#ALSO i made it to act 4 page 20

[pokeymonhearts]

[becausegoodheroesdeservekidneys]

if I remember right, a year or two ago you made a list of recommendations for the Edinburgh Fringe. Any recommendations for this year? Already got Steffan on the list, obviously

I did! Okay, okay, here's what I've got this year. Caveat: I personally have not been up there yet (I'm going in a few days), but these are things I saw in preview/have heard great things about.

Steffan Alun: Free Standup, but at What Cost

Venue 156: PBH's Free Fringe @ Banshee Labyrinth - Banquet Hall, 21.30-22.30

Back again! Eighth Fringe, this. The show is an hour, but that includes a 15 minute warm-up act, then Steff for 45 mins. He does this so that reviewers won't come and ruin the vibe.

Anyway this year he talks a bit about being Welsh and how he is therefore grumpy with Bristolian Tesco self-checkout machines

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Jake Baker: Rule Breaker!

Venue 78: PBH's Free Fringe @ Canons' Gait - Lower, 16.30-17.30

I love Jake, he's lovely. He's a gentle soul and has an excellent delivery style; very warm and deceptively witty. Normally he goes with Just The Tonic and is given a searing hot basement in the sky that smells of mould for a room, but this year he's in Canons' Gait, which is much much nicer.

His blurb: A rule-breaker, a risk taker, a wave-maker and a convention-shaker – all phrases never before used to describe Jake Baker. But when a frustrating game of Alan Turing-themed Monopoly leaves him questioning the laws of the game, he finds himself turning that analytical impulse to bigger things.

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Stephanie Laing: Rudder

Venue 300: Underbelly, George Square - The Wee Coo, 14.50-15.50

This show is particularly Tumblr-friendly, actually; it's described as 'neurodiversity-led'. However, it's a show with a content warning, although all the ticket page is saying is "themes" (insert Stephen Fry meme here); so, <SPOILER> she talks about withdrawing consent while sleeping with a FIB, and him continuing anyway. She talks about it in a very gentle way, avoiding Big Words, and it's very heavy on aftercare </SPOILER>

Her blurb: A comedy dance show about balance. Stephanie has a history of falling over a lot, accidentally kneeing herself in the face, and falling in love with total kn*bheads. In this show she uses a mixture of stand-up and dance to talk about bodies, sex, dancing, liking yourself, consent and healing. Also, there are cartoon bears and burlesque.

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Erin McKinnie: The Faff Chronicles

Venue 108: Hoots @ The Apex - Hoot 4, 16.50-17.50

An Edinburgh local! Good solid standup for those who like such things. New-ish, but one to watch, she's very good. Don't be surprised to see her take off

Her blurb: What a faff! Erin McKinnie, a rising star on the Scottish comedy circuit, talks about faffing through early adulthood – from rogue adventures to living the "below-deck life" on cruise ships – she finds the funny in every bizarre encounter in this uplifting show that asks: Do we really need a life plan? Or... are we all just winging it? A brilliant, snort-worthy giggle-fest about exiting your 20s, facing life indecision and chasing answers for those big questions, all the while trying to convince your mother that this is a real job...

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Alexander Bennett: Emotional Daredevil

Venue 24: Gilded Balloon Patter House - Coorie, 18.20-19.20

Dark feelings show with a really positive, optimistic message and a fun concept. It uses audience participation, but that's not compulsory, you're safe.

Blurb: I'm the emotional daredevil, and for my next feat, I need someone's help. A show about risk, for the unsatisfied and traumatised, from a Chortle Award nominee

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Alex Franklin: Gurl Code

Venue 61: Underbelly, Cowgate - Delhi Belly, 20.25-21.25

Alex does a fun thing each year where she takes her publicity budget and rather than spending it on publicity, she hides it somewhere in Edinburgh and then reveals a clue to its location every day. This tells you something about her, I think

Her blurb: In 2024, trans girl Alex (me) started HRT. Now she (me) feels the most alive she's (me's) ever felt; and she wants to make you feel alive too, or die trying. A ludicrous, musical, chaotic, joyful show about the colours of the world becoming slowly brighter and giving people furniture via the tube. Also being trans.

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Character Building Experience

Venue 49: Bedlam Theatre - Bedlam Theatre, 20.00-21.00

It's a D&D show - the MC Sasha Ellen makes a bunch of 40-minute simple campaigns and a selection of pre-rolled characters to do them, and then gets three comedians each time to play them. You know the drill. Good quality fun, and different each time, since you'll never see the same campaign/comedian mix.

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2 Truths, 1 Lie

Multiple venues and times (search the EdFringe app or website to see them all), but I recommend catching the 3pm show on either the 25th or 26th August at Venue 108: Hoots @ The Apex - Hoot 1 for reasons I shall not share here (ooh, mysterious)

Fun panel-like show! Often MC'd by Steff, especially if you catch one of the 3pm shows. The format is:

Three comedians each declare a statement. Two are true, but one comedian is lying. The MC doesn't know the liar, nor does the audience. The audience gets to ask questions of the comedians; at the end, they vote on who they think the liar is.

(The prize for winning is a smug sense of satisfaction.)

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Anyway, once I'm up there I will possibly have more, but currently, that's my list

[ineffable-endearments]

The Crow Road by Iain Banks

I finished The Crow Road and had a little time to think about it. I'll put my thoughts under a Keep Reading in case anyone is trying to avoid spoilers.

As I speculated before, I think it's likely that The Crow Road is more related to Good Omens in philosophy than in plot. I mean, it's not that the plots necessarily have nothing in common, and we could be very surprised in the end of course, but now that I've read the whole book, its philosophical commonalities with GO are both apparent and kind of inspiring. Also, if I were a writer, I'd be more interested in dropping hints about what themes are important than telegraphing my whole plot ahead of time.

So here, I will describe the book and point out themes that I believe may reappear in Good Omens 3.

This is a long post. If you read it, make a cup of [beverage of choice].

Update on 4/20/2024: I made a second post: The Crow Road and Good Omens: Further-Out Thoughts

Below are mentions of suicide, death/murder, and sexual acts.

The Crow Road centers around a character named Prentice McHoan, a university student in Scotland who starts to sort out his complicated relationship with his complicated family as he explores the mystery of his uncle Rory's disappearance. Although the book is mostly from Prentice's perspective, the narration jumps around in time with the McHoan family. There are quite a lot of important characters to keep track of; the bare-bones summary I put below doesn't even include some of the important ones. I wanted to make the summary even shorter and simpler than this, but the truth is that this book is not short or simple, and if I made the summary any simpler, it might be downright misleading.

There are at least three major cultural aspects of The Crow Road that I am inexperienced with: the overall culture in the 1950s-1980s (I was born in 1988, so of course wasn't here for the relevant decades), the international experience of the Gulf War (again, born in 1988), and the history and culture of Scotland itself (I'm USAmerican with only reading as a source). As a result, I'm sure there are important dimensions to the book that I've missed. If someone has a different perspective taking some of these things into account, I'd love to know about it.

Also, keep in mind, there is a great deal of descriptive writing in this book. There are a lot of pages about the geography of Scotland, and about Prentice as a kid, and about Prentice's father and uncles hanging out together in their youth, and about various family incidents, and about Prentice spending time with his brothers and friends. At first, these passages seem to just make things more confusing, and in my head, I accused them of being "filler." But they definitely serve a purpose. They're a way of showing and not telling the characters' attitudes and relationships to each other. More importantly, because we get to actually live these experiences with the characters, they are what give all the plot points below their deeper emotional impacts. In other words, the everyday experiences give the plot its deeper meaning. They resonate with one of the core themes in the novel: that our experiences in life, rather than any supposed existence after death, are what matters.

The Crow Road's story is like this:

Prentice is rather directionless in life, and he seems to have trouble investing any energy in his own future as he moons over his unrequited feelings for an idealized young woman named Verity. Soon, Verity ends up in a romance with Prentice's brother, Lewis, and Prentice feels that Lewis "stole" her from him. Prentice has also become estranged from his father, Kenneth, over spirituality. Prentice believes there has to be something more after death because he feels it would be incredibly unfair if people didn't get anything other than this one life; Kenneth is not only a passionate atheist, but is offended by the notion of an afterlife.

Prentice's uncle Hamish, Kenneth's brother, has always been religious, although his religion involves a number of bizarre and offbeat ideas of his own, with inspiration from more traditional Christian notions. Prentice is not really sure about this ideology, but he's willing to talk to Hamish about it and even participates during Hamish's prayers, whereas Kenneth is openly scornful of Hamish's beliefs. Hamish interprets this as Prentice being on "his side."

Prentice has a few opportunities to go back and talk to his father, and is begged to do so by his mom, Mary, with whom his relationship is still good. Mary doesn't want either of the men to give up their inner ideas about the universe; she just wants them to agree to disagree and move on as a family. Prentice says he will visit, but he just keeps putting it off and off and off.

Prentice acquires a folder containing some of his missing uncle Rory's notes in the process of hooking up with Rory's former girlfriend, Janice Rae, who seems to have taken a shine to Prentice because he reminds her of Rory. Using the contents of the folder, Prentice wants to piece together the great literary work that Rory left unfinished, which Rory titled Crow Road; however, it becomes apparent that Rory didn't turn his concepts into anything substantial and only had a bunch of disconnected notes and ideas. He hadn't even decided whether Crow Road would be a novel, a play, or something else. The few bits of Rory's poetry for Crow Road read are bleak and depressing.

Prentice also spends a lot of time with a young woman named Ash. They've been good friends since childhood and seem to have a somewhat flirtatious dynamic now, but they aren't in a romantic relationship; mostly, they drink and hang out together. Ash tells Prentice bluntly to get his life back on track when she finds out he's failing at school, avoiding his family, and engaging in shoplifting. She is a voice of reason, and when Prentice insists to her that he's just a failure, she reminds him that actually, he's just a kid.

Prentice's efforts to figure out Rory's story or location stagnate, and he continues to fail at school and avoid his father. He then receives word that Kenneth was killed while debating faith with Hamish. In fact, Kenneth dies after a fall from a church lightning rod, which he was climbing in an act of defiance against Hamish's philosophy when it was struck by lightning; Hamish is convinced that Kenneth had incurred God's wrath. Ash is there for support when Prentice finds out about the death.

With Ash's help, Prentice returns to his hometown again to help manage Kenneth's affairs. Prentice speaks with a very shaken Hamish, who is handling Kenneth's death with extreme drama and making it all about his own feelings. Hamish tells Prentice that Kenneth was jealous that Prentice shared more in common with Hamish's faith than with Kenneth's lack of faith. However, this isn't really true, and as he contemplates his father's death, Prentice begins to internalize one of the last things Hamish reported that Kenneth had argued: "All the gods are false. Faith itself is idolatry."

As the chapters go on, Prentice is compelled by some of the meaningful items related to Rory that he discovers in his father's belongings. He gains a renewed sense of purpose trying to solve the mystery of where Rory went and what happened to him. Among the interesting items are an ancient computer disk of Rory's that Prentice can't access with any equipment he can find; Ash uses her connections in the US and Canada to find a computer expert who can finally open the files on it. This takes quite a while, since the disk has to be mailed and Ash's connection is investigating the disk only in his free time.

Prentice also discovers that his feelings for Verity have changed. He no longer feels angry with Lewis for "stealing her." At first, Prentice's narration describes this as his feelings "cooling" as a result of the trauma of losing his father, but interestingly, this soon means Prentice gets to know Verity as a sister-in-law without getting caught up in jealous romantic feelings. Verity gets along well with the family, and Prentice is actually happy to discover that she and Lewis have a baby on the way. Prentice's relationship with Lewis improves greatly as well, partly because he is no longer jealous and partly because he realizes he does not want to lose Lewis, too.

Ash's connection who was looking at Rory's computer disk comes through and sends the printed contents of the files to Prentice. The files reveal to him that Rory likely knew Prentice's uncle, Fergus, murdered his wife by unbuckling her seat belt and crashing their car. Rory had written out a fictional version of events and considered using it in Crow Road. I'm not clear on exactly how certain Rory was about Fergus's crime, or whether Rory would have intentionally reported Ferg, or whether Rory even had enough proof to publicly accuse Ferg of murder, but people would likely have connected the dots in Rory's work and become suspicious of Ferg. For this reason, Prentice believes Ferg murdered Rory as well.

Prentice confronts Ferg. He doesn't get a confession and leaves Ferg's home with no concrete proof of anything; Ferg denies it all. But Prentice is soon physically assaulted in the night, and it seems Ferg was almost certainly the culprit, because he hadn't been home that same night, and he had injuries (probably from being fought off) the next day. A day or two later, Ferg's body is found unconscious in the cockpit of a plane, which crashes into the ocean. It's uncertain whether this was a suicide, but Prentice suspects it was. Rory's body is then soon recovered from the bottom of a waterway near Prentice's home, where Ferg had sunk it years ago.

As the mysteries are solved, Prentice realizes his feelings for Ash are romantic love. However, it's too late, he thinks, because Ash is about to take a job in Canada, where she may or may not stay. Prentice also hesitates to approach her because he's embarrassed about his previous behavior, venting all his angst about Verity and his father. He isn't sure she would even want to be in a relationship with him after that. But the very night before Ash leaves, she kisses Prentice on the cheek, which leads to a deeper kiss. They finally connect, have sex, and confess their mutual feelings. Ash still goes to her job in Canada, but says she'll come back when Prentice is done with his studies that summer.

The relationship's future is somewhat uncertain because something could come up while Ash is in Canada, but Prentice is hopeful. The book ends with Prentice getting ready to graduate with his grades on track as a history scholar, fully renouncing his belief in an afterlife while he acknowledges the inherent importance of our experiences in our lives now, and enjoying his time with Lewis and Verity and his other family members.

What's the point of all these hundreds of pages?

Well, look at all of the above; there's definitely more than one point. But the main point I took away is that we get this one life, with our loved ones in this world here and now, and this is where we make our meanings. There is no other meaning, but that doesn't mean there's no meaning at all. It means the meaning is here.

It's not death that gives life its meaning. It's the things we do while alive that give life its deeper meaning.

The Crow Road is described (on Wikipedia) as a Bildungsroman, a story focusing on the moral and philosophical growth and change of its main character as they transition from childhood to adulthood ("coming-of-age novel" is a similar term that is interchangeable, but more vague and not necessarily focused on morality/philosophy). And, indeed, all of the plots ultimately tie into Prentice's changed philosophy.

After his argument with Kenneth, Prentice feels childish and humiliated, and as a result, he refuses to go back home, which leads to a spiral of shame and depression. Kenneth dies and Prentice realizes it's too late to repair the relationship, which also leads him to realize it's what we do in life that matters, and that therefore, his father's argument was correct after all.

At the end of the novel, Prentice outright describes his new philosophy. However, I can't recall one specific passage where Prentice describes the process of how he changed his mind (if anyone else can remember something I missed, do let me know). There is, however, a moment when his narration indicates that Hamish seems less disturbed by his own part in the incident that led to Kenneth's death and more disturbed by the notion that his beliefs might actually be true: there might actually be an angry, vengeful God. In other words, Hamish's philosophy is selfish at its core.

My interpretation is that when his father died, Prentice realized three things: how utterly self-serving Hamish's devout faith is, how Kenneth's untimely death proves the importance of working things out now rather than in an imaginary afterlife, and how much profound meaning Kenneth had left behind despite having no faith at all. After these realizations, a determined belief in an afterlife no longer makes our lives here more profound like Prentice once thought it did.

Also, it's worth noting that this incident changes Prentice's idea of partnership, too. He loses interest in this distant, idealized woman he's been after. In love as in the rest of life, Prentice lets go of his ideals, and in doing so, he makes room for true meaning, both in a sincere familial, platonic connection with Verity and a sincere intimate, romantic connection with Ash.

But what about the sex scene?!

Yes, indeed, at the tail end of the story, Prentice and Ash have sex and admit they want to be in a relationship together. Prentice's narration describes them sleeping together and having intercourse not just once, but many times, including some slow and relaxed couplings during which they flex the muscles in their private parts to spell out "I.L.Y." and "I.L.Y.T." to each other in Morse code. This is relevant because earlier, they had been surprised and delighted to discover that they both knew Morse code; it isn't a detail that came from nowhere.

I didn't get the impression that this scene was trying to be especially titillating to the reader. It was mostly just a list of stuff the characters did together. I felt the point was that they were still anxious about being emotionally honest, a little desperate to convey their feelings without having to speak them out loud, and awkward in a way that made it obvious that their primary concern was the feelings, not the sexual performance. They cared about each other, but they weren't trying to be impressive or put on a show; contrast this with previous scenes where Prentice would act like a clown in front of Ash to diffuse his own anxiety. I've always thought that being able to have awkward sex and still enjoy it is a good sign.

Okay, so what does this all have to do with Good Omens?

Here's where I have to get especially interpretive. I'm doing my best, but of course, not everyone reading this will have the same perspective on Good Omens, the Final Fifteen especially. I believe similar themes are going to resonate between The Crow Road and Good Omens regardless of our particular interpretations of the characters' behavior and motivations, but I suppose it could hit differently for some people.

The TL;DR: I see similar themes between The Crow Road and Good Omens in:

The importance of mortal life on Earth

Meaning (or purpose) as something that we create as we live, not something that is handed to us by a supreme being

Sincere connection and love/passion (for people, causes, arts, life's work, etc) as a type of meaning/purpose

Relationships as reflections of philosophy

The dual nature of humanity

Life on Earth as the important part of existence is a core theme in Good Omens, and has been since the very beginning. We all already know Adam chose to preserve the world as it already is because he figured this out, and we all already know Aziraphale and Crowley have been shaped for the better by their experiences on Earth. But Good Omens isn't done with this theme by a long shot. I think this is the most important thematic commonality Good Omens will have with The Crow Road. Closely related is the notion that we create our meanings as we live, rather than having them handed to us. Isn't this, in a way, what Aziraphale struggles with in A Companion to Owls? He's been given this meaning, this identity, that doesn't fit him. But does he have anything else to be? Not yet.

Partnerships as a parallel to the characters' philosophical development also resonates as a commonality that The Crow Road may have with Good Omens. Prentice's obsession with Verity goes away when he starts to embrace the importance of life on Earth and makes room for his sincere relationship with Ash. Note their names: "Verity" is truth, an ideal Prentice's father instills in him; "Ashley" means "dweller in the ash tree meadow" in Anglo-Saxon, according to Wikipedia, and "ash" is one of the things people return to after death. Prentice literally trades his high ideals for life on Earth. We see in Aziraphale a similar tug-o'-war between Heaven's distant ideals and Crowley's Earthly pleasures, so I can see a similar process potentially playing out for him.

I don't particularly recall a ton of thematic exploration of free will in The Crow Road. However, there is a glimmer of something there: Prentice feels excessively controlled by Kenneth's desire to pass down his beliefs, and part of the reason Prentice is so resistant to change is simply his frustration with feeling censored and not being taken seriously. As the reader, I do get the feeling that while Prentice is immature, Kenneth made major mistakes in handling their conflict, too. And Kenneth's mistakes come from trying to dictate Prentice's thoughts. There is likely some crossover with Good Omens in the sense that I'm pretty sure both stories are going to take the position that people need to be allowed to make mistakes, and to do things that one perceives as mistakes, without getting written off as "stupid" or "bad" or otherwise "unworthy."

Suffice it to say that the human characters in Good Omens will also certainly play into these themes, but it's hard to write about them when we don't know much about them except that one of them is almost certainly the reincarnation of Jesus. This also makes me suspect perhaps the human cast will be 100% entirely all-new, or mostly new, symbolic of how Aziraphale and Crowley have immersed themselves in the ever-evolving, ever-changing world of life on Earth. Alternatively, if we encounter human characters again from Season 1 or 2, perhaps the ways they've grown and changed will be highlighted. For example, even in real-world time, Adam and Warlock have already, as of the time I'm writing this, gone through at least one entire life stage (from 11 in 2019 to 16 in 2024). They'll be legal adults in a couple of years, and if there's a significant time skip, they could be much older. If characters from Season 1 do reappear and themes from The Crow Road are prominent, I would expect either some key scenes highlighting contrasts and changes from their younger selves or for stagnation and growth to be a central part of their plot.

The more I write, the more I just interpret everything in circles. Hopefully this post has at least given you a decent idea of what The Crow Road is like and how it may relate to Good Omens.

I'll end this post with a quotation that feels relevant:

Telling us straight or through his stories, my father taught us that there was, generally, a fire at the core of things, and that change was the only constant, and that we – like everybody else – were both the most important people in the universe, and utterly without significance, depending, and that individuals mattered before their institutions, and that people were people, much the same everywhere, and when they appeared to do things that were stupid or evil, often you hadn’t been told the whole story, but that sometimes people did behave badly, usually because some idea had taken hold of them and given them an excuse to regard other people as expendable (or bad), and that was part of who we were too, as a species, and it wasn’t always possible to know that you were right and they were wrong, but the important thing was to keep trying to find out, and always to face the truth. Because truth mattered. Iain Banks, The Crow Road

[nekropsii]

the fandom wiki experience is just.

oh wow! wiki page for a character i like! -4 hp -4 hp -5 hp -20 hp -7 hp

Truly.

This is a totally godless entry. This is all they say about Cronus and Mituna's relationship. The way they try to lend credence to Cronus saying him and Mituna were allegedly friends "before the accident" by tacking a citation on there... When not only was it clear that Cronus was manipulating him, but also Cronus is extremely prone to lying, especially for his own benefit, and the Great Act of Heroism was NOT a fucking accident. It was a choice that Mituna made. This was not an accident- Mituna's disability did not randomly happen to him, it's not a tragedy that he did get disabled. It is canonical that his brain damage was a result of him making a sacrifice for people he thought were his friends, only for them to abandon him the second he stopped being what they wanted. THAT is the tragedy of Mituna's character in text- not that he is disabled, but that his disability, gained through heroic means, lead to him getting abandoned and reviled by the same people he made that sacrifice for in the first place. The way they try to downplay the abuse Mituna faces at Cronus's hands as just harassment. The way they downplay that further with a cute little "Citation Needed".

This was the citation, by the way. Mituna's getting sexually assaulted here. Is this just harassment? Does this sound like words you want to take as a credible source? Cronus? In the middle of assaulting a guy? Cronus? Fucking Cronus? We're taking Cronus's word on this? While he's in the middle of assaulting him? We're believing this guy? Cronus? We're believing Cronus? Cronus motherfucking Ampora? Fucking hell.

Absolute work of the devil. -1,500 HP. Cronus himself wrote this shit. Who wants to bet that Cronus transcended the lines of fiction and physically manifested to write Mituna's wiki article in a way that specifically downplays his actions. Why are we taking Cronus's word but putting a Citation Needed on Mituna getting abused harassed? Demonic!!!

There's so, so many words that can be used to describe Cronus and Mituna's relationship, and this one simple sentence uses all of the wrong ones in the complete wrong order. I hate it here. I hate the fact that they opened with Cronus's words and not Mituna's feelings. This sucks. This happens so damn often with fandom wikis- the way they downplay abuse is fucking insane. Augh.

[junk-story]

Interview: Ongaku to Hito and Sakurai Atsushi - Ichikawa Tetsushi x Kanemitsu Hiroshi, Part II

This interview is on pages 52-57 of the magazine. Footnotes are included in numbered parentheses and can be found at the bottom. For Part 1 of this interview, click here.

~~~~~~~

Ichikawa: It may have been a shock, but in short, [BUCK-TICK's] material elevated. Really, because they were able to turn their work into art, we can grasp now how they were able to bring forth a decadent rock masterpiece like 21st Cherry Boy. Although that kind of dark decadence is seen as a negative, they established it as an excellent form of entertainment, which is fantastic. When I listened to that, I wondered, “Why has Sakurai made a breakthrough to this point?” What did you make of that? 

Kanemitsu: I think he was able to gradually create distance between himself and the band - in a good way. It wasn’t because their relationship had worsened, and there were still times where they’d be up until the morning drinking, but, as you might expect, after nearly 20 years had passed since they debuted, their relationships with people had expanded too, right? When that happened, this sort of scene, where Imai-san would finish an interview and the other 4 were drinking while they waited for him, it almost completely disappeared. This positive sense of individualism is how BUCK-TICK came to be born. 

Ichikawa: I see. In the 21st century, I was listening to the works of B-T as a fan only, so I didn’t bear the weight of that darkness. 

Kanemitsu: What I call acting out the darkness, that elevated their work as entertainment. But normally, when you have this individualism come to be, it leads to actively pursuing solo activities…and that can be troublesome, certainly. 

Ichikawa: That’s the self-indulgence I talked about earlier. (laughs) When that happens in a regular band, they disband and it’s over. Suddenly some new thing starts, and the other members end up not knowing what to do. But Sakurai ended up feeling guilt about this, because he was a man with a kind heart. Thanks to that, the unique worth they had as a band that continued for 35 years with its original members came to be. 

Kanemitsu: In what ways did you feel Sakurai-san’s kindness? 

Ichikawa: Well, in many ways, the Sakurai Atsushi I carry with me is still a yankii(1), you know, a good-looking yankii full of chivalry. We talked about the time when his mother passed before, but there is no shortage of that kind of material. For instance, the launching issue of Ongaku to Hito. I asked Sakurai to be in it as well, and even though it wasn’t around the timing of any [album] release, he said, “Well, since it’s a magazine Ichikawa-san is creating, I’ll do it”, and in the middle of a national tour he came back to Tokyo from Numazu after the concert was over, and it was after midnight at an oden food stall in Sendagaya where we had a no-makeup photoshoot and interview. He was a man who could simply do such things. 

Kanemitsu: What about Sakurai Atsushi made us so charmed by him, do you think? 

Ichikawa: Hmmm…his face? 

Kanemitsu: Well, that’s some brutal honesty!(2) But certainly, it was important. (laughs)

Ichikawa: Wahahaha. There’s that issue with Sakurai Atsushi on the cover where he’s wearing an unremarkable white shirt and has a slight smile, right?(3) That one is among my top three favorites. For some reason, it was a time where there weren’t any interesting releases, and there was no content to be had during this lull, so we ended up in a tight spot for an artist to put on the cover. To be honest, we made the offer to Sakurai like, “heeeelp!”, and I was grateful when he readily consented. They also didn’t have any releases coming up, so I suggested we try a risky(4) cover with no decadence, where Sakurai had a casual appearance and is looking into the camera with a smile; he had also become more concentrated(5) at that time and said, “Let’s do it!”

Kanemitsu: That’s why he cut his hair without anyone’s permission. (laughs)

Ichikawa: I’m glad we didn’t go that far with it. (laughs) But really, Sakurai Atsushi could not be detached from my magazine. There were always plenty of guys skillful at conversation, but I have never met another frontman who, even though he wasn’t good at speaking, could expose his inner thoughts to such a point. Of course, there were also those with negative feelings, like, “It’s all just to tickle the B-T girls’ fancies”, but I hoped, even without him knowing, if we could drain the low-water swamp called Sakurai Atsushi, something amazing would happen. I wanted to do something with this man. It was the same for you too, right, Kanemitsu? 

Kanemitsu: I didn’t have that “I want to do something”. But I did have something like a maternal instinct. (laughs)

Ichikawa: (wry laugh) I understand that too. You can’t leave him alone. 

Kanemitsu: Because at some point, there were only a few articles about the album releases outside of ours. 

Ichikawa: Why was that? As I said earlier, during my time, he spoke frantically as if it was needed to confirm something to himself - so in other words, something must have changed where he could become more self-contained. 

Kanemitsu: It was like Sakurai-san created his own style. As though, dressed up in decadence and gothic imagery, he tried to act out his ideal Sakurai Atsushi. 

Ichikawa: The same as kabuki. The great name of “Sakurai Atsushi” was focused as he would be in the traditional Japanese arts. 

Kanemitsu: Yes, yes. I think that was a good thing. 

Ichikawa: It finally makes sense to me. So that’s why it happened. That Prince of Darkness character was created. 

Kanemitsu: There was what you call the Prince of Darkness character, but he also loved cats, which brought out his playful face. If such a person were to appear on TV with Shiina Ringo, everyone would be hooked. 

Ichikawa: A rare creature, really. (laughs) This may be inappropriate, but it seemed to me that Sakurai could only bring the curtain down(6) on Sakurai Atsushi in the way he did, or by going into a life of seclusion, unknown to anyone. Because he was carrying such sin(7) with him. 

Kanemitsu: Well, as someone who saw him from the 21st century point of view, I feel that he’d aged well in this way, and he wanted to enjoy the rest of his life happily. It’s just that he was a sensitive person, so he was affected by things like children being displaced by war, the oppression of people based on gender, and so on, and when he tried to get closer to the emotions of the weak, he would be forced to remember his own pain, so I suppose in the current era, it was hard for him to live…that’s what I think, anyway. 

Ichikawa: Hearing the talk about the Sakurai Atsushi of the 21st century from Kanemitsu today, it makes sense now. For me, who only knew the Sakurai of the 20th century, the Sakurai of the 21st century is like a different person. I was very fascinated with him all the same. I don’t mean this in a bad way, but it’s like he established a whole separate persona. How can I say this…maybe I could call it guilt. I could see his guilt so clearly through his songs in the 20th century, and it was made invisible in the 21st century. And, invisible things aren’t bad ones. Because that just shows how accomplished he was at fulfilling his role as Prince of Darkness. That’s also how he elevated to being a charming big name. 

Kanemitsu: As a musician, an artist, the purity of his expression had reached a level so high as to be incomparable [to anyone else]. 

Ichikawa: His skill in the 21st century clearly went up. But, although the Sakurai Atsushi of the 20th century was still a work in progress, that progress had turned into a serious dead end that was plain to see. So there were many people who were able to empathize, and I think he himself, the band, the media, and the fans all came together, able to become a community with a shared destiny. It’s strange, but in other media, BUCK-TICK was just shown as a cool band, right? However, at Ongaku to Hito, it wasn’t like that in either the 20th or 21st century. 

Kanemitsu Because we got to see them as 5 people with 5 different styles of character. 

Ichikawa: In other words, they’re “Osomatsu-kun”(8).

Kanemitsu: Hahahahaha!

Ichikawa: When I was doing it, they were “Osomatsu-kun”, and while Kanemitsu’s been doing it they’ve been “Osomatsu-san”. Their appearance between the Showa and Heisei eras was totally different, but the original people were the same. In both the 20th and 21st centuries, Sakurai was Sakurai, and his foundation and attitude didn’t change, only his appearance from that of an unusual self-deprecating man to the Prince of Darkness did; as a result, he was popular in both cases. So, as Ongaku to Hito, speaking from our beginning, he is the person we should be the most grateful for, and he was the kind of man who made me feel like I had to include him in our publication. 

Kanemitsu: He was. No matter how cool Sakurai Atsushi looked on the stage, everyone knows that he actually also had these traits. 

Ichikawa: Of course, with that presence, that appearance, and the look in his eyes, no one would know he was actually this cute and loveable character. 

Kanemitsu: Through the medium of Ongaku to Hito, you and I wrote about those parts of him, so now everyone knows. 

Ichikawa: That’s true…a long time ago, when I was doing a late-night Friday FM radio live broadcast, I had Sakurai on as my first guest. We were at the Satellite Studio in Ginza, and even though I hadn't asked them to come, Takuro and Hisashi [of GLAY] came. We finished at 3 AM and the 4 of us were drinking when Sakurai said, “Will you come to my place?”, which was unusual. When we went there, the windows - all of the windows - had these pitch black curtains on them, it was like being at a planetarium. (laughs)

Kanemitsu: Hahahahahaha!

Ichikawa: We drank in that dark room until we eventually were struck by sleep, but even when I woke up, it was pitch black and I had no idea what time it was. (laughs) When the sun was at its peak, I woke those 2 [from GLAY] up and they went home, but while that was happening, Takuro said to Hisashi, “If you’d told me 10 years ago that I’d go to the home of BUCK-TICK’s Sakurai Atsushi and drink together with him, I never would have believed you”, and I’ve never forgotten that. It was purely moving, emotionally. 

Kanemitsu: Everyone wanted to become like Sakurai Atsushi. 

Ichikawa: It must have been a dream for them. However, it’s a dream that no one could achieve. This sounds misleading, but I think you have to want to be like Yoshiki [of X JAPAN], if you’re going to abandon yourself to despair(9). (wry laugh) But no matter what gimmicks you make use of, you’ll never be Sakurai Atsushi. And for better or worse, it was tough. 

Kanemitsu: I’ve said this many times, but him finding that gothic style was big. 

Ichikawa: The gothic atmosphere seemed like maybe the one he was most comfortable in. The decadence created a kind of surreal and abnormal worldview. But Sakurai Atsushi himself was not abnormal at all, nor was he trying to intentionally deviate strongly from what’s accepted(10). It was just the suit of armor(11) that best fit when he was confronting the world, definitely. 

Kanemitsu: It was Sakurai Atsushi’s suit of armor, wasn’t it. But whether he ended up putting it on or not, he empathized with people’s sadness, and he was a person who could shed tears. And because that seeped out, everyone loved him. Those feelings [of empathy] were expressed in what became his last album, Izora. 

Ichikawa: I see. Well, perhaps he would have continued on expressing it, if he could. 

Kanemitsu: I really think so. There were yet many things he could do, and many he would have wanted to do.

~~~~~~~ Footnotes: (1) I think most people into this scene are familiar with this term, but in case you aren’t - yanki/yankii refers to a young delinquent, usually one who dresses in a sort of street/biker style. (2) If someone has ever said to you, “wow, tell us how you really feel!”, it has the same sort of feeling to it as that, although a bit more polite since Ichikawa is the elder of the two, lol. (3) I believe he is referring to the January ‘95 issue cover, based on his description. (4) Risky in the sense of something not usually done. “Nikopachi” is the type of photography he describes, and online sources generally spoke negatively of it as something not befitting professional photography. (5) Literally “boiled down”. I think this is a reference to paring back his visuals from what they were earlier in their career. (6) This is a metaphor for Sakurai’s passing - but I liked the nuance of his wording and tried to retain it. (7) This word really does not translate well - in different contexts it can be sin, guilt, karma. I translate it again as “guilt” below as it’s more befitting the context, but in all cases here, it’s a sort of heavy emotional load brought upon oneself. My husband’s preferred definition translated to “a living with the burden of past wrongdoings and feeling a sense of remorse”. (8) Per Wikipedia: a comedy manga that revolved around of group of brothers who cause all sorts of mischief. (9) I asked for more clarity on this - what he is getting at is, it’s possible, if you really want to, to become like Yoshiki, but no matter what you do, you can never become like Atsushi. (10) The direct translation for this was “be a heretic”, but heretic is a loaded word in English, and this does not have any Christian overtones. (11) He specifically says “mobile suit”, as in the suits from Gundam.

[simpofhans]

I have mixed feelings about A Frozen Heart book. Like, it was life changing book back in 2019, made me go long way back to loving Hans, I actually knew his backstory and motivations from it, I grewn to LOVE HANS AGAIN, because of that book and my 2020 F3 fanfic... but that book isn't actually that good as most Hans fans see it... It has many incosistencies, like once Hans is his real self, caring about Elsa, Anna and trying to be a hero to get out of the fucking abuse, and one page later "He wAntS tO chOke ElSa" and acts like a selfish rude guy... yes, AFH gave us perspective for a real Hans, in what hell he was forced to live in 20+ years, and that's a best thing about it... and also this books covers a topics Disney usually doesn't does in the movies, or even books, especially the Frozen franchise ones. As the first book ever made for adults based on the movie, it was insane, and very, very deeply touching, but I think some things there should be done better, like, Lars being actually silent manipulator to Hans, as this mf is, and showing it openly, or more Hans overall, shown in the light we saw him at the beginning of the book... how should I believe he changes sides in a split of A SENTENCE in this book? AFH is really good covering Hans backstory and his struggles, but very bad at being brave and show who Hans REALLY IS, HIS FULL PERSONALITY + AFH ignores Helsa for baiting Hans x Anna fans.... LIKE THIS BOOKS WANTS US TO BELIEVE, THAT HANS LOVED ANNA, NOT ELSA? That's a hipocrysy... and imo AFH should be 100% Hans book, not the Frozen retelling with 99% time focused on Anna... like, WHY THEY WERE SO AFRAID OF GIVING HANS FULL STORY WHEN THEY HAD WHOLE BACKSTORY MADE FOR HIM? AND THEY GAVE IT ONLY 4 CHAPTERS???? I appreciate the efforts, but AFH is still, wasted potential and kind of shit, when I look at it... and the ending, I REMEMBER HOW STRESSED I WAS WHILE READING ABOUT HANS GOING BACK TO THE LITERALL HELL ON EARTH... THAT WAS MY FIRST STRESS LIKE THAT READING THE BOOK, AND I WAS ONLY 13...

AFH simply could be more brave, and I really hope, that if Hans will get some new content in the franchise, maybe even besides of F3/4 earlier, his story will be more accurate and him focused, than being a simple another retelling of a movie. But there is hope that the next Frozen books won't be retellings, because all the post F2 books now are 100% original (I sound like delulu 2016 Helsa fan I know, I am in this era still). So, I just want to see more Hans, ok? I miss him every day, I hope for maybe 5 seconds of cameo in Winter Festival short, if we ever will discover will it be actually released, because I just want to see him after a year of waiting (OUAS was a blessing for me)

[preciadosbass]

11/8/24 [PARAGRAPH 3 & 4!!! — draft from sunday. key & significant photo/s at end]

woke up at 10:20 and made myself breakfast. i ate it outside with boris in the sun and tried my best to be productive while being on my phone [e.g, make a fursona/oc/journal entry etc.] but failed miserably. i just scrolled on tiktok and saved a few videos i could use for outfit inspiration. i went back inside after 30+ minutes, got dressed [skinless shirt, dark cargo jorts + matching bracelets consisting of spiked cuffs and band bracelets, motorbike socks] and looked up a couple can tab bracelet tutorials. i know that i don’t have enough for the particular design i want to make, but i’m getting there. my dad’s sister, my aunt, has multiple pepsis a day and has been collecting can tabs for me.

i went back next door with my sister after giving up on the bracelet for the moment and saying goodbye to boris. when i arrived i just sat on my own while my sister went on the swings. a group of girls my age walked past and laughed at me and after a few minutes i got called over with the other kids to make a keyring. i honestly much preferred that but i think the staff thought i was a part of the actual camp anyways so i don’t think i had much choice either way. i picked out a star shaped template and a blue floral sticker to go on it. i stuck it on, but couldn’t cut around the star completely — so i put it in my bag for another time at home where i can use one of those tiny knives to carve all the imperfections out.

once id done i went back over to the bouncy castle. this time round, only 8 people were allowed on it at a time and this younger girl was being really bratty about it, as in acting like she owned the place, which was odd, because yesterday it was fine and nothing bad happened. but kids are just like that. she kept on going around to people and launching herself onto them, she also decided to boot me over and over again on my bruised shin which was fun 😭. i tried telling her we don’t even know eachother and ive just been sitting there but she didn’t care. she kicked me and almost everyone else off using her sister that was my age so i got off and just sat beside it while people watching.

the same member of staff from the keyrings sat next to me and just exclaimed ‘panic! at the disco?’ — reffering to my panic! band bracelet. i nodded and she started speaking about liking that type of music too. more when she was younger, but she’s still into it, she said. she took out her phone and started asking me if i’ve been to see any live bands. i told her about me seeing the mcr + fall out boy tributes, pierce the veil, cavalera conspiracy, and my upcoming concerts. [slipknot, falling in reverse, possibly the tributes again but idk was its the day before fir]. she started speaking about how she has family in scotland and therefor goes to festivals there a lot and then casually says she’s seen fall out boy 4+ TIMES??? i literally could’ve curled up and died right there and then after hearing that come out of her mouth.

she also spoke to me about seeing slipknot 20 years ago, and then she showed me one of her friends instagram pages. then she came out with that that friend, has another friend, who is the sibling of someone from PIERCE THE VEIL?? WHAT THE FUCK. i was so taken aback but she unfortunately couldn’t remember what their name was because they were told years ago now — and she couldn’t find pictures of them together despite trying as the friend is a concert photographer and it’s importable to sort through the thousands of photos.

i out of interest asked if she’d seen linkin park and she said she did at milton keynes in 2008?? with jayZ?? RAAA. i got told that everyone was leaving in 30 minutes so i stayed speaking to her until people started loading themselves onto their coach and i set off for home. it was really cool speaking to that woman and its a shame i’ll probably never see her again or get to know any more info. although it was awesome meeting someone like me that was quite a lot older. when i got home i fussed boris on the driveway and had a 20 minute nap before leaving for my other aunts house [6pm]. i said goodbye to boris, and on the way to the car, my dad showed me this injured butterfly. it was a shame because it looked so young. i held it and then placed it onto a bush before leaving. [photo at end]

since the concert, i’ve been listening to the setlist on repeat. so i obviously did even more on the way to my aunts, although the drive is really short. once i got there i stayed in the living room for a bit and greeted the family of mine that was there. there was only my grandad, his fiancé, my aunt + uncle, and one of my cousins girlfriends there. that cousin in question is on holiday, the other moved out, and the other also moved out. i didn’t really know what to speak about and my parents sparked a conversation between the others anyway so i went to see what my sister was up to. she was playing fnaf security breach so i watched her.

i had my phone out ready to record her getting jumpscared and i caught a video of her doing exactly that over moondrop. i’m surprised that i’ve never watched anyone play security breach before even though i was really excited when it came out. i don’t usually watch my sister play stuff unless it’s the last of us/the evil within/silent hill at 8:30 i stopped watching jay and went for a walk with my mum, dad, aunt, + grandads fiancé. [+ archie and my aunts dog, charlie.] we couldn’t be too long because charlie has bad diabetes and can’t do much now. we came across one of my aunts friends on our way, she accidentally called me he and didn’t correct herself which made me feel SO euphoric considering i’m not out.

she spoke about lifeguarding or something and once done, we went round to this field i used to always play in as a kid. i went in the park to spark some nostalgia and my dad pushed me on a swing for the first time since i was like 7. we walked for about 40 minutes. once i got back to my aunts i went on pinterest to look at some diys. i saved a photo example of how to make a can tab bracelet, a cardboard minecraft sword, a cardboard coffin shelf, a little fairy/elf house thing made up of pebbles, a cardboard direction sign, a bottlecap tortoise, and a number of other things i dont know how to explain. after i couldnt seem to find anything else, i watched my sister play fnaf a bit more. we had to leave so i stopped and got ready for home at 12.

i don’t really remember what i did when i got home, but it would’ve been the same as always. maybe a small nap, then obviously questions about boris, then i say goodnight to boris. i went to sleep at 3.

🗝️ — boris/my cat, archie/my family’s dog

have a good day/night O_o

[it-is-i-zim]

So I've decided to make a Captain Boomerang reading list

Here it is I guess. I'm only doing a Post-Flashpoint reading list cuz I'm not a fan of Pre-Flashpoint content for Captain Boomerang. Especially in terms of the 1987 Suicide Squad. But I will I guess put down Identity Crisis, because while it's not a very good story for Captain Boomerang and he acts super out of character, it's still technically canon I guess???? With the exception of Owen Mercer???? It's weird. I guess it's not really a reading list though, just a bunch of comics he shows up in???? I will be completely ignoring some though just because I didn't like them very much.

Identity Crisis #2

Identity Crisis #3

Identity Crisis #4

Identity Crisis #5

Knight Terrors: Robin #1

Knight Terrors: Robin #2

(The above comics aren't great for showcasing his personality. In fact in Knight Terrors: Robin #2 I think he literally only shows up as just like... the legs of his corpse. Again. Not great. The below comics are a lot better for him)

Robin (1993) #62

Robin (1993) #63

Robin (1993) #64

Okay so I know the above comics are Post Crisis comics, but they still give him a better characterization than the 1987 Suicide Squad comics.

Suicide Squad (2011) #3

Suicide Squad (2011) #4

Suicide Squad (2011) #12

Suicide Squad (2011) #13

Suicide Squad (2011) #14

Suicide Squad (2011) #15

Suicide Squad (2011) #16

Suicide Squad (2011) #24

Suicide Squad (2011) #25

Suicide Squad (2011) #27

Suicide Squad (2011) #28

Suicide Squad (2011) #29

He was sort of in and out of the 2011 comics. Also I must point out that one of the writers in #27. That is not Owen Mercer. That's still Digger Harkness. Don't know how the writer made that mistake but whatever.

And now here is where he actually starts to show up a bit more. Personally I'd recommend reading all of the New Suicide Squad because it gives you just a bit more info but Captain Boomerang doesn't show up until the New Suicide Squad #5

New Suicide Squad #5

New Suicide Squad #6

New Suicide Squad #7

New Suicide Squad #8

New Suicide Squad #9

New Suicide Squad #10

New Suicide Squad #11

New Suicide Squad #12

New Suicide Squad Annual #1

The Flash (2016) #18

The Flash (2016) #19

New Suicide Squad #13

New Suicide Squad #14

New Suicide Squad #15

New Suicide Squad #16

New Suicide Squad #17

New Suicide Squad #19

New Suicide Squad #20

New Suicide Squad #21

By this point I will also state that it's a good idea to read Suicide Squad (2016) issues #3-#5 as well as #9, #23, and #24 in the order in which they appear (#3 after #47. I put #47 after #2 because of the little section within the last 8 pages of #2) (#9 is between #8 and Justice League VS Suicide Squad #1) (#23 you read after #22, and #24 after #23) (#26 you can skip. It's part of a different arc entirely and idk where it starts or stops) (And then wíth #45 and #46, while it is definitely part of the Suicide Squad story, you aren't hindered by ignoring it entirely and Captain Boomerang wasn't there at all)

Suicide Squad: Rebirth

Suicide Squad (2016) #1

Suicide Squad (2016) #2

Suicide Squad (2016) #47

Suicide Squad (2016) #6

Suicide Squad (2016) #7

Suicide Squad (2016) #8

Justice League VS Suicide Squad #1

Justice League VS Suicide Squad #2

Justice League VS Suicide Squad #3

Justice League VS Suicide Squad #4

Justice League VS Suicide Squad #5

Justice League VS Suicide Squad #6

Suicide Squad (2016) #10

Suicide Squad (2016) #11

Suicide Squad (2016) #12

Suicide Squad (2016) #13

Suicide Squad (2016) #14

Suicide Squad (2016) #15

Suicide Squad (2016) #16

Suicide Squad (2016) #17

Suicide Squad (2016) #18

Suicide Squad (2016) #19

Suicide Squad (2016) #20

Suicide Squad (2016) #21

Suicide Squad (2016) #22

Suicide Squad (2016) #25

Suicide Squad (2016) #27

Suicide Squad (2016) #28

Suicide Squad (2016) #29

Suicide Squad (2016) #30

Suicide Squad (2016) #31

Suicide Squad (2016) #32

Suicide Squad (2016) #33

Suicide Squad (2016) #34

Suicide Squad (2016) #35

Suicide Squad (2016) #36

Suicide Squad (2016) #37

Suicide Squad (2016) #38

Suicide Squad (2016) #39

Suicide Squad (2016) #40

Suicide Squad (2016) #41

Suicide Squad (2016) #42

Suicide Squad (2016) #43

Suicide Squad (2016) #44

Suicide Squad (2016) #48

Suicide Squad (2016) #49

Suicide Squad (2016) #50

I'd also read all of the 2019 Suicide Squad (below) but I didn't even really do that and I was mostly fine. Captain Boomerang only showed up in #4 and #5 but that story, as well as Captain Boomerang, continued on into The Flash Annual #3

Suicide Squad (2019) #4

Suicide Squad (2019) #5

The Flash (2016) Annual #3

Aquaman and The Flash: Voidsong #1 (the only modern comic that I've found so far where you actually see him fighting the Flash)

Batman: The Brave and the Bold (2023) #4 (not in but it's important. Also only the Harcourt story. Must read some time after Suicide Squad [2016] #17. Preferably after you read The Flash Annual #3 because it takes place some time after that)

Batman: The Brave and the Bold (2023) #5 (also not in but it's still important. Also only the Harcourt story)

Batman: The Brave and the Bold (2023) #6 (last issue so far, but he might show up in issue 7 cuz issue 6 leaves with a cliffhanger. Will update if he does show up. If he dies I will just get rid of this but entirely because fuck that. Also only the Harcourt Story still.)

Edit: He did not show up in issue 7. They, in fact, just ended it with a gun pointed to his head. Wtf. George deserves so much better than this. 😤

Below comics are just ones I enjoyed but idk specifically where they fit into the canon, not that canon even matters.

Red Hood and the Outlaws (2016) #16

Red Hood and the Outlaws (2016) #17

Suicide Squad Special: War Crimes

Suicide Squad Most Wanted: Deadshot and Katana #1 (For Deadshot and Katana)

Suicide Squad Most Wanted: Deadshot and Katana #2 (For Deadshot and Katana)

Suicide Squad Most Wanted: Deadshot and Katana #3 (For Deadshot and Katana)

Suicide Squad Most Wanted: Deadshot and Katana #4 (For Deadshot and Katana)

Suicide Squad Most Wanted: Deadshot and Katana #5 (For Deadshot and Katana)

Suicide Squad Most Wanted: Deadshot and Katana #6 (For Deadshot and Katana)

Suicide Squad Most Wanted: El Diablo and Amanda Waller #5 (Amanda Waller Part Only)

Suicide Squad Most Wanted: El Diablo and Amanda Waller #6 (Amanda Waller Part Only)

(I know Captain Boomerang is in Suicide Squad Most Wanted: El Diablo and Boomerang #1 and #2, but he was not characterized very well in my opinion so for the life of me, I cannot recommend the comic at all.)

Comics he has 0 personality in but his design was so bomb that I cannot recommend it enough (someone please draw Captain Boomerang from Harley screws up the DCU. PLEASE!!! I'm on my knees begging. I don't care if you don't even remove the parasite on his face at this point. It's too much of a good design to waste)

Batman: Urban Legends #17

Multiversity: Harley Screw Screw Up the DCU #3

Multiversity: Harley Screw Screw Up the DCU #4

Multiversity: Harley Screw Screw Up the DCU #5

Multiversity: Harley Screw Screw Up the DCU #6

[linesonscreens]

Let's Read Peanuts (Yup, still at it) – May 1954

There are lots of great strips I just don't have room to comment on. I strongly encourage everybody to read the full month at the official GoComics page. Today's month starts HERE.

May 3, 1954

~tugs collar~

Yeah... About that.

May 9, 1954

Aw yeah, here we go! I was wondering when this would pop up.

May 15, 1954

1) That's not a joke

2) Yes, Violet. I got that from him kicking the radio.

Also I hope you enjoyed this strip because “Charlie Brown doesn't like coconut” is now a running gag.

May 16, 1954

This definitively proves that adults exist in the Peanuts Cinematic Universe, they just happen to be 20 feet tall for some reason. Or maybe the kids are like 2 feet tall? It depends on how you look at it I guess.

May 23, 1954

Oh man! What's going to happen!? I'm freaking out!

May 24, 1954

Lucy is so unbelievably awful to Linus in these early years. Granted, she's literally four(?) years old so I can cut her a bit of slack but god damn do these kind of interactions not endear you to her.

Weirdly enough though, I actually like that the strip doesn't punish her for doing stuff like this. Others have made this observation long before I came along but the fact that Schulz is willing to just sort of... let bad things happen without immediately having the universe make an example of the perpetrator or teach them a lesson is one of the things that sets Peanuts apart from the competition. Life just kind of be like that sometimes and it's OK to show it.

May 30, 1954

(No, really. That's the last one)

Thoughts:

The golf tournament arc is kind of notorious and nobody really knows what the hell is up with it. You have continuity in the Sunday strips (very unusual due to how they are made), weird off-model art, the cast acting out of character, and of course, on-screen adults. Then it all just kind of... stops. It's very odd.

I've heard people speculate that this might actually have been ghost drawn (is that a term?) by another artist but I'm not sure if I buy that. The art is a bit different but it still very much feels like Schulz to me, particularly in how he draws his backgrounds. I ~do~ think there might be something to the idea that this is a repurposed experiment from another project though.

What this feels like to me is Schulz experimenting with “bigger” stories, perhaps something intended to be sold as a proper comic book rather than just a collection of strips. The art looks different because he's trying to set it apart from the strips by adding more detail and action (kind of like when an animated TV sitcom gets a theatrical movie).

As for why it just ends like that? Well that's a sort of punchline Schulz does in a lot in his daily strips so it's not actually that weird if you think about it. I think he just didn't realize that this kind of anticlimax punchline works with a 4-panel strip but not a 4-page event comic.

There's no official word on the matter though so your guess is as good as mine.

[tangocardiaca]

Haru Okumura and Makoto Niijima resus roleplay [reupload]

I once posted it before removing my profile here, but I decided to post it again. Both characters are from Persona 5 and are above 18 years old in this fanfic.

                Haru was walking up the stairs to Makoto’s room. She was invited by Makoto, so she can show her something interesting. “I wonder, what that might be.” Haru thought to herself. Suddenly she stood in front of the door and opened it. “Hello? Makoto?” Haru asked and took a look around the room. She noticed, that slim woman was standing near the window. That was Makoto, but she was wearing something, no one would think about. Makoto was wearing blue wool bra or crop top, black shorts with blue side skirts attached to those shorts. She also had blue arm warmer and wore brown high boots. With that composition she looked like princess.

                “Is that a Dion Rogers design of Rinoa Heartilly?” Haru asked. “Yeah, it’s not something you’d see me wearing, but at least once I wanted to feel like a princess in need of rescue.” Said Makoto as she placed her hands on Haru’s hips. “Princess? What are you talking about?” Haru was confused and she did not know, what was going on. Makoto asked “Have you ever done CPR? Have you ever done defibrillation with AED? See, it’s weird, but at least once I want to act like I am in need of saving, or rather my heart is in need of saving.” Saying that, Makoto laid on bed and started breathing heavily. “My heart is racing, I think it’s tachycardia. Please Haru, put ECG leads on my chest and read the rhythm. Quickly!” Haru understood, that it’s a roleplay and she giggled. “Ok, I see, that I need to save your heart.” She placed ECG leads on Makoto’s chest the way it was shown on manual. “Oh no, it’s ventricular tachycardia. I can barely feel pulse. I need to defibrillate you.” And Haru placed AED pads on Makoto’s chest. “I’m sorry Makoto, this might hurt a lot. Charging! Clear!” And Haru pushed the button. Makoto’s chest made an arc and jumped. She still breathed heavily. “Still in V-Tach. Charging once again. Clear!” Haru pushed the shock button again. The same chest jump happened and Makoto kept breath as if she wasn’t breathing.

“Ventricular fibrillation!” Said Haru and she pitched Makoto’s nose while tilting her chin. She gave two breaths to Makoto and started doing chest compressions. “1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30” Haru stopped chest compressions and she gave two additional breaths to Makoto. And once again she compressed Makoto’s chest 30 times. “Time to analyze. She’s still in V-Fib. Charging. Clear!” And she once again pushed the shock button. Makoto’s chest jumped and made an arc. After the shock, Haru said, that it was sinus rhythm. “What happened?” Said Makoto, still acting like cardiac patient. “You had cardiac arrest. You were lucky, that I was here.” Haru giggled with a smile. “How did you like being resuscitated?” Makoto smiled and said “It was something interesting. Like giving my heart a shock of love. I really felt like a princess in need of a rescue. And you were my shining knight. Maybe we should do this more often?” Haru gently grabbed Makoto’s hand. She said “With pleasure.”, and she placed gentle kiss on Makoto’s hand. Side note: I'd really like to see this one turned into comic, so if anyone wants to make comic pages, go ahead.

[ashintheairlikesnow]

Watching a documentary on Edward II while I work and in this doc:

1. They repeatedly call Piers Gaveston Edward's "best mate" and "close friend", then have one seven-second acknowledgement that they were probably lovers before immediately returning to calling them pals, buds, just mates being dudes, my guys, just bros like bros will be, totally normal friendship here

2. Piers is not depicted as half so pretty as he likely was. He is handsome, yes, but very... dirty compared to everyone else? And also, dude, brush your hair. Come on. Piers Gaveston was famously not only arrogant but vain!

3. The actor playing Edward is playing this documentary dramatization like he is going for the motherfucking Oscar, he is amazing. I love him, my God someone give this man jobs and money!

4. They speak French! Just like everyone actually did!

5. Hugh Despenser has perfect hair, which seems in character

6. The documentary definitely doesn't admit the simple truth that Hugh Despenser the Younger was almost certainly Pretty Man Bait to get Edward II to give the Despensers power.

7. The doc DOES do a great job of showing what an absolute disaster Edward II was at basically everything forever

8. It does contain the most excellent line, "To the people of the time, Edward could have been bedding his priest, his page boy, and his horse, so long as he was governing the kingdom properly."

9. Isabella's actress is also incredible. That woman does some impeccable face-acting.

10. Man. The moral of this documentary - and of his life - should be "This man did not deserve the wild glory inherent in his amazing wife."

11. Now Hugh Despenser needs to brush his hair! Maybe Edward just likes 'em grungy.

12. Edward is the epitome of being shown exactly what he needs to do and then doing the opposite.

13. I am genuinely impressed at how carefully they dance around admitting that Edward was definitely up in Hugh Despenser's business, too. His manly business.

14. Wait, I take it back. The real moral of this story is "take a woman's children from her arms and she will burn you to the ground and spit on your ashes."

15. Honestly, I don't blame her.

16. THEY CALLED HER THE SHE-WOLF FOR A REASON, MOTHERFUCKERS.

17. Also, hell yeah for Isabella's brother the King of France working with her on this. He absolutely knew Isabella was being underestimated and he made sure he never did.

18. Oh, so we can admit Isabella and Roger Mortimer were sleeping together, huh? We can admit that? I mean as long as it's decently hetero, sure, let's have a whole sex scene. But God forbid we admit Edward and Piers might have held hands under a tree even once.

19. THEY PUT A SEX NOISE IN EVEN

20. Honestly now I'm mad.

21. "She has a number of men closer to a moderate house party than an invading force." Okay, that line redeems you somewhat.

22. Awwwww puppies hunting the disgraced king, sweet. I love when dogs are clearly checking for cues from their trainers just off screen.

23. A FIFTY FOOT GALLOWS SEEMS EXCESSIVE. Oh holy shit they hung him without quite killing him, then de-genitaled and- god damn, Isabella. This seems like a bit much.

24. SHE MADE A POINT OF EATING WHEN THEY CUT HIS DICK OFF.

25. Isabella is terrifying. I am in wild irrational love.

26. I'm sorry they put WHAT up Edward's ass. A red hot WHAT

27. I feel like that probably didn't actually happen but honestly, I don't doubt Isabella is capable of it. And also, um, these deaths seem... To send a message.

28. "Edward's wife and her lover-" oh, are you sure they're not just best mates? Buddies? Pals? Like Edward and Gaveston?

29. Oh he probably just like... was smothered. That makes way more sense. He could be "found dead" then and it could be claimed to be natural causes.

30. Underestimate pissed off French women at your peril, English kings.

[amaiguri]

Before Page 1 Tag Game

Thanks to @maiemorrae for the tag and prompt! The premise of this one is:

What's one of the most interesting things that happens before Page #1?

Coincidentally... I made a giant post in my Discord the other day about the hypothetical prequel novel to Yssaia. I may or may not ever write it so someone else should just do it for me :P JK jk... unless... 🥺🥺🥺

Let's pass the tag on to @anyablackwood @zebee-nyx @cee-grice @whitherwordswither and @olive-riggzey -- But it is, of course, open to anyone who wants to infodump about their backstories!

Without further ado, an entire novel in bullet points under the cut:

THE HYPOTHETICAL BACKSTORY NOVEL

A Story, loosely follows Arlasaire and those around her as a metaphor for Thuille -- A country that was falsely repurposed, abused, and ultimately betrayed. A tragic treatise on the failures of individualism.

1. Arlasaire's Adoption + Gil's refusal of the call + His resolution to do better than his father

2. Einharde's Rise to Power + Romance to Gil's mother. He pisses off THROWAWAY BADGUY HOUSE that'll be dismantled by the end of the story.

3. Lucienne's Mother's Death as a Trigger for her Father to start abusing her

4. Gil and Arlasaire Training and bonding as he tries to protect her and fails

5. Diacaius starts operating Kalliopeia with Sipestro

6. Lucienne and Gil's Engagement from Lucienne's Perspective

7. Arlasaire's first kill -- choosing of her own volition to protect Gil from House dBad Guy and their plan to infect her family with Flavoneite

8. Diacaius and Kalliopeia bonding without Sipestro and she decides to be a girl and his daughter

9. Lucienne's dad starts acting a bit crazy around her and shows the dynamic put on her sisters and her. She is forced to hurt them.

10. Gil and Arlasaire spy on House Bad Guy she gets captured. Gil comes to save her -- finally protecting her for once.

11. They work together to take down Lord d'Veltre when he goes insane.

12. Lucienne Borthday party after dad dead, angsts about Gil, learns about the Dusters and the newfound Puppetmaster

13. Diacaius meets Nurelese

14. With the North united under dMagnia and dAramitz and dRomonach, they decide to free the long occupied Selkies and head South

15. Arlasaire and Gil go to thr Demonlands, but get in trouble. Ymver saves them. He's a legend and it's wild that he's returned. Gil immediately secures their future help through careful negotiarions --tho Ymver tells him to rely on Arls more.

16. Arls and Gil meet the Demon King, who tests them but then agrees to be their allies

17. They seize control of the selkie isles near Telethens with the help of the Demons and the Iceni. The Iceni Queen fights the most fiercely and invites them back for a victory feast

18. Diacaius is there, Einharde plays super dirty and beats him -- Einharde makes Arlasaire hogtie the man's wife and skin him for information about how to win which is how it happens

19. They are in Togen Oyer when Diacaius strikes back by organizing assassins killing the King and dragging one of the other Hall's queens off. Arls and Gil are sent home, out of the danger. Gil had to fight to get Arls to go home with him.

20. Gil starts habitually messing around, Arls gets worried. Einharde returns unexpectedly. Arlasaire has to cover her Gil at a dance as he's messing around with girls he isn't supposed to--fucking the middle girl and then also, Lucienne. Arls gets in trouble.

21. House Bad Guys come after Einharde as he's trying to get the funding in Court and he loses it. He beats up Arlasaire over it. Gil tries and fails to protect her.

22. To try to make up for it, they go out on the Yuletide and get her that infamous necklace.

23. Arlasaire and Gil get the assignment from the Demon King to retrieve his daughter and Ymver helps.

24. Arlasaire and Gil retrieve Astaroh, who tearfully parts from Solveng.

25. Gil and Astaroh hook up. Arls gets jelly and she and Gil fight.

26. Gil and Arlasaire drop off Astaroh, she meets her father, Arls wonders if she will ever be loved like that by Einharde. She decides to confront him about it, demand to be loved or she won't help him pass his legislation to defund House Bad Guys.

27. Einharde dies of a heart attack, Gil doesn't let Arlasaire comfort him and turns to Lucienne immediately.

28. Lucienne invites Arlasaire to join her and Gil. It's an awful relationship for all of them. She sends Derecina to spy.

29. Derecina goes to the Puppet Master but gets seduced. He feeds her info that leads Lucienne and Gil to destory House d Bad Guy.

30. Lucienne and Gil and Arls destory House d Bad Guy, house Romanach gets their place formally.

31. Romanach befriends Arlasaire but Arlasaire rejects her a little.

32. Diacaius and Nurelese alter Kalliopeia with her permission, Kalliopeia is a little scared

33. Telethenians attack the isles, Arlasaire and Gil fight Diacaius for the first time alone. They have to retreat to Togen Oyer.

34. Arls and Gil make up and try to promise to face things together. But Gil doesn't trust her. And she has to convince herself to trust him.

35. Telethenians try to head North to Saegenheim. Arls and Gil manage to stop them by killing everyone on one of the ships and misleading it. Kalliopeia is in this battle and is blamed for the failure.

36. Sipestro and the Senate is annoyed that Diacaius changed her without permission and also that Diacaius is taking so much credit. Supestro blames Diacaius' changes for the failure. Diacaius shrugs him off. Sipestro gets Senate to vote to have that part of her removed or to have her dismantled and reexamined.

37. Gil spies on the South and finds out what's gonna happen to Togen Oyer. He starts acting sus but Arls chooses to trust him.

38. Lucienne has a meltdown over Gil being out there with Arlasaire after flashing back to when Arls said "At least he loves me"

39. The Battle of Togen Oyer begins. Gil sees the signs on the wall and seeks to turn traitor. Diacaius tells Gil he has to kill Arlasaire if he wants the rest of his house spared.

40. Senate votes to recall Kalliopeia in the middle of battle. Diacaius convinces Kalliopeia agree they need to use the nuke to prove their worth to the people.

41. Arlasaire and Gil fight. Arls kills Gil. Distraught. She vanishes from the Island with Ymver as Kalliopeia destroys it.

42. Epilogues:

A. Kalliopeia promises never to get dismantled to Diacaius and Nurelese, who promises they'll do anything to protect her.

B. Lucienne realizes that she's fundamentally broken without Gil and that she loves Arlasaire but is horrible to her.

C. And Arlasaire despairs that nothing matters without Gil and that she was never anything more than a symbol. With that, she holds her head high for Ymver crew and becomes the symbol that they need her to be in the face of defeat.

💜-------------------------💜

WOW! Did you actually read all that? Incredible! Thank you so much! I'll love you forever 🥺🥺🥺

[netflixandchilis]

My thoughts on the Red, White, & Royal Blue movie (as someone who has read the book four times)

I was so excited when I heard that this book was being adapted into a film. As time went on, my anticipation continued to grow. When the casting announcement came out I was elated, and then trepidatious, but I kept my hopes high. I think it is important to remember that, above all else, this film is a rom-com. With that said, my thoughts:

(*Spoilers Ahead*)

1. Alex and Henry

Let's start with the biggest element here, the stars. When I saw the casting announcement my first thought was "wow I can't believe my favorite characters are going to be on-screen". My second was, "aren't they a little old to be playing Alex and Henry". I kept this thought until I watched it and I have to say they make total sense in the context of the film. Aging them up was a great decision in my mind, it made me feel like the characters were at a point in their life where their romance wasn't a fling before growing up, but a conscious decision to have their established lives intertwine. In the book, McQuistion has 400 pages to let us see into the minds of these characters, which doesn't translate well on screen. I also think having a fun queer rom-com for people in their mid-20s is rare.

2. June not being in the film

I missed the "White House Trio" immensely but I think that if June had been in the film she would have been lost. Everything I loved about her wouldn't have made the final cut, I saw this even with Nora and Pez. However, this meant that the found family trope was not included and that was my favorite part of the book.

3. The Richards Campaign

I was disappointed that the Richards campaign and Senator Luna weren't the crux of the third act, I think that made the book so riveting and added a layer of political intrigue to Alex's side. Henry is seen as the one who would face any backlash but the Richards scandal showed that American politics can be just as messy and controlling. The film didn't show this and instead, it is implied that Alex's former hookup leaked the emails. I hated this, but I understand that they couldn't include the original antagonist. I also think this sends the message that a queer person's greatest enemy is their own community or even themselves. At the end of the day, Alex was outed by a jealous ex and Henry was shown that he was the only one preventing himself from living the life he wanted. He didn't have to give the monarchy an ultimatum backed up by his mother and family, he just chose to not listen.

4. Princess Bea

I wish so badly they would have included or even alluded to Bea's substance abuse. Learning that made me sympathize with her character and love how she was there for Henry. In the film, I feel like she is ambivalent about the control the monarchy has. She is very caring of Henry but I feel that not including how her life has been shaped by rigidity made her lack the depth she had in the book.

5. The Karaoke Scene

My favorite scene in the book is the karaoke scene, which was changed in the film. The karaoke scene is the first time we see the prince fully let loose and be himself. It's a scene where Henry allows himself to be flamboyant and unrestricted and that didn't happen in the movie. Instead, it was in a podunk country bar in Texas. I think the scene could have had the same vibe as the book at least. The characters were in Austin, they could have at least gone to a gay bar. I found the lack of silk kimonos devastating.

+1 Things that I wish made it to the film

Ellen's powerpoint

Alex outside the palace before the love confession

Henry talking about having to join the army

The vase!!!!!

Hall & Oates

Henry playing Your Song

Cornetto scene (which I KNOW they filmed)

Prince Henry's sass (+Nora introducing him to Drag Race)

"I'm taking a picture of a national gay landmark... and also a statue"

Henry's philanthropy and refusal to use royal funds

Final thoughts

I have seen the film twice fully through now and I have rewatched some of my favorite clips, overall I love the film. I think I, as well as any hardcore fans of the book, would have loved to see more. I've seen a lot of people say they wish this would have been made into a series, but I think that would never work. Don't get me wrong I would love it and watch it endlessly, but that isn't what this book was about. At the end of the day, the book is about the Prince of England and the First son falling in love, and that is what made it into the movie. Do I think it deserves an Oscar, no, but I also have seen The Proposal over fifty times and I don't think that's a groundbreaking film either. This is a very well-done rom-com that I will rewatch when I want to feel happy and wholesome. And when I want to see political betrayal, silk kimonos, developing friendships, and vulnerable conversations over ice cream, I will reread the book, the same way I have been for the past three years.

[anonymous-dee]

Ranpo! Is! Autistic Coded!

Hear me out! I definitely think Ranpo from BSD is Autistic coded! It only occurred to me during my second watch-through but a lot of his mannerisms actually match up a lot with my own experiences as someone with ASD! :0

I found a whole article explaining a lot of different things that make him Autistic coded so I'll link it here! But I'll also make a TLDR version too in case the link doesn't work!

BASICALLY!

1.Infodumping/Overtalking

2.Missing tons of social cues

3.Obliviousness in many situations

4.Not understanding/feeling/expressing emotions the same as others

5.Comfort objects and stimming

6.Meltdowns

7.Sensory issues (especially with clothing)

8.Hand flapping

9."Childish" or unusual interests/hyperfixations

I love him so much! (Even though Akutagawa is my ultimate favorite character)! I would love to elaborate on the points made above but the article does a better job than me!

UPDATE!! I JUST STARTED WATCHING SEASON 4 SO UNDERNEATH HERE WILL BE S4 SPOILERS!!! PROCEED WITH CAUTION!!!

So based off of all of the Ranpo LORE revealed in the first episode his Autism beams are stronger than ever because HEAR ME OUT!!!

So it's revealed that Ranpo always gets perceived as childish even when he doesn't wish to be perceived that way (I know he's 14 but he says something along the lines of like "Here we go again, getting treated like a child") which is something many people with Autism (me included) have to deal with from our NT peers

AND! Not to mention the particular eating habits from when Fukuzawa was taking him out to eat red bean bowls with mochi in them and he didn't eat any of the mochi (in any of the 20 bowls)

AAAAAND! This is the spiciest part! It was revealed that Ranpo kept getting fired from jobs because of how blunt he was with the truth and how he would easily confront his superiors about their past or their crimes! It's so hard for many Autistic people to keep a job oftentimes because many of us don't understand social cues!

Another thing was that Ranpo automatically assumed that all of the tiny details he noticed were common knowledge and that everyone was on the same page as him, when in actuality he was noticing things that nobody else had yet to pick up on!

There were many other moments where Ranpo either didn't pick up on social cues or said/acted in ways that were out of pocket or not "normal" if that makes sense, and it only strengthens the argument that Ranpo is Autistic coded!

FUKUZAWA IS SUCH A NICE ADOPTIVE FATHER TO HIM OKAY AAAAH I'M ONLY ONE EPISODE IN BUT LITERALLY I LOVE RANPO SO MUCH! HE JUST LIKE ME FR FR

OKAY SO ANOTHER EDIT/UPDATE!

IN EPISODE 2 RANPO SAYS SOMETHING VERY DISTINCT AND APPLICABLE TO MOST PEOPLE WITH AUTISM AND IT WAS THAT "There's something that everyone else gets that I don't"

And then he has a small meltdown in the theater and you can clearly see people are starting to stare if you look closely

I literally relate to him so much so much so much

IN EPISODE 3, Ranpo also notes that he can't pay attention to things he has no interest in, which is something I personally really struggle with (especially as a college student RIP)

I'm not 100% sure if his breakdown at the end of episode 3 would constitute as something that should be added to this list, but I think it's noteworthy because I myself have also had similar meltdowns that went very similar to Ranpo's and I want to mention it.

I know I keep expanding this list as I find more and more content but somehow Ranpo's existence and the way he is unanimously respected and loved by the ADA is somehow really validating and comforting to me at the same time. I know BSD is fiction but somehow I see myself in Ranpo and yearn to be loved in the way that he is by all of his friends.

[sadrockandwaltzes]

The Secret History Questions [Spoilers]

So I finished this book recently and would love to discuss it with anyone, but there are some things that have been seriously bugging me about it.

Near the end of the book, Richard had this whole minor 'Oh woe is me I wasted 3 years of my schooling how am I going to graduate' meltdown, but as far as I know this is his first year of college. I assume that his college schooling should take 4, maybe 5, years. The first year is when people are generally able to play around with what they want to study, right? Why on earth does he say that this is the end of his 3rd year? He's 20? I'm just very confused. Was this a typo?

2. So he's been hiding his background and financial status, but I can't tell who or how many of the classics kids know. Bunny definitely suspected at the end, Henry probably knew? No idea about the twins. And then Francis generally didn't seem to know, but especially around the time where Bunny was going at Richard, Richard would sometimes have talks with Francis and occasionally the others where it sounded like they all knew that he was poor and he knew that they knew that he was poor, but were just trying to not say it aloud or let anyone find out (Such as the end where Francis was saying that not having money/having to work was fine for Richard since he was used to it (which maybe was just an observation of their time at Hampden rather than him knowing?)). And then not long after, they would be acting in ways that made it seem like they had no idea that Richard wasn't loaded, and not giving a second thought to cost. Maybe this is just rich people not being able to comprehend money as an object and not a given, but it made no sense to me. Especially with the main character sometimes having these conversations casually and then freaking out about hiding his status from the same people just a few pages later...

3. Richard's "I loved him too". Did he mean he _missed_ him and loved him as a _friend_? Was it romantic? I know a lot of people maintain there was something between Francis and Richard, but I honestly felt like the person who Richard seemed to have feelings for most was Charles, and he hardly talked about the guy. Francis and Camilla were attractive (literally the only thing he ever bothered to say about her) but Francis's personality seemed to get on his nerves after he got to know him. Richard was kind of a sucker for mysterious beauties who were out of his league... Anyway, I would've liked if Richard liked Henry since I found him more likable than the other characters (for a time anyway. You can't tell me someone who saves the main character from dying, watches over him for 3 days, and then allows him to stay at his house (didn't he also cook for him?) for weeks isn't seriously cool). But I didn't see it. It reminded me of the random points when he said that he loved Julian and the guy was one of the most important people to him. Like huh?? You never talk about this character!! And then a lot of people say that he was in love with the whole group because of what they represented, which is... fair... Anyway, I would hope it was romantic because it would be a really rude thing to say as a retort to someone turning you down...

Anyway, sorry for making this so long! I don't know if there are cannon answers for any of these questions, but I would love to hear anyone's thoughts.

[hballegro]

chapter 8. the biggie. part 1.

it is now i reveal a terrible secret to you all;

you can ctrl+f this chapter and compare it to If-- by Rudyard Kipling. and you will find that every god damn word in that stupid poem appears at least once. there are also a few paraphrased lines in there that you might notice.

WHY???

[i am very bad when it comes to gaging ppl's knowledge of poems i think everyone already knows, so yeah, the poem they're sharing is If- by Rudyard Kipling. easy for me to recognize personally because my mom memorized it all in school and would say it to me sometimes]

this process included me writing the whole thing out by hand, ctrl + f for all of the words, highlighting the ones that i had yet to use, and then keeping the list next to me while editing the first draft

and if you didnt notice this fact at all. that means i did a GOOD JOB!! cause its SUPPOSED TO BLEND IN SEAMLESSLY!!

yknow. its the moment hawkeye fell head-over-heels. and bj too, maybe. so ofc i had to include it in the chapter where they finally Kiss. they havent worked it all out yet yeah but. cmon. i cant just not. my options were to either have one of them reference it directly [im bad at that, and would be ham-fisted], or do this insane strat. and i picked the worst option. fuckin Knaves i hate you rudyard kipling for this and other reasons

also; shouted out in the ao3 endnotes but ill do it here to all sneaky-like, shout out to serpercival for both motivating me to put trapper in this chapter via loving the guy a lot and for letting me use their marvelous brain to pick out some subtle nods to Trapper John MD. i dont wanna @ people but hehe i can still link their page >:]

anyway: the painting peg talks abt being erin's favourite is California Spring, as she says, and here it is

folks i can finally use this meme i made back before i even finished chapter 4

shoutout to this video for being great to have in the bg underneath my sad love music to really set the scene. Loon moment

if you liked how papa Daniel Pierce acted in this, good! hes based off my childhood best friend's mom! she was very intimidating and always had this serious look on her face but the very first time i went over to their house she went 'psst. [best friend]. hball. come over here my husband is gonna come up the stairs and you should jump out and scare him' within the first 20 minutes!!

so basically hes stern/serious/intimidating [formal letters, the kind of man to not want to worry his son, idk just feels right] but goofy as shit and its all a facade [had hawkeye so he gotta be a lil silly, dinner table talk in Sons and Bowlers]

if you liked how i described hawkeye's childhood home GOOD!! i was describing my grandmother's house the whole time and you didnt even know. that ugly sofa is a thing my grandpa did. get pranked. always draw on experience when possible folks

i plan to have the next chapter out two days from now. THREE at the LATEST. and tomorrow i plan to publish the next Operating in Limbo chapter ~sometime~ before midnight [my time. central time.], or like 1am at the latest since i can stay up late tomorrow. unless the Troubles.

reward for scrolling this far; my saga of proto-names being shit like 'ooga booga' continues in the form of this being the working title for the Big Conversation chapter;