Mysterious Benedict Society - Tumblr Posts

“There was a unique pleasure in knowing a friend so well, Reynie reflected, rather like sharing a secret code.”

Trenton Lee Stewart, The Mysterious Benedict Society & the Perilous Journey

Something, anything, involving yo-yos.

Ok new game I want to hear your wildest proposals for a new sport in the mbs universe. Mine is Competitive Square Dancing

The Best of Kristen Schaal as Number Two in The Mysterious Benedict Society

for @shiningsagittarius :)

I know it’s a result of Mr Curtain’s brainwashing and all but Number Two’s smile gives me serotonin.

Listen up weird nerdy people/pos on here:

Boycott Disney+ which cancels all the good stuff (THE OWL HOUSE? THE MYSTERIOUS BENEDICT SOCIETY?)

Support Netflix instead so they get enough funding to finally make an ATWQ series

For the character ask bingo - Number Two and Esmé Squalor? :D

Number Two:

Esmé Squalor:

The Mysterious Benedict Society is 100% a social critique, but aimed at kids in a way that I could identify with as a child.

"The Emergency" is generally whatever War that the Adults are anxious about. The Cold War era seems to be especially thematic due to the subliminal messages (Freud era) and really vague tension.

The amazing social critique that negativity has invaded society via all of our minds, is directly related to the tensions surrounding the Cold War. The Bad Guy with the name Curtain, such as the "Iron Curtain"...

The repetitive nature of everything that the random Adults on the street say is SO spooky because it expertly conveys how it feels to be a child and not understand what everyone is so worried about.

Only the kids can approach the world wholeheartedly and with the creativity necessary to create a better future than the present. The kids adapt to the riddles as a way to prove they can be given a hard task and approach it genuinely and with pure intentions, while the Adults are representing the corrupt part of the society.

Why Are The Adults This Way? What can I do about it, I'm just a kid?

It's amazing how much this resonated with me reading these books as a kid, even though the symbolism inherent in all of this flew over my head at the time.

Feeling inspired, so have some Christmas-adjacent whump! Malik belongs to @lumpsbumpsandwhumps!

A virtual cookie to anyone who gets who this drabble's villain is a reference to! EDIT: It's McCracken from The Mysterious Benedict Society! I suppose this counts as my entrance into the fandom.

Warnings for gun violence, regular violence, murder, and whump. Message me to add tags or warnings!

11:17 AM, December 24th

Carjacking was not how Luca would prefer to spend her Christmas.

This was why she was doing it as quickly as possible, rifling through the mess of a trunk for the documents she was looking for, and who the hell kept loose-leaf paper in their car boot?!

Evidently, someone who was trying their very best to keep their secret files secret- it had been hard enough finding the car, let alone tailing its owner and waiting for the right time to search. She shoved aside another pile of bills and leaflets, spotting a flash of color drowning in the sea of paper. Bingo.

She grabs it, inwardly cheering. Hopefully she has enough time to deliver it to the client and she can make it back to the agency in time for Christmas day. She just hopes Jake saved her some gingerbread-

Her train of thought is rudely interrupted by a cold sensation on the back of her neck. She looks to the ground, spotting a reflection in a puddle. A man- the car's owner, probably. Pointing a gun at her back. She raises her hands automatically, turning her head just enough to show him she's aware of his presence.

"Turn around," he orders. His finger is off the trigger, but that doesn't reassure her as she turns and sizes him up. Average build, average looks. An office worker, she thinks. Glasses and all. Looks like he hasn't seen the sun in weeks. And yet his aim didn't waver, even a bit. Strange.

His eyes didn't seem to move, and yet the corner of his mouth still rose in recognition. "I know you. You're that private eye- from the papers. Montoya, was it? Yeah..."

She doesn't dare move with the gun trained on her- she's fast, but she's not the Flash. She'll just have to watch and wait for an opportunity.

Oh. He's still talking.

"...saw you following me," he says. Shit, really? She must be losing her touch. "Didn't think you'd have the guts to follow me down here, though."

"Gotta take chances in my line of work," she retorts blithely. A stupid one, apparently...

"A pretty stupid one."

Yeah, didn't need to hear it from you.

He takes a step closer, still aiming at her head. "Now, how about you give me those papers and we can both forget this ever happened."

"Why don't you come over here and take them from me?"

A dumb question? Absolutely. But she was much more likely to survive a fistfight than a bullet through the skull. If she could get him close enough...

The man raises an eyebrow, before lowering the gun and shrugging nonchalantly. "Well- alright."

She drops her hands when he advances, covering the distance between them in three steps, and makes a rapid grab for the gun. He pivots on his feet- fast, too fast for her to react- and pistolwhips her with an audible crack. Luca staggers and falls against the back windshield, clutching her rapidly swelling cheek. A hand slams down too close to her ear, and she sees spiderweb-like cracks spread from the point of impact. Above her is a pleasant man in a now-disheveled suit, who fixes his tie before smiling disarmingly at her, marred only by a single gold tooth.

"Is this rather close enough, ducky?"

His hand not currently in a toxic relationship with the windshield reaches and takes the papers from her. They're wrinkled and torn from Luca's desperate gambit, but he just makes an annoyed noise and tucks them into his inside coat pocket. "That's better."

His previous tough behavior is long gone- now he looms above her, gesturing with the gun for effect as he spoke. "Now, how about you answer my other question and tell me what a spunky little thing like you is doing with my very important papers? They're crucial for my work, you see. Not for the eyes of children."

She ignores the barb (barely) and narrows her eyes. "Then why were they hidden in a giant pile in the trunk of your car?"

Another shrug. "You have me there. So maybe they're not my papers... but they're still quite important. Which begs the question, why are you so desperate for them?"

"You first," she says.

"You're awfully demanding," the man notes. "If you must know, old McCracken was paid quite a large sum to get these papers. But they'd be worthless to anyone else, I was assured. So...?"

Alarmingly, he taps under her chin with the barrel of the gun, and Luca is suddenly hyperaware of his finger on the trigger. "Your turn."

She swallows. "Like you said. I'm a PI. It's my job."

The barrel presses into the soft flesh under her chin. The man- McCracken- leans closer, studying her expression. "You wouldn't be telling a fib to old McCracken, would you? My trigger finger gets twitchy when I'm lied to."

She grits her teeth and says nothing. McCracken's gold tooth winks at her. "Cat got your tongue?"

She purses her lips in silence. McCracken leans back, blowing a raspberry in her direction. "The silent treatment? Really? You're just that determined to make things difficult for me?" He rolls his shoulders, Luca just now noticing the muscles underneath his prim outfit. "Well, me duck, that's quite a shame. Disposing of you here would make a rather big mess... we'll continue this discussion elsewhere."

He finally removes his hand from the window and pulls a handkerchief out of his welt pocket. Luca smells disinfectant- no, that's not right-

McCracken grunts, and suddenly the air feels much clearer- Luca shakes her head and looks down to see the man lying in a pool of blood, prompted by the hunting knife sticking out of his back. Her vision still swimming, Luca blearily looks back up, words of thanks on her lips.

They immediately shriveled up and died, because Malik was standing in front of her.

"You've gotta be fucking kidding me..." she mumbles. Malik looks up, seemingly only now just noticing she was here. "Huh? The hell are you doing here?"

"Getting threatened, what are YOU doing here?!" Luca unsteadily pushes herself up, staggering towards Malik and jabbing a finger at his chest. "Why'd you save me?!"

"I didn't do no such thing," Malik says, seemingly offended at the suggestion. "This son of a bitch cut me off during a procession. I'm just returning the favor."

"So you were going to kill him anyway."

"I'll be honest darlin', I didn't even know you were here." Malik leans down and yanks his knife out of McCracken's ribs. "Then again, someone else roughing you up lowers your value and I still gotta turn a profit with you."

"Like hell you will," she spits, keeping one eye on him as she kneels to take the papers off of the body. Malik is busy examining his knife- he doesn't even spare her a glance as she straightens up, grimacing at the blood soaking half of the writing. She unfolds it slowly, doing her best not to tear it, and reads the loopy cursive with bated breath.

9 left

Nine left.

Luca looks up, fear suddenly flooding every cell of her being. "Malik-?"

But the man was already gone, leaving Luca alone with the body- and questions that she wasn't sure she wanted to know the answer to.