Jon: “I wanted to leave, and hunt down Elias—“

Martin:

“Something moves outside, struggling to crawl on a hundred reaching, grasping hands. It shudders, and grips the earth, pulling itself along as nails rip free and skin scrapes loose. It is afraid of what it has become and where it might be going.“

so thats daisy right? we all agree?

Hearing gerrys voice again like

Jon after he snaps out of his statement trance about the haunted cabin:

god the fondness in jon’s voice when martin starts rambling is what really gets me

me, through tears: the magnus archives is a horror podcast

Jon: Now for my daily routine of self-inflicted torture by listening to tape recordings of my dead friends

The Eye: Waky waky eggs and bakey bitch it's time to go on a post-apocalyptic roadtrip of truly homosexual proportions

listen i know most people have already come to the conclusion that this particular stack of tapes didn’t come from magnus (and for good, plot-ish reasons) but honestly the most convincing evidence for that theory to me is that there’s no way mr “[extended sounds of brutal pipe murder] was an overreaction” wouldn’t have immediately destroyed a tape on which tim called him jimmy magma okay

“Remind me to tell you about Agnes.”

Leitner: didn’t know you’re a pyromaniac

Gertrude: oh, you know-

my favorite thing about that “i love you” is that in the season 4 q+a you could hear how exasperated jonny was that anyone could interpret their relationship as platonic. like he was trying very hard to not let it slip but you could just TELL so episode one. episode fucking ONE, he has jon say it. just come right out and say those three words like it wouldn’t knock us all off our asses for the rest of the week. jonny writer man went “you can interpret this however you want but also fuck you they’re in love” and i think that’s beautiful

Jonny post s4: I tried many ways to make jon express his feelings for martin in 159 more explicitly but it never sounded right, he’s just not that open with his emotions yet 

Jonny writing s5:

SWEATS

So, my university does a lot of outreach Classics work, trying to make it less of an elitist subject and more accessible to children, and as part of that, I went to give a talk to a class of 6 and 7 year olds a few months back.

And here’s the thing. Classics is really often portrayed as the last bastion of academic privilege, a subject that is only taught to rich white kids so that they can brag about knowing Latin and get jobs as Tory MPs. But these kids were OBSESSED. They had already done some stuff on myths, and they were so excited to talk about it. They knew all the stories, all the heroes, the gods, the monsters. I have never seen such an excitable group of kids as these 6 year olds shouting about Odysseus.

For the lesson, I asked them to think of their favourite myth and to consider it from the point of view of the monster rather than the hero. The end goal was to show that often the monsters and heroes are quite similar. We decided to do Polyphemus (the Cyclops) in the Odyssey, and so I asked them why they thought Polyphemus might have been so angry at Odysseus that he killed some of his men.

Because he came home and found lots of strange men in his house, eating his food, said the kids.

So, I asked them, do you think that was a good reason to kill people?

No, they said, but he was very cross, and he didn’t do it because it was fun.

And then this KID, this SIX YEAR OLD CHILD, put her hand up and said “well, it was very bad of him, but if we’re cross with him then we have to be cross with Odysseus too, because when he came home from his adventure and found lots of men in his house, trying to marry his wife, he killed them, and that’s the same thing, isn’t it?”

AND LET ME TELL YOU

I am a published Classicist! A PhD student! And I have never made that connection before! Not once! And this child was six years old! And she made the link! By herself!

And so I tried not to show how gobsmacked I was, and we talked more about other monsters, including Medusa, and at the end of the lesson a lot of them said that they thought the monsters were not as evil as we usually think, and then I went home.

But I honestly haven’t got over how excited and engaged those kids were, in a totally regular primary school. Classics, in that classroom, was not elitist or inaccessible. It was something they understood, could really get their teeth into and use to think of new ideas of good and bad, of why we demonise different people for doing the same things. And that’s how I like to think about Classics. Not a series of dry texts in ancient languages, but as living stories that you actually can’t help but love, just a bit.

CAPTAIN CARTER !

This could never happen due to them both being flagrant bisexuals but just lean into the comedy of this for me real quick and dont accuse me of biphobia am literally bi but like jon and georgie break up cos georgie is like oh shit. im a girl. and whats more shes a lesbian and she hems and haws on it for a bit like should i tell him because as far as she knows jon is a het girl but her relationship w jon is on the rocks anyways so its just like. the excuse they need to actually bite the bullet n break up. so she goes to him and tells him and shes like trying not to cry cos she likes jon and doesnt wanna break his heart or anything but jons just like. oh god. i was just about to tell you im a gay man. and they break up. unfortunately this would not work w the rest of tma because this would create a fucking unbreakable bond and she and jon would be bffs

It's unbelievably hard to focus on the positive right now but I'm trying to count my blessings. I know people who, for the first time ever, have the time and space to work on their passions. People are making art and music and noise against the big wide silence we are all backed against. I am at risk due to preexisting conditions. But I am also playing a Pokemon emulator and FaceTiming people I'd have never called otherwise. I am aggravated that my students are being left in the lurch and the teachers are given no help. But I am also aware that every time I've asked for patience, they have stepped up and offered me as much time and help as I need. For every person I see fighting over supplies, there's two who are offering theirs to shelters, who are volunteering, who work endless hours providing supplies. Many of us are in such dire circumstances that we feel like discarded rats, trapped and screaming. But I am reminding myself - even rats know to hold their hand out for each other.

No, the media does not like this narrative. It is not good for ratings. It is better to say we are crumbling as a society for them; they need the views regardless of how much panic they incite. This is okay. I know in my heart. For all that things are coming apart, people are doing what we have always, always, always been best at. We are a tiny mammal species with badly designed backs. We still put paint on cave walls and called each other home and taught our young to dance. We made safe and we made gentle and we told ghost stories. We kept legends and sang glories. They will tell you this was not necessary. But of course it was. The real nature of humanity is to spread our joy, our love, our hope. One at a time in tiny candles. It is the nature of people to light every endless night. To hold hands. To offer up.

I cannot see you. I am sorry you are lonely. But here am I and here are you and we are both scared. It is growing dark, but tell me your story or show me your drawing. We can both say - isn't it so wonderful to be reminded? We were always in love with each other. Look up. Tell me how I can be helping.