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qqueenofhades · 2 years

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1of 3) feel free to ignore this, but I'm doing Dracula Daily (never read it before) and I have a lot of feelings/thoughts and seeing as you've read it, I hope you don't mind if I rant a bit. I really want to shake Van Helsing until he starts telling people stuff. Like I can kind of get him not wanting to tell Seward that it's a vampire so he doesn't seem crazy and get institutionalized, but at some point, he should have told him anyway, or just made it clear that Lucy needs watching every night

2of3) and not just depend on telegrams/letters to tell him to watch her. But then she dies, and still instead of telling anyone what's going on, he just tells Seward that he needs to get him some surgeon tools so he can remove her head and heart (because talking about needlessly (at least to Seward) removing body parts of a corpse makes way more sense then mentioning a vampire and definitely makes him seem sane). He even talks about how they need to work together as one and need trust, of 3) and it's like my dude, have you even once considered how much easier it may be for people to work together with you as one, to trust you when you need it, if they have even a slight hint of what's going on? Personally if someone asks me to do something odd/hard/weird etc. I'm much more likely to do it, or at least complain less, if I know the reason besides a 'I'm so-and-so and you should do what I say' reason. Again, sorry for the rant.

Hush now. Of course I am delighted that people have so many feelings about a 19th-century classic horror novel that they want to come shout in my inbox about it! This is exactly why I love Dracula Daily as a concept, and think it's really clever. Everyone kind of.... already knows Dracula by cultural osmosis (he's a vampire! He has a swoopy dark cloak and he can turn into a bat! He sneaks around and Vants to Suck Your Blud!) but they are discovering they don't actually know many details about the text, and that modern adaptations have often totally slaughtered it in the aims of making it Sexy or otherwise introducing themes/readings that are not necessarily present in the original. So yes, I have read Dracula before, but I'm still really enjoying seeing the way Tumblr has gone ape for it and are all indignantly signing up for the Lucy Westenra and Mina Murray Defense Squad and drawing fanart and making memes and dropping casual references to the "polycule" and so forth. Yes.

Anyway, I wrote this post the other day discussing how everyone's over-reliance on traditional social conventions, and trying to follow the rules of how to be Good Victorians, has totally fucked them over. The whole point of what's going on is that they all keep trying to act like it's a normal situation and they need to be Decorous and Proper and Not Alarm Anyone, and like... that's the exact sort of thing Dracula feeds on (literally and metaphorically). Because he's weaponizing their extreme middle-class Victorian Englishness against them, where they can't talk to each other and they can't discuss how they feel and they can't be honest, all for fear of Offending Protocol, they're screwed. They can't coordinate, they can't do anything that might long-term help, and there is of course an interesting subtextual queer reading here, considering that Bram Stoker is universally considered to have been a repressed gay man who hid/denied his sexuality and lived in, to say the least, an openly homophobic society. Whether or not it was his primary intention to portray the rules of Good Victorian Behavior not working and instead actually actively harming people by forcing them to keep secrets and not trust that anyone else will believe them, it's an unavoidable theme in the text and one that a modern reader definitely picks up on with the benefit of hindsight.

Also, I think it's important to highlight that despite his 84 PhDs (of course he's a lawyer as well as a doctor) and generally being the book-smartest person in the story, Van Helsing has, at this point, comprehensively failed. He hasn't saved Lucy's life, he hasn't prevented her from turning into a vampire, he hasn't warned anyone else about what's really going on, he hasn't prevented Mrs. Westenra from being frightened to death, he hasn't told Arthur (poor Arthur!!!) anything about why he wouldn't even let him kiss his fiancee as she was dying, etc. And a huge part of this is because, as you point out, he hasn't told anyone anything. Van Helsing has often been narratively paralleled to Dracula, which I think is accurate: he is solely in charge of Lucy's health, as Dracula is the sole reason for hurting it. He tries to control Lucy, he tries to keep her loved ones in the dark, he tries to basically "have" her for himself -- all in the name of helping her, yes, but his treatment is just as ineffective as Dracula's assault is effective. Van Helsing means all the best, but he's kind of fucked it up!

And yes, the primary reason he's doing so is because he thinks that he alone is smart enough to solve the problem, he can't let anyone else onto his plans (even when Quincey strolled in, took one look, and was like "oh yeah this was like the time the vampire bit my horse" and asked the OBVIOUS FUCKING QUESTION of where all of Lucy's blood was going!) and he otherwise is the Only One. Just like Dracula's pride, arrogance, solitude, stubbornness, and insistence that his will/choices for Lucy are the only ones that matters, Van Helsing is doing the same thing, from the opposite side of the coin. That's why his methods can't possibly work to counteract Dracula and (as we will see in the latter half of the novel) they need to comprehensively rethink their entire strategy and discard all the old social rules and worry for "decorum" that has kept them from being honest with each other so far. But yes, we love us a good hero/villain narrative foil with the same flaws and the same methods. Which is what is definitely going on here. Because things such as Mrs. Westenra removing the garlic flowers happen because Van Helsing didn't even tell her that they were medicinal (you have one million doctorates, Abraham, make up a scholarly bullshit reason!)

So yes, as I said, and as we will see in upcoming entries, Following The Good Victorian Rules has fucked everyone over HARD, Van Helsing is acting like Dracula while trying to fix Dracula's damage and that's why it isn't working, and our heroes are going to need to have a comprehensive rethink of what they're doing and why, if they want to stop any of this in time. Dun dun dunnn!

#anonymous #ask #dracula #dracula daily #abraham van helsing #lucy westenra

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lizard-speed · 2 years

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conceptually murray is actually the funniest character on the mary tyler moore show. he’s literally just this bald guy who has a wife and four kids who is madly in love with his only female coworker yet never shows any indication of it unless the plot needs it and on top of all that was originally supposed to be gay. all he does all day is make fun of this guy at work. we rarely actually see him do any work. he just sits there. 90 percent of the complaints he has or murray-centered episodes are just about normal people stuff like debt or buying a car. occasionally they’ll mention his desire to write a novel but he’ll immediately rebuff it with a shrug. he’s really just this guy

#the mary tyler moore show #murray slaughter

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lougrantsdeskdrawer · 2 years

Video

Ted struggles with Vietnam War news.

“Bess, You Is My Daughter Now”, Season 1, episode 3

#Mary Tyler Moore Show #The Mary Tyler Moore Show #Ted Baxter #Ted Knight #Murray Slaughter #Gavin MacLeod #WJM Minneapolis #WJM Newsroom #Mary Tyler Moore #Mary Richards #vintage television #vintage tv #1970 #Bess You Is My Daughter Now #MTM s01e03

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fluxy001 · 1 year

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Third follow up to my Assassin’s Creed Wenclair AU

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No but seriously tho. Replaying Unity lately furthered my desire for an Assassin!Wednesday x Templar!Enid AU.

A twist on the Romeo and Juliet trope.

Wednesday is the slightly rebellious, newly initiated Assassin during the American Revolution, her mother and father are two Master Assassins in the American Brotherhood.

Enid is the awkward, reluctant Templar-in-training, daughter to two Master Templars. The only reason she joined the Templars is to finally gain the approval of her mother and even then she doesn’t get it because she can’t pass the initiation test.

With the Americans winning the war against the British and the new American government coming into effect, the Templars are quick to install their own agents into the government to influence politics and who better to install than the wealthy and influential Sinclairs.

So with this news, the American Brotherhood decides to act. Grand Master Assassin Weems orders Master Assassins Morticia and Gomez Addams to lead a group to the Sinclair estate and take out the family. Not just the parents but the initiated children as well (I say children as they’re their kids but in reality they’re all 18 and over) so to avoid any of their children taking over as head of the Sinclair family.

Gomez and Morticia take the American Brotherhood’s best Assassins with them but they also take their daughter, Wednesday, for her first official mission after being promoted out of training to the rank of Novice. Whilst Gomez and Morticia deal with Esther and Murray Sinclair, the rest are assigned different Sinclair children to target.

They strike at night, effortlessly taking out the Sinclairs as they sleep (Esther is woken up by Gomez killing her husband but before she can react, Morticia is striking the back of her head with her hidden blade). The rest of the Assassins, Wednesday included, tear through the house, taking out the Sinclair children as well as any household staff that show any loyalty to the family.

Wednesday is done and is about to leave and head to the meeting point when she hears struggled heaving from behind her. She turns around to see Enid, dressed in her bright pink nightie as she struggles to lift a mace that is clearly too big for someone of her size.

Wednesday can’t help but be amused at the sight, even if she doesn’t show it. Eventually, Enid gives up and drops the mace to the ground. She asks what’s happening.

(‘The Sinclairs have been swiftly executed in their sleep,’ Wednesday answers bluntly, ‘their deaths were, regrettably, rather painless.’)

Although Wednesday can’t help but be slightly surprised at Enid’s look of defeat at the news, watching as the blonde slumps against the doorframe.

(‘You look rather upset with this news for a member of the house staff,’ Wednesday mused, ‘I can’t imagine your line of work is hard to come by.’)

Enid is confused at first, staring at Wednesday

(‘I’m not house staff!’ Enid almost yells indignantly, ‘I’m Enid. Enid Sinclair.’)

Wednesday immediately stiffens. There was no report of an Enid Sinclair in their briefing. It was just Esther, Murray and their sons. There was nothing about a daughter, nothing about a female cousin living with the family.

(‘You lie,’ Wednesday accuses, ‘Enid Sinclair doesn’t exist. Who are you?!’)

At first, Enid doesn’t respond. She just laughs.

(‘Yeah. That’s not surprising,’ Enid chuckled humourlessly, ‘of course she made out I didn’t exist.’)

(‘She?’ Wednesday frowned)

(‘My mother. I’m the disappointment of the family,’ Enid shrugged, ‘the Templar daughter who can’t even pass the initiation.’)

Wednesday just stared at Enid. She offered no sense of comfort (if that was possible. She had just participated in the slaughter of this girls family.)

(‘So my mother’s dead?’ Enid asked, looking up at Wednesday, ‘and my dad?’)

(‘Your whole family,’ Wednesday added in way of answering, ‘my mother would’ve been the one to murder yours. I killed your two youngest brothers.’)

To Wednesday’s surprise, Enid didn’t look angry or upset. She just snorted.

(‘I hope she was awake when it happened,’ she muttered, but Wednesday heard her, ‘why, if I may ask?’)

(‘Your parents were chosen to assist George Washington, although he is not aware of their status,’ Wednesday found herself answering the girl truthfully, ‘we could not allow such influential members of the Order to infiltrate the new government.’)

(‘And my brothers?’)

(‘We could not allow their to be an heir to the Sinclair estate.’)

At this, Enid accepted her fate. She stepped before Wednesday and got down on her knees, brushing her hair away from the nape of her neck, she exposed the back of her neck to Wednesday.

(‘Do what you have to.’)

And what did Wednesday have to do? She was ordered to kill the Sinclair sons to avoid a line of succession, but here Enid was, an unknown daughter. The line of succession would now fall to her, therefor she would have to kill her.

But she also wasn’t a Templar. The girl had admitted it herself.

Here she was, weak and defenceless. The girl couldn’t even lift up a mace and here she was, exposing her neck to Wednesday so she could get the kill. She was allowing herself to be killed and for once, Wednesday was not filled with joy at the prospect of killing. She had enjoyed the feeling of life leaving the Sinclair’s bodies when she struck them in their sleep, but the idea of killing Enid did the opposite. It made her feel nauseous, and not in a good way.

So she did what she had to.

(‘Where does your mother and father keep their money?’)

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And that was how Enid found herself being smuggled by Wednesday into a small apartment above a butchers shop in the nearby town, a case full of thrown in clothes and a pouch full of her dead father’s stolen money.

(‘What is this place?’ Enid asked, gagging at the smell of butchered meat coming through the floorboards.)

(‘A safe place,’ Wednesday answered, quickly peaking out of the window to see if they had been followed, ‘owned by us in the event that our Brotherhood is compromised.’)

(‘Won’t you need it?’ Enid panicked, ‘won’t the others come here from my home?’)

(‘No. We have another much closer to your home. It was how we kept watch over your family’s actions,’ Wednesday revealed, ‘that is where we’re meeting and I must go there soon. They will wonder why I am not there and where I’ve been.’)

(‘What will you tell them?’)

(‘That a member of the house staff saw me kill your brother and fled the house. I had no choice but to track her down and eliminate her to ensure our secrecy,’ Wednesday explained, ‘I then had to dispose of her body, as I could not risk being seen dragging her back to your house as the fire would’ve already been noticed.’)

(‘Fire?’)

(‘Yes. Your house would’ve been burnt down upon us leaving. It would make it look like your family died in an accident in their sleep, eliminating any leads to us.’)

Enid nodded. It seemed like a reasonable plan… but wait-

(‘Wait. What about me?’ Enid frowned, ‘what do I do now?’)

(‘You stay here for the night. Get some rest. In the morning, I will visit you to bring some supplies and help you find someplace else to live,’ Wednesday planned, ‘then you will forget about me. You will start a new life, with a new name. You will get yourself a job and forget that you were ever a Sinclair. You will not look for me. You will not look for us.’)

(‘But why?’ Enid had to know, ‘why are you doing this? Why not just kill me?’)

It was a good question.

(‘Because it would’ve been wrong,’ Wednesday finally answered, ‘you are not a Templar. You are a girl born into an unloving family. Your parents and your brothers chose to be Templars but you didn’t. I could tell because you made no attempt to kill me, even after you gave up your weapon. So it would’ve been wrong for me to kill you. We protect the innocent and that’s what I am doing.’)

(‘Thank you,’ Enid cried. She went to throw her arms around the Assassin, but she quickly stepped back, ‘not a hugger. Got it.’)

Wednesday nodded and made her way to the door. She had been gone far too long.

(‘Wait!’ Enid’s voice stopped her. Wednesday turned to face, ‘you never told me your name.’)

(‘And you don’t need me to,’ Wednesday replied, ‘I told you, you’ll see me in the morning and then you’ll forget I ever existed. Goodnight, Enid.’)

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And that was supposed to be it. Wednesday returned in the morning with a bag of supplies for Enid. She even handed over one of her own daggers.

(‘For protection,’ she had explained.)

And then that was it. Enid left the house, profusely thanking Wednesday as the Assassin shut the door on her. She watched as the blonde walked down the street, occasionally looking back up at the window until it was no longer in view.

And she was gone.

Until years later.

Wednesday had been promoted. Years of experience in the Brotherhood had earned her the same rank of her parents.

She was now Master Assassin Wednesday Addams.

Grand Master Weems had assigned her a new mission. A more permanent one. With the expansion of the American States, the Brotherhood wanted a second HQ further inland. So Wednesday had been assigned with going to a small town called Jericho just outside of New England (I know the town is supposed to be in New England near Massachusetts but given that that’s close to where the American Brotherhood is in the games, I’ve opted to move Jericho to outside New England, ND).

Establishing a new HQ had been easy. An asylum abandoned due to the war sat just outside of Jericho, deep in the forest. Close enough to the town but far enough that it would be difficult to stumble across. With the rookie Assassin’s she had been sent with, much to her chagrin, the Jericho Brotherhood was up and running within a few weeks. The building was quickly refurbished. Wednesday was rather proud of her Assassins, not that she’d say it though.

And one day she found herself in need of going into town. Several of her Assassins were out on missions and with nothing major going on, there was nothing that’s Master Assassin was needed for, so Wednesday opted for going into town for the day. She was in need of some new reading material, plus they were running out of parchment.

The town was rather quaint. Inhabited by mostly farmers but it had become modernised over the years, or so Wednesday had heard. In recent years, the town had expanded to add a bank, a library, a town hall. She had even heard rumours that the town could be added to the expanding train line soon, which would make journeying back to the main Brotherhood a lot easier.

She had been leaving the bank when she saw a flash of blonde hair at the end of the street. She froze, watching as the blonde head disappeared behind the corner.

It couldn’t be.

Obviously Wednesday knew Enid Sinclair wasn’t the only blonde woman in the world, but a head of hair that bright? She had only ever seen a blonde with hair that bright and that was Enid.

But obviously Enid wasn’t in Jericho. Obviously not.

So Wednesday pushed the thoughts of the blonde girl out of her head. It had been years since she had seen the girl. Years since she had saved her life. For a while, she had wondered how she had been doing. She wondered if the girl had succeeded in making a life for herself. But over time, thoughts of the girl had stopped as more important matters came up.

She had grabbed most of what she needed from town when she asked a gentle old man if he knew of anywhere she could buy some books. As it turned out, Jericho had got a new book store a few years back. Pointing her in the right direction, Wednesday took off. The book store was easy enough to find, and Wednesday stepped inside, relishing in the smell of dusty old books.

She was about to set off into the shelves when a voice stopped her. A voice she hadn’t heard in years because of course she was right. Wednesday would recognise that hair anywhere-

(‘Hi.)

The blonde had aged beautifully. Her hair was longer, but put into a tidy bun at the back of her head. She was wearing a thick maroon jumper on top of what was clearly a casual black dress. She was staring at Wednesday with joy, and the Assassin couldn’t find it in herself to find it irritating.

(‘Hello, Enid.’)

The blonde just took the sight of her saviour in, admiring how much different she looked.

(‘I’m sorry,’ she spluttered, ‘I don’t really know what to say. You… you look great.’)

(‘Thank you,’ Wednesday nodded, ‘I must say you do too. I’m glad to see you’re still alive.’)

(‘Yeah. Town hopped for a while,’ Enid replied, ‘I wanted to get as far away from home as I could so I wouldn’t be found. Then I found Jericho a few years ago. How long have you been here?’)

(‘A few months.’)

(‘And are you still in the whole…’ Enid made a strange gesture of flexing her wrist, ‘…business?’)

(‘If by this,’ Wednesday copied the gesture, ‘you mean doing what I did that night, then yes.’)

(‘Cool,um… are you looking for something? You’re not here to kill me, right?’ Enid joked.)

(‘Unless you followed in your family’s footsteps and joined the Templar Order after I went through the trouble of saving your life, then no,’ Wednesday replied, deadpan, ‘I was hoping you would have a copy of ‘L’An 2440, rêve s’il en fut jamais’ by Louis-Sébastien Mercier. I colleague of mine relocated to France recently and recommended the work to me.)

(‘Uh, we actually do have that but it’s not in English.’)

(‘That’s fine. I speak French.’)

Enid nodded and stepped out from behind the counter as she went to grab the book. She blushed as she stepped past Wednesday and the Assassin couldn’t help but admire the blonde’s figure as she walked away.

She quickly scolded herself. Attachments like this weren’t allowed. The only reason her parents were allowed was because they were already together and had reformed the American Brotherhood alongside Weems themselves. Other than that, Assassin’s could not partake in personal relationships. Alliances, fine. Friendships, fine. Romance, however was off the table.

Enid quickly returned, gently carrying a small leather bound book. She placed it in front of Wednesday.

(‘Is this the one?’)

(Wednesday inspected the book, gently running her hand over the leather cover, ‘this is it.’)

Enid quickly got behind the counter again and pulled out a larger book. A receipt book. Grabbing a pencil, Enid stated the cost and Wednesday handed over the money.

(‘Okay. So that’s L’An 2440 at one dollar for-‘)

(‘Wednesday,’ Wednesday cut in, ‘Wednesday Addams.’)

Enid looked up from her book in shock. After all these years, she finally had a name to put to the face of the woman who had saved her.

(‘Wednesday,’ Enid gasped, ‘that’s…’)

(‘That’s what?’)

(‘That’s a beautiful name,’ Enid softly finished.)

Beautiful? She thought her name was beautiful?! If anyone were to use that word to describe Wednesday, they’d find themselves with her blade at their throat. Wednesday did not do beautiful. She preferred terms like horrific or disturbing.

But as Enid said it was beautiful, Wednesday found that that urge to use her blade did not emerge.

In that moment, Wednesday knew the Brotherhood’s rule on attachments would not apply to her for how could it, when she knew deep down she had been attached to Enid from the moment she set eyes on her all those years ago.

And Wednesday was okay with that.

#Wednesday #wednesday addams au #wednesday addams #wenclair #enid sinclair #enid loves wednesday #wednesday is soft for enid #wednesday netflix #wednesday x enid #assassins creed au #au #wenclair au #assassin!wednesday #templar!enid #fanfiction #fanfiction ideas

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hitchell-mope · 7 months

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Oh Murray.

#the mary tyler moore show #murray slaughter #cover boy

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saints-who-never-existed · 8 months

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Rereading The Terror

Chapter Twenty-Five: Crozier

This is it, lads - Carnivale! D: And boy is there a lot to dig into!

Crozier and Fitzjames retire to Erebus for much of the evening - neither of them want much part in the festivities so they sit drinking whisky in silence. Cannae blame them really.

There's a delightful mention of Mr Murray, the sailmaker - he's described as being old with a wizened visage, and is dressed up like a mortician. I had a half-remembered hunch about him so looked it up to check - homeboy was 43 years old in real life! Harsh, Simmons, very harsh!

When it's time for the feast - consisting of the polar bear Fairholme shot - it's Jopson and Hoar, Little and Le Vesconte that come to fetch the Captains. There's something quite sweet about that that I can't quite put my finger on - very formal somehow.

Once they're back out on the ice, there's good news and bad news. Bad news is that the men have clearly figured out how to brew some bootleg booze and are all absolutely plastered. The good news - as far as I'm concerned - is that it's Le Vesconte along with the other officers and stewards - who are dishing out food to the men. It's just a lovely little role reversal that makes me smile.

Also interesting is the frequent mention of Le Vesconte's gold tooth. I imagine it's a reference to the remains that were found that were thought for years to be his but were later identified as Goodsir's by the presence of a specific metallic dental filling?

Once they're all digging in to the food, it's quite an eerie free-for-all: "It was as if more than a hundred predators were revelling in their kill."

Then, it's time for a song and a show! The song is 'Rule Britannia' and the show involves Hickey on Manson's shoulders, both of them trussed up in a costume made from the hides of the slaughtered polar bears. With them is a man dressed up ghoulishly as a decapitated Sir John which I really shouldn't find as funny as I do. I've written "Objectively hilarious" next to this passage.

As the singing swells to a climax and Sir John's grandfather clock strikes midnight, shit then hits the fan with Tuunbaq's eerie arrival: "Crozier saw that there was a second large white shape in the room. It stood on its hind legs. It was farther back in the darkness than Manson and Hickey's bear-hide-white glow. And it was much larger. And taller." "There came a second roar...The sound ground so low into the bass regions, grew so reverberating, and emerged so ferocious that it made the captain of HMS Terror want to piss his pants right there in front of his men."

From then on, all is chaos. We have a description of a man in a harlequin costume (one of the doctors as, just like in the show, they're all in matching clown/harlequin costumes) running past Crozier in flames. We all get Fitzjames described as "...the only figure not costumed and not running" which jumped out at me for some reason.

Crozier and Fitzjames make it out of the now-burning Carnivale tent - Crozier with an unconscious George Chambers on his shoulder - only to find the Marines firing indiscriminately into the fleeing crowds, trying to take down Tuunbaq. "CEASE FIRE! GODDAMN YOUR EYES, SERGEANT TOZER I'LL BREAK YOU TO A PRIVATE FOR THIS AND HAVE YOU HANGED IF YOU DON'T CEASE THAT FUCKING FIRE IMMEDIATELY!"

Eventually, the other officers start rallying round and you know I'm looking out for my special boy when that happens: "Lieutenant Little came up through the smoke and steam...saluted clumsily, his right arm was burned, and reported for duty. With Little at his side, Crozier found it easier to gain control of the men..."

So there we are, all that's left is to tally up the awful toll in the morning...

#The Terror #The Terror AMC #Observations #Random Observations #Meta #Rereading The Terror #Terror Spoilers #Francis Crozier #James Fitzjames #Thomas Jopson #Edmund Hoar #Edward Little #Henry Le Vesconte #Dundy #Cornelius Hickey #Magnus Manson #Tuunbaq #again i apologies for tagging everyone

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