#like in magnus archives this is done very well.

[this-is-wilhom]

TMA is great and all but the issue is that Peter Lukas reminds me of my father I CANNOT STAND THAT MOTHERFUCKER I AM ENRAGED EVERY FUCKING TIME I HEAR HIS SMUG VOICE I AM ANGRY!!! IM SO MAD!!!!!!!! I HOPE PETER LUKAS DIES EMBARRASSINGLY

#so excited to move out #so close to moving out #ive got this yall #i am so genuinly irritated by the tone of Peter Lukas's voice #well done voice actor #well done script writers #im very mad #my dad talks like him too #i really cannot with peter lukas #peter lukas makes my skin itch in an angry way #tma podcast #tma #the magnus archives #peter lukas #the magnus archives season 3 #tma ss3 #im raging hard

[arthur-r]

accidentally stayed out an extra hour to drop someone off who lives in minneapolis so wish me luck finishing this essay on time

#it’s due at midnight… want to sleep tonight… i left the restaurant at 7:30 please #anyway it turns out this dinner was scheduled when it was cause it’s my friends one year anniversary with her ex #which makes a lot more sense. than a valentines dinner in january. title was a diversion #anyway it was good. there were less people than i thought and the person who lives in minneapolis has the same stims as me #and likes midwest emo and the magnus archives and is transgender. not that i am a magnus archives listener but i got to say i like jonmartin #so that was nice shdhdf. and yeah it was good. just very distracting from the issue at hand which is ten paragraph othello essay due tonight #(ten paragraphs is how many i wrote. it can be as short as five i’m actually working on cutting it down currently shdhdf) #but yeah. it’ll be okay!! my essay isn’t terrible as is. just have to drive home a few more points before it is good enough to turn in #i’m excited though. it’s about the mutability of identity which is one of my favorite subjects of all time #as well as touching on internalized oppression and shaping identity in response to backlash from those around you #(iago changes himself because of long-standing class difference - were he othello he would not be iago (he says) and he was my main focus #for the malleability of identity and everything just because i really like writing about iago. but othello and desdemona also exhibit major #changes to their identity at the hands of racial and sex-based oppression and they experience complete shifts in character falling into #societal expectations of who they should be. othello is confident and well spoken until suddenly he’s not. desdemona speaks her mind until #suddenly she doesn’t. his scorn she approves. anyway i should be writing this essay not talking about it. but yeah #i might post it here when i’m done but yeah. i’m submitting it before i go to bed tonight cause due at midnight. so again wish me luck!!!! #was really planning to be home at like. 7:45. not 9pm. not ideal. but it’s okay #so anyway that’s where i’m at. hope you all are doing well. i’ll be around just working on my essay!! might be back with my final copy #anyway i’m just speaking shdhdf don’t mind me #me. my post. mine. #delete later

[copperbadge]

A horror trope that I very much enjoy is the "haunted book" -- a book that affects the reader in some way, like the Necronomicon driving people mad, or Dr. Mabuse's book that hypnotizes its reader into doing his bidding. It recently had a nice moment in the Magnus Archives, with the Leitner subplot, and there's even a hint of it in Frankenstein, when Victor reads the work of a scientist that his professors dismiss as nonsense and becomes obsessively deranged studying the subject matter.

So it's not that I think it's time for a revival and lord knows the word "reboot" has begun to stink of soulless profit (I think we're one, maybe two flops from a reboot of the MCU). I'm not the most current on horror media in any case so maybe it's been done, but if not I do think we oughta start considering the idea of a haunted phone app.

Apps are already designed for this, anyway. In our current era, a lot of retail "apps" are just reskinned browsers that load an optimized version of the company's website, and the goal of most apps and websites is to keep you in the app/website. (Which is why the google mail and tumblr apps both have internal web browsers.) A lot of phone games are designed to keep you in the game and continually redirect you towards microtransactions, and even apps that aren't games often gamify use; "gamification" has come to be a polite euphemism for "creating addictive circumstances".

Alongside this, a lot of recent cults and cultlike organizations have determined that straight religion is not the best way in anymore, and are coming in sidelong through MLMs (Nexium), wellness and dietary orthodoxies (Bikram Yoga, a number of insta/tiktok orthorexia gurus), or political movements (Qanon). So you get a cult, set up like a business, with an app you use for your business -- or even a cult with a "wellness" app that monitors your sleep, eating, location (wait, that's just FitBit) -- and slowly it gamifies you right into attempting to raise a Great Old One using the power of your downstream or a nice big helping of olive oil coffee.

Although I hate those thinkpieces/art pieces that are all about "you're so busy on your phone you can't appreciate the world around you, remember when we read real paper books" so I would require that the protagonist defeat the evil also using a phone app, or at the very least blind the evil using the flashlight function. Locking the book away in a library app and then putting the phone on airplane mode is a nice resolution, followed perhaps by it lighting up even though it's offline with a message "someone is attempting to locate this phone" as the post-credits stinger for the sequel.

This thought brought to you by Duolingo, which recently fed me, in succession, the task of translating from Italian the phrases

Who do you see in the mirror?

We open the curtains and see the light.

The pillows and blankets are red.

#horror #writing #story ideas #haunted books

[rubykgrant]

Idea for a Magnus Archives AU (that I don't have time to write all the way out, but it still intrigues me~)

At some point after Martin's father left, but when he was still very young, somebody offered to bring Mrs Blackwood some furniture. Used, but still in good condition. She refused, insulted by the idea that she needed "pity" or "charity", despite the fact that her health is already making things difficult... one day, while her son is at school, she hears a knock at the door. It takes her a while to get there. When she finally opens it, whoever knocked is gone, but they have left behind a table.

She assumes it was the same person as before, and is now irritated that they have "dumped" their old junk on her doorstep. A neighbor sees and offers to at least bring it inside. She decides it may as well be put to use, so she lets the neighbor move it in. Alone in the house, she looks the table over. It certainly isn't new, but isn't too beat-up or broken. It has a VERY unique pattern... almost like an optical illusion...

When Martin gets home from school, he's surprised to see that his mother is in the kitchen, getting ready to cook dinner; she hasn't done that in a year! He offers to help, or just make himself a sandwich and canned soup if she wants to rest, but she assures him that she's feeling MUCH better. This continues for several months, the doctors are amazed by what seems to be a miracle recovery! All the neighbors and old friends agree, she's also had a change in attitude lately, but it all seems for the better. Her son is especially happy... his mother seems so much more "gentle" than she used to be, and she doesn't even make him drink oolong tea with her anymore. She's decided that Earl Grey is better.

Nobody notices that her hair is a different length, a different color. Nobody notices the shape of her eyes and jawline has changed. Nobody notices that she's taller. Not any friends, neighbors, doctors, or family. Even all the photographs in the house have changed. A different woman is holding a tiny, newborn baby. A different woman is sitting next to a small Christmas tree, helping a child open a present. Nobody notices... except for one person.

When Mr Blackwood heard from an old friend that the wife he left had recovered, he suddenly had second thoughts. He really had thought she would die, and he must have had some sort of break-down. He couldn't handle it, so he ran away... but he's thinking clearly again. It has nothing to do with the fact that he also heard his wife recently got a new job, a very well-paying one with the kind of health plan that a spouse could share. It has nothing to do with the fact that he isn't feeling well himself lately, and he's noticed that he has nobody to take care of HIM. It has nothing to do with the fact that he hasn't been able to find work, and he also can't find a place to live. He just wants to go back because he misses his wife and son. That's all.

When Mr Blackwood returned, he brought flowers. To apologize. He knocked on the door, and heard a muffled voice call- "Come in!". He picked a time of day when he knew Martin would be at school, so he and his wife could reunite with some privacy. He expected his wife to be upset. He expected his wife to be angry, maybe cry, or try to throw something at him. He expected it would take time for his wife to let him explain, then forgive him. He expected HIS WIFE. The woman in this home was not his wife... she said she was, she smiled, used his name like she knew him, but she WASN'T. Her voice, face, EVERYTHING was different! This was wrong, why was this strange woman here?

He ran away, even though she called for him to stay. He tried to speak with their friends, her family... everybody acted like he was crazy. They acted like the woman claiming to be his wife was right. After months and months of trying to talk some sense into people, he finally remembers Martin; surely a child would know their own mother? Mr Blackwood has been watching the house, and he sees little Martin kiss the woman good-bye, then leave for school. As if everything was normal. He can't stand it anymore! He bursts through the door, shouting at the woman to tell the truth, but the noise alerts the neighbors, who call for help, and he leaves...

He stays away for more than a year, but he never went far. He kept watching. He tried to figure out WHY somebody would pretend to be his wife, and HOW she could fool everybody. It never makes any sense. He comes back again, in the middle of winter. Martin is sleeping over at a friend's house. Mr Blackwood has been sleeping in an old treehouse, long abandoned by the kids who built it. He can't stand the idea of that strange woman sleeping in the bed that SHOULD be his (that would have been his, if he hadn't left). He uses his key to open the back door. She hasn't changed the locks. He goes in, ready to be rough if necessary; he will get the truth if it kills him.

Around 2 in the morning, Mrs Blackwood calls for help. Her husband, the one who left her, the one who came back and threatened her, just tried to attack her! She fought back, and he ran off again. No trace of him is ever found. When Martin comes home, they have a discussion, and decide it isn't safe to life here anymore. So they move, not too far, Martin can still visit people he knew growing up. The new house is much nicer, in a safe neighborhood.

They take just about everything with them, except for a few large pieces of furniture they sell. Mrs Blackwood wants to keep the table with the unique pattern, though. She's grown rather fond of it. The movers she hired are... odd, but they get everything to the new home very quickly. When his mother speaks with the two of them beside their truck, Martin watches from a window, and he has the strangest feeling that... his mother might just step up into it, and ride away with them. Then she'll be gone, and he'll be alone. He can't explain why, but he almost expects it to happen.

She doesn't leave. She comes back inside, smiling, and hugs her child. Why wouldn't she? As the years go by, Martin wonders about his father; why the man left, why he came back, why he seemed so confused about who his own wife was. Martin also wonders what his father looked like, as none of the pictures they saved show his face. Mrs Blackwood tells her son- "I suppose there's a resemblance, but when I look at you, I just see YOU, not him. I love you too much to see your father in your features".

Martin grows up happy and safe with his mother. He's able to finish school, and eventually starts working at a bakery. Later, when he moves out to get his own place, he finds a job at a restaurant-confectionery in London. His mother didn't want him living so far away, but he really wants to sort of "get out in the world", have some experience on his own. Someday, he'd like to have his own tea shop and cafe. He works from the middle of the day to late shifts at the cafe, and he gets to know some of the regulars very well. One woman, Sasha, comes in often to get food and drinks for her coworkers. Martin likes chatting with her, and eventually meets Tim when they come to have lunch together. He considers them to be friends.

One day, they call and tell Martin they want to order the most extravagant cake possible for their boss; it is his birthday, and they are going to be obnoxious about it, but also trick him so he doesn't know they've planned something. Martin offers to bring it over himself, so they can pretend to not be up to anything. This is how he enters the Magnus Institute. This is how he meets Jonathan Sims. This is how he starts learning about the strange things they research here. This is how he sees a picture of a table with a very curious pattern. This is how he asks if he can listen to the statement about that table...

#the magnus archives #martin blackwood

[ml-nolan]

Coffee in bed with Dreamling

You got it! T-rating for this one.

--

When his eyes open, Hob is greeted by high ceilings swirling with kaleidoscopic clouds. It takes no time at all for him to remember where he is. Dream has done a lot to make him feel comfortable and safe in The Dreaming.

"Hello, Hob."

That includes making sure to be at his side every time he wakes in this behemoth of a bed. Sometimes Dream takes the time to lie down beside him, with or without clothes, depending on whether he feels like seduction is necessary. It usually isn't with Hob—he's pretty much game at any time. 

Today though, Dream is perched on the side of the bed, close enough to run his fingers through Hob's hair. It's nice that there's sort of a middle ground for physical affection these days. In the beginning it was a bit hot-and-cold, with Dream either demanding to be ravished or fully disappearing for days on end. But the joy of having been friends first is that, eventually, they both missed sharing the simpler, less heated moments. 

"Is there anything you require this morning, Hob Gadling?"

"Hmmm…" This isn't a question he ever waves off. He's never understood why people play coy little games to be polite. He knows that here in The Dreaming, he can pretty much have whatever he wants. Why not take advantage of that? "Don't suppose you could get us a cup of coffee."

Dream snorts of the very idea that there would be something he couldn't provide. It's subtle, but very cute. Not that Hob would dare tell him that (well, not right now, anyway).

"How would you prefer it?"

"Just a regular cup of joe, a little cream, no sugar." 

Hob can't say it's not delightful to be waited on by a king. To be indulged, more like. With the hint of a smile, Dream goes very still, and then there is a cup in his hand. It's gorgeous in an artisanal sort of way, with starbursts of gold leaf where cracks used to be. He hands it to Hob, its temperature cool enough to hold in his hands.

"Where'd you get this one?" Hob says, pushing himself up to sit against the cool wooden headboard. The coffee is perfect—roasted but not burnt, creamy but not too thick.

"From the dream of a cafe owner who lives in a seaside village," Dream says.

"Uh oh. So does that mean I've stolen some poor sod's coffee?"

Dream turns his head ever so slightly, which he always does when Hob says something that he thinks is silly.

"This dreamer is much like you," Dream says, voice colored with affection. "He is resourceful enough to make the best of the unexpected."

Hob sets his cup on the stone window ledge beside the bed. "Uh oh. I'm not going to lose you to him, am I?"

Anyone would clock the smile on Dream's face now. He shakes his head. "You are still singular to me, Hob Gadling. I would have no one else. Besides," his expression drifts slightly, "his existing partner figures heavily in his dreams. I would be loath to interfere."

With a thoughtful sound, Hob scoots closer to Dream, straining up to kiss him. Obligingly, Dream leans into it to meet him halfway, letting his soft, cool lips linger on Hob's. There's a flutter in Hob's stomach, the same way there always is when he wakes up under Dream's attentive gaze.

They break from the kiss. "How long will that coffee stay warm?" Hob jerks his head toward where he'd left the gilded cup on the windowsill.

Dream's eyes flash, darkening from sea green into that clear black sky. He sets a hand on Hob's chest and eases him onto his back.

"As long as is necessary."

--

This piece was brought to you by these Soft Prompts. I've got a lot of great ones in the queue, but please feel free to send an ask for Sandman, The Magnus Archives, or Malevolent ships (or any of my OCs)!

#yay we're back with ficlets! #my head has finally cleared enough! #finally! #the sandman #dreamling #dream of the endless #hob gadling #soft prompts

[in1-nutshell]

Hey it's me again can you do more old predacon archivist buddy how would team prime and maybe arachnid react to them Even though they are the archivist they still know how to fight (mostly using their famous gladiator moves and they're trusty sword) They might give some of the younger members of team prime some pointers while fighting (Even though they don't really want to fight the younger bots They would most likely just want to Read them stories or give them wisdom because they have them old grandpa vibes lol but they will not hesitate to throw hands if needed)

Old Predacon Buddy is back!

Hope you enjoy!

Bot Buddy the old Predacon archivist helping Team Prime with fighting with Smokescreen, Ultra Magnus, and Wheeljack

SFW, Platonic, Cybertronain reader

TFP

Buddy had enough.

As soon as they heard about the incident about the Predacon’s being irradiated by the Autobots, they grew suspicious.

There was no way Optimus Prime would agree to this… but the Wreckers did have a history of being gruesome in battle. But even they had limits!

Then it came to the matter of location.

Only a few Decepticon’s knew where Shockwave’s lab was located. All being higher ranking officers… high ranking officers like Starscream…

After using their archiving skills to do some digging, they found a video of Starscream and Megatron talking about the eradication of the Predacons by setting up the Wreckers to find it and having Predaking go after them.

They tried to talk to Predaking about this, but he was too furious to even consider anything.

The next day Buddy left the Nemesis and flew to find the Autobots.

If Preaking wasn’t going to listen to them, the best they could do was warn the Autobots, perhaps giving them an edge.

They aren’t exactly greeted with open arms, as expected. After a few hours of interrogation and convincing, Buddy is allowed to help Team Prime.

Ultra Magnus

Magnus was the first to offer to train with Buddy.

Despite every single fiber in his being telling him to run the other direction.

While they sparred Buddy would often make comments on his stance and how to better himself.

He wouldn’t admit it, but a cold chill ran down his spinal struts when it was time to spar with Buddy in their beast form.

He took notice early on that Buddy would purposely avoid the prosthetic servo as much as they could.

“Why do you do that?”--Magnus

“Do what?”--Buddy

“You keep avoiding this side. Predaking is not going to only go for one side. You must fight me on both!”--Magnus

“… If that is what you want.”--Buddy

“Yes.”--Magnus

“Very well… and I am sorry for Predaking’s actions. It was uncalled for as an act of rage.”--Buddy

“…You didn’t have anything to do with it… but thank you.”--Magnus

“Hmm… Now let us continue.”--Buddy

“Let us.”--Magnus

He was rather surprised at the compliments he received from Buddy after training sessions.

He is a bit surprised hearing about Buddy’s field of expertise but he understands that they like different things other than fighting all the time.

Ultra Magnus has caught Buddy telling stories of Cybertron’s past to the humans on base.

He acts like he isn’t listening in, but he is.

Smokescreen

Smokescreen wanted to be the first one to spar with Buddy, but Magnus got there first.

He is just excited to potentially ride the dragon.

He isn’t present for Magnus’s training, so he has no idea what to expect.

When it is his time, he completely underestimates Buddy by their age and gets destroyed in a sparring match.

“I heard a huge ‘BANG’! Is everything okay?”--Jack

Smokescreen on the ground while Buddy in their Predacon form laying down on him.

“…”--Jack

“He is fine.”--Buddy

“Help… me…”--Smokescreen

“You’re fine.”--Buddy

Buddy has patience with this bot and gives him tips for his fighting style and compliments him when he is done with the match.

He is extremely surprised when he learns about Buddy’s field. But then again, Optimus, before as Orion Pax, was an archivist himself…

Once Smokescreen finds out that Buddy has stories to tell, he joins the group and sits down to listen. His favorite ones are from Buddy’s ‘glory days’ and myths.

Wheeljack

Wheeljack is watching like a hawk over the training sparring sessions.

He doesn’t trust Buddy too much.

When it’s his turn, he holds nothing back.

But to his surprise Buddy is quick to disarm him and pin him to the ground.

“Why you little—”--Wheeljack

“Language Wheeljack, there are children present.”--Buddy

“Its just Miko, Smokescreen and Ratchet.”--Wheeljack

“Exactly, children! And second, your stance is still off.”--Buddy

“My stance is—wait did you just call Ratchet a child? I understand Miko and Smokescreen, but ratchet is older than all of us on the team.”--Wheeljack

“…”--Buddy

“…How old are you?”--Wheeljack

“…Its best if you don’t know kid.”--Buddy

Wheeljack ignores many of Buddy’s tips at first, until he decides to try one of them one day and see what happened.

He was surprised that the tip was useful.

He began to listen to Buddy’s advice a bit more after that.

As surprised as he is hearing about Buddy’s field, he can to a point understand it.

Being a scientist and Wrecker don’t exactly go hand in hand, but he makes it work.

The same went for Buddy.

Often listens in on Buddy’s stories when they talk to the kids.

If Wheeljack has time, he’ll join in for a bit to listen.

#transformers #transformers x reader #maccadam #bot buddy #tfp #tfp x reader #tfp smokescreen #tfp smokescreen x platonic reader #tfp ultra magnus #tfp wheeljack #tfp ultra magnus x platonic reader

[starberry-cupcake]

We are done with book 1, folks!!!

previously, in gideon the ninth

this happened

also, I was proven right about dulcinea (kind of)

just pointing that out again

final update of this book, it's gonna be a bit of a long one, folks (gideon, from inside my mind, where she is now living rent-free: "that's what she said!"):

we left off in the fight against not!dulcinea

yandere simulator twin w/inner chad was being used as a battery pad

regina george twin is at an unknown location

la gideon and my qp wife are fighting

harrowcita passed out

so basically not!dulcinea unlocks the big magnus archives entity monster harrowbean had previously locked

harrow wakes up to make a bone dome

for scale, this is the dome and mickey is gideon, but she's inside the thing

magnus archives junji ito monster keeps beating the dome from outside to crack it open like an egg

harrowbean starts to disintegrate from the inside because it's hard to make a bone spaceship earth and keep it up

camilla is accepting fate at this point, my poor beloved qp wife

but la gideon is not gonna give up

she's never gonna give you up

never gonna let you down

never gonna...

so harrow starts making a goodbye speech

reminding gideon to take care of the ninth and the barbie in the freezer

for the barbie reference, please go to this recap

but gideon is determined to come up with a plan

*very niche reference but "bien warrior" by miss bolivia plays in the background*

we all know this is a terrible idea because gideon's plans are always "punch really hard" and, in this case, that's a wild thing to do

but she does that

a metal version of that

she decides to, if I understand correctly (because description is scarce for various acceptable reasons) impale herself on the iron spikes inside the dome, to force Harrow to slurp her soul

so this is the situation

absolutely heartbreaking stuff

she's sort of ghost-placing herself behind Harrow to guide her using the sword

like this

and being all silly and gideon-esque and harrow is heartbroken and sad and it's all very very heartbreaking and I'm suffering

I'm ANGRY, OK????

IT'S NOT FAIR

I didn't even like gideon at the start

I complained about her for like a good first chunk of this book

I got mad at her for being dense and not following through with things

I got angry at her way of approaching situations and trusting people I didn't trust

I didn't totally vibe with her vibe most times

and then she made me like her and grow attached and NOW I HAVE TO SUFFER???

what's the point????? you make me like you and then you SACRIFICE YOURSELF?????

WHY??????

footage of me

anyway, it's fine, we're fine, everything's FINE

harrow and force-ghost gideon defeat not!dulcinea by aiming at the "issue" palmolive started

( @lady-harrowhark "paramedics" is actually a much better nickname, why didn't I think of that)

not!dulcinea crosses the veil, hopefully forever, good riddance bitch, you really did fuck everything up for petty reasons

harrow passes out

afterwards, harrow wakes up in like a sort of hospital situation or something like that

the space version of that

there's a man reading stuff in a tablet and a paper

a "flimsy", which I didn't know was something before this book (again, not a native English speaker, doing my best here)

the man has very specific eyes which I imagined in a way that I'm not sure is what it's supposed to be, but I'm gonna keep my version for now

this is the man of the hour, the emperor, many other titles I can't remember, the reason we all got together in the first place

harrow is upset, I'm upset, we're all upset

emperor sama over here can't do shit about it

according to him

which, what are you, the wizard of oz?

he's also like "forgive not!dulcinea, it was my bad" I WILL FORGIVE NOTHING

he says he can't bring gideon back without risking harrowbean as well

very limited for a man who claims to be god

who seems to have beef with a barbie in an ice cube

idk about this guy

so he tells harrow that he's gonna protect the ninth if she becomes lyctor because the universe is going to shit and he can't handle everything on his own anymore

you know what could have helped, my man? COMMUNICATION

WE DON'T KNOW WHAT THE FUCK IS HAPPENING AT ANY GIVEN POINT

anyway, harrow is, at this point, tired and sad and grieving for everything so she says ok

according to this guy, the only other survivor is yandere simulator twin w/inner chad who is missing an arm

very convenient for him, who needs lyctors

an didn't, at any point, explain anything

but they "haven't been able" to find the bodies of: la gideon, my wife and regina george twin

everyone else was, at least, partially recovered, as far as I remember he said

they're probably gathering pieces of palmolive from every carpet and piece of wallpaper

I am reluctantly gonna miss that guy

so there is hope that I'm not a qp widow yet and that la gideon might come back in some capacity, which I MEAN, COME ON

also, I don't know if people would be making such a fuss about her arms if her body wasn't of consequence anymore

because I don't know much about these books but I did know that coming in, that and skull make up were my two clues

and we still don't know where she came from and if she's a demigod

and why her hair and eyes are that color

I don't know, I'm unsure about this

I hold hope

keeeeeeep hoooooolding ooooooon ♪

I am sure regina george twin will be back because people have been cryptic about her in replies to my updates

and I hope camilla comes back because right now I'm like a victorian wife, standing at a lighthouse, waiting for her sailor to come back from the depths of the sea, throwing messages in bottles

final extra notes:

THERE WAS A GLOSSARY ALL ALONG

I COULD HAVE BEEN LOOKING AT IT

maybe it was better this way, though, but WHY DIDN'T I LOOK PROPERLY

PALMOLIVE WOULD KILL ME FOR THIS OVERSIGHT

now I know what thanergy is, what thalergy is, what bone magic and flesh magic differ in, can you believe???

I can summon my own construct and everything

it's the only way to make friends as an adult, after all

there is a guide for the names and I have been pronouncing more things right than I thought because many of these are based in Latin and I'm a Spanish speaker so maybe if I had just pronounced them as they sounded to me I could have remembered more names

there is also a list of salseo/tea from judith

I kept making comments while reading them

she was acting like camilla was of no consequence from the start

ALSO PROTOZOA HAD KIDS?????? WHAT????

man, poor dude, rip this guy we never really knew

she did read chad for filth, which is correct

but they were off about absolutely everything else

important ending commentary of the book:

as an ending side note

I'm going to just point this out, with kindness and utmost respect

like, much love and respect and warm regards

don't kill me for this

as an editor

I am enraged with the tagline they have in the cover of this book, now that I've finished it

the quote that's in the cover about lesbian necromancers in a victorian mansion in space and whatnot

it sells the book incredibly short and also tells you things you shouldn't be told because a) they aren't as clear cut as they make them out to be and b) you should be told none of that entering this book

best experience is to know absolutely nothing

like gideon

and since I have an ebook, I see that quote more prominently than any blurb

it reads like the short summary of a fic and it doesn't do it justice one bit

now that I've finished the book, I think this post was about it and I didn't know at the time, because that's fair

this book is very difficult to categorize because it seems to be using a lot of different references and mixing them together in a very personal and unique way to the author

but, because of that, it's a very unique take on different things

I think it stands very aligned with both core classics and more contemporary foundations, at the same time

and the narrative point of view is a bit at-odds with the complexity of the lore, which makes it a very brave first part of a bigger thing for an author to throw out there

and it works, as it is

it actually works well like that

however, as difficult as it can be to explain it, that tagline really flattens it to something that I don't think favors how much more of that it is???

I don't know, that's just my personal & professional opinion, but anyway

I need to go find the next one

you haven't seen the last of me!!!!!

#luly reacts to tlt #gideon the ninth #tlt #tlt spoilers #gideon the ninth spoilers #gif cw #long post #trying not to do literary analysis at the end there #and editing analysis #for all of our sakes

[kaz-oooo]

I’ve already done music recommendations so, you can check out these posts (playlists and list of artists) if you’re looking for that specifically. But Wilbur made a lot of content over the years and idk, i figured I’d make a a list of recommendations for similar content to fill that void as well :)

Minecraft SMP’s (specifically DSMP)

The same SMP’s but other POV’s — I’ll just start with this cos it’s the most iffy. There’s plenty of enjoyment to be had with these fandoms still, and I personally don’t think we need to let the actions of a couple shitty guys ruin the silly Minecraft roleplay we all enjoy. That said, if you aren’t comfy watching these anymore that’s perfectly valid as well, especially since Wilbur’s character will be lurking around in the background of plenty of these. But yeah, we can also uplift other creators by watching the fun stories they made, especially those who got buried by bigger creators at the time. So Dream SMP, QSMP, Origins SMP, SMP earth, SMPlive all have content you can enjoy.

Different, completely unrelated SMP’s — hermitcraft, the life series, empires SMP (shubble was involved in this one, I’m planning on watching her POV when I find some time) etc. I’ve had plenty of people recommend these to me before, from what I’ve seen they’re very enjoyable :)

Hamilton — not even joking, if you enjoyed the L’manberg era of DSMP and you didn’t watch Hamilton, I’d heartily recommend it. Great music, lots of politics but all in a fun and silly way, also tragic endings!

Editor Wilbur ARG (I’m a massive ARG fan so I have tonnes of recommendations here)

Generation Loss — Ranboo’s very awesome Horror project that they’ve been working very hard on!!! Ranboo’s been teasing new content lately as well so that’s exciting

Analog horror series — Local 58, Gemini Home Entertainment, Mandela Catalog, Kane Pixel’s Backrooms videos, etc. All very good and spooky videos, definetely an inspiration for Gen Loss, and I know Wilbur enjoyed this content as well (though the editor Wilbur arg predates a lot of this genre) those are some of the biggest on YouTube atm, and some of my personal favourites, but there’s plenty more to find (I recommend channels like Nightmind and Nexpo who do analysis videos for all this horror and ARG stuff if you wanna find more)

Marble Hornets — gets its own category! One of the original analog horror genres (predated the genre actually) it’s basically one of the biggest and most comprehensive Slenderman series out there. There’s a LOT of content here and lots of lore and mystery (though a lot of the game clues have been lost to time) (Jack Manifold also reacted to this on stream, it was very chill and good fun)

Horror podcasts — Magnus Archives and Magnus Protocol, Malevolent and Archive 81 are some of my favourites, but there’s plenty more out there to find and enjoy :). Also very spooky with lots of mystery to involved, the Magnus Protocol is very new as well so great time to get into that!

Just Chatting / Geoguessr / other chill content

Geoguessr streamers / YouTubers — honestly I genuinely didn’t watch much geoguessr content outside of Wilbur’s streams so, I don’t have many recommendations here. I know Eret has been doing geoguessr streams lately and their content is very good and chill. Jacksuckatlife plays as well and last I watched he was fairly good at it (like similar skill level to Wilbur), otherwise Rainbolt is a geoguessr legend, he terrifies me a little ngl.

Other streamers — I think the thing with the just chatting streams is that we watch for *that specific streamer’s* personality. It’s hard to really make recommendations other than just saying go watch more of the streamers you enjoy. Personally I enjoy Phil’s hardcore streams, and Sneegsnag’s Crime Time the most, but there’s plenty of other people both in this MCYT space and outside of it that you’ll probably enjoy :)

Sorry boys (unlike horror I don’t watch much comedy so, sorry, this’ll be lacking)

Just Roll With It — Charlie Slimecicle’s DND podcast. I’ve only listened to a little bit of this but it’s really good and REALLY silly (oh, and emotional sometimes, gotta have a bit of angst y’know) Wilbur was a guest on a couple of episodes, but you can always skip past those if you want.

Tommy’s videos — so Wilbur features in a lot of the early vlogs and *minecraft but* videos, but Tommy’s content has always been good fun, his recent stuff is excellent as well! He’s been doing a lot of comedy content lately, specifically a live show so definitely check that out if you want :)

Smosh pit — not something I’ve watched a lot of, but I’ve seen clips of their try not to laugh videos and they’re definitely on par with the bat shit improv you get from Sorry Boys.

Game changer — again, not something I’ve watched much, mostly consumed through osmosis, but the show is funny, the cast is always silly and it’s a lot of fun all round

Whatever else Sorry Boys make after this — judging by some of the responses to Wilbur’s “statement” I think it’s fair to assume if Sorry Boys do continue making content Wilbur will be cut from the group. Of course don’t feel obligated to stick around if you don’t want to, but Wilbur won’t be compensated if he’s kicked and the rest of the guys are still fun :)

YLYL and similar goofy stuff

Just… other streamers again — Jack Manifold does YLYL streams with his friends. James Marriott does a lot of reaction videos as well, sometimes YLYL, sometimes reacting to content his viewers send in (like TikTok’s and break up texts), those are my favourites atm.

YouTubers — that niche between video essay and reaction content, people like Danny Gonzales, Drew Gooden, Kurtis Conner, Pinely, all good fun YouTube channels that make good, silly, and easy to consume content.

Other gaming streamers and YouTubers — Slimecicle, Ranboo, Games Grumps, RT games, and SneegSnag all play a wide variety of games, they’re all relatively chill but none of them take the games all that seriously either so it’s fun and goofy as well :)

And of course Fanfiction!!!

I might be a little bias here cos I write myself but fic is created by and for fans and it exists to give you even *more* content about the stories you love, whether it be reimagining canon events or just dumping your favourite characters into a silly au.

I know a lot of authors (myself included) are feeling super conflicted and weird about writing Wilbur in the future. Plenty of authors have been moving onto new fandoms so if you find something you enjoy make sure you check out the author’s other work and who knows, maybe you’ll find some cool new fandoms that way!

And do the same for artists and other creators, or even go check out some of your mutuals fandoms, you guys might have more in common than you originally thought!

#wilbur soot #dsmp #the sorry boys #editor wilbur arg

[sexiestpodcastcharacter]

Bonus Poll #8: Puppet Poll

Propaganda (stolen unedited from the wikis):

Immortal Doll (Friends at the Table: Bluff City)

The immortal doll is a puppet doll similar in appearance to a little boy. After being broken by the Neighbour family, the doll was repaired by Marlin Guppy, who was somehow able to give it additional sentience (as all objects have partial consciousness). It has been speculated that “the paint makes [the doll] immortal because the paint never dries”. Although the immortal doll cannot speak, while covered in magnets in Part Five of America's Playground it can make an affirmative and negative sound. When seen in America’s Playground, he is dressed in a little suit with a magnetic suit underneath. The immortal doll is described as long long-limbed and gregarious, leaving a dripping trail behind it. He moves as though he’s falling in a very specific way, as though his limbs are connected by rubber bands, similar to the spider man in Spirited Away. Known Abilities: Transporting to a different location Movement Getting longer (may be dependent on how many people are looking at it) "Speaking" (when covered in magnets)

Nikola Orsinov (The Magnus Archives):

Nikola Orsinov is a recurring character in the Magnus Archives and is either an acolyte or an aspect of The Stranger. She appears as a plastic female mannequin dressed as a circus ringmaster, although she can disguise herself as human using stolen skin and a 'borrowed' voicebox. She is the main antagonist of Season 3.

(Sorry for lack of audio propaganda. The Magnus Archives is the most well-known of these anyways.)

Persnickety Pete (The Bridge):

Persnickety Pete aka Parsnip Paul aka Pretentious Pierre aka Particular Pietro is a ventriloquist dummy and mayor of Ocean View. Persnickety Pete has vacant eyes, a creepy smile, and a tux, like one would expect a ventriloquist dummy to look. He was part of a new act for Ocean View's Triton's Follies, where he cycled through a variety of partners (who he most likely killed). After an issue with the Actors Association, he was declared mayor of Ocean View, purging all of the actors in the process. He attacked Frank Hayward for disrespecting him and turned the man's arm into something that resembled a crushed tomato. Persnickety Pete is a showman, and while he is both creepy and violent, he puts The Show above all else. He becomes easily upset when people aren't nice to him, and will lash out. He likes to try to convince people to put him in front of mirrors.

(The work assembling the song from the clips in the episode was done by @greerbaiting and you can reblog the audio by itself posted by them.)

Inspired by @the-puppet-bracket and a post by @equalseleventhirds!

#Bonus Poll #Immortal Doll #Nikola Orsinov #Persnickety Pete #Friends at the Table #Bluff City #The Magnus Archives #The Bridge #The Bridge podcast

[bryce-bucher]

.50 Caliber 3D Platformer Post #7

Environment AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAART:

Finally, I've gotten around to making the environment art for the one level that I've got rn. I've been playing the system shock remake, and I really love how that game creates the illusion of grungy detail that reveals itself to be very low-resolution textures up-close. I knew I wanted the game to look like of grungy for a while now, but I didn't know exactly how I would go about achieving it. I toyed with the idea of layering photocopy textures over everything, but I eventually settled on using low resolution textures that are dithered with web colors. I'm quite happy with how it ended up looking. I think it has a source engineish vibe that reveals itself to be more colorful and strange up-close.

The Textures:

The process for making these is a lot simpler and less time consuming that how I usually make textures. This is mostly because I'm relying a lot more on the baked lighting to make things look good in this particular game, so the textures can get away with being less detailed. I'm mostly just grabbing stuff off of websites like textures.com and adjusting the contrast / coloration before shrinking them down and lowering the color depth. Here are some examples of how they look wowee wow:

Lightinggg:

For this game I'm using baked lighting as opposed to vertex based or realtime. I really like how it looks, and it ends up saving me a lot of time. If you don't know how baked lighting works, basically I place lights around a scene in unity, and then I use anything but unity's built in lightbaker that is bad and sucks (I use bakery) to essentially turn the lighting into a texture map that is placed on the mesh. It turns lights into textures basically. It is a lot more performant than real-time lighting, and it usually looks a lot better as well. With this game's particular art style, everything really ends up coming together with the lighting, and it would look pretty trash without it.

Cameo Skinz:

I've always really liked putting cameos in my stuff from artists that I'm friends with and/or take a lot of inspiration from. In this game, I plan to include a lot of unlockable skins for the player character that are characters from games / animations / whatever that I like. So far I've made a couple to breakup my time working on environment art. Check um out:

This one is Peter Shorts from an upcoming game called You Are Peter Shorts. I loved this dude at first sight and it was the first skin I ended up making. He was really fun to make because he has no body or hands, so I ended up making his head/torso one big thing that is attached to the head bone. You are Peter Shorts is made by the talented ondydev who I don't think I've actually asked permission to include this skin yet. If it doesn't end up in the final game pretend I didn't post about it lol. You should check out their previous game Tres-Bashers if you haven't.

This one is Appy from Brawlers World! Brawlers World is one of those creative projects that is so great that it gives me envy. I'm honestly so excited to be able to have this little dude in my game, and I think he ended up fitting into the art style super well. Those are the only two skins I've made so far. I have a lot more planned including Nova from Anodyne 2, Frog from Jamphibian, Knight of Trye from Knight's Try, Orbo from Peeb Adventures & Orbo's Odyssey, and some characters from my own stuff. They aren't a high priority right now because I have to actually make the game first, but I'll probably make a few here and there to curb burnout, and I'll show them off whenever I do. I am v passionate about the cool shit my peers are making, and I hope other people are too.

Conclusion:

idk it's like 8 am and I haven't slept. I've just been workin a lot while listening to the magnus archives. I guess I can turn this conclusion into me talking about the magnus archives. I'm on episode 197 while writing this so im almost done. It is p cool and I like how much it changes tonally overtime. It really feels like a big long journey, and I like media that can do that kinda thing. It is now a series that I will forever associate with the development of this game considering I listened to it all while working on it. It's kinda funny how that happens. Sometimes I'll be in a location in one of my games and it'll make me think about some video essay or w/e that I was watching while making it. Anyway, have a good day every1 pls tyty

#screenshotsaturday #indiegamedev #gamedev #indiedev #game development #indiegames #y2k #y2k aesthetic #3d platformer #3dplatformer #sniper rifle #50 caliber 3d platformer #50 cal

[griseldagimpel]

Why Basira Hussain in The Magnus Archives Isn't Textually Muslim

I've noted before that Basira Hussain in The Magnus Archives isn't textually Muslim and is implied not to have strong religious faith. And it is religious faith I want to talk about in this post. Basira may very well come from a Muslim cultural background. But she isn't depicted as a capital B Believer.

Let's start with: a character's background - of any and every sort - is going to have some kind of impact on that character. The specifics of that impact will vary - there is no universal experience of anything - and the extend of the impact will be affected by the specifics of the story they are inhabiting. But a character's background shouldn't just be garnish.

With The Magnus Archives, it's a story that deeply involves religion and religious faith, what with the fear entities being worshiped as gods and all. And that means that characters' non-fear-god religious background comes up more than it might in another narrative. Thus, we get stuff like Eugene opining that the Cult of the Lightless Flame shouldn't just imitate Christianity and Martin & Jon discussing whether the Christian God is a force they can invoke.

As such, the fact that religion never comes up with Basira - when it comes up with so many other characters in the story - leads me to believe that she doesn't have a strong religious background.

Are you following me so far?

Right. So why is this? Why did the creative team make this creative decision?

Well, it's because of season five.

The fourth season ends with the fear apocalypse beginning, and then throughout all of season five, no deity intervenes to stop the fear apocalypse. (Well, unless you want to argue this was the case with Georgie and Melanie's immunity, and there, yeah, I think from an in-story perspective their cult's pretty justified, honestly.)

We spend most of the our time with Jon & Martin, who explicitly come from culturally Christian backgrounds but don't have particularly strong Christian faith themselves and predominantly experience religion in the context of the fear gods. Then there's Basira, Georgie, and Melanie.

The goal of the fifth season is the stop the fear apocalypse, which the characters do, and then the series quickly ends. And the sequel series is over there in a whole different parallel universe.

Because, look, even after being undone, the fear apocalypse was going to fuck with a lot of humanity's religious faith (or lack there of!) something fierce. Gods are real but also they're monsters and also no other god intervened.

That's...a lot.

Basira's doesn't have strong religious faith because if she did, she'd have to process season five through the lens of her religion.

And that's...a lot.

And the creative team wanted Basira's story arc to be about her confronting the harm she and Daisy did as corrupt cops.

Also, look, a British podcast depicting the Christian God as either probably nonexistent or useless? That's like, whatever. England's got a whole Church of England. Christians in England aren't being persecuted for being Christian. The episode "The Architect of Fear" can have Robert Smirke write, "I am certain the Dread Powers cannot take a soul who keeps faith in the Resurrection." and then drop dead before he can even finish his letter. It's fine.

But a British podcast specifically depicting a Muslim character having to confront that their faith is false?

Muslims in England are a religious minority. They don't have a whole institutionalized Mosque of England behind them.

Yeah, that could easily end up coming off as Jerk Move.

Not saying that it couldn't be done or couldn't make a compelling narrative, but it would be a lot to take on. It would risk overpowering the corrupt cop reckoning character arc. And the creative team would have to tread carefully for it not to be a Jerk Move.

Ergo, it's easier on the creative team for them to just...not have Basira be religiously Muslim.

Relatedly, Melanie and Georgie aren't depicted as strongly religious for similar reasons. Because they're outside of the Eye's power! If either of them had a strong religious faith, the characters would likely be interpreting their exemption as being a reflection of their faith! And that would be another plotline where the creative team would likely feel like they had to tread carefully lest their story come off as Jerk Move. Again, not impossible to pull off. But difficult.

#the magnus archives #meta #religion #islam in fiction #christianity in fiction

[raposabranca]

Okay, I'm going to talk about this on my main art account because I haven't seen this being addressed yet (there are obviously other pressing matters) but I believe it deserves to be acknowledged both by art appreciators and artists alike:

ANIMATIC ISN'T WHAT YOU MAY THINK IT IS. "Fan animation" IS NOT called "Animatic".

This is not me being a snob, it's what the words were created for, and using them wrong may be misleading at best and upsetting/unrealistic at worst. Allow me to explain in as much detail as I can right now, so watch out for a long post:

ANIMATION, ANIMATIC, AND WHY IT MATTERS: THE LONG POST

First of all, remember that every animation is a film or video. Even if it's an animation that is composed by mostly static images and it may few weird to call it "animation", it's still a realized video or film (or MV - music video -, student film, etc)

Very roughly put and with many caveats as every studio/person is different, once the pre-production stage of an animation moves into production the process goes like this:

STORYBOARD: A storyboard is a graphic portrayal of a narrative, concept, or script, divided into sequential scenes (panels). Usually, it is done based on a written or roughly drawn script, and it serves to translate the story visually so placement, movement, timing, and camera angles are better understood or articulated. It's often done even for live-action movies.

They can be as detailed or as general, as clean and shaded or as scribbly as they can. Their point is being a visual sequential reference to the script.

Examples (more here):

Batman: The Animated Series opening

This Batman storyboard puts a lot of effort in making the images very clean and readable and in high contrast, which is useful in a noir series.

Super Mario Odyssey cinematic sequence

Mario is a lively series where depth, character silhouette, and fluidity are favored, so it's okay if the storyboard is scribbled if it's coherent to the movement and characters.

ANIMATIC: An animatic is a string of storyboard images edited together with sound to illustrate how a sequence will flow in motion. (...) [It] is basically an animated storyboard. The same images you’ve already created as a storyboard are now put into a video and can include dialogue, sound effects, and music. 

TL;DR it's a storyboard, that is, those static panels that can be as detailed or as rough as they must, put into motion and with added sound.

Animatics are useful to keep track of timing, placement, acting, etc, which you can't do very well with static images. They may contain placeholder images, stock photos, live-action acting frames, and even fully animated sequences that were previously done - whatever it's needed to help. Technically, some are animation. But they are, by definition, unfinished animation.

Examples:

Coco - "Un Poco Loco" finished animation vs animatic:

This is Pixar here and the animatic is scribbles. There is fluid, expressive animation there in order to communicate the livelihood of the sequence, but no more.

This wonderful thing:

Dan Harmon recorded a real court order discussion and drew the animatic on top of it, but he didn't intend to do a finished animation from this. Therefore, those are cleaned-up simple static drawings that still convey the absurdity of the video so it can be presented to the audience, like a sketch.

Mari Flexion's "Epiphany" , from the eponymous "fluff" extra from The Magnus Archives:

Like Harmon, Flexion never intended to fully animate this piece, but unlike Harmon - whose style is simpler and more cartoony - Flexion did this with time and in an elaborated style. There are moving parts and even simple animations in there, shadows and fully conveyed details like clothes and freckles. However, by the nature of being a sketch of an animation, it's an animatic.

ANIMATION: Once you have the storyboard and (if necessary) the animatic fully realized, the "animation" stage can start - this is the refining and production of what will become the final film. This stage is composed of many other stages that characterize how close to the final product something is. Stages will vary depending on the type of film you're doing, but Ill use some of my work to show some of the most common ones in 2D animation. (you'll notice that the timing changes from one place to another; that's because I'm only one person doing that on my pace and not a studio, and also I'm a gremlin)

Rough animation: The closest to animatic; some animatic can be considered rough animations:

Cleaned-up: Rough animation that has the final lineart/style that will be used in the end (sometimes static elements are already finished; animation can be weird)

Flat colors (or flats): Where the colors without effects/shadows/lights are added.

Final: With everything else (and here, because it's a video, it contains the music I timed everything on)

Originally posted here (final video) and here (work in progress gifs)

AND THEREIN THE ISSUES BEGIN

I've been observing in the last years that a lot of people are calling near-finalized, very-into-production animations "animatics". Not only fans are saying that, but sometimes artists themselves seem to consider stuff such as the following as animatics:

Shandzii's "It's tough to be a god" (original characters)

It could be argued this is a very elaborated animatic, but the amount of finished animation, detail and cleanness would put it at rough/almost clean-up animation.

@twinkle-art 's and @worldformula `s "The Magnus Archives - villain(빌런)"

This is a finished video, despite the lack of "animation" mostly.

SprectroliteAAA's "Death by Glamour - Mettaton vs. Frisk Fight"

This one has been bothering me for years now - it's a fantastic, almost fully realized rendition of this sequence, it's called "rough animation" in the opening, but it's called "animatic" on the title hhh

"But Branca," I can almost hear you say, "why does it matter?"

Well... it's not something that is urgent, or pressing, like I said before. AI- generated stuff and N/F/T/s are actual problems, but that's beside the point. Still, it's a trend that is becoming stronger, and the immediate issues I see are:

For artists: you'll look like a fool: No one is born knowing stuff, but that's inadequate vocabulary in artistic circles - especially in animation ones. If you call an animation "animatic" because it's digital, fanart, or a music video, it may sit wrong with people in the industry. You want to know which words mean what.

For art appreciators: it may sound derogatory: If someone posts their finalized film and you call it an animatic, it may rub the artist the wrong way. What if you wrote a whole fiction book and someone called it "your notes"? It's finalized work - call it for what it is.

For people who make/hire artwork: "But that's not what I/you asked for": The idea that animatics are "supposed" to get to more and more polished levels cause potential conflict between art professionals and costumers. The terms are laid out for clarity, and if "animatic" has a double meaning, people can be upset for getting "less" of what they wanted to get. Worse, calling animation/film "animatic" creates unrealistic market expectations. "Well X artist did that kind of animatic, can't you do that?" is a very hard situation to be in, as an artist. We may sell our work for crumbs just so we get the job, being exploited to do work we're not really supposed to due to a fiction.

For everyone: it can generate confusion and conflict: "Animatic" a term from the film industry. Some terms from some places may be redefined into something better or more appropriate, but this one creates miscommunication for the reasons mentioned about. Worse, it can create miscommunication between groups of people, particularly in fandom. Knowing the right words is the most conducive course of action.

Anyway, I hope this long ramble helped! Go spread the love for animatics and animations and videos all around!

#animation #animatic #art #art resources #information #youtube #raposabranca #god i wrote this during class i hope i stayed on topic

[alexanderlightweight]

what about cat magnus in his animal form whilst dragon alec in human form deals with a possessive and playful big kitty.

oh i love this idea and especially because playful is very different for predator big cats ^_^

i hope you enjoy

<3 lumine

the taste of his magic

-

Magnus ignores a grunt of complaint as he gives another imperious lick to the stubborn curl of Alexander’s brow. This one particular curl is as stubborn as the man who it belongs to and Magnus chuffs as he settles his weight more intently on Alexander, keeping him trapped and still with his face caught between two massive paws.

Alexander has disappeared during the morning — as they slept — only coming back after several hours of absence and Magnus isn’t the least bit pleased with his lovely treasure.

A dragon Alexander may be, but he’s also Magnus’ dragon.

Which means that when Magnus’ boy comes back irritated and with flecks of blood stark on his bare skin when he’d transformed, well… Magnus lets his instincts take over.

Which means a grumpy Alexander now that Magnus is nearly finished grooming him — though just because he’s finished doesn’t mean that Magnus is going to be letting his treasure get up anytime son or let him go anywhere without him.

“Magnus, I was just checking the perimeter of my caves and had a snack. The blood was just leftovers from cleaning up some attempted-intruders.”

It’s the third time Alexander’s made the same such excuse and Magnus rumbles, because that isn’t the point and if it was so important, than surely Magnus could have been brought along, or at the very least informed him that his dragon was leaving.

Magnus growls in response, because of course Alexander is willing to use words now that the deed has already been done. No matter that Alexander hasn’t even attempted to ask Magnus to come ward his caves.

As if Magnus’ magick would ever allow an intruder to still remain in existence for Alexander to dirty his muzzle with their inferior blood.

Magnus is at the point where he’s tempted to go back to his archives to look for the legendary — and completely nonexistent — dragon-binding rituals just so he has one way of keeping Alexander where he’s supposed to be.

As it is Magnus has enough and he growls, shifting so he’s pinning Alexander and can delicately place his jaws around Alexander’s neck, his tongue against Alexander’s pulse and jugular even as his fangs rest on skin.

His darling merely huffs at him, unconcerned by the threat and even goes so far as to trill indignantly at him, as thought Magnus is the one being unreasonable.

Magnus stays where he is until — finally — Alexander’s fingers pet through Magnus’ fur and his darling sighs with a petulant tone.

“You were asleep when the wards went off and I didn’t want to wake you up. You were tired.” It’s a better excuse than Magnus was expecting but still an excuse and he growls, the sound reverberating through Alexander’s throat. Little pinpricks of blood are dripping down from where Alexander’s moved while talking, his treasure is unconcerned and uncaring even as Magnus keeps him trapped.

Fingers scritch down his sides and then there is a sigh, “I’ll wake you next time and see if you want to come with me?”

The only thing more surprising than the offer is the fact that it’s a question.

Magnus barely takes the time to lick Alexander’s neck clean of blood — the wounds already healed — before he shifts. He turns to sit on Alexander’s chest and stares down at the pleased confusion on his boy’s face.

“What do you mean if I want to come?” Magnus is incredulous at the very idea of not wanting to go.

The thought that Alexander would allow him into his hoard isn’t something that Magnus has done more than wistfully consider.

“Well you might be too tired.” Alexander tells him with some confusion, “I can take you to my caves whenever you’d like. Why would you want to go when I’m taking care of pests?”

Magnus is…

Magnus is quite frankly furious.

Incandescently so, in the way that shock can turn confusion and joy into something terrible in the desperate need to understand.

“Treasure—” Magnus realizes his voice is hoarse — almost rasping — as he speaks but he doesn’t even bother to fix it. “What do you mean when you say you’ll take me whenever I like?”

The echo of his own voice sounds strange as he stares into beloved hazel eyes.

“That I’ll take you whenever you want?” Alexander returns Magnus’ strangeness with a furrowed brow and a tone dripping with confusion, as if he thinks it’s the most obvious answer in the world.

Perhaps it is but Magnus needs to know.

“You’d let me into your hoard?”

“It’s impossible not to?”

—

Alec is wondering if Magnus is still exhausted.

Maybe he woke him up leaving and Magnus hasn’t rested and that’s why he’s acting so strange. He keeps asking questions that he already knows the answer to and it’s making Alec worried.

Magnus is quite literally, the heart of Alec’s hoard. How is Magnus supposed to stay out of his hoard?

Has Alec miscommunicated something?

Does Magnus think that Alec has hearts for each of his hoards? Instead of one hoard-heart that all of his hoards center around and sustain. Does he not realize that the reason for every single other piece of treasure that Alec collects and finds and devours is meant to exalt the heart.

They are paltry offerings, a surrender of opulence in an attempt to sustain the might of the heart.

The singing caves with their deep caverns wide and warm and humming the songs of the universe as fire dances on the pure walls made of opal that Alec had carved into intricate artwork were filled with pieces catered to worship them.

They had been the most magnificent thing he had ever beheld — until Magnus and his magic — and he had filled them with the rarest and most coveted things that called to him from across the world.

Each piece had paled in comparison to the heart but at least each piece was something deemed acceptable, something worthy of being a pebble on the floor of the caves.

It is the same with Magnus.

Every single thing Alec hoards is Magnus’ to do with as he pleases.

They are gifts for him and while Alec’s never actually had a sapient as a part of his hoard — or talked with anyone who had — he can’t imagine acting differently.

If the caves had ever managed to sing to him what they would have liked to be filled with, then Alec would have been honored to heed their requests.

That Alec can fulfill each and ever request Magnus ever makes of him is his greatest wish, so of course Magnus can go to the caves whenever he wishes. It will take years of magic and wards and rituals for them to be safe for Magnus to portal to and traipse by himself. So Alec is happy to be Magnus’ guide and transport whenever he wishes to visit them or any of Alec’s other hoards.

The very nature of dragon magic ensures that Alec’s hoards are difficult to find and easy to be lost in. Even as the heart and as powerful as he is, Alec’s own nature betrays him in this and until Magnus can visit them as he wishes, Alec will be the gateway and the path.

So of course Alec will take Magnus whenever he wants.

#lumine writes #writing wednesday #writing wednesdays #the taste of his magic #shadowhunters #malec #magnus bane #alec lightwood

[averys-nightmare-zone]

The 14 Fears

this is all a little different from my usual style, but i love the magnus archives with all of my heart so i really wanted to make some collages based around the concepts explored in the podcast. notes on each collage under the cut.

1.) the hunt - i tried to keep this one on task with werewolves and such, but I am a supernatural fan and it has gone terminal so sorry about that.

2.) the eye - based somewhat off of an oc but still very jon coded

3.) the desolation - one of my faves, the colors really just came together

4.) the lonely - i didn't originally have the text on this one, but i think it tied it together in a way my stickers weren't.

5.) the dark - there's not really an artsy reason for the text on this one, i just wanted something to contrast against all of the black

6.) the buried - not many stickers on here, but im really proud of that dirt detail on the bottom

7.) the stranger - yeah i know the stranger in tma is mostly based around circuses, but whenever i think uncanny i think the mandela catalogue

8.) the web - this one gave me the most trouble, as the color scheme was really hard to nail down, i think its one of my weakest.

9.) the end - believe it or not this is one of four death based collages i've done on landing

10.) the corruption - this one was also very hard, not becuase of content matter but because i am deathly afraid of wasps

11.) the vast - i am so autistic about mike crew. no one understands him like i do.

12.) the slaughter - based more off of murder than war, partially because i have an slaughter oc that leans more towards murder and partially because it didn't match the scheme i was going for

13.) the spiral - i think i developed a medical condition making this absolute monstrosity. If you go to my landing page, it moves

14.) the flesh - my absolute fave, this one just came out so well.

#the magnus archives #tma podcast #tma #tw meat #tw body horror #cw eyestrain #cw blood #tw falling #tw fire #tw horror #the eye #the buried #the vast #the slaughter #the hunt #the flesh #the lonely #the web #the spiral #the corruption #the end #the stranger #the desolation #the dark #collage

[hinaypod]

A Hi Nay Podcast Year - 2023

At the beginning of 2023, I got a planner that said it'll be a "Great" Year. I had to cover it up - because the last time I had a planner claiming the year would be great... it was 2020. So I covered it with one of our stickers, making it read "It'll Be A Hi Nay Podcast Year". And it was!

Here were some Highlights for what was an absolutely jam-packed HI NAY YEAR!

The Hi Nay Fundraiser

Though we didn't get to our full goal, we did get to our initial goal to keep the show going! We also got absolutely unbelievable support that we still don't know if we deserve, but we're grateful for nonetheless. Because of this fundraiser, we were able to provide honoraria to our performers and editors, as well as get to work on Act 3 of Hi Nay, which has grown much bigger than anticipated. Special thanks to Jesse Goodsell and Malaya, our top donors!

We also wanna thank our amazing P atreon supporters, who ensure we keep this show going until its planned ending!

Interviews

We were able to chat with so many amazing people this year! Here's some of the shows that had Motzie on to chat about Hi Nay, horror, Filipino stories, and podcasting.

Radio Drama Revival

IndieAF Special: International Women’s Day

Ep. 387 - Motzie Dapul — Spooked!

The Skull Sessions - Hi Nay (Hello From The Hallowoods)

Conventions!

Because of the wonderful people over at the Canadian Podcast Awards, we were able to briefly table at TORONTO COMICON and FAN EXPO, and were able to have our very first live show at Fan Expo, all without paying a dime! Huge shoutout to the Canadian Podcast Awards for giving us indies the opportunity to do something so amazing!

The Podcast Awards!

We got nominated in two categories: Fiction and Best Asian Hosted, and it was amazing! Fiction was tough since there were so many amazing titles, but in Best Asian Hosted we were just happy to lose to one of our favourite people in the audio/video medium - Sapphire Sandalo.

How is this list not done yet OH RIGHT

The Rusty Quill Network!

It was truly life-changing to join RQ, given that the Magnus Archives is the reason Hi Nay exists, though we like to think our story has formed its own unique identity beyond our inspiration. Still, we're genuinely grateful and excited to do more with RQ and the other absolutely amazing shows in the network in 2024! Even before this, Motzie got to interview the Rusty Quill folks for Storytelling Podcast Week and befriended the wonderful Helen Gould. And most recently, the fantastic Alasdair Stuart agreed to voice one of our most beloved new characters - Detective Dooley - for our Pride Episode. Alasdair is a gem, and we're happy and grateful to have him on.

There's so much more to cover and we can't put it all in one post, but we'd like to reiterate:

THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR THE SUPPORT! We truly want Hi Nay to grow as a podcast without losing what makes it special, and it's all thanks to you listeners that we're able to do that.

-

Before we go, we'd like to mention the following:

CareForGaza is a non-profit charity in aid of helping the needy families of Palestine. If you're able to help them and their cause, it would make a huge difference! Gaza eSims is a campaign to help people in Gaza to get connected to family as well as facilitate important communication for medical aid, etc. Since Tumblr hides posts with l inks, you can google them and find more information.

And as always - thank you, we love you, and Manigong Bagong Taon. Happy 2024 everyone.

#hinaypod #hi nay podcast #horror podcast #hi nay #audio drama #filipino podcast #queer podcast #horror audio drama #rusty quill #rusty quill network #2023 roundup #happy new year!

[toomanylegos]

MAG Episode 200

I decided to write down my thoughts on the final episode in a completely separate post. I felt like I would have lot to say and analyze after the episode was done and it would've been too much for the reblog chain I made.

I was right.

So, I started listening to this podcast ages ago. Like I mean sometime early last year and then stopped; forgot everything that happened and restarted from the beginning then proceeded to take long breaks in-between more upsetting episodes to keep me sane.

I went into this as someone who doesn't really listen to podcasts and doesn't have much interest in tragedies. I'm more likely to pick an animated film or an action anime or a fantasy novel or a short hurt/comfort fic than a 200 episode horror tragedy podcast.

Buuuuuuut my dearest Eggo had introduced me to the characters and the story. They talked about how much they loved the horror elements, the characters, the world; she encouraged me to give it a listen and reassured me that it was completely worth it. Obviously, she convinced me.

Despite the fact that my soul is shattered due to the emotional series finale, I'm so glad I gave this podcast a chance and I'm glad Eggo rambled about it to me. If they didn't, I wouldn't have come to a wonderful realization...

Tragedies are heartbreakingly beautiful.

I loved learning about these characters and seeing how they dealt with these horrible situations and impossible odds; I had to take so many breaks because if I binged MAG for too long I would become completely miserable due to the pure agony that Jon and everyone around him goes through.

However, there were always these little moments in between the agony. These small conversations between characters; a private reflection; a light joke. A pressure release for the audience that reminded me what, I believe, tragedies are meant to do -- highlight the beauty in the painful and be a cathartic outlet as well as a lesson.

I still don't like angst very much. I don't see the appeal of going into a piece of media that has no sense of comfort in it. Funnily enough, despite the genre space it sits in, MAG is comforting to me.

It brought me the love story of Jon and Martin -- together til the very end and learning to communicate and be with each other. Something that came to me at a point where I am considering pursuing a relationship myself and fear the hurdles I may face. Their story put my own worries just a tad at ease. The way I related to them and the way their fears are handled in the story helped -- are still helping me -- handle my own.

It brought me themes of humanity and monstrosity and how thin of line that can be. It brought me into worlds of flesh, and dark, and sky, and twisting corridors that made my head spin and my heart race.

Most of all, it brought me hope -- something I only realized in episode 199. The hope that even when your world is ending there is something that can be done. The faith in a chance that things can be better if you decide to take that leap.

That good old saying...

"It's always darkest before the dawn."

Now, after finishing The Magnus Archives, I can move on.

So, as I type this with teary eyes and a scattered brain, I would like to say that I loved The Magnus Archives; I have a better appreciation for the tragic and horrible.

I can seek out The Mechanisms and experience more of Jonny Sims' wonderful work.

I can start listening to Rusty Quill Gaming and listen to Alex's DM style and all of the team's adventures.

I can seek out more works produced by the wonderful people over at Rusty Quill.

And most of all, I can catch up with The Magnus Protocol and I can finally say...

They put my bois in the fuckin' 'puter

#apologies for the rambling #and sorry if none of this makes sense #i am very emotional #the magnus archives #magnus archives #tma #tma podcast #tma spoilers #the magnus protocol #tmagp #magpod