#&&. i really don't have enough coffee for this . . . (dash commentary)

[gengarguy27]

Sky Reads Pact: Bonds 1.3

So I couldn't help but read ahead to the end of the arc because I didn't have the patience to read each chapter one at a time. So from now on I'm gonna read each arc then go back and post my thoughts of each chapter. Apologies if you wanted my pure, knee jerk reaction to each chapter but on the bright side I think will lead to better commentary in the future.

“No money, it’s not necessary,” she said, as I pulled a twenty out of the wallet. “For the cost of gas,” I said. “I did it to get out of the prep work, that’s enough for me.” “Then buy yourself and your boss a few beers after you’re done for the day, tell him thank you for letting you drive me,” I said. I tucked the bill into the cluttered space in the dash, by receipts, crackers and kleenex packages. Before she could give it back or argue, I opened the door and grabbed my bag.

Gee wizz Blake, you sure don't seem to like being in debt to people, I wonder if that's thematically relevant. Hey what's this book called again?

I stood inside the house, watching her pull down the long driveway. When she was gone, I closed and locked the door. It didn’t feel like enough of a barrier.

Good line. Maybe granny put some magical barrier around the house, like the mystery shack in Gravity Falls.

When I had first visited, the house had been my grandmother’s. She’d marked every surface with some token of her particular tastes and personality. Molly, it seemed, had been systematically dismantling those touches. Boxes sat by bookshelves, filled with books, paper-wrapped knick-knacks stowed away in the spaces between the books. Pictures were gone from the walls, neatly packed into more boxes, some stacked and shoved into the spaces beneath the few bookshelves that weren’t built into the house. It wasn’t yet done, and it wasn’t an organized process, either. Some books here, some books there. A few shelves on one bookcase, another shelf across the room. Most seemed to be centered around the living room.

Ugh I think that'd annoy me honestly. I'm not an organised person but seeing the moving process only have finished would probably compel me to finish it. Then again if I was in Blake's situation there would be more pressing matters afoot.

I let my bag drop to the floor, then tossed the pad of papers and envelope onto the coffee table. I pulled off the hat I’d been lent, running my fingers through sweat-soaked, unwashed hair. A rub of my chin suggested a light scruff. I hated being unshaven and unwashed.

I presume because it reminds you of being homeless? This line and several others in the future really show how traumatic that time on the street really was for Blake. I'm betting it's also at least part of the reason he's so touch adverse.

I slowly opened and closed my hand. The cut throbbed in the wake of the movement. “I can move my fingers. It’s not the injury that’s spooking me, here. Those things were dirty, their fingernails especially, and they got me a few times.”

Ewwww. Yeah good call Blake, tetanus is the real mystical curse you gotta watch out for.

“It didn’t hit me until I saw you back there,” Rose said. “How different we are. I wasn’t even in any direct danger, and I couldn’t think of what to do.”

Its real depressing how better off Rose was simply by being female. The Thorburn family really is one big clusterfuck

Once I had it threaded, I took my time disinfecting the area and the needle both. I was rough with myself, all things considered, searching the wound for any fragments. I didn’t want any trace of those things in or on my body. When my hand throbbed and involuntarily jumped at the pain, I grimly assured myself I was at least getting the infection out.

I get your concern Blake but your risking doing more damage to yourself by search the wound like that. Hopefully you don't get an infection, god knows you'll have enough shit on your plate by the end of this arc.

I slowly patrolled the house. The ground floor consisted of an expansive living room, a generous dining room, a smaller kitchen with only the basics, the hallway and a half-bathroom the size of my regular bathroom.

Reminds me of my own late Granny's house. She also had one of those tiny half bathrooms under the stairs. Now when I picture the inside of Hillgate House I'm just gonna picture my Granny's house, albeit darker and with a lot less Catholic imagery.

Though a sidewalk ran alongside the outer wall below the house, it seemed to be habit for people to walk on the other side of the street.

Man they really do hate your family, huh? I mean after seeing them up close I can't honestly blame them but still.

“It’s soulless, sorta. Our dad and aunt Irene and Uncle Paul were raised here, but there are no toys or mementos left around for the memories. Even my mother and father left some of my stuff around.”

They likely didn't have them in the first place or there was some magic based reason not keep them. Who knows maybe forgotten objects in this universe come to life after a certain period of time.

A means of opting out. Not joking this time.” “Somehow I don’t imagine it would be that easy,” Rose said. “It’s pretty easy. Phone or email the lawyer, and custodianship transfers to the next available candidate.” I reread the legalese and the plain-text to be sure.

Im with Rose on this, it can't be that simple. Either there's some bullshit ritual you have to do aswell or all the spooky bullshit will still come after you regardless

“Okay, fine,” I said, pushing that idea out of my head. “Point is, she’s not coddling us. There are books, they’re important, and the only two options are that the lawyers have them, and the test is as simple as ‘figuring out how to get in contact, or they’re hidden.”

First time I read this I assumed the lawyer would be there waiting for them and help Blake explain what's going on but I guess it's more interesting to see Blake and Rose figure it out themselves. Though I get the feeling Mr. Beasley will come back at some point and there's more to him then meets the eye.

I tried again, going in the other direction, and I got the same estimate. Houses were supposed to expand and contract with temperature and the like, but not that much.

This is some real house of leaves bullshit right here.

The room was a study. A library. There were two parts to the room, suggesting it took up two floors in the house. The upper half was a ring, looking down through an opening, bordered with bookcases on the four exterior walls, with a wrought iron railing keeping people from falling through the hole in the middle. Soft, mottled light shone down from a dust-caked window in the ceiling, lighting both halves of the library better than lightbulbs lit the rest of the house.

Damn this is cool, love a secret library. I wonder if Molly ever found this, would it have helped her? Blake having another person to help him through this really gives him an advantage here.

Draoidh. The book had a little ivory mask inset in the spine, with round staring eyes and a very curly beard.

A Scottish Gaelic word meaning wizard, interesting. I wonder how many of these books will come back throughout the story

Pitiable: Transcriptions from informal dialogues with Vampir.

I see what you did there, Wildbow

Please accept my graceless apology. At this juncture, you’ll likely be frightened and confused. Chances are good you’ll see outside parties at work, if you haven’t already, helping you to conclude that this isn’t nonsense. That helps us move on to business. If you find yourself here and are already injured in body, mind, heart, spirit or other more esoteric departments, you may need to jump straight to instruction number one in the list below, sacrifice sleep to see it through, and then move on to a great deal of research. The Index is a catalogue of all things found in my library, which I penned myself, and will help direct you to solutions to whatever ails you.

Bitches love an index and catalogue of creatures (it's me, I'm bitches)

I could explain, justify, and make excuses, but that is very much not my manner or style. You have a library of explanations sitting around you. With study, perhaps, you’ll see how I justified what I did. We can do without the excuses entirely.

You know if my excuse was "I got angry at my dad ounce and told him I'm never ever teaching my kids magic" I'd also probably keep that on the down low.

Perhaps this seems unfair, but modern standards of fair and unfair are just that: modern. In this world I’ve imposed on you, there are very old things, and there are very old traditions. Here, the sins of the father are visited upon the son. Or mother and daughter, rather. Beings as long-lived as powerful Others have trouble telling us apart, when we live and die so quickly and when we often look the same, and it helps to establish a pedigree or pattern. Some have ornaments of office, others carry on with seventh sons. We use daughters, and we keep to a smaller community. If they call you Rose, Elizabet, Frances, Esther, Ruth, I recommend you take it in stride. You are, as of now, simply one piece of a long thread.

Ill talk more about this during the confrontation with Padraig but the idea of Others not really understanding how humans work is so cool.

1. Read Essentials. It sits on the book stand. A novice’s guide to the most basic things, it outlines the steps to awakening yourself. Be warned, these steps open the door to becoming Other, in a respect. The oldest of them made agreements in times well beyond us, to guarantee safety and maintain a kind of peace. Foremost among these agreements is truth. Should you lie, you may well forfeit your power for a time. Break a promise or an oath, and you will be forsworn, and you will be stripped of every protection afforded to even the common, ignorant people that decorate this Earth

Damn this adds another layer of context to that reddit thread about Jack Slash fighting a bear summoning parahuman.

Study and enact the ritual noted in Famulus. The familiar is your greatest ally, and will serve as a tool, a wellspring of power, an ambassador to dealing with more abstract things, and will be a lifelong companion. Make this choice with the same respect you would with undertaking marriage, only know there is no form of divorce. The Familiar is to be a part of you for life. You gain their services, and they gain a chance to be mortal, even if it is a small mortalhood, in addition to whatever other terms you negotiate. Do not allow your familiar to take the form of a rat or dog.

Why not a rat or dog? Is there something special about rat and dog familiars? And if so what dose that say about the talking dog Johannes owns?

Study and enact the ritual found in Demesnes. Baba Yaga had her hut, I have my room. Unfortunately, the rest of the house has been claimed by our predecessors, and while it is a haven, you will need to find your own place to make your own, where the rules bend as you need them to, and where your power is greatest. The three rituals noted here are fundamental in determining how you access, hoard and focus power. Note, however, that your real power will be in how you act with others and Others.

So Baba Yaga canonically exists in this world. Interesting that you can't claim a demesnes even from someone who has passed on.

“I’m supposed to marry a guy. I’m getting the impression this isn’t the first obstacle I’m going to run into.”

“Gay marriage is legal,” she said. “I’m not gay.” I said. “I wonder if the lawyers will allow me any leeway, here.”

Blake, buddy. I don't think that should be your biggest concern here. I'm sure a marriage of convience counts.

Remain out of the north end of Jacob’s Bell until you have completed two rituals and developed a foundation. Stay out, perhaps, even if you have. Some individuals are not to be trifled with.

Really curious to meet good old Johannes. Love a character that's built up to be real scary

Mr. Beasley, as well as individuals you’ll find in Jacob’s Bell and the surrounding area, is described in a little black book I playfully dubbed Dramatis Personae, when I was younger.

I recognise Dramatis Personae from Malazan. I guess it's just a fancy term for the characters in a play.

I found Dramatis Personae. I flipped through it. There were tabs. One for ‘allies’, which was virtually empty, with only the lawyer’s number. Enemies… they took up almost all of the remainder.

Whaaatt. But Grandmother seemed like such a nice old lady! Who would have thought she'd have so many enemies?

I tried to swallow, but my mouth was too dry. I didn’t know much, but I knew this was a bad idea of the worst kind.

These were the books that held a place of prominence on grandmother’s bookshelf. These were the tools she expected us to employ. No small wonder she’d made the enemies she had. These books? They each had the same set of initials on the spine. R.D.T.

She’d written them.

Aaaand that's the end of chapter 3! Looks like Grandma kept herself busy writing about The Horrors!

[notenoughcaffiene-blog]

      "I realize I shouldn't be laughing at the shit Miles has gotten himself into. . . but I am and it's fucking hilarious."

[darkwingdukat]

I don't know if being in my mid-30s classifies me as a fandom old or middle, but this really got me thinking.

I engage with media in two very distinct ways. The first is the kind of media that I consume in the way OP feels is correct and acceptable. The second is the kind that OP speaks out against here. And it all has to do with the level to which my brain wants to immerse in the world and how much the concepts presented haunt me.

The first kind of media: these are the stories, the movies, the shows that I enjoy but don't necessarily become obsessed over. Right now, I'm watching Modern Family, which firmly fits into this category. I enjoy it, it makes me laugh, and I know it is a "safe" show that I won't spend hours coming up with headcanons or writing fic or trying to pair up characters. It is a good, easy medium that I don't want to immerse myself in that world.

But then there's the other kind of media. Leverage. Supernatural. To a weird, tangential extent, Sweet Tooth. These shows haunt me. I love the characters. I love the world. I love the concept. Whatever it is about the show (or book or movie), I can't stop thinking about it. This is where I start getting into the territory that OP says is becoming too commonplace.

Truthfully, I don't think it is. Now, I can't speak for all of fandom, but for my own little corner, when I simply enjoy a piece of media on its own accord, as described above, I don't engage in fandom. I don't really seek out gifsets or headcanons because I don't need to. If I see a post on my dash I find amusing I might reblog it. But I'm not actively searching it out and I'm definitely not creating content for it. Therefore, I am not participating in that fandom. Not really.

On the flip side of that? If I am completely consumed by a piece of media? That's where I start to engage in fandom. Because they can contribute something more. They're filling gaps that I'm looking for. Or I'm filling gaps and sharing it with others who enjoy that piece of media and WANT to see more.

OP talks about Squid Game specifically. Now, I haven't watched the show in its entirety. But I've seen enough key elements I feel I could have a reasonable discussion about the themes and elements and commentary presented. But it wasn't a show that consumed me. There were two characters I shipped, but they both died. So if I wanted to see them together in any way I'd have to turn to fanfiction. There's nothing wrong with shipping. And if canon compliance means these characters are going to die then I'll have to look instead to the coffee shop or college AUs because anything else would end in tragedy.

I don't think that fandom has become all about just shipping and AUs and not engaging with the work as it stands... I really don't. It's just what we happen to see here on tumblr.com because that's what leaks through. When I personally engage in media in a way that isn't THAT, it's a wholly private experience for me. It's between me and the work, and no one else need get in between that. That's not fandom. Fanom is collaboration and sharing and contributing and remixing and fulfilling and making art for yourself that other people find meaning in. That's all.

(Side note: I kept saying OP but when I looked back, there were two distinct people talking. So I apologize for conflating the two viewpoints. In this post "OP" refers to the first two opinions expressed, not 5x04dean's)

also everyone treating squid game like the latest fandom of the week and making aus and trendy videos and shipping and all that is absolutely missing the point. beyond salvation