behind him.

“So, what brings a man esteemed as Gabriel Utterson himself to my humble abode?” Hyde grinned, tipping an invisible hat as he bowed deeply at the waist to him.

“Mere curiosity.”

Hyde raised a grisly eyebrow. “Curiosity, eh? And what about?”

Utterson sucked in a deep breath. “The precise nature of your relationship with my client, Henry Jekyll.”

“Your client?” Hyde snorted, with a fair sample of disdain. “So this visit stems from lawyerly concern?”

Utterson swallowed air, and Hyde drew closer. Utterson found himself suddenly backed against the inside of the door.

“Or,” Hyde grinned, “is there perhaps something else hiding behind your stony veneer of professionalism?”

Utterson blinked, finding himself somewhat taken aback by Hyde’s sudden shift in vocabulary. He took a deep breath and used the time to recompose himself. “I don’t know what it is you intend to be insinuating, Mr Hyde.”

Hyde licked his lips. “I think you’re lying. A good judge of people, I am. A very good judge. I see what’s beneath all the posturing. And beneath it all, you’re looking for someone to satisfy your needs.”

“My…needs?”

“Exactly what everyone else comes to Soho for, my dear fellow.” He shrugged off his jacket, and it fell to the floor with a soft thud. “Forget Jekyll. The man is too good a sport for you, too respectable. No one wants to get dirty with the crème de la crème. It simply isn’t done.”

“Oh?”

“No, that’s what folks like me are here for. To satisfy folks like you.”

“I’m afraid, Mr Hyde,” Utterson said, shouldering past him with a sudden burst of confidence, "that I am looking for something more permanent than a single night of satisfaction. I am looking for someone with whom I can share myself in a way that is actually meaningful.”

Hyde’s face suddenly drained of colour, and he took a step away from Utterson. “Ah.”

“And I think I have discovered that, whatever you are to Henry Jekyll, you are certainly no lover. You are not capable.”

Hyde took another step back.

“Good evening, Mr Hyde. I do not suspect you shall see me around.”

With that, and a firm billow of his coat, Utterson made his exit. This evening had not cleared much up for him, but at least he could now see he had at least the glimmer of a chance with Jekyll, and that would have to do.

But something was staying with him. A gleam in Hyde’s eyes. There had been something strikingly familiar there…

#henriel #henry jekyll #jekyll and hyde #gabriel utterson #dr jekyll and mr hyde #edward hyde #jekyll x utterson #my fic #my writing #fanfic

[ashirisu]

Perhaps If I'd Been Stronger (or, Dr. Jekyll is quite at ease)

“You’re a killer, Edward.” “And you’re a monster, Henry,” he hisses. “You sit here and call me a killer, knowing full well what society does to men like me. Like us. You pretend that the violence perpetuated against us is justified, and you put yourself to sleep so you don’t have to deal with me—the consequences of your actions, the catharsis of your most wicked thoughts, the manifestation of your sins. You call me a murderer for killing in self-defense; what do you call yourself for trying to kill me just to escape your own guilt?” genre: gothic horror, sci-fi | word count: 1756 cw: death, references to murder, implied homophobia, alcohol/tobacco usage

God knows; I am careless; this is my true hour of death, and what is to follow concerns another than myself. Here then, as I lay down the pen and proceed to seal up my confession, I bring the life of that unhappy Henry Jekyll to an end.

I set my pen aside, falling back into my chair with a heavy sigh. It is done, then, for better or worse; there’s nothing left but to seal the letter and embrace whatever oblivion awaits me. They’ll find it and deliver it to dear Utterson, who will no doubt be thoroughly bewildered—as is his wont—by the contents of my will, until this most recent account is discovered. Between this and what Layton knows, the truth will finally be revealed, and with it, my salvation or damnation.

I seal the document as I have the others—folding it neatly, heating the wax, pouring it over the seam. I take special care with it, though I cannot bring myself to explain exactly why. Perhaps because, in a way, these are my final words. What happens beyond this point shall be between me and him; my last moments will be witnessed only by the reason I am hastened to an end.

As the wax pools on the paper, my hand jerks well of its own accord, spilling hot wax across my fingers. I hiss in pain and pull away, rushing to the drink cart for a towel to wipe the wax away. I cradle my hand tenderly, but my other fist grips the towel with sudden fervor.

“You’re a sorry bastard,” my own voice declares to the empty room.

Ah. So it’s begun, then.

“You’re only injuring yourself at this point,” I say. “I’ll only be burnt for a short while longer, and then these fingers are yours to contend with.”

A scoff at myself. “It’s worth it to make you suffer. You don’t get to go with dignity.”

“That’s rather childish, don’t you think?”

“I don’t care.”

“Of course you don’t,” I sigh. I set the towel aside and begin pouring myself a drink. It’s an unsteady process; my left hand is no longer entirely my own, but I’ve thankfully grown more familiar with using my non-dominant hand in the past few strenuous months. In any case, it shan’t be an issue much longer.

I cough as the liquor hits my throat. We’ve never quite had the same preference in alcohol, and although the whiskey is of a fine make, it’s not the harsher flavor he prefers. I find it a strange sensation to both enjoy and despise the taste in a single swallow.

“You owe it to yourself to allow me to get my affairs in order,” I say after a moment. “Without the explanation, they’ll assume you killed me.”

A cruel, wicked laugh escapes my lips; it’s not a sound I ever thought myself capable of making. “I am killing you.”

“Is that what you think this is?”

“Are you so deluded as to think it’s anything else?” he sneers. “What am I if not the harbinger and means of your destruction?”

“I don’t know,” I say, resigned. “You villain—I do not know. A mistake, perhaps. A lapse in judgment. But certainly not my murderer, no matter how much you may claim yourself to be such.”

“Are you afraid of me, Henry?”

I pause, considering. Fear has admittedly been on the forefront of my mind as of late—fear of death, of nonexistence, of what my disappearance might mean to those I’ll leave behind. But there’s nothing I can do about the former, and I drafted my final documents to address the latter. Whatever fear I may have possessed is gone, replaced by something that, if not certainty, is at least serenity.

“I was, once,” I say finally. If it’s a lie, it shan’t be soon enough. “No longer.”

“You should be.”

I ignore this, and look to the window instead. “May I have some fresh air before I go?”

He hesitates, so I try a new tactic.

“A cigarette?”

He relents, of course. He’s never one to turn down a vice; such was the misled conceit behind his creation.

We stumble from my study and down the stairs. It’s slow-going—he’s graduated from my left hand to the entirety of my left side, and controlling only half a body is no easy feat for either of us. We’re a lurching, stumbling thing, falling too heavily with some footsteps and too stiffly in others, gripping the banister in lieu of a cane we shall not need after tonight. The light of the foyer is too bright and yet not bright enough, and we flinch away from it even as we need it to guide our way. I can only imagine how we must look to the staff, whether we appear drunken or mad, with one half of our face twisted in a tired grimace and the other in sour malignancy.

We make it to the front stoop and sit clumsily as he fishes the lighter and cigarettes from my jacket pocket. It’s a brief fumble to light the damned thing, but we move in unison in bringing it to our mouth; this, if nothing else, is a habit we share.

I inhale, and I’m not sure which of us relaxes first as the warmth blooms through our chest and drives out the October chill. In any case, it’s a blessed moment of silence and unexpected understanding between us.

He’s the first to break it, interestingly. Perhaps it’s to gloat; he knows as well as I do that this time is different. But his voice is gentler, and I’m unsure what to make of it.

“You were wrong in your account of me,” he says simply.

“How so?”

“I wouldn’t have destroyed your letter. You confessed you meant to hide it from me; that you believed my hatred for you and my fear of death”—he chuckles mockingly—“would compel me to tear it to shreds. I wouldn’t have.”

“Oh.” I pause. “Thank you.”

“Not for you,” he says, taking another drag. “They need to know what you’ve done. What you did to yourself, what you did to me, what you let me do to other people. They need to know your guilt in this as much as mine; you don’t get to use me as your scapegoat.”

I sigh. “I never meant to injure you.”

He snorts. “As though locking me away was better? As if forcing me back into the darkest corner of your mind was meant to help me? As if ignoring your own culpability would resolve anything?”

“You’re a killer, Edward.”

“And you’re a monster, Henry,” he hisses. “You sit here and call me a killer, knowing full well what society does to men like me. Like us. You pretend that the violence perpetuated against us is justified, and you put yourself to sleep so you don’t have to deal with me—the consequences of your actions, the catharsis of your most wicked thoughts, the manifestation of your sins. You call me a murderer for killing in self-defense; what do you call yourself for trying to kill me just to escape your own guilt?”

I say nothing.

He continues. “You wanted to kill me all along, from the moment you couldn’t afford the price of your own recklessness. But I was too strong, and now you suffer, so you call me a killer. You’re a monster and a coward.”

Perhaps he is right, although I do not like to think so. He was born of my cowardice, this much is true—my inability to face the truth of who I was, my desire to live vicariously, unbound by the social restrictions of my name and profession. A monster, though, I am not sure. Will the deaths on my hands count against me in the afterlife if they were not my hands at the time, or does my engendering of those poor persons’ means of destruction deny me that holy absolution? Thinking on such things is a lesson in philosophy and futility both—I cannot change what is soon to transpire, and I am not confident that any sort of afterlife awaits me; perhaps I am doomed to rot in this prison of my own creation.

I flick a plume of ash and watch as it flutters to the concrete. I can control little aside from my right arm, and I flex my fingers experimentally, sorrowfully.

“I wish we could have come to an agreement,” I say.

“No, you don’t,” he says bitterly. “You just wish you weren’t about to disappear.”

Another heavy silence falls between us, and we smoke in tandem. This time, I’m the first to speak.

“Perhaps if I’d been stronger,” I say. “Perhaps I wouldn’t have resorted to what I did, or perhaps I could have better shared the burden with you. You’re right that I expected you to shoulder my guilt alone; for that, I’m truly sorry.”

Half of our face contorts in irony, but he doesn’t dispute my apology. I’m grateful; though my remorse is honest, I haven’t the energy remaining to argue it.

Instead, I scrub the cigarette out on the stoop next to us, and place my hand on our knees. “May I seal up my final affairs?”

He considers this. “You may.”

It’s an odd courtesy he grants me, but for all my former folly, I at least have the wisdom not to question it. His legs carry me back to the study, for there is little of me remaining within us anymore. It is an odd sensation; the wholeness of me contained in the brief stretch of an arm and only part of a face. Our heart is no longer mine, our lungs are no longer mine; I am simply a memory sustained by the last dregs of blood and breath they offer me.

He minds my fingers as he pours the wax; out of kindness or apathy, I cannot tell. I feel my control slipping from my hand through the process; by the time the letter is sealed and laying neatly atop the desk, I only have the strength to look out the window one last time. It’s dingy, but I can just make out the bright stars studding the blackened velvet of the London sky.

“At least it’s a lovely night,” I whisper from the small corner that remains of me.

“Go with God,” he says, and then I am gone.

Did you like this post? Buy me a coffee! Want to work together? Check out my editing services!

#jekyll and hyde #retelling #gothic horror #gothic fiction #ley writes #writing #my writing #original writing #writeblr #writeblrcafe #short story #writing community #writers on tumblr #fiction #original fiction #prose

[the-victorian-alchemist]

You’ll Be Visited by Sleep Chapter 2

Second chapter of You’ll be Visited by Sleep is up! This one has Utterson in it!

AO3 Link - https://archiveofourown.org/works/42813153/chapters/107550192

Fic under the cut!

It had been two weeks since the breakup.

Jekyll’s heart was heavy. The memory from the day still stung him down to his core. His sleep was often disrupted by his nightmares, which, after a period of relief, came back full force. He would wake up in a cold sweat, muffling his sobs out of habit, as not to wake his part…roommate and (hopefully still) friend. The nightmares were often of the man in question, words from the fateful moment echoing in his mind, over and over and over again.

It was one of those nights, but instead of lying awake in bed until morning as usual, Jekyll forced himself out of bed, wrapped his blanket around his shoulders, and quietly shuffled down the hall. He knew that at this hour, even the men who’d spend the night in revelry, were fast asleep. While the empty, dark, and quiet hallway made Jekyll shiver ever so slightly, he admitted that it eased him to know that no one would see him in this state. He had received sneers from several of the other students for his Scottish heritage, and other things he perceived to be faults, over the years, why give them one more?

Jekyll searched the halls, looking for a specific door. It had to be nearby; he knew it. After all, it was one of the few areas he could be found, given his only other friend resided there. Soon enough, Jekyll found the door, and gave it a soft knock.

“Gabriel?” Jekyll winced at how small his voice sounded. He heard a shuffling sound on the other side of the door, and a moment later Utterson opened the door. The older man rubbed at his eyes, then blinked. He couldn’t see well for the moment, given that he wasn’t currently wearing his glasses, but the blurry figure was recognizable after another second or two.

“Oh, Henry. Whatever is the matter?” When the only answer was a sniff, the gentle young man took Jekyll over to sit on his bed, then the former opened up his arms. It only took Jekyll a second before falling into them. Aside from Lanyon, Utterson was the only close friend Jekyll had at university, making the younger man more willing to be embraced by him.

“I can’t sleep. I had a night terror.” Jekyll admitted with a shaking breath. “I didn’t want to wake Robert after…” Out of hurt, and shame, Jekyll hid his face in Utterson’s shirt. Of course, the older boy knew of his relationship with Lanyon, he knew everything about his friends. But the memory only made Jekyll even more embarrassed. While he knew Utterson wouldn’t dare gossip the…affair…to another soul, the fact that someone knew something Jekyll wished he could hide from the world was humiliating enough.

The red-haired young man held no judgment, though. “You poor thing.” Utterson just held Jekyll close, gently patting his back. His shoulder grew wet with what he knew were tears, and he could feel the younger boy shaking. “There there, come now. It’s alright. I have you.” Utterson’s words only made Jekyll cry harder, the metaphorical dam bursting as emotions poured forth. He was unable to tell anyone else of his time with Lanyon, and it was killing him inside. He wanted to hide here forever, content to dissolve from his sorrows. His heart, fragile, barely being held together from pushing away the pain finally collapsed and felt everything. Any happy memories he had were tinged with sorrow, knowing that they amounted to nothing in the end.

“It hurts, so very, very much.” Jekyll whispered, when words finally came back to him. He tried to look Utterson in the eyes, but struggled, until the latter gently cradled his cheek. “I can imagine it does.” Utterson reached for his handkerchief on his desk, then carefully dabbed at Jekyll’s eyes. Almost immediately after, he noticed the bags under the younger man’s eyes, and a small rumble sounded from his stomach.

“Henry, dear, have you been sleeping? What about eating and drinking?”

Jekyll looked away and began fiddling with his blanket. “I forget on occasion. Well, quite often actually.” He admitted, voice barely a mumble. He didn’t mean to forget; he’d always gotten caught up in his work. It only happened more now because…well, because he assumed he would be too busy to remember the night he and Lanyon ended things.

Utterson frowned. “Well, that won’t do. You must take care of yourself, Henry.” He gently stated, petting Jekyll’s dark brown curls, the younger man nodding in response. An idea formed in the older man’s head. He may not be able to get food at this hour, that would be a tomorrow problem, but he could at least get the younger man to sleep. “Would you like a lullaby?” Utterson asked, turning to look Jekyll in the eyes.

Jekyll paused for a moment. “Yes please.” He whispered, playing with a loose string on his shirt. Was it a bit embarrassing for him to admit that he desperately wanted that? Yes. But the two men were alone. No one would ever know. It couldn't hurt to have this one moment of comfort, even if it appeared childish. In fact, Jekyll yearned for the affection. Perhaps he hadn't realized how starved for touch he was, until the most vulnerable moments he needed it the most.

Utterson smiled, then shifted positions to lay down a bit, back against the headboard of his bed. He adjusted Jekyll until his head laid on Utterson’s chest. Utterson tugged the blanket up over him and Jekyll, then began to quietly sing. His voice, though higher than Lanyon’s by a bit, was soothing, nonetheless.

Lavender's blue, dilly dilly, lavender's green,

When I am king, dilly dilly, you shall be queen:

Who told you so, dilly dilly, who told you so?

‘Twas mine own heart, dilly dilly, that told me so.

Jekyll felt safe, in a different way than with Lanyon. To his tired brain, it almost felt like he was a child falling asleep in his parent’s arms. It wasn’t a bad thing in the slightest, though. Perhaps something less romantic could help heal him for now. In that moment, Jekyll felt a strong, platonic love grow towards Utterson, the latter's soft, steady heartbeat combined with the song lulling him, and Jekyll smiled as he drifted off to sleep, soundly for the first time in weeks.

Love took many forms, existing not just in one shape or pattern, but it still remained the way it always had.

#the glass scientists #the glass scientsits henry jekyll #the glass scientists jekyll #tgs #tgs henry jekyll #tgs jekyll #the glass scientists gabriel john utterson #the glass scientists utterson #tgs utterson #gabriel john utterson #the typist's files

[quilna]

Okay, so. Ito is now known to Jasper as trans.

Consider this; they meet up together to discuss stuff, but gradually one of the other lodgers finds out. Perhaps Mr. Archer?

But they join the "club" too.

And it slowly gets shared around like a little secret.

Until most of the lodgers are in it.

They invite Hyde (because no man who looks that much like a gremlin is wanting to solely entice women.

Jasper very quietly offers it to Henry, not expecting him to come. But.. eventually he does. It may be a few thirty odd sessions down the line, and he may be sweating bullets, but he comes.

Just to check on the proceedings of course. He wouldn't want anything.. dangerous occuring. (They're a group of rogue scientists after all.)

Oooh Yes!

Jasper frequently meeting up with Ito to talk because she's the only one he knows who gets what he's going through when Archer one day overhears them talking. Maybe he's not trans himself but he's bisexual and quickly shares his own opinion on society's "stupid norms."

But then he also invites Bird to these sessions because he knows that Bird is also bisexual and, with Bird's personality, might be able to offer some good insight into the matter to help Jasper and Ito.

And then other lodgers overhear or other lodgers get invited and the group builds up more and more until, suddenly, somehow, Jasper is the head of an unexpected society within the society (which just so happens to comprise of most if not all of the actual society.)

Several people suggest names for the group like "The Society of Arcane Gays" but Jasper never expected a group to form and is very flustered about having the group actually named, which would make it a solid fact that he's the leader of a group and not just... some people who meet up regularly to talk.

Hyde is very pleased to be invited and, although he has very little trouble with his own sexuality, he's very happy at being able to shout down other people's self-deprecating thoughts. He's not usually the voice of support but damn is he enjoying not only being allowed to shout at people but being fully encouraged to.

Henry, meanwhile, ends up feeling a little left out. 

Thanks to Hyde, he's now fully aware that there's another society within the society involving everyone except him. He's sad to be left out but also terrified of joining the group. After all, they’re talking about the sexuality issues he’s struggled with for so long now and it isn’t exactly easy to open up about them now, not to the lodgers.

When Jasper finally tentatively invites him, Jekyll panics and backs out.

Yet, he can't stop thinking about it.

...And... and in the end... shouldn't he be supervising..? Just in case..? It doesn’t have to mean anything after all.

So, very awkwardly, he comes. 

The other lodgers are very welcoming to him but Jekyll assures them that he is completely and utterly straight, he's just there to keep an eye on things. Every man has a few feelings for other men every once in a while after all, it doesn’t make him in any way less straight.

The lodgers give him kind of a look on that one and make a few attempts to explain things to him but Jekyll won't have it.

Yet, as stubborn as he is to learn anything from the sessions, he does listen rather intently. He pays attention to every word, remembers them in his head, takes note of how many people feel the same as himself.

And if he goes away from each session feeling a little less rotten on the inside?

Nobody has to know.

#ask #quilna's asks #the glass scientists

[protons0010]

Who controls of our whole money ?

I'm gonna start this article with a quote. Henry Ford once said, it is well enough that the people of the nation do not understand our banking and monetary system. For if they did, I believe there would be a revolution before tomorrow morning. I quote this because it encapsulates the fact that the contents of this article may be unsettling compared to the articles that I normally make.

I still feel compelled to make this article because I've been exploring the financial world for the last four years and it's definitely given me a more complete view of the world I want to share some of what I've come across with you guys. I'm also going to do a article about cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin in the future and to understand why Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies may continue to rise. It's critical that you understand the contents of this articles. I hope that you find this topic interesting and that inspires you to do your own research afterwards.

Now, with that said, let's begin. So who controls all of our money? It's a simple question. We all know that you and I don't control it. Our employees don't control it. The companies that they work for don't control it. So who does? Where does it even come from in the 1st place?

I'll give you a hint. Money does not come from the government. It's a seemingly obvious question that's never asked or taught in schools for some reason. Unfortunately, most people's lives are basically dedicated to money. It's all people ever worry about or talk about. We go to school to learn basically how to go to university to learn the skills to get a good job so that we can trade hours of our lives all for this thing called money. So why wouldn't you want to know where money comes from and who issues it Today in this very special article you're about to find out the answer to the question of who controls all of our money?

People today can tell something isn't quite right with our financial system, but they just can't put their finger on it. Some people think it's the failure of government, others think that it's the failure of capitalism itself. This article should clarify a few things.

The year is 1694 and England had just suffered through 50 years of war. Exhausted the English Government needed loans to fund their political means. Brainchild of Scottish banker William Paterson. It was decided that a privately owned bank that could issue the money to the government out of thin air was to be the solution. This was the very first modern central banking system in the world. Central banking is more influential than laws, governments and politicians, but strangely not the focus of the general public. Fast forward to the early 20th century and after two failed attempts, a group of bankers wanted to put a central bank in the United States of America. It was December of 1910 and Senator Nelson Aldridge ordered a private train car in New York with six others. The six were not to be spotted by any news reporters to avoid questions. Their destination, Jekyll Island, off the coast of Georgia. The meeting went for 9 days and from that they created the Federal Reserve System. This is all documented and a matter of public record. Some of them went on to write about the meetings in their personal biographies.

Here's a quote from Frank Vanderlip, president of the National City Bank of New York, February 9th, 1935, in the Saturday Evening Post. " I was a secretive indeed as furtive as any conspirator discovery we knew simply must not happen, or else all our time and effort would be wasted. If it were to be exposed that our particular group had got together and written a banking bill, that bill would have no chance whatever a passage by Congress." The six men that Nelson Aldridge brought together included the head of Banks branches of government, such as the Treasury and some of the richest people on Earth at the time. To give you an idea of how rich they were in 1910, these six men represented 1/4 of the world's worth. The bankers told the American public that the purpose of the system was to stabilize the economy and to stop the grip of the Wall Street banks over America, the problem was the guys that wrote the bill were the very same people. They said they'd stop if they succeeded. It will give a small group of men the ability to create money from nothing and loan it to the American government with interest. So why was it done in secret?

Because the American people didn't want a central bank back then unlike today, people knew what central banks were and understood them very well everywhere a central bank went. There'll be wealth inequality wild swings between economic booms and pass, and after each passed, those are the top of society mysteriously came out richer while everyone else got poorer. Europe was the running example of this at the time.

The Federal Reserve was originally drafted as the Aldridge bill, but when it came into Congress, they recognised Senator Aldridge's name and smelt a rat. The bankers needed better cover. They decided to send two millionaire friends to carry the bill. To quell the suspicions of Congress and renamed it the Federal Reserve Act. Next, in the textbook lesson of the state, the bank is set out to fool the American people through disinformation in the newspapers of the day, the bank is screened and protested against the new Federal Reserve bill. It would ruin the banks, they exclaimed. The average person read the protesting articles of the bankers and thought to themselves if the bankers hate it, it must be good. And then they ended up unknowingly supporting a Trojan horse.

The bankers also fall Congress by putting clauses in the bill that limited their power, only to remove them once the bill was passed. A double head fake of the public and Congress was all it took. The bill was passed on December 23rd, 1913, while most of Congress was out on holiday, and with that a small group had complete monopoly over the issuing and creation of American money.

Today, the Federal Reserve is the most powerful entity in the United States and they're not ashamed to admit it either. Here's former Fed chairman Alan Greenspan, " What should be the proper relationship between the chairman of the Fed and a President of the United States? Well, first of all, the Federal Reserve is an independent agency, and that means, basically, that. There is no other agency of government which can overrule actions that we take, what the relationships are, don't frankly matter."

In addition to this, it seems that the Fed can't even be touched by investigating parties. " So I'm asking you if your agency has in fact, according to Bloomberg's extended $9 trillion in credit, which, by the way works out to $30,000 for every single man, woman, and child in this country, I'd like to know if you're not responsible for investigating that who is." " we actually we have responsibility for The federal reserves programs and operations. Audits to conduct Audits and investigations in that area. In terms of who's responsible for investigating Would you mind repeating the question one more time? Mr. Chairman, my my time is up but I have to tell you honestly I am shocked to find out that nobody at the Federal Reserve, including Inspector General, is keeping track of this."

So what does all of this have to do with me, you might be asking. I don't even live in the US. Well, two reasons #1 the central banking model from the Bank of England and the United States has now been put in all countries and even consolidated power in parts of Europe as the European Central Bank, or ECB, this united separate countries under one economic policy, the only places in the world that don't have central banks are North Korea, Iran, and Cuba. In 2000, this list suspiciously included Afghanistan, Iraq, and Libya.

And #2. Since the end of World War Two, the US dollar has been the reserve currency of the world. This means that all central banks hold U.S. dollars in their reserves. In other words, all other currencies are backed by the US dollar. This directly links your country to the Federal Reserve monetary policy in America. More on this lighter. When the post World War Two monetary system called the Bretton Woods system was created, all U.S. dollars were backed by an exchangeable for gold. A byproduct of this was that currencies used to be very stable in relation to each other. Before that, All the countries the exchange rates were fixed and year after year you could predict what prices were going to be. You could start a business elsewhere, know if you were, you know you could calculate profits business was. much much easier before floating Exchange rates.

Unfortunately, in 1971, due to a falling U.S. dollar, international capital flows into gold and the funding of the Vietnam War. President Nixon took the US dollar off the gold standard. " I have directed Secretary Connolly to suspend temporarily the convertibility of the dollar into gold or other reserve assets." said by Nixon. Now the dollar was floating and backed by nothing and has been ever since. OK, so let's think a little if the US dollar is backed by nothing but the world reserved are backed by the US Doller.

Intrinsically since 1971, doesn't this mean that all currencies are now backed by nothing tangible, only trust in the American government? Well, this is correct. Money backed by nothing is known as Fiat currency. Fiat in Latin means let it be done. In other words, the government says it is money, so it is.

A consequence to having money backed by nothing is that whenever the Federal Reserve creates money, it dilutes the currency supply of all other nations because their reserves are backed by the US dollar. All countries reserves are worth less each time money is created.

In the past few years, the Federal Reserve has printed trillions of dollars, and countries like Russia and China have noticed this as a reaction to the money printing. These countries have been selling U.S. dollar reserves and buying gold over the same period.

But wait a second, some of you clever thinkers out there may have asked yourself if every currency on Earth is backed by nothing. How am I able to pay for things? Well, as it turns out, the whole economic system today is running because it's backed by faith. Faith that you can exchange your unit of currency for goods or services. In a way part of that faith comes from the fact that not many people actually know where money comes from. We're about to find that out in this article.

A central bank is essentially the entity that manages a nation's money supply, and it can loan money to the government with interest. In the United States and most other countries, it works like this. When the government needs more money than they receive from taxes, they ask the Treasury Department for money. The Treasury then receives an IOU or bond from the government. The Treasury, through the banks, gives this IOU to the Federal Reserve. The Fed then writes a check for this IOU and hands it to the banks at this exchange at the banks, money is created and it can be used to pay government bills.

So hang on, where does the Fed get the money to be able to write this check? They get this money from nowhere. They literally just invent it. Here's a quote from the Boston Federal Reserve quote. When you or I write a cheque, there must be sufficient funds in our account to cover the check. But when the Federal Reserve writes a check, there is no bank deposit on which that check is drawn. When the Federal Reserve writes a check, it is creating money End Quote.

So in essence, they're writing a check and creating money from an account that has no money in it. The money the Federal Reserve creates can be used as legal tender to buy things and eventually makes its way into the real economy. If you and I did, that would go to jail for fraud, but they can do it because they invented the system. This is the same system used throughout the world today.

Another part of this money creation happens at the Commercial bank side. Every time you take out a loan to buy a house, car or TV, banks create money out of nowhere to give you this loan and you still have to pay interest on it. And don't just believe me when I say that. Hear it for yourself from the horse's mouth, the people running the system. Graham Towers, former governor of the Central Bank of Canada, states quote, " each and every time a bank makes a loan. New credit is created. New deposits brand new money" End Quote. Paul Tucker, Deputy governor of the Bank of England, quote " banks extend credit by simply increasing the borrowing customers current account" End Quote. So what they're basically saying is that each time the bank makes a loan, the bank doesn't use other people's deposited money and give it to you. It creates new money in modern times. This means typing digits into a computer.

97% of all money is digitally created like this. Only three percent is the physical cash and coins that we carry. Another crazy thing that commercial banks can do is lend out 10 times more money than they actually have in reserves. This is called fractional reserve lending.

So who wrote this ridiculous system into law?

So who wrote this ridiculous system into law ? For the United States is was part of the Federal Reserve System, drafted in 1913, and again this is the same system used throughout the world.

So what's the issue? Why should I even care?

Who was consequences? When more lines are given out, more money is created and the rest of the money in circulation is worth less and less as the years go on. This is known as inflation. In a way, inflation is basically a tax that we all pay for the fraud of money printing easy money now in exchange for tax on our future generations.

It's also why in 1950 a house used to cost $7000 and a car $2000. Obviously this is no longer the same today. Things will always keep getting more expensive as long as this system is in place.

This was actually kind of OK because wages grew in relation to inflation until about 2008. Why this stopped happening is a story for another day. So things are already pretty crazy, but they get even crazier the more you look into it the stranger things become. So remember how we're talking about how central banks and commercial banks can create money out of nothing?

This procedure actually does create something. It creates debt. Let me explain. When you take out a loan, it's written down as an asset in the bank as a negative form, kind of like a negative value of money or otherwise known as debt. Under this system, debt is actually money.

And again, don't just listen to me. Marriner Eccles, former governor of the Federal Reserve states quote. " If there were no debts in our money system, there wouldn't be any money." So in essence, instead of gold being the backbone of our economy, it's now debt.

The system we're under now is sometimes referred to as the debt based monetary system. It requires that debt always grows countries and people must become deeper in debt so that there's more money in the system, because remember, debt is money.

If people in government stop borrowing money and pay back loans, the debt doesn't grow. The money supply shrinks and the system falters. It truly is bizarre, but we all live in this system each and every day. The Federal Reserve and other central banks control money by adjusting its supply and how much it costs to borrow money, otherwise known as the interest rate. With these tools, and as a consequence of human group psychology, central banks can create booms and busts in the economy at will, and also to store and derail an economy by messing with it. Let's take a quick case study in the year 2000, Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan cut interest rates to 1%. He did this to try and fight off recession from the dot com bubble and encourage people to borrow money when interest rates are low. If you're borrowing money, you save a whole lot on repaying mortgages. Since the 1% interest rate hadn't been seen at the time since the 1950s. It was a pretty good deal. Greenspan's idea was that he could create a wealth effect. People would start to buy houses. The prices would go up, and the people would feel wealthier and spend more money in the economy and stimulate it. Greenspan sure succeeded in getting people to borrow money to buy houses, but they borrowed too much and the result was the 2008 housing bubble. This is a prime example of what can go wrong when central banks mess with an economy. Yes, corrupt bankers have a lot to answer for on their role in the 2008 crisis, but the Fed has a far bigger long term impact.

Even crazier things are happening in Japan. Their central bank is buying so many stocks that they were the number one buyer of Japanese stocks in 2016, so they have part ownership of companies with money that they created from nothing.

So in essence, it is the central banks that control our economy and the central and commercial banking system together that control all of our money. The difference is central banks can create money at will while commercial banks need loans to create money.

To give you an idea of people's views of central banking, when people actually knew what central banks were, here's a couple of examples in 1881. Then president of the United States, James Garfield states quote. "Whoever controls the volume of money in any country is absolute master of all industry and commerce. And when you realize that the entire system is very easily controlled, one way or another by a few powerful men at the top. You will not have to be told how periods of inflation and depression originate" End Quote.

Benjamin Franklin, in his autobiography, stated that the primary reason for the American War of Independence was a battle over who actually controlled and issued the money of the new colonies. Moving on to more modern times, Nobel Prize winning economist Milton Friedman states, quote "the Federal Reserve definitely caused the Great Depression by contracting the amount of currency in circulation by 1/3 from 1929 to 1933" End Quote.

So with all this being said, some would argue that central banks are not inherently a bad thing. They just need to be part of the government and not privately owned. The government should be able to issue its own money for the benefit of the people and shouldn't have to pay a massive interest on its own debt. This was tried at least once in the United States by President Lincoln who stated this, "The government should create, issue and circulate all the currency and credit needed to satisfy the spending power of the government and the buying power of consumers. By the adoption of these principles, the taxpayers will be saved immense sums of interest. Money will cease to be mastered. Become the servant of humanity". Abraham Lincoln then issued his own government money. It was called the greenback. No further comments on that story.

So I think we'll end the article there. There's so much more that I could cover about what central banking decisions led to, what revolutions around the world. Pretty much when you look at it, all revolutions and all wars when you dig through everything, it all boils down to money.

I could also have talked about the new global movement of those who are rejecting the debt based economic system. People are starting to move their currency into gold, silver, and cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin. So there is a light at the end of the tunnel. That's a whole another story for another day. Anyways, if you've read the whole way through this article, congratulations, you're one of the few who have found out the hidden truths about who controls all of our money. I think I've only met about few people in real life that have been aware of the debt based economic system.

Is strangely unknown, but is as true as anything? I haven't showed you all the quotes of the bankers and the former heads of the Federal Reserve telling you from their own mouths how the system actually works. If this is your first time hearing all of this, I encourage you. As I said before, to do your own research and then you'll start to see the bigger picture and the world today will make a whole lot more sense.

If you want some good starting resources, I recommend Mike Maloney's hidden Secrets of Money series. It's there on YouTube.

If you are into reading and you want to know more about the history of the Federal Reserve, I recommend the book by Jedward Griffin. The creature from Jekyll Island. So anyway, I think I'll start talking now. Thanks for reading this whole article attentively. I really hope you learned something from this article and I'll see you again soon for the next episodes. Cheers, guys. Have a good one.

[aliens-took-my-iwa-chan]

hey alien!! I wanna ask, since I see you reblog a lot of jekyll and hyde (and tbh the only reason why its familiar to me is bc i watched monster high)

so, explain it to me, whats it all abt??

Hi!!!! wow its been a bit since we’ve spoken! :D nice to hear from you again hehe- oooooooooOOOOOO- okok I would be nothing short of ecstatic to explain it to you ^-^ (also I just recently found out that jekyll and hyde were in monster high hdhfjsjcjenfn love that so much)

ok so I’m gonna explain this in really concise terms because while it *is* a very short book I don’t want to accidentally go overboard lolol

okok! so, it’s a gothic horror from the point of view of this guy named gabriel utterson, who’s a lawyer and a close friend to the friendly, sociable, and proper scientist henry jekyll. He saw that in jekyll’s will, he left all of his stuff to this guy named edward hyde that he had never seen or heard of before. he finds it a bit odd that his lifelong friend would leave all his stuff to some guy he’s never even heard of, so he goes on a but of a stalking spree to find out who he is.

when he does finally find him, he is pretty much the opposite of jekyll- repulsive, mean, and oh yeah also he trampled a little girl on the street. so when he asks jekyll about this guy jekyll changes the topic pretty quickly. eventually utterson falls more and more down this loophole, and then all of a sudden he finds out that hyde had just beat someone to death with a cane. so he helps the police for a but to see if he can get any more evidence as to why he’s in his besties will, he talks to jekyll who tells him that he’s never gonna talk to hyde ever again.

but eventually (skipping over a few parts here) jekyll gets really sick and locks himself in his room. utterson tries to ask him why but he doesnt give him a straight answer. he goes to see their other bestie named lanyon who all of a sudden vows to never speak of jekyll again, then dies of shock a few weeks later. istg you can only get this kind of stuff in gothic horror

eventually he breaks down jekylls door and finds hyde on the ground, dead. he killed himself before utterson could break in :”( utterson does a little snooping around bc he’s sure that hyde killed jekyll and he needs to fond his body. eventually he opens two letters that explain everything, one from lanyon and one from jekyll.

lanyons pretty much says that hyde transformed into jekyll in front of him, theres more in it but holy crap this is long- then he reads jekylls and it says how jekylls been suppressing his feelings ever since… ever and he felt like two men, so he found a way to split his soul through chemistry stuff and created my favorite character ever edward hyde!!!! but eventually he lost control and started turning into him without the potion (metaphor for addiction my beloved) and eventually he was more often hyde than jekyll and vowed to let himself rot away in his room so nobody would ever find out.

the end.

ITS SO GOOD-

look I could be explaining to you about all of the metaphors and characterization in this and why hyde is the best but WOW I SAID I WOULD EXPLAIN THIS IN CONCISE TERMS AND I DID NOT THIS IS HUGE-

thanks for the ask!!!!

[lonely-dog-song]

I have to type J&H thourghts bc i finally watched this musical!!!!!!! (It was a david hasselhoff performance) THIS has SPOILERS btw !!!!!!!

The singing was so FAST omg why we going so fast!!!!! it was also hard 2 understand ppl w no subtitles so sometimes I was just like. Welp. Relying on my prior knowledge of the musical to get me thru this lol. This made the pacing so fast... dude... lets all breathe a bit

I loved hearing the audience laugh a few times, especially in Transformation when Henry starts laughing & then writes "no noticeable differences" or whatever LOL. I like that laugh in that song tho it's a nice touch

B4 i watched it, I thought of The World Has Gone Insane & was like oh I wonder how they'll encorporate that into the musical :•) & then they DIDNT. bit sad. although it does seem very detached from the plot itself so I cannot blame them

Same thing with Bring on the Men & Girls of the Night actually. BOTM is so fun tho!!!!!!! 😔

not nearly as much sex as I expected

Wait also A Dangerous Game is such a sensual song I thought Lucy was into it but their performance was so uncomfortable... womp womp.. when I listen to it I'm like oh u can make a cool dance with this. But they didn't even dance........

Lucy sang A New Life & then I was like "uh oh, that was her last song. She could die at any second now. & it's gonna make me so mad." & then Hyde kills her while singing a reprise of Sympathy, Tenderness & I was like HOLY MOLY!!! SICK AND TWISTED!!!!!!!! I kind of dig it though. 😑

not nearly as much blood as I expected either. although some guy was set on fire which was epic

I've never watched a performance of Confrontation bdespite it being so iconic to me. I think the way they did the character change was really good but it also made me laugh. Sorry david

I thought Utterson & Danvers narrating periodically was rly unnecessary.... but on the other hand I like those characters so it was more screen time for them.......... agh

I was hoping for more character development between the songs- as well as going more into detail about the experiemtn- but there was not a whole lot of that?? This is so sad, I would watch the musical if it was 3 hours long for it to be more engaging please

o wanted more Emma also... I would love 2 know more about why she & Henry love each other n stuff....! The actress for her was rly cute though & I liked her performance :•) (it was Andrea something I think)

WAIT I HAVE ANOTHER THOUGHT. I Liked Jekyll using his right hand & hyde using his left hand, I thought that was a neat detail. Left-handed representation 💯💯

Every time Lucy finished a solo and the audience clapped & she smiled really big it was so cute :''''''•(

Basically ,🤲I wish this musical was better argh.... urgh.... agh *grits my teeth*

#lonely dog speaks #ok so TLDR me listening to the concept album is like. this musical i orchestrated in my midn will be legendary!!!!!!!! #& then the actual performance that is real isn' #t nearly as cool but that's what i get for my taste in musicals #oh i mean choreographed. not orchestrated. #edit: I Must Say i have been recommended other performances because ppl dont like the hasselhoff performance #which is like WHEW ok there is hope that a good performance is out there LOL #i still havent watched any more

[thornyrose463]

Opening Night (Cobra Kai one-shot)

This is a Cobra Kai (Netflix series) one-shot. The gifs are not mine. I found them here on tumblr. All credit goes to the rightful owners.

Summary: Nina Hale is a senior at West Valley High School. She is friends with Miguel, Sam, Robby, Tory, Hawk, Moon, Demetri, and Yasmine. She has been cast as Lucy Harris in the school’s production of Jekyll & Hyde: The Musical.

Rating: T

Warning: Swearing

Cast

Xolo Maridueña as Miguel Diaz

Mary Mouser as Samantha “Sam” LaRusso

Tanner Buchanan as Robert “Robby” Keene

Peyton List as Tory Nichols

Jacob Bertrand as Eli “Hawk” Moskowitz

Hannah Kepple as Moon

Gianni DeCenzo as Demetri Alexopoulos

Annalisa Cochrane as Yasmine

Matt Cornett as Jason Gilbert

Olivia Rose Keegan as Nina Hale

Author’s note

There are some things you need to know before you read this one-shot.

This one-shot isn’t set in a particular season, but the characters are in their senior year at West Valley High School, with the exception of Robby, who is working on getting his G.E.D., and Hawk has a blue mohawk.

Whether or not West Valley High School has a drama club is unknown, but it does in this one-shot.

Robby and Tory left Cobra Kai and joined Daniel and Johnny’s combined dojo. They are friends with Miguel, Sam, Hawk, Moon, Demetri, and Yasmine.

Miguel is dating Sam. Robby is dating Tory. Hawk is dating Moon. Demetri is dating Yasmine.

Nina Hale and her boyfriend, Jason Gilbert, were seniors at West Valley High School. They were friends with Miguel, Sam, Robby, Tory, Hawk, Moon, Demetri, and Yasmine.

Nina and Jason didn’t do karate. They were members of the drama club at West Valley High. They joined the club in sophomore year. They started dating a few weeks after joining the club.

The drama club was putting on a production of Jekyll & Hyde: The Musical.

The musical was set in 19th-century London, but because some members of the cast didn’t know how to do British accents, the director had told everyone to speak in their normal voices. The song Bring on the Men had to be replaced with the song Good 'N' Evil, as Principal Lopez considered Bring on the Men to be too risqué for a high school production. Most of the budget went to the music, the sets, and the lighting, so the costume designer didn’t have money for corsets.

Jason was playing Henry Jekyll and his alter ego, Edward Hyde. Nina was playing Lucy Harris. The other students who had auditioned for the musical were playing the rest of the characters.

Anyone from the Valley could watch the musical, as long as they purchased a ticket. Tickets could be purchased on West Valley High’s website and at various stores in the Valley.

On the opening night of the musical, Miguel, Sam, Robby, Tory, Hawk, Moon, Demetri, and Yasmine walked into the auditorium at West Valley High and found their assigned seats.

Miguel, Sam, Robby, Tory, Hawk, Moon, Demetri, and Yasmine were in the fourth row.

The director of the musical appeared on the stage. She was the drama teacher at West Valley High. She ran the drama club.

“Good evening, everyone. Welcome to the opening night of Jekyll & Hyde: The Musical. Thank you for being here. Enjoy the show!”

The audience applauded.

The director walked off the stage.

The lights in the auditorium turned off. The curtains opened. A white spotlight turned on, and the show began.

A few minutes after the show began, the white spotlight turned off, the curtains closed, and the lights in the auditorium turned on. The director appeared on the stage and told the audience that there would be a 15-minute intermission. The audience gathered in the lobby.

The intermission ended. The audience returned to their seats. The lights in the auditorium turned off. The curtains opened. A white spotlight turned on.

A balcony was in the middle of the stage. Behind the balcony, there was a piece of plywood that was painted and positioned so as to give the appearance of buildings and a street. A window was positioned in front of the wall.

Jason appeared on the stage. "Dearest Lucy…"

Jason was 6 feet tall. He had fair skin and blue eyes. His short, straight brown hair was slicked back and parted to the left. He was clean-shaven. His body was slender but muscular. He was wearing an unbuttoned knee-length black coat, a black vest with a single button in the front, a black necktie, a white dress shirt tucked into black dress pants, and black dress shoes with black laces.

Nina looked at Jason before looking at the floor.

Nina was 5 foot 4. She had fair skin, blue eyes, and a slim build. Her blonde hair reached her chest. It was parted in the middle and styled in barrel curls. She was wearing ankle-length black leather boots that laced up in the front and had low heels and a red dress with a black lace overlay, a sweetheart neckline that turned into off-the-shoulder sleeves, and a floor-length skirt. The neckline showed a hint of cleavage. She had on a light amount of black eyeliner, a light amount of black mascara, and soft brown eyeshadow. Her lips were strawberry red.

“For a moment, I thought you were someone else." Nina said, slightly panicked.

"For a moment, it almost was." Jason made his way to the middle of the stage. "I have some rather sad news, Lucy." He looked at Nina and started to walk towards her. "I have to go away for a while. A friend and I have a little dispute to settle." He looked at the floor and continued to walk. She crossed her arms and looked at the audience. "Are you glad to see me go?"

Nina shook her head and dropped her arms so they were by her side. "No."

Jason shook his head in a way that made him appear quite unsettling. Miguel, Sam, Robby, Tory, Hawk, Moon, Demetri, and Yasmine could feel chills running up their spines. “You're lying to me."

Jason picked up a piece of hair that had been on Nina’s shoulder. "I can always tell when you're lying."

"When will you be back?" Nina asked, looking at Jason out of the corner of her eye. He played with the piece of hair and laughed bitterly.

Jason moved to the other side of Nina. "There is no knowing."

"But God help you if you're not waiting for me when I return," Jason sing-songed.

Nina looked at the floor. Jason moved her hair to the side of her neck, and she looked at him slightly. His hands moved up her body to touch her shoulder.

Music started playing.

Nina began to sing.

"I feel your fingers

Cold on my shoulder

Your chilling touch

As it runs down my spine."

Jason’s hands moved up and down the top of Nina’s arms. She looked straight ahead before turning to face him.

"Watching your eyes

As they invade my soul."

Jason’s hands moved down Nina’s arms.

"Forbidden pleasures

I'm afraid to make mine."

Jason’s lips ghosted over Nina’s neck, and his hands held hers tightly, bringing her right one up to her shoulder.

"At the touch of your hand

At the sound of your voice…"

Jason let go of Nina. Her fingers lightly touched his arm.

"At the moment your eyes meet mine…"

Jason moved Nina’s hair from her shoulder so it was resting on her back instead.

"I am out of my mind

I am out of control

Full of feelings I can't define."

Jason wrapped his arms around Nina’s waist, holding her tightly.

"It's a sin with no name," Jason sang.

"Like a hand in a flame," Nina sang.

"And our senses proclaim it's a dangerous game," Jason and Nina sang.

"A darker dream that has no ending." Jason let go of Nina. "That's so unreal, you believe that it's true." He gripped her arm, and she looked at him as she followed him across the stage. She stopped on the other side of the stage, and he walked up a few of the steps on the staircase. "A dance of death out of a mystery tale. The frightened princess doesn't know what to do." He cornered her on the stairs, looking at her harshly. She looked at the floor, slightly panicked.

"Will the ghosts go away?" Jason sang, burying his head in the crook of Nina's neck.

"No!" Nina sang. She sounded scared.

"Will she will them to stay?" Jason sang.

"No!" Nina sang. She sounded scared.

"Either way, there's no way to win," Jason sang.

Nina stumbled away from Jason.

"All I know is I'm lost, and I'm counting the cost. My emotions are in a spin. I don't know who's to blame." Nina walked up the stairs to the balcony, looking behind her to see Jason following her.

"It's a crime and a shame," Jason sang.

"But it's true all the same," Nina sang.

Nina walked backwards across the balcony. Jason caught up with her.

"It's a dangerous game," Jason and Nina sang.

Jason and Nina hit a high note. "No one speaks."

Jason grabbed Nina’s arm and pulled her in front of him.

Jason and Nina hit a high note. "Not one word."

Jason and Nina hit a high note. "All the words are in our eyes."

Jason held Nina tightly.

Jason and Nina hit a high note. "Silence speaks."

Jason and Nina hit a high note. "Loud and clear."

Nina walked away from Jason slightly.

Jason and Nina hit a high note. "All the words we don't want to hear!"

Jason and Nina looked at each other before facing the audience.

"At the touch of your hand…"

Jason grabbed Nina’s hand and put it on his neck.

"At the sound of your voice…"

Nina’s hand slowly moved down Jason’s body.

"At the moment your eyes meet mine…"

Jason and Nina turned to face each other. Her hands cupped his cheeks as she walked further along the balcony.

"I am losing my mind

I am losing control

Fighting feelings I can't define."

Nina let go of Jason and walked away, looking at the floor, slightly panicked.

"It's a sin with no name," Nina sang.

Jason slowly followed Nina.

"No remorse, and no shame. Fire, fury, and flame," Jason sang.

Nina hit a high note. "'Cause the Devil's to blame!"

Jason and Nina hit a high note. "And the angels proclaim…"

Jason was standing behind Nina. She was facing away from him. He grabbed her waist and turned her around. They took a deep breath before singing the final line. "It's a dangerous game."

Nina moved backwards slightly. Jason's hand went to the back of her neck and pulled her into a kiss. She pulled away a few seconds later. They walked off of the stage. Once they were backstage, they could hear the audience cheering.

Tory looked at Robby and whispered, “They’re really good.”

Because she was the newest member of Robby’s friend group, this was Tory’s first time watching something performed by the drama club.

Robby nodded in agreement. “Yeah,” he whispered.

A few minutes passed.

The stage was empty.

Jason stood on the side of the stage, a white spotlight shining down on him as he looked at the floor.

Jason was wearing a brown vest with a single button in the front, a white dress shirt tucked into brown dress pants, and brown dress shoes with brown laces.

Music started playing.

Jason began to sing.

"It's over now

I know inside

No one will ever know the sorry tale of Edward Hyde and those who died

No one must ever know

They'd only see the tragedy

They'd not see my intent

The shadow of Hyde's evil would forever kill the good that I had meant

Am I a good man?

Am I a mad man?

It's such a fine line between a good man and a..."

A red light appeared in the middle of the stage, and Jason walked towards it, the white spotlight following him.

Jason hunched forward, a shadow appearing behind him. There was a transparent curtain between him and the audience.

"Do you really think that I would ever let you go?" Jason sang.

Jason hit a high note. "Do you think I'll ever set you free?"

"If you do, I'm sad to say it simply isn't so," Jason sang before quickly turning right.

Jason hit a high note. "You will never get away from me!"

The white spotlight reappeared, and Jason stood up straight.

"All that you are is a face in the mirror. I close my eyes, and you disappear," Jason sang.

The light turned red, and Jason hunched forward, a shadow appearing behind him.

"I'm what you face when you face in the mirror. As long as you live, I will still be here," Jason sang.

The white spotlight reappeared, and Jason stood up straight.

"All that you are is the end of a nightmare. All that you are is a dying scream," Jason sang.

Jason hit a high note. "After tonight, I shall end this demon dream."

The next time the light turned red, Jason looked like he was dragged back into a hunching position as the shadow appeared behind him.

"This is not a dream, my friend, and it will never end!" Jason sang.

Jason hit a high note. "This one is the nightmare that goes on!"

Jason quickly turned the other way.

"Hyde is here to stay, no matter what you may pretend," Jason sang.

Jason hit a high note. "And he'll flourish long after you're gone!"

The white spotlight reappeared, and Jason stood up straight.

"Soon, you will die, and my memory will hide you. You cannot choose but to lose control," Jason sang.

The light turned red, and Jason hunched forward, a shadow appearing behind him.

"You can't control me! I live deep inside you! Each day, you'll feel me devour your soul!" Jason sang.

The white spotlight reappeared, and Jason stood up straight.

"I don't need to survive, like you need me. I'll become whole as you dance with death," Jason sang.

Jason hit a high note. "And I'll rejoice as you breathe your final breath!"

The light turned red, and Jason hunched forward, a shadow appearing behind him.

Jason hit a high note. "I'll live inside you forever!"

The white spotlight reappeared, and Jason stood up straight.

"No!" Jason screamed.

The light turned red, and Jason hunched forward, a shadow appearing behind him.

Jason hit a high note. "With Satan himself by my side!"

The white spotlight reappeared, and Jason stood up straight.

"Noooo!" Jason screamed. His hand reached up desperately, like he was trying to hold on to the good side of him, but it was no use. He was literally dragged back down, and the shadow was now looming over him and the audience.

Jason hit a high note. "And I know that now and forever, they'll never be able to separate Jekyll from Hyde!"

Jason was standing up straight again. His hand was in his hair.

"Can't you see it's over now? It's time to die!" Jason yelled desperately, looking around him.

"No, not I! Only you!" Jason yelled.

"If I die, you'll die too!" Jason yelled.

Jason was quickly hunched over again.

"You'll die in me. I'll be you!" Jason yelled.

"Damn you, Hyde! Leave me be!" Jason yelled, voice shaking. He was very good at expressing how desperate Jekyll was.

"Can't you see? You are me!" Jason yelled.

"Nooo!" Jason screamed. "Deep inside…"

"I am you! You are Hyde!" Jason yelled.

"No! Never!" Jason yelled desperately.

"Yes! Forever!" Jason yelled evilly.

"God damn you, Hyde! Take all your evil deeds, and rot in Hell!" Jason yelled angrily.

"I'll see you there, Jekyll," Jason sneered before standing up straight again. The light flashed white before going back to red, and then the shadow slowly appeared until the stage became enveloped in darkness.

The curtains closed, and the audience cheered.

Hawk looked at Demetri and whispered, “That was fucking awesome.”

After the curtain call, Miguel, Sam, Robby, Tory, Hawk, Moon, Demetri, and Yasmine met up with Nina and Jason in the lobby.

Nina and Jason had changed out of their costumes.

Moon smiled and pulled Nina and Jason into a hug. “Hey. Great job, you two!”

“Thanks.” Nina and Jason said.

Miguel smiled at Nina and Jason. “Hey. You were awesome.”

“Thanks.” Nina and Jason said.

Sam smiled at Nina and Jason. “Hey. You were really good.”

“Thanks.” Nina and Jason said.

Robby smiled at Nina and Jason. “Hey. You were awesome.”

“Thanks.” Nina and Jason said.

Tory smiled at Nina and Jason. “Hey. You did a great job.”

“Thanks.” Nina and Jason said.

Hawk smiled at Nina and Jason. “Hey. You were awesome.”

“Thanks.” Nina and Jason said.

Demetri smiled at Nina and Jason. “Hey. You did a great job.”

“Thanks.” Nina and Jason said.

Yasmine smiled at Nina and Jason. “Hey. You were really good.”

“Thanks.” Nina and Jason said.

“We’re going to go get some milkshakes. Do you want to join us?” Miguel asked Nina and Jason.

Nina and Jason nodded.

Nina and Jason followed Miguel, Sam, Robby, Tory, Hawk, Moon, Demetri, and Yasmine out of the school.

THE END

#fanfiction

[gerrysherry]

My first Monster High Fanfic

New Orleans Observer music section

Triple-I (Insidious Insidious Incident) by Grail Marcus

Triple I is touring America to promote its new album Legacy. Despite it being their sophomore release, this is their first original album. Their debut album, Covered Mirror, was all covers. While it contained jams such as  covers of Bring me the horizon’s ‘1x1’ and Mindless Self-Indulgence’s “Lights Out”, Covered Mirror is mediocre at best. The last two songs are saved only by Brownstone’s drums and Hyde’s vocals. 

Legacy is made better by inclusion of Bassist Bass Olmstead. His guitar solo on “Lights Out (Better and Bloodier)” adds the oomph that its Covered Mirror version lacks. 

Bass is a songwriter in his own right. His debut song, “We Love our Craft” is a biting critique of H.P. Lovecrafts infamous racism.

However most songs are written by Hyde and See. See compares the two to Lemon and Moth-Cartney of the Beatles. “I’m Moth-Cartney and He’s Lemon,” See claims, “I just want to write silly metal songs about Satan and Death and Hyde actually cares about social issues”.

This is most evident in Hyde’s song “TRANSformation”. Written from an intersection of lived experiences, the song compares his family condition to the pain of being transgender and in the closet.

Hyde, who is open about his own transition says: “representation is important. There are very few trans men in the media and all of them are human or human-passing. I’m willing to answer awkward questions about my identity and transition if it makes some young teen watching feel less like a freak.”

Musically, Triple I is still developing its style. While “Lava Falls”, “Brodie”, “Shadows in the Desert (Evil Twin)”, “Mr. La Vey” and “TRANSformation” are solidly metal, other songs are not. “We love our craft” is a pop song. “Bells of Notre Dame” is gothic rock. “The Ballad of Mina Harker” is a 70’s power ballad. “Strange Case” is a 7-verse country song chronicling a man’s entire life and contains two choruses, the second is somewhere between country and metal (not a combination I ever considered). The band is marketed as metal but See claims to find the label confining. 

The album showcases its members considerable talent, Alabaster Brownstone does a breathtaking drum solo on “The Bells of Notre Dame”, a tribute to his cathedral home. “Light Out (better and bloodier)”, “We Love our Craft”, and “Shadows in the Desert (Evil Twin)” spotlights Olmstead’s talent though guitar solos. Hyde shines throughout but especially on the songs he wrote himself. Most of his songs are written in third person with three notable exceptions. 

“TRANSformation” is sung from the perspective of a person switching between two bodies each with its own gender identity. The angst comes not from having two seemingly incompatible identities but from having to conceal a part of oneself. The song quotes from Stevenson’s letter to Mansfield, “the hypocrite let out the beast Hyde” in its chorus and uses the line to good effect. 

The “Ballad of Mina Harker” is sung from the perspective of her husband Jonathan and is a tribute by Hyde to his Great-Great Grandmother. “I’m technically 1/16th Vampire,” Hyde says pointing to his fangs, “It is a pleasure to to be related to the Harkers and they have been the Jekyll family lawyers since they married into the Uttersons.”

“Strange Case” is a 7 verse country song with each verse showing a snapshot of Henry Jekyll’s life. While the verses are third person, both the choruses are both first person. The bridge suddenly changes the song into a metal song and the second chorus is clearly from the Perspective of Edward Hyde. “It’s weird to play our own murderous Great-Great-Grandfather, but also cathartic. I’m basically telling the world I’m NOT him, it’s just an act.” - the singer explains his own mixed feelings. 

I personally nearly jumped when I heard the bridge and to hear this haunting hoarse androgynous voice coming from a 20-something young man, stranger yet to suddenly see the family resemblance even though 4 generations. 

Founder Eye-Zack See’s song “Lava Falls” tells of the creation of Fire Elementals. The song using Gospel and Gothic Rock influences to good effect but makes it less than the sum of its badly-sewn parts. 

“Mr. La Vey” is a parody of Ozzy Osborne’s “Mr.Crowley” and is the weakest of the Album.  Even the minute long humorous ditty “Hedges are not Scary” is better than “Mr. La Vey”. The song critiques “The Shining”, and is preceded by a short skit. 

Hyde harkens back to his days as a Radio Disc Jockey in his college days to answer a question of a caller (played by See), whether hedges coming to life are scary. The answer is a resounding vibrato “NO!”.

Surrounded by so much talent and raw confessional songs, See’s witty offerings seem meager in comparison. A lifelong orphan, Eye-Zack and his sister are sole representatives of their species. This uncertainty about his heritage contributes to See’s unwillingness to write songs from his personal experience.While it would be unfair to compare See’s song to the musical and lyrical talent of Hyde, for whom musical talent and dry British wit runs in the family, let us briefly compare See to Olmstead. Unlike See, who started the band with Brownstone in his basement, Olmstead has only recently left his hometown of Innsmouth and is a newcomer to the musical scene. Olmstead’s debut song is littered with rookie mistakes and slant rhymes but it has a raw passion that See’s more polished songs are lacking. Even if Olmstead isn’t singing, his voice is evident throughout the song. See’s songs have a Wildean sort of detachment to them that make them sound like they were written by anyone. 

I am not however impling See is incidental to the rest of the band, on the contrary, See is Triple I’s poster boy (the band is named after his most distinctive feature after all). Alabaster never gives interviews and his English is limited. Bass Olmstead is more than willing to give interviews but is cold and distant with fans. Hyde is infamous for dropping most of his interactions with groupies into the lap of his Alter Ego who politely turns them down. 

Little is known about this Alter Ego besides a few candids by Paparazzi (revealing him to be a pale bespectacled brunette rather than a dark-skinned redhead like Hyde) and the fact that he’s a Jekyll. Yellow journalists speculate this anonymity is because he’s human-passing and using this to his advantage as the medical school he attends is quite racist. 

Whatever the case it annoys the groupies to no end. “I just wanna score with him, not flirt awkwardly with his dorky human brother.” - says Linda Bird, an OG fan.

Here See shines. He is courteous with fans. He bats his three eyes flirtatiously at groupies but never touches them. He steps in when nosy journalists ask when Olmstead will hit Fish Puberty and develop the ‘Innsmouth look’. See translates for Alabaster when he is lost for words. See drags Hyde out of fights and negotiates disputes between him and his’ brother’. He is essentially a second manager. 

Triple I is a passing fad, the band plans to release one more album and disband. Eye-Zack plans to go on a vision quest to discover his own heritage. Olmstead plans to start his own band back in Innsmouth. Alabaster plans to return to his cathedral. Hyde wants to finish his medical degree. “Murder is not where I see myself in 5 years, releasing singles while working on my doctorate is…” Hyde confides. 

But as passing fads go triple I is the best boy band I’ve seen or heard in a while. Seeing them live is preferable but  for the rest of us unfortunate souls their album drops this August. 

Grail Marcus has written several columns and also a book, “Phantom of the Opry” on the music of New Orleans.

#my fanfiction #my writing #holt hyde #a bunch of ocs

[kindaeccentric]

When I was writing my university bachelor's degree thesis (that I'm still to defend) about Penny Dreadful as a modern adaptation of Frankenstein I noticed how the original novel's homoeroticism is realized by the series in an interesting way.

In the way he is presented, it seems to me that Victor secretly desires men, but thinks that only through creating a perfect one by himself he's allowed to touch other man's skin. His endeavour to pierce the veil between life and death is an excuse, since Victor from the series grew up lonely after the death of his mother and he searches for companionship, for someone who would love him unconditionally, like his mother used to. He believes he can find such love only in a person he creates himself, brings from the dead, and who would see him as his only friend, calm and obedient. Yet his first instinct is to make a man, not a woman, and a handsome man at that.

I can imagine both Rory Kinnear and Alex Price are not everybody's cup of tea (I do find them attractive, they are quite charismatic), but the way the original Creature and Proteus are shown makes them attractive. Proteus we see through Victor's eyes, when he is tending to his body before its even reanimated, when he sketches him (a sure sign of affection) and when he teaches him how to eat in a way that becomes seductive, because of how the camera lingers on his lips and then, in a closeup, on his fingers running down his long throat, immediately bringing to mind erotic imagery. Some may argue that Victor tries to emulate the relationship between his mother and himself taking the parental role and projecting onto Proteus the role of his childhood self, and as much as it is partially true, their relationship bears these marks of hidden desire on Victor's part from the start. The image at the end of the first episode when Proteus is born shows Victor trembling, teary-eyed, looking at the body, a torn and stitched back together, but human body, of a naked man. He's afraid, but not necessarily of the man, but of finally getting what he wanted, it's a fear resulting from excitement. Then the man is touching his face tenderly and Victor, still trembling, cannot stop himself from a little smile. Their faces are softly illuminated by the orange light of the gas lamp, creating an intimate atmosphere of a warm bedroom. Victor practically gasps hearing his own name smoken by Proteus. I doubt all of it was intentional in the way I read it, but it doesn't change the fact that the final scene can be easily interpreted this way.

Then the original Creature, with the violence surrounding his return, presents him as highly masculine, smart, powerful, a direct opposite to the delicate, clueless Proteus Victor could easily form into whatever he wanted. The Creature throughout the entire series is perceived as ugly by some and easily tolerated by others, making his ugliness purely subjective, since, despite his small deformities he remains strangely alluring with his gothic qualities (black long hair, black lips, white skin, yellow eyes, proportional features) of a dark brooding gentleman. With blood on his face he becomes vampire-like (vampires always a symbol of hidden desires and 'depraved' sexuality, the Creature and Victor becoming a mirror image of Vanessa and vampire Mina, both Creature's and Mina's monstrosity an indirect result of Victor's and Vanessa's desire towards having a same-sex companion). The Creature touches Victor's face, a callback to Proteus doing it, but the Creature is not gentle, he smears blood all over Victor's face (blood in vampire narratives was always a symbol for other bodily fluids, that's why it seems so sexy, it also gained another meaning in the 80s, due to the HIV epidemic, which no filmmaker can shake off if they tried, I could discuss it more with The Lost Boys, but no time for that right now).

The dynamic between Victor and the Creature is a reversal of Victor's budding relationship with Proteus, experience winning over innocence. Victor is under another man's rule, and it terrifies him, because it would force him into a position of having to admit his attraction, whereas as the one in control he could have still easily deny it. The Creature, with all his attributes, symbolizes carnal love, he's all 'body', where Proteus was virginal, pious love (to an extent). In one of the scenes where we see Proteus he looks up into the skylight at Victor's apartment and appears angelic, as if in a halo of white light.

It's revealed Victor never had a woman, and the series wants the viewer to believe it's because of his awkwardness and passion for science that consumed him, but his dedication to creating himself male companions instead of searching for a living female one is exactly what makes him seem more queer coded.

It's clear that the lack of paternal figure results in Victor quickly becoming close with older men he encounters (Sir Malcolm, Van Helsing), but it also puts him into a position where he's constantly surrounded by men, with whom he feels more at ease, and is intimidated by women. The rivalry between him and Ethan is that of siblings, until the moment when Ethan teaches him how to shoot a gun. It might be a stretch (it is a bit of a stretch, I admit), but a gun often, especially in horror, alongside a knife, represents manhood and masculine power. Victor allows Ethan to touch him and encourages him to show off with the gun, which is a scene all too familiar from many other movies where the role of Victor is reserved for a woman and the interaction is flirtatious (can't pull examples out of thin air, but if you saw over 1400 movies like me you know I'm not lying). All this adds to the general image of Victor.

The Creature and Victor, when they are on a walk, have a very revealing conversation in which the Creature points out how quick Victor was to grow attached to his more perfect man, and Victor doesn't deny it, he admits that he did in fact feel affection towards Proteus, although the meaning of it as the scorned past partner expressing jealousy over the love he didn't get while someone else did is largely subtext. When the Creature says that he's lonely, Victor answers 'I cannot love you' (paraphrase, because I can't find the exact quote right now) and the Creature, disillusioned, mocks him, 'I do not want what you cannot give' suggesting that Victor, by making himself a meek obedient man, is selfish, cruel, manipulating, and a coward, therefore could not have loved Proteus truly. Then again, Victor cannot bring himself to love his original Creature, because he's not the ideal man he envisioned and by then the Creature being too aware of his flaws of character. The Creature/Caliban/John Clare knows that Victor is 'monstrous', not just because he's someone who desecrates dead bodies, plays God and abandons his creation, but because of his queer desire. It's important that in the case of Penny Dreadful 'monstrosity' signifies many different things, literal (being a vampire werewolf, witch, and so on), metaphorical (bad deeds, like letting your son die a horrible death, cheating, killing etc.) and wholy subjective, merely condemned by ignorant society (Sembene's blackness, Brona's sex work, Lily's want to be equal or greater than men, Vanessa's want for sexual freedom, the Creature's ugliness, Angelique being transgender and other cases), so it's NOT that much of a stretch this time.

We also have the whole problem with Lily. Victor is so attached to Lily (who takes up both Elizabeth's and creature's bride parts in the novel) because he believes that only by possessing a good woman he'll be redeemed for his 'sinful' desires, but he's foolish to think that. This belief reduces a woman to a semi-maternal, semi-virginal angelic ideal with no sexual urges or agency, like virgin Mary. Lily is a true replacement for Victor's mother, and his imagined redemption. As long as she's similar to Proteus, in that she's not sexual, and pure like an angel. Yet Lily is not a woman in that sense. She is another of Victor's creatures, so she partially also takes over the role of the original Creature from the novel, a male. She's not an ideal of a Victorian obedient wife, she has power, or tries to have it, but power in the context of patriarchal society is masculine by nature. The moment she drops her pretenses of a weak delicate wife-like girl Victor does not want her like this. He doesn't want a woman that is sexually liberated, because he doesn't like women in this way, and yet, by being similar to the first Creature (from Victor's perspective, from hers John Clare is similar to Victor-a man, I could delve into Brona's sexuality, but later, this thing is already way longer than I intended) she's 'the man' he wanted.

There is also Henry. Henry Jekyll takes the role of his namesake in the novel, Henry Clerval, Victor's closest friend, and a character most often cited to have homoerotic tension with Victor. It's true that some of the eroticism might be accidental, stemming from the prevalence of homosocial interactions in 'Frankenstein' which in turn is a result of misogynistic nature of 19th century Genevian society and in-novel universe reflecting it, but like I mentioned before, it still feeds into the queer reading of the text and translates beautifully into Jekyll and Victor being both extremely misogynistic towards Lily and their mutual homoerotic tension. In the scenes where Henry purposes his plan to Victor he practically seductively purrs it into his ear, Lily becomes merely a female buffer that allows for that interaction, a female presence which is an excuse for male closeness (here I have a couple of examples actually: Dead Ringers, Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, Scream (in a roundabout way, through murder) and a couple others, but that deserves its own article). I won't even mention more references to the novel, because that's a lot already.

Penny Dreadful, although I believe largely unintentionally, expands on what is already there through the changes it introduces in relation to the novel's plot. I have nothing else smart to say, I just think it's worth considering.

*I use the word 'queer', because that's the umbrella term we use in academic writing for years now and even our lgbt+ group at university is called 'queer', so don't come at me with stupid takes

#Penny Dreadful #queer readings #Frankenstein #Victor Frankenstein #lily frankenstein

[bindi-the-skunk]

Just a little analysis

I think I should give some explanation here since it looks like 95% of the fandom wants to outright MURDER Jekyll...

Yes, he is acting like an ass and needs a firm Gibbs-slap to the noggin ...but he does NOT need to be hit like what Frankie gave him during their first meeting!

That is ABUSE, not a wake-up call!

Your acting like he is trying to LYNCH Jasper!!! Or is spewing some transphobic garbage that Jasper needs to go back to long hair and dresses for "her" own good or something! He has said nothing of the sort!

He says "Rachel has has never been short on gentlemen callers LIKE YOURSELF"

The heartbreaking part of this is that Henry legitamitly thinks he is HELPING, that by saying these things he is going to keep Jasper from later heartache, I think he sees a bit of himself in Jasper (I do not think Jekyll is trans since we get a pretty clear look at his chest in the flashback and there is no binder or scarring where breasts might have been removed or anything covering his chest )

But what he does see is a naive boy who has been thrust into a whole new world and life and has his own fair share of problems, desires and things society considers bad (who may also be prone to depression like Jekyll but I'm getting ahead of myself)

Science mom needs to put more focus on "mom" instead of "science' right now...AKA more emotion and honesty

Jekyll might still be on his high from telling Hyde off and is saying things in his "I have the control and know best" state of mind and well I do not think he's trying to CONTROL Jasper, he is not taking a step back and looking at what is in front of him.

Jekyll IS a good candidate to mentor Jasper and guide him...after he is able to come to terms with liking men and the fact he IS mad at Lanyon and perhaps look into Hydes own emotions so he can better understand his, right now he is parroting SOCIETY, not his own thoughts and feelings, emotion is not playing a role here, Victorian "Logic" is.

Though another nasty thought is how Rachel is going to react to learning what Henry said about her...she already put a knife to his throat ONCE...

#the glass scientists #jekyll has issues #henry jekyll #tgs jekyll #tgs Hyde #tgs hyde #rachel pidgley #tgs lanyon #jasper kaylock

[bansheeoftheforest]

Crush AU route where Jekyll does end up in everyone's pairing/polycule tho. Everyone asks who he'll choose, he panics about having to make a choice and points out that they're ALL amazing, when someone suggests, "Wait! Why don't we just.. share him?"

Jekyll trying to keep his massive polyfam hidden from the press. Almost gets caught smoochin' multiple beloveds. He is getting so much love and attention, it is So Good, and he's always getting double kisses even when with one person because Hyde is a big clingy mess who follows him everywhere. The only two still fighting are Hyde and mind!Lanyon because they just despise each other.

Bonus: Everyone finds out about the Jekyll and Hyde thing, but before he can beg them not to send him to Bedlam they all lose their shit like "TWO BOYFRIENDS??? TWO?? THIS IS THE GREATEST DAY OF OUR LIVES!!"

Oo, what if also seperation branch of this route? Now Hyde is able to physically hang off of Jekyll all the time like a koala. What if mind!Lanyon also somehow became physical during the split? Would he still be blue? How would Robert react to now competing with his copy for who gets to take Jekyll on a date tonight? The chaos and fluff of this AU, man.

ABsolutely fuck yes. No angst at all, Henry gets so many lovers and he gets so much love and attention and there is no more fighting. I also love the thought of Henry desperately trying to keep all of it from the press because... Well... Half of his partners are men, some are criminals, one is a goddamn living corpse, not to mention that the look of having more than one partner already is a bad one as is. Henry would be the most loved man and he just would be so happy for once in his life. He would feel so safe and protected because goddamn if not all of his partners are protective of him. One partner catches the fact that Henry has a rough day, suddenly he gets bombarded with treats and sweets and cuddles and all that shebang. Henry just brushing off rumours, like, a newspaper will say that they suspect that the Lodgers and the Society is just a whole disguise for Henry's "harem" or whatever they call it, Henry just goes "pfffttt, really? You think i'd date my own Lodgers? Ha! Get some better theories next time". Henry probably officially marrying Emma to keep the press off of him but him still being happy with his multiple lovers <3

I love the thought of everyone finding out about Hyde and Henry panicking, almost crying begging everyone to please just hear him out, he doesn't want to go to Bethlam please don't send him there-- but all his partners are just going so happily ape-shit over the fact that they get TWO boyfriends now!!! Two boyfriends!!! Especially if Hyde and Henry separate and so their partners can have two boyfriends to put their attention on.

The... The thought of Henry's mind!people separating with Hyde is so funny to me because suddenly both Lanyon, Jasper, and practically anyone else has to compete for his attention with his version of them, jfc, none would be pleased but they certainly would not stop them from being possessive of their Henry. Man... So much fluff. Henry would be the world's most loved man and I absolutely love that. Even better if his little polycule start dating each other too so it's just one giant ship with that expands like a tree <3

#ask #thejeksburyguy #crushing au #banshees au