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exsqueezememacaroni · 1 month

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I don't think Mike is arrogant - he's just really talented, and really invested in his music, so things have to be "just so". And complex music might be easy for him, and lesser artists may read that as arrogance.

Also I think he bores easily: a lot of the banter is to shake things up, 'cause he's bored. And he likes audience participation, he likes to feel that energy, so if the audience is too subdued he provokes them into reacting.

About the grey-ace thing, my own personal interpretation is that he doesn't like to be objectified, and he doesn't like to be hit on constantly, while having to let people down gently, or extricating himself politely from awkward situations. He's not vain, he's not interested in being teen-heartthrob, abs-of-steel good looking. He may very well be into kinky shit, or just the energy he gets from the audience playing into it. The show is a show, you know what I mean? He likes theatrical self presentation, and he likes to keep some part of himself private.

You never get a creepy vibe from Mike - and he's an old man saying very inappropriate things while wearing S&M gear, if you think about it. But still, zero creepiness - he's not a leering lothario. You see him like that, and you think "Mike, what a guy, let me get him a piadina".

Ya, that's the thing....he's that good good mix of extremely talented but maybe a little self deprecating...in that he doesn't even quite know/believe how good he really is so it's a wonder that other folks can't as easily achieve the same level of perfection. Like....he just happened to meet and be friends with other extremely talented musicians in his podunk high school and that set him up to be disappointed often.

For sure he gets bored easily - and the tour schedule is such a grind...I think the only thing keeping him going, besides caffeine, big meals and maybe the odd porn binge, is that audience energy...if he's putting in all that work to fucking be there and be on, the least he can expect is to be fueled with either love or hate or an odd mix of both....and that's why, when the band gets booed (see DV and Sno-Core Bungle, or Tool-opening Tomahawk) Mike somehow seems even more on...that hate energy is potent stuff and I think he really does feed off of it, because hell, what else is he supposed to do? And putting his most extreme self out there also probably helps protect his personal private self.

Indeed the show is the show....every once and a while I bounce back to "nah he's probably some regular guy who is just private to the extreme - it's all an act." BUT I will say, that I think he actually is like...a little vain. Like, I think he wants to look good, but his definition of looking good is just a little off kilter, and also tempered by the fact that he knows if he really goes for it, he'll never know peace. And honestly.... I think that might be a bit of a struggle for him. I think he likes his fashion accessories, I think he likes his hair, I think he likes his scars, I think he likes being mostly peach fuzz. (If he wasn't at least a little vain, he wouldn't have shaved his widow's peak...my guess is that his hairline receded just a little bit when he turned 30 and he didn't like that his widow's peak might have accentuated that). I fully agree though that he hates being objectified - it's just funny to me that his response is to it all IS that hyper-sexuality.

And YES - it's so nuts how he can 100 percent of the time put out the non-creepy vibe. Golly, it's amazing really. AND if I was really getting into it, my thesis would be on how his lack of creepiness is what informs a lot of speculation over his sexuality. Like..if he WAS a leering lothario, there'd be no question that he's a cis-het fucking douchebag of a dude, but because he can somehow put out such sex-laced content without being creepy, it feels like there must be something "off" (not at all in a negative way, just that...it's more complicated that just cis-het). Ya feel me?

I want to get him a piadina so bad....so bad it turns out, that like...I found that there's this weird US chain of piadina shops and there's one in Raleigh I think?? And I literally was like....hm....should I get Mike one for the show??? But nah, bc, honestly, it's probably a shitty US chain version.

#anon asks #i feel like i have even more to type but my poor brain #and you poor people reading this shit #still loving this convo - i want to hear all the mike theories pls #mike patton

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headtothecoast · 4 years

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hogwarts!geraskier au

geralt is a hufflepuff and jaskier is a slytherin if you think otherwise be prepared to catch these hands. and maybe a lute.

geralt's appearance is very much meant to intimidate and jaskier's is meant to sooth. however, the sorting hat doesn't care about that. it cares about intent. jaskier intends to get famous. geralt intends to help people.

so picture this,

muggleborn jaskier who realizes he can literally enchant people with his music and wants to become famous. pureblood geralt whose father vesemir separated from their family when he was younger but takes in children that are unwanted in some way, be it birth/magic/social status.

the two meet on the train. geralt is sitting alone in a cabin and he's quiet and angry as a kid because his family didn't want him and his brothers are off somewhere having fun but he isn't sure he wants to go to hogwarts because he would much rather be at home with roach. he was scared he wouldn't be good at this whole magic thing, eskel had told him that's why his parents didn't want him so he may as well show up, not get put in a house, and take the train home back to roach. that's the plan anyways.

at least until he hears a commotion in the hallway of the train and sees two 3rd years holding a 1st year with wants pointed at him and wicked smiles on their faces and it doesn't matter that geralt's never cast a spell he's seen eskel and lambert practice movements and vesemir perform this one often enough around especially vindictive parents that geralt casts such a strong protego he sends the 3rd years flying and the small 1st year is staring at him with the largest eyes he's ever seen and a split lip.

geralt intends to just walk away because the 3rd years don't look like they're coming back and geralt honestly can't believe it worked except the other 1st year sticks his hand out and introduces himself as jaskier the famous musician! and thanks geralt for helping him and well no he didn't exactly have it under control and my goodness what year are you in because none of the older kids really wanted to help me the sods but you're much nicer than them aren't you and i don't really know how i keep getting myself into those sorts of messes and what magic did you just perform there? i've never done magic before! didn't know it existed until my parents got a letter and they were more surprised than me i guess by golly you are tall mr. oh my goodness i am so sorry i didn't ask your name, what is your name?

and geralt has a headache as well as a better understanding for why those 3rd years wanted this kid out of their cabin but also it's less lonely in his cabin now that jaskier is sitting next to him jabbering away and fidgeting a little because of the silence and geralt almost forgets he was asked a question but tells jaskier his name and is rewarded with more conversation and praise and if jaskier rubs his wrists where the other kids had grabbed him then geralt ignores it and definitely doesn't hand him a chocolate frog when the trolley comes around and smile a little when jaskier's eyes nearly burst from his head when the frog leaps right out of the box and into his hand. and then jaskier's sad because he doesn't want to kill the frog and geraaalt isn't that mean, to eat a real frog and geralt doesn't even get to weigh in that it's a fake one before the prefects walk around and remind everyone to change into their robes.

so geralt and jaskier are sitting again except jaskier keeps going on about his robes and then looks speculatively at geralt and asks if he knows anything about hogwarts. geralt says he has older brothers and sisters that have attended and have been sorted into every house. when jaskier asks him about the house system geralt tells him everything his brothers had told him, albeit haltingly. gryffindor is for the brave, slytherin for the clever, ravenclaw for the smart and hufflepuff for the loyal. jaskier asks how the hat determines which one you are and geralt says it reads your mind, talks to you sort of, asks you what you want in life. jaskier says he wants to be a musician and asks geralt what he wants. geralt says he wants roach. jaskier laughs and geralt prepares to be made fun of but jaskier says that's a wild name and asks what roach is and that it's so cool geralt has a horse or a foal because she's so little and goes off for a little bit before seeing the castle in the distance and sobering long enough to ask geralt if he thinks there's a bad house to get put in because he heard one of the older kids talking about slytherins.

geralt thinks for a moment because his brothers and sisters had been in every house. there were slytherins, gryffindors, ravenclaws, and hufflepuffs all over kaher morhen during the holidays, so many he was sure they could hold class on the estate and hogwarts need not open its doors. he knows that gryffindors are usually loud and boisterous, that ravenclaws are dedicated and single-minded, that slytherins always have a goal, and that hufflepuffs can always be found next to one of them. he tells jaskier that none of the houses are bad, that each one is different and that whichever one jaskier gets put in would be lucky to have him. slytherin just means you know what you want and you're determined more than anything to do it.

and suddenly geralt has his arms full of jaskier who is laughing and thanking him and telling him that he hopes they're in the same house because who wouldn't want to be in the same house as their very best friend.

geralt's eyes go wide because except for his siblings, who don't count, he hasn't ever had a friend. and maybe from the look on jaskier's face of wide eyes and an unsure smile he thinks neither has he. so geralt just nods and says even if they're not in the same house, siblings get put in different places all the time so it's not like they wouldn't see each other.

and suddenly they're standing in a hall with long tables and high ceilings and a short stool in the middle of stone floors while the headmistress explains some updates that geralt and jaskier are too nervous to hear but then the sorting hat sings a song about unity and trust and geralt elbows jaskier as if to say i told you so and suddenly he's sitting on the stool and talking to a hat.

another rivia. how interesting. you remind me of your father. geralt sits up straighter at that. the one thing vesemir had always refused to tell them was his own hogwarts house. he didn't want to admit to favorites. yes i can see that you would like that, or that you think you would like to be like your adoptive father. interesting. and yet the boy you met on the train earlier - jaskier, now there's a talkative kid if you've ever met one. and geralt remains mostly silent while the hat deliberates, he doesn't know if he gets to say anything or weigh in on the decision. of course you get a say. what house do you prefer? and geralt draws a blank. he doesn't know. supposes he doesn't care but that's not right he does care he just, never saw himself getting this far really. expected he'd be back home with roach by now and not actually having to pick a house. so geralt asks the hat which one is your favorite and the hat is surprised. geralt thinks its laughing on his head and then so much like vesemir before the hat shouts HUFFLEPUFF

and there's clapping when he steps down from the stool and he goes to sit at the table except jaskier hugs him and is smiling and geralt smiles back and says good luck and then he's sitting by kids dressed in yellow and waiting for his friend to sit beneath a hat.

ah. a muggleborn. jaskier. geralt's friend. you have an interesting mind. though i'm sure you know that. surprised you aren't talking my flaps off right now actually given how much i saw you talk in geralt's head. ah well. let's see. you want to be a musician correct? at the question jaskier startles and peeps a yes, because the hat didn't sound like it was saying things outloud but just in his head and it was a strange feeling and jaskier wanted to ask geralt what the hat said to him except the hat asked him something else which he didn't quite catch but he heard the laughter and then - yes your thoughts are so fast it's hard to keep pace, and i can read minds. well, given their speed and determination i guess we'll go with SLYTHERIN - the hat shouts and then jaskier is being wisked off to a sea of green.

and when the headmistress looks out over the tables and finishes her welcoming speech she claps her hands and says alright now off with you, arranged seating is only for the sorting ceremony, sit where you like

and geralt barely gets out an oomf before jaskier slams into him talking a mile a minute and geralt just smiles to himself and listens.

*sorry, these are always longer than i mean them to be. they’re too long to feel like a headcannon and too short to be considered a fic.

**not sure how/when to add yennifer sorry, maybe she’s a year above them and no one can figure out which house she’s in since she stole an outfit of each color because i wouldn’t put it past her

#geralt of rivia #geralt x jaskier #jaskier #geraskier #hogwarts!geraskier #slytherin!jaskier #hufflepuff!geralt #the witcher #hogwarts au #vesemir #eskel #lambert

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makeste · 4 years

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BnHA Chapter 275: YAAAAY but Also AHHHHH

Previously on BnHA: Endeavor was all “I’M FIGHTING TOMURA AND YOU CAN’T STOP ME” and set everything on fire. Unlike SOME people, however, it turns out fire is NOT Tomura’s weakness, so he basically just shrugged it off. But before things could progress any further, AFO was all “psst, go get One for All” and Tomura was all “? One for All?” and Endeavor was all “?? One for All?” and Deku and Kacchan, who were listening in on their earpieces, were all “!!!” Having thus realized that Tomura was targeting him, Deku sped off to lead him somewhere away from the civilians... accompanied by his good friend Bakugou “274 chapters of character development have all been leading up to this” Katsuki. Because like hell are you going to have an EPIC BATTLE with the FINAL VILLAIN without him, you damn nerd. Who’s he going to heroically sacrifice himself for if you’re not there?? Hahh!?

Today on BnHA: Deku and Kacchan fly off to battle Tomura after confusing Endeavor into giving them his location (which wasn’t very hard lmao). En route, Deku finally thinks to ask Kacchan why he’s tagging along, and Kacchan is all “DON’T GET ME WRONG, IT’S JUST BECAUSE I WANT REVENGE ON TOMURA, AND DEFINITELY NOT BECAUSE I CARE ABOUT YOU AT ALL, HOW DARE YOU, WHY WOULD YOU EVEN SAY THAT”, which is super convincing and didn’t make me roll my eyes at all. Anyways so then Tomura shows up and is all “EYO TIME TO KILL YOU NOW” and Deku and Kacchan are all “OH SFFKDFK”, but fortunately Gran shows up to save them in the nick of time, because BnHA is literally the only shounen manga in which grown-ups will see kids trying to lead a battle and be like “lol wtf” and actually try to stop that shit instead of being all “what are your orders, children.” The chapter then ends with the heroes doing EXACTLY WHAT THEY SHOULD BE DOING??Namely, having the guy who can TURN OFF QUIRKS battle the guy with the ultimate death quirk! I’m so proud. But also I swear to god, if Tomura so much as breathes suspiciously in his direction...!! What the fuck. HORIKOSHI.

y’all what in the fresh hell is this bs

not yet there isn’t son but if you keep trolling like this I can give your nervous system something to actually be nervous about

anyway. this was his comment from last week’s issue of Jump, and I have absolutely no idea what it’s referring to, is the fun part! did he cry because of something he was working on in a chapter that’s coming up? or is he just tired from a combination of stressful mangaka schedule + 2020 in general?? or hell, for all I know he just recently watched Titanic or some shit

(ETA: KILLING AIZAWA SHOUTA WOULDN’T MAKE SOMEONE CRY OUT OF JOY, THOUGH. RIGHT?!)

anyways I guess it’s time to read and see if I feel like sadly happily crying for two hours afterward

-- oh shit I just realized there are two scanlations out for this?? one from readjump.com, and one from readheroacademia.com. lol now what. uhhh

lulzes. I guess I’ll go with RHA for now and keep checking back to RJ after each page and I’ll go with whichever translation I liked better

LADIES AND GENTLEMEN, OUR MILLENNIAL VILLAIN

or would he actually be gen z. he was already in his twenties when this manga started like six years ago, so I’m going with millennial. but on the cusp though I guess. anyway, he plays video games though is the point

and I see he’s already decided to contradict me and my inane speculations not two panels in! I GUESS I AM JUST A FOOL. that’s really interesting though. I wonder if it’s just Monoma’s quirk that doesn’t take the accumulated “save data” from the people he copies from, then? guh. how many of my AFO/OFA theory notes do I have to scrap now

and there’s a little quirk blurb about Search, which is fairly useless given that we already know how it works (actually in even greater detail than shown here), but at least it comes with a cute little picture of Ragdoll in her hero costume, to make us all sad and stuff

so anyways Tomura who are you looking at?? this was a topic of some contention last week! also why were you only seeing nine people then. Ragdoll had seen everyone in 1-A along with Aizawa and her fellow Pussycats at a minimum, so is this confirmation that Tora and Mandalay and Pixie-Bob are all really dead then, because I CAN AND WILL HUNT DOWN A MAN AND MAKE HIM CRY FOR A GOOD DEAL LONGER THAN TWO HOURS IF THAT’S REALLY THE CASE. was Kouta not traumatized enough already?? LET’S JUST ORPHAN HIM AGAIN WHY NOT THAT’S A GOOD PLAN

(ETA: I really hate that we are still up in the air regarding this? and I mean, sure, why not, we only had like a dozen lady heroes to begin with, so why not just kill off two more of them, offscreen, in one fell swoop??)

WHAT IS A SHAME. TOMURA. DAMN IT

(ETA: ??)

-- well hello there

OR MAYBE I WAS NOT A FOOL AT ALL?? lol guys. please do not tell me my hobo husband is flying his vengeful ass over to where Tomura all heedless of the danger because I really do not need that just yet. CAN MY FAVORITE CHARACTERS PLEASE FUCKING TAKE TURNS BEING IN TERRIBLE DANGER INSTEAD OF ALL AT ONCE

sob we’re cutting back to Endeavor and Deku and Kacchan. ACTUALLY THAT’S GOOD THOUGH why am I complaining. I’m just gonna have to get used to the fact that no one is going to truly be safe for the next god knows however many chapters, and make my peace with that. hahaha. yeah right

lmao Deku. “HEY WHAT’S UP, ME AND MY FELLOW CHILD HERE ARE GONNA LURE SHIGARAKI TOWARDS US, BUT WE’LL EXPLAIN OUR REASONS FOR THAT LATER. IF YOU SEE HIM MAKING ANY SUDDEN MOVEMENTS PLEASE INFORM US SO AS TO AID US IN THIS PLAN.” Endeavor if you just go along with this I will lose so much respect for you lmao

lol he is trying to argue a bit but then he’s suddenly cutting off. so in hindsight I don’t know why I said “lol”, really. I’M JUST NERVOUS OKAY

btw in the other translation Deku straight up asks if Endeavor can redirect Tomura towards them. “sure no problem bucko, let me just tell the walking apocalypse exactly where he can find you, my two sixteen-year-old interns whose safety I am responsible for. I was just thinking to myself that I hadn’t had my fill of crazy ill-thought-out plans with a high risk of death today”

holy --

okay I have not the SLIGHTEST clue what’s going on here, even after analyzing both scans, except that someone, probably Tomura, either just went CRONCH or just GOT cronched just now lmao. let us read on to find out who was cronched and who did the cronching

the rest of this page is not really much more helpful

but I am becoming increasingly suspicious that those were in fact Tomura’s new, improved and ridiculously thicc legs doing the cronching as he did a Marvel Superhero Landing from the most RIDICULOUS ANGLE POSSIBLE

LMAO NOW WHAT

so he just cronched onto the ground and fooshed Endeavor and then went flying off again huh

LMAO AT EVERYTHINNNNNG

THANK YOU ENJI. HE’LL LURE HIM AWAY. lols WHY THE FUCK DID YOU TELL THEM WHICH WAY HE WAS HEADED YOU BOOB

he really just fucking hung up on him afterwards too. just, “got it thanks amigo just leave everything to me, [CLICK]”

OH MY GOD

BECAUSE WE CAN’T HAVE ANYONE ELSE CONVENIENTLY INTERFERING WHEN YOU HAVE YOUR LITTLE THROWDOWN OF DESTINY HUH. THAT WOULD JUST BE TERRIBLE

-- oh shit

that’s just. a SLIGHT change in meaning, there. silly me. thinking “get rid of them” meant “get rid of their communications as opposed to FUCKING KILLING THE ONE YOU’RE NOT ACTUALLY AFTER. hmm. well that’s not good

(ETA: never have I been so happy that a translation was wrong lmao.)

so now Endeavor’s shouting at everyone else that Tomura is heading southwest and that he has “SUPER REGENARTION” (sic) and is no longer THE SAME THUG HE WAS BEFORE and yeah RHA you have officially won me over, flaws and all. listen up boyos. this ain’t your granddaddy’s Shigaraki Tomura. this one regenars

also “that damn kid...” like why the hell did my son have to go and befriend two protagonists. why is this my life now

AHAHAHAHA

“MIDORIYA IS IN DANGER...!!” STORY OF THIS MANGA. AHAHA. KACCHAN HE’S COMING. HE’S COMING, KACCHAN. for you two. someone please help me I am both terrified and thrilled beyond all recognition and my body doesn’t know how to handle the conflicting emotions. honestly crying for two hours is starting to sound more and more appealing

oh my god I forgot they didn’t know, though

fff. Kacchan especially didn’t know, because unlike Deku he doesn’t have random bits of other people’s souls going “heyyyyyyy... transcendent being at 12 o’clock.” what has this kid so bravely and stupidly gone and gotten himself into

look at them go

damn Deku can you really not float yet?? that’s going to be really inconvenient if that’s the case

(ETA: my boy really would have just straight up died. he would have died so hard.)

OH MY GOD

NOW YOU WANT TO ASK HIM LMAOOOO. well it’s because of all the character development!! if you must know

THAT’S NOT AN ANSWER BLASTY MCANGERTY

you’re not as smooth as you think you are, you know. we all know why you actually followed him. but fine, be that way

okay so now he’s giving a real-er answer though

“understand the situation”, the situation being that your best friend and his secret-trump-card-in-the-battle-against-evil quirk were being targeted by the guy who just obliterated this entire city. got it. you put it quite succinctly

and Deku is all

and Kacchan is all

love how he throws that protagonist crack in there too. because we all know that Deku absolutely is the protagonist lol, and so if that part’s obviously not true, we can make some inferences about the rest of what he’s saying too now can’t we

ohhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh snap

YOU SURE DO!! and he does with you too!! :) it’s gonna be one big happy reunion! :) :) :) oh gosh golly

OH NO KATSUKI WHAT ARE YOU DOING

what are you doing to me, I should clarify. please be considerate of my feelings. you can’t just DUMP sudden Kacchan Kamino Angst on me without any warning, you have to let me know in advance so that I can buy some thank you cards

THERE’S MOREEEEE???

YOU REMEMBER TOO, DON’T YOU DEKU. HE WAS ALL CRYING AND STUFF. IT WAS A LOT. IT’S POSSIBLE THAT I HAVE NEVER PERSONALLY GOTTEN OVER IT

AND IT LOOKS LIKE HE NEVER QUITE GOT OVER IT EITHER

:’)

by the way in the other translation he says “I’ll make up for what I did that day.” so yeah. BOOM. right to the heart. shot of me collapsing to the ground in slow motion

but it’s interesting though that he still can’t admit to having selfless motives yet! even after everything he’s been through and all his character growth! he’s still all GET RID OF THE REFERENCES TO ME CARING ABOUT YOU, WE CAN’T LET PEOPLE KNOW WE HAVE FEELINGS

but even his Kamino feels are notably first and foremost about him feeling responsible for failing All Might. so yeah, buddy. where does that leave you? even your feeble excuses are still rooted in selflessness, JUST GIVE IN AND ADMIT YOU’VE BEEN SECRETLY GIVING A SHIT BEHIND EVERYONE’S BACK. and honestly he might be better off at this point if he didn’t! BUT HE DOES. and that’s that

anyways Deku I sure hope you and your big hero brain can see right through this nonsense

god. you’re both in so much danger though, do you even have any idea?! of course you fucking don’t. god

HELLO BAKUGOU NARRATION!?!

well that’s one hell of a rare sight!! all fresh and chock full of shrewd observations about his best rival’s current skillset. ah what a time we’re living in

ooooh

gonna hold off commentary until I read the next part of this lol

OOOOOH

goddamn. Horikoshi really went off this week. just a whole chapter’s worth of Stuff Makeste Really Likes, goddamn is it my birthday or what

so do you guys think he’ll be able to keep pace all the way up to 100%? I can see this part being interpreted in two totally different ways if I’m being honest. on the one hand we have the more pessimistic (some would say realistic) view that Bakugou is desperately trying to convince himself that he’s still on the same level as the rival he so desperately wants to surpass, but with the sinking feeling that he’s actually not going to be able to keep up for much longer. and then on the other side of the coin we have the more glass-half-full perspective that he actually is capable of keeping up with him right to the bitter end. that even as Deku grows stronger, he’ll continue to push himself and use that as motivation to keep getting stronger too. that Deku isn’t out of reach; that his goal isn’t out of reach

and I’m not completely sure which way this is leaning myself! I personally would like to lean more towards the second interpretation, because y’all know I love me some rivals. and also because imo one of the most commendable things about Bakugou’s development has been how he hasn’t once been envious of Deku’s strength or of his position as All Might’s chosen heir since he learned about OFA. he hasn’t once shown any kind of resentment towards him for it, or doubted whether or not he deserves it. and as minor a detail as that may seem to some people, I cherish it. and I don’t want that to change! but I guess we shall see

so now we’re getting the clearest shot we’ve had yet of the new AFO holes in Tomura’s palms as he gets ready to combine some more quirks. also! more information about the quirks he has and is using! fucking thank you, where was this last week

so “radio waves” is clearly going to be used here to disrupt the heroes’ communication, which is a shame for them, but I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t relieved given the alternative! the RJ translation is clearly just a hot mess lol. but I still adore that one “I’ll make up for what I did” line though

WOW

THE DISRESPECT. LOL DID YOU JUST FUCKING KILL HIS ASS

(ETA: I just realized he’s nowhere to be found after this, though, so... did he?? or is he now lying somewhere now all wounded and waiting to be found by one, or, dare I say, two of his sons? ...)

LKDFJLSDKGHOSIDGHOISDflkwejfdfsdklggdflgnfdlgndakgalkgldfdfkwlfwiowelKLDSGKSL:DKGJL:DKFM?G?SGSDLKG?SDFSDF??LKJ@L!

HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT

HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT

even if you ask him nicely??! somehow I just can’t help feeling that he probably shouldn’t oblige you, though!?!?!

anyways. THAT AIN’T SAFE. and what the hell is happening in that bottom left corner ahhhhhh

AHHHHHHH

GRAN DM ME YOUR ADDRESS I WANT TO SEND YOU SOME FLOWERS AND A BASKET OF FRUIT AND CRACKERS AND SOME LITTLE CHEESES AND SAUSAGES

jesus christ it completely slipped my mind that there was one other person currently in the vicinity who knows about OFA. my good sir, maybe you would like to introduce these two dunderfucks to the concept of a “plan.” and maybe you can also find the single shared braincell they apparently dropped and lost somewhere back there in all the city rubble

oh fuck me

(ETA: does Kacchan look so rattled here because he is being lectured, or because he just saw a vision of his own death and is now having it explained to him just how close he came to being decomposed. you decide! I’ll just sit here and bask in the angst.)

fuck. main character gods were really working overtime here. anyways so how are you all doing this fine Friday afternoon. me, I’m just sitting here wrangling with the knowledge that Tomura’s quirk is even deadlier than I realized, and that my two little boys came within inches of dying horrible deaths just now. but anyways it’s not as humid today as it was yesterday so that’s really nice

anyways so now Gran is continuing to lecture the mayor of Dumb Ideas Town here, along with his friend the deputy mayor who still thinks he outranks the actual mayor

SHH NOW AND LISTEN TO YOUR GRANDPA

-- ohhhh shit son are they mounting a counterattack?? don’t tell me!!

also is Gran seriously faster than Tomura. that makes no fucking sense, and yet these two are only alive now because of it so I’M SURE NOT GONNA QUESTION IT

YESSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS

AND IS AIZAWA ON HER BACK THOUGH???

AHAHHAHAHAHAHA

AH, BUT IT AIN’T GONNA WORK THOUGH, IS IT!!! AHAHAHA YESSSSSS

excellent question sir. the short answer is “they’re idiots”, and the long answer is just a longer version of “they’re idiots” but with some more complicated BakuDeku feels mixed in. I’ll tell you all about it if you just promise me that you’ll actually live through this, all right?

“is he after the two of them?” listen boy if you don’t finally put two and two together after this I’m gonna be fucking beside myself lol. (though honestly, Deku and Kacchan have been targeted by the League so many other times already that he might just simply accept “yeah they’re after them again” without any further explanation)

my dear gentlefolk would you fucking look at how the lord has blessed us on this day

Aizawa Fucking Shouta and the motherfucking dramatic intro to end all dramatic intros. finally this man gets his moment

someone please teach me how to cast a force field. teach me how to reach into the manga and slap this man and tell him to stop talking about how everyone’s noble sacrifices to protect him and his eraser quirk have led him to this day and to this one encounter. my guy. my fucking dude. THERE HAD BETTER BE SUBSEQUENT ENCOUNTERS AFTER THIS

NOOOOOOOOOOOO

ISN’T HE THOUGH??? Tomura I love you sweetie but you better BACK THE FUCK. OFF

well FINE THEN! BE THAT WAY. it’s not like my life revolves around you and your stupid manga anyway!! it’s not like I’m obsessed with it or anything!! I have other hobbies!! well I actually do have other hobbies, so that doesn’t really work as sarcasm, so let’s see though. maybe something more like, “this isn’t by far my favorite out of all my hobbies!!” I don’t spend 80-90% of my free time on any given day either actively or passively daydreaming about this series and writing essays in my head and reading fanfic and scrolling through art on tumblr!! etc.!! whatever!! enjoy your break!! have fun living your life!!

please don’t kill Aizawa

#bnha 275 #midoriya izuku #bakugou katsuki #shigaraki tomura #aizawa shouta #endeavor #gran torino #bnha #boku no hero academia #bnha spoilers #mha spoilers #bnha manga spoilers #makeste reads bnha #well then #now that I have 'fixed' this post and am playing by tumblr's rules #I wonder if it's too late to get it unhidden from the tag search :/

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rayomz · 3 years

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raymond headcanons.. they aren't entirely fleshed out and they're like "what if it was like this? that makes sense". so sorry if things dont quite make sense or isn't that thought out.. also there may be errors here and there but this isn't supposed to be a polished document its just a rough collection of headcanons i haven't done much with other than like... thinking of them lol

some of this stuff i've posted before but i'm going to reshare again

polokus in origins is described as "an artist and unabashed hedonist" and i see him as just that. immature. he loves all his creations, of course, but he's not exactly responsible. he sees the nymphs more as friends than his daughters. he's more concerned with people liking him than doing the right thing. when he has his first bad dream, he cowers and doesn't want to do anything about it, or he's too scared? this leads to betilla having to do everything herself, she gets help from the other nymphs and creates rayman

the masks of polokus represent his different formes, or perhaps different eras. polokus is a shapeshifter and can be whatever he wants to of course, but he has a "default" he likes to stick with. when he finally changes his "default", a mask is made of the previous forme. for example, polokus from rayman 2 and polokus from the ubiart games are him in different "eras" if that makes sense. their cultural and historic significance could be expanded upon definitely i think but i havent thought too much more into that lmao. the wiki on rpc says that the four kings look like the masks but that sounds more speculative and feels like a stretch. i don’t buy that at all, i don’t see the resemblance

polokus loves all forms of art, and as a result, a lot of the glade's "religion" boils down to being creative and creating, and a lot of magic in general require some form of art, such as dancing for certain spells (the way teensies open portals in r2 or w/e). the people of the glade create art, sing, dance, to keep polokus inspired, amused, and happy so he doesn't have any more bad dreams. i thought about the nymphs all having a corresponding art form, with, obviously, holly being music and edith being culinary, but im not sure what annetta or helena would be. helena maybe textiles... annetta im not sure what i would do with her since she's the most... withdrawn nymph

polokus’ feelings on rayman’s existence are complicated since he is the only creature not created by him. he doesn’t know what he’s capable of, but he’s done a lot already in terms of stopping nightmares and foreign threats such as the pirates. he’s impressed, intrigued... a bit intimidated maybe..... he respects rayman and does love him (polokus has to love every creature after all)

im not sure if the muse of the poets is considered to be actual canon since it appears she was only mentioned in a license guide and not in any other official media. but she's a popular character and i like her too so she gets mentioned. she and polokus fall in love and she has their children, the teensies. she is disgusted by them and runs away, leaving them and polokus forever. she is disgusted by herself, too. if her children are ugly, she must be ugly as well. she becomes obsessed with making herself beautiful, and having beautiful children. she eventually becomes begoniax, which you know how that turns out...

betilla: polokus' pride and joy, she loves him as a father, but is disappointed with his lack of responsibility. when she was younger she was very mischevious and much like him. she learned magic just to be able to pull pranks perform elaborate pull magic tricks. eventually when the first bad dream happened, it was a wake up call. she tried to get him to do something about jano but he wouldn't respond to her. she took matters into her own hands since she was the most magically capable of anyone she knew. with the help of the other nymphs, they created rayman. she's been the "responsible" one ever since. if you catch her in a good mood she might be a bit playful but her days of frivolity are long gone. likes to knit and crochet when she has the time (which is rarely), and spend time with her sisters.

other nymphs: i dont have quite as many headcanons about them, but they are rayman's aunts obviously. edith is rayman's favourite aunt since she's a good cook, followed by holly, who has taught him everything he knows about music. helena is very enthusiastic and a bit overbearing. annetta is the aunt that never shows up to anything

the nymphs all have an element tied to them. betilla and fee de la mort obviously being life and death. holly is air, edith is fire, anetta is water, and helena is earth. seems pretty obvious this part but i've rarely seen ppl attribute helena with earth despite the fact she lives on a mountain...? (stone men, stone dogs, golly g....)

ly is interested in the magical workings of the world and is especially fascinated with lums and their power. betilla sees her potential as a magic user and has accepted her as her pupil. another reason betilla has taken a liking to ly is that she reminds her of her own youth, since ly is fairly playful as well, using magic for tricks. ly is initially just interested in rayman because of the fact he's a being entirely made out of lums, but it eventually turns into a genuine, and close, friendship.

a lot of fairies and some teensies can make "weak" silver lums to give to rayman, but they might not do much, or the effects are temporary. only ly and the nymphs are able to give rayman powers with "stronger" silver lums.

polokus does not dream of every individual in the glade. he dreamt of the first peoples of each species, then they procreate by themselves. most places in the glade are natural, similar to earth, but polokus' dreams may affect them (the icy parts of gourmand land is an obvious example. giant fruit? that's silly)

teensies: naturally hairless and there is little dimorphism between the sexes. their fashion is inspired by the fairies', and have adopted to wear wigs, false eyelashes, fake facial hair, etc. all teensies have the ability to perform magic but they have to actively for it to be useful. teensies with an interest in magic will attend a magic school. the best of the best of teensie magic users can become a minimus, and, of course, the best out of THEM become the grand minimus. there are many teensie races, and each may vary in size, colour (turquoise like in the ubiarts, more grey like in 2 and 3. usually just varying shades of blue), markings, nose length and shape. some races may be more adept at certain magic styles than others.

mr dark: i have some ideas but nothing concrete. might not even go with this story as my definitive headcanon. fairy. he was always critical of polokus, and after the first bad dream, that made him hate the god even more. he was the one who wanted to stop jano, and maybe become someone powerful enough to be seen as the glade's new "god" or whatever. betilla has proven herself to be the better magic user after the creation of rayman. polokus' main thing was that he was the creator, he was able to create life, and now betilla's able to create life. she may as well be polokus! she's a threat! when he steals the protoon/heart of the world and eventually kidnaps betilla, he uses her power to create dark rayman/raymesis. raymesis is *not* was not created by dark by himself, and he would not have been able to pull off this feat without betilla's knowledge of creating "thingamajigs". rayman and raymesis are the only two thingamajigs known in existence, both created by betilla. not saying it's impossible that others could exist, but they would have to be dreamt into existence by polokus.

dark's obsession with being the most powerful person in the world and becoming a god is why he stole the heart of the world, of course. ales mansay would take inspiration from this event. his views are similar to dark's, that's why he worships him. polokus is a terrible god, he lets people suffer. rayman is a terrible hero, all he does is sleep. ales knows he wouldn't be able to reach the heart of the world and instead tries to build his “own” using lums (maybe not exactly but something comparable... the heart of the world is made up of lums after all). i know that's like, duh, canon information, but it was never stated *WHY* he looks up to mr dark. so now you know why. its bc they both hate polokus

#raymantag #long post/

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2ndaryreactsandscenarios · 4 years

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NCT 2020 Reaction to: To Confess or Not, That Is The Question

Basically my thoughts on whether the members would confess to their crush or not.

Taeil (The Manly Man, Yet Power Vocal, Sheesh~)

Yeah. That’s it. That’s the post.

Taeil would a hundred percent without a doubt confess if he had feelings for somebody. Now he wouldn’t do it right out the gate and right away. It would take him a little while to make sure he legitimately liked the person before he would make any sort of move of asking them out and all that jazz. Not likely to recklessly jump into that whole ordeal especially if he isn’t sure whether or not he likes the person or not. Takes his time and thinks about whether he sees potential longevity with this person.

Taeyong (Artistic, Passionate Rapper and Caring Leader)

On his own? Probably not. Unless he was pushed to do so, Taeyong is so fine keeping this a little secret. Taeyong would need some sort of confirmation from somebody that you felt the same about him because he is probably too scared to make a move on his own accord. Another way to push him is if he senses you drifting away. He might panic and figure that he has nothing to lose thus he confesses. Thus I conclude: Taeyong would not confess unless he felt time running out or he knew you felt the same. POINT BLANK END.

Johnny (The Mood Making, Yet Calm Sir)

Totally would if he was feeling it. Johnny would love to have the confirmation of your feelings and know you felt the same and yada yada-- but that’s not why he is doing it. It was more so about telling you that he found you to be this amazing person and he would love it if you two could be together in a relationship. Johnny wouldn’t look to the future a ton, rather he would think more in the present term: does he enjoy spending time with you now, does he want to be a support for you now, can he be a support for you now, can you be there for each other, is he willing to work with you-- those sorts of questions would come to his mind before he asked you out. He would confess to tell you he liked you, but he would ask you out if he felt those things were commitments he could make to you.

Yuta (The Takoyaki Master, and Politely Keepin It Real, Osaka Man)

Yes, but he would need to know how he felt. He would need to know in confidence that he liked you a lot and that he wanted to be with you. Yuta would not confess on a whim or on spur of the moment feelings, rather he would have to be certain that he really really liked you a lot. I believe Yuta is one of the only members who wouldn’t need a confirmation on your feelings before stating his own. Nice to have, but not necessary for him to take the gamble and tell you how he feels about you. While he isn’t super focused on the future, he looks a bit more ahead than Johnny does and imagines what life would be like together with you.

Kun (The King of Magic and of Food)

Short answer is no. Long answer? I think Kun would know how he felt for you and accept those feelings. But his number one priority would be hoping and wishing for you to be happy and succeed in your life. Thus, he would probably have the most cliche thought and think you could be happier with someone other than him. If it wasn’t that he may think that he simply couldn’t commit the amount of time and energy he wanted to give you to you, and thus he would think it’s unfair to be in a relationship with you if he can’t give you the best (which he thinks you deserve). So, Kun would shove his own feelings and desire for dating you DEEP down and not ask you out. It would probably take YOU doing something for something to occur.

Doyoung (Vroom Vroom; The MC Vocal)

Nope. He wouldn’t do it purely for the spite of it. He wants to make you say it and he refuses to be the first one to cave and say that he likes you. If Doyoung has any sort of evidence that you like him, he’s never gonna say it until you do. Doyoung strikes me as the type to want to win, and because of this desire to win he somehow turned your mutual crush on one another into a game and you have no choice but to play. So yeah. The only way Doyoung would confess first is if he feels threatened by another person who shows interest in you. The ultimate way for Doyoung to lose is to lose you altogether, and so to be with you he would throw away his pride to kick this other person to the curb.

Ten (Dancing Devil and Whimsically Cute)

Yeah, but Ten needs that guarantee. The last thing he would want to do is make himself look like a fool. Actually, I take that back. Say Ten has feelings for you and you wind up expressing an interest in someone else. In that case, Ten would tell you how he feels but it serves a different purpose. It is no longer “I’m telling you I like you because I wanna go out.” It has become this: “Listen, I really like you and you are an amazing person. You deserve the best and I want you to always be happy. And if this person makes you happy then you go for them.” Ten would use his confession to encourage you and tell you that anyone who is lucky enough to have you should know how lucky they are.

Jaehyun (Sensitive, Springtime Lover, Mr. Valentine)

Yes, there was a date set. Yes there was a map. Yes there was a list. And yes he checked it twice. (No he’s not Santa.) Jaehyun was going to confess and he was going to go the whole nine yards to do it. He wanted to make sure that he could look back and at the very least say he tried his best. Now this doesn’t mean he was buying the most expensive restaurant and buying the most fancy table in the place. No, it just means when he confesses to you he wants you to feel special. Just like how he feels you’re something special. Jaehyun really doesn’t need the confirmation on how you feel because this is more about him putting himself out there and telling you how he really feels for you. Whether you accept or not, he doesn’t intend to regret it.

Winwin (The Dancer of Grace, The Tough Cutey)

Nah. Winwin’s good. Winwin’s content with how things are right now. You want a confession from Winwin. Well you’re fresh out of luck. Winwin strikes me as very go with the flow and so long as the air is comfortable and there’s no tension in the air, he has no problem with the way things are and seeks no change. Your relationship is good as it is in his eyes and he may not see the point in risking that comfort to ask for something more. The risk of you rejecting him was greater than the chance you accepted him in his eyes, and because of that Winwin will not do a darn thing to ask you out. That’s all you.

Jungwoo (Stomach=Abyss, The Pure Vocal)

It would take him a lot of time to be at peace with the idea of confessing, but in his own time Jungwoo would do it. He would do it in a casual way to not draw so much attention to his feelings. He didn’t want to ask you out in a big way because he felt it would make him far too anxious, so he kept it casual and small and asked you out over a meal. Jungwoo wouldn’t want to make you feel pressured either, hence why he did it the way he did.

Lucas (That Low Low Rap, The Charming Wit)

Yes, but Lucas would need some sort of idea that you felt the same way. Doesn’t matter if it’s speculation and doesn’t matter if it’s a misunderstanding, he needs the confirmation that he will receive confirmation for his feelings. He wants to be accepted and enter a relationship with you and in order to have that you have to feel the same way so Lucas thinks in his mind. Hence here we are and Lucas is running to confess to you based off of the IDEA that you felt the same for him (and in this case he’s right because we work for happy endings here).

Mark (The Hardworking Rapper, With An Adorable Sneeze)

Doubtful. I don’t think Mark would confess for a ton of reasons. He’s okay with being friends with you, he doesn’t want to take the risk, and he doesn’t really care if someone else has an interest in you. While all of these things may affect him or even hurt him, it’s not enough to push him over the edge. Now if the person was a bad person then he would just tell you he doesn’t like them. If you felt the same about him then you may need to be the one to vocalize that into existence. Mark is just content with how things are and if you want to develop and make it something more, than goodness golly you’ll have to be the one to say it.

Xiao Jun ( Humble Songwriter Agent Eight )

No, Xiao Jun would a hundred percent show you he loved you in every way OTHER than telling you it to your face. He would dodge around the point and dance around all day for weeks on end and in the end you’d probably have to either confess yourself or ask him how he felt about you. Even if you did ask him how he felt, he would STILL dance around the point out of anxiety and being put on the spot. The worst thing would be for you to know how he felt and to still reject him after everything. He’d fear for the potential heartbreak, but he also had an urge to tell you how it was: that he liked you and wanted to be with you.

Hendery ( Music On The Go, Cucumber Inventor )

Hendery would ask you out and it would come from absolutely left field-- completely out of nowhere. One day he would be hanging out with you and as you two were just bonding and chilling he would take a really good look at you and then he’d just say it.

“I actually like you a lot. I really like you. Can we date?”

In that moment he would wind up just thinking how much he liked you and how much he needed to let you know how much he cared for you. He wasn’t thinking about how this could turn out, it was more him voicing what he had been thinking at that time. It was only after the fact and after you accepted him (because of course you did) and later that night did he realize that it was an insanely brave and crazy thing to do.

Renjun (The Loving and Smart Artist, The Virtuous Vocal )

Renjun would probably spend more time analyzing you and understanding your feelings than thinking about confessing his own. He needed the confirmation that his feelings weren’t one sided and that he wasn’t the only one in love. So he would wait and wait and wait and wait until he became about eighty percent sure that you had feelings for him. Unless he reached that eighty percent though? He would continue to act like those feelings of his didn’t exist.

Jeno (The Mature, Car Loving Violinist)

Still stand by my previous statement of saying that Jeno wouldn’t tell you how he felt unless you asked him. I absolutely get the feeling that if Jeno WAS going to confess his end goal wouldn’t be for you two to date. It would be more so to tell you how awesome he thought you were and how he thought the world of you. Yes, it’d be great if you two could be more but he wasn’t gonna put that pressure on you if you only saw him as a friend. At the end of the day, he would want you to still be a part of his life and he wouldn’t want his confession to ruin that.

Haechan (Sarcastic and Soft, The Lover and The Vocal)

Haechan had lowered his sass and sarcasm in a hope to win you over and show what a precious gem he is, so a small part of him is going to hope and bank that you notice that and fall for him and confess to him. I think Haechan would give it a couple month deadline, and if you hadn’t confessed to him within that time he would give his best Thanos impression and go, “Ugh fine I’ll Do iT mYseLF!” He would confess and the idea at first would make him grumpy but he’d get over it, do it, and be in a happy smappy whole relationship after the fact.

Jaemin (Affectionate Nana, Dancing Pianist)

Similar to Jeno, he’s not saying jack. Very much the nature of, “Well you never asked me so I never told you”. So you would have to be the one to put on the honesty fedora and say how you feel about Jaemin. Kind of weird but Jaemin’s mentality is if you like him then you would have told him, yet he still has the mentality that he doesn’t have to say how he feels because you never asked. Jaemin would put you in a bit of a position there and while it’s not the nicest thing to do, it’s a twisted way of him basically needing to know from you that you felt the same.

Yang Yang ( Little Sheep Racer, Mysterious Rose Zero )

Now I know what I had said in the last reaction and this follows that. He wouldn’t confess to you. The entire time he had a crush on you Yang Yang was upfront with how he felt almost to an innocent and childish way. It came across as so innocent that no one took him seriously, and that hurt him. So he would stop telling you how much he liked you and stop being so forward with his feelings all because he hated being treated like a kid. Best believe that it’s gonna take YOU confessing for him to even consider telling you how he feels again.

Chenle (Sweet and Soft, High Vocal)

You would need to ask him. Not as in you need to ask him out and tell him you like him. Rather you need to ask him if he has feelings for you. Because Chenle feels like he is the most clever person on Earth and nobody knows that he has a crush on little old you. He feels like a superhero with how long he has gotten away with it and he might even turn it into a competition to see how long he can keep it going. Like how long you can go without cutting your toenails or something. So you would need to put on the brakes and let him know he isn’t that clever, and yeah he’ll try to deny it and act like “WhO mE?????????”, but make it clear that you know. And sure he’ll be bummed that he wasn’t that clever, but HE gets a relationship out of it so there...

Jisung (Killer Dancer, The Shy Temporary Maknae)

Yep. Because he couldn’t hold it in or keep it to himself anymore. Jisung would have been aware of his feelings for you for quite sometime and held inside. A feeling he shoved deeper and deeper in his heart, and eventually he just couldn’t help it. Now it would be so spur of the moment and out of nowhere that it’s likely Jisung didn’t even know if you felt the same and was saying it to say it and get it off his chest. But it would be such a load off of his shoulders just to say how he felt that he wouldn’t really care right after the fact. It would be right after that right after that the anxiety and the nauseous would set in.

Disclaimer: An important thing to note in regards to these reactions/scenarios is that none of them are based on how the members are in real life and are merely a depiction that fits the fiction (as I don’t know the members personally). These are meant to be lighthearted (aside from the angst that continues to rise on this blog) and I hope they are not being taken as pure fact or reality.

If you took the time to read this reaction, thank you so much for your time. Stay happy and healthy! Make yourself a magnificent morning/afternoon/evening/night whenever in time or whenever in the world you may be and I hope to see you all again soon. Bye bye~

#nct 2020 reaction #nct 2020 reactions #nct 2020 scenario #nct 2020 scenarios #nct 2020 imagine #nct 2020 imagines #nct reaction #nct reactions #nct scenario #nct scenarios #nct imagines #nct imagine

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newsmutproject · 4 years

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W.D. Rose on “Two Queer Fairytales”

MARIGOD AND EMELINA

She learned that when Emelina blushed, her skin turned russet from forehead to tummy, and that when Emelina pleasured herself with her nimble fingers dancing beneath the placid bathwater, her lips pinched into a tight little pucker that was simply impossible not to kiss.

Of course, there’s only one thing to do when one meets such a woman: marry her. So Marigold did. Which was a problem. Because she was a nun. BIGGER LEAF JUICE

Jules nodded, eir fingers tracing a lazy question mark over Tobi’s nipples and down, down to his bellybutton. Tobi’s assent came in the form of hands cupping eir cheeks and lips pressed to eir mouth. Then, nuzzling his face into the crook of eir neck, he murmured, “You taste like bitter leaf juice.”

Grinning wickedly, Jules kissed him again as punishment. Deep. Making sure to sweep bitter leaf juice into every nook and cranny of his mouth, only pausing to let that crooked little snaggletooth nip eir tongue.”

About the Stories:

Writing these stories involved a lot of self-exploration (oh gosh golly gee, I swear I did not intend that sentence as double entendre (and it’s just now occurred to me that most people don’t have my dirty mind so I probably could have just let it be and no one would have even noticed (but oh crud it’s already said and done so there’s nothing I can do about it (except this is writing not speaking so actually I could just press the delete key (holy geebus these parentheses are getting out of control)))). Anyway. What I mean is that I put a little bit of myself in both of these stories, which as an author was simultaneously terrifying and exhilarating. With “Marigold and Emelina,” I wanted to write a couple who navigate wildly different intimacy needs in a caring, drama-free way. Marigold gets to enjoy being sensual and playful with her wife without ever being pressured to cross her own boundaries. In fact, Marigold’s lack of interest in ever actually having sex is not an impediment in her relationship at all (though the fact that she’s a nun might be). Also, I’ve learned through this story that apparently twelve years of Catholic school’ll give an author a lot of complicated feelings about nuns. With “Bitter Leaf Juice,” I wanted to finally write a protagonist whose gender identity aligned (at least mostly) with my own. Even as a nonbinary author myself, I sometimes find myself trying to “justify” making a certain character nonbinary, and that gets exhausting fast. Whelp, not anymore! Jules is nonbinary because I wanted em to be, and it was so refreshing to write a character that felt so intimately familiar. Writing Jules also gave me a chance to explore a queer characters navigating a relationship where ey could potentially become pregnant and all of the complicated feelings that brings up. I also wanted to use this story to challenge the idea that people with penises have complete, magical control over their erections as well as the idea that those aforementioned erections (or lack thereof) control whether or not sex can happen. Currently I'm working on a literary sci-fi novel about a space cultist grappling with the concept of personhood and a fluffy new adult fantasy novel about a sex club that solves mysteries.

About W.D. Rose:

W. D. Rose exists at any given moment as some unholy mixture of mad scientist, scribbling daydreamer, and sleep-deprived parent. Their talents include consuming impressive quantities of (non-bitter) leaf/bean juice, forgetting where they set their glasses, and laughing at their own jokes. Rose recently graduated with a doctorate in physical chemistry, a degree which they plan to put to use writing copious amounts of (dubiously scientific) speculative fiction.

COMING OCTOBER 24

Erato: 50 erotic short, short stories with a diversity of characters and settings–all of them breathtakingly seductive and memorable. Expand your erotic imagination and discover the pleasure different bodies, relationships, and play with language can bring us.

#Erato #W.D. Rose #queer fantasy #asexual spectrum

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mslupinetti · 4 years

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who are your favorite top ten black clover characters & ships? talk about them!

Oh wow I didn't expect this, sorry if it's a little late. I guess I do a bit more than lurk if I somehow got noticed.

1. Asta

What can I say I'm a simple woman. He's a very good son. 10/10 Would mother,

2. Yami

I think the moment I laid eyes on him I was in it for the long haul. Everything just works for me. Plus we share the same birthday, coincidence? Probably, but it's cool.

3. Noelle

This girl just really makes me proud for her. I adore her development and growth. I look forward for what's to come.

4. Gauche

Yeah he doesn't usually make these does he? What can he say, he's grumpy, and a little selfish, a little rude, but he cares a lot.

5. Grey

She's shy, I'm shy, it just works. So I mean I'm totally digging all this recent focus on her. I'm happy, and waiting for more.

6. Nero/Secré

What the hell do I call her now? Is it a Eugene/Flynn thing? Anyways I just really like her tragedy. Sometimes tragedy can be beautiful. I hope she's okay right now.

7. Yuno

Oh look at me finally stepping out of the bulls. A bit introverted, a bit reserved, I can relate. 10/10 Would comfort with a hug after the day he has had.

8. Charlotte

She demands respect, I like that. Actually overall I like her, and I'm waiting to see how exactly she reacts to the current state of things.

9. Charmy

She's a character of love, and well I'm sentimental. Also she's got a wolf, and I really like those. Oh, and I'm curious to see where the dwarf stuff goes.

10. Klaus

You ever see a hen who hatches like duck or goose eggs, and starts raising ducklings/goslings who quickly outgrow the hen, but the bird still sits atop of them keeping them warm. Klaus is the mother hen, and well chickens are great in their own right. Cluck away Klaus.

Why am I so slow are writing this all up? Anyways I don't think I have enough ships I actively excitedly ship to make it to ten I'll try, but let's see what happens.

1. Gauche x Grey

There is a lot of potential, and I'm a happy little shipper currently. Thanks Tabata. It all started down at the underwater temple, when we find out what Grey really looks like, and Gauche thinks his old reliable 'Golly my precious sister's photo will refresh me a huh a huh,' with his cheeks all flushed. He thinks he's slick. He's really not.

Now these recent chapters have got a lot going on, and the stakes are certainly raised where. Nonetheless me being me zoomed on Gauches's gentle 'Hey...Grey,' after her very desperate tackle. Mmm good stuff. That interlaced backstory of their's, good stuff. I think they can really bring out the best in each other.

2. Yami x Charlotte

Charlotte just loses any semblance of composure, and Yami bless his dense heart. I mean she spent years getting disappointed by all talk men, and along comes Yami effortlessly at her most vulnerable. He spent years just having to deal with all the nasty comments that he just expects that most people won't have a positive opinion of him anyway. They'll get there one day.

3. Asta x Noelle

Cute. Okay so I have a feeling he kinda already really likes her, but he just doesn't know it yet. He's so stuck on Sister Lily he doesn't realize what kind of feelings Noelle actually stirs in him. I say this because of his eyes. When Asta is at his most content, most joyful, just complete bliss his eyes are just, so big and round and bright full of happiness. At the star festival he officially says, 'I guess I like Noelle quite a bit,' but more importantly his eyes are just so big and bright. He also has the same big eyes when they're reunited in the shadow palace. It's there he just doesn't understand it's more than just a very good friend.

4. Nero/Secré x Lumiere

What's more romantic than a star crossed tragedy? How many times did they sit on the palace rooftops watching the sunrise/sunset discussing hopes and dreams and wishes and the future? What if it was futile because they'd never allow the prince to marry his servant? What if she was, so enamored with him, but he didn't notice because of his work? What if she couldn't bring herself to say that she always loved him before he was gone foever because it'd hurt even more? She was so willing to die with him to never be separated again, and in the end it would be the last time she'd hold his hand, or hear his voice after five hundred years of waiting and watching.

5. Nozel x Dorothy

This is admittedly high on speculation and I'm not really that serious about, but I mean you don't really blab to a total stranger about some super secret family uh secret that is hush hush practically no one knows the real cause of your mother's death because devil curse, right? There's gotta be a high degree of trust there especially when you send your youngest sister you've tried to protect in some discombobulated way to her, right? There's gotta be at least a friendship going on, but with such clashing personalities it seems interesting. Also you know how judgemental he is towards Yami and Jack, and stern with Rill, and you'd think he'd reprimand Dorothy for all that sleeping she does at all the important meetings too. Why is she the exception?

6. Yuno x Noelle

This is pretty much a crackship. I don't really expect much from it. They're intereaction was pretty interesting, and it kinda looks like we'll get some interaction if they work together, but with a lot more to prove this time around.

Hmmm I think that might be it. I kinda fizzled out in the end there, whoopsie sorry. Were these strange lists? It was pretty tough thinking about it all just because I kinda just accept things as they happen, and enjoy it all no matter what. Oh well, that's just how it goes, anyways thanks for the ask.

#black clover #Do I tag them all?#nah #asks

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raeloganthesonic06fangirl · 4 years

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Trying to deconstruct QuackerJack's vocabulary to a more easy to replicate format so I can understand the proper pool of words and phrases to pull from that fit his mannerisms, and it's just

"Rat Fink" (spoken in "Quack of Ages", after being outted for his deceit) seems to originate in 1964, which is great because that falls in line with my headcanon/assumption that QuackerJack was likely born in the 1950s, so 1964 would be in his early teen years, and that phrase is basically like calling someone out as a snitch or tattler, so it fits his general vocab as well as shows that his being emotionally stuck in the prime of his days is pretty well rooted.

Then we get words like "Fop" (spoken in "Whiffle While You Work", in which he hypocritically calls Darkwing as such, when he himself is far more fitting of the description).

How old is "Fop"?

... Of course. In fact, I do recall that the time travel portion of "Quack of Ages" takes place in 1592, so it's rather amusing that QuackerJack is 100% committed to this jester persona down to the word pool. Impressive, really.

Almost as if he may have use the Time Top more times than we've actually seen, in order to really get in the role, because why go to the Renaissance Faire when you can just get the real deal experience a la Bill and Ted style absurdity? I mean, he has to have at least tested it a few times before he knew that it most certainly would have worked as he expected in "Quack of Ages".

So now we have a wide pool of words already. QuackerJack can (and will most likely) speak like a court jester. He also will likely use slang that was popular in his youth, so you can also pull from 1950s-1980s, since he doesn't seem to really use too much 1990s terminology as well.

Why might I specifically say 1980s? Well, the cartoon takes place in 1991-1992, and 1980s wasn't too far behind it, and also

"Code Monkeys"

It's hard to pin down the origin years of the term, but it's seems to have made itself prevalent in the 1980s, and as it's a bit of a rude term meant to insult computer programmers by implying thier job could be easily done by a monkey smacking away at a keyboard for similar results (and gosh golly gee, ain't that the sort of phrase QuackerJack would have absolutely absorbed into his vocabulary, like the total luddite that he is)

So it seems that you can draw from quite a bit to pull some in-character idioms and age appropriate and themed phases.

Then I realized that it would make sense that the lexicon of all variations of the talking Mr. Banana Brains would have to be something of an extension of QuackerJack's preexisting vocabulary, as Mr. Banana Brain is merely an extension of QuackerJack.

Simply put: Mr. Banana Brain realistically cannot know phrases and terminology that QuackerJack is unaware of. QuackerJack subconsciously brings the voice to Mr. Banana Brain, therefore Mr. Banana Brain's vocabulary pool is QuackerJack's as well, and Mr. Banana Brain cannot know something that QuackerJack does not.

At least, logically so.

Granted, the series has never been 100% rigid with thier rules of physics and world building, as Mr. Banana Brain himself is such an oddity that may or may not be sentient himself, if only for the sake of plot convience or "rule of funny".

That brings me to this interesting bit from "The New and Improved Mr. Banana Brain" from the "Toy With Me" story

On the left is the original retail bit, and on the right is the Definitively Dangerous Edition change.

Bare in mind, this is under my assumption that the Mr. Banana Brains' vocabulary pool is identical to QuackerJack's to the T, no margin for variables.

Now, "new blood" is a relatively old phrase

Ah, the 1800s. Fits well between "Fop" and "Rat Fink"

Very plausible as a statement QuackerJack could use in terms of running a business, or might I say a Toy Empire?

But this change they made in the Definitively Dangerous Edition... is interesting.

"Old and busted" and "New hotness".

It's a very, very familiar pair of terms to me, and really stands out for a choice of speech here, and it's bizzare to think it's in QuackerJack's vocabulary, because, let me break it down for you

Where have we likely heard the combination of "Old and busted" and "New hotness" before?

youtube

"Men in Black II"

Which was released in 2002.

And the original film was released in 1997.

The original Darkwing Duck took place in 1991-1992, and while the comic continuation was released in 2011 (and shows modern technology and Disney cameos that existed after 1992)... The comics pretty much state that it takes place more or less a year or so after the cartoon, placing it in some futuristic aesthetic 1993-ish, maybe 1994.

Actually, I really want to say like 1995 or 1996, that's a good number stretches out QuackerJack spiraling bad luck into a less crunched timeline and gives him more time with Claire, but I digress

Anyway, I haven't actually heard the combination of "Old and busted" and "New hotness" used in anything OTHER than MIB2 and people who are referring to this scene.

Therefore, given that it's oddly out of place, I have to conclude that QuackerJack has done more unauthorized Time Crimes than we initially thought, and he most certainly popped over to 2002 to watch "Men in Black II" in theaters because why the heck not, who's going to stop him, amirite??

Or maybe the comic timeline exists parallel to ours in some wacky time passage ratio, and the Men in Black franchise in the Duck-verse happened sooner than it's dates here by years ahead.

So, in conclusion:

QuackerJack has seen "Men in Black II" and apparently got enough amusement out of the "Old busted hotness" scene that he subconsciously thinks about that periodically, and it finally surfaced via a renegade figment of his own creation gone off the rails

Also:

I'm like 100% sure QuackerJack would have been wheezing at that "WHAT IS A GAMEBOY??" bit.

youtube

... This started as a serious post about breaking down QuackerJack's vocabulary and now it's devolved into speculation that QuackerJack likes scifi action movies.

... Word.

#Darkwing duck #QuackerJack

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the-nysh · 4 years

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Oh oof I went off. geez. and ye I do have strong feelings about this because I spent three months marinating my mind in the creative juices of this manga and thinking "golly gee god what a unique and subversive story on a meta level with a consistent and layered internal structure" before even internating with the fandom and was very disappointed to eventually find out that the fanbase is the exact same as every other anime's. that is; visually appealing, attractive, cute or most importantly

/shippable/ characters dominate the fancontent and are given favouritism over the genuinely interesting ones. I am immeasurably salty that this means our poor unibrow boy gets barely any content. even when people reference webcomic events or speculate about post-arc situations he’s barely ever mentioned if remembered at all :despairgif:

It’s not that I don’t like metal bat or zenko I just really really wish fans wouldn’t forget about who is quite literally the most important person in Garou’s life — this being a hill I’ll die and be buried on. Tareo is his last link to humanity, his friend (yeah yeah despite the tsundereism) and in a beautiful, wonderful fucking wrap-up to One Punch Man’s longest and grandest saga - his saviour. And I just really wish yall recognised that ತ_ʖತ (Formal apologies for invading your inbox. I don’t know what moderation is ;-;)

Ahhh *pats* Fandom-wise tho, much of that honestly does come with the territory (so it’s expected by now, and hey I’ve been in the opm fandom since 2015 before s1 aired~ so I’ve seen lots of what’s happened around here 8′D), unless you strive to create the content you like that you wanna see more of. That works out well as good motivation. 8D (Another big factor may be there’s less webcomic readers who know what happens later, of what’s yet to be adapted for Tareo’s best moment where he finally pays Garou’s ‘teachings’ forward to stand up with his own agency and protect him this time) But ditto: Tareo, as that remaining link to Garou’s humanity, his unlikely but perhaps only friend, his surprise (role reversal) savior, and becoming the most important/significant person in Garou’s life…amen, anon. :’)))

#Anonymous #replies #opm #garou #tareo #webcomic spoilers #i can see where you're coming from and i greatly miss how there's so few tareo content anywhere #i'm hoping it deservedly increases once the manga finally gets there #but other than that...fandom is fandom and you gotta make the content yourself if you're not seeing it 8'D #(that's what motivated me with some of my first garou appreciation posts...cause back then even HE had so few content too)

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ginnyzero · 5 years

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Storytelling is More Than Just the Facts

Every craft has jargon, this nomenclature of words that are like a secret code to those in the know and completely baffling to those on the outside or those just breaking into the ‘group.’ (Religion is the worst for this, right up there with science and politics.) And the one I find that trips up the budding writer the most is “Show, don’t tell.” They can be teenagers or seventy years old and when you say ‘show, don’t tell’ to them they’ll still look blankly at you. Whether or not they ask what you mean depends on the person. (There is nothing worse than saying show don’t tell to a person who isn’t aware what it means and then they don’t ask questions!)

There is a major difference between showing something and telling something and nine times out of ten the beginning writer will tell something rather than show it. (The other tenth of a time is when a beginning writer is in love with what we call ‘purple prose’ and uses a lot of adjectives and nouns that don’t even really have meaning to what they’re using them for. It’s like they’ve vomited up a thesaurus. It’d be more amusing if I meant a dinosaur.) While there is something to be said about keeping prose simple, telling is like having a story that is all bones without any meat to it. It’s dry and boring. There is nothing for the reader to sink their teeth into and start living and feeling the story with the character(s).

Summarization vs. Description

Telling is like the reader has picked up the local newspaper that is ‘just the facts’ with some idle speculation sprinkled into it. When you take an entire story or a series of scenes and condense it down to a paragraph, that’s telling. You’ve just summarized all the good or interesting bits of your story. Summarization is saved for the backs of books and for things that aren’t important. Telling is boring, yawn worthy and I shut the book and go find something else to do.

Showing something involves describing things and going through it step by step and getting involved into the character’s mind and emotions. When a reader is shown something, they are sitting in the back of the character’s mind and feeling like they’re in that character’s body and life! Showing is exciting and dynamic and keeps me glued to the page.

In writing there has to be a proper balance between showing and telling. Too much showing and the story drags as it gets bogged down in all the details. Too much telling, the story falls flat and there is nothing to hold the reader to the page.

Telling is like listening to a ‘Good Ole Boy’ tell a story. “I was doing this, see, when this happened, see, and then I did that!” And you’re supposed to laugh and slap his back and tell him what a good storyteller he is. Unless it’s a funny play on words or something, the good ole boy always forgets to add any sort of description into his story whatsoever. Sure, they’re telling a story. They’re telling a story by telling it rather than showing it. They’ve summarized all the good bits. In fact, most the time they’ve summarized the entire story!

When it comes to writing a story, description is the writer’s friend. So, when the good ole boy says he was off hunting in a forest, I want to interrupt and go “What kind of forest?” If he’s in an evergreen forest that’s different than a deciduous forest, which is different from a rainforest! Old forests are different than young forests. And each of these forests are going to look and sound different depending on the time of year. They’re going to smell different too! So, if you’re going to tell me you’re in a forest, you need to describe to me the type of forest you’re in!

This applies for settings, characters and objects. If there is a noun in your story and you insist that said noun is important to the story, then by golly, you better describe said noun! That’s what adjectives were invented for! Describing a guy as handsome isn’t really helpful. Everyone’s standards of handsome are different. The same goes for a pretty woman. Of course, anyone can imagine a more handsome or prettier person than any writer can describe. But the writer has to give them the key features for them to create their mental image of the character upon.

Then comes the next big question, what are people doing? How are they standing? Are they fiddling with anything? What are their facial expressions? Do they sweat? Do their hands shake? People’s actions betray their character. What goes on the outside of a person, reflects what is going on the inside. Character actions invite reactions. Suddenly the characters are involved with each other and aren’t just standing there with their hands at their sides with blank looks on their faces. Instead, we are in a play, where Lumiere is hamming it up on corner of the stage while Cogsworth hides his eyes with his hands. Next, there shall be a duel! Candlesticks versus clock hands! Allez! Fence!

Sorry, got caught up there for a moment.

Reporting vs. Opinion

Often a beginning writer writes like he’s giving a statement to the police. This happened. Then this happened and then this happened. The police don’t care about what he thought about the incident. They don’t care about his opinion or what he thinks happened. They want just the facts. What happened? When did you see it happen? Can you describe the victim and the perp, please?

In a book, that’s not what the reader pays for. They want to know what happens. They want to know when it happens. And then they want to know what the character thinks about it! What are the characters opinions? Maybe the character didn’t see things correctly! How does the character feel about what happened? How do they react to it! What do they do? And suddenly, we’ve gone full circle here!

Dry Facts vs. Explanations/Compare and Contrast

67% percent of statistics are made up on the spot. (That was made up.) However, in the real world there are certain absolute facts. Gravity tends to be an absolute. Sports players have metrics by which they define their lives and careers. Any type of vehicle has a certain specifications to meet its class. So, the beginning writer who wants to show off their smarts will no doubt put some sort of statistic in their story, from how fast they can run down a field, to the engine power of a vehicle to the price of tea in China and how tall they are. A lot of times, the reader really wants to know what the price of tea in China has to do with anything. And the writer, who is so steeped in these statistics and facts, doesn’t understand that no one else really knows what that means. So they don’t ever explain. They just state the fact and move on.

Well, it’s nice that you told us this. Now, perhaps you can show us what that means. Now, there are a few ways to go about it. They can actually make it important to the story and show the character doing that thing that they made the statistic about. They can be in a race or go toe to toe with a bully or compare and contrast the price of tea in China to the price of tea in India and Britain as they try to order tea in bulk for their new tea shop. (I’m reaching. I know.) Or, they could just out and out explain the fact for the ignorant. This is called exposition. This also usually involves some compare and contrast as they compare to famous people or use a metaphor with something people are familiar with. Exposition can be important to understand what exactly is going on in the story and how this statistic or fact is important to the story.

Now, if the fact or the statistic isn’t really important as it never gets shown in the story in any way, then you might as well axe that fact or statistic until it is important.

Dialogue, Expositional vs. Action

Sometimes, there just isn’t enough time in the story to show everything. Explaining things is the way the writer cheats to have the story make sense. And to make it more engaging, often they put it into dialogue. Expositional dialogue is often a lot like that ‘good old boy’ telling his stories. It can be the cap of a scene, where the character tells another character what is going on somewhere else, where he can’t possibly be. Expositional dialogue is telling the reader something. “You mad!” “Of course I’m mad!”

This is opposed to action dialogue. Action dialogue moves the story forward in such a way that the reader isn’t being told what is going on. They’re seeing it. Instead of the character saying he’s mad, he’s swearing a blue streak and issuing dire threats about what he’s going to do if he ever gets his hands on the guy who swindled him. Active dialogue mimics dialogue in everyday life, full of jokes, non sequiturs and random bodily noises. Paying attention to how people talk in real life can help create active dialogue in your stories.

Character traits: Showing vs. Telling

Then there is the last and sometimes hardest aspect of showing versus telling, character traits. It is one thing to say that the character is smart, cool headed, good in a fight etc, etc. It is another thing to put the characters in situations where they will be able to be smart, cool headed or show off those fighting skills you claim they have. A lot of writers fall into the trap of constantly telling character traits, emotions, skills, interests, hobbies and then never showing the character actually doing these things. Sometimes it might be the difference between a plot focused story and a character focused story. In a plot focused story the writer is so focused on the action and the conflict, that they forget to take pauses and let the character and reader rest. So many times, they revert to telling us that their characters are such and such or do such and such, but then never take the words or pages to have the characters be in situations where those things are important and they have a chance to use their skills.

Showing and telling is a delicate balance. Both techniques can be needed to tell an effective story. Things have to be explained. Sometimes it’s good to both tell an emotion and show an emotion. There are places where summarizing things are appropriate. It takes practice and experience to know when to show (most of the time) and when to tell (very little of the time.) Telling is a lot easier than showing. In telling, there is a lot less of imagination being employed on the writer’s part and a whole lot of imagination having to be used on the reader’s part to enjoy the story.

When writing a story, it is good to indulge in some description, get the characters to voice their thoughts and opinions and put them in situations where their skills can shine. Or, if they aren’t good at those skills, fail miserably. Challenging the character creates conflict. If the character has conflict they have a choice to take action. Action moves the story! A moving story keeps the reader interested and their eyes glued to the page!

#writeblr #writblr #writing advice #show don't tell #show and tell

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justmenoworries · 5 years

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Ho boy, that sure was....something. Look, I’ll be honest: Chapter 5 of Bendy and the Ink Machine kinda disappointed me. There were just...so many loose ends and things that flat-out didn’t make any sense?

Also, I know it’s been literal months since the release, but I really needed to get this off my chest.

(Just a heads-up: since I don’t own chapter 5 myself yet, I’m using screenshots from Jacksepticeye’s playthrough of it. You can watch the original video here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J5KnheYXreE)

1. Allison and Tom, a.k.a. “Can I have Wally!Boris back, please?”

Chapter 4 left us on a major cliffhanger with it’s final shot of another Alice (who’s name, dataminers found out, was Allison) and another Boris with a metal arm rescuing Henry from Susie!Alice. Seeing that there were good versions of the cartoon characters, like many theorists suspected, definitely hyped us up for more.

And then the Chapter 5 - trailer came up and solidified that hype by showing Henry seemingly fighting side by side with Allison!Alice. It very much looked like we were getting not one, but two new companions. The short scene of Allison fighting the Lost Ones also followed a brief interaction between Allison and Henry that got fans to bring out the tinfoil-hats:

Allison: “Henry....why are you here?” Henry: “The Ink Demon has something we need. I’m going after him.

It sounded like we were in for an adventure of epic proportions in Chapter 5 with two new allies having our back. Definitely a welcome mix-up of the previous rather lonely chapters. What we got, however was....not that..

Chapter 5 begins with Henry being held prisoner by Allison and Tom. Since before the original release there were a bunch of tape-videos on the Meatley’s youtube-channel that implied as much, with Henry referring to Allison and Tom as his captors. So this wasn’t really a surprise. What was, however, was Allison’s and Tom’s actual roles in the overall story. Which is to say: Almost none. Allison and Tom leave Henry to be killed by an approaching Ink Demon, only to miraculously show up out of nowhere at the end of the Sammy Mini-boss fight and the start of the Searcher/Lost Ones battle. These battles are another can of worms in and of themselves, but I’ll talk about each of them later.

Apart from the battle against the Ink Creatures and one minor obstacle later on, Allison and Tom have no real purpose in this chapter. Allison merely serves as an exposition dump for things a lot of fans had figured out already (Sammy being in charge of the Lost Ones, Ink creatures who die going back to the puddles, the writing on the walls coming from the Searchers) and Tom....Tom was kind of the worst.

For reasons that are neither implied nor explained later Tom greatly distrusts Henry at the start of the chapter. He threatens him physically whenever they so much as see each other,

denies him food behind Allison’s back

and even goes so far as to convince Allison to leave Henry to die.

This is sort of addressed by Allison’s small speech at the start in which she explains that down in the studio, strangers aren’t really “good things” and that Tom thinks that Henry is “dangerous”.

Henry: “Are you gunna let me out of here?” Allison: “Down here, strangers aren’t good things. How can we trust you?”

Henry: “Alice... please let me out of here.” Allison: “Tom thinks you’re dangerous.”

However upon further scrutiny that argument really doesn’t hold any water. When Allison and Tom first meet Henry, he has just narrowly escaped being murdered by Susie!Alice. He also makes no move to attack them or even defend himself. So what reason would they (or rather: Tom) have to think that he was dangerous? Henry isn’t an Ink creature and is obviously lucid. And furthermore, if they really distrust him that much, why save him from Susie!Alice in the first place? Why not just let her kill him and go on their way? They clearly don’t even care for him enough to at least give him a chance to escape his prison before they save their own sorry butts.

Yet for whatever reason their opinion of him does a sudden 180° right after the Sammy-fight. Tom is now somehow convinced that Henry won’t hurt them, enough to save him from Sammy

and hand him a weapon,

and Allison seems to have completely forgotten that she and Tom literally left this man for dead mere hours ago. She approaches him so nonchalantly, it’s honestly kind of insulting.

Say what you want about Wally!Boris, but even though he may have been a bit of a coward, he at least still stayed behind to help an injured Henry when the elevator collapsed - at the cost of his own life, might I add. And his presence in the story was of great importance. Thanks to him we found out a lot about how the Ink Machine works and the puddles and Ink-creatures themselves.

So companion-wise, Allison and Tom really were a bit of a downgrade.

And story-wise?

Like I said, Allison and Tom don’t actually add much to the overall story of Bendy and the Ink Machine beyond exposition. Their personalities are rather stale compared to the other characters we have met along the way. Which really is a pity, since the trailer hyped them up so much.

2. Sammy’s return a.k.a “What, that’s it?”

Sammy Lawrence has become a real fan-favorite since his debut in Chapter 2. A fact theMeatley was clearly aware of. Sammy, much like Allison and Tom, was hyped up a lot prior to chapter 5. There was whole special event involving him at the Hot Topic’s Twitter, where he answered questions while simultaneously leaving cryptic hints and implications about what was really going on. Chapter 3 had an easter-egg where you could hear his voice by playing a couple of instruments in just the right order. Due to all the fuzz made around the character, a lot of people had speculated that he might come back in a later chapter.

They would be proven right, but...well...

When Sammy did show up again he was....different. For once he had clearly undergone a voice actor-change and moved up a few nudges on the crazy scale, screeching about how the Ink Demon betrayed and abandoned him, even though he “gave him everything”.

And after a brief scuffle with Henry he just...dies again.

After all the foreshadowing, all the wink-wink-nudge-nudge done by the creators this was a really disappointing way to make Sammy come back. Much like our new “companions” Sammy doesn’t really contribute anything to the story. Not even additional lore. He shows up quite literally out of nowhere and into nowhere he also seems to vanish again. Neither Henry nor Allison refer to him or at least mention him after the fight. With as big of a role as he played in Chapter 2, you’d think Henry would make a bit more of a fuzz about the guy coming back. But he just...stays silent during the whole fight, saying nothing about Sammy’s miraculous revival or even trying to deny the accusations Sammy throws at him throughout the battle. The battle itself is incredibly confusing from a story standpoint. Sammy attacking Henry while simultaneously declaring his hatred of the Ink Demon who abandoned him comes off as more than a bit nonsensical.

If Sammy’s rage is directed at Inky!Bendy, why would he want to hurt Henry?

Does he think Henry is Bendy?

Why?

He didn’t seem to have any trouble recognizing Henry as an outsider the first time they met.

It’s even implied he remembers him to a certain extent.

Sammy: “Wait! You look familiar to me. That face...”

Perhaps the most frustrating part about this encounter, is a line of Allison’s that comes right before the group is attacked by the citizens of the Lost One’s village:

Allison: “The searchers and the Lost Ones built this place. Sammy must have been keeping them at bay. Now that he’s gone-”

This is genuinely interesting.

Not only does this confirm that Sammy was, indeed, the leader of the Lost Ones, but that their passive behavior was due to him. For whatever reason the Lost Ones and the Searchers trusted and obeyed him enough to follow his orders and under his guidance apparently even managed to built a small, safe haven for themselves.

Now that Henry and Tom killed off the person who was most likely the only slight glimmer of hope they had, they’re understandingly pretty pissed.

But just like so many other interesting plot points throughout the game, this idea just gets pushed aside.

After the team leaves the village, they never encounter either the Lost Ones or the Searchers ever again.

How much more engaging would it have been if we had actually delved into this a bit?

If we’d actually learned more about who Sammy was, how he came to be what he is by the time we find him first in chapter 2 and how and why the Lost Ones and the Searchers trusted him so much?

If we’d gotten a bit of backstory on the village and maybe the Lost Ones opinion of Sammy and what he did for them?

But alas, it was not meant to be.

Speaking of which...

3. The Lost Ones and the Searchers a.k.a ” We’ve had an axe-fight in every chapter so far and by Golly, we will have one in this chapter too!”

Yeaaah, I did not care for the battle against those guys...

I mean, the fact that Henry would end up fighting them (together with Allison) was already set in stone since the trailer showed a brief glimpse of the battle.

But the way in which it was executed....

A lot of theorists speculated that the reason the Lost Ones would attack would be because of either:

Allison being another Alice Angel. Chapter four had already established that the Lost Ones feared and probably even despised Susie!Alice and for good reason. Susie!Alice was a homicidal maniac obsessed with beauty who had canonically murdered other Ink creatures in order to repair herself. Why wouldn’t the Lost Ones try to stay as far away from her as possible? And why wouldn’t they assume that this new Alice wouldn’t be any better in terms of personality?

The Lost Ones being part of the Bendy-cult. Also a pretty reasonable explanation, since their lair Henry finds in chapter four has the words “He will set us free” scrawled on the walls. The very same mantra Sammy Lawrence, the self proclaimed prophet of Bendy used quite frequently. As such, they’d obviously try and gain the attention of the creature they believed would save them by taking care of its enemies.

But the real reason was....a lot more tragic and disappointing.

Remember this line?

Allison: “Sammy must have been keeping them at bay. Now that he’s gone-”

This line being said right before you murder a bunch of Lost Ones and Searchers carries two incredibly problematic implications.

The first one being that Allison and Tom knew (or suspected anyway) that Sammy was the reason the Lost Ones weren’t hostile at first, yet Tom proceeded to kill him anyway instead of just knocking him out or holding him hostage.

Why would he do that if he knew him, Allison and Henry would be attacked the second Sammy dies? Is Tom just so bloodthirsty and violent that he doesn’t care about even Allison’s safety? Though considering what we’ve seen of him so far, that wouldn’t really be a surprise.

And secondly, that the Lost Ones are (or were) violent beasts that need Sammy to keep them in check and whom it’s totally okay to mercilessly slaughter. That’s... quite a bit of a contradiction to previous plot points and implications.

Let’s start with the Searchers, or rather one Searcher: Jack Fain. Jack Fain is the only non-aggressive Searcher you ever come across in the entire game. The most he ever does is steal a piece of machinery that Henry needs. And even that’s not out of malicious intent, but rather a childish way to get Henry’s attention. The way you deal with Jack is rather brutal: Since he’s too fast for Henry to catch, you lure him underneath a large crate and then crush him with it. Even Henry doesn’t feel comfortable doing this.

Henry: “Sorry I had to do that. Nice hat though.”

The tragic implication here, is that Searchers don’t necessarily have to be violent monsters. They can be self-aware enough to keep parts of their old personality. Jack only steals the gear because he wants Henry to sing with him. Why? Because Jack used to be a lyricist and singing was a thing he really loved. The most important part to remember here is that Jack did all of this himself. By the time you go after him, Sammy is nowhere in sight. And even if he was nearby, it’s highly unlikely he would order Jack to involve Henry in a pointless game of tag, since Henry is supposed to be a sacrifice to the Ink Demon. Then there’s the matter of the Lost Ones. It’s never really explained in-universe what they are and why they’re so different from the Searchers in that they have somewhat stable bodies, can talk and hide together instead of drifting aimlessly through the ink. However the game heavily implies that the Lost Ones are former workers who had the misfortune of being swept up in Joey Drew’s machinations and ending up as abominations as a result. Or put simply: they were bystanders who got transformed into monsters through no fault of their own.

When Henry encounters them in Chapter 4 they don’t....really do anything. They just stand and sit around in their hide-out, whimper and let him pass.

But come Chapter 5 they seem to have undergone a personality-change and are now just as violent as the more monstrous Searchers, even though the existence of the town and the haven clearly implies some form of intelligence beyond instinct.

The most plausible explanation for that would be rage and a desire for revenge due to Sammy’s murder but if they really cared so much for him, why didn’t they help him in his fight with Henry? Did he tell them not to? If so, why? Were they simply too scared to intervene? But they don’t seem to have any problems with fighting Allison, Tom!Boris and Henry. Wouldn’t it have made more sense if they’d ganged up on Henry when he was alone, but gotten more hesitant when Allison and Tom arrived to help him?

The point I’m trying to make is, the fight against the Searchers and the Lost Ones is incredibly out of sync with what we’ve been shown about them so far and opens up a ton of plot-holes and unfortunate implications and I really wish theMeatley had integrated it better.

4. The Ending a. k. a. “Ummm, what???”

Look, I get it: Ending a horror-game on an ambiguous, slightly ominous note is basically tradition by this point.

But come on!

Absolutely nothing about the ending in BatIm makes any sense whatsoever and it reeks of putting in a Gainax ending just for the sake of it. Apparently the whole adventure was a dream/hallucination/metaphor about how things slowly but surely went downhill in Joey Drew Studios after Henry left, but also not really, because the final scene before the credits is Henry re-entering the studio through a side door in Joey’s kitchen, seemingly having no memory of what happened before that point.

This ending was unsatisfying as hell (pun not intended).

It left the majority of the games’ mysteries unsolved, lazily slapped a Dorothy angle on the whole thing and then ended by implying the cliché of clichés: time travel. The face reveal with Joey also comes right out of nowhere. Joey is just...there.He goes on a bit about how Henry was always the one who kept him from doing stupid shit (like sacrificing people) and running the company into the ground, laments how unkind time has been to him and ends his tangent with an enigmatic remark about how Henry “should have pushed a little harder” and that he should “visit the old workshop”. Cue the above described time-travel implication.

And then there’s an after-credit scene where we learn that

1. Henrys’ last name is ‘Stein’ (haha, get it?)

2. Additionally to being a dream/hallucination/metaphor BatIm’s plot is also apparently a bedtime story that Joey’s telling a little girl who calls him “Uncle Joey”

3. There is a second Ink Machine in Joey’s real-life home for....whatever reason.

This all kinda looks like pure sequel hook. Which is incredibly fishy and disappointing.

Overall, I loved Bendy and the Ink Machine as a game. The story was engaging (at least in chapters 1-4) and the characters apart from maybe a few were entertaining.

But chapter 5 just...doesn’t sit well with me.

#batim #batim spoilers #bendy and the ink machine #allison pendle #boris the wolf #batim henry #batim chapter 5 #batim chapter five #tom boris #alice angel #joey drew #bendy the dancing demon #batim ending #batim screenshots #ink demon

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arcticdementor · 3 years

Link

The Christian Century is a magazine for the senescent liberal Protestant Mainline. When I heard earlier this month that it had published an article exposing the presence of white supremacists at farmer’s markets [UPDATE: Sorry, I forgot to post the link to the piece.— RD], I laughed it off as another example of the dingbat left policing the boundaries. It should not surprise anyone that unsavory people enjoy a delicious tomato as well as the next person. If a Communist or a neo-Nazi enjoys locally grown fruits and vegetables, I can congratulate him on his good taste in food while rejecting his politics. This is called being a grown-up. When this controversy arose in 2019 in Bloomington, Indiana, the adult mayor of that city resisted calls by progressives to kick allegedly white supremacist farmers out of the farmer’s market, saying that as long as the accused vendors were following the law, he was not going to play the role of thought police.

It turns out, though, that the article’s author, a vigilant progressive named Rebecca Bratten Weiss, identifies poor old Self as a gateway drug to the Ku Klux Kale:

…

“Polite Christian ethno-nationalism”? Golly. I wonder how the neurotic Bratten Weiss figures that. Then again, there doesn’t have to be logic for these people to make a vicious accusation like that. If they feel it — and they are always sniffing out wrongthinkers — it must be true. Do I even need to point out here that she clearly hasn’t read The Benedict Option?

Judging by her self-description on her website, Bratten Weiss has a rich inner life:

She has spoken at various academic and cultural events on topics ranging from Nietzsche’s aesthetics and Bronte’s feminism, to ecology in literature and vulgarity in religion.

Rebecca recently completed work on The Dirt, an eco-feminist novel exploring the impact of the fracking industry on a dysfunctional Ohio family.

She is also in the process of revising The Peacemakers, a speculative literary sci-fi in which women in a near-future matriarchy control men via advanced AI technology.

She is a member of the George Sandinistas, and one of the founders of the Muse Writers Collective.

…

I had never heard of this unhappy woman until a friend sent me her Christian Century essay last night. Apparently she is a Catholic who has a Patheos blog in which she writes things like this:

How surprising to learn that she used to be an adjunct teacher of English at Franciscan University of Steubenville. And she is some kind of ecumenist, as we learn from this 2019 essay. Excerpts:

Driving home with a load of hay, listening to Johnny Cash, wondering what I could burn as a sacrifice to Hecate, I start thinking that probably not many women on this road, driving truckloads of hay, and listening to Cash, are also contemplating witchcraft. Does this make me necessarily more interesting? Or is it automatically less interesting, because “being interesting” is a motive force for me? Not the only motive force, but maybe it taints everything it touches, so there’s a certain embarrassingly meta quality about all my love, or curiosity, or revenge.

Meta or not, the desire to burn something as a sacrificial offering is real. Thinking about burning is real. I have a truck full of a combustible material, and my truck is driven by combustion. I’m rumbling along on the cusp of a flame.

Bless her heart, I do not doubt it! More:

The internal combustion engine is insufficient for the goddess, however, and I have no intention of burning the hay. The questions about burnt offerings become pragmatic. Like, where to do it? If I start a fire in the back yard the kids will all come gathering around, asking if they can roast marshmallows. But I can’t just go wandering off into the neighbor’s field and start burning things (or can I?).

Then there’s the question of what to burn. Something I value, or something I hate? Which would Hecate prefer?

If I get the answers wrong, who knows, some solid citizen might call and have them send the firetrucks after me, and then it’s pretty awkward if I’d opted to burn, say, the testicles of some Nazi dudes who just happened to be scampering across my backyard at the right time. When I just happened to have my scythe handy. Oops. Now I have this whole conflagration of testicles to explain.

Even if it’s what Hecate wants, the fact is, when you’re castrating Nazis and burning their balls as an offering to ancient Greek goddesses, people tend not to be very understanding. They’re all “oh, the incivility!” Or “this is why Trump keeps winning.”

Now I’m worried that I went too far there, talking about castrating Nazis. Now I’m worried that I’m not interesting or edgy, but instead the kind of person from whom you instinctively back away.

…

Anyway, as is often the case with censorious progressives, the witchy Bratten Weiss misses the irony of her condemning right-wing farmer’s market types for their exclusivity, in an essay in which she appears to claim that farmer’s markets should be zealously defended as a safe space for progressives and fellow travelers. Down with fascist eggplant! In fact, she hates localism itself, if localists are anything other than progressives:

…

Uh oh! People like Bratten Weiss ruin everything. When I wrote Crunchy Cons back in the mid-2000s, I was delighted to draw attention to people like the fundamentalist Christian family in north Texas who raised meat organically because they believed that was the best way to honor God’s Creation. There’s a quote in the book from the patriarch who says how surprised he was to discover that he had more in common with some hippie organic growers than he did with fellow Christian Republicans who lived a more conventional suburban life. Funny, but these folks weren’t threatened by the progressives who shared their love of organic, small-scale agriculture, and neither were the progressive small farmers threatened by them. They found common ground, and even solidarity. I guess Bratten Weiss, who is two tics away from a gran mal seizure, would want to cut the balls off the fundamentalist family’s sons and sacrifice them to a pagan goddess or something.

Bratten Weiss may be a Catholic, but she is definitely a Puritan. I was recently talking with a wealthy conservative white Catholic friend from the South who was explaining to me his discovery of the value of localism. He and his wife bought some land in the historically black part of their town, and are using it to help their black neighbors build community. They let black folks and others use the land for a farmer’s market, and for meetings between black community leaders and the local police, to build closer relationships (he showed me a photo on his smartphone of a recent gathering). He told me that even as relations between the black community and police in other parts of the country have grown worse, they have strengthened in his town, because it turns out that a lot of black people there don’t hate the police; they just want better policing. He talked about a woman black pastor in his town who makes this work of community-building possible. And he talked about long-term plans to restore what was once a thriving commercial sector of black-owned businesses.

My friend said that he has grown disillusioned with national politics, and now focuses on building up localism. This guy is very conservative. I’m guessing that his black woman pastor friend is … not. But they work together because they both want to make the town they share into a better place for them all to live. If Bratten Weiss showed up in their town, she would no doubt do her best to drive these two apart to purify the movement. People like that — and we have them on the Right too — are so exhausting. They are the kind of people from whom you instinctively back away. Unfortunately, they hold a lot of cultural and institutional power right now in America. Which is a big reason that we are in such a mess.

#rod dreher #the american conservative #farmer's markets #bratten weiss

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makeste · 4 years

Text

BnHA Chapter 275: YAAAAY but Also AHHHHH

y’all what in the fresh hell is this bs

not yet there isn’t son but if you keep trolling like this I can give your nervous system something to actually be nervous about

(ETA: KILLING AIZAWA SHOUTA WOULDN’T MAKE SOMEONE CRY OUT OF JOY, THOUGH. RIGHT?!)

anyways I guess it’s time to read and see if I feel like sadly happily crying for two hours afterward

-- oh shit I just realized there are two scanlations out for this?? one from readjump.com, and one from readheroacademia.com. lol now what. uhhh

lulzes. I guess I’ll go with RHA for now and keep checking back to RJ after each page and I’ll go with whichever translation I liked better

LADIES AND GENTLEMEN, OUR MILLENNIAL VILLAIN

WHAT IS A SHAME. TOMURA. DAMN IT

(ETA: ??)

-- well hello there

lol he is trying to argue a bit but then he’s suddenly cutting off. so in hindsight I don’t know why I said “lol”, really. I’M JUST NERVOUS OKAY

holy --

the rest of this page is not really much more helpful

LMAO NOW WHAT

so he just cronched onto the ground and fooshed Endeavor and then went flying off again huh

LMAO AT EVERYTHINNNNNG

THANK YOU ENJI. HE’LL LURE HIM AWAY. lols WHY THE FUCK DID YOU TELL THEM WHICH WAY HE WAS HEADED YOU BOOB

he really just fucking hung up on him afterwards too. just, “got it thanks amigo just leave everything to me, [CLICK]”

OH MY GOD

BECAUSE WE CAN’T HAVE ANYONE ELSE CONVENIENTLY INTERFERING WHEN YOU HAVE YOUR LITTLE THROWDOWN OF DESTINY HUH. THAT WOULD JUST BE TERRIBLE

-- oh shit

(ETA: never have I been so happy that a translation was wrong lmao.)

also “that damn kid...” like why the hell did my son have to go and befriend two protagonists. why is this my life now

AHAHAHAHA

oh my god I forgot they didn’t know, though

look at them go

damn Deku can you really not float yet?? that’s going to be really inconvenient if that’s the case

(ETA: my boy really would have just straight up died. he would have died so hard.)

OH MY GOD

NOW YOU WANT TO ASK HIM LMAOOOO. well it’s because of all the character development!! if you must know

THAT’S NOT AN ANSWER BLASTY MCANGERTY

you’re not as smooth as you think you are, you know. we all know why you actually followed him. but fine, be that way

okay so now he’s giving a real-er answer though

and Deku is all

and Kacchan is all

ohhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh snap

YOU SURE DO!! and he does with you too!! :) it’s gonna be one big happy reunion! :) :) :) oh gosh golly

OH NO KATSUKI WHAT ARE YOU DOING

THERE’S MOREEEEE???

YOU REMEMBER TOO, DON’T YOU DEKU. HE WAS ALL CRYING AND STUFF. IT WAS A LOT. IT’S POSSIBLE THAT I HAVE NEVER PERSONALLY GOTTEN OVER IT

AND IT LOOKS LIKE HE NEVER QUITE GOT OVER IT EITHER

:’)

by the way in the other translation he says “I’ll make up for what I did that day.” so yeah. BOOM. right to the heart. shot of me collapsing to the ground in slow motion

anyways Deku I sure hope you and your big hero brain can see right through this nonsense

god. you’re both in so much danger though, do you even have any idea?! of course you fucking don’t. god

HELLO BAKUGOU NARRATION!?!

well that’s one hell of a rare sight!! all fresh and chock full of shrewd observations about his best rival’s current skillset. ah what a time we’re living in

ooooh

gonna hold off commentary until I read the next part of this lol

OOOOOH

goddamn. Horikoshi really went off this week. just a whole chapter’s worth of Stuff Makeste Really Likes, goddamn is it my birthday or what

WOW

THE DISRESPECT. LOL DID YOU JUST FUCKING KILL HIS ASS

(ETA: I just realized he’s nowhere to be found after this, though, so... did he?? or is he now lying somewhere now all wounded and waiting to be found by one, or, dare I say, two of his sons? ...)

LKDFJLSDKGHOSIDGHOISDflkwejfdfsdklggdflgnfdlgndakgalkgldfdfkwlfwiowelKLDSGKSL:DKGJL:DKFM?G?SGSDLKG?SDFSDF??LKJ@L!

HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT

HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT

even if you ask him nicely??! somehow I just can’t help feeling that he probably shouldn’t oblige you, though!?!?!

anyways. THAT AIN’T SAFE. and what the hell is happening in that bottom left corner ahhhhhh

AHHHHHHH

GRAN DM ME YOUR ADDRESS I WANT TO SEND YOU SOME FLOWERS AND A BASKET OF FRUIT AND CRACKERS AND SOME LITTLE CHEESES AND SAUSAGES

oh fuck me

anyways so now Gran is continuing to lecture the mayor of Dumb Ideas Town here, along with his friend the deputy mayor who still thinks he outranks the actual mayor

SHH NOW AND LISTEN TO YOUR GRANDPA

-- ohhhh shit son are they mounting a counterattack?? don’t tell me!!

also is Gran seriously faster than Tomura. that makes no fucking sense, and yet these two are only alive now because of it so I’M SURE NOT GONNA QUESTION IT

YESSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS

AND IS AIZAWA ON HER BACK THOUGH???

AHAHHAHAHAHAHA

AH, BUT IT AIN’T GONNA WORK THOUGH, IS IT!!! AHAHAHA YESSSSSS

my dear gentlefolk would you fucking look at how the lord has blessed us on this day

Aizawa Fucking Shouta and the motherfucking dramatic intro to end all dramatic intros. finally this man gets his moment

NOOOOOOOOOOOO

ISN’T HE THOUGH??? Tomura I love you sweetie but you better BACK THE FUCK. OFF

please don’t kill Aizawa

#bnha 275 #midoriya izuku #bakugou katsuki #shigaraki tomura #aizawa shouta #endeavor #gran torino #bnha #boku no hero academia #bnha spoilers #mha spoilers #bnha manga spoilers #makeste reads bnha

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stargazer1682 · 3 years

Text

Buffy Season 6 was terrible

Season 6 is a dumpster fire and far from anything I'd describe as "well planned," let alone immaculately written.

The plot is heavily contrived, starting pretty much with the Scoobies plans to bring Buffy back. Why are they bringing her back? Because.

Don't get me wrong, the argument that Buffy's soul MIGHT be in a hell dimension isn't wholly without merit, given that they saw all number of hell dimensions open up before their eyes and Buffy had to sacrifice herself to close a rift between these dimensions in much the same way Angel did, for essentially the same purpose. Knowing the lives they lead, everything they’ve experienced and how cruel they know their universe to be, there would be a very distinct probability that Buffy was in hell. In fact the only reason she wasn't was arguably because being in heaven and pulled out by her friends is the only worse possible fate.

But, Buffy's body was barely cold when they started hatching plans to bring her back; they didn't really even try to move on without her. And as it turns out, bringing someone back isn't actually all that difficult. I maintain that they should have done a time jump; like 5 years, which would have at least established that they TRIED to move on without her before bring her back. And the effort could have been said to have taken more time than a summer vacation. Plus it would have better aligned the majority of characters with their real world ages, while create an added facet for why Buffy might feel disconnected from her friends if they’ve literally moved on with their lives. Even Dawn, who be closer to Buffy’s age, would be a practical stranger to her at that point; adding to the isolation.

But this is a minor criticism in the grand scheme of the season though, because the show always cut to the chase; and for the most part I can appreciate that. So let's do the same and really get down to the less excusable contrivances.

Practically everyone’s livin’ in casa de Summers, yet is anyone apparently contributing anything to the expenses? Not by any indication. Buffy’s back barely a minute, doesn’t even take time to readjust before going patrolling, and soon after that they say, “welcome back, you’re drowning in debt. Get a job, deadbeat.”

And this leads to a couple of ridiculous plots. The first of which is Giles’ sudden and inexplicable inability to tell Buffy “no” and establish clear boundaries between them; you know, one of the key essential traits of his character five years running. And yes, I know, Tony Head wanted to move back to England and that’s fair, but the excuse they gave his character for his absence was, simple put, stupid. Lots of parental figures have to deal with the transition of a so-called child that they’ve looked after and been responsible for and help usher them into independent adulthood; and they’ve done that, remarkably enough, without moving clear across the flippin’ planet. This is to say nothing of the conventional dynamics of a Slayer and her support system; which we don’t know enough about, in terms of how previous Slayers that lived into their early 20s managed to get by financially. There’s been a lot of speculation and the consensus typically leans towards an informal understand that their Watcher supports them. This arrangement may not be fair and Giles may want Buffy to lead a less restrictive life than the average Slayer had before her, but there are certain practical realities that Giles of all people should understand in this regard. The first and foremost of which is that, as Slayer, Buffy must put those responsibilities ahead of all others and it’s simply not feasible to expect her to burn the candle at both ends, working a full time job during the day and be a full time Slayer at night. On top of that is this inane idea he develops that Buffy was somehow shirking her responsibilities, when, again, she doesn’t miss a beat after coming back from the dead before going on patrol. The thing she struggles with, apart from how she’s going to support herself financially without it interfering with her Slaying duties, is being and adult in her VERY early 20s with a mortgage and single mother to a nearly fully grown teenager; all while dealing with the trauma of coming back to from the dead. This goes beyond the pale of the normal responsibilities of someone going through Buffy’s stage of life in season 6; and any adult going through anything even remotely comparable should not be expected to do that single handedly on their own. Giles even admits later that being an adult means knowing when to ask for help, which just goes to show that his reason for leaving in the first place is complete and utter BS.

Giles demonstrated greater understanding for what Buffy was going through in season 3 when she merely had to send the man she loved to hell, after being thrown out of her house by her mother; yet here he seems to be utterly clueless. There are countless ways that Giles could have helped Buffy find her footing, without her being dependant on him, while still explaining Tony’s departure. But they wanted to set up a story that perpetuated Buffy’s hardship and isolation – hence the reason the writers felt the need to undermine the most obvious and practical solution for her need for a job, working at the magic store.

Then there’s a crux of the season’s conflicts. And yeah, I guess “life” as a big bad is… something… but decidedly not as effectively well done as the earlier seasons did with the allegorical struggles about adolescence and coming of age during the high school seasons.

Buffy is isolated from her friends, depressed, emotionally abused by a man taking advantage of her state of mind, drowning in debt (and not taking any of the realistic steps to address it, like dumping the house she can’t afford in favor of a small apartment for her and Dawn.) Eventually it ceases to be a story arc and just crap on Buffy day. There’s no joy here; and that’s one of the quixotic things about life and depression, it’s ability to make you think for a second that if you’re able to laugh in this moment, maybe things aren’t all that bad, right before they go back to being terrible.

After Tabula Rasa, once Giles leaves, the quality of the episodes takes a sharp downturn; and subsequently improves upon his return. There isn’t necessarily a correlation, especially since I’d say opposite is true with Giles’ presence with season 7. But right off the bat we’ve got Smashed and Wrecked, two incredibly stupid episodes, with equally terrible plot points that redefine the direction of the season.

Buffy starts screwing Spike, and… Amy’s suddenly a creep who could give her mom a run for her money? Oh, and now apparently Willow’s problem with magic is that she’s actually addicted to it, like a drug, and not the abuse of power and lack of moral forethought that they’ve been making it out to be ALL THIS TIME. No, now she’s suddenly doing ambiguous “magics” in back alleys that have no other apparent purpose than to make her trip.

Now, don’t worry, I didn’t forget about Xander… like the writers seemed to do after season 4… He’s still there and he’s going to marry Anya; which is going to be is sole defining arc the rest of this season and probably the next; even when the wedding doesn’t happen. The wedding episode was ALMOST interesting, but the fact is, while I’ve come to not like Xander overall, in the course of multiple re-watches of the series; he was put through a seriously traumatic ordeal in Hells Bells that they just gloss right over by the end of it; and expect him to still get married. And when he’s not in the right frame of mind to do that, they decide that he’s the AH for it….. Worse still, he accepts that title, deserved though it may be for a variety of other reasons from over the years; this instance is not one of them. But Joss has to Joss, which means everyone and everything sucks.

And then there’s the “Trio”…. (sigh)

I mean, they even went to the trouble of acknowledging how pathetic a “challenge” they were in contrast to previous big bads, with a doctor commenting on it during Normal Again. (Augh… Normal Again….)

Warren bordered on a comparatively compelling antagonist, by virtue of him being a complete bastard, but they had to blunt his arc with the nerd shtick; and I’m not sure why I hate it so much, because with the likes of Dick Wilkens’ “gee golly, I just want to be a big snake” attitude or Glory’s valley girl god demeanor, this shouldn’t have felt at odds for a big bad, yet it just doesn’t work.

The bigger problem I think I have with it all is that, ultimately, Warren’s not even the big bad; Willow is – which would be fine too, if her arc leading up to that break wasn’t so terrible. And here’s the thing, they had all of the pieces to make it work; it was all there. Willow’s story of where she was at in her life and the things she was doing and why she was doing them, closely parallel Warren’s story. Both characters had the smarts, the power and ambition to do whatever they set their minds to; and neither of them were stopping to ask themselves, “just because I can, should I?” and as a result were seriously abusing the power they had. Both of them undermined the free will of the women they loved, without consideration of the ramifications. Willow KINDA got it and tried to change, whereas Warren didn’t. But by trying shoehorn a drug analogy into Willow’s story, while just making Warren an AH, they undermined that parallel and the collision of wills they were ultimately on.

Don’t even get me started on killing off Tara. That was the wrong decision, full stop.

It should have been Xander. It would arguably have set off Willow at least as much as Tara’s death, and Xander’s spirit could have still appeared to Willow on the cliff to talk her down.

Then bring Nicky Brendon back for season 7 as the primary embodiment of the First.

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