#this is about eiffel and minkowski specifically

[blog-of-frontiers]

Neither romantic nor sexual nor platonic but a secret fourth thing (bonded like stray cats who cannot be adopted separately)

#this is about eiffel and minkowski specifically #but feel free to blorbo all you like #if this becomes my second fiction podcast post to break containment ill... well i dont know what ill do #wolf 359

[hephaestuscrew]

I have such emotional thoughts about Ep40 Limbo and Minkowski telling Eiffel "I'm sorry, okay? I didn't want it to matter. I was trying to make it not matter." It's such an insane thing to say about learning without any context or detail that your friend and crew member was convicted of kidnapping and child endangerment.

It's one thing to learn that someone did something awful and not to care because you don't care about them or their morals (the SI-5 approach). It's another thing to learn that someone did something awful and not to care because you can empathise with them and it's who they are now that matters (the Hera and Lovelace approach). And it's an entirely different thing to learn that someone did something awful and to want desperately not to care but to be unable to stop yourself from caring.

When there was no specificity to Eiffel's tragic backstory, Minkowski successfully made it not matter. Back in Ep15 What's Up Doc?, when Hilbert was hinting at Eiffel's secret that he wouldn't want Minkowski to know about, she trusted him with no "hesitance or doubt". In principle, on an abstract intellectual level, his past doesn't matter to her. But as soon as she has some of the specifics, her ability to trust him without question is shaken, because that trust isn't just about the abstract intellectual level. It's emotional too.

Eiffel really matters to Minkowski, so of course she doesn't want what she learned about his past to change that. But part of what matters to Minkowski about Eiffel is that she trusts him, that she believes that he does the morally right thing when it counts, and that he's the kind of person she thinks he is. The particular way in which he matters to her, when combined with her personality and her values, means that the bad things he's done in the past have to matter to her too. Because the way in which he matters to her is tied up in her sense of him as an ultimately moral person, the spokesperson of Team What's Wrong With Handcuffs.

In typical Minkowski fashion, she wants to make herself not care about it through sheer stubborn power of will. Maybe if she doesn't speak to him, she can pretend she doesn't know. Maybe if she pretends she doesn't know, she won't think about it. Maybe if she doesn't think about it, it won't matter to her. Maybe if it doesn't matter to her, then she can rebuild her idea of him as a good person on her own and she won't ever have to talk to him about it. But three months roll by, and it still matters to her. It still matters to her, and she still wants it not to.

#w359 #wolf 359 #doug eiffel #renee minkowski #renée minkowski #She was never going to be able to make it not matter without having a conversation with him about it #but it's not like things are immediately fixed after that conversation either #And in fact the resolution isn't really about making it not matter #It's about realising that her trust in Eiffel and the strength of their friendship matters more #I like that when they reconcile Eiffel says that those things from his past *are her business* #It's like an acknowledgement of their closeness #but perhaps an attempt to absolve Minkowski from the fact that she cared about knowing those things #I think I've kinda talked about some of this stuff before but not in relation to this specific line #And I might say more another time if I'm honest #w359 spoilers #wolf 359 spoilers #the empty man posteth #Eiffel & Minkowski

[commsroom]

i love to think about the ways eiffel is willing/able to take up physical space for hera when she can’t. i think... with eiffel and hera and minkowski staying together post-canon, one thing that might start to really bother hera is that, like. she doesn’t have any stuff. she doesn’t even have herself to be there in the house, really, not physically. and unlike with the hephaestus, a house that is actually meant to be a home, a place that is designed for human life, is always full of reminders of the people who live there. so i want to think that she expresses this to eiffel and he starts picking up stuff he thinks she’ll like just to put it on the shelves and around the house, so it’s her house too. and she thinks it’s kind of silly at first because it’s not like she can really interact with most of it, but. then she sees all of her stuff mixed together with eiffel’s on the shelves and it’s like this constant reminder that she exists in the world, that she has an impact on it and a place in it. and that does make her feel a little better.

#wolf 359 #w359 #doug eiffel #hera wolf 359 #eiffera #when she finds some favorite albums he buys records #and she's like you know i can listen to this whenever i want to right you don't have to do that #but eiffel is an analog guy i think he's like. yeah well it sounds better on vinyl you'll see. er. hear. #and maybe she kinda agrees with him. a little bit #i think she'd like to have Stuff of her own even if she thinks the idea is a little silly at first #she likes used books specifically because she wants them to look worn and loved. it's not satisfying to have a brand new book #untouched on the shelf. #she likes sea shells and sand dollars and sea glass even though she knows it's just litter and various. maritime trinkets. #i want to say she likes kinda tacky painted statues you might find at a thrift shop because the idea is funny to me #like dragons and fairies and assorted mythical creatures #eiffel gets her flowers because well. no one's ever gotten her flowers before. #and okay. usual caveat that i'm not attaching all of my post-canon thoughts to this especially re: eiffel because that's for #a different type of post. #also yes minkowski would/could/should also get hera physical gifts. however #this is a post about eiffel and hera Having Their Stuff on a Shelf Together. okay? #... i promise i'm done talking about them. for now.

[nobodysdaydreams]

A Special Treat for My Wolf359 Friends: Oddly Specific Christmas Songs that Remind Me of Wolf359 Characters

Happy advent dear readers! 'Tis the season for festive head canons, and as a lover of very obscure Christmas music, here are some tunes that remind me of Wolf359 characters. I included links to all the songs listed, so have fun listening! I think most of the songs I found fit, and I found two songs per character (plus some bonus tracks...), so let me know which ones you enjoy!

I included explanations for why I think the songs fit the characters, feel free to disagree.

Side note: Please don't put any spoilers on this post, as I've only listened through season three at this point. If you want to follow my reactions to Wolf359, you can do so under the tag "#Bods Wolf359 Reactions".

Doug Eiffel- Christmas Tree On Fire / Christmas in Jail / Who Spiked the Eggnog?

Why does Doug get three songs instead of two? Simple. Because he deserves them.

The first one is 100% a Doug song. I just need to close my eyes, tweak the lyrics slightly to make them about a fire he started because he didn't do a very simple task that Minkowski asked him to do, and it's Doug singing it in a southern accent.

As for the second one, there are a concerning amount of Christmas songs about alcoholism or spending the holidays in rehab and/or jail. This made it very hard to narrow it down, but this song is specifically about going to jail for drunk driving, so...um...it fits? In a very sad way, but I feel like Doug would sing this in a drunk moment of self-loathing, that Hera and Minkowski would talk him out of.

The third song fits Doug because to be honest the whole vibe of Straight No Chaser fits Doug, and this song reminds me of when Kepler demanded an explanation of what happened to his Whiskey. This is the song Doug would sing after assuring Kepler that he would stop at nothing to find the culprit.

Hera- The Most Wonderful Day of the Year / Somewhere in My Memory

The first song is from the Rankin/Bass Rudolph the Red Nose Reindeer movie. It's about toys that were built incorrectly, so they are put on an island where misfit toys go and sing about how sad they are that they don't get to celebrate Christmas with everyone else. I don't think I need to explain why this song fits Hera.

The second song is from Home Alone, and I think it fits Hera, because of the how much that one episode focused on her memories, good and bad. Plus it's a very beautiful song, and I think Hera would appreciate that. This song has a long musical intro, so you might have to listen for a bit before you get to the lyrics.

Renee Minkowski- That Christmas Morning Feeling / Have Yourself a Merry Christmas

For the first one, no, I have not seen the movie, but this song came on my Christmas recommend, and you can't tell me that Minkowski would not go for a big festive Christmas musical number.

As for the second one, it's from the musical "Meet Me In St. Louis", which I'm sure Minkowski appreciates. Any musical Christmas song would fit Minkowski, but this one is a classic.

Alexander Hilbert- The Nutcracker: Russian Dance / A Mad Russian's Christmas-Insturmental

I chose the first song from the Nutcracker, since it's a Russian ballet. I feel like Hilbert hates holidays and would only even consider tolerating classical instrumental traditional Christmas music (even though Minkowski forces him to sing carols).

The second song is also instrumental, and I mean, well, just look at the title of it.

Isabelle Lovelace- Christmas Isn’t Cancelled (Just You) / We Wish You Weren't Living With Us

For the first song: tell me you couldn't see Lovelace singing something like this to Cutter or Hilbert. Very fitting too considering Cutter ordered Hilbert to kill everyone on Christmas. Lovelace would hear about that and chose this as her revenge song. It's another song where I can close my eyes and see her singing it with slightly altered lyrics.

The second song could easily be everyone singing about any of the villains, but it would especially fit the oddly specific situation of Lovelace sarcastically threatening Hilbert when Minkowski tries to make them all play nice and sing Christmas carols together.

Warren Kepler- Christmas Whiskey / Six Cups of Eggnog

I don't need to explain my first choice. Kepler sings this song alone in his office to a full glass of Whiskey, which he saves specifically for December.

As for the second, I can see Kepler singing this to lecture the others on the proper way to enjoy a drink, even though absolutely no one asked and no one cares.

Alana Maxwell- The Season's Upon Us / I'm Getting Nuttin' for Christmas

For the first choice, I don't know much about Maxwell, but I know she doesn't talk to her family, and this seemed to fit that.

For the second choice, the song fits because Maxwell is not getting anything for Christmas, because she's dead, and she did bad things. (I'm sorry Maxwell stans, but I struggled finding songs for her, and you can't say it isn't true, though this second choice does apply to multiple characters).

Daniel Jacobi- This Christmas (I'll Burn It To The Ground) / Please Daddy (Don’t Get Drunk This Christmas)

The first one could fit a lot of villain characters, but I chose it for Jacobi because he loves explosives. That's pretty much it. I had trouble finding songs for the SI-5. But I can see Jacobi screaming this song violently at a Christmas party, right before someone brings up the subject of ducks and sends him cowering to the corner.

The second song is because Jacobi seems to have some issues with his air force father (I was tempted to use the song for Doug's daughter, but figured that would be too dark). A close second for Jacobi was "The Twelve Days of Christmas" because there are a lot of birds in that song, and I love mocking Jacobi's fear of ducks. However, decided to go with other options because A) the 12 days of Christmas is already a pretty well known song and it doesn't fit that well and B) ducks are not explicitly mentioned in the song. But if anyone knows of a Christmas tune about ducks, please drop it in the tags.

Marcus Cutter- You Ain't Getting Diddly Squat / I’m Gonna Kill Santa Clause

For the first one, the song fits mainly because of the singer's high pitched cheery voice and the way he gleefully tells a bunch of kids that Santa hates them, and they're not getting anything for Christmas. I can listen to this, close my eyes, and see Cutter singing this as he happily informs the crew that they're all about to die on Christmas.

For the second one, it's fitting because Cutter ordered the deaths of multiple employees on Christmas, and if he lived in a universe where Santa Clause did exist, he absolutely would try to kill him and take his power. The line "nothing against him, it's just business" and part of the song where he sings about the elves being his prisoners are very on point.

Miranda Pryce- I Wish It Could Be Christmas Everyday / I Want an Alien For Christmas

This first song choice won't make any sense to you UNLESS you've seen Black Mirror, because if you have, you'll know it makes a disturbing amount of sense. So...for those who haven't seen black mirror and are wondering how on earth this song fits her character, here's the clip to provide some context. Some horrifying, terrible terrible context.

The second song honestly fits Cutter better, but he already had two songs and doesn't deserve a third one. And I don't know as much about Miranda at this point, except she's apparently down with the whole aliens thing, so I figured it would fit here too.

Dear Listeners- Silent Night / A Spacemen Came Travelling

The first one is a Christmas song from the 1920s about a silent night. I don't feel like I need to explain this choice.

The second is a song is a gentle tune about a man from space who comes to visit baby Jesus and his mother and wish them goodwill. I also don't think I need to explain why the aliens fit this one.

Blessie (the plant monster/specimen 34)- Percy, the Puny Poinsettia / Christmas Tree Farm

Yes, any song about plants or Christmas trees in general is appropriate, but this first song is fitting not only because I'm still grieving the death of our beloved Blessie, but also because before I knew his name was Blessie, I named him "Percy the Plant" or "Percival B. Eternal".

For the second one, the singer sings about wanting to go back to a Christmas tree farm, so when I listen to it, I imagine Blessie up in space, dreaming of the day he finally reaches earth so he can be among the other plants, Christmas trees included.

Rachel Young- Elf's Lament / You're a Mean One, Mr. Grinch

I don't know as much about Rachel at this point, but a song about working in unfair conditions and regretting signing up for the job you chose seems like it might fit. Whether she'd be singing it about herself or those working under her, that's up to you.

The Grinch song could be sung about many characters on the list by so many characters on this list, but I can imagine Rachel thinking of Cutter every time she hears this song even though she does work for him, and I think the song describes her as well.

BONUS TRACK 1: This one is for Eiffel's daughter, Minkowski's husband, and everyone else left back on earth missing their (presumed dead) family: Blue Christmas

Sadly, I think this one speaks for itself...

BONUS TRACK 2: This is a little tune that Doug Eiffel and I would sing to Cutter, Pryce, Kepler, Jacobi, Maxwell, Hilbert, and Rachel: Put One Foot In Front of the Other

The song is from the movie "Santa Claus is Coming to Town". It's a song where a young Santa and his animal friends encourages the evil Winter Warlock to change his ways and become a better person. Perhaps this song too could inspire many of our morally bankrupt Wolf359 friends to either grab their redemption arc, or as the song says: "walk out the door" (straight out the airlock). And it's a children's song, which I think is necessary, since so many of them seem to have trouble grasping the basics of human decency. Hopefully this will make it easier for them to understand.

#bods wolf359 reactions #wolf 359 #w359 #alexander hilbert #alana maxwell #wolf 359 spoilers #renee minkowski #doug eiffel #hera wolf 359 #wolf359 Hera #daniel jacobi #warren kepler #isabel lovelace #rachel young #miranda pryce #marcus cutter #Wolf359 #wolf359 podcast #w359 podcast #wolf359 spoiilers #podcast wolf359 #podcast w359 #hera #dear listeners #blessie #specimen 34 #the blessed eternal #blessie the plant monster

[skoople]

astronaut food

i've been meaning to outline the eating habits of the main wolf 359 characters. specifically, what do they eat and drink, what do they enjoy, what are their kitchen sins, how do they eat, and why. this is going to be a combination of canon, implications, and my personal read on them. let's get right into it:

DR. ALEXANDER HILBERT

his view on eating is utilitarian to the point of reddit-ness, and he'll often go without meals to get something done or to prove a point (see: Succulent Rat-Killing Tar, What's Up Doc). his palate is a very "get what you can out of whatever you can" approach without considering much in the way of taste or texture (seaweed coffee is his invention). HOWEVER! hilbert has one prized treat that is his achilles heel/autism samefood: Pecan Pie (see: Mission Mishaps Cold Turkey). i think it's got a unique texture, and a comforting smell that meshes with his suppressed desire for family and safety well.

kitchen sin: he regards the human need and desire for food as both frivolous and an unfortunate necessity.

LIEUTENANT RENÉE MINKOWSKI

she definitely enjoys fruit, or she wouldn't've cryogenically sealed a Braeburn apple (which are excellent for baking or dehydrating, btw) and brought it to space (see: What's Up Doc). she's also a planning type, and i think an efficient and tasty meal that involves the preparation and presentation of a fancy yogurt bowl is a favorite of hers and a dietary staple. minkowski is highly conscious of table manners, although that slacks a bit on the hephaestus, because she's eating across the table from hilbert and eiffel, for god's sake. still, clean and organized is her food philosophy. she owns possibly the only tupperware collection on the planet that includes every matching lid. the wine has almost no canon basis, and is mostly just a nod to voice actor Emma Shierr-Ziarko's own love and knowledge of wines.

kitchen sin: she thinks a clif bar counts as a real dinner if it's a weeknight.

CAPTAIN ISABEL LOVELACE

lovelace's favorite food is appetizers for the whole table, a team pizza party, a big awesome-smelling potluck, or anything meant to be shared. for her, eating is a casual and (more importantly) a communal activity. the social engagement from a loud brunch will nourish her just as much as the food does. besides that, i think she likes chocolate with nuts in it (e.g. snickers, chocolate covered almonds, rocky road ice cream, etc), but one of her favorite desserts is probably a strawberry milkshake. maybe it's a way to make up for all the protein shakes and high-efficiency smoothies (that taste like wet cement) she has to chug on account of the intense way she lives and works.

kitchen sin: she is a vulture if anyone else is cooking or eating. "you gonna eat that?" and picking off searing hot pans and baking sheets. she's really just curious but she never asks until its already burning her mouth.

COLONEL WARREN KEPLER

ok, the drink is a given. it's even on his official wolf 359 store merchandise. he likes the feel of it in his hand. but what does kepler eat? when does he eat? in private, obviously. his job is an exercise in restraint and perception, and he is his job (see: A Matter of Perspective). monsters under the bed don't need to eat, and they certainly won't be that vulnerable in front of a superior. but he's still a person, so i struggled a lot trying to figure out what he would crave. fish tacos, biscuits and gravy, and a loaded chicago hot dog were all floated, but the only meal i could picture kepler ordering where anyone could see him was lamb with mint sauce. it's expensive, recognizable, difficult to cook exactly right, and almost bloody.

kitchen sin: he will go out of his way to make you feel bad about what you're eating no matter what it actually is. he doesn't even have to say anything, he'll just glance at you or shift his posture slightly.

DANIEL JACOBI

this is a guy who loves to snack (see: Time To Kill. pringles: popped). he likes crunchy, salty snacks a lot, but it's more about the activity than the taste. that doesn't stop him from ritualistically complaining (see: Mission Mishaps No Complaints). he takes his time eating, but he doesn't pay much attention to it, which is why the longevity of a slushy is a favorite of his. jacobi lives off road snacks, but will find a way to complain about the points of a michelin star. he just likes bitching! the stinky cheese (see: Need To Know) pictured is a baked Camembert, because it's my post and i get to pick the cheese. Camembert is one of my personal favorites, but it can be fairly pricy and is a pain to clean up, which doesn't matter to jacobi (goddard company credit card please!)

kitchen sin: he spends an excruciatingly long time on any meal to the point where, if he had his way, they'd bleed into each other by taking an average of one bite every 15 minutes.

DR. ALANA MAXWELL

the drink pictured is a rockstar energy, but whatever legal(ish) stimulants can get inside her body the most effectively is maxwell's favorite. she eats a lot of takeout (see: Mission Mishaps Happy Holidays) because it's quick when she forgets to eat all day and it's tasty and she has the pay grade for it. she grew up in a tiny nowhere town that was in all likelihood at least partially a food desert, and her family dinner table warranted a restraining order, so i think in her adult life she tries to get as far away from that as possible. this often manifests in trying all the outlandishly spicy things she can get her greasy mitts on, because she is both inquisitive and masochistic. fuego takis are pictured because theyre a staple snack that jacobi will buy for her if she promises to share (she's lying and will eat the whole bag)

kitchen sin: she allows the nearly-empty cans, bottles, bowls, and bags to sit out and fester. once every 2 weeks she sets a timer and rushes through dumping it all into a giant black trash bag so that she doesn't get an infestation of ants again.

OFFICER DOUGLAS F. EIFFEL

and the "F" stands for food! eiffel definitely spends the most time talking about food. he's hungry! since his eating habits are so prominent in the show, i figured a compilation of his food and drink moments in canon would work a little bit better than my own personal extrapolation. excerpts from Limbo and Boléro were omitted.

kitchen sin: while some people might argue that pineapple on pizza belongs in this spot, i am not so judgemental. i just want him to eat from dishes that aren't visibly dirty.

HERA

[insert byte joke]

kitchen sin: she doesn't have a mouth.

#wolf 359 #w359 #long post #food #disordered eating mention #alcohol

[crossguild]

speaking of morality in w359, minkowski desperate to be a good person because she has a black/white view of morality that prevents her from being aware of her own moral failings especially when it comes to the tbh very bad things she inflicts on other characters which she never perceives as bad because she's a good person doing it to bad person, therefore threatening and tormenting her prisoner is "good" because she has a good reason for it and therefore it's justified

and that's slowly broken down over the course of the series as she's forced to confront that eiffel, who began as an antagonistic subordinate (bad) but who became her friend and is therefore "good", has a criminal record that arose from when he traumatically injured his daughter and a teenager and is therefore "bad", but he remains her friend who cares for her and is willing to come through for her at great personal cost...

part of minkowski's narrative is coming to terms with moral ambiguity, specifically her own moral ambiguity and how being a good/bad person isn't something that's inherent or clear-cut. she killed maxwell in cold blood, her entire perception of her self as a leader & Good Person was shattered at that point, resulting in her handing off command of the station to lovelace while she came to terms with her worldview undergoing a reckoning

and it crystallizes in dirty work, where she not only convinces jacobi but also realizes herself that people can't always be sorted neatly into Good and Bad or Guilty and Victim, but that every person is still responsible for their decisions and these decisions have to be made with awareness of their consequences

and this is a worldview that most of the other characters have long come to terms with, like lovelace and hilbert and the si5 who are always aware of when they're harming others and also under no illusions about their culpability but choosing to act anyway because it's a choice they're accustomed to making (as hilbert points out, minkowski was a flight instructor in peacetime, whereas he, lovelace and the si5 have plenty of experience with violence and death)

early series minkowski ignoring how deeply unethical some of her decisions are vs later-seasons minkowski who finally understands the ramifications of them and then becoming someone who consistently tries to make the righteous and difficult choice while acknowledging and owning when she has to act unethically, + reconciling with her previous decisions is fantastic development that i think is just. so often completely ignored lest you be accused of being excessively negative about her. and it's no wonder she's so boring when i try to browse ao3 but when i talk with actual fans of her, we can chew on that narrative for hours and it makes me like her more every time

#wolf 359 #renee minkowski #fandom rly refuses to deal with complexity in the characters they claim to like huh

[clonerightsagenda]

In honor of my nth W359 relisten, here is the breakdown of how I accidentally independently headcanoned most of the characters as Catholic:

Eiffel: He was born in Boston, where Catholics are the largest religious population. I've been told the Lord's Prayer he mumbles is the Protestant version, but that prayer is used a lot in Alcoholics Anonymous, which is probably where he's remembering it from. Perhaps his issues with authority stem in part from having to go to Catholic school.

Minkowski: Her father's surname is Jewish, while her mother is French, where the dominant religion is Catholicism. I envision her as growing up in a mixed household (which I believe is also the case for her VA) but she leans harder into celebrating Christian holidays on the station as part of her attempt to assimilate into white bread apple pie Americanism. After the events of the show I like to think she reconnects more with her Jewish heritage, especially as she could relate to the theme of so many holidays being 'they tried to kill us, they failed, let's eat'.

Hera: Hera quotes St. Augustine, quotes the Bible to Maxwell in Memoria, and says "amen" during the funeral despite never being exposed to religious services. Conclusion? She had Catholicism installed in her to nerf her. Why? Because Pryce is also Catholic. More on that later.

Lovelace: I hc Lovelace as having a Puerto Rican mom. Puerto Rico is heavily Catholic. (Her dad is probably Protestant, but when it came to parents from different denominations choosing which to raise their kid(s) in, my mom won for us, so I shall assume her mom won as well. It's possible she also went to a private Catholic school. She may not have considered herself very religious at the start of her mission, but I think about her leaning on hopes of an afterlife when her crewmates start dying as a scrap of comfort.... only to be forced to contemplate the state of her soul later.

Cutter: It was at this point that I realized I was hcing a whole bunch of the characters as Catholic and decided to lean into it. Luckily for me, he's from Carmel-by-the-sea, which is in fact fairly Catholic due to the presence of a historic Catholic mission. (Did I know this because of a probably Buffy-inspired YA paranormal series I read in high school? Maybe.)

Pryce: Again, was leaning into it at this point, but also it makes sense. She was raised in an orphanage, and a lot of those institutions were run by religious organizations. How many of her problems can be traced back to being raised by nuns. She quotes the Bible to position herself as divine. Why Catholicism specifically? The cannibalism. It's all coming together.

Non-Catholics (Hilbert + the Midwestern Corporate Hit Squad):

Hilbert: Grew up in the USSR. Likely not religious.

Maxwell: Her father was a pastor in Montana, where the biggest Christian denomination is Evangelical. Likely ex-Evangelical. Sorry that happened to you Alana.

Jacobi: His name is Jewish, which is supported by his disdain for office holiday parties and ordering Chinese food on Christmas. Catholics are the dominant religious group in Milwaukee though so he gets to the station and goes ah not this shit again.

Kepler: I do not care about him and thus have not spent much time thinking about him, but probably not religious. When he is trying to turn everyone against Lovelace, he doesn't appeal to religious language while dehumanizing her. There are quite a lot of Catholics in Chicago though so he is also used to them.

What's funny about this is I'm not even Catholic. I did not start out doing this on purpose. Somehow Wolf 359 is a more Catholic podcast than Greater Boston, set in Boston, where the character who talks about religion the most is a Protestant.

#for personal context I grew up Episcopalian but do not identify as religious now #wolf 359

[normally-paranormal]

Tip #68

Finished off the last little bit of that Wolf 359 fic. Set four days after Who's There, Minkowski has a conversation with a ghost.

-----

“I say again: Requesting immediate assistance. Please respond.” 

Minkowski waited. And waited. The static of the radio popped and fizzled on, occasionally shifting frequency or fading out, but no other human voices came over the line. Her mouth tightening into a thin line, she shut off the comm. 

Four days. Only four days. It already felt like it’d been a lifetime since the red dwarf had turned blue and the entirety of her universe had shifted on its axis. In the rush to get the station back into functionality, between tallying up hundreds of system errors and reckoning with her three broken, angry, terrified crew mates, she hadn’t had time to reckon with, well, time. She wasn’t sure if she didn’t have enough of it or if she had way, way too much. Her days were both rapid and endless, her nights were a mix of rushing thoughts and sleepless hours spent listening to the horrible, aching noises the station made as it buckled under its own weight-- and there’d only been four of them since everything had really, really gone to hell. 

She should leave the comms room. Her transmission was completed and Hera could let her know if anything did come through to them, but she hesitated. Only for a moment. Her crew needed her to get up and get moving, they needed her to fix every single thing that’d been broken, but they could give her a minute, couldn't they? She deserved that much, didn’t she? A tiny little moment to herself so that she could finally think about…

Pryce and Carter’s Deep Space Survival Procedure and Protocol Manual, Tip #1,001: In times of trouble, an idle mind is your worst enemy. Keep yourself occupied at all times. Don’t stop. 

The last of Pryce and Carter’s, and the easiest to remember. She shouldn’t have that moment to herself. She should keep moving. Minkowski pushed herself away from the console to start for the door. 

“Oh, lighten up, why don’t you? It’s not like the station’s gonna blow up if you stop and take a breath. It already did that, remember?” 

Minkowski froze. No, no no no… She turned, slowly, and sure enough, there he was. Communications Officer Douglas Eiffel, as foolish as ever, his feet resting on the console as if he wasn’t at risk of knocking a million switches out of place. With one hand resting behind his head, he gave her a raised eyebrow and a small smirk, a sight so familiar that, for a moment, she wanted to believe it was real. Everything else- the star, the alien transmission, the shuttle explosion- had just been a nightmare. A long, terrible nightmare. 

Pryce and Carter’s Tip #911: Sometimes things get worse before they get better.

And didn’t she know that more than anyone. Minkowski watched the man in front of her for just a moment longer, then closed her eyes and took in a deep breath. She knew better than to let herself indulge in something like.. this. Looking anywhere but at him, she spoke a little above her normal volume. “Hera?” 

“Yes, Commander?” Came the immediate response from the intercom. She sounded tired, Minkowski thought. It was almost funny to think an AI could be tired, if it wasn’t so tragic. Once upon a time, Hera had nearly always sounded.. Chipper, upbeat, even when sarcastic. Not anymore. 

“Can you check the oxygen levels in the station for me? Is anything off, in here or elsewhere?” 

“Um….” There was a pause, almost as if Hera were moving away to check something, as if she weren’t directly integrated into the station insofar as becoming the station. “No. I mean, thermal controls are a little.. Off, down in the cargo bay, but all oxygen levels in the station are suitable. Oxygen levels in the comms room specifically are nominal. Is…. everything okay?”

“Yeah,” Minkowski said. “Yeah, it's fine, Hera. I guess I just.. It’s been a long day.” 

“Oh, come on Commander, you’re smarter than that,” said Eiffel. Minkowski jumped, her gaze darting back to the man settled in front of her. He grinned. “Sorry to go all Sixth Sense on you, but plot twist: you’re seeing dead people.” 

“Commander?” 

“Like I said,” Minkowski started through gritted teeth, though she wasn’t sure if she was speaking to Hera or Eiffel or herself, “It’s been a long day.”

“Okay, Commander,” Hera said, at the same time at which Eiffel spoke over her to make his point; “Yeah, yeah. You think you’ve had a long day? How do you think I feel? At least you’ve got people to talk to, and a big fancy star to look at, while I’m over there somewhere in solitary confinement.” He gestured vaguely towards the direction that the shuttle had tumbled off in, and Minkowski remembered again that he would still be tumbling. With every single second that passed, he was moving thousands and thousands of miles away from the Hephaestus, and there was nothing she could do to stop it. He was out there, alone, drifting, and she didn't have to dig deep to know that she would never be able to save him. Suddenly Eiffel raised his hands in a placating gesture, pulling his feet from the console to sit up properly. “Okay, okay. That was a little harsh, I’ll admit. But aren’t you being a little harsh on yourself? I mean, how much sleep have you actually gotten in the last few nights?” 

Minkowski stared at him hard- a look she had given him a hundred times before, for a hundred different stupid reasons, most of them being something that had come out of his mouth. No, no, she wasn’t going to do this. She wasn’t going to talk to a ghost, not when there was so much work to be done. She wasn’t giving in to that, not right now, not ever, really not ever… 

“Hera?” 

“..Yeah, Commander?” 

“I want you to do a reboot of the comms systems.” 

There was a pause. Minkowski crossed her arms and waited, her gaze locked onto the man settled in front of her. He raised his eyebrows, turning his placating gesture into jazz-hands before he leaned back again in his seat. “A.. full reboot, Commander?” 

“Yes, Hera. A full reboot.” 

“Oh… kay, but I’m right in the middle of walking the Lieutenant through something, so can it wait just a tiny--” 

“Now.” 

“Okay, okay. Rebooting right now. Communications systems will be down for about.. Three minutes, give or take. And… d--” 

There was a quiet burst of static as Hera’s voice distorted and faded out. Minkowski felt a small well of guilt settle in her chest for shutting her off like that, but it meant three minutes of going totally unheard. Three minutes that she could speak to the ghost settled in front of her. She clenched her jaw, staring hard for another long moment. Eiffel only smiled in return, for once seeming to wait until she spoke first.

At least, he waited for a few seconds. And then he rolled his eyes and looked back to the console, seeming to search over the buttons and switches for something in particular. “You know, she probably would’ve just ignored you if you started talking to yourself. She does it to me all the time.” 

That wasn’t comforting. In fact, none of this was comforting. She wasn’t sure why she bothered shutting Hera down when she should just--

“You know how much I hate being the voice of reason, Commander. But I actually do think that you should take a break.” Eiffel looked back to her. She felt herself take a steadying breath, blinking at a burning feeling behind her eyes that told her tears were inevitable if she kept staring at him like this. Four days… he would still be alive, probably, unless he’d done something exceptionally stupid. She didn’t put it past him to do something exceptionally stupid. 

“I don’t have time for a break, Eiffel,” she snapped back. “I know you can’t exactly know this, but the station is falling apart and if we don’t do something about it I could-” 

“Oh, I know that perfectly well. It’s been falling apart since day one.” Eiffel smiled at her. “And I’m not me, remember? I’m all in here.” he gestured at his own head. “If you start thinking otherwise, you’ll have actually lost your mind. And then we’re really in for a ride if you go buying tickets to the crazy train.”

“Then you should know that I don’t have an option. What am I supposed to do, let it all keep breaking down? I don’t exactly have much to work with here.” She paused as he broke into a laugh and frowned. It wasn’t funny. None of it was funny. Not even Lovelace’s stupid jokes held anything funny in them anymore. They were stranded out here alone and as good as dead, with an unprecedented solar event happening right out their window and a crew member who’d been flung out of her reach only moments after she’d promised that she wouldn’t leave him out there. She had Hera, grieving and glitching at every turn, who’d been struggling to control the station even before part of it had blown up, and Hilbert, insane as he was, and Lovelace, losing her grip with every passing second, all to take care of and keep alive. And she couldn't. Not for forever, and she knew it. Eiffel kept laughing.

“But it is funny,” he told her, before she could even snap at him. He gave her a lopsided grin and rested an arm over the back of his chair. “Come on. You’ve got, like, the only three people in the galaxy who could survive a thing like this on your side. Hera’s a supercomputer, for crying out loud. And Lovelace, who’s totally lived up to the badass space captain thing, and Hilbert, who..” He grimaced a little, then shrugged. “Despite.. everything, is still kind of a mad supergenius. If anyone’s gonna get through it all, it’s the three people you’ve got behind you. And they’re not gonna go any more cu-cuckoo than they already have if you take a nap for a few hours.” 

He was right. Maybe. But just because her crew happened to be made up of some of the best minds she’d ever known didn’t mean that she had the resources they needed to keep them alive. There were vital repairs to be done to the station, things that she tried to pretend weren’t looming over their heads at any given moment. And then there was the fact that she didn’t have her full crew, either. She was missing one. Minkowski chewed at her lip, then sighed. She sounded tired even to her own ears. “And what about you, Eiffel?” 

He shrugged. That was about as much as an answer as she could get, really. “I don’t know, Commander. But if I were me, I wouldn’t want Commander Minkowski to work herself insane over a situation she couldn't do anything about. ..Pryce and Carter’s number 68,” he added, with a sudden expectant grin. “Go.” 

“There are limits,” she started, rattling off the tip without having to think about it, “To what the human body can take in any period of time. Please be mindful that you do not overwork yourself.” She paused, then frowned. “That’s a cheap trick. The next tip is-” 

“Unless you have orders to do so, I know, I know.” Eiffel raised an eyebrow at her. “But you’re the highest authority right now. And really, if you’re seeing things…” 

“I need a break,” she finished for him. His smile turned a bit more genuine as he spun his chair back towards the console. She let out a low breath. She didn’t want to rest, not right now, but maybe he was right. Maybe she was right? She didn’t know what the real Eiffel would say, but…

A burst of static. A pause. Then Hera’s voice floating over the intercom. “---Done. Oh, there we go. Communications systems are back online.” She sounded cheerful, at least. Then Hera’s voice softened, speaking to Minkowski only, she assumed. “Did that.. Do whatever you needed it to, Commander?” 

“Yeah, Hera. Thanks.” Minkowski hesitated a moment longer. Eiffel was still sitting in front of her, but she knew he’d be gone when she turned her back. Still drifting, out there, somewhere, in a direction she could pinpoint but couldn't follow. But she could sleep, and put herself on a regular rotation with Lovelace and Hilbert, and work out a plan to handle any alarms when they went off. She could do that much. Sighing, she turned from the console and started back out into the rest of the station.

#not sure about bolding hera's dialogue but it looks better than just the italics #wolf 359 #doug eiffel #renee minkowski #also the three P&C tips are from the actual book #i skimmed through it to find relevant tips :)

[mookybear12404]

i have been delightedly following your w 359 liveblogging!! and i would love to hear just your initial thoughts on the finale! incomprehensibility welcome!

THANK YOU ANONNNN Imma put this under a read more to avoid spoiling anything

deep breath SCREAMS IM LITERALLY INCONSOLABLE ABT EIFFEL!!!!!!! THIS MAN!! WILL NEVER GET TO SEE HIS DAUGHTER AND REMEMBER HER!!! (tbh Im actually kinda conflicted about how I feel about that choice narratively. Like, they executed it VERY well, but part of me can't accept that this was the best conclusion to Doug Eiffel and all of his mistakes. idk I still need to process the grief first before i can be sure) You know what I do think was narratively satisfying tho? MINKOWSKI WITH THE HARPOON. I GO FERAL EVERYTIME I THINK ABOUT IT. AAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH I WAS LITERALLY CHEERING AND SCREAMING ALSO. SHE CALLED HIM DOUG ALSO ALSO HERA. NOT LOOKING LIKE PRYCE. IN THE MINDSCAPE. 10/10 IM SCREAMING. I DESPERATELY WISH I KNEW WHAT SHE LOOKED LIKE AHHH Also??? Like Im very happy that lovelace gets her happy ending but I cant stop thinking about how they NEVER really expand on the fact that she's an alien. Like. specifically planted to make her way back to earth and gather intel on human. that was a whole debate for a while that was never really settled and I feel like there's GOTTA be repercussions for that down the line

ALSO ALSO Gotta say I absolutely LOVED Kepler turning on Cutter and how it went down bc OF COURSE this dude isn't just suddenly going to turn a good guy!! but also. killing humanity when YOURE A HUMAN TOO IS TOO STUPID EVEN FOR HIM Okay that's the most coherent I can get out abt them but. my brain is still PROCESSING this finale AHHHH until then I'm just. holding the crew in my mind so tenderly. I want them to all have their happy and peaceful life on earth again. They stick together (rip minkowski's husband having to process that his wife isn't dead while also trying to feed the extra family members renee dragged in) and eventually tear apart goddard futeristics and find a way to give Hera a body and all live happily ever after PLEASE GABRIEL URBINA THEY DESERVE THIS.

#wolf 359 #having. so many thoughts

[fallow4fics]

Works: 5/5 Fandom: Wolf 359 (Radio) Rating: Teen/Mature Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings/No Archive Warnings Apply Relationships: Doug Eiffel/Daniel Jacobi, Doug Eiffel/Warren Kepler, Daniel Jacobi/Warren Kepler, Doug Eiffel/Daniel Jacobi/Warren Kepler Characters: Doug Eiffel, Daniel Jacobi, Warren Kepler, Alana Maxwell, Marcus Cutter, Hera (Wolf 359), Reneé Minkowski, Isabel Lovelace, Alexander Hilbert Additional Tags: Light Dom/sub, Extremely Dubious Consent, everyone in si-5 is fucked up about sex, everyone is a fucking disaster, Implied/Referenced Alcohol Abuse/Alcoholism, Fluff and Angst, Canon-Typical Violence, Self-Esteem Issues Words: 43,161 Summary: Doug Eiffel accepts an offer from Warren Kepler and joins SI-5.

Look...Look. lesbianjackrackham's Lungs series is like my gold standard for w359 fics. I recommend it to everyone, and I'm constantly going back and rereading it. It's like St. Augustine is That Way for me. I just love it so much...

I love their narrative voice and honestly, it's such a juicy concept. I feel that Eiffel would have done so well in SI-5!! He's shown that he's willing to go to extreme lengths in the name of self-preservation (and that those lengths aren't necessarily in the right). Also, who doesn't like Eiffel getting his head and heart twisted around six ways till Sunday?

Break the Lock, Carry it With You, and Stubborn Rock are my favorites from this series, specifically, but it's all so, so good.

#fic recs #fic review #fanfic recs #fanfic review #doug eiffel #daniel jacobi #warren kepler #w359 #wolf 359 #m/m #m #t #40-50 #five stars #sooooo many five stars #twenty stars even!!

[theonlymadmanonmars]

I'm gonna rant about Wolf 359 character Hogwarts houses. Spoiler Warning. Ok so starting off with my favorite character Jacobi.

Jacobi is a Hufflepuff. You could also argue that he'd be a Gryffindor but I think he values loyalty and hard work over bravery. He's incredibly loyal to Kepler until he betrays his trust and remains loyal to Maxwell even after her death

Speaking of Maxwell, Maxwell is a Ravenclaw. She loves to learn more than anything. That was what drew her into Goodard to begin with. The opportunity to be given knowledge just out of her reach.

Kepler is a Slytherin. He's Cunning Ambitious and will go to any means to reach his goal. He's a fan of rules but only rules he makes. He is confident and intelligent. Total Slytherin behavior.

Lovelace is a Gryffindor through and through. She is brave and loves her friends with a fierce passion. She would kill for the people she cares about which is why Hilbert's betrayal hurts her so much.

Hilbert is a Ravenclaw. My first instinct was to put him in Slytherin but everything he does, he does for the sake of knowledge. To find a cure for Decima, to "save countless lives" he's driven entirely by knowledge and science. He doesn't work for his own gain.

Eiffle is a Gryffindor. Eiffle was one I had difficulty sorting because Eiffle has a Hufflepuff energy similar to Jacobi. What ultimately made me put him in Gryffindor is that Hufflepuffs are hardworking. Eiffel is not that. He's also very brave despite being "a man of many fears." He launches himself into the star, he takes down Hilbert, and he survived three months in deep space without (completely) loosing his mind.

Minkowski is a Gryffindor as well. She is incredibly brave and incredibly stubborn both Gryffindor traits. She once spent three weeks hunting a mutant plant monster. She harpooned Cutter in the back. There's really no other option.

Hera is a Slytherin. She's very resourceful, incredibly intelligent (which isn't just a Ravenclaw trait) and loves to learn things. She doesn't love to learn things a Ravenclaw way though. She loves to solve puzzles. She's very focused on helping herself focus better. To take away the buzzing in her head.

Rachel is a Slytherin. She decides to learn the secret to immorality because she's bored and it might be fun. She works for Goodard not to help humanity but to help herself. She's very intelligent but not for the sake of knowledge for the sake of power.

Pryce is a Slytherin similarly to Rachel she's very intelligent but only for herself or Cutter. She doesn't work with AI's because she loves the technology like Maxwell she dose it to rule the world.

Rieman is a Gryffindor. I have no explanation just a gut feeling.

Cutter is interesting. His personality in the show isn't his real personality so you can't really place him in a specific house. He's not a Ravenclaw because despite being smart he lacks wisdom and a will to learn. He's not a Gryffindor because he doesn't value bravery. He's not a Hufflepuff because he's not loyal. He's not a Slytherin because he's, again not loyal. And even if he was any of those things it's a very loose fitting working term because what he displays in the show is not his real personality

Anyways thank you for coming to my Ted talk.

#alexander hilbert #doug eiffel #daniel jacobi #wolf 359 #isabel lovelace #warren kepler #alana maxwell #hera #marcus cutter #miranda pryce #rachel young #none of lovelaces crew is in here so Ill give you their houses #Fouier is a Ravenclaw #Lambert is a ravenclaw #Rhea is a Slytherin #Fisher is a Hufflepuff #hui is a Hufflepuff #I don't make the rules

[hephaestuscrew]

The most dramatic action that Minkowski takes towards Eiffel in the finale (sending him back in the Sol) is going against Eiffel's choices in an attempt to prevent him coming to harm. In contrast, the most dramatic action that Hera takes towards Eiffel in the finale (the memory-wipe) is causing him to come to harm in order to enact a choice that he's made.

In a sense, these actions are conceptual opposites. But they are both taken with love and respect for Eiffel. They are both extremely selfless actions which Minkowski and Hera find painful to take.

They are also both actions which could be considered to be harming Eiffel. Both of these actions involve doing something to Eiffel that Minkowski/Hera would hate to have done to them. And both of those actions are taken with the awareness that they are fairly likely to result in losing Eiffel in a sense (either because he's headed back to Earth while Minkowski is on the Hephaestus, or because he's losing part of what makes him him). That's part of what makes those acts painful and complicated and significant.

Minkowski and Hera both care about Eiffel so deeply, and their care often expresses itself in contrasting ways because they are very different people. The finale emphasises these different manifestations of their care. Love can be 'I will do whatever I can to keep you safe, even when that's not what you want'. Love can also be 'I will support the choices that you make to bring about our common goal, even when that causes you harm'. The way Minkowski's care for Eiffel manifests is tied up in her sense of responsibility for her crew's safety. The way Hera's care for Eiffel manifests is linked to how she's had to fight for her own autonomy.

Neither of their actions in the finale are perfect or typical expressions of love, but in their very different ways, they both act with love, and that's important to me.

#wolf 359 #There's more to say about this cos it's v complicated but I don't want this to keep sitting in my drafts #Although I have immense sympathy for Minkowski's choice #and I love the motivations that underlie it #I do think she wrongs Eiffel in a sense by trying to send him back against his will #whereas I don't think Hera wrongs Eiffel by causing him to lose his memories #which would be a strange thought without the context #but that's just it I guess #All the relationships in this show are so specific to those particular people and the dynamics between them #That's what I'm really trying to say here #Of course Minkowski's love for Eiffel looks different to Hera's love for Eiffel #There's no perfect simple way for their affection to manifest in the situations they are in #Minkowski loves him and so she goes behind his back to protect him knowing she might never see him again #Hera loves him and so she supports his plan (once she's checked if he's sure) and so she causes him to forget her 😭 #Love as accepting loss in order to protect the loved one #Vs Love as accepting loss in order to respect the decision of the loved one #w359 #renee minkowski #hera w359 #the empty man posteth #w359 spoilers #wolf 359 spoilers #renée minkowski

[commsroom]

you know, wolf 359 is not really meant to be analyzed from a worldbuilding perspective, but, from a character perspective, one of the more interesting things about its alternate timeline is that line where hilbert says to minkowski,"there's something about a peacetime army that attracts people who want to know what it is like to kill someone but do not have the nerve to find out." the implication that minkowski, a career military woman in her 30s, joined the united states air force during peacetime and presumably has never faced real threat of active combat. it doesn't absolve her or any of the other characters with military history, but it is an interesting mitigating factor, and i think... while eiffel is absolutely not cut out to be a military man for a myriad of reasons, and while i think his history with the air force only really makes sense if you consider he joined because he didn't go to college and didn't have a whole lot of other options... it does make a little more sense he would consider it morally permissible with a history of and reasonably expected future of peacetime.

#wolf 359 #w359 #renee minkowski #doug eiffel #like it's one of those things where. reasonably a lot of the changes in wolf 359's timeline should drastically alter #the state of the world. and they don't. for the social commentary to work. and the pop culture to work. so you kinda have to #accept that both of those things are true at once. that it's an explanation for some things but only within that specific relevant context. #as a character drama it really only matters as much as it affects the characters. but there is something interesting about #a cast of mostly ex-military characters who don't have... what we would consider. military experience or expectations. #none of them are jaded. including lovelace. it was goddard that did that to her not her time in the air force. #not sure what to say beyond that except that it's fascinating eiffel is former air force #when in another world in another time he could've been the world's most perfect draft dodger. robbed of his destiny.

[nobodysdaydreams]

Any one or more of these that you'd like to answer for any of the characters I'd love to see! Hope you're doing well with finals <3

Doug Eiffel, Daniel Jacobi, Nicholas Benedict, & Dr. Garrison

6. What's something you have in common with this character?

7. What's something the fandom does when it comes to this character that you like?

12. What's a headcanon you have for this character?

18. How about a relationship they have in canon with another character that you admire?

21. If you're a fic writer and have written for this character, what's your favorite thing to do when you're writing for this character? What's something you don't like?

22. If you're a fic reader, what's something you like in fics when it comes to ths character? Something you don't like?

25. What was your first impression of this character? How about now?

Thank you, Sophie! So many fun questions! Let's see... where to begin.

Doug Eiffel

6. What's something you have in common with this character? We both have very bad ADHD. I don't know if there's a character I've related to as strongly as Doug Eiffel for that specific purpose. I'll have to pull together a list of all the ADHD characters I related to someday.

12. What's a headcanon you have for this character? He gets to see his daughter Anne again. After all this time he deserve a chance to make things right. His daughter needs her dad to come home and give her a hug.

18. How about a relationship they have in canon with another character that you admire? I love Doug's friendship with Hera and Minkowski. They all care for each other so much despite their differences and they survive because they rely on and care for each other.

21. If you're a fic writer and have written for this character, what's your favorite thing to do when you're writing for this character? What's something you don't like? I love writing about Doug's new life experiences on Earth without his old memories. Reinventing himself, finding himself again. However, I don't like the fact that I haven't had time to write a ton of Wolf359 in a while. Why must my ideas be so ambitious? 😭

25. What was your first impression of this character? How about now? First impressions, ngl, I judged Doug a bit for his need to make jokes and be at the center of attention and apparent lack of regard for the feelings and concerns of others, until I realized the reason I didn't like him were because he reminded me of my own flaws. But we learn and we grow, and Doug certainly did. Very proud of him.

Daniel Jacobi (aka Duck Boy 🦆)

7. What's something the fandom does when it comes to this character that you like? This is gonna sound bad, but affectionately bully him a little bit. Even though I really came around to this character, he really needed to get it together. Glad he finally did!

12. What's a headcanon you have for this character? I have several head canons that I really need to start writing more about, one of them being that Jacobi and Maxwell have similar broken relationships with their families (for some similar and dissimilar reasons) and that's part of what drove them to become friends. Also that duck imprinting on Jacobi fic (it will take a while to get there but I have ideas)

18. How about a relationship they have in canon with another character that you admire? Jacobi and Maxwell's friendship. I know people talk a lot about Jacobi and Kepler, but he was a horrible boss and their relationship had a huge toxic power imbalance (though I begrudgingly came around on Kepler too, oh if only Whiskey Boy could have gotten there sooner). But you can tell Jacobi actually cares about Maxwell. She's possibly the only character he not only cares about but believes in. Jacobi knows Kepler is full of it (though his thoughts about Kepler being full of it certainly increase after Maxwell's death, he knows to some extent Kepler's kind of a jerk), but you can tell he believes in Maxwell. He justifies all the horrible things he does because he says they allow people like her to do her job. He sees her potential to do good and wonderful things and realizes just how much is lost when she dies (and later on, how much was really lost by having her work at Goddard when her work could have gone to so many better things). He sees his own goodness as only being an extension of protecting and helping her. When she dies, Jacobi just becomes the guy who explodes things and kills people. You see the toll that takes on him. It's also nice to see Maxwell caring for Jacobi before she died. You can tell she sees the potential he has for goodness despite the fact that Jacobi can't see it in himself.

25. What was your first impression of this character? How about now? Y'all already know I had some negative words to say about this man (he deserved it), but I went from bullying Duck Boy to affectionately bullying him, and I loved his arc! We love to see redemption.

Nicholas Benedict

6. What's something you have in common with this character? Being neurodivergent, relying on friends and family, and especially the show version and the way he reacts to situations. Oh my brother is the evil guy who wants to kidnap me? Let me hop into a row boat I'll give him something to kidnap! He's very distractable and the inattentive ADHD is easy to see but those big emotions and impulsivity slip out every now and again and that's something I very much relate to.

7. What's something the fandom does when it comes to this character that you like? I love that we all recognize and agree that he is an amazing mentor figure and cares so much about his family. I know that sounds cliched but its so wholesome.

12. What's a headcanon you have for this character? SO MANY and in the interest of not spoiling my own fic, I'm just gonna say that he's been through so much, but has chosen, in spite of it all, to chose to be good and be better, and I greatly admire that.

18. How about a relationship they have in canon with another character that you admire? His relationship with his daughters (Number Two, Rhonda, and Constance). You can tell he loves these girls and they are his family, blood related or not. It's delightfully wholesome.

22. If you're a fic reader, what's something you like in fics when it comes to this character? Something you don't like? I'll do the fic reading question for Nicholas, because I love when fics understand Nicholas. He might not be super athletic and might rely on his friends a lot, but that does not mean he's incapable or blind to who his brother is. Nicholas knows Nathaniel, he knows how controlling, manipulative, and slimy he is, heck, that's the whole reason he left when he was a kid. Nicholas knows Nathaniel has all sorts of traps for him, he's not stupid. He just loves his brother and believes in him and is willing to take risks to get him back (and it paid off 🥹🥰). Something I don't like is when Nicholas is portrayed as dumb or incompetent for believing in Nathaniel or forgiving him (not that Nathaniel wouldn't have consequences- that's part of the redemption process- but I don't like it when people try to say that Nicholas was wrong to want to get his brother back or somehow betrayed his friends by doing so even though Nicholas was firm in condemning Nathaniel for his treatment of the children and others).

Dr. Garrison

6. What's something you have in common with this character? Women in STEM. Mental health issues. Science. Psychology. Neuroscience. That about sums it up. I really wish we could have learned more about her backstory, what she wants, and what led her to work for Curtain.

7. What's something the fandom does when it comes to this character that you like? Explore her backstory and complex relationship with Curtain and other characters. If the show wouldn't do it, then we can! I mean, they teased it a bit in season 2, but like...give us more!

12. What's a headcanon you have for this character? You already know. Here, let me just...there we go. But to summarize, she's an orphan, cares about others but has trauma and her own goals that frequently get in the way of that, she once had a better relationship with Curtain and several other characters, and she struggled with alcoholism and depression at several points in her life.

21. If you're a fic writer and have written for this character, what's your favorite thing to do when you're writing for this character? What's something you don't like? Give her angst and complexity. She's a villain, don't get me wrong, but there's so much to her, and I just want to give her a hug. I have no idea if this was where they were going with her in the show, but I love writing it. I'm glad I was able to do that in SOS because I don't like the idea of writing her off as a side character when I think she has a lot more to offer.

25. What was your first impression of this character? How about now? At first, being a books fan, I wondered why the show had so much of her, and at first thought it was to better characterize Curtain and his complex and weird relationship with his employees and pathological need to be liked and have the appearance of friends. But then, season 2, when they revealed she built the inventions and was working with Curtain for the money...and is apparently aware of the existence of psychics (as was Curtain at one point)...like girl, WHAT HAPPENED? I didn't go this direction in SOS, but I would not be surprised if had the show continued, the research Curtain, SQ's birth parents, Garrison, and Milligan were doing together had something to do with psychics, which would have tied nicely into the whole "where are Constance's birth parents?" plotline. Will I incorporate any of that into my fic? Haha...no spoilers. 😉

Thanks for the ask Sophie! 🥰

#Bods answers #ask game #wolf 359 #w359 #doug eiffel #daniel jacobi #tmbs #the mysterious benedict society #mysterious benedict society #tmbs disney #mbs disney #nicholas benedict #mr benedict #dr. garrison #dr garrison #long post

[vonkarma2]

character ask game do minkowski w359 and rocio if you want

These got so long omg

Minkowski:

Sexuality Headcanon: lesbian <3 She has a husband allegedly but I’m a minkowski was lying about being married truther. like why would she call his work phone if they were married??? It all adds up

Gender Headcanon: personally I think of her as cis although I strongly respect transfem headcanons as well. transmasc is definitely fair it’s just not what I think of with her character. The only wolf 359 characters I personally think of as trans are Maxwell, Hera (<sort of canon in a sense), and maybe Jacobi. 50/50 on Jacobi.  Who’s to say.

A ship I have with said character: do I even have to say it. Minlace canon and real they are meant to be. There is barely any self deception involved in my perception of their relationship  those women are GAY. It’s in the podcast like not intentionally but they will say incredibly gay things. From time to time. Well anyway I like how their personalities are in some ways different (ie how Lovelace is in many ways paralleled with Eiffel (although obviously they have a lot of differences as well such as Lovelace being incredibly mean)) but they get along very well and work well as a team. I like them both a lot individually as characters as well. They’re both really funny

A BROTP I have with said character: Im willfully ignoring the potentially cringe language used in this post Im just going to think of it as platonic relationship. It probably means friendship specifically idk if that’s how I would describe her and Eiffel though. I know they care abt each other a lot and ok they probably are friends but idk. Comrades maybe. Whatever the point is I really like their relationship especially in the finale, I like how she really wants to keep him safe and her entire crew as well, and how the two of them have been through so much together and they’re really close even though they hated each other initially. It’s nice to see it change so much over time + they have a lot of moments together I really like. Like when he came back from being stuck in a freezer for however long that was Im actually not sure it was a while though 

A NOTP I have with said character: Her and Eiffel is unhinged I don’t think anyone actually thinks this probably. Her x Dominic Koudelka if you respect this woman’s marriage then get out ‼️

A random headcanon: I think she has a buzzcut because since this is an audio medium characters can look like whatever I want. I think she would be a cat person. For some reason I think of her as having lived in California like San Francisco specifically. That might be canon and I just forgot when I heard it but she is from Cali to me. I mean after she was from Poland

General Opinion over said character: I love her so much I’ve said this so many times I’m getting tired of saying that I’ve said this before but unironically she’s like the exact opposite of what I complain abt with women in mainstream sci fi action comedy. She’s a heavily flawed character but also has a lot of strengths as well, like she’s a good leader. Has a lot of development over the course of the series. I like her development and she’s very multifacteted as well. #1 minkowski stan whatever whatever. She is definitely my favorite character in wolf 359 which is saying a lot w/how much I love Eiffel and the overall cast as well

Rocio:

Sexuality canon: lesbian also not much else to say not much to elaborate on. Well I guess it is kind of funny she’s like I will transcend humanity…. To the next level of existence…. wait omg a cute girl 😖😖😖🥰🥰🥰. Not in those words. But that’s the idea 

Gender canon: Largely indifferent to the concept, hasn’t really actively thought abt it but if she did she’d be like wow I literally don’t care at all like the concept has no influence on reality to her. Doesn’t dislike being seen as a woman in particular she’d be fine with that or genderless. The problem is being perceived at all lol. 

A ship I have with said character: I’ve been thinking about her and Gloria recently I mean ofc I was going to say that because that is the relationship I put them in. And it is the only one that remotely makes any sense out of the OCs in this story. But yeah let’s talk abt some of the details with them

being around gloria makes rocio feel way more down to earth because 1) gloria herself is usually focused on the present moment 2) she is genuinely just annoying, she actively gets on rocios nerves enough that they’ll be distracted from being existentially depressed long enough to argue with her. But Rocio actually loves arguing + Gloria likes attention from anyone (it being slightly negative helps because she doesn’t have to worry abt letting anyone down) so they actually have fun together

One thing I like about Rocio is that for all their grandiose ideas and also incredible power they get embarrassed/flustered very easily which Gloria thinks is really funny and kind of cute

they each respect each other’s ability to do whatever they want and not care about the consequences or what other people think (even though this is a bad thing for both of them lol). However Rocio respects Gloria increasingly as she starts to doubt herself whereas Gloria loses a lot of respect for Rocio when she sees how she sometimes treats others + also how she’s not being cool and mysterious she’s also pathetic and annoying at times. It doesn’t make her hate them though it makes her pity them 

I think they actually could work even though they don’t have that much in common it’s abt their personalities and the understanding they have of each other from pretty early on. They both get that the other needs to have space yk + especially after they become a bit more emotionally mature. They should talk to a couples therapist that would actually help a lot. Not marriage material probably (

A BROTP I have with said character: Due to the nature of their personality they have somewhat limited options…. I mean I would probably say Cirillo lol but Im going to talk abt Angel as well

During the story her friendship with Cirillo is solid but there are some flaws to it. They both depend on each other a lot because he doesn’t have a place to live without them and they need him to help with basic tasks (mostly communication based, like he’ll talk on the phone for her or order for her at stores sometimes). But this also creates a lot of tension because he’s really really nice to her and she really isn’t in return both bc she doesn’t want to (she used to just not really like/be comfortable talking face to face but now the problem is the act of communicating at all. It’s not THAT extreme most days but 1) sometimes it is 2) she wants to avoid it overall. Also bc she is afraid of interpersonal relationships, justifying it as not having time for them or them getting on the way of her goals, but really she’s just afraid of someone being close to her.) and because she can’t. But she feels pretty guilty about this no matter how much she wishes she didn’t. Cirillo usually wants to be understanding of this, he honestly doesn’t care that they don’t talk much because he can get that from other sources, he’s mostly just concerned. To be clear this isn’t me trying to talk about him as a perfect saint because 1) he neglects his own needs way too much and lets people treat him however they want out of guilt and a misplaced sense of respecting everyone even if they’re not a good person at all or treat him or others badly 2) he takes personal responsibility for Rocio’s mental and physical health which is already highly stupid because he is literally incapable of fixing the problem, but he’s also too nice to her to actually confront her about unhealthy things she’s doing in the slightest so the problem just gets worse and they both feel terrible. Jesus Christ did I spend this long explaining just the bad parts of their relationship there are good parts too omg.   Rocio really appreciates how he’s willing to be accommodating and understanding when other people aren’t. She tries to help him where she can like looking for jobs for him or something. They can communicate very easily and do know each other pretty well since they actually talked via letters for like 3 years prior to the start of the story. On the very rare occasions where Rocio does feel like spending time with someone they both do enjoy it, like they’d go to the sea and watch the boats or some old man shit like that. But when they can handle it they like listening to him talk (+he likes spending time with literally anyone in any setting, they both appreciate peaceful settings a lot) and they absolutely appreciate all the things he’s done for her in the past, like theyre absolutely aware of how helpful he’s been and they probably would have been screwed in a lot of situations (there’s a lot of bureaucracy wizards have to go through for example lots of talking to people at colleges and government offices and things) without him since they don’t really know anyone else they can go to for help.

Ángel honestly never really knew her that well even though he wanted to, and she used him for personal gain and left him to die ( < there is slight nuance to this part in that at this point rocio really actually did need to make it to the tower in order to prevent a shit ton of people from dying and they might not have if they were still protecting Angel, as well as the fact that he wouldn’t have been the primary target of the demons anyway since they had already used his blood to open the portal so he wasn’t really an important factor anymore.) I’m not sure whether this would ruin their relationship permanently though because I think Rocios actions should have lasting consequences and this would be a really good opportunity to demonstrate that and contrast it with Cirillo forgiving her. But on the other hand I genuinely think it’s more in character for Angel to forgive her, he really wants to understand others in part out of curiosity but also because of loneliness. Tiago’s death was really really hard on him (yes they knew each other for literally a day but Angel had literally never had a friend before in his life) so he does really want companionship wherever he can get it. And he was willing to forgive Victor (even though what he did was probably not as bad even though it was more directly harmful it was WAY less risky and he probably had a better justification) I definitely don’t think he’d be totally fine with Rocio at all. But he would want to understand them better and why they did what they did, and he’d definitely be open to knowing them in the future. He’d like ask them why and what was going on and he’d want to hear everything they were thinking during the time they knew each other. And then after that I think he would forgive her ( < they would definitely cry like 5x during the explanation, they as in both of them), not to say he’s obligated to at all (I actually think it would be better for him not to have contact with her ever again lmao) but that’s what i think he’d do based on his priorities and the kind of person he is. I don’t think they’d actively spend time together usually but they have a lot of mutual friends so they’d be cool whenever they saw each other. Rocio will never stop feeling bad about it as long as they live. But they’re also pretty grateful to him as well.

A NOTP I have with said character: Setting aside the her being a lesbian thing she and Cirillo would not work I bring this up bc one time I saw writing something for them like a year ago and it accidentally sounded very romantic and it’s haunted me ever since. They would be miserable. It would be like all the problems with their friendship but exaggerated times 1000. They have no interests in common he’s a #extrovert she’s a #introvert he would try really hard to solve all her problems and it would make them both very sad when he’d inevitably fail. Just awful. But anyway in terms of people she could actually be with theoretically:

Laura: To be clear he’s 20 even though I’ve said she’s 18 before I changed my mind she is 20 so there’s not really an age gap. This is kind of out of left field I’d have to think abt this. Yeah it would not work 

Lucia: She doesn’t like them lol but even if she did/got to know them better I don’t think it would really work she’s too down to earth and really opposes a lot of what Rocio believes in philosophically, not to mention their personalities would not work together at all theyre both very reserved and need someone who would actively make them feel comfortable (Lucia by being nice to her and listening to what she has to say, Rocio by being willing to argue with them + straight up by annoying them sometimes. And for both of them being willing to carry the conversation) which they could not do for each other AT ALL

So in the story I think literally anything besides her and Gloria would be out of character 😔 but honestly I wouldn’t be that strongly against these either like in the context of fans doing them the first one makes zero sense but whatever but the second I could see working if you slightly reinterpreted the characters or something it could be ok and it would also be really funny. If you changed Joanna or Salem to not be straight that would also be hilarious so I wouldn’t care about that either. I guess I would say her and Cirillo or her and Ángel I would be the most strongly against bc even though that couldn’t happen in universe I can see someone doing it anyway and I would not care for it.

A random canon: The first spell she learned how to do was to create fire. This was her final project at her college and doing this was what got her entered as a candidate to become a wizard like fully. At first she could only create a candle sized flame but she’s practiced it a lot and now can create like a bonfire relatively easily. They will die at around 200 years old outliving all of their friends also. (<wizards live for longer and age more slowly automatically) Kind of sad but it does mean they’ll live to see the 1990s which is funny. I mean they would have with a normal lifespan very likely as well they’d only be 70 or so. Whatever

General Opinion over said character: they’re just okay. No idk I really like how their design looks personally, it’s not very elaborate but I’m happy with it. I’ve had them for so long (<2.5 years not actually that long) and thought abt them so much so I like seeing how much they’ve developed over time. I’m really happy with them :) at least conceptually I think they’re interesting I like the different aspects of their character and relationship with others and I think some aspects of their development are heartwarming to me or whatever. I mean bc I created them. But yeah really love this character a lot. They’re fun and pretty easy to draw too <3

#thanks for asking!! #I always forget how long these take lol but this was really fun #I really need to come up with the full list of magic Rocio can do #there’d probably be abt 4-5 things #but you have to think what’s in character for their priorities yk #my ocs #rocio satapathy

[clonerightsagenda]

I have no other thoughts about that roleswap since that post was mainly inspired by seeing other takes on Eiffel and Hera specifically but I figure since both of them would've been around Goddard for their entire lives when SI5 shows up and Hilbert's like "oh no... it's Warren Kepler..." Eiffel and Hera both start groaning loudly and Minkowski's like what?? is this bad??? and they're like he is just so fucking annoying

#Eiffel: PLEASE tell me Jacobi's not there #Minkowski looking at the manifest: I can't tell you that #Hera: at least that means Maxwell's here. Maxwell's cool #Eiffel: *rude raspberry noise over the speakers* #Minkowski: what are they like a matched set or something #Hera: yeah #Kepler: well if it isn't Dr. Pryce's two least favorite lab experiments #Hera: well if it isn't the intern who only got hired for his K-r surname and good cheekbones #Kepler: what #Hera: worry about it #Eiffel: isn't it 'don't worry about it' #Hera: not in this situation #wolf 359