Tumgik
#But probably the murder and stuff is offputting to some people.
Text
98 notes · View notes
Text
Book Review 21 - A Deadly Education by Naomi Novik
Tumblr media
I honestly entirely forget who recommended this to me, but I owe them a thank you. Absolutely not something I would have ever picked up on my own, but a really enjoyable read. My exposure to Novik’s work is extremely limited, which is to say I’ve read Spinning Silver, but I’ve been vaguely meaning to give more of her stuff a try for a while. Didn’t enjoy this as much as that on a few levels, but that’s just the YA/adult genre jump as much as anything, probably.
It is very much a YA book, more than anything I’ve read this year (even more than Iron Widow, probably). From the entire plot being about making friends in high school being a literal life or death struggle to El “most powerful mage ever but only for evil things she tries to avoid so only a half dozen people ever realize how special she is’ Higgins to the booklength awkward teenage ‘literally unclear whether we are dating or not’ romance. So! Broadening my genre horizons some, I suppose.
El’s internal monologue was a bit of a trial for the first half of the book or so, I’ll admit. Not to say that it didn’t ring true to life, but she was just so incredibly fifteen, you know? Generally became significantly more tolerable once she started actually acting and coming out of her shell instead of devoting herself entirely to angsting about how much everyone hated her and trying to convince herself that she was a machievellian villain in waiting.
Though, to pick a nit that probably annoyed absolutely no one but me – I’m willing to accept El’s magical savant-ness as the price of admission, but the whole gradual reveal with her mom actually being world famous felt...odd? Cheap? Like in the beginning she’s very firmly characterized as this kind of head-in-the-clouds well meaning but not particularly perceptive or effectual hippie type, and then it’s gradually revealed that she’s actually the best healer in the UK and has set the global standard for a lot of spells and-. And it’s not like the reveal was actually doing anything dramatically, except making early book El’s isolation and lack of friends even more self-imposed, which was hardly necessary at that point. (Honestly ‘supporting cast go from being nobodies to retroactively being world-famous in their fields’ is the sort of decay I tend to associate with long running serial fiction. Weird to see it happen over the course of one book.) But that’s really just a minor pet peeve.
Orion was a great character, or at least a well-done example of an archetype I adore. ‘Selfless, heroic and dedicated to the point of it being kind of offputting/creepy Chosen One type who is (and I can’t emphasize this enough) not the protagonist. Partially because ‘there’s a much more conventionally heroic adventure story happening 5 degrees to the left’ just makes most stories a little bit more amusing, but also because someone really earnestly believing ‘my entire life is a means to a higher end, a fine tool set to a magnificent or at least a necessary purpose’ reliably drives me absolutely insane about them. That said the only reason I’m not absolutely certain he turns out to be either secretly evil or destined-to-be-the-antichrist is because the end of book cliffhanger makes that almost too obvious and on-the-nose.
Taking a bit of a step back, it’s interesting that the book didn’t really have any individual villain? Like, some other students are antagonists at times, sure, and there are plenty of horrible gribbly monsters (I adored basically all the horrible gribbly monsters), but none that really last as antagonists? Either defused or convinced to step aside/help or brutally murdered with magic. The entire finale was basically extreme high stakes facility maintenance. So yeah, interesting, not my usual expectation of YA.
I mean more broadly the actual villain is of course the entire fucked up system, both social and metaphysical, underlying the school. The role of a brutally competitive education system as recruitment method allowing particularly competent or promising immigrants and members of the lower classes to join a ‘meritocratic’ elite while also filtering out the most troublesome or incompetent children of that elite and using their failure to legitimize the easy inheritance of all the others is, perhaps, a slightly on the nose analogy. But, again, kind of the price of admission.
75 notes · View notes
jadagul · 11 months
Note
How do you rationally justify wanting to prevent people from having sex in public?
Messy democratic compromise?
Like first off I'm a weird person to ask this about because my very aggressive position on this is "iffy squish". I don't think there's an Objectively Correct standard for how much sexual content should be allowed in public. (Not that there are Objectively Correct standards for anything, but "let's not murder" is "more objectively right" than "don't fuck/show nipples/show head hair in public.)
But like the issue is, a lot of people find it, for assorted reasons, really offputting to see other people fucking in public. And at the same time, it's not a huge burden to ban it. Most people don't especially want to have sex in public; most of the people who do don't want it that badly, or have it as a core to their identity, or whatever. (And the ones that do can get together in private clubs and that seems to basically satisfy the urge.)
So it's an issue where, like, a bunch of people find the activity unpleasant and noisome, and it doesn't really limit anyone's freedom very much to ban it, so we do.
But on the other hand, because it's a nuisance regulation, it's...not actually that hard to get away with it, if you do it in a way that doesn't bother people? Like if you rawdog someone in the middle of Times Square you will get arrested. But if you go for a walk in a quiet park at midnight and get frisky on the way, that's generally pretty much fine?
First in the sense that if you don't get caught, you don't get caught. But second in the sense that like, no one really cares? Compare it with the drug war, where people really are trying to make sure no one does drugs even in private. I don't think there are a lot of, like, sting operations to catch people getting up to stuff, and probably if a cop sees you they're happy to run you off. (Unless they're out to get you for some other reason, so of course I'm showing my privilege by being a white straight dude with that last sentence.)
18 notes · View notes
Text
nonzero people podcasting about goosebumps the musical & it’s never enough. neither extensive enough nor enthusiastic enough & that’s coming from me which is the entire explanation for the assessment. 
on the same topic but a completely different point, i was just appreciating how extra fun i always find understudy buddy to be. and obviously i would like to think that maybe tina & the unit that is brooke & zeke are like, more neutral to amicable after the show lol. tina is a lot of fun as is, like, automatic shoutout to any character just being like, getting in the way being offputting / a pain and all powered by one’s own intensity, that’s fun & funny & who among us? and like yeah she’s also definitely doing the mean girl thing like, in the song as mentioned lmao like please, rein it in. and maybe she will, but then when other suspects are being kind of crossed off the list just before thee play she manages to just be regular supportive towards brooke, so that’s promising lol. and also just shoutout to the Fun of a lively antagonistic role, great stuff, delightful number for her there, and sure helping ramp things up. and zeke and brooke not just showing up for this one horror musical (also i would love to shoutout zeke’s plight there lmfao like, the experience of original readers of poto where the twist is “nah it’s not a phantom it’s just some wet pathetic guy” like he’s so hyped to be The Ghost Lead and then he’s like oh god i’m a romantic lead in a hole & i’m five & it’s embarrassing & i even know my counterpart irl (the bestie) like i guess technically the role’s a ghost by the end & good for the mystery mask wearing element being exciting still) but that they were unnamed ensemble members in guys & dolls & saw that through, they’re bringing support & appreciation for the theatre, & on the flipside tina might just enjoy the theatricality & attention from it but she was having a great time informing everyone that on top of their haunted school it’s a specifically haunted (cursed) play, so maybe she can also relate to zeke and brooke’s horror genre appreciation. and she might warm up at all to zeke when he’s cleared about the fact he wasn’t trying to prank their efforts into oblivion, at least to the same degree she can manage to provide regular supportiveness to brooke when it comes to it. and on the one hand, despite brooke and zeke sure seeming like that hell of an established unit like probably just have their [socializing at school] foundation covered by hanging out w/each other, they could let brian in on that easily enough for something of a triumvirate, but now not only are they bffs since 5ever who love a genre together, they sure had an Adventure in emile messing up by [you never try to scooby doo villain your way through it] but also doing it all wrong where they think You’re the danger here & that you’re going to murder them, plus it’s scary for real exploring the darkness elevator underground tunnels anytime, but also now they have this off the shits experience with that new guy friend who was a ghost for real. kind of its own bonding element & maybe you wouldn’t exactly let anyone else in on it, much less like, tina lmao. she might be interested in The Legend but she was also super interested in telling everyone all about it, and idk, difficult and weird to explain, thing it’d all be quite the stuff to process for one lol like sure we love drama and ghosts and attention too but it’s A Lot. ghosts are real and i online dated one except across time rather than space and he was just some guy hanging out and i also hung out with him sometimes but then in the end it got weird b/c he was the suspicious understudy all along and this role is really not coming through....but also hey, could talk about it all eventually, and tina’s got plenty of context already. next year’s cast n crew party for the last show, be like hey guess what, b/c we’re solidly amicable now also
plus being extracurricular buddies like, ms. walker head in hands dealing with these three menaces lmao....although zeke wasn’t Really up to that much, tina’s sure committed to the show, etc. and it’s like, being a student or teacher or anyone else at a middle school is just always gonna be like that. could really be worse, she can handle it. and maybe she can know of the lore also, she’s out here engaging in irl drama and lore about like avenging her grandmother’s theatrical aspirations, or none of this would be going on lol. get used to these three and actually they’re reliable really, maybe tina will have learned to better accept not getting the dream role, which will be an easier time for everyone. but it’s just always gonna be a handful lol but all these kids were also all about putting on the play too, actually, yes maybe some problems arose from messing around with the platform but they could’ve been worse problems (queues of ghosts in line for their turn at finally achieving one last goal of performing their part in this one damn play lol) and does seem like it’s engineering issues inherently rather than Just messing around backstage unsupervised which isn’t often otherwise going to be fatally risky, and maybe just give people a rundown about the riskiness of things that Isn’t emile’s botched effort where he mostly just made children afraid of Him. like idk, i did shop class throughout middle school, we avoided injury w/successful cautionary rundowns. brian’s one other last goal could’ve been about safety measures, but whaddaya gonna do. anyways point is, hanging out after school for theatre purposes and having an understanding and bonus patience affordance with the teacher in charge of this and maybe everyone gets to know the Real Ghost Story or maybe it’s zeke & brooke’s personal inside secret, it was already a shared adventure for all involved even if they didn’t get the Full story the way those two did, all of them are up for Drama and for Horror, they’re good to go. and good for them
#goosebumps the musical#like let's do a play by play of the show And this kind of meandering musing about any and all elements lmfao#funny when the [just some guy] was clearly not at all intending to murder them but so far as they know he might've. which yeah terrifying#and their Real Ghost was a just some guy new friend. brian truly just hanging out like yep what's up everyone. yeah i'll paint a set#and i can't get over book brian being all the more just So Nervous in general lmao that's like his whole thing#like is this some extra anxiety you get when you die & then have been a ghost abt it? maybe. or maybe he's just already like that.#either way lol. i Love how they talk abt maybe encountering an actual ghost via the platform & brian's like omgg nooo stopp ;m; too scary#if you're a kid who would've been scared of ghosts then....just b/c you happen to be one yourself. still like omg no stopppp#but zeke & brooke aren't too overly terrified of this possibility of Real Ghosts though it Is clear they're both scared in the abyss there#like. yeah fair. you're like eleven and that is scary for anyone and does involve various elements of not insignificant danger#and it's more fun when they Aren't utterly unfazed by everything happening in the story ofc. which they are not#and who knows maybe zeke's a bit put off about actual ghosts lmfao like he Did get ghost attacked. whoops#hopefully as simply disorienting as alarming rather than like yeah i had a whole fight for my life back there while gradually smothered#things that have you looking up folklore abt ghosts' breath stealing ability. like fatally or just a lil sip...#well i don't know. where is the fog patch haint warding tradition recited humorously from perhaps my grandma as the lore source there lol#not online i suppose. go figure. anyways theatres & ghosts & superstitions? already going on. the ghost light for sure. just add some more#and be all the more earnest with it lol. hey why do you always say ''brian no more of that shit please i don't care if you wanna be man 7''#might still be more like ''i hope emile who's an alive guy out there doesn't try to kill me :/'' lmao fr....#maybe he makes himself scarce a while but returns also. kids probably wouldn't tell a soul so long as he doesn't try to scare them abt it#kind of difficult to ask these children straightforwardly to just not say anything to anyone once they know you're here but#they probably don't wanna go exploring back down there again. did that. just don't haunt the plays or seem like you'll kill them#and like who knows maybe a lot of ghosts w/goals hanging around & they're generally Just Ppl in gb situations thusly#your new friend even if they're really more Mortal than you for the temporariness of it all; ideally#given that they Do have some goal to fulfill & then they'll peace out a ways. really hardly the worst gb style of situation to be in#it's the drama & mystery & theatrics....& the fun of like layers of genre awareness lol. you like horror & you know you're kinda in A Story#the play; the play having a mystery history & possible curse; school's haunted; someone's sabotaging you; fake janitor; suspicious behavior#and a couple of protagonists who are liable to go looking for some degree of trouble for the fun of it....#anyways what a setup. lot going on lol. lot that Did go on. including the show; congratulations to everyone just about
4 notes · View notes
fruitsofhell · 1 year
Note
Oooooh! Please, please expand on the “Amy is an Eggman robot AU”! Oh! What if she’s UNAWARE that she’s one of his robots?
Hm, the idea of her being unaware is weird cause I feel like Eggman is way too proud to not let one of his own creations know who their master is, same with the mission maybe not going right if he didn't instruct her before hand. It would be kinda funny in post though, of her very obviously being this cute pink murder machine and everyone but her seems to notice that but they're still nice and accepting anywaysfdshgj. Could also make some interesting angst of her having to coming to terms with that, she might even assume that's why Sonic doesn't want to be with her or something... very fun idea but just not what I was going for.
The idea was that Amy and Metal were designed as twin bots, just with Amy looking far more realistic in order to sell the con, I guess kinda like Breezie from AoSTH (my beloved) but less Like That. I'm not sure if Sonic was aware during the events of CD that she was a robot, it'd be cute if he saved her anyways but IDK if he would realistically want to take that risk of an Eggman robot walking around. So for now I like the gag that he didn't realize till later, and by then Amy had proven herself to be her own person he could trust. Maybe like in that ending cutscene of CD it's actually her that blows up Eggman trying to escape instead of Sonic lol.
After that she'd be like her usual self except people are probably slightly offput by her being a robot before realizing she's chill. Like I said it'd be funny if she acts like it's some big secret of her's but to most it's kinda obvious. Maybe in her voice, maybe in her mannerisms, maybe in the way her joints clearly 360 sometimes fhdsgjsd. Tails and Sonic are the only ones she shares this "secret" with and Tails is probably very happy to help her with upgrades, specifically with when she wanted to make sure she still didn't look like a kid as everyone grew up. Also kinda imagine her wanting to wear bigger frillier clothing to hide any possibly seems in her body, but that's me self-indulgently wanting to put little blorbos in cute outfits lol.
I guess this au would also make her obsession with Sonic both from inspiration and a funny mix of programming seeing as he still was once her target, but with Tails' help they could probably break that, and she can be obssessed with Sonic for purely her own reasons <3. This background also makes a lot of her interactions more interesting. Her sympathizing with Gamma, convincing Shadow to fight for what he really believes in, dealing with her funny evil brother's failed attempt at taking over the world... stuff like that. I think it also makes it cute that later she's seen as the heart and mediator of the group, probably from studying up on stuff about organic folk. Maybe I could bring back her tarot card stuff too as something she finds interesting because her robo brain knows its 1000% illogical, I love stuff like that with robot/non-human characters. There's also that flicky companion she has in Sonic Prime, maybe that could've been the flicky that was powering her that got set free and replaced with a less cruel power source.
Her interactions with Tails and Metal are something I'd wanna see, but I don't have big plans for this or anything myself so honestly feel free to steal my ideas, I'd read someone elses interpretation of it.
6 notes · View notes
santacarlacirca1987 · 3 years
Text
devil’s lapdog. (VAMP!MICHAEL EMERSON AU)
(A/N: au by @fleouriarts, thank you so much for letting me write for your au!) WORD COUNT: 1,214 WARNINGS: corruption arc, blood and gore, murder, all that stuff expected with lost boys. CHARACTERS: David, Michael Emerson, Marko, Paul, Dwayne and Sam Emerson.
Michael grabbed the railing protecting the beach from the drunkards that would’ve stumbled onto the beach without it and gazed out among the crowd of people on the beach, then he turned his head and booked it for where he saw them, those stupid gang members that started it all. He shoved Marko out of the way which earned a quick “Hey!” from Paul, who was sitting on the railing, probably previously looking down at the beach. Once he’d shoved Marko, he’d got to the man who started it all, the one that gave him that stupid-ass ‘wine’ in that jewel encrusted bottle. He lunged forward and grabbed David by the collar of his trenchcoat and pulled him close, but he didn’t look offput at all, he looked like he’d expected this to happen, he was so fucking calm and smug, Michael hated it. David grabbed back at Michaels collar of his leather jacket with one of his hands while the other held his cigarette. “Where is she?” Michael growled out, half surprised at how odd it was for him to be this pissed, he was always so mild-mannered and polite, always the quiet one out of his friend group back in arizona. It must’ve been that ache in his stomach to cause him to be so damn irritated, and it was all because of him, because of the four of them. David opened his mouth and smirked like a smug bastard as he blew smoke into the face of Michael, who struggled not to flinch at it “Take it easy, Michael.” “Where is Star, David?” He punctuated the man's name with a tug of his jacket, pulling their chests together, that was how close they were in distance. His dumbass smirk widened into a cruel grin as he said “If you want to ever see Star again, you better come with us now.” He let go on MIchaels collar and Michael did the same to him, he’d gone and got his bike and drove along with them through the beach and the forest trail, he thought they were going to Hudson’s Bluff, but they ended up at a medium sized party down in some part of the deserted beach, far away from the carnival attractions and smell of popcorn and cotton candy on the boardwalk. The boys kicked their kickstands down, and so did Michael, but Michael didn’t move to get off his bike and move to the small tree with low lying branches like the gang members did, they climbed up onto the tree branches and David shouted “Michael,over here!” in a commanding tone, but suddenly it shifted to a semi-sadistic undertone with grim intents “You won’t want to miss this.” “Yeah Mikey, c’mon over!” Either Marko or Paul had shouted, Michael’s head was on the verge of spinning as he got off his old second-hand bike and swung his leg over a branch and straddled it, putting his hands on either side of it to keep himself upright. Michael watched the unfamiliar men party out on the deserted part of the beach, they danced around like drunken toddlers around the bonfire, but his people-watching was interrupted by David’s voice,“Initiations over Michael,”  and when he looked up to him, his face was covered in shadow, “Time to join the club.” Then he leaned towards Michael and the shadow no longer covered his face, his face had… morphed into something supernatural, something horrifying. Michael heard laughter surrounding him and looked at Dwayne, then Marko, and lastly he turned to Paul, whose faces all resembled David’s, a morphed version of the men’s faces. He looked towards the drunk men partying around the bonfire and clenched hard onto the tree branch he’d been straddling, he felt the gnawing pit in his stomach grow as he saw the men dance around the fire, perfectly unaware of what was going to happen, Of the fact they were the prey and not the hunters in this world. Michael heard and felt a rush of wind by his face and looked to the tree branches where the boys had been, but they were gone, And then he looked forward and saw them, up in the sky, flying. Just like he had a night or so ago, except they were in control, not like they’d just accidentally launched themselves out a window, but like they had a plan on what to do and where to go. They flew up, high in the sky then they rocketed down, as Michael watched them tear into the men, who were now screaming like all hell, he felt his eyes become foggier and his ears began to ring, his head was fuzzy too. He saw little black dots creep into the corner of his visions and thought he was going to faint or something, but he felt his face begin to morph, his bone structure altered to discard the human facade he’d been hiding behind for a couple days now, David was right, initiation was over, It was time to join the club. - x - Sam hadn’t really been asleep the whole night, he hadn’t been able to sleep since he knew Michael had left the house, so he only startled more when he heard a floorboard creak and his door close, he turned his back to the wall and sat up, turning on his bedside lamp only to see a stuffed beaver on his bedside table, right next to his lamp. “I wish grandpa’d stop given’ me this stupid things..” He mumbled and he threw the blanket off of his legs and stood, he grabbed the beaver and looked into its beady little eyes “And you bud, are never going to see the light of day again.” He walked to his closet and opened the door, shoving it in with the other poor little creatures his grandpa had ‘gifted’ him with. He felt a presence in his room, right next to him, so he froze for a moment before looking to where the closet door covered his window, which he’d left closed, He saw the curtains moving, and heard wind blowing and the trees outside rustling. He took a deep breath and slammed the closet door shut, and what he saw next was terrifying. His big brother, covered in blood and looking half feral with a glint of cruel glee in his eyes and a man with bleach blonde hair standing next to him, his arms resting on the barely taller man’s shoulders while a smug smirk covered his face. Sam’s breath caught in his throat, as how cheesy as it sounds, he felt like his heart would stop right then and there and he’d keel over dead, His big brother, the one that tucked him in at night and read him bedtime stories when he was younger, the one that taught him to whistle, to blow gum and ride a bike, was gone. Replaced with a little lap dog for a devil. “I know who I am now, Sam.” Sam almost sobbed at the neglect of his nickname ‘Sammy’, the one Michael always used, he only ever called him sam when speaking to other people about him or when he was pissed, This wasn’t his Michael, it was someone completely different.
27 notes · View notes
trans-cuchulainn · 3 years
Note
What are the major details that confused you about the Hound blurb? The major one that stood put to me was the "way of the farmer opposed to the sword" thing which felt very...un-Cú Chulainn. Also, if you don't mind expanding further, which details didn't you question/be confused by?
and also for anon:
Tumblr media
okay so it is like. 2am so there are not going to be any sources here but i can't sleep so here goes!! i will go through this blurb line by line and give youse my thoughts
In 50 BCE,
reasonable. this is roughly the right time period for when the ulster cycle is set. maybe marginally earlier than i'd place cú chulainn, but i'm talking a few years, nothing to get worked up about.
Morrigan, the goddess of war,
fine. normally i'm wary of pantheonising impulses with regard to irish characters (almost none of them can be identified as a god of anything in particular, it doesn't work like that) but tbh the morrigan is like, the most plausible exception to that, so whatever. normally her name has the definite article attached to it because it's kind of a species term as well but whatevs.
has become restless as a long-lasting peace settles over Ireland.
dubious. closest i can think of to peace being reference in any texts is togail bruidne da derga talking about conaire mor's reign being like, prosperous and peaceful and whatever, and even there you've got díberg (plundering/reaving) which is what eventually fucks him over and starts the otherworldly hell spiral situation. that's roughly the right period here but conaire's doom proves you don't have to do much to nudge peace into war, and connacht and ulster are at each other's throats for years before cú chulainn comes on the scene anyway
Deciding the time of peace must end, she chooses Setanta, the nephew of the king of the north, to become her ward.
hmm. i mean. like, this isn't the WEIRDEST choice they could have made. it's still completely made-up, don't get me wrong -- cú chulainn has a lot of different foster parents in different texts and they don't agree with each other but none of them ever mentions the morrígan. but like, they do have a connection of some sort, as evidenced by their conversations. and there's that one moment in the r1 boyhood deeds where little cú chulainn is out on the battlefield and hears her (not sure which name is used here) calling out to him and it like. motivates him to do some deeds or whatever, and i guess you could extrapolate that into some kind of teaching capacity.
so like. could be weirder. if you're gonna pick anyone, you could do worse. still seems weird to me! but not on its own a major issue, i could get past this and consider it a Fun But Unorthodox Creative Decision
(the fact that she tries to seduce him in the táin probably wouldn't get in the way of this considering sleeping with his teachers/foster-mothers is far from unheard of where cú chulainn is concerned)
After a young Setanta slays the demon-hound of Cullan, he becomes known as Cú Cullan—The Hound of Cullan.
weird spelling choices, they could have at least bothered to use the genitive properly. also the hound isn't a demon, it's a ferocious watchdog -- making it sound all Otherworldly and Hellish like this kinda confuses the issue of why he would need to take its place. he needs to take its place because the cattle and people still need protecting because it is a watchdog!! but whatevs, again, it's a brief summary so they can't exactly give us all the details and this is not actively objectionable
As Cú Cullan grows older, it is apparent that an extraordinary power lies within him … and a great darkness.
ugh boring. this makes it sound like he's going to be ~tortured~ and angsty about it. give me an unapologetic murder teen please. is the ríastrad dark? sure i guess, if you're going to be boring about it. it's more like, grotesque neon in my head
When he chooses the quiet life of a farmer over the sword,
this would fucking never happen on like five different levels. obviously like anyone who has ever read anything about cú chulainn can see that this is not in his nature. he is never going to choose a quiet life. this is the kid who tricked his way into taking arms before everyone thought he was ready. also juxtaposed with the "darkness" comment makes it sound like he would Angst his way into this quiet life which. again. have you seen this kid. he is an unapologetic murder teen
the only thing i can think of that might make him temporarily want to walk away is connla's death which... depends where you position that in the timeline really, he does seem a bit fucked up by it and maybe he'd want a holiday although i can see that lasting precisely 5 minutes before someone pissed him off enough for him to murder them. but if he's being raised by the morrígan i can't see him going to train with scáthach so then he'd never meet aífe and therefore connla would never be born so that wouldn't happen. so like. whatever.
but also like. he would not become a farmer. he just wouldn't! it doesn't work! the ireland of the stories is super hierarchical, right? and this blurb has already fucking told us that he's the king's nephew (canon) so we can tell that being a farmer is Not His Place. when we see upper class figures becoming menial labourers in texts, like in cath maige tuired, it's because Things Are Fucked, Shit's Gone Wrong. people don't just decide to change their entire social class on a whim lmfao
if cú chulainn really wanted to turn his back on being a warrior he could probably make recourse to certain other Suitable Professions ... his grandad's a druid so he might have a route into that, though his dad's not so that might fuck things up a bit bc it's one of those things that's usually inherited. he does give "wisdom" in at least one text though and we also know he can write (he carves riddles in ogham in the táin) and he composes verses on various occasions so idk, maybe something in a poetic direction, though again, usually requires two generations of inheritance to be a real poet and not just a lower-class bard. warrior's kinda the main thing he's got open to him tbh. but farming? i'm not a legal expert but as far as i'm aware based on what i have read, that would fuck shit up
more likely an upset cú chulainn would just go off in search of an adventure somewhere conveniently far away until he'd calmed down (alba, or the tyrrhenian sea, or -- if we're going to get early modern about it -- somewhere like india, which frequently gets thrown into the texts with absolutely no cultural context and it's always hilarious)
Morrigan, angry at the betrayal,
of the entire social order, yes,
instigates an invasion of his homeland
i mean. if they intend this to be the táin then.... táin bó regamna does kinda make the morrígan responsible for it? not in the sense of triggering the pillow talk argument that it's in the book of leinster -- it's her getting up to her usual cow-nicking behaviours for shits and giggles. [note to readers: it is probably for more than shits and giggles but did i mention it's 2am]
but all in all, not particularly out of character that she would be at least some way responsible for this so i can vibe with this. echtra nerai also supports the TBR explanation with her fucking around with otherworldly cows and pissing people off so, yeah, whatever. the morrígan engineered this. sure.
and Cú Cullan must challenge fate itself
this is probably a controversial stance but fate feels like a difficult concept to apply to medieval irish texts. like are people sometimes Doomed? yes. there are prophecies, there are gessi, there's all manner of otherworldly fuckery that can trip you up. is that the same thing as fate? no idea. considering cú chulainn comes out alive from the táin though and his doom prophecies don't catch up to him for like, at least another decade, maybe 16 years depending on who you listen to, hard to see how that would apply here
to keep the goddess at bay.
again like she IS causing fuckery in the táin but also it's like... one time. really not the main character. but she or maybe just some crows, hard to say, do get implicated in the death tale so maybe they're doing what people often do and conflating the two? even though there's like 10-16 years in between them?
anyway as you can see i don’t think it’s wholly terrible / i’m not completely thinkshaming it. like, having cú chulainn raised by the morrígan is unorthodox but it could be a fun and creative direction so i don't object to it. making cú chulainn get sad about murder and choose to be a farmer is just fucking laughable tho, and makes me doubt their characterisations in general. so that's offputting and would probably make me think twice about buying it, if that had ever been on the cards.*
and of course sure, their cú chulainn can be a Sad Boy Who Likes Sheep, but that means he's not the cú chulainn of medieval irish lit / irish myth, because that cú chulainn is a feral murder teen who keeps killing his friends and also is way too high social status to ever be a farmer, and whose only relationship to livestock is as the watchdog who kills anyone trying to harm them (which is an important role on a farm! but like. not the same thing as Being A Farmer. mostly because it involves more murder and is essentially just an extension of his role as a warrior. or rather the other way around. he promises to protect mag muirthemne as a watchdog and this like. gets extended into him becoming its sole defender)
this has been my analysis of this blurb i hope you enjoyed it
it's now 2.30am i should try and sleep now that i've exorcised a few thoughts from my head
*as i mentioned in the tags of my other post, i don't tend to read graphic novels due to disability stuff. they're much harder for me to understand and follow than prose, to the point where some are incomprehensible, so i don't really enjoy them. there are a few i've read, but they tend to be short ones, and i'm usually not reading them in order, just admiring the art separately from the text. so it's unlikely i would read a graphic novel of this size anyway.
18 notes · View notes
bitimdrake · 3 years
Note
What happens at the end that’s bad?
okay so the unspoilered version: The Long Halloween is a murder mystery. And like many a mystery, the ending was a complete letdown that annoyed me greatly. BUT, unlike most of those endings, the part here that is so incredibly dumb and annoying is like...a reveal that's tacked on at the very end and wasn't even needed at all??
There is no major restructuring needed to fix this. Cut those last four pages, do a little bit of editing in the back half of the final issue, and it's all fixed! You don't have to touch the first 12/13 issues! Which is probably why it annoyed me so much because they could have very easily not fucked it up.
But to actually answer your question and spoil this 20+ year old story--
Set up: There's a serial killer who is mostly killing mob guys (with a gimmick, because this is Gotham). And as it all unfolds, we are keeping up with some of said mob characters, and also watching Batman, Jim Gordon, and Harvey Dent individually or together investigate the killings. There's a lot of suspicion from various people that the killer might be Harvey himself, and there are points where the darkness we all know he will eventually give into is clear--because ultimately, this story also functions as a Two-Face origin.
So the ending.
Our first reveal is that the killer is one of these mob characters we were introduced to earlier, with a narratively sensible motive, and suitably twisty path to discovering him. All good! Classic mystery stuff.
Then Harvey, who has just gone through the acid-to-the-face/mental-breakdown thing, shows up now as Two-Face to kill someone, and mysteriously tells Batman and Gordon that there were really two killers. Did he mean that symbolically he was the second killer because the murder he just did followed the gimmick? Did he mean that Harvey, pre-Two-Face, did actually kill one or more of the victims, as so many suspected or worried? Or perhaps this will be left up to interpretation, and the last few pages will wrap up the story but leave us knowing that we can never truly know Harvery Dent.
But either way, imo this works as a story. Because like I said, while the main question of the story is "who is the killer?", I would argue that an equally strong question through the story is, specifically, "Is Harvey Dent a killer?" So the second twist seems like it will totally work, because it is answering the question the narrative posed, and that's good story crafting.
And then the last three pages reveal that actually Harvey's wife was the other killer because she thought it would make him spend more time at home.
(I hope you now feel as jarred and offput as I did. Why the fuck did Gilda think creating a gimmick serial killer murdering mobsters would give Harvey less work, instead of the incredibly predictable result of it causing more problems and more work? idk. Women are silly, I guess. Does this reveal make any fucking sense for the character? Of course not. But does it feel thematically relevant and say something in the story? Haha no. This means nothing and connects to nothing. But do we at least get good material out of it? No!! Gilda weirdly narrates what she's done out loud, no one finds out, and the story ends. Goodbye.)
6 notes · View notes
splendidshinobi · 3 years
Text
FULLMETAL ALCHEMIST 2003 LIVE REACT: EPISODES 6-10
back at it again with the white vans
episode 6: the alchemy exam
alrighty then
um mustang calling edward “ed” is EXTREMELY offputting
ohhhhhhh noooooo not shou tucker
FUCK
im wholly unprepared
them all being in central instead of east is low key jarring like my brain isnt computing it
alexander’s intro is basically the same 
nina bbyyyyy girl u deserved so much better
ed is such a fucking nerd...chemistry club modern au confirmed
god the more tucker talks the more i wanna beat his face in
al pretending to eat by tossing a potato in his armor i-
aww theyre playing in the snow theyre so pure
wonder how long thatll last
“bigger brother” and “little big brother” and ed doesnt even get mad
ed’s birthday party????????
A MELON? ED YOURE SO RUDE
so 03 had ed’s bday instead of elicia’s...CAUSE THEY GOT ELICIA IN THE WOMB
“it’s here!” “the tea?” “the baby!” hughes is a fuck head
ok so now they’re having elicia replace rush valley baby arc
this was winry’s time to shine in fmab i miss her 
if winry isnt here who is gonna birth this baby
oh my god they just realized ed can use alchemy without a circle
no wonder he’s been using circles this whole time
SO ELICIA JUST POPPED OUT????? WHAT
STUFF ALEXANDER IN THE ARMOR AND PRETEND YOURE A TALKING DOG???
“i dont think thats very funny” NO ALPHONSE IT IS NOT
THEY KNEW EXACTLY WHAT THEY WERE DOING WITH THAT ONE I SWEAR TO GOD IN THIS ESSAY I WILL
damn bradley what up homie
im so thrown off by the way theyre doing the exam omg
seriously what the hell is fuhrer bradley’s purpose right now is he even the fuhrer in this i feel like they wouldve mentioned it
oh lord ed is about to impress everyone with his clappy hands
ok so next episode is nina FUCK
episode 7: night of the chimera’s cry
havoc babeeee
im gonna marry him my himbo king
also can RIZA DO SOMETHING PLZ
“huhhhhhhhh nina” ew tucker that was weirdly gross
wonder why
cant do it cant do it
do we think jean kirstein was modeled after jean havoc slightly looks wise
was that purposeful 
ill have to google 
serial killer who only targets women?  it cant be scar...scar drinks respect women juice
barry or slicer bros maybe? um ok
why did we start with liore if they were just gonna hop right back into the past for a huge chunk of episodes idk
assessment day??? oh noodles
AL WHY DID YOU TELL TUCKER TO MAKE ANOTHER TALKING CHIMERA ALPHONSE NO
THE NOISE I EMITTED IM GONNA TAKE A LAP
im gonna FUCKING SCREAM
ed r u writing to winry??? that’s a bit out of character for u good sir
no tucker put that baby down
im gonna fucking SCREAM
aww he burned nina’s picture thats not sus at all
SHESKA!!!!!
wait does the ironblood alchemist know what tucker did to his wife? thats kinda the vibe im getting
SCARRRRRRRR
looking like a pirate too damn
his voice sounds different is that j michael tatum 
apparently not it was dameon clarke in 03 ya learn something new everyday 
ew elicia has a lot of hair for a FUCKING NEWBORN
ed really is such a cynic very suspicious of everyone as he should be really
basque grand knowS SOMETHING
oh jesus oh fuck oh god please do not TOUCH THAT BABY
ed and al snuck back in to the house well u know what its for the best
OHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH NOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
im gonna cry again please god no
FUCKING DIE SHIT HOLE
she’s hurting? oh my god
my sweet angel
ew his eyes!!!!!!! 
tucker is such a fucking failure...like look at the chimera squad and greed’s theatre troupe being the way they are. ugh it really hits how fucking unfair it is 
ed was really about to split them? boy you know better
where is nina going...im hurting
ed really tried to save her in this one
SCAR KILLS NINA IN THE STREETS???????? SIR
thats different
oh snap 
oh FUCK
SCAR WHY DID YOU LEAVE HER BODY LIKE THAT
THE WAY SHE WAS ARRANGED ON THE WALL THAT WAS FUCKED UP
AND THEY FOUND HER LIKE THAT???? AT LEAST IN BROTHERHOOD THEY DIDNT HVE TO SEE HER CORPSE ARE YOU SHITTING ME?
that was fucked.
episode 8: the philosopher’s stone
can yall get ed and al away from nina’s fucking MURAL 
get out of the car mustang
finally jesus christ
roy mustang talking about healthy coping mechanisms dont make me laugh but alright baby boy go off i guess?
im curious about who this goddamn serial killer is though lets turn to that plot thread
r u kidding me
mustang is making ed and al take over tucker’s research?? thats actually wildly messed up
oh tucker was straight executed that’s a choice i guess
tucker and the philosopher’s stone sounds inaccurate but ok
ed please stop being mean to your brother
03 mustang has got me reaching for a fucking baseball bat on GOD
scar and edward having this conversation right now i literally cannot
WINRY yes bitch
BRADLEY WHAT IN TARNATION
JESUS LORRRRRRDDDDDDDDDDDD
alphonse shut your mouthhhhhhhhhhh
im so confused what is bradley up to
“alchemists are not cold blooded murderers?”
i mean
kimblee would beg to differ for one
whos this creepy lady 
her voice sounds familiar
barry’s food shop?
the killer is barry ok got it
IS BARRY DISGUISED AS A WOMAN
I KNEW THAT WAS JERRY JEWELL’S VOICE
WELL I KNEW IT SOUNDED FAMILIAR AT LEAST
WINRY GET OUT OF THE FUCKING TRUCk
has PINAKO TAUGHT YOU NOTHING
ok so i VASTLY prefer suit of armor original manga canon barry
this is such an odd plot what in fuck
um OW the meat cleaver
im so confused this fucking plotline
oh hey alphonse nice of you to show up!
is barry still gonna become a suit of armor later on
it makes NO SENSE to introduce him otherwise 
everytime i see 03 mustang i wanna beat his ass HONESTLY
literally i will shove my foot up his ass
fullmetal here we go
ed thinks he’s so punk rock 
oh great scar’s seen the watch
episode 9: be thou for the people
ed you simp buying winry all this stuff my edwin heart is ascending
SIMP SIMP SIMP
“mr. elric”?? you mean MAJOR ELRIC
to be fair though fuck the military
YOUSWELL??? oh LORD
im gonna need to read a full chronology of this show
 alphonse continues to be a precious angel 
where’s my boy yoki!!!!!
edward you idiot don’t go flaunting your money
woof woof ed
al looks so offended by ed saying they just met
whereas in brotherhood didnt he totally throw ed under the bus??? 
a choice to be sure
ah there he is hello yoki
who’s the chick
shes a lesbian
yoki makes me miss my baby girl mei chang
mei where r u
WAS THIS MILITARY DUDE REALLY ABOUT TO CUT DOWN A CHILD??? oh my god
hawkeye getting a promotion yes bby girl
jesus theyre transferring them to east now OKKKKKAY thats not how it happened it the book but ill take it....just doing it the opposite way i guess
who is lyra who is she
cute some military bribery 
umm lyra what the fuck did you do
lyra is a homunculus im callin it now
they definitely invented/changed up some homunculi in fact im certain they did and shes one of em. gotta be
i feel like 03 wrote ed as much more insensitive towards others than he really is...just a vibe im getting
i know he was faking for the townspeople’s sake but i still get this vibe from other instances 
i mean i cant say its not “canon” because its 03 canon
anyways what a show off
i cant believe theyre going to east...fuery and breda better be there
ok finally some answers on their ages....ed got his license at 12 like normal and nina and youswell were when he was 12...liore was 15, 
if they didnt flash the ages on the screen id be lost honestly
at least we’re back up to “present day”
episode 10: the phantom thief
ed saying he doesnt wanna see mustang
same
03 mustang is activating my fight or flight and im choosing fight
ed cheating at cards totally checks out
um who the fuck is this woman
what is she wearing
SERIOUSLY WHAT IS THAT CUTOUT MAAM HOW DO YOUR C**CHY LIPS NOT POKE OUT
idk but this is fem!hisoka
“hey shouldnt we talk first” after getting handcuffed??? christ almighty these innuendos
siren??????? siren is probably also a “fake” homunculus
ugh
ok so the nurse is siren
ya aint slick girly
alphonse control your crush
I REFUSE!!!! ALMEI RIGHTS
why is al’s hair so brown in this flashback anywayssss
oh its spelled psiren ope
like she’s literally a batman villain...
oh my god...............the tiddy grab. my son would never
my son is respectful
is this her homunculus tat or just a random alchemy tat
the added plotlines and original content continue to confuse and astound me every single time....
ok but if psiren really was doing this for the hospital she wouldnt be so flashy about it. like thats how you get caught sweet cheeks
girly stop flirting with this child on god im gonna fucking kick you
now shes a nun????????????????
Shes a fucking troll i hate her
im going to kick alphonse into the sun 
oh great now shes a teacher
wow shes a savior. the savior of amestrian venice. greatttttt
ed looking exactly like this emoji on this gondola rn 🧍‍♀️
STOP FLIRTING WITH THE CHILD 
GOD THIS IS SO BATMAN VILLAIN ESQUE
alphonse plzzzzzzzzzz she aint your girl
ok so probably not the last we see of this ding dong con artist
ok so its starting to get muddy. im scared the 03 stans are gonna come after me like i do like it and im having fun watching it but some of the plot and characterization choices are just....odd??? idk i gotta keep going though!! im sorry i just stan arakawa and her work in all her glory!!!
3 notes · View notes
featherymalignancy · 4 years
Note
Anon who threw the book back. I got busy now I'm ready to elaborate, thanks for engaging. Facts about me, I was a comm major. I read a lot and I know you can love something and acknowledge its flaws. So assuming you really enjoy these books, I’m gonna try to be as respectful as possible. The thing with TOG and SJM's writing was it was recc'd to me as being super diverse and feminist. As a WOC I'm always looking for positive representation.
(2/4) So I was super disappointed to see the way she treated her characters of color. To be specific having Nehemia stage her own murder for Aelin's development, making Nesryn a consolation prize for Chaol when he was pretty mean to her, and then poor Sorcha who got fridged after caring for Dorian for an entire book and was degraded multiple times as not being pretty enough which brought up some dog whistles as she wasn’t pretty because she wasn’t blonde haired and blue eyed.
(3/4) Her depiction made me feel like (like a lot of white authors tbh) SJM isn’t fully capable of seeing black and brown people as fully dimensional outside of their relatioinship to white characters. And the hyper masculinity. I remember it got kinda laughed off as “territorial fae bullshit” but it doesn’t change because it’s in fae males blood to want to “protect” their mates. Sigh. The possessive, territorial thing was offputting honestly.
(4/4) I'd seen it all before and I'll probably see it again, but I was hoping for more. I hope that sheds some light. Also I think your use of race-bending is really cool.
Sorry it took me so long to respond to this, I was busy this week and wanted to make sure I gave this the proper response! Thank for taking the time to explain. 💖
For me, Nehemia’s death was a toxic combination of both “woman in the freezer” (a trope in which a female character dies in order to set a male hero on a journey) and “the black dude dies first” (in which a character of color is killed off for dramatic impact) and it was a betrayal of the readers to turn her from a full-formed character to a stepping stone in Aelin’s journey. To go back for seconds by introducing (and killing) Sorcha in the next book was insult to injury.
I’m saddened but not surprised to hear you say you feel many white authors don’t really understand how to give characters of color agency and a full-realized story arc that isn’t somehow in support of the white characters’ journey because you are totally right. I understand as a white author there is perhaps some apprehension associated with writing characters of color because people don’t want to get it wrong, but for me, that is not a reason to not try, and to keep trying until you get it right. Rep is vital, and it deserves its due, even if it pushes a white author “out of their comfort zone” 🙄 Also shout-out to resources like Writing with Color, whose mods take the time to answer questions and provide resources to help Caucasian authors get better at writing POC and also avoid making harmful mistakes.
Anyways, thanks for taking the time to reach out, I also hear you on the “territorial male” stuff, I think it was an attempt to make the fae seem “other” it just didn’t quite work. Still, I am so happy you like my work, I can’t wait to bring you more soon! Also look forward to a lot more race-bending. For instance, at some point you’ll meet Vaughn, Nehemia’s boyfriend who looks like a younger Terry Crews.
11 notes · View notes
bahrlee · 4 years
Text
Suck the blood from my Wound
Enter: Raph the Womf
🦇🦇🦇chapter 5: Impossible🦇🦇🦇
The next day, the three girls were reported as dead due to…. Throat related injuries. They didnt go into much detail as to not disgust or trigger their viewer's, they just mentioned the basics---they were found in the woods with their throats ripped out, bitemarks present---but still. It left him a little nauseous, and nervous. They were only in kindergarten, and here they were, viciously mangled buy someone in the woods during probably one of the happiest day of their lives. He tried to connect Dook too the crime, that would so obviously point to him, but there was just something so off about it in the first place. Were vampire fangs that strong enough to pull out a little girls trachea? Mitzi would definitely think so, in fact he remembered she said so.
   Even though it was still offputting, he didnt let that ruin his day. He needed to get his house back to its former glory since that weird night. He found it hard to go on with his day, however, since there was an unpleasantness in the air that couldnt be ignored. Everyone all day was looking over their shoulders, hugging themselves, holding their children close to them as they walked down the streets. He has never seen a mother walk so quickly from him, a man with long blonde hair wearing cargo shorts a a shirt with flamingos on it. They were scared of any man, he guessed, since men always seemed to be the killers. Even ones who look like theyd surfed since they were toddlers. Which reminded him that he needed to surf again soon. Ever since Fatz left, he never found the motivation to hop on a board for awhile. But for now, today's goal: paint over the scratches on the wall. He was so happy it was only the paint that chipped, no actually wall damage, because he didnt know how to fix something like that. He wasnt good at fixing things.
   The inside of the store was just as somber. Mothers pulling their kids from the toy isle when they usually let them explore it by themselves, the newspaper wrack was completely empty, things were just so different. It was only one murder, and everyone was losing it, like Ted Bundy was on the loose. And it was only one murder. Well, three, but it was all done at once. Who knows what would happen when or if another one happened? Who knows what would happen if they found out that a possible culprit was a vampire? That was too scary to think about, so he stopped and went to go get him some paint. He didnt even know what to do about the carpet yet. 
   Heck, what was he going to do about anything anymore since the possibilities seemed endless, now that there was a vampire loose through town.
🦇🦇🦇
    He stayed up late, but for the last couple days hes been staying up TOO late, trying to contemplate what he has learned. He just lived his life. Making a deal to become some sort of spy, getting himself involved in a rivalry between two different cryptids who treated it as though it were the civil war, except one of the sides wasnt even aware of what was happening and what the other was planned against them. 
   Just like he predicted, he didnt see him that much. For the first day, he once again had nothing to report to Mitzi. The next day, same thing. He hasn't seen him since their conversation at Roxys. She did return her part of the deal, providing the conversations you usually had with a friend. He even sat in the water with her, so she didnt have to be in such shallow places. That case if anyone walked by they wouldnt see the rest of her. They didnt get too deep, just stories, small talk, interesting things about being a sea monster and vice versa since even though she lived a double life she didnt exactly know too much, the normal stuff. She seemed a little upset he hasn't seen him, but it's not like he was seeking him out every single day. He wasnt a stalker. What a funny turn of events that would be though, if the HUMAN turned out to be the stalker instead of the vampire. That would be interesting. He hoped she didnt cut the deal off, and kept explaining to her why stalking is actually a bad thing, feeling shamefully desperate. But he couldnt help it, he had no friends.
   He crossed his fingers, however, that they would cross paths again, both to satisfy Mitzi, and to see him again. He was so torn, when he spotted him acrossed the room at a comedy club while out with Fatz, he didnt know if he should go up to him. 
🦇🦇🦇
   He preferred to sit in the back of everywhere, appearently. Maybe because it was so dark, and secluded, that he wouldnt be called out by the comic onstage at this particular place. Although it felt so out of place for him to be anywhere in town, or anywhere around town, really. Maybe theres this whole council of vampires, and hes on a mission right now given to him by them. Maybe he just liked to hang out at relatively dark places, or examine the nature of mortals. Or…. Maybe he was looking for his next victim, adult and in the next town this time, to mix it up a little.
   His shoes were glowing this time. Similar to the vintage boots he wore, but this time the stars and crescent moons lit up. That was enough to mesmerize him. 
   "Whatcha looking at there, Beach?" Fatz asked, noticing his glances.
   "Well obviously that boy over there." Esmeralda answered him instead of Beach. That was the thing with her, she answered all of Fatz' questions, even when directed to him, or somebody else. 
   "Hes a new guy. Met him at the movies once." Beach explained.
   "Guess we didnt have to order you food tonight then," Esmeralda quipped. "You got yourself a nice meal right over there."
   "Esme, I tried to flirt with him, okay? It's like flirting with Wednesday Addams child if she had a baby with the Willy Wonka from Tim Burtons awful adaptation of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory." He angrily drank his coke. 
   "Maybe you're just a bad flirt, you know?" 
   "Oh be quiet, Esmeralda. Beach is fine. Hes charming!" Fatz retorted enthusiastically.
   "If you're so charming, go up to him. Say hi. Buy him a drink." Esmeralda advised.
   "He doesnt drink." Beach quickly reverbed.
   "Well now why doesnt he drink?"
   Because hes a vampire, future Mrs. Geronimo.
   "I dont know. I jus know hes not much for actually living in the moment you know, he just…." He turned and looked at him again, his head so obviously in the clouds. "....Kind of observes everything."
   "You always go for the types that just sit there and look pretty, dont you?" Fatz said. He always questioned his type. The very monotone, 'too cool for school' men who tended to be more introverted and less talkative, two opposites of Beach. He liked his conversations. He was one of the best people to converse with because he kept it going. But he always went for the guys who's social skills were a bit stale. At least that's what Fatz thought, the truth was hes been with men of all kinds, Fztz only saw the shy guys, who were much less sh the more you got to know them. Fatz just tended to hold onto first impressions a little longer than he should.
   "Shut up, quit acting like you know my type." He glowered.
   "Cant deny it, Beach." He shrugged.
   Some friend he was.
   Esmeralda checked the time on her phone. "Fatz, its 10."
   "Oh, what? Its 10 already?" He said.
   "Yeah! We gotta go Beach, we're sorry. We gotta get sleep so we catch our flight to Louisiana for my family reunion tomorrow." She said.
   A little mad that they were leaving, but understanding he had no control over it, he let them leave. He wasnt going to be too petty about it. Speak of Louisiana, however… he turned and saw Dook there, legs crossed, shows glowing---he still couldnt get over that, he wanted glowing shoes now---his eyes fixated on nothing.
   Now that he was alone, he could probably try to talk with him. Mustering up his courage, he stood up, forgetting how tall he was for a moment and feeling a bit clumsy, and walked over to him. He seemed to be really deep in his own mind, because when he said hello, he jumped.
   "Jesus christ!" He exclaimed. "What?!"
   He held up a hand and waved. "Hello."
   He exhaled loudly, giving him the stink eye, genuinely annoyed by his presence. "What the hell are you everywhere I go?" He spoke, putting emphasis on every word.
   "Just find it funny that we find each other everywhere."
   "No, you come up to me, say your shit, trying to get into my pants or whatever."
   These non-mortals sure had some big mouths on them. But he guessed if they cant even get along within their world, of course they dont put any care into their interactions with humans. Was this his life now? Getting yelled at by two overgrown leeches for the rest of his days?
   "No, I just came over here to say I like your shoes." He said. "You dont drink alcohol, but do you drink soda?" He recalled him drinking something at the movies.
   Dook pointed to the soda on the table. "Little too late for that, man."
   Dangit. 
   "Why are you so rude?" He asked him. "Why cant you just talk to me like a normal person without everything coming out of your mouth being a nasty comment? Why cant I just treat you nicely and be treated nicely back, huh?"
   Dook slightly smirked at him. "Ficety."
   Beach was a tad frustrated, but it only made him want to try harder. "No, you're ficety. I'm just trying to talk to you."
   "You a nice guy?"
   "No, I'm Beach."
   And he finally heard him legitimately laugh. He was surprised at how audacious it was, and how much it revealed about him---he was a pretty goofy person. He seemed to be one for jokes, and humor. "Oh my god, alright, you're pretty funny, you can stay I guess. Sit down."
   He obliged, feeling like he just achieved something impossible. 
   "So, Beach, if that's even you're real name, which I know it isnt, go ahead. Make this a speed date. Tell me a-a bit about yourself."
   "Um…. Well…. I like surfing, and writing---I was an english major, actually---"
   "Oh, interesting. Tell me something smart."
   His mind drew a blank.
   "Oh yes, wonderful. Did you uh, drop out or anything?"
   "No, finished all four years. First one in my family not to drop out to persue a career as a rockstar, actually." He babbled, just excited to be getting through to him in any way. 
   "Huh. Interesting. I never went to college." He stirred the straw in his soft drink, smiling modestly.
   "Did you drop out to become a rockstar?"
   He thought for a moment. "Eh, kinda just happened. My dad forced me to play in a band when I was a sophmore. Actually, uh, enjoyed it and decided to stick with it for awhile. After that, I sang with my sister for a bit, and then something happened, and now I'm here."
   "Huh." He knew what the thing was. He was immortalized. "Tell me about her."
   "She lives back home. Three kids. A bit older than me, that's why she already has three. School music teacher." He said.
   "Cool. I have a brother who's much older than me. Not as cool, kinda mean." He sighed.
   "Hm, not very close to anyone, are you? I always see you alone. Guess that's why you bother me a lot." 
   He shook his head. "Yeah, my one friend who was just here a moment ago left, and hes been drifting away a bit. Everyone else is a workmate or an acquaintance." 
   Dook pulled the sleeves to his shirt over his hands and placed them under head chin. He was so obsessed with the way he dressed he couldnt handle it. "No wonder you're up the new guys ass."
   Beach couldnt help be giggle. He was glad he was funny. 
   Dook reached over and grabbed one of those tiny pencils used to fill in Keno cards, and a napkin, and wrote something down. "Guess I'll amuse you for now." He slid it over to him. It was his number. 
   "Oh my god." He did it. It was out of pity, so obviously out of pity, but he got his number.
   And finally, the late night comedy club announced its next act, after a long while of radio silence. The emcee came on stage, everyone cheered, well except for Dook who just glared up at him---well not really glare, he just seemed to have a case of a resting tired face, which wasnt necessarily a bad thing, but it still looked funny---seemingly board of every comedy routines seen tonight.
   "Sorry for the delay everyone, we just had a minor difficulty with some of our guest comics tonight. But thankfully, one of them came prepared. Please everyone, give it up for Rolfe DeWolfe, and his no-so-friendly sidekick, little Earl Schmerle. 
   Once again everyone cheered accept Dook, who's eyes widened, a little stunned by his presence. The comedian, clad in a plaid vest and black undershirt, with a wacky voice and a yellow puppet on his hand, smiled and thanked the audience for being there.
   "I knew he was here." Dook murmured.
   "What---"
   "Beach." 
   "Yeah?" 
   He leaned down, and turned his shoes off. "Can we leave?"
   "Why?"
   His eyes were locked on the comedian in a strange, prey-like state. "Hes not that funny."
   It was very obvious it was not because of that reason, but of course he couldnt point it out. 
   He stood up slowly, creeping quietly (or as quietly one could walk in heels) through the dim room, as Rolfe and the puppet began their routine. Yes, Dook was actually correct, the routine was…. Meh. It made you smile, not laugh. But of course that wasnt the point if the whole thing going on right now, was it? He copied his moves, standing up and moving quietly, this time actually quiet because of the fact he was wearing actual shoes.
   Beach Bear copied him, slinking out of his seat and following him to the door. They slipped out, into the warm night. The way he just…. Stared at him. He was going to take note of that. If only he remembered the name of whomever was onstage. 
   "So um…. What are we doing now?" He asked him.
   "Ummm…. I dont really know." He laughed nervously.
   "What do you know about that person in there?" He asked. "Seemed a little more than 'hes not funny.'"
   He sighed. "You dont wanna know." He said.
   Beach had a few guesses.
   Dook shrugged and looked around, still a little alert. "We can just…."
   "Take a walk?" He guessed. 
   "I mean…. Why not?"
   The more time to get to know him.
🦇🦇🦇
   He dodged any personal questions, and the ones he did answer, he didnt go too deep into it. Simple, vague answers. No names of people, no small anecdotes, no detail. They did just meet anyways, of course he was valid for keeping most things for himself. Beach already knew things he was keeping from him anyways. He seemed a bit more anxious than usual, however, seeing that puppeteer onstage seemed to shake him a bit. Genuinely worried about how disoriented he seemed, he asked him if he were okay.
   "Yeah, I'm fine. If-if I go into it, itll just…" he trailed off.
   "Oh, okay. Just…. Making sure. You need to sit down or something?" 
   He shook his head. "I said I'm fine." He repeated. 
   "Like I said, just making sure." He sighed. 
   He hoped that not every moment between them would have some kind of stale silence between them. It was starting to get annoying at this point. 
 "Wait." Dook stopped, so he stopped, a little confused.
   Dook crouched down and turned back on his shoes. "There. Better." He smiled, as if those shoes were the source of his pride and joy. 
   "Whered you even get those shoes?" He asked him.
   "Goodwill."
   "Huh. Are they battery powered or something?"
   "Yeah. Batteries go in the heels." He said. 
   "You dress very cool."
   "Um…. Okay, uh, thanks I guess." He laughed modestly. "You dress like you play beer pong."
   He snorted, realizing it was entirely true. "But I'm serious. You're just… unapologetically bold in the way you dress. And I can tell you dress because you like it and not for attention, because you certainly dont seem like the type who likes all eyes on them." He explained. 
   "Well, yeah. Nobody can tell me what to wear, so…" he shrugged. "Many people think I'm a girl at first, but…. You know, whatever. I-I like it."
   "Same thing about the mullet?"
   He laughed again, covering his mouth shyly. "I mean…" 
   "It looks good on you though, not everyone can pull off a look like that."
   Dook shrugged, grabbing the long part of his hair. "Yeah. I guess."
   The streets were so serene when they were empty. Even though there was the abduction of three little girls who were found dead the next morning, and he might be standing next to the culprit, the night still felt so welcoming, and calm. Something about the street lights shining down on the sidewalk, the neon of the open signs in almost every window, the clearness of the night sky which he caught Dook glimpsing up at in awe once every few minutes. 
   "You like space?" He asked.
   "Yeah. When I was little I wanted to be an astronaut." He said. "When um… playing with the band I always said I was gonna play with them until I could go to space." He said. "Didn't happen, though."
   "Do you still wanna go there?"
   "I mean, yeah, it would be cool." 
   The way the stars glistened in his eyes as he looked up at them in complete amazement. 
   "I feel the same way about the sea. I wanted to go underwater, like, in a submarine, for my whole life, just to explore. Don't you think it's weird how we know our moon better than our sea?"
   He thought for a moment, looking a little hazed, maybe from the way the waning moon was shining down on them, distracting him from the real world. He seemed to be the type with an imagination. 
   "I can't believe every single one of those is a star up there. Every single one." Dook said. He began wiggling his fingers a bit in excitement. 
   He's never seen him impressed before. Maybe he should try and use space theme pick up lines to flirt, maybe then he'll notice him. But the only one he could think of was the classic your ass is out of this world joke, which he didn't think was a very cool one to throw his way. He might get punched in the face. He also was way too tired of thinking of something. These late night outings were really starting to get to him. It wasn't even that late out, compared to how late he usually stayed out.
   "How close were you to achieving your submarine dream?" He asked him.
   "I surf. That's about as close. I love it." He responded.
   "Ah. The closest I got was space camp as a kid." He ran his fingers through the bangs and his mullet.
   Beach put his hands in his pockets and kicked a rock into the road.
   "Didya try going into biology or something to get into the ocean?" He asked.
   "Oh no, my science grades were…. Not too good. I majored in english." He answered.
   "How old are you?" 
   "23." He said. "What about you?"
   Dook froze for a moment, thinking. Probably doing math in his head, which he probably wasn't very good at, from the way he snuck his fingers out to count. He didn't know why he was assuming so much from the little things, but he was.
   "21." He finally said.
   So he must've been 21 when he was turned into a vampire. And from the looks, it was in the 80s. Now he was wondering a lot. How did one even get turned into a vampire? He tried remembering back to Stoker's Dracula, Sookie Stackhouse, vampire chronicles, heck, even twilight. A bite? Excessive drinking of the blood? Canoodling with your partner, accidentally killing her, because vampires are apparently that strong (he hoped that wasn't the way, if anything that happened in twilight was true he'd probably run over to Stephanie Meyers house and drink HER blood)? All these questions he couldn't ask, because he didn't tell him. It was probably a very hard thing to tell in the first place. Mitzi was always incognito, and had a human end a close friendship with her once they found out about her secret, so he wasn't too surprised Dook was the same way. Mitzi was merely a teen, but Dook has been around for awhile---how many times was his heart broken by both partners and friends fearing him once they found out? 
   "So you're a drummer, right?" Beach asked. He couldn't be in his own head for too long.
   "Yeah?" He said.
   "Howd you get into drumming?"
   "Band. You know…. School band."
   "Huh, cool. I played Tenor sax."
   "So you like Rush and have a strong disliking towards cornets." He assumed.
   "Stereotypes, really?"
   He shrugged. "What? You know it's true."
   "Well then…. Since you're a percussionist I believe that you yell yeehaw any chance you get, have weak lungs, and have an affinity for Oingo Boingo."
   He looked to his side with a knowing smile. "I mean I do like Oingo Boingo---"
   "HA!"
   "What? You just proved my point!"
   They both started laughing, the feeling of their bond growing a bit stronger. 
   "What chair were you?" He asked.
   "Always like…. Second. Third. I'm not the best. And…. Lemme guess, you were first chair a-and got all the solos?"
   He shrugged. "We only had two in the top band, what can I say?" 
   He liked the constant laughter between them. It was a good sign, he believed. Laughter was an important step to any kind of relationship. If you couldn't see yourselves traveling the world as a comedic duo, what was the point? So his Hope's were set high, just as a love sick gay person should be. 
🦇🦇🦇
   When they walked back to the club (both of their cars were there, they couldn't just walk home), Dooks goodbye was surprisingly hasty. Maybe he didn't want to encounter that guy that was here earlier, in case he was still loitering about, because his eyes carried the same alertness they did at the moment he spotted him. But he had his number now, an all powerful thing that Mitzi would be very happy to hear. He went to his car, very proud of what he accomplished, happy he finally got through to him enough to get to know a little more. When he had his hand on the handle, however, he heard something… interesting. A struggle of a woman was what he could compare it most to. He heard a male voice, one that wasn't Dooks, saying something. Remembering Dooks quick exit off of centerstage, he was inclined to follow the sound. He followed it to the side of the building, where he could clearly hear a woman's muffled screams. He could also hear the words from the other, currently disembodied voice, urging on whomever had her pinned.
   "You want to starve, Dook? You can't just not feed for three months then go purge on woodland creatures for the next week!" The voice scolded. 
   Against the wall, he peaked over the corner, and saw the sight of Dook with a terrified blonde against the wall, fangs out, the pure look of struggle, and willpower in his face as he bit his lip, as to resist his urge to plunge them into her neck. The other dude was the comedy man, mister Ralph whats-his-name (man no wonder he was performing in a small comedy parlor in a small town in florida), was trying to egg him on to make the kill. Dook opened his mouth, obviously starving, but unwilling to bring harm upon the poor, unsuspecting patron, and turned away, dropping her to the ground. She shot up and scrambled away, probably scared for life. He turned back around the corner, hoping he wasn't spotted. 
   "Come on, Dook!" Comedian guy huffed at him. "Why can't you just be like every other vampire planet? Why do I have to force I yoh human blood?!"
   "I mean…. ED?" He responded, scared but able to respond in his usual way.
   "You were turned into a vampire to get rid of that." He groaned, tired, but seemingly used to his sass.
   "Well that didn't work, did it---" there was a thump against the wall.
   He turned to peak again. This time it was Dook against the wall. He had a hold of him with his shirt. He pulled out something in his pocket, and from closer examination, he made out the classic---a wooden stake, fit to kill any vampire with a stab to the heart. He lightly placed it against his chest, Dook visibly shaking, and struggling with all his might. 
   "You'll reap what you sow, Dook. If you don't follow orders, if you don't keep yourself alive for the better of your kind, you'll pay." He threatened.
   Dook brought up his leg and kicked his stomach, the comedian losing grip on him and falling back, the stake falling to the ground.
   "My kind is human, got it? I'm not doing anything for a vampire, or a werewolf, or-or for anyone, really!"
   "Was human, Dook. You're one of us now, and you have to accept it. You do the duties bestowed upon you, I wouldn't be on your tail all the time!" He got up.
   "Fuck you." He replied. The comedian screamed and threw his fists at him, only smacking against the brick as Dook flew out of the way. 
   "I can't believe I was assigned to you, my god!" He seethed. 
   "Then LEAVE!" He shouted.
   "I won't, because I'm not disobeying my orders! It's my job to keep people like you in check and I'm sticking by it until the end of time, like what i'm supposed to do. I'm going to keep following you until you feed on humans, turn humans, and be grateful you died in our hands."
   They both stared at each other silently, eyes fixed on the other with intimidating adrenaline. 
   "If you don't, you're dead. And I'll make sure of it. I'll make sure you don't up and head out of town this time."
   "You wish."
   He grabbed him by the shirt again, and began pulling him to the front. 
   Terrified, he turned back around, eyes wide.
   Mitzi was gonna have a ball, hearing this.
4 notes · View notes
amplesalty · 5 years
Text
Day 24 - Killer Legends (2014)
Tumblr media
From mockumentary to straight up documentary...
There was a time when I would throw in a documentary every year for a bit of variety but that feel by the wayside for a bit. Probably because that was more in the infancy of this horror kick and I was using that as a way to pick up potential viewing material. They were normally centered around looking at the history of horror movies, exploring different periods and how styles shifted as the years passed.
This one though is looking at urban legends, specifically ones that revolve around a horror aspect. Namely; The Hook Man, The Candyman, The Killer and the Man Upstairs and The Killer Clown.
The Hook Man isn’t quite as literal because it branches off to talk about the real life Texarkana Moonlight Murders, inspiration for The Town That Dreaded Sundown. There is a comparison that is drawn to how the real life murderer used his gun as part of his sexual assault on one of his victims, so there’s a link between the penetration with a foreign, metal object there and the killers hook. As I mentioned in that post and the When a Stranger Calls ones, it’s all really about a scare tactic for young lovers. It’s interesting to see them going around talking to people in the town and hear how they were scared away from going to these lovers lane sites because of the murders.
It serves as a neat companion piece to watching the movie, seeing these real life locations and talking to people involved in the original investigation. They also talk to the promoter of the yearly screening they have of Sundown and they acknowledge this strange scenario they have where the town is becoming this extension of an urban legend. Like, kids will tell these exaggerated tales of urban legends but the town itself is doing that by showing this movie which is an exaggerated version of these real life events.
Tumblr media
I don’t know where they sourced these illustrations for hook killers though. It looks like a Wikihow article on how to get murdered.
Tumblr media
The second story is on tainted candy. You know, razor blades in an apple, pins in a candy bar...stuff like that. They show examples of the hysteria around it, talking heads of people who say they will check through all their kids candy, news pieces on local hospitals giving free x-rays to candy. Firstly, what hospital has time to just do that? Secondly, that just strikes me as weird that you have parents worried about foreign bodies snuck into these sweets but are fine with shooting radiation at them? I would imagine it’s going to be pretty low level but still, just seems odd.
Tumblr media
There doesn’t seem to be many actual examples of this happening in real life, the major ones you’ve having to go back decades to find. They cover one quite majorly, Ronald Clark O’Bryan giving tainted Pixy Stix to his own kids as well as some neighbour kids who they were trick or treating with. This resulted in the death of his son but the other children survived. He originally try to pin this on the old urban legend about twisted individuals giving out poison to kids but eventually it came out that it was him, seemingly as some sort of insurance scam as he had taken out life insurance on his kids very recently. Apparently he opened the Pixy Stix, poured in the poison and resealed them before handing them out.
Tumblr media
Again, they explore the local town talking to people to find out what they know about the incident, including going to the old O’Bryan house, hesitant to reveal to the current occupant just what had gone down there all those years ago. They even interview the former Assistant District Attorney who worked on the case and it’s almost funny at first as he looks at a picture of O’Bryan and says ‘Look at that lying son of a bitch’. But as they talk to him, it’s clear that it’s still something that shakes him up like 30 years later and that’s really understandable. It really boggles the mind to think that someone would do that to their own children.
The Babysitter and the Man Upstairs is another that they struggle to find any real evidence of, save for going back to the 1950’s. Again though, it’s still something that’s very prevalent today and they touch upon the various movies that will use this concept. Hell, like I said in the Stranger Calls post, they’re doing another Black Christmas remake this year.
This looks into the case in the 50’s that seems to have sparked this whole legend, as well as some similar killings around that time that they suspect could be linked. At the time, an Africa American man was convicted and executed for the crime but people in the town speak of a prejudice present in the town at the time, suggesting that this conviction was just a case of trying to appease the public.
The Killer Clown is one they figure can be easily traced to the 80’s when you had things like Poltergeist and IT that very much pushed the idea of the scary clown to the forefront but they found stuff that pre-dated that. A lot of talk about clowns being used to try and lure kids away.
Tumblr media
They focus a lot on John Wayne Gacy who had his clown persona but he is a case where they suspect that he’s actually not doing it to lure victims. On the contrary, someone mentions that his makeup will feature these pointed edges and triangular eyes which can actually be quite offputting for kids.
Tumblr media
Clearly this is true, just look at that creepy bastard in Spawn. All sorts of pointed edges going on there.
Tumblr media
I think it definitely helps that I’ve just watched some of the movies they mention here so it’s cool to see the real life stories behind them. The one nitpick I would have with it is that they do a lot of their location visits in the middle of the night which seems a little sensationalist to me. They’ll have music start up suddenly or one of the pair will scream, only to find it was them walking into a spiders web...it’s just odd that they’re trying to go for these cheap scares in the middle of this documentary.
Maybe there’s some method to that madness though. The movie in general seems to carry this idea that urban legends actually seem to be covering up truths that are much more horrifying than the stories themselves which is interesting because the legends are what are meant to be scaring the kids. In the podcast I listened to with the director, Josh Zeman, he mentioned that these urban legends almost have to be dressed up in order to really get through to the kids because they’re just uninstrested otherwise. “Hey kids, don’t go into those woods, there’s a mad man around.” Whatever. “Don’t go into those woods, there’s an escaped mental patient with a hook for a hand.” Fuck that noise, I’m going nowhere near those woods. Still, especially the Babysitter section talking about the potential that this town was just falsely convicting people that made it easy for it’s Confederate leaning public to swallow is very worrying.
Zeman also references one of his earlier works, 2009’s Cropsey, that looks at a specific urban legend from his own childhood in Staten Island. Another one for the future.
1 note · View note
Note
40, 47, 59, 62, 76
lmao hell yeah thanks for All this support i love it!! quastions
40. weirdest thing to ever happen at your school?
really idk i feel like even our schools’s Antics were pretty par for the course and i was just sitting in the corner reading the whole time basically......trying to think if anything wild happened in college but even then it was p similar. well you know what, whatever donors covered the majority of the cost of the school’s black box theater being renovated apparently Stipulated that every other year a rodgers and hammerstein production be put on. absolute freaks. my roommate/friend and their then-boyfriend, the one mormon i have Knowingly Known in my life, were in pirates of penzance (sic?) together. hilarious
47. favorite type of cheese?
i like cheddar and like, parmesan, smoked gouda.....let’s get that shit Sharp!!! and hard lmao
59. if you were a video game character, what would your catchphrase be?
idk i’d be like an npc just doing their weird thing on their own. i’ve never played pokemons unless you count pokemons Go but i think about the famed “i like shorts they’re comfy and easy to wear” npc kid. like, yeah. i feel the same. and would say similar bullshit nobody asked about
62. seven characters you relate to?
oh god.........recognizing the self through the relatable characters :|
well let’s just talk about the wrol roles right off b/c the characters that Most occupy my gay thoughts (which is to say: my general thoughts) will inevitably get priority when it comes to Remembering things
1) whom among us doesn’t relate to jared kleinman........will roland emerging from relative obscurity and coming for our entire fucking lives like the goddamn legend he is. it’s tough b/c it’s like, oh well alana is relatable too, so is evan unfortunately sorry evan, and in ways i might ~usually act~ like one of those two more than jared but. no. it is Jared who wins the relatability contest, and we all get to be beautifully haunted by it forever
2) leaning hard into winston even with the few glimpses of him b/c somehow will Cannot play an allistic cishet. and this is even More of a case where maybe i don’t much have winston’s demeanor.......even without winston being a beacon of confidence, he has more confidence lmao. and he has that ability to just Be Himself in a situation which, i wish i had that moxie lmao. i am a lot more [usually trying to be accommodating wayyyy harder than i should], booo......even though he’s clearly not great at conflict considering how it doesn’t take Too much to put him out, it’d be pretty impossible for me to be all “called them hacks and lame” or carry out a very irritated monologue in front of four people in the first place lmao. but who knows. and it’s more in the details of like, oh no winston’s the odd one out even though he hasn’t really Done Anything, but we all ~understand~ why he Deserves it.........his expectation / treating it basically as Fact that he will disappoint people.......the [weird] [offputting] behaviors and his way of speaking in What he Says and How He Says It seeming wrong to people.......like it’s only 15-ish min of content that we have here and we don’t have the least info about will’s own thoughts on the character but it’s like. how is this such an iconic Gay Autistic Quant b/c these vibes are so rare. and i appreciate that he can be ~difficult~ lmao. same with jared though i didn’t mention it. i can be difficult!! love it for us...
3) briony atkins from murder of bindy mackenzie as a character who Does act more like how i Usually Act Like lmao.....god we’re only on three i forgot there was seven of these. and yet i know there’s probably at least 2 dozen characters who could make this list and i just won’t think of most of them unless directly reminded......but anyways yeah i mean in person i mostly do Not want attention unless i feel comfortable enough / in my element or whatever. especially if it’d be some situation like “sitting in a group of randos” lol. i mean it depends b/c i also can sometimes be ~on~ in terms of Masking and trying to be like Haha I’m Social I’m Regular and i def engage in Nervous Chatter sometimes, but like, very often it’s like god don’t talk to me and i don’t want to talk either.....and then yeah people Will be surprised that like, idk, i’m opinionated as shit and idk that i Enjoy Things / Have Thoughts And Feelings coz the assumption i guess is that you must simply have nothing to say. so the dismissal of this person who seemingly has nothing to contribute and must be Boring rings true lmfao.....but then of course it’s also important that her personality Under that is the one getting mistaken for emily’s lol cuz yeah At Heart i am sure of that dramatic / intense / excitable type Sometimes. but it takes some excavation before i am like “oh i can engage in my actual self” and like weeks and months to get comfortable w/ people and i’m always suspicious that anyone actually would enjoy it and i’m not too much......i am a motormouth actually and have something to say about any and everything and like to Have Fun Here but like. idk i come off as boring and can be Notably Quiet lmao
4) oscar martinez from the office is weirdly [Haha Same] sometimes lmfao. sort of keeps to himself but also has to pipe up with Opinions and Pedantry and the kind of Drama of a restrained theatre gay. some deleted scene from an episode where during an interview clip of Jimothy in a theater lobby and you have oscar call from across the group in that [wearied Ugh God] way of ‘jim, they’re remaking ___’ while jim just kind of gives a cursory “wow gosh” or whatever and like, i sure don’t have lots of Theatre Opinions but that “oh jeez i have a Take on this and have to share it with someone” vibe is like hahaha yeah.....it’s funny in the “the gang goes to the ice rink for a third of the ep” bit where you just catch oscar doing [ice skating turn] with some solemn intensity.......the “here’s a question nobody’s asking: is this worth it” quote.........way at the end where there’s a whole deal with one of the indoor plants and he’s like “why is it a He” @ the collective gendering of the houseplant lmfao.......i love the one thing where he and pam and uhh toby right? have the Finer Things book club or whatever and jim wants to join just like ~ironically~ and pam has to tell him that oscar doesn’t want him to join b/c he’s not going to take it seriously and use it as a Jokes Vehicle. and then you get the scene at the end where jim Is basically doing that and they’re just like taking it out of him and oscar’s all very seriously like “did you get it all out of your system” lmfao like yeah, earnest members only lmao.....the thing where he gets mad at angela’s like Jazz Musician Posed Babies posters all “it’s kitsch it Destroys art” lmaoooo and in a totally different season all “this is the problem with debate” over the completely inconsequential “is [whichever actress, i forget] Hot” “”””debate””””.......the whole tendency to get involved and always have a take to get across.....opinionated-sometimes-to-the-point-of-petty central. also that he’s the canon gay, are there even any others? anyways and as the us office’s spiritual successor i’ll add on to this by uh what’s the name of billy eichner’s character on parks and rec? it’s craig right. that Self-Powered Intensity is very #me as well.
5) augh god........im like lmfao shit who represents my Hater Club side. hmmm. oh no wait you know what. totally different but i love Prof Beatrice Hotchkiss in the trt nancy drew pc game. she’s holed up in her room writing all the time and just is weird when you try to talk to her all like no i won’t open the door, bring me food, do this Research, bring me my Ski Boots i guess......and then when you do meet her it’s all at like post-midnight in the lounge and she’s all like, encouraging you as a Night Owl and your investigative curiosity and all and i’m like oh word yeah being up in the dead of night is the shit. she’s just weird and passionate and this is another character i might not Act hardly at all like but who i vibe with lmfao. hotchkiss was the supportive adult in my life
6) remembering how hotchkiss is a historian made me think of academia which made me think of like, once again with “these vibes are So So Rare” i really ought to put the wrol role of Nato on the list cuz like. that essential representation of “gets gr8 grades but isn’t really ~academic~ / doesn’t care about that and really just cares about Hanging W Friends and [real specific interests]” is like wow damn that’s the Mood. coz like to an extent i can always Relate to the ~overachiever~ types a la the [nerd character gets all-A’s and other nerd shit] deal, but there’s eventually the issue of like.....those characters like bindy mackenzies and alana becks Care about their achievements (not exclusively as some ppl would have it 9_9) and are Studious whereas i always hated school and was a godawful student in terms of Habits and always got good grades b/c the devil was with me or something and like people will think i must have tried real hard and dedicated myself to Academics and stuff and it’s like.........no................not at all hardly, sure i did my hw every night but at like 11:29 pm or studied for a midterm at lunch right before the class lol or flipped through a lil bit of the sat study guide the night prior.........the “low-effort dumbass who Academically Excels Anyhow” representation is so crucial like!! i run into a wall when it’s the Good Grades nerd character who is real studious and focused and stuff like. couldn’t be me. meanwhile the “naturally weird + probably some ‘deliberate’ weirdness” and “likes animals” and “most likely to just wanna Roll With It” and “shitty focus lol” and “non sequiturs” and “without [activity] i do nothing” is all like....ahahahohoho..........nato rly got to make this list. and honorable mention for Wrol Jeremy. again: whom doesn’t relate!!!!!!!!
7) damnit i know there’s So many answers to [characters i relate to] and whom cover like, more particular Facets here but i’m struggling lmao. Uh. like i’m like, who’s the Hot Mess / continually evolving disaster characters i vibe with......who’s the peak despresso detached Haters rep......who embodies the solo production lifestyle........dammit you know what lol i tend to Feel for like, the background ~nobodies~ who might just get like totally destroyed in some movie with life or death stakes just to like, show how much danger our heroes / Important Complex Protags are. same w/ jeremy not feeling like the Hero / the one who the story’s about / the cool guy / player 1 / etc etc etc i’m like oo i’d be the npc who doesn’t really do anything, i’d be the rando getting blown away in the background of someone else’s story. on a totally different note another shoutout / honorable mention to wybie from the coraline lmfao one of the best characters invented from thin air for an adaptation......tangentially relevant b/c he’s entirely here to support the protag / not his story at all, just here to help and prompt interactions / exposition really.......but love that [weird loner kid who’s best friend is a cat and annoys the other kid and doesn’t Get it and has specific interests and entertains himself and just is doing weird shit around here tf dude lmao killing it] like, #mood. #lifestyle. less dismal to relate to than the bg person who dies......his counterpart who totally dies is somewhat fleshed out / given Investment so it doesnt Really count as [background Nobody who’s really just fodder for “defining the stakes / threat level”] Character Concept
76. what’s your favorite potato food (i.e. tater tots, baked potatoes, fries, chips, etc.)?
latkes maybe......Yummy
1 note · View note
deltaengineering · 5 years
Text
Winter Anime 2019 Part 4: That’s all, folks.
Tumblr media
Over already? This is a pretty thin season with not a lot of shows, so it’s not that surprising that there’s not many good ones either. Still, a weak showing. Oh well, let’s get it over with. There were a few decent ones in the last batch.
Circlet Princess
Tumblr media
What: Dimwitted schoolgirl is good at some vaguely defined virtual fighting sport, changes school based on it, finds out relevant club has been abolished. Forecast says: 5 member plot incoming.
❌ I think it’s already clear this show isn’t very ambitious, and not very well written either. A game adaptation at its laziest.
❌❌ Man, this girl is STUPID. What the hell.
❌ The rest of the cast are less stupid (which isn’t hard), but that just means they’re so forgettable they might as well not exist.
❌❌ It looks cheap, and by that I mean really really cheap. The character design is ISO standard anime and it’s mostly on model, but that’s as good as it gets. The animation just sucks. That’s a death sentence for an action/sports show with terrible characters.
Bermuda Triangle - Colorful Pastrale
Tumblr media
What: Japanese Spongebob, as in cute mermaids. Doing things optional.
❌ To make this quick, this is almost exactly Pastel Memories, only every problem is just a little less extreme. It has fewer characters, it’s looking slightly better, there’s a tiny bit more going on, the setting is mildly more interesting. That still means it is:
❌❌ 1. A boring mess in which a handful of samey girls do nothing of much interest in a location that should be unique, but isn’t.
❌❌ 2. Conspicuously cheap. It even has the same sightline problems.
❌❌ 3. Featuring a character model sheet that is “off” even under the best circumstances. This time due to the very offputting decision to give everyone blobby triangular irises.
❌❌ Unlike Pastel Memories (which was an ad for a mobile game) this is an anime original, so it really has no excuse being this lame.
♎ I find it amusing that Pastel Palettes are providing the OP for an anime, and it’s not the one currently airing that they’re actually characters in.
Endro~!
Tumblr media
What: Kiraralike comedy thing in a generic JRPG setting.
♎ Namori character designs, so it’s like Spyce in that it just seems like the Yuru Yuri cast cosplaying a genre. But hey, Namori character designs do look good.
❌ I’m not as done with generic JRPG settings as with generic isekai settings, but it’s still a real problem since the former is now a subset of the latter. Mildly making fun of it does not improve things much either.
✅ The tone is cutesy and pleasant. I find this much preferable to something like Mahoujin Guru Guru, which is pretty much the same thing but with abrasive, high-intensity slapstick instead.
✅ It’s backing that up with generally high-quality, agreeable pastel looks.
❌ Not being annoying is a start, but beyond that this seems very middle of the road and predictable. I don’t get much out of the genre “parody” and simply being cute is still not an unique selling point in anime.
Grimms Notes The Animation
Tumblr media
What: Did someone say JRPG? This is a mobile one, vaguely based on fairy tales as the title implies.
✅ This universe runs on the idea that every NPC’s fate is controlled by a preset story they’re aware of. You could make a good story about that if you took it seriously. It even does that somewhat, but only to the degree that you’d expect from a throwaway sidequest in a moderately well-written JRPG.
❌ And the reason for that is that it has to make room for being a JRPG, of course. Read: It’s irritatingly mechanics- and combat-focused. Stuff like the characters changing form when in fights just seems overly complicated and adds nothing.
❌ Said combat looks competent, but not good enough to make up for detracting from what could have been an interesting setting. Merc Storia did this aspect far better (by usually not doing it at all).
❌ So it ends up being better than expected, but then that only amounts to a disappointment.
Kaguya-sama wa Kokurasetai / Kaguya-sama: Love Is War
Tumblr media
What: Kaguya and Miyuki are in the student council of a prestigious school and HATE HATE HATE each other. Specifically, they hate the part where the other one won’t just finally admit their love.
✅ The joke here is that it’s operating on full intensity at all times, over the most simple matters. It’s pretty much Kaiji, only about dating - complete with hammy narrator. This is another one of those shows where I can’t say with certainty that it’s solid, but I had a blast during the first episode.
✅ Regarding Quintuplets, I made it clear that I love me some sparks in my romantic comedies. It doesn’t get much more explosive than this.
✅ The characters are comparable to Quints too: Smart scheming upstart vs. rich scheming ojou, with a simpleminded girl in the middle that ends up winning more often than not simply by not overdoing it.
✅ The visuals are just as over the top as the proceedings depicted. Occasionally a filter massacre, but mostly cool.
♎ The long-term viability of this show depend entirely on whether they can consistently come up with scenarios that work, which isn’t a given. Also, this is so intense it might become tiresome - I already felt some fatigue towards the end of the first episode. We’ll see, I guess.
Kakegurui ××
Tumblr media
What: Some weirdos think they can crash the party at Hyakkaou with an intent to scare the daylights out of Yumeko and Midari, of all people. Let’s just say they were not as prepared as they thought.
✅ As you might have guessed by me watching the sequel, I liked Kakegurui. It has its problems, but if you’re down for some crazypants madness, this show delivers.
✅ This is one of the better episodes of it too, because it gets right into it and the game they play is dead simple. Kakegurui was never about smart moves or strong characters, so not having anything detract from our girls deriving the entirely wrong sort of pleasure from danger is a plus.
♎ Sadly, the OP is a step down (though still great) and the ED is simply an inferior, overcomplicated version of the magnificent original one. They seem to know this too, because they play the OP cut of Deal with the Devil in its entirety for a montage. The rest of the production is on par with the original though, so it’s fiiiine. Oh well.
❌ It got Netflix’d again and the subs situation is dire. Since this is one I actually like, I might have to wait for the official release.
Kouya no Kotobuki Hikoutai / The Magnificent Kotobuki
Tumblr media
What: Piston-engined fighter plane pornography.
✅ This delivers where Girly Air Force failed: Close to zero exposition, the majority of the episode is just planes dogfighting with barely any talking either. And that part is executed really well. I think the plane startup sequence alone is as long as the total of Girly’s airtime.
✅ Guess what, it’s Tsutomu Mizushima, previously known for unbridled panzer (und girls) pornography, and boy can you tell. However, this cuts out a lot of GuP’s bullshit: A plane doesn’t have the cast of K-ON in it, it’s not over-the-top zany, and whatever this universe is, it can’t be as insipid as GuP’s. The classy milwank exists you guys, we found it.
✅✅ The music really helps here, sky pirates vs zeppelins just wouldn’t work without some classic swashbuckling orchestra background. Fat sound mixing on the dakka too. It’s great.
♎ Can’t really say much about the narrative because we kinda skipped that in this episode aside from the obvious, but Mizushima’s Shirobako collaborator Michiko Yokote is writing it, and that’s a good sign.
❌ Now we’re getting to the elephant in the room though: There’s no way the planes wouldn’t be CG in 2019, but the characters are CG too, and their animation is mediocre. Also, they did the KADO thing where they 2D-animated the side characters that aren’t important enough to model. This has the funny side effect that you can tell who’s going to die real soon by them looking better. It’s far from great, but probably a worthy tradeoff if the mechanical side is this extensive and also delivers.
✅ This is definitely not for everyone, since you have to have more than a casual appreciation for those magnificent girls in their flying machines. I do, though.
revisions
Tumblr media
What: A chunk of Shibuya gets teleported to the dystopian future, local doomsday prepper gets handed a large robot because he’s special.
❌ A Goro Taniguchi joint being a poorly conceived scifi mess? Say it ain’t so! I especially dig the tryhard English jargon (mecha: “String Puppet”, monsters faction: “Revisions”, particular monster, I think?: “Civilian”, tacticool operetah: “Balancer”).
❌ Works very hard to characterize the main character, to the detriment of everyone else. A for effort, but you made an unlikeable asshole though.
❌ This is another full CG show, with the quality of the animation being curiously variable. Sometimes it’s well above average and sometimes it’s painful. There doesn’t seem to be much method to it.
✅ Tries to establish stakes by being mondo edgy and graphically murderizing some poor bystanders. It’s adorable.
❌ If you’re really jonesing for some mecha, you can watch all of this on Netflix right now. It’s not like you have any alte- wait, Egao no Daika has mecha too. Well there you go then. That’s a better show.
25 notes · View notes
Aww ur so sweet! Ur lurker feels very appreciated rn 🥰. Unfortunately life is interfering with my true purpose (watching bl and bugging u with my opinions). But I am on epi 8 of my engineer, so u gotta start telling me what to watch next.
I def love stuff that’s domestic, and with older characters (if possible), oh and maybe from Korea??? We haven’t hit Korea yet. Give me some gay k drama!
ep 8 already! well done! 
but oof, you’re asking something hard there. Korea didn’t really start joining the mainstream bl world until, well. this year. And as far as I know there’s currently 2 finished series and one that just started, and all of these are very short and about students. 
I still do recommend both Where Your Eyes Linger and Mr Heart, they’re both very cute (and also angsty) in their own way, but because they’re Korean shows the production value is top notch. No weird microphone problems or offputting sound effects here, just beautiful camerawork and amazing ost’s. WYEL definitely has a lot of very domestic moments too, so that’s good (though there’s also violence.) 
Also this is interesting to probably no one else but Jaejoong did a song for Mr Heart’s OST and I recognized his voice and went ?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?! OH MY GOD.
Anyway.
Older characters and domestic stories are harder to find since, let’s be real, mainstream BL is targeted at young straight women so most stories tend to be about high school or university students. The BL world as a whole has done a lot of growing up this year though, and there are some new series coming up about older characters, but we’ll all have to be patient for a little while longer. 
So here’s some of the only ones I can think of right now that you haven’t already seen: 
-Life ~love on the line~  (senjou no bokura): a Japanese BL with only like, idk, 6 episodes or smth? It does get very angsty, and boy did I want to go over there to slap some sense into Some People, but I promise there’s a happy gay ending
-Barista/Condo/Architect: a Thai GL (!) about an architect who has some uh, very noisy neighbours, and to focus goes to a new cafe, which is run by a very cute girl. Some drama happens, BUT there are plants and midnight coffees and also Tul Pakorn is a coworker?? I love it. It’s only like 2 episodes too iirc. 
-What Did You Eat Yesterday? : I haven’t actually seen this one, but I do know it’s a Japanese BL about a middle-aged gay couple. That’s it that’s all I know. 
-Manner of Death: this one’s currently airing and about crime and murder so probably not your cup of tea. It’s a Thai BL about a forensic pathologist, Bun, in a small town who is sure his friend Jane got murdered. But a mysterious figure starts threatening him, to make sure Jane’s death is ruled a suicide. Drama and mystery ensues. Jane’s (now ex-) boyfriend Tan is very sus and also very gay for Bun. Presumably.
-I think some of the pre-Trapped History installments are about older couples too? But I’m not sure. I’ve only watched Crossing the Line, which was about high school students and was. fine. I’ve heard rumours of a 4th instalment being in the works, and it being an office romance, but we’ll just have to wait and see I guess. 
0 notes
lesbitchka · 7 years
Text
(submission)
alright so i’m gonna dump my long long club story in here (cw for q slur stuff, some mentions of prior abuse, kink, drag) this is gonna be really long, i’m sorry! my way of narration is kind of obnoxious
i’m a copresident of my campus’ lgbt group after i was asked by someone in my class to run for office during my first semester at my current college. i’d never been to a meeting before, but i accepted, honored to have been invited. in retrospect, that kind of should have been my first red flag- being asked to step in in an administrative role to a club i had absolutely no familiarity with. i’m a white, autistic trans man who is on the aro/ace spec because of my history of trauma. this will be important later on 
i showed up to the election and was elected handily, because apparently the person i was running against has a history of being abusive? i don’t know anything about that. anyway, at the same meeting, the person who had held my position before me, a nonbinary trans woman, was ousted publically and stormed out of the room, furious. at the time, i wasn’t too bothered by it. this person had a history of posting weird, intimidating right-leaning stuff about “defending someone’s right to free speech all the way up until they act on it”- that includes threats to murder and rape people, in her own words- and mocking club members for mental health problems. all around, a legitimately abusive person that i totally understood why she’d be removed. and over the summer, that was that- no further discussion. 
i moved across the country to the la area to live with my longterm partner over the summer. during that time, we lived in a disadvantaged area that was primarily latinx, close to anaheim, where over the course of the summer we heard a lot of police violence come out of, both on the news and in word-of-mouth from our (primarily trans) friend group. despite being white, this left me worried about police violence towards me for other reasons; ie, i was an unmedicated trans man in a relationship with another unmedicated trans man, subject to different types of police violence should anything happen to our home, which we were sharing with a latinx family. while nothing became of these fears, this, also, will be important 
when i got back on campus, i took up my new position and started getting involved in club affairs. i noticed from a very early point there were some small issues, but nothing that was really a dealbreaker- the club had a strong focus on kink and many board members had a tendency to be very public about their sex lives in advertisements and tabling opportunities for our group, which, while i assumed i was being oversensitive about because of my trauma, i noticed offput several prospective members who investigated our table. when campus police swept through the club fair, equipped and in full uniform, i expressed my discomfort- a holdover from my time in a troubled area, hearing about my white trans male friend face obstruction and hostility when turning to the police in a domestic violence case, having been home for less than a week- and was met by the only nonwhite member of our board explaining that he didn’t feel uncomfortable with the police there, so it was kind of ridiculous that i did and i shouldn’t. which may have been true, but jesus, felt pretty shitty to hear my feelings on the thing were bad. i also requested that we not refer to ourselves as the q*eer club when hosting events and referring to my membership and was told by the same administrator that because he is latinx and likes the word, no one else should have any reason to take issue with it, b/c he was most strongly effected by pulse…? that was his reasoning for why we should keep using the q slur. again, a bunch of small things i could easily brush off, but things that stuck out 
things didn’t get really bad until this semester. over winter break, two things happened. the aforementioned nonwhite board member we had was hired by the school and is no longer legally allowed to be involved in any club’s board. also, i started dating a member of our club, a nonbinary transfeminine person (gonna call them bug for this post) who’s two years younger than me and getting their feet in school. i was feeling really awful after a week-long hospitalization early in the semester and having my longterm partner across the country; they were facing academic difficulties and poverty that will probably keep them from returning next semester, so it arose from mutual need and desire to support one another, with mutualistic understanding of the fact that our relationship is probably on a timeline. bug came into our school hoping to get involved in lgbt activism, so when we had elections after winter break, i encouraged them to try out. 
it’s also worth mentioning that bug was and is one of only three transfeminine club members who would regularly show up to meetings. the other two, who i’ll call mercury and simone, are both older than me; mercury was part of the board before i joined, and simone joined at the same time as bug, due to our awareness of our club’s appearance due to having something like 30 regular attendees and only three transfeminine ones; even now, simone is the only one who identifies as a trans woman, not nonbinary.my roommate, who i’ll call marcie, also joined at this time, becoming our only nonwhite board member. 
so, convergence of events: bug and i start dating, and bug, simone, and marcie all join this club. things are great at first! everyone loves each other, we’re all excited to be working with our friends. i’m overjoyed to have my roommate, one of my best friends, and my brand new datemate working with me on something i’m really passionate about. 
when we try to put together our first event of the semester, though, things go HELLA south. the new director of the board, the boyfriend of the guy i had a couple issues with at the beginning of the year, asks the board what kind of shirts we want for our event: tanks or tees. bug speaks up first, saying that they don’t want a tank because tanks show their shoulders too much and make them feel dysphoric. simone and mercury echo bug’s sentiments; i, knowing that our membership has had some issues with our lack of inclusion for transfemmes, decide to go with the transfemme voices on our board. this becomes the biggest controversy we’ve yet faced as a board. the director becomes enraged, talking about how tanks make him LESS dysphoric, how for our last event he got baseball shirts that make him dysphoric and that he hates (and that he also wears almost every time i see him, hm) so we should make a concession for him to get a shirt he likes. he tells us to vote; me, bug, simone, and mercury all vote for tanks, which means that we have the majority on our seven person board. the situation is now wholly out of control, the director gets angrier and says we’re getting tees anyway, marcie says something off hand about how it’s not a dysphoria contest, which makes bug feel like shit because they brought up the topic of their dysphoria first as a reason they personally wouldn’t wear the shirt if we bought it and then was countered by our director’s claims of how dysphoric tees would make him. simone says that this invalidation of her and bug’s lived experiences and the hostility they were met with for asking for a shirt with transfemmes in mind is transmisogynistic behaviour. remember that guy who got hired by the school? he steps in now to defend his boyfriend and shuts down the conversation (yeah, he’s still in our group chat, despite that being, y'know, illegal.) everyone is furious. more than a few people are brought to tears. 
pretty fucking dumb, right? over shirts. don’t worry, though, we’re heading into some even more ridiculous shit. 
the next time the board talks, it’s to say that we’re obviously all very upset with each other and we shouldn’t meet in an unmediated environment. (spoiler alert: what has come to be known as shirtgate was at the beginning of february and we JUST had a group meeting for the first time ever since that this sunday…) we hold our event successfully despite the fact that half the board isn’t talking to each other. i’m feeling hurt and isolated from my friends and withdraw a bit, spending more time with bug. the board is divided into two tiers: the wider board, and the presidents’ board, which i’m on, and which, coincidentally, is basically just our regular board without transfemmes. ha. the presidents’ board meets and discusses how unacceptable the situation is, attempting to appeal to me to change “sides” because those rowdy transfemmes, right? i’m grossed out and feeling like i’ve been isolated from the group of people i have a vested interest in supporting and stand my ground, officially marking myself as no longer one of the InGroupTM. for the most part, i do nothing as a club administrator from here on out. things are magically out of my hands. hm 
our next big controversy happens when we hold a screening for moonlight, about a week after it won best picture. this is a public event, and many people who are not in our club show up; i assume that all we are providing is advertisement and prepare to enjoy the movie. here’s where me being autistic comes in. the lounge is crowded with people and i’m surrounded by some of my favourite people, including bug, who’s off their adhd meds for now and doesn’t have a lot of impulse control. my friends respond audibly to some of the scenes, cos we’re a bunch of gay kids who’ve rarely-if-ever seen representation for ourselves before. due to being in a social setting where the people around me that i trust, esp bug, are being very emotional and responsive to the film, i can’t really not join in and make noises of excitement too- it’s just the way my aspie brain works, tbh. i feel awesome! this is great! 
it’s not great. the event ends and people are furious, complaining about how the movie was ruined by the talking during a handful of scenes. the board cracks down on me and bug (and, to a lesser extent, simone) for being vocally excited. in retrospect, fair, and definitely something that means i should stay away from crowds more often. however, this was an environment of friends, i thought, not people who’d get really upset with me for unintentionally making sounds of excitement when, for the second time ever, i see gay men represented in the context of a film. marcie is furious most of all, as our only non-white board member, and goes on a facebook rant, vagueing about not just bug, simone, and i, but about our friends and members who were not quiet either. me and bug’s close friend, who i’ll call mirage, is incredibly hurt by this, as marcie uses their non-whiteness to describe why they’re frustrated by this behaviour; mirage is a nonwhite nb kid who was most vocal during a scene in the movie where the protagonist hits a bully with a chair, making an audible joke about it, which they did because they found the scene triggering after they were hit with a chair by a teacher growing up. this was also the moment of conversation marcie had the biggest issue with. bug and i are feeling pretty shitty about our neurodivergences and how the club has previously made promises to be understanding of symptoms, but this seems to only extend to depression and anxiety. the club fractures further. 
we’re basically not talking to each other unless we have to at this point, with bug, simone, and i staying close, marcie, the director, his boyfriend, and their housemate making their own group, and mercury disengaging from all of us entirely. we hold an event. it’s called kink 102 and is the sequel to an event we had in first semester that i missed during my hospitalization, where apparently the director and his boyfriend demonstrated floggers and crops on each other in front of an audience who came to learn about kink, not expecting to be part of a scene. people are very apprehensive about this, especially because we have had several meetings focusing on kink and drag- our director’s passions- and none focusing on, for example, nonbinary people and aroace-spec people in the lgbt community. this becomes a huge point of contention, as several ace-spec people approach various board members and express their discomfort with how overwhelmingly sexual many of our meetings are and how our director seems so keen to involve strangers in his sex life- he has admitted rather freely to being both an exhibitionist and a voyeur. a student makes a public post about how we’ve had two meetings about kink and none about aroace lgbt people. bug steps in and comments a bit snarkily about how much they agree, having heard me, their ace-spec boyfriend, talk a lot about how i’ve been honestly triggered by some of our events; bug is very much not an ace person and is in fact an exhibitionist and voyeur themself, but thinks the issue is this important. i step in as well as a board member, feeling the need to address a public complaint, and reassure them that i would very much like to spearhead a meeting about aroace people, including the different ways it can manifest and how it isn’t equivalent to non-heterosexuality, as the only ace-spec board member. i admit to my discomfort at the environment we often create and say that it’s something we certainly need to work on. 
shit pops off in the chat, but only at bug! not at me! hmmmm!!!! 
bug stops talking in the group chat unless prompted at this point. 
the post goes mostly unresolved; all that happens is bug (and, later, simone, who posted a rather snide comment on the same forum expressing her frustrations with the group as a whole, both backing up me and bug, and as a trans woman who’s been repeatedly involved in drag events now) get CHEWED THE FUCK OUT. simone says something about how we have way too much focus on kink and it makes it seem like we’re saying it’s equivalent to being lgbt. the director loses his shit over this, and says, quote, “Thanks for invalidating my identity. I can’t discuss this further. Erasure of my culture.” which is… a lot, as someone who was abused in the guise of kink by older, paedophilic partners. 
i go to the kink meeting with bug because i want to learn how to tie them up safely and am hoping to learn about knots, but mostly because i feel like if i don’t go, i’ll get yelled at. there is no guide for tying knots. there is a brief discussion of consent, then the director ends up topless, getting whipped against the wall of the student lounge. a friend of mine sits next to me and sucks a fucking pacifier the whole time
we still haven’t met in person in months. this sunday, we finally meet. the director reveals he is resigning and also dropping out of college and tells us it’s mostly because of simone, which, wow, okay, is a lot to hear from someone who i spent hours counceling about whether or not he should go to the inpatient i went to and take a semester off first semester, before simone was ever even involved. the meeting is mostly just that. simone doesn’t come. we have a president’s meeting after, which basically equates to us staring awkwardly at bug until they leave and mercury retreating to their room, cos we hold this at the director and his boyfriend’s house. not weird and awkward, definitely doesn’t feel like we’re having a boys’ club meeting. nope. 
by this point i am distraught. i’m feeling like complete shit because all these people, despite their previous rounds of drama and weird comments, were my friends. i was so excited to work on something i cared about with people i cared about, and now no one even talks to each other. i confess my concerns about everything to the group, and shit gets wild. the director is quick to tell me that things aren’t my fault, but that his issue is with simone and bug. and then he starts getting really shitty. i had previously mentioned how eager i was to protect the incoming freshmen, because my first year of college, i was raped by a trans woman who proceeded to manipulate her way through the lgbt club on that campus to turn people against me and keep me from speaking out, which resulted in my utter academic failure and dropping out. the director begins to tell me that, in my personal goal of keeping freshmen safe, i have made bug entirely dependent on me, that the fact that they don’t talk to half the board anymore is on me, using words and phrases i used to describe my previous abuse to say that, hey, turns out you’re abusive. which… is fuckt, coming from the person who capslocks curse words in the group chat and then has his SCHOOL STAFF boyfriend come in to tell us how justified he is. the boyfriend tells me i never should have expected us to be friends. which i guess is true, but hey, i was introduced to the group by their roommate way back last year, and really didn’t know what to expect at all. i am also told that kink is easily as important as lgbt activism in our history, that it should be considered a part of the acronym, that all these young kids uncomfortable with two three-and-five-year-older people acting out scenes under our banner at our events need to learn their history. any second now i’m expecting our name, LGBTQU+, to grow a k. hilarious that they’re concerned about history now, but me asking us not to use the q slur to describe our members is ridiculous because no one’s bothered by it anymore! 
i meekly offer to step down, but the director says that because he’s leaving and his roommate is graduating, we won’t have a board anymore if i step down, considering bug and simone are ready to leave. the boyfriend and the director lecture me for like five solid minutes about how this is the oldest club on campus and if i don’t stay, it will collapse and that will be on me, basically. so yeah. accusing me of perpetrating the same abuse my ex perpetrated against me, then guilting me into staying to keep our club active- a club that is now reputed for being more focused on kink than lgbt events, for not being welcoming to nonwhite people or trans women (forgot to mention at one point students formed a qpoc group separate from us and the boyfriend was FURIOUS and tried to overtake it, using us, the board that was entirely white except for him :) ), and for being the biggest cesspit of drama on campus. in other words, a club i would very much like to l e a v e. 
i know this wasn’t entirely mogai hell or ace discourse, but there’s shades of every kind of shit in this group, tbh. and i really just needed a place to vent about it. i know we all made mistakes, but jesus, i’m hemorrhaging friends and feeling like dirt, my pals. i just need space to whine. 
oh one more thing, forgot to mention: the director tried to use bug to tell me to get a fetlife, because bug has one, because they’re not ace. also had bug ask me to pose with them naked for one of our event posters to circumvent me talking about how i felt unconfident naked, which thankfully never happened. also seem to think that because bug and i have sex i’m not ace anymore, therefore we shouldn’t talk about ace stuff because we don’t have an ace board member? didn’t know where to put these ones, but yeah! ;) 
ok! sorry for the length of this. thank you for listening! <3 
22 notes · View notes