#I skipped over LOTS of stuff from the original text

[asteria7fics]

i would love to hear a full breakdown of the correlation to the original text!! (*＾ワ＾*）

-still stalking man ˙˚ଘo(∗  ❛ั ᵕ ❛ั )੭່˙

Now THIS is what I'm talkin' about!!

I LOVE TALKING ABOUT THIS AHAHA °˖✧◝(⁰▿⁰)◜✧˖°

MAJOR spoilers for TSOB under the cut, so if you haven't read it yet, read it here first and come back!

So I think it's kinda obvious who of the kids correlates with which Trojan War character, but I'll list the important ones here:

Cartman: Agamemnon

Kenny: Menelaus

Kyle: Achilles

Stan: Patroclus

Wendy: Hector

Heidi: Paris

Butters: Helen

Craig: Odysseus

Bebe: Priam

Ike: Neoptolemus (adding him was such a goofy move lmao)

All other correlations I made were pretty arbitrary and I didn't really follow them outside of using them when deciding who would be in the horse at the end.

But I know what you're really here for. Here's a breakdown of the events of the war, and how I South Park-ified them!

Paris steals Helen - Obviously, this was Heidi going to Kenny's house and stealing Butters.

Odysseus tries to avoid being drafted - In the original text, Odysseus acts insane and nearly murders his infant son in an effort to 'commit to the bit'. I struggled with this chapter the most and rewrote it a couple of times to make Craig nearly killing Stripe almost make sense, though idk how successful I was truthfully. Easily the weakest part of the story.

Achilles tries to avoid being recruited - Again in the original text, Achilles hides out by disguising himself and living among women away from his home. Having the enemy be the girls made this challenging, so I settled on having Stan and Kyle dress as girls together to try and get Wendy out of the war.

Agamemnon sacrifices Iphigenia, his first born daughter - RIP Mr. Kitty (ಥ﹏ಥ)

Greeks camp on beach & capture many small settlements around Troy - Had the boys camp across the street from Bebe's and raid the surrounding houses to bleed them of supplies.

Agamemnon takes Chryseis - I knew early on I wasn't going to have the boys take women as prisoners like they did in the source text, so I settled on having them take the next most valuable thing; video games. This is Cartman taking the first Switch he gets!

Chryseis’ father prays to Apollo; plague hits camp until she’s returned - The inspiration of The Crappening. I made the decision to not have the Gods be a real factor in the war, so the girls had to take things into their own hands with this one. It was convenient too, considering how dirty Cartman did poor Jenny in Bass to Mouth. Made for great motivation for the girls to give them those laxative-laced cookies, though!

Agamemnon takes Briseis from Achilles - Cartman taking the Switch from Kyle. That bastard! -`д´-

Achilles refuses to fight - Kyle's subsequent hissy fit. He's so Achilles coded it's wild.

Menelaus battles Paris solo - Kenny and Heidi's fight! Didn't have to do much with this one, honestly.

Patroclus wears Achilles’ armor and is killed by Hector - You guys know what happens. Stan dresses in Kyle's armor and gets his leg broken by Wendy. By this point I was able to follow the source material pretty closely.

Achilles kills Hector to avenge Patroclus - Kyle gives Wendy the big chop (ง •̀_•́)ง

Achilles is killed by Paris (bow lead by Apollo) - Heidi takes Kyle out with a lucky shot to the nuts. I never really explored if she was assisted by anyone on this, but I like to think she believed the Gods were on her side, guiding that condom!

The Trojan Horse - I mean, kinda explains itself doesn't it? Though I have to say, using the condom boxes to construct the horse may have been my single greatest idea in the whole fic.

The Greek’s emerge from the horse and torch Troy - There was really no way the story could end without the boys committing arson, was there? I mean, what was Cartman supposed to do? We all know how the story's supposed to end!

This was so fun to FINALLY share with you all! I worked through a lot of these ideas with my irl friends, and the laughter I got out of them really kept me invested in finishing this story. I hope I was able to make some of you chuckle, too!

Thank you so so much for this ask!! ♡＼(￣▽￣)／♡

[ancha-aus]

RealAgeAU Drabble - Parentalbond Cross

We are back on my BS and selfindulding drabble series, today we are finishing up how all the guys adopted Nightmare!

Last but not least, Cross :D

First Drabble (and original prompt by @spotaus ) Prev Drabble Next Drabble

Okay! No edits and no beta because we don't roll that way 😎😎

But more serious. slight content warning. Cross helps Nightmare bath, wash and clean his wounds and injuries. Poor baby can't take care of his own wounds that well and needs assistance from one of his four dads.

*----------------*

Cross isn't feeling good. Nothing is actually wrong with him but he is nervous.

Why is he even watching Nightmare today?!

It isn't that Cross... it isn't that he doesn't like...

Cross just doesn't feel sure about this.

He just doesn't have that instinct with childcare that the others seem to have. He tried! But he can't help but keep seeing Nightmare as an adult, or old adult? Ex adult?

Even when Dust and he spoke about it. How Dust just compared it with a natural change. Cross just... can't see him as a child.

He knows it is bad. Cross tries very hard to treat him as a child and do it right but Nightmare seems to notice Cross' nervous around it.

Which helps because if Ngihtmare needs anything he just asks Dust or Killer or Horror! Which works perfectly for Cross! How bad of a caretaker is he? That even the child notices that Cross can't handle it.

Cross checks the list again, the list beign something that Dust (and Killer) had put together. Cross would feel bad about needing a list but seeing as the last time he had to babysit he skipped a step or two he knows he deserves this.

Cross nods to himself. Breakfast and lunch were both done. Nightmare had his personal reading time. Nightmare had completed the few assignments Dust had put together for him. They had gone outside for fresh air and sunlight.

Now, the point he had been dreading. Bathtime.

Cross just doesn't get why Nightmare can't do it himself. But Cross had tried that last time only to get Dust to be furious at him, at the time it had also surprised and confused both of Killer and Horror much like Cross.

Since then Dust had refused to let Cross watch over Nightmare. A few days later Killer fully accepted his role as babysitter and caretaker. Which meant that Cross just didn't need to solo babysit Nightmare again.

Which had been fine! Perfect even!

But... well... You always have days were it just doen'st go according to plan. Which leaves Cross today to do all the duties.

Cross sighs and takes out the second list. It is a long list of rules for bathtime.

You need to follow all of these steps! And I mean all of them Cross. No skipping.

Cross rolls his eye lights and reads.

Step 1. Use WARM water. And I mean WARM! If you put your hand under the faucet it should be close to burning you.

Cross turns on the faucet and holds his hand under it to measure the warmth as he continues reading.

Step 2. Fill the bath as Nightmare gets ready himself. He doesn't need help undressed unless he specifically asks. And only then! >:( Tiny boss is specific about when he wants help!

Cross nods before snorting at the extra text. Seems like that Killer also got his hands on this list.

Step 3. Use the soap in the pink bottle and put enough in it to get a few bubbles to appear. NO! USE A LOT! MORE BUBBLES! >:3 No. I am serious. Just a bit is enough.

Cross finds the pink bottle in the small basket of bath stuff that Dust had left for him. Cross knows this because there was a note on it saying 'CROSS USE THESE.'. He can't help but ready the bottle and frowns. mild soap for sensitive skin with some antibacterial effects. Cross puts in a little at first and waits. No bubbles so he puts in a little more. a few tiny bubbles appear and Cross puts the bottle back in the basket.

Step 4. Just let the bath fill up until about the midheight. Safety reasons. Yeah we know we don't need air but Nightmare's magic is fragile and if he gets under water and panicks he may not be able to make his magic shape in the way to enable him to handle no air!

Cross hums and keeps an eye on the height fo the water. Turning it off at the right time.

Step 5. Just wait until Nightmare knocks on the door that he is ready. Once he is make sure you stand with your back to the door and bathtub. Nightmare can get in himself and if he needs help he will let you know. <- This.

Cross nods and just waits. He eyes the door and knocks on it, knowing the large master bedroom is behind it. "You okay Nightmare?"

Silence before a huff "I am fine." he sounds slightly out of breath. But Cross doesn't bother to point it out. He sits next to the bathtub and looks through the basket. A pink soap bar and Cross sniffs it. It smells like citrus, the same scent that the other soap had. Mmh. He grabs some of the brushes and feels them. Very soft and hardly any resistence. Weird choise as the harder and stiffer brushes work better with cleanign between bones. Cross spots some of those brushes in the basket as well and organises those as he waits.

A knock on the door "Cross? I am ready... Is the bath okay?"

Cross gets up and takes his list as he stands with his back to the door as ordered "It is ready!" he takes the list out in front of him again as he reads the next step.

Step 6. Whatever you do. Be normal. Please be normal. Don't freak out and remain calm. No sudden movements as you go near and announce your movement and what you do. Try to make some noise as you move! I have notices that that helps!

Cross feels nervous about that but waits. He hears Nightmare shuffle in and the door close behind him. No movement for a while before light steps move towards the water. Some splashes as Nightmare gets into the tub.

More silence before "okay. I am in... I can do this myself you know..." he sounds nervous.

Cross takes a deep breath and reads the text again before he turns, making sure his feet make noise as he moves around on the tiles. A familiar clicking of bones against it. Cross sighs "I know Nightmare. But last time they got annoyed I let you do it yourself and I don't want to risk that." he slowly gets closer.

Nightmare hums as he moves the water around with his hand "Fair enough."

Cross gets to the side and feels himself freeze. His back is a mess. Open wounds nad chips of bones missing. large cracks and bones barely holding together.

Cross gulps and finds his voice "I am going to sit down now, behind you..." fuck. fuck.. This is why Dust was furious. Because these need cleaning. fuck fuck fuck.

Ngihtmare hums that he heard him and keeps playing with the water.

Cross sits on his knees behind Ngihtmare and glances at the list.

Step 7. Once you are behind Nightmare you will start with his ribs. Use the shower body scrub thing for that. I always called it the poof. I am very sure that isn't the name Killer. Well what is the name? .... That is what i thought. Use the shower body scrub and some of the soap bar. Soap it up and move slowly rib by rib. It takes time. As you do this you need to pay close attention to Nightmare. If you reach his limit he will tense up. When this happens you need to pause and give him a moment. Use this time to just clean the scrub and reapply some new soap before continuing. Ha! You sure that isn't a new step? and what call it 7B? no thanks.

Cross glanes around and sees the shower wash thing that they must have meant and were talking about. Cross isn't even sure about the name for those sponge floof things himself. He nods and speaks "I am going to get the scrub ready. You okay? water okay?"

Ngihtmare hums and shrugs. The shrug causes Cross's attention to shift from the back and mess of ribs and the horrific view of the spine to the large bruises and sores all along the clavicle. Who would do this to a child? Why would they hurt a child this badly?! He is just a babybones!

Cross has the shower floof all nice and wet and soapy and moves slowly closer "I am going to start on your ribs now... okay?" A nod is his answer and Cross gets to work. He applies almost no pressure but Nightmare still shivers. Cross moves slowly to clean some of the ribs. He keeps a close eye to make sure nothing gets stuck on the broken and wounded bones.

They are silent as Cross works as Cross is hyperaware of Nightmare and his breathing. it is slow and even. One by one the ribs get cleaned and Cross makes sure to take two breaks to enable Ngihtmare to calm down.

Cross washes out the floof as Nightmare tries to relax, poking bubbles. Cross looks back at his list.

Step 8. Once you managed to finish washing his ribs he will need a moment. Give the scrub to him, soaped up, so he can wash his own legs and pelvis. As he washes this you need to wash his skull and neck with one of the washcloths. There are no wounds there but it is easier if you do it.

No extra comments form Killer this time. Cross does as told and gives Nightmare the shower floof and Nightmare gets to work on cleaning himself without even needing instructions. Clearly already part of the routine.

Cross still gets the right washcloth wet and soaped up as he speaks "I am going to wash your neck and skull in the meantime okay?" a small nod and Cross gets to work. His hands and fingers easily finding the curves and dips as he carefully cleans the babybones. Nightmare actively relaxes as Cross takes care to clean everything.

Cross leans back and grins "There. those are done." he looks at the list.

Step 9. Now the hardest part. the spine. Nightmare knows he needs this but won't like it. But he won't fight you on it. Again, he understands this is needed. So don't even bother to tell him it will be over quickly or not suck. He hates that. For the spine and the many tiny wounds nad the larger cracks you will need to soft soft brushes, you will quickly understand what i mean. It are the softest i could find and we keep them clean and disinfected. Still, one of the two will have the soap as always. the other is to apply disinfectent at the very end. Make sure one of those two stays dry.

Cross puts one of the two soft brushes to the side and grabs the other one. He starts getting it soaped up as the speaks "I am going to start on your spine now." Nightmare immediantly grows tense and hugs himself. floof forgotten in the water. Cross feels terrible "I am sorry. I will do my best to be careful okay? Just slow and steady?"

Ngihtmare hums and nods "okay..."

Cross has the brush ready and sits nearby "Okay. I am going to put one hand on your side to help keep you steady as i do this." Another nod and Cross helps support Nightmare as he nears the spine with the brush. "I am going to start cleaning the wounds now." a very soft brush but Nightmare still shudders and whimpers in pain.

He hates this. How fucking dare they hurt a child like this? To do this and hurt him this badly? And why?! because they are idiots to think he was bad?! That a child was evil??! That a babybones was evil?!

Cross is seething but his hands are steady as he cleans the wounds and deep slashes. No wonder that they need to do this for Nightmare. Ngihtmare is shaking in pain as he cleans the wounds. Nightmare would not have the ability to do this for himself.

Eventually he manages to clean the spine and Cross puts the brush away "there! All done with that!" Nightmare still sits shaking but leans a bit deeper into the water. calming himself.

Cross grabs his list and searches quickly.

Step 10. If you get to this spot you are almost done. We are in the home stretch! Now. Next is to give him a moment to relax. JUst let him sit in the water. In the meantime you can get the scrub soaped up again for the last step.

Step 11. next is the arms and shoulders. And while sensitive they won't hurt too badly in this. Just wash it off with the soaped up scrub once Ngihtmare sits up striaghter again.

Okay. easy enough. Cross starts preparing the floof as he keeps an eye on Nightmare. Nightmare sits back up after a while and mutters "okay... arms next?"

Cross nods as his soul fills wiht pride and... and... he isnt'sure what... instead he ignores it as he speaks "indeed." Nightmare hums but holds one of his arms out, still not looking at Cross. Cross cleans it efficiently but makes sure his touch is gentle. They switch arms and this one gets the same treatment.

Nightmare uses the water in the bath to get the soap off of him and Cross refers back to the list.

Step 11. This one and the next go together. After you got a towel, pick Nightmare out of the tub and just wrap him up. I like to fully burrito him, You know you did it right when he starts to purr.

Step 12. Use a soft towel to get off all the water. Just softly dab- LMAO! DAB! :D okay. My bad. Just softly tap the towel to the areas near the wounds instead of scrubbing it dry. It takes longer but hurts him less.

Cross searches the bathroom and finds some towels that meet his standard of softness. He takes it to Nightmare. Next he carefully picks Ngihtmare out of the tub, Nightmare still isn't looking at him and Cross can spot a small blush on his face. No doubt embarressed. Cross wraps Nightmare in the towel and hugs him close.

Affection. The other thing he had felt was affection and pride. Becuase Nightmare had been such a brave babybones and had been so well behaved. How could he not be proud?

Cross follows the instructions to the letter as he finishes drying Nightmare. He keeps him in the towel and reads the steps explaining how to desinfect the wounds and how to wrap those. pretty basic stuff. He grabs the other soft brush and explains to Nightmare what he is about to do.

It still stings as that is the nature of the desinfectent but Cross finishes up bathtime with wrapping the ribs and wounds all in soft bandages. In the end Cross puts on the hoody and holds their babybones close to him.

Nightmare, still purring softly as he leans against Cross, relaxes further and further and Cross nuzzles the tiny skull "There we go. you did amazing! We will just sit downa dn waits for the others okay?" a glance back at the bathroom but Cross leaves it be for now. He can clean up their tools and stuff when someone else is back to watch Nightmare.

Nightmare hums and snuggles clsoer to him under his chin and Cross starts to purr himself.

Maybe he does know how this whole parent thing works.

*----------------*

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[mostlysignssomeportents]

Chapter One of “Picks and Shovels” (Part 1)

Picks and Shovels is a new, standalone technothriller starring Marty Hench, my two-fisted, hard-fighting, tech-scam-busting forensic accountant. You can pre-order it on my latest Kickstarter, which features a brilliant audiobook read by Wil Wheaton.

My next novel is Picks and Shovels, out next month. It's tells the origin story of Martin Hench, my hard-charging, scambusting, high-tech forensic accountant, in a 1980s battle over the soul of a PC company:

https://us.macmillan.com/books/9781250865908/picksandshovels

I'm currently running a Kickstarter to pre-sell the book in every format: hardcover, DRM-free ebook, and an independently produced, fabulous DRM-free audiobook read by Wil Wheaton, who just nailed the delivery:

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/doctorow/picks-and-shovels-marty-hench-at-the-dawn-of-enshittification

Picks and Shovels opens with a long prologue that recounts Marty's misadventures as a failing computer science student at MIT, his love-affair with computers, and his first disastrous startup venture. It ends with him decamping to Silicon Valley with his roommate Art, a brilliant programmer, to seek their fortune.

Chapter one opens with Marty's first job, working for a weird PC company (there were so many weird PC companies back then!). I've posted Wil's audio reading of chapter one as a teaser for the Kickstarter:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IGXz1mkAd2Q

(Here it is as an MP3 at the Internet Archive:)

https://ia600607.us.archive.org/5/items/picks-and-shovels-promo/audio.mp3

The audio is great, but I thought I'd also serialize the text of Chapter One here, in five or six chunks. If you enjoy this and want to pre-order the book, please consider backing the Kickstarter:

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/doctorow/picks-and-shovels-marty-hench-at-the-dawn-of-enshittification

Chapter One

Fidelity Computing was the most colorful PC company in Silicon Valley.

A Catholic priest, a Mormon bishop, and an Orthodox rabbi walk into a technology gold rush and start a computer company. The fact that it sounded like the setup for a nerdy joke about the mid-1980s was fantastic for their bottom line. Everyone who heard their story loved it.

As juicy as the story of Fidelity Computing was, they flew under most people’s radar for years, even as they built a wildly profitable technology empire through direct sales through faith groups. The first time most of us heard of them was in 1983, when Byte ran its cover story on Fidelity Computing, unearthing a parallel universe of technology that had grown up while no one was looking.

At first, I thought maybe they were doing something similar to Apple’s new Macintosh: like Apple, they made PCs (the Wise PC), an operating system (Wise DOS), and a whole line of monitors, disk drives, printers, and software.

Like the Mac, none of these things worked with anything else—you needed to buy everything from floppy disks to printer cables specially from them, because nothing anyone else made would work with their system.

And like the Mac, they sold mostly through word of mouth. The big difference was that Mac users were proud to call themselves a cult, while Fidelity Computing’s customers were literally a religion.

Long after Fidelity had been called to the Great Beyond, its most loyal customers gave it an afterlife, nursing their computers along, until the parts and supplies ran out. They’d have kept going even then, if there’d been any way to unlock their machines and use the same stuff the rest of the computing world relied on. But that wasn’t something Fidelity Computing would permit, even from beyond the grave.

I was summoned to Fidelity headquarters—in unfashionable Colma, far from the white-hot start-ups of Palo Alto, Mountain View, and, of course, Cupertino—by a friend of Art’s. Art had a lot more friends than me. I was a skipping stone, working as the part-time bookkeeper/accountant/CFO for half a dozen companies and never spending more than one or two days in the same office.

Art was hardly more stable than me—he switched start-ups all the time, working for as little as two months (and never for more than a year) before moving on. His bosses knew what they were getting: you hired Art Hellman to blaze into your company, take stock of your product plan, root out and correct all of its weak points, build core code libraries, and then move on. He was good enough and sufficiently in demand to command the right to behave this way, and he wouldn’t have it any other way. My view was, it was an extended celebration of his liberation from the legal villainy of Nick Cassidy III: having narrowly escaped a cage, he was determined never to be locked up again.

Art’s “engagements”—as he called them—earned him the respect and camaraderie of half the programmers and hardware engineers in the Valley. This, in spite of the fact that he was a public and ardent member of the Lavender Panthers, wore the badge on his lapel, went to the marches, and brought his boyfriend to all the places where his straight colleagues brought their girlfriends.

He’d come out to me less than a week after I arrived by the simple expedient of introducing the guy he was watching TV with in our living room as Lewis, his boyfriend. Lewis was a Chinese guy about our age, and his wardrobe—plain white tee, tight blue jeans, loafers—matched the new look Art had adopted since leaving Boston. Lewis had a neat, short haircut that matched Art’s new haircut, too.

To call the Art I’d known in Cambridge a slob would be an insult to the natty, fashion-conscious modern slob. He’d favored old band T-shirts with fraying armpit seams, too-big jeans that were either always sliding off his skinny hips or pulled up halfway to his nipples. In the summer, his sneakers had holes in the toes. In the winter, his boots were road-salt-crusted crystalline eruptions. His red curls were too chaotic for a white-boy ’fro and were more of a heap, and he often went days without shaving.

There were members of the Newbury Street Irregulars who were bigger slobs than Art, but they smelled. Art washed, but otherwise, he looked like a homeless person (or a hacker). His transformation to a neatly dressed, clean-shaven fellow with a twenty-five-dollar haircut that he actually used some sort of hairspray on was remarkable. I’d assumed it was about his new life as a grown-up living far from home and doing a real job. It turned out that wasn’t the reason at all.

“Oh,” I said. “That makes a lot of sense.” I shook Lewis’s hand. He laughed. I checked Art. He was playing it cool, but I could tell he was nervous. I remembered Lucille and how she listened, and what it felt like to be heard. I thought about Art, and the things he’d never been able to tell me.

There’d been a woman in the Irregulars who there were rumors about, and there were a pair of guys one floor down in Art’s building who held hands in the elevator, but as far as I knew up until that moment, I hadn’t really ever been introduced to a homosexual person. I didn’t know how I felt about it, but I did know how I wanted to feel about it.

So Art didn’t just get to know all kinds of geeks from his whistle-stop tour of Silicon Valley’s hottest new tech ventures. He was also plugged into this other network of people from the Lavender Panthers, and their boyfriends and girlfriends, and the people he knew from bars and clubs. He and Lewis lasted for a couple of months, and then there were a string of weekends where there was a new guy at the breakfast table, and then he settled down again for a while with Artemis, and then he hit a long dry spell.

I commiserated. I’d been having a dry spell for nearly the whole two years I’d been in California. The closest I came to romance was exchanging a letter with Lucille every couple of weeks—she was a fine pen pal, but that wasn’t really a substitute for a living, breathing woman in my life.

Art threw himself into his volunteer work, and he was only half joking when he said he did it to meet a better class of boys than you got at a club. Sometimes, there’d be a committee meeting in our living room and I’d hear about the congressional committee hearing on the “gay plague” and the new wave of especially vicious attacks. It was pretty much the only time I heard about that stuff—no one I worked with ever brought it up, unless it was to make a terrible joke.

It was Murf, one of the guys from those meetings, who told me that Fidelity Computing was looking for an accountant for a special project. He had stayed after the meeting and he and Art made a pot of coffee and sat down in front of Art’s Apple clone, a Franklin Ace 1200 that he’d scored six months ahead of its official release. After opening the lid to show Murf the interior, Art fired it up and put it through its paces.

I hovered over his shoulder, watching. I’d had a couple of chances to play with the 1200, and I wanted one more than anything in the world except for a girlfriend.

“Marty,” Art said, “Murf was telling me about a job I thought you might be good for.”

The Ace 1200 would have a list price of $2,200. I pulled up a chair.

Fidelity Computing’s business offices were attached to their warehouse, right next to their factory. It took up half of a business park in Colma, and I had to circle it twice to find a parking spot. I was five minutes late and flustered when I presented myself to the receptionist, a blond woman with a ten – years – out – of – date haircut and a modest cardigan over a sensible white shirt buttoned to the collar, ring on her finger.

“Hello,” I said. “I’m Marty Hench. I—uh—I’ve got a meeting with the Reverend Sirs.” That was what the executive assistant I’d spoken to on the phone had called them. It sounded weird when he said it. It sounded weirder when I said it.

The receptionist gave me a smile that only went as far as her lips. “Please have a seat,” she said. There were only three chairs in the little reception area, vinyl office chairs with worn wooden armrests. There weren’t any magazines, just glossy catalogs featuring the latest Fidelity Computing systems, accessories, consumables, and software. I browsed one, marveling at the parallel universe of computers in the strange, mauve color that denoted all Fidelity equipment, including the boxes, packaging, and, now that I was attuned to it, the accents and carpet in the small lobby. A side door opened and a young, efficient man in a kippah and wire-rim glasses called for me: “Mr. Hench?” I closed the catalog and returned it to the pile and stood. As I went to shake his hand, I realized that something had been nagging me about the catalog—there were no prices.

“I’m Shlomo,” the man said. “We spoke on the phone. Thank you for coming down. The Reverend Sirs are ready to see you now.”

He wore plain black slacks, hard black shiny shoes, and a white shirt with prayer-shawl tassels poking out of its tails. I followed him through a vast room filled with chest-high Steelcase cubicles finished in yellowing, chipped wood veneer, every scratch pitilessly lit by harsh overhead fluorescents. Most of the workers at the cubicles were women with headsets, speaking in hushed tones. The tops of their heads marked the interfaith delineators: a block of Orthodox headscarves, then a block of nuns’ black and white scarves (I learned to call them “veils” later), then the Mormons’ carefully coiffed, mostly blond dos.

“This way,” Shlomo said, passing through another door and into executive row. The mauve carpets were newer, the nap all swept in one direction. The walls were lined with framed certificates of appreciation, letters from religious and public officials (apparently, the church and state were not separate within the walls of Fidelity Computing), photos of groups of progressively larger groups of people ranked before progressively larger offices—the company history.

We walked all the way to the end of the hall, past closed doors with nameplates, to a corner conference room with a glass wall down one side, showing a partial view of a truck-loading dock behind half-closed vertical blinds. Seated at intervals around a large conference table were the Reverend Sirs themselves, each with his own yellow pad, pencil, and coffee cup.

Shlomo announced me: “Reverend Sirs, this is Marty Hench. Mr. Hench, these are Rabbi Yisrael Finkel, Bishop Leonard Clarke, and Father Marek Tarnowski.” He backed out of the door, leaving me standing, unsure if I should circle the table shaking hands, or take a seat, or—

“Please, sit,” Rabbi Finkel said. He was fiftyish, round-faced and bear-shaped with graying sidelocks and beard and a black suit and tie. His eyes were sharp behind horn-rimmed glasses. He gestured to a chair at the foot of the table.

I sat, then rose a little to undo the button of my sport coat. I hadn’t worn it since my second job interview, when I realized it was making the interviewers uncomfortable. It certainly made me uncomfortable. I fished out the little steno pad and stick pen I’d brought with me.

“Thank you for coming, Mr. Hench.” The rabbi had an orator’s voice, that big chest of his serving as a resonating chamber like a double bass.

“Of course,” I said. “Thanks for inviting me. It’s a fascinating company you have here.”

Bishop Clarke smiled at that. He was the best dressed of the three, in a well-cut business suit, his hair short, neat, side-parted. His smile was very white, and very wide. He was the youngest of the three—in his late thirties, I’d guess. “Thank you,” he said. “We know we’re very different from the other computer companies, and we like it that way. We like to think that we see something in computers—a potential—that other people have missed.”

Father Tarnowski scowled. He was cadaverously tall and thin, with the usual dog collar and jacket, and a heavy gold class ring. His half-rim glasses flashed. He was the oldest, maybe sixty, and had a sour look that I took for habitual. “He doesn’t want the press packet, Leonard,” he said. “Let’s get to the point.” He had a broad Chicago accent like a tough-guy gangster in The Untouchables.

Bishop Clarke’s smile blinked off and on for an instant and I was overcome with the sudden knowledge that these two men did not like each other at all, and that there was some kind of long-running argument simmering beneath the surface. “Thank you, Marek, of course. Mr. Hench’s time is valuable.” Father Tarnowski snorted softly at that and the bishop pretended he didn’t hear it, but I saw Rabbi Finkel grimace at his yellow pad.

“What can I help you Reverend Sirs with today?” Reverend Sirs came more easily now, didn’t feel ridiculous at all. The three of them gave the impression of being a quarter inch away from going for each other’s throats, and the formality was a way to keep tensions at a distance.

“We need a certain kind of accountant,” the rabbi said. He’d dated the top of his yellow pad and then circled the date. “A kind of accountant who understands the computer business. Who understands computers, on a technical level. It’s hard to find an accountant like that, believe it or not, even in Silicon Valley.” I didn’t point out that Colma wasn’t in Silicon Valley.

“Well,” I said, carefully. “I think I fit that bill. I’ve only got an associate’s degree in accounting, but I’m a kind of floating CFO for half a dozen companies and I’ve been doing night classes at UCSF Extension to get my bachelor’s. I did a year at MIT and built my own computer a few years back. I program pretty well in BASIC and Pascal and I’ve got a little C, and I’m a pretty darned good debugger, if I do say so myself.”

Bishop Clarke gave a small but audible sigh of relief. “You do indeed sound perfect, and I’m told that Shlomo spoke to your references and they were very enthusiastic about your diligence and . . . discretion.”

I’d given Shlomo a list of four clients I’d done extensive work with, but I hadn’t had “discretion” in mind when I selected them. It’s true that doing a company’s accounts made me privy to some sensitive information—like when two employees with the same job were getting paid very different salaries—but I got the feeling that wasn’t the kind of “discretion” the bishop had in mind.

“I’m pretty good at minding my own business,” I said, and then, “even when I’m being paid to mind someone else’s.” I liked that line, and made a mental note about it. Maybe someday I’d put it on my letterhead. Martin Hench: Confidential CPA.

The bishop favored me with a chuckle. The rabbi nodded thoughtfully. The priest scowled.

“That’s very good,” the bishop said. “What we’d like to discuss today is of a very sensitive nature, and I’m sure you’ll understand if we would like more than your good word to rely on.” He lifted his yellow pad, revealing a single page, grainily photocopied, and slid it over the table to me. “That’s our standard nondisclosure agreement,” he said. He slid a pen along to go with it.

I didn’t say anything. I’d signed a few NDAs, but only after I’d taken a contract. This was something different. I squinted at the page, which was a second- or third-generation copy and blurry in places. I started to read it. The bishop made a disgusted noise. I pretended I didn’t hear him.

I crossed out a few clauses and carefully lettered in an amendment. I initialed the changes and slid the paper back across the table to the bishop, and found the smile was gone from his face. All three of them were now giving me stern looks, wrath-of-God looks, the kind of looks that would make a twenty-one-year-old kid like me very nervous indeed. I felt the nerves rise and firmly pushed them down.

“Mr. Hench,” the bishop said, his tone low and serious, “is there some kind of problem?”

It pissed me off. I’d driven all the way to for-chrissakes Colma and these three weirdo God-botherers had ambushed me with their everything – and – the – kitchen – sink contract. I had plenty of work, and I didn’t need theirs, especially not if this was the way they wanted to deal. This had suddenly become a negotiation, and my old man had always told me the best negotiating position was a willingness to get up from the table. I was going to win this negotiation, one way or another.

“No problem,” I said.

“And yet you appear to have made alterations to our standard agreement.”

“I did,” I said. That’s not a problem for me, I didn’t say.

He gave me more of that stern eyeball-ray stuff. I let my negotiating leverage repel it. “Mr. Hench, our standard agreement can only be altered after review by our general counsel.”

“That sounds like a prudent policy,” I said, and met his stare.

He clucked his tongue. “I can get a fresh one,” he said. “This one is no good.”

I cocked my head. “I think it’d be better to get your general counsel, wouldn’t it?”

The three of them glared at me. I found I was enjoying myself. What’s more, I thought Rabbi Finkel might be suppressing a little smile, though the beard made it hard to tell.

“Let me see it,” he said, holding his hand out.

Bishop Clarke gave a minute shake of his head. The rabbi half rose, reached across the table, and slid it over to himself, holding it at arm’s length and adjusting his glasses. He picked up his pen and initialed next to my changes.

“Those should be fine,” he said, and slid it back to me. “Sign, please.”

“Yisrael,” Bishop Clarke said, an edge in his voice, “changes to the standard agreements need to be reviewed—”

“By our general counsel,” the rabbi finished, waving a dismissive gesture at him. “I know, I know. But these are fine. We should probably make the same changes to all our agreements. Meanwhile, we’ve all now had a demonstration that Mr. Hench is the kind of person who takes his promises seriously. Would you rather have someone who doesn’t read and signs his life away, or someone who makes sure he knows what he’s signing and agrees with it?”

Bishop Clarke’s smile came back, strained at the corners. “That’s an excellent point, Rabbi. Thank you for helping me understand your reasoning.” He collected the now-signed contract from me and tucked it back under his yellow pad.

“Now,” he said, “we can get down to the reason we asked you here today.”

Check out my Kickstarter to pre-order copies of my next novel, Picks and Shovels!

If you'd like an essay-formatted version of this post to read or share, here's a link to it on pluralistic.net, my surveillance-free, ad-free, tracker-free blog:

https://pluralistic.net/2025/01/09/the-reverend-sirs/#fidelity-computing/

[am-i-the-asshole-official]

Hey, I'm microwavesofconfusion, the one who was planning on confronting the guy from D&D club. I both phrased my first comment poorly and planned poorly. I'm sorry to anyone who took offense from my behavior.

I kind of rationalized confronting him as something that would put me in the right. I originally joined D&D club to have fun playing D&D and because a lot of my friends were in it, but when I found out that he was in it, it kind of ruined a lot of the club for me. I still have fun when I'm playing in groups without him, and sometimes when I'm in groups with him, but whenever he's DMing, I (and other people, including those not in the know) have a terrible time. My school's D&D club has roughly 40 people, but only 20-25 of us sit at lunch together. I used to not sit with them (I used to sit with the band group until we broke up over an argument, but that's another story) but when a lot of my friends graduated, I began sitting with both D&D tables more often. I am genuinely friends with these people, and I love my friends very much. (I don't think that came across well in my comments). The thing is, the guy did some terrible things last year, worse things two years ago, and someone told me that he's doing those things more covertly now. Most of his friends are freshmen and sophomores (with juniors and seniors being reluctant to talk to him) because they don't know what he did. I tried talking to one of my friends about all of the stuff he did, and she sounded like she believed me, but then she invited him (well, via their mutual best friend) to the art honors society party, and she's still on good terms with him because she's never seen anything from him firsthand.

I decided that subtly dropping hints that he wasn't great until people thought about it and came to realize on their own that he wasn't a good person was the way to go, because if I try to tell people, it will become a "he said, she said" sort of thing, and people will rise to defend him. So, rather than say that he told a girl that he wanted to sexually assault her, or try to write down some of his racist jokes (which people defend anyway), I just say stuff like "isn't it weird that his girlfriend is so quiet around him" or "I didn't like how he yelled at us during the one-shot" to get people thinking. While I kind of am turning people against him, it's not empty lies. Everything I'm saying is true, and people can dismiss it as easily as they dismiss other people who tell him to stop making homophobic jokes.

It's not really a matter of whether I like him, I just think that people shouldn't be looking up to him as some sort of role model when he still does shady shit (skipping class to hang out alone in the welding room with someone else's partner is shady, whether it's cheating or not). My methods weren't great, and maybe there's a better way to go about it, but I just don't like how he's starting up again.

He did get punished for the stuff he did two years ago. He got suspended for something around the same time that he got in trouble for peeking in the girl's dressing room while the actors were changing, and he isn't a peeping Tom anymore, but he still convinces underclassmen to skip class to hang out with him, and he still sends people (who aren't his girlfriend) lewd texts, and he still discusses BDSM with anyone who has ears, but idk. How do the people of tumblr think I should have handled this situation?

For context:

[papermonkeyism]

Poking at the dinosaur project thingy, this time with some production technicalities point of view.

Here be musings.

I originally thought of the project as a calendar, then a series of calendars that could be collected into an art book once enough art had been made for it, and at some point I thought of just skipping the calendar part and going straight for art books.

I've been going back and forth between those options multiple times over the years, and it's still kinda open. Like on one hand a simple calendar with just thirteen illustrations (twelve months plus cover) is the easiest and cheapest option, though pretty limited (what to do once the year presented in the calendar ends, and you still got unsold leftover stock?), and the other hand art books are big projects requiring lots of work, even more money, but be a lasting and very satisfying thing to have.

Maybe I should take a middle road and make a zine instead?

Maybe.

Though, this is where the shape of the actual project comes in.

I've always planned the project as having a slice of life style format, with little story and more focus in exploring the setting. Kinda just looking in and enjoying the view while you go. But I've noticed that keeping the "narration" as illustrations kinda keeps the immersion at arm's length too. While that is fine and dandy for a calendar where the space for any narrative would be very limited anyway, if I was going to do more with the setting, I kinda need something deeper. Even if the audience is fine just looking at pretty pictures, with ADHD it would be better to have something deeper to help keep me personally invested enough to actually plan, plot and produce the materials needed.

Should I make an actual story, with plot and stuff? Feels kinda unnecessary for a thing focusing on just illustrations, and I don't know if I really "click" with a text heavy picture book format. I kinda feel it would make comic as the best option, though that has its own downsides. I've always wanted to do full colour paintings of the dinosaurs, yet going comic it would have to simplify a lot and make it grayscale just to keep me sane. And, as someone who has done well over 250 pages of a long form comic, that's still a HUGE commitment I don't think I have the resources - mental, physical nor financial - to pull off.

I also kinda feel having a plot story would sort of detract from the "exploring the world" aspect and put more heavy focus on characters, which. Well, it's not *bad* exactly, just not quite what I want.

(Also I am aware the dinosaur clan I have has a kid character, and I don't want to make her the point of view character for the story. I have no interest doing a childrens' book. I mean, I am perfectly fine if kids do eventually end up liking my stuff, but I don't consider them my target audience. My target audience is me, an adult person in their later 30s, and a handful of nerds I consider friends and/or mutuals.)

Another option I've been toying with is kind of a double edged sword.

Those who got the Almost Real speculative evolution zine volume 5 got a bit of a taste of this, as I kinda tried it out there.

So... I've gone to pretty great lengths as a layperson to work in the setting of the project thingy. It's always bothered me when dinosaurs get just dumped into a story with no regards to when and where they actually lived, making for an anachronistic hodgepodge of what's popular forming into a mismatched fantasy setting, usually with throwing humans into the mix. I don't like that. I'm more interested in seeing the actual animals as they were, when they were and where they were, where the focus is in the dinosaurs themselves. Thus the limit to Two Medicine formation (with some of the surrounding areas included too, though still keeping to the same time period).

I do not want humans in my dinosaur stories. Period.

But what if...

So, imagine a research journal. There's a scientist visiting the clan of Singing People the project focuses on, with the mission of studying them, their life and their world. The book or zine or whatever could be a story of the dinosaur clan introducing themselves and their life to this person. An outsider point of view to excuse learning about them by them teaching this POV person how their world works. There could be some interaction and maybe interviews, and of course illustrations because you need to document your subjects after all.

Like, I'm kinda excited about the idea. It would let me get into the details I want to picture without getting too into the heads of the characters to limit the chances of artistic exploration. You gotta document the surroundings your study subjects live in after all! But you'd still get to know the characters because it's the job of the POV person to learn about them. Win win!

It's just that I don't want to put too much attention on this hypothetical scientist. Like I said before I don't want to mix my settings. The dinosaur project thingy's world IS Laramidia in the Campanian period of late Cretaceous, it's not meant to be a scifi setting, nor do I want to have any focus on any time travel.

Wonder if it would be possible to leave the scientist character vague enough to never actually get explained? They're just nameless outsider from undetermined time and place who's interviewing some dinosaurs. Maybe with some peronal opinions or musings but no anecdotes about their own life or themself. And whenever there's interactions between the scientist and any of the Singing People it just gets handwaved away. (Of course the Singing People are curious about them too, but that's not the point of the study so it just doesn't get documented or something?)

I don't know. Could that work?

[pancakeke]

The comic store had a sidewalk sale with $1 bins today. I found a couple single issue Viz manga releases from 2003ish. This was back when they were mirroring manga so it would read left to right. Some fun examples of how this caused problems under the cut.

These first two sets of comparisons are from Ceres Celestial Legend. Original Japanese manga caps are on the left, my pics of the Viz English release are on the right.

A big problem with mirroring manga was that any text within artwork got reversed. Above you can see a character's shirt in panel 2 containing the letter "E" above the word "ELLE".

The English release edited this panel to cover the original artwork with a nearly identical design that faced the correct direction once mirrored, though the new text is inside a rectangle. I'm guessing the rectangle was a quick and dirty way to cover up the old text and avoid shading folds for the new text.

If you look on to panel 4 you can see that the English version did not bother to edit the same character's shirt. The top half of a backwards E is visible. Both the edited and unedited shirts make additional appearances later.

Sometimes certain panels were not mirrored, but I don't fully understand why. Choosing NOT to mirror select panels can easily lead to continuity errors or other issues.

Above you can see that the English release kept panel 1 facing it's original orientation. Note how the blonde character and the character in the portrait are wearing kimonos with the left side wrapped over the right. This is the traditionally correct method to wear a kimono (unless you're dead and it's your funeral).

Panel 4 of the English version is mirrored which makes it appear as though the character in the center is wearing a kimono incorrectly. All kimonos in following pages appear to be worn incorrectly as well, since they're mirrored too.

I also saw a few instances of weird choices made when translating Japanese text within artwork. It's unrelated to mirroring, so I'm skipping that stuff.

This next series is Silent Mobius, or as Viz called its issues Silent Mobius Blood and Silent Mobius Hell.

This series has the same problem with select non mirrored panels creating inconsistencies. Here you can see panel 1 of the English release maintained its original orientation while the remainder of the page was mirrored.

The same building appears again a few pages later here in panel 1. The English version is mirrored, so the positions of its towers in relation to each other don't match the other page.

Bonus weird translation direction here btw. I noticed a lot of signs in the Japanese version that originally contained both English and Japanese, but the English release replaced them with awkwardly stretched text in English only. There wasn't even anything on this page to justify mirroring it in the first place. You'd think they could have left it and kept the original signs.

I hit the image limit so I'm going to see if I can reblog this from myself and add another cut. There are two more side-by-sides I want to share.

[fumiyami]

51. knows every bit of gossip in 1A (either just from being observant or from Mina!!)

52. doesn’t really care for hero merch (unless it’s something like an accessory/something he can wear) but still gets it free from hawks unwillingly

53. he spaces out a lot so everyone in class 1A thinks he’s just being all broody and dark but in actuality he’s either staring at his reflection (if he’s zoning out at a mirror/window) or talking to dark shadow in his mind

54. SO GOOD at arguing and comebacks but doesn’t use that skill often

55. I imagine his parents to be like in a dark gothic gang or something like that (maybe that’s where he got his way of speaking from🤫)

56. when he’s older and a pro hero I imagine his fan base is mostly just goth kids and teenagers who look up to him!!

57. LOVES having his feathers stroked (or preened by dark shadow) but doesn’t ask for it or anything usually

58. speaking about his feathers, since they’re all over his face/head that area is warm during the winter and usually overheats in the summer

59. ALSO he hates the fact that summer is so hot since I can tell he’d be sweating if he had to do hero work like running around and fighting villains in THAT HERO COSTUME.

60. has a massive sweet tooth though not many people would expect him to

61. has a bunch of nicknames like “fumi” “mika” (one that I got from a fanfic) as in like fuMIKAge “toko” and then there’s mina who adds adjectives to the start of tokoyami like that one time she called him angryami!!

62. collects the most obscure things ever

63. once he like settles into UA and gets more confidence he sets up a secret tiktok or whatever account where he does song covers and his own original songs!! (class 1A find out and they go wild)

64. once got tricked into getting tipsy by hawks (got this one from a fic!!)

65. sometimes he wants to dress more gothic but i’ve seen how hard it is to find super cool masculine looking goth clothes☹️

66. due to the fact that he’s partially a bird whenever he gets sick the symptoms don’t show up for a while so when they do show up it’s BAD.

67. once accidentally misspelled his classmates names and no one’s letting him live it down

68. has a collection of rings

69. love language is definitely mostly gift giving!! (and all the other ones but mostly gift giving)

70. wears contacts cuz he refuses to get glasses that actually fit him and then wear them

71. as a baby (chick) he didn’t speak for like 3 years (just small chirps and stuff) until one day he just randomly started speaking full sentences?? skipped the whole starter tutorial😣

72. can and will randomly say some creepy fact like “if you nurture little bits of surgically removed brains then it will grow eyes.” “YOU’RE STARTING TO SCARE ME SCARYAMI.”

73. actually really enjoys gossiping but would never admit it

74. also loves shopping!!

75. mr aizawa’s favourite student (one of aizawa’s voice actors, english I think, told us this was true!!)

76. somehow knows who everyone has a crush on, who’s dating and who hates each other (mina pays him in apples for info on the drama they’re gossip buddies trust)

77. can mimic voices and sounds SO easily

78. he only gets really super mad when someone ignores him or goes into his room without permission!

79. can (but probably won’t) argue on why being goth and being emo are different things

80. birds sometimes follow him thinking he’s one of them (he is but would never admit it)

81. HATES quirks that can make people laugh involuntarily (he gets flashbacks into the past with miss joke😖😖)

82. isn’t as introverted as people think but is usually judged like that

83. got his red choker as a gift!!

84. LOVES collecting pins and keychains and stuff like that

85. someone once mentioned mating season to him and he still holds a grudge

86. is able to perfectly understand Shakespeare’s texts and speak like him

87. CAN ROLLER SKATE.

88. he can hit really really high notes (like think ballad of Jane doe from ride the cyclone) while singing but refuses to do that front of most people

89. makes playlists for people but in the end either forgets to show them or gets too nervous

90. once accidentally flew into a window and hawks will never let him live it down

91. planned to be a writer/journalist when he was younger

92. will subconsciously copy what other people say which is how he started saying revelry in the dark

93. SUPER ticklish but makes dark shadow come out before anyone even gets close to hearing his actual laugh

94. genuinely likes the taste of birdseed but refuses to let himself enjoy it

95. is always seen with closed eyes because he’s always just naturally tired so this is his way of resting without actually resting!

96. everyone thinks he’s always annoyed or mad or something cuz that’s the way his face looks when he’s just neutral :((

THIS IS A PART 2 OF MY OTHER HEADCANON VIDEO A BIT AGO SO THATS WHY THE NUMBERS ARE ALL WEIRD!! ALSO I LOST MOTIVATION TO DO THIS ONE SO THEY KINDA GOT WORSER EACH TIME😰

[horizon-verizon]

"...we just hate the way Emma talk about this character feels like a mockery" Isn’t that just most of the cast, though? Most of them don’t bother to read the source material. Then they show up to interviews without a real understanding of their character arcs or endings and just throw out headcanons. Annoying? Yes. But it happens. It was annoying when Tom said Aegon was an empath (and his fans went wild, claiming he’s the only one who "gets him"). Emma, for the most part, provides a fairly neutral take on Rhaenyra. Sure, they’ve had moments where they veer into headcanon territory, but it’s not the worst I’ve seen. Then again, who wouldn’t start slipping after being asked the same question a thousand times: “What do you think your character felt when…?” 🙄 Out of the whole cast, Matthew Needham is one of the few who actually seems to understand his character. He doesn’t mock the role, try to justify actions, or force “good” qualities over the bad ones; he just presents his character as it is.

Anon talks about this post.

I haven't watched any interviews after the puppy one, that one with the black backdrop where Fabien and Matt were uncontrollably laughing, and one group one where Matt said he'd protect Emma in a different time period. And I haven't gone back for S1 interviews, so I wouldn't know about Emma's patterns there too well. But I have had the impression from clips on TikTok that it is as you describe, to the point that some people thought that they were a little wishy-washy to please the actor of Alicent (forgot her name) bc they were in their begiining of their friendship and we were all still in the midst of the show's pushing antiDaemonism/pro-Alicentism for Rhaenyra's popularity, which...never made any sense.

Important to note some things that other anon said:

A)

[...] we just hate the way Emma talk about this character feels like a mockery If Emma hates girlie stuff and thinking wore a skirt is their highest achivement? Its fine. But their fans had use the book to justifying that they are right while this character were nothing like in the book, it's better for them to throw fire and blood and embraced that their character love their stepmother.

B)

there's a lot of queer/minority actors in hollywood did all of them act like Emma? Emma didnt look like how George describe the character and didnt acting and behave like her, this one is older than her stepmom, the question is is this really the character? It is so understandable that Ryan and Miguel chose Emma through audition in Zoom meeting at the pandemic and it shows.

I forgot about the [bold] line above in the first quote or my eyes skipped it, but this presents as approaching transphobia/enbyphobia bc I'm not sure how Emma's supposed hatred feminine socially-coded feminine clothing impacted how the costumers created the clothes or how the writers decided to write a lot of show!Rhaenyra's subpar approaches to the war preparations. And Emma not looking like how GRRM describes Rhaenyra should really only refer to her (Rhaenyra's) clothing, bc acting is a priority over looks when considering fancasting. The person can be the "perfect" mirror of the official small-mouthed, plump Rhaenyra but if they can't act or portray Rhaenyra's character it's been a complete waste, esp when it's the MC. Makes the whole thing far less enjoyable or plain intolerable. And in general, fancasting/casting is not going to be perfect in terms of looks fitting those either detailed to T in the original text OR imagined so by one set of the audience from some deatils of the text anyway. It's not ever going to fit everyone's perfect idea of what the character looks like OR, again, fit the exact truely detailed accout from the text itself. No one looks like a "canon" Targ except maybe an albino, and even then we know Targs typically had "gold" (yellow/blonde) AND "silver" (white, NOT gray!) hair tendrils or has purple eyes (not dark blue that could pass as such, true purple).

So again, what we should consider is how the actor acts, what is written for them to base such acting on, and finally how the costumers/producers decided how this character dresses.

So there appears to be just some more possible transphobia here.

[niuttuc]

My Favorite Cards of 2024: Duskmourn: House of Horror

The year is pretty close to over, so let’s go back over the sets released this year (with new cards at least), and go through a few of my favorite cards from that release. I’ll group together stuff released together, in this case it’ll be the main Duskmourn set and the commander precons. Extra reprints as special guests might also get a mention. I’ll probably go through one set a day for the next week, though I might skip some days for personal reasons.

Duskmourn's flavor in specific didn't resonate much with me, so I'm likely to focus exclusively on mechanics for this one.

Probably the biggest success of Duskmourn in my opinion is the cycle of Overlords. In what might be the best redo of the Titan cycle since the original, and possibly even better than those, all five of them are competitively viable in multiple formats without being auto-includes in every deck of their colors or feeling oppressive to play against.

Of course, some, like the green ones, are a bit better than others, but overall, all five of them found homes, and that's a really, really narrow window to aim for. An impressive feat of design that WotC managed to hit, and they play even better than OG titans thanks to impending by offering options earlier in the game too, not being locked to a 6 drop cost.

From a purely design perspective, this cycle might be at the top of the entire year for me.

A second cycle? Duskmourn brought to the table not one but TWO excellent enchantment creature cycles, and the Enduring Glimmers are also generally very impressive. Again, all of them are excellent in both commander, standard (except maybe the red one so far) and beyond. Entire new decks have spawned around them, or they're good additions to existing decks too. None of them are entirely unique, but adding more resilience to enchantment effects and a body makes them much less of a commitment to deploy.

While they are very strong, I'll dock them a point or two compared to the Overlords because that resilience can be a bit oppressive to play against or warp an entire format's removal with as strong as they can be.

If you put enough bad things together for a cheap cost, it becomes good. Sheltered by Ghosts is something like that. While it opens you to huge blowouts as an aura AND an oblivion ring, the added ward and immediate swing of the lifelink makes it worth the risk to play in Constructed, and that's quite impressive. At points, it feels a bit too much, but this is likely what this kind of effect needs to see play.

I do like my clones, and Silent Hallcreeper is a two mana clone that comes with a lot more play to it. How it wants to be played is as an unblockable saboteur that runs out of value at some point and becomes another creature to keep on rolling. But in practice, there is actual decision to the order you do things in, and that's excellent gameplay. Plus, the fact you can use a Silent Hallcreeper to copy a different Silent Hallcreeper to reset the mode choices and keep doing that is neat, even if it isn't particularly relevant.

Come Back Wrong is a removal with a lot of potential upside, enough that you'd occasionally consider using it on your own creatures as a terrible removal spells! In this era of ETB triggers everywhere and Overlords, it can be a lot of extra text added at the end of your removal. It's certainly more fun than playing a more efficient removal that just kills a thing!

While I'm no horror fan, be it movie or otherwise, one gotta appreciate a good top-down design. The fact this one is good enough to see some niche competitive constructed play as an incidental thing that happens rarely but creates stories is the perfect place for it to end up. And it brings the pair of cards to this list!

Frost Lynx, how far you've come! Floodpits Drowner is incredibly pushed as far as this slot for limited, enough to land at constructed tables. Yet definitely not too far, when it comes to that. Still, an impressive Merfolk in a set where one wouldn't expect those.

One mana targeted graveyard hate on an artifact is already pretty impressive, something we somehow haven't seen up until now. But Ghost Vacuum does more than that, in decks that can make use of it, it's a graveyard hate piece that incidentally turns into a wincon late in the game, or if you draw multiple copies. I've had decks wanting to mainboard this graveyard hate just for the chance at the second mode, while incidentally hating on graveyard synergies. That's neat!

Blinking stuff is fun, and Niko does the blinking thing in a very unique way, where it's not JUST about etbs, in fact they encourage you to have more to it than that. When you use them, you might get back an etb trigger, but you also get two or more copies of the creatures to activate or attack with! And then Niko themselves have an etb effect that slowly digs through the deck, so that other blink effects in the deck will have a target!

A blast to play with overall.

[gamesception]

Sception Reads Batgirl (2024) #1

writer: Tate Brombal artist: Takeshi Miyazawa colors: Mike Spicer

I guess the comics creation process has changed in the last 20 years, because there's no longer separately credited pencils and inks. Is inking just not a job anymore? If not, who does that part now? "artist" or "colors"? Lettering is still a separate job - Tom Napolitano for this issue. I haven't been listing letterers with these reviews... should I be? & should I be calling out editors, for that matter?

Just a heads up: I didn't dislike this issue overall, and I do call out the stuff I liked, but I spend a lot of this post comparing it negatively to Batgirl 2000. If you're a Cass fan who's just hyped that she has a new solo title, and don't want to read a bunch of negativity while you're still celebrating then maybe skip this one.

Anyway, Cassandra Cain finally has a proper new solo ongoing title as Batgirl again, and the Cass fans on tumblr have seemingly been pretty hype about it. I'm considerably more trepidatious going in, because my reread of Cass's original appearances (link) has mostly shown me that I'm maybe not so much a 'Cassandra Cain' fan as I am a fan specifically of the initial Puckett/Scott run of Batgirl (2000). Of the unique tone and story-telling style of those issues, of the particular relationships between Cass and her main supporting cast at the time - Bruce, David, Barbara, later Stephanie.

I recently wrote a too-long post about what I was hoping for out of the new book (link) - but to recap I DON'T want to see a return of OG Cass's character and continuity - that version of the character is too tied up in her particular relationships with other characters that either don't exist or don't exist in the same form anymore. Plus, the impulse of middle age comic creators to try to force continuity back to whatever the status quo was when they first became fans is exactly what led to original Cass getting tossed aside and trampled over in the first place. New Cass is a new character, and I don't want her fans to have to go through what I went through just because people my age are in charge of editorial now.

What I DO want is a return of original Cass's storytelling style. Self contained stories, sombre tone, focus on emotion over action, leaning into Cass's personal motivations and fraught interpersonal relationships (just those of new Cass instead of old Cass), with a heavy emphasis on the individual humanity of all parties involved, with story and emotions conveyed primarily through the art - especially the facial expressions - while minimizing the reliance on dialog and especially narration blocks wherever possible.

That's a tall order, especially the last bit. There's a reason Batgirl 2000 caught my attention and stuck in my head. It takes a special kind of artist to be able to convey all that visually, and a special kind of writer to understand that less is more, to trust the artist to convey these things and trust the reader to pick up on them without spelling it all out explicitly in text.

So that's all what I want. But what do I expect? I'm a old school Cass fan. What I expect is disappointment.

...............................

So, first two pages, and we have some positives and negatives right off the bat. The art & colors are good. I mostly like the way Miyazawa draws Cass. It's a solid take on her costume, even if I prefer the wider angle ears from the recent Birds of Prey run. I like the classic chonky yellow belt pouches, though I'm not as big a fan of the yellow outline bat symbol. Yes it's also a classic, but it's a bit fiddly and doesn't read terribly well when she's smaller in the panel, like on that second page, so I always though a solid yellow bat symbol would have been better. I like the white eyes.

Cass's proportions feel a bit off. I like the emphasis on her musculature, but the overall figure feels too hour glassy, and the head to body ratio kind of visually implies a much taller Cass that I'm used to, especially for her post-reboot incarnation. This is an issue in Birds of Prey as well, if maybe not to the same extent.

New Cass was apparently supposed to be 16 when she was first introduced in B&RE & her earlier Detective run and like 17 or 18 in later Detective, outsiders, and Batgirls appearances - through from the way she was drawn and depicted I had thought she was like three years younger than that the whole time. Now she's 18 or 19, and has apparently gone through an extremely late and extremely sudden puberty? Eh, continuity in Bat books especially regarding canon ages was never good and has been an absolute wreck ever since new 52, so that's not something to fault this book in particular for. But even so, the body type feels a bit off.

The big tragedy, is, of course, the way Cass's mask blocks her face - especially her mouth. This is another throwback to her original batgirl costume, but Damion Scott was still able to convey a full range of emotions on Cass by just ignoring physics and drawing her face straight through the mask. Miyazawa seems to be going for a slightly more... I don't know, 'realistic' maybe isn't the right word. And there is some expression still showing, but given how much more expressive Shiva's face manages to be in this issue, it really feels like breaking from tradition to go with something that keeps her face exposed, like the domino mask of the Blackbat costume, would have better served Miyazawa's style.

Speaking of Shiva...

Yup, that's post reboot Shiva there, looking basically exactly how I expect her to look. Which is to say she looks fine. Good even. Her face is very expressive throughout the comic, which I really like, and I also like that she's deliberately drawn a bit older - something about the lines on her face, the sharpness of it. This is a woman with a history, been around the world, killed a lot of people, and that experience shows on her face. This in particular I can credit Miyazawa above Scott on, because in their first few meetings in particular back in Batgirl 2000 Cass and her mom looked about the same age.

There's a deliberate choice in this first introduction to pose her away from Cass, despite the fact that in the narrative she's the one going to Cass and Cass is rejecting her. But while it doesn't fit the narrative, it does play into some of the underlying character dynamics between them. It ties into the idea that since she understands body language like Cass does, she can 'speak' that language deliberately, allowing her to deceive Cass in a way that normal people can't. Her interior emotions are closed off to Cass - not because Shiva isn't expressing emotions but because her ability to lie means Cass can't - and doesn't - trust what Shiva 'says'.

That's all good stuff. The kind of interpersonal dynamics that I want to see out of Cass stories, so in that at least I'm happy. Most of the Cass-Shiva stuff in this issue is really solid. It was a natural and imo correct choice to start the book with a narrow focus on Cass's relationship to Shiva, given how core that relationship has been to both of their characterizations since Cass's post-reboot reintroduction. But that's for both better and worse, especially in Shiva's case. I know there are fans of Shiva out there who don't like how much of her individual character and motivation has been pushed aside to just make her 'Cass's Mom'. Unfortunately, that particular problem isn't one that's going to be fixed in a Cass Cain solo title.

Less good is how much Brombal relies on blunt narration blocks to explain this dynamic between Cass and Shiva to the reader, instead of allowing the reader to pick up on the emotional undercurrent through the art the way Cass perceives it through body language.

I'm willing to cut Brombal some slack here, because where they're working with Shiva - a reserved, withdrawn, calculating, and emotionally deceptive evil parent - Puckett & Scott were working with og David Cain. He was original character they crafted specifically to fit the kind of story they were trying to tell, so they made Cain the kind of man that never had a sincere emotion that he didn't wear all over his face for the world to see. Like, here he is in Batman 567, Cass's first appearance, with the Puckett/Scott creative team.

look at this man

Look at his face! See how expressive it is!

And yeah, Shiva's just not going to be expressive in the same way. So it really is honestly impressive how good a job Miyazawa does with her face in this issue:

Those are some good & fun faces. It's a good thing Miyazawa is doing such a good job with Shiva's face, though because it's near about the only face we get to see in this issue. Which is a problem I pitch a big old fit about below regarding the antagonists, but even more than that it's kind of frustrating that we don't get to see Cass's face even one time in the first issue of her new ongoing.

And while these Shiva faces are good, they're rarely the focus of the page. We're never given the kind of close up faces that take up half a page or more to really let us drink in the characters' emotions like Batgirl 2000 used so effectively.

.....

That's about as much as I can wring out of those two pages. Unfortunately that means I have to get to the actual content of the book.

First, what the hell is Cass doing in that first panel.

Second... come on. This book wants me to believe that Shiva is worried about some random assassins killing her and Cassandra? In this continuity the League of Assassins are the worlds top evil ninja society that every other random evil ninja society is afraid of, except for the League of Shadows who are the super secret even more ultra evil ninja society that even the League of Assassins is afraid of, and Shiva and Cass are each individually established as being so far beyond even them that either of them could outfight and take down the entire League of Assassins on their own. "Faceless ninja mooks Trained killers are coming to get us" is so far beneath either of these characters as far as threats go that Shiva should feel insulted, not afraid.

And I guess that's supposed to be the point? Like the writer is saying "these guys who you've never heard of are so scarry that even Shiva is afraid! Aren't you intrigued?" And, like, no. I'm not. If Shiva isn't feeling disdainful and insulted, then I'm just kind of forced to feel insulted on her behalf. This isn't something Shiva should think Cass needs help with, and if Cass did end up needing help I'd expect Shiva to help, but also to make a big show of how disappointed she was that Cass couldn't handle it on her own the entire time.

That last panel with Cass and Shiva is cute. Again, most of the direct interactions between them in this book are good, and they're the ledge I'm desperately clinging to in order to say I don't actively dislike the whole issue altogether.

On the other hand when I say 'faceless ninja mooks' I mean it. These guys are as generic as mooks get, with no individuality at all. Store bought ninja halloween costumes, swords and bows instead of guns or anything serious. These guys aren't people, they're the putties from Power Rangers. They don't even have real dialog, just a corny mantra.

Compare to these generic thugs from Batgirl (2000) #1. Even without names and almost no dialog, each one is a completely unique individual, to the point that we easily recognize 'Merc' in the middle when he shows up later in the issue.

Mob guys, bank robbers, just random civilians on the city streets, everyone who shared a panel with Cass with under Scott's pencil had a unique face, and whenever any of these background characters stepped forward to actually take part in the story Puckett invested them with personalities and motivations and lives of their own.

And I'm not just harping on it because I like that kind of storytelling better, it was part and parcel to Cass as a character. Her unique superpower, her whole body-reading gimmick, essentially amounts to super-empathy. It's why she doesn't kill, it's why the one time she did kill as a child messed her up so bad. It, along with the guilt from that murder, forces her to connect to even the villains she interacts with, to see them as full human beings and not just enemies that need to be stopped. It's why Bruce once characterized her as 'gentle', despite all the killing skills that were trained into her. And yeah, new Cass is a new character, but these core elements are, or at least should be, shared between both versions, between every version of this character, even as the specific details of that history vary from continuity to continuity.

Emphasizing the individual humanity of all the characters in a Cass story - from Cass herself to the primary antagonists to the random mooks to the background extras - is essential to conveying that aspect of Cass as a character.

And these guys are the literal opposite of that.

Now, they're not all bad. We do get a bit of a fun fight scene out of them. Very 70s hong kong martial arts movie vibe, which Cass and Shiva can play into. And a faceless crowd of ninja mooks makes sense in that context. This isn't as fundamentally obviously a terrible decision on the creative team's part as I'm making out.

But there are any number of martial artist characters in the DC canon that can be used to do this sort of thing. IMO it just doesn't speak to what's uniquely compelling about Cassandra - old or new. Which is a problem for the first issue of her new ongoing title.

And nothing here illuminates why Shiva would be in any way worried about these guys. They're not uniquely skilled, they're not uniquely anything, and they're not portrayed as being on Cass or Shiva's level.

Cass and Shiva eventually get bored of fighting generic nobodies & make their way down to the street via window and hang-glider-cape, where we get this bit... that I actively kind of hate?

Because, see, the incident Shiva is talking about is something that happened in Batgirl (2000). This shouldn't be in continuity anymore, and it doesn't fit into current Cass timeline at all - unless there was some other shiva-worshipping temple in gotham death/revival incident with Cass post-reboot that I don't remember.

I've seen people celebrating this exact line as marking the return of pre-reboot Cass's continuity and the wholesale erasure of post-reboot Cass. Apart from the frustrating indifference of that sentiment towards any fans of post-reboot Cass, especially coming from fans who should know better, it doesn't even work. Because the Shiva we've spent this whole issue with is 100% post-reboot Shiva. This IS NOT the character that Cass fought in that temple. As out of character as it is for this Shiva to be afraid of random mooks, we can at least accept her behavior IF we suspend disbelief about those mooks representing any sort of threat to her and Cass in the first place.

But the Shiva og Cass fought in Batgirl (2000)?

Death matches, putting her own life on the line to test her skills against the deadliest martial artists in the world, was her whole deal. Batgirl (2000)'s contribution to that deal was that Shiva was such a skilled fighter because she had the same body-reading ability as Cass, and just like Cass that ability forced Shiva to experience the deaths of those she killed as they experienced it. And just like Cass had been consumed by guilt from that experience, Shiva had been consumed with... well, not guilt exactly. But a burden of karmic debt. She had killed and she deserved to die for it. But her martial pride didn't allow her to just take her own life, so she traveled the world looking for someone who could give her the warrior's death she deserved.

After Shiva "killed" and then revived Cass, she hoped that Cass would be, at least for a moment, sufficiently freed from the sense of guilt that prevented her from killing again to go all out against Shiva and finally put an end to her. Cass, recognizing how much they had in common, was then able to use her new understanding of the death wish they shared to defeat Shiva without killing her.

All this is to say that if the Shiva Cass fought in that temple had been confronted with an ancient secret order of martial artists out to kill her and so skilled that they could actually do it, she would have relished the chance to finally meet the end she had been chasing across the world for decades. This Shiva is not her, so the comic deliberately invoking that story via this temple reference is kind of jarring to me.

This is part of why I didn't want this book to try to revive pre-reboot Cass's history, whether in part or in whole. That character was founded on relationships with a bunch of other characters whose present versions are all as different from the versions og Cassandra knew as the Cass of Batman & Robin Eternal was from the Cass of Batgirl (2000).

The clock only turns the one way. You can't turn it back, you have to build forward from where you are.

If we ignore this line, and the inclusion of this temple in the story, then I'd argue the comic at least begins to do that with the relationship Cass and Shiva's have built up in Detective and Outsiders and Shiva's brief appearance in Batgirls... but are any of those events even in continuity anymore? I don't know, and that's pretty frustrating.

We do get this cute moment of Cass disappearing on Shiva and Shiva blaming 'her father's influence' - by which she obviously means Bruce. Again, mostly good character interaction between Cass and Shiva. Unfortunately this cute moment is immediately undercut by Cass just being there anyway in the next panel, but still.

....

I'm getting tired, and this has taken way too long already, what's left?

Yeah, Shiva's temple explodes, Cass & Shiva go there and meet the temple keeper from the same story back in Batgirl (2000) as he dies, the faceless ninjas attack again. There's at least one more really good bit with Cass and Shiva worth calling out:

This is good. This is a good moment, calling back to the start of the issue when Shiva was trying to convince Cassandra how much she she meant her, and Cass accused her of lying, while here she is trying to convince the putty patrol that Cass doesn't mean anything to her, and Cass can tell that that's the real lie.

This is probably my favorite Cass & Shiva bit in an issue that has a lot of good bits to point to in that regard.

Unfortunately the comic pretty much ends here, which brings me to my last big complaint about Batgirl (2024) #1: It doesn't tell a complete story. It doesn't even come close - hardly anything even happens. Cass & Shiva barely talk in a pent house, fight some random nobodies for a few panels, barely talk outside, and then end on a cliff hanger fighting the same nobodies in a burning building. That's it. We barely recap Cass's backstory at all, we don't find out who these guys are or why they want Cass & Shiva dead, we hardly interact with any characters, and they end on a cliffhanger after hardly doing anything only 20 pages in, wasting like 6 pages on an adds for wrestling comics after that.

Batgirl (2000) #1 managed to do so much more with only a few more pages - giving us flashbacks to Cass as a child beating up 'Merc' & the thugs as part of training with David, training with barbara, Barbara trying and failing to connect with her, another flashback to cass after she had left david encountering Merc again, patrolling with batman, barbara and bruce talking about her abilities and disabilities, the little wham moment of Babs being like 'No wonder she's so good at stick fighting, I just thought it was from Cain training her', and Brucy replying 'Cain never taught her stick fighting, I did, last week, took five minutes', Bruce & Cass sparring - which the comic doesn't even show because the page space was better used on close ups of their faces to convey their emotions afterwards, Cass patrolling again and starting to find herself as batgirl when she meets Merc for a third and final time, how that final meeting tied the rest of the issue together in a satisfying way, tying together the drifting life that led to her becoming Batgirl, before closing on Batman laying down the rules for Cass as a crimefighter (no costumed criminals, etc) which also served as a message to readers about what to expect from the book.

....

I get that it's not fair to compare this book to the Puckett/Scott run of Batgirl 2000, one of my favorite comic book works and probably my absolute favorite mainstream superhero comic work ever. I will stick with this book and post my reactions to it going forward, but I don't intend to do this kind of expectations-laden comparison to Batgirl 2000 again. I hadn't even intended to do it this time, except that while I was working on this post I kept seeing "Cass is so back!" style reactions from old school Cass fans at the kind of sort of maybe restoration of an unspecified amount of her pre-reboot continuity, and that's just frustrating to me.

Because to me what made og Cass special wasn't a fan-wiki style breakdown of her lore, it was the way her stories were told, and how that storytelling style brought the characters and relationships in it to life. Batgirl 2024 #1 isn't a bad book at all. In terms of modern Cass appearances, so far I like more than B&RE or Outsiders or Birds of Prey, but a bit less than Detective or Batgirls or Spirit world - though there's plenty of room for Batgirl 2024 to surpass those books in my estimation going forward.

But one thing it absolutely isn't is the second coming of Batgirl 2000.

[licht-hex]

MY THOUGHTS REGARDING THE NEW DOC

Alrighty, just came back to tumblr after reading the new docs and am gonna detail me thoughts a little here. Might be a bit long so I apologize in advance.

In regard to just the new doc made by Alex, it does confirm a lot of my suspicions regarding Ven, DB, and Alex themself that I haven’t really mentioned anywhere aside from the DMs of a few close friends, the main ones being:

* Alex’s general reasoning over the course of this situation

* How generally uncommunicative (most, if not) everyone related to this situation was

As for actual substance, I wish that Alex had provided more screenshots or at the very least gotten the same screenshots presented in Ven’s argument to, at the very least, supplement his own (ex: how uncommunicative DB was being despite allegedly being uncomfortable with the speed at which the relationship was proceeding).

At this point, it’s just testimony against Ven’s and DB’s testimony AND evidence. While I understand where Alex is coming from that does little to defend against evidence in bulk.

What primarily frustrates me is the lack of mention of anyone else aside from DB, Ven, and, very briefly, the 16 as well as the 14 year old. My assumption is just that Alex wanted to contest the claims made in the original doc, but then wouldn’t have been better if he’d just waited and covered all of his bases?

Hopefully, Alex will get around to addressing those — otherwise I’m just stuck with the bad taste in my mouth.

At the moment, I don’t know my exact stance on the situation, however, what I do know is that l all sides should take a break from the internet after this is over as this clearly has negatively impacted all parties’ health.

I don’t 100% trust Alex, but I feel that Ven’s word should be taken with a grain of salt as they’ve previously professed their desire to releasing evidence in order to bring down Alex’s credibility as a public figure.

As for the other victims (e.g: mitcha, donut, etc.) I’m choosing to continue to follow them and sympathize with their struggles.

For closing stuff,

(You can skip if you don’t want to hear me talk about: kinks and sexual intimacy. I’m not gonna go in graphic detail but I just wanted to discuss for a moment)

I honestly just feel like some of the stuff regarding kinks and shit should’ve just stayed in the drafts as I don’t believe there is any solid evidence that Alex was “forcing” their kinks onto others outside of leaps in logic already applied to other arguments (ex: Alex was manipulating DB from the start based on later convos depicting a relationship where both parties are/appear to be reciprocating).

Sex is a valid means of expressing affection, I know people in my life who require that level of intimacy to truly express their feelings — this is in no way implying that sex is the only way to be in a relationship, just that people need different things. It just feels kinda scummy that demonstrations of sexual attraction between two adults was portrayed so negatively despite both parties matching each other (ex: “I’ll make the next one extra special for you” text).

That’s not all the stuff that I have gripes with from Ven’s original doc, but I don’t feel like being here all day so I’m gonna end it here.

Thank you for reading.

[youredreamingofroo]

For those awaiting an answer on one of my more recent posts, and whether I'll be leaving, here it is. .....Under the cut, as it, in my usual fashion, gets lengthy, you can skip to the end for a TL:DR :)

I'm not going to leave tumblr/simblr, I'll be floating around and still liking people's posts, I'm probably gonna unfollow some people (not my mutuals ofc ilya) just because it's hard to keep up with my dash when I get over 10 notifications every 2 minutes or so especially when if I'm not going to primarily consume Sims 4 content. I'm going to put my mods folder into my external HDD, in order to preserve them ykwim, and I'm going to uninstall TS4, I'll try to make one more sim before the sims 4 gets poofed off my laptop, although as it stands even after freeing up 20 GBs of space, my space went back down to 400 MBs so 😭😭 I will probably be posting variety content, even though I know all my followers are primarily Sims content consumers (some of ya'll do other stuff, but I mean as a whole, my audience tends to be more Sims 4 related), I might play and share some of my Sims 1 content, which is not story oriented, it's just a little gameplay of Roo in the Sims 1 :) I'll also probably post Baldur gate stuff (if I can free up the storage for it LMAO), I'll post witcher content maybe, and plenty of other things, and like I said, I'll continue to float around, and I'll continue to reblog any Sims content I see and enjoy... as well as other things. .... So what about W.A.S? Yea. I dont know, while W.A.S IS supposed to be a fleshed out story, and while I know I AM leaving sims 4 behind, completely limiting what I can and cannot make story-wise (just cuz I don't know how to make scenes and stuff lmao), I will ATTEMPT to make W.A.S content, I will still make and post the Official teaser, and I'll probably introduce the characters myself sometime after the teaser (I'll take screenshots in CAS and just hope my storage doesn't dip TOO low). I may release some of the story in just text form, as I do really want to continue to post about the story. I'll try to come up with something tho, don't worry :)

I may also start getting back into art, I still need some hobby to preoccupy my time that isn't gaming, I will still do blender stuff (since I have a bunch of my Sims' DAEs) and I will maybe make more edits, but regardless, I still enjoy art and Sims 4 kinda consumed the time that I wanted to spend doing art, soooo yeah.

For the unrooleased tag, I have a bunch of sims that I've never posted, as well as renders that I've never posted, and I may, as Sims 4 filler, post those to fill the void that will become my Sims 4 content

and FINALLY. LAST THING I promise :) I know all of ya'll LOVE Roo, and I do want to reinforce the fact that ROO IS NOT A SIMS CHARACTER, I did NOT make him originally from the Sims, if you were at any point worried I would stop posting about him, I will not be, I will continue to share about Roo, probably with a lot less pictures considering I really only used TS4 as a visual assistant for his story, I do have his DAEs, so I can make SOME Roo blender content, albeit limited with Scenes and stuff. Roo is a character that I will continue to be passionate about, I never mentioned this but I LOVE to make Roo in pretty much every game I play (besides Skyrim................ and ofc games where u dont have customization), like Animal Crossing, I made a variant of Roo there, and in Stardew! You get the point, he will always be a prominent figure of my content. I may also bring back some characters I made from TS4, like Nirvana, I LOVE her character and would LOVE to continue to post about her, as well as Roo's family, I love posting about his family members and sharing their own story and what importance they are to Roo.

WOW, okay that was a lot, if you're skipping here for a clear answer, or a sort of TL:DR, here ya go, I don't want to leave tumblr, so I won't, and I won't necessarily leave the Simblr ring, TS4 is going to be uninstalled, but I WILL preserve my TS4 mods in my external HDD, and be on the look out for the last sim I make in TS4 :)

[themaladaptivewriter12]

Mirai Yuhara and Savanaclaw

Mirai | Ramshackle | Heartslabyul | Savanaclaw | Octavinelle | Scarabia | Pomefiore | Ignihyde | Diasomnia | Staff |

c/w: not that I know of

------------------

Jack Howl

Workout buddies!

Is Mirai fit? Nope!

Can he keep up with the athlete? Nope!

But he does try.

It concerns Jack sometimes, how unatletic Mirai can be

but he knows the blonde is trying

*Jack and Mirai on an evening run* Jack: You good, Prefect? We can stop for today." Mirai practically hyperventilating: "Yeah......"

Likes to help Jack take care of his Cacti

Another study buddy

Jack is far more competent than Ace and Deuce sorry Deucy

Mirai really wants to touch his ears and tail

but he would never do so without permission

Ruggie Bucchi

"I scratch your back and you scratch mine" sort of relationship

Mirai has def had Ruggie do some bad things for a price

Like blackmail material for money

or helping Mirai out of situations for food

They share recipes

the cheaper the better

all you need is a little spice

they both like to team up on Leona and prank him

Is it safe? No. But is it worth it? oh yeah.

Ruggie: "I'm good to go. You ready?" Mirai: *nods* Ruggie: "On three. One, two,.......THREE!" *both Ruggie and Mirai throw water balloons at Leona and run* *both did not make it out the dorm*

Leona Kingscholar

Frienemies

Kinda like Mirai's and Ace's relationship, you can't tell if they hate or like each other

they bicker 24/7

Leona knocks Mirai upside the head a lot

and flicks him on the forehead

but the majority of the time, Mirai deserves it

Leona can be seen hanging with the Ramshackle Prefect

he seems to be able to tolerate him, well, sometimes

they skip class together

Leona was the one started it really, he made the first move

Leona: "Let's ditch the assembly, they won't notice if we're gone." Mirai: ........"Alright, sure."

Mirai lets Leona crash at Ramshackle when he needs to

has come back from classes to find the lion asleep on his couch more than once

makes Leona help with his homework

well, not really

Leona claims he won't help, but caves in after seeing the Freshman struggle

Leona: "Oh, c'mon, Herbivore. This stuff's basic elementary." Mirai: "Oh, and here I thought "The Declaration of Independence" was. I must've be mistaken." Leona:...... Mirai:........ Leona: "Give it here." Mirai: "Gladly"

If they are close enough, Leona will use Mirai as a pillow

And because of that, Mirai will use Leona as a desk

Leona originally was mad at that, but soon let it go.

he can't count how many times he'd awaken to a text book across his face or stomach

Leona Kingscholar - Dating Mirai Yuhara

Much like Ace's relationship with Mirai, you can't tell if they are dating or not

They still bicker, they still make snarky comments, and they still challenge each other

it's not until someone for Royal Sword starts hitting on the Prefect, does Leona make this known

everyone leaned that day not to mess with what belonged to Leona Kingscholar

PDA isn't big thing either, but that doesn't mean it's not there

you just gotta know when and where to look

Like Leona's arm that's slung around Mirai's shoulders

or the tail wrapped around his ankle at lunch

or maybe it's that fact that Leona shares his food with the Prefect

or maybe it's that kisses shared between that two in the Botanical Gardens ❤ (ɔˆз(ˆ⌣ˆc)

And as jealous Leona is, Mirai can be the same way too

Some girl is getting too chummy with his boyfriend?

Mirai is slinging his arm around Leona's (¬‿¬ )

and of course Leona knows, but he doesn't dwell on it

something about someone else getting jealous over him, being someone's first choice, has the man bustling with pride

Leona: "You're not slick, ya'know that, right?" Mirai: "So? She shouldn't have been looking at you like that." Leona: "Like what?" Mirai: "You know! Like she had a chance!" Leona: "Well she didn't, so stop poutin'" Mirai: o(>< )o *Sighing, Leona kisses Mirai on the head* Leona: "Better?" Mirai: "I don't know. Maybe I need more convincing." *Leona chuckles, rolling his eyes*

They cuddle

like way too much (*ﾉ∀`*)

Ruggie has had the displeasure of finding the two like that more times than he can count

Mirai feels bad, but Leona doesn't

-----------------------------------

Sorry this part took so long, I've been busy _(_ _)_ I'll try to the next part out soon, and I'll try to get the next part of one of my series out as well. That's it for now!

[hairstevington]

flowers and ink (part 8)

Eddie Munson x Steve Harrington

Summary: Chrissy stops by the shop to have a necessary conversation. Speaking of necessary conversations, Eddie pays a visit to Steve afterwards.

part one, part two, part three, part four, part five, part six, part seven, link to Ao3

Word Count: 2.6K

Warnings: TattooArtist/Florist modern day AU, this one gets kind of emotional actually??? Deep conversations about their pasts, pretty on-par with canon stuff, and then a very sweet ending :)

A/N: Okay, you guys - we're headed to the finish line! After this I most likely will just post one more chapter as an epilogue of sorts. Thank you to all who have followed along!! I never expected this one to get this much love!!

Steve and Eddie saw each other for three days in a row over their first three dates. After that, neither of them wanted to break their streak. 

Yeah. They were both totally obsessed with each other.

They didn’t go on dates every night, but they’d at least visit each other during breaks on days when they both worked. And they texted constantly. Eddie even joined in on Robin and Steve’s movie night, which apparently was a big deal. They’d only ever let one other person crash their movie night, a surrogate little brother figure of Steve’s who was friends with Will. 

Steve still never pressed Eddie for more information about his past, which was great, but the weird thing was that Eddie actually wanted to tell Steve about his life. 

That was a first.

It probably didn’t help that it was all on his mind from seeing Gareth and Chrissy over the weekend. Just a lot of reminders of what happened and what he left behind. He tried to remind himself of how he was happier now, and the new life he’d built for himself, but he still felt guilty. 

So, when Chrissy showed up to Ink About It, Eddie wasn’t the least bit surprised, and he knew exactly what she wanted to know.

“Hey,” she said with a warm smile. “Do you have some time to squeeze me in?”

“Always,” Eddie replied, gesturing for her to join him in the office. “So, are we getting a tattoo today or just addressing the elephant in the room? Or, maybe you want a tattoo of a giant elephant in a room? Let me know and I’m at your service. I owe it to you, after all.”

He was rambling. He knew he was. But he was nervous and embarrassed and a ton of other things. The truth was, he’d loved Chrissy in high school. Like real, deep, meaningful love, and then he cut her off. He cut everyone off, but that was no excuse.

“I’m not mad at you, you know,” Chrissy said. The sentence made Eddie stop dead in his tracks and spin around to face her. “Not anymore, anyway.”

“That’s, uh, good,” Eddie stuttered. He was eased by the fact that Chrissy seemed a bit nervous, too. 

“Well,” she said on an exhale. “You heard my side of things at the show. Your turn.”

Thank God the tattoo shop was dead. He didn’t have an appointment for another hour, and it was during their slowest time of day so he doubted anyone would walk in. 

“Thanks for saying all that, by the way,” Eddie replied. “You could have made me sound like a real dick.” 

The way that Chrissy had painted their whole relationship in a positive light was the only reason he’d been able to hold it together during and after the show. If she’d talked shit about him on that stage, he probably would have skipped town a second time due to humiliation. 

But she didn’t do that. 

“Yeah, well, lucky for you, I didn’t write the show when I was eighteen,” she teased. “Although there are some very angsty poems in a journal somewhere that I should probably burn.” Eddie laughed, then nodded in understanding.

“I have some….really angsty songs that have never seen the light of day,” he noted. 

“Oh, I bet. The ones I did hear were already pretty scary,” she joked, laughing lightly. 

Eddie used to play all of his original songs for her. Well, almost all of them. There was one he wrote about how he was pretty sure he liked men that he never got the chance to show her. In any case, the way she was still joking and being her familiar sweet self (as opposed to her badass, confident stage persona) made Eddie feel a bit more relaxed. He took a deep breath, noticing the way she was waiting for him to speak. 

Here goes nothing. 

“I didn’t graduate, Chris,” he began. Her eyes went wide.

“What?! No, you - you did. We graduated together. You just didn’t go because you were sick.”

“I didn’t go because I got busted for selling and then was expelled,” Eddie admitted. “I was barely passing my classes anyway. Most of the teachers took pity on me just so I didn’t have to retake the year. But then uh - well, yeah. I got kicked out.”

“But I didn’t -” Chrissy was completely stunned. “I had no idea.”

“I didn’t tell anyone,” he replied. 

He hadn’t. The only person that knew was his uncle. Wayne was the only family member that gave a shit about Eddie, so naturally he was Eddie’s phone call the day of the arrest. Wayne bailed him out and, next thing Eddie knew, he was in Hawkins. 

“Anyway,” Eddie continued. “I was so embarrassed I just…left and didn’t look back. At the time I thought you were better off without me, honestly. You said it yourself - before you met me, you hadn’t even smoked before.”

“Before I met you I was -” Chrissy scoffed and shook her head, baffled. “I start the show talking about the day I met you for a reason. It’s because my life began that day, Eddie. You weren’t some bad influence that corrupted me, you were an escape from - from my shitty friends and my even shittier mom. And you were what sparked me to figure out who I was, and that’s special to me. You were my best friend. And you could have told me.”

Her final sentence stung, but it was a good kind of sting. His secret was finally on the table, and she was still there. She was still supporting him. 

“I know that now,” he replied. “I’ve wanted to reach out for ages, but it felt like the more time that went by-”

“I understand,” she said, nodding. “I get it. It’s okay, I just - I missed you.”

Chrissy closed the gap between them and hugged him tightly, an embrace that Eddie quickly accepted. 

“I missed you too,” he responded. They held each other for a few extended moments, then broke away, a tension off their shoulders. “Do you live here now?”

“For the time being,” she answered. “Argyle and I move around a lot. We just kind of point somewhere on a map and go.”

“Shit, and you ended up here?” Eddie asked, surprised. “That’s, like, a crazy coincidence.”

“Yeah, well Argyle always tells me that we end up exactly where we’re meant to go,” Chrissy responded, smiling. 

“I like that guy,” Eddie said, nodding. 

“Of course you do,” she teased. “You’re both weird stoners with awesome hair.” Eddie laughed, flattered at the compliment. He took a moment to look at her - the way she looked just as she did, but so different at the same time. More laugh lines in her face, for one. Her hair was shinier and fuller. There was more color to her skin. Eddie wondered if that was what happiness looked like. 

“Just so we’re clear,” Eddie said, needing to say one last thing before they moved on. “What you said about me on stage the other day -” He didn’t need to specify. Chrissy spoke about their relationship fondly and candidly. “It was the same for me.”

“I know,” she replied, smiling more brightly now. “Okay! So, we finally got that out of the way.”

“Finally,” Eddie echoed. “Now what?”

“Now,” she started, “we talk about your boyfriend and his ridiculously hot friend.”

Eddie chuckled, then nodded. 

“Okay, well first of all, he’s not my boyfriend.” Chrissy eyed him, knowingly, which he chose to ignore. 

“Whatever,” Chrissy dismissed. “Figures we’re both queer, by the way. I love that for us.”

“They say we travel in packs,” Eddie joked. Chrissy nodded in agreement. “Anyway, Robin’s awesome. Have you gone out with her yet?”

“Tonight!” Chrissy responded. “And I’m very excited. That’s another reason I came here. I wanted to clear the air in case you come up in conversation, because it seems like anything I tell her will just go straight to your boyfriend -”

“Not my boyfriend,” Eddie reminded her, smirking. 

“Why not?  I saw the way you look at each other,” Chrissy noted. 

“Because it’s only been a few weeks,” Eddie pointed out. 

“And?” she prodded.

“It’s too soon,” Eddie insisted, pretending to scratch at a spot on his cheek to hide the blush creeping up his face. “Moving on.”

“Moving on,” Chrissy replied with a smug grin. 

She stuck around the tattoo shop to catch up until his next appointment, and it felt a lot like old times. Eddie thought for the longest time he’d burned every bridge from his hometown, but recently he’d learned that he’d left the water underneath unscathed. 

Who needed a bridge when Chrissy and Gareth could swim?

-

Steve worked at a literal flower shop, and yet he was just starting to truly understand the expression, ‘stop and smell the roses.’

He was in total bliss. Things with Eddie were great. It had been a long time since Steve had felt such an easy connection with someone. They clicked on pretty much every level. And, best of all, Eddie got along with Robin too. If she approved of him, that basically meant - well, it was a big deal.

So, he felt lighter at work now. He was better at handling customers. He started to memorize the things Robin used to constantly have to remind him of. Being around plants all day almost made him feel high - like the air was better or something. Actually, Steve wasn’t the most academic guy, but he was pretty sure being around plants and flowers all day did give him a better oxygen supply. He kept telling himself to ask Robin or Google it, but then he’d get distracted thinking about Eddie. 

The joys of the honeymoon phase. 

It was the night that Robin was going to go out with Chrissy for the first time. She was, naturally, a ball of nerves, but in a good way. Steve had high hopes for their date. 

“You are way too happy lately,” Robin told him. “It’s spooky.”

“Yeah, well -” Steve began, stumbling on a response. “Get used to it.” 

He sent her off, and then checked his phone. 

Eddie: Can I stop by?

Okay, normally that kind of text would send Steve into blind panic, but he tried to remain optimistic. This could be a nice surprise visit, not a devastating one. He sat in the silent apartment for approximately 30 seconds before the overthinking began.

The last time he’d seen Eddie, everything was fine. Nothing out of the ordinary. Although, Steve had never been the most observant. He wracked his brain going over their last interactions to see if he’d maybe missed something. 

Oh, shit. Never mind, he was for sure panicking. 

Steve: Of course! Robin left so it’s just us 🙂 ETA?

Eddie: On my way now, see you soon!

Well, at least he was using punctuation. Although, that didn’t mean anything necessarily. Steve had been dumped a few times, and -

No, come on. He was not about to get dumped. They weren’t even officially together, so an in-person visit to end things wouldn’t make sense. 

This was fine. Everything was fine. 

The door opened ten minutes later. Thank god. 

“Hey,” Eddie greeted as he walked in. He seemed a little nervous, but not upset. “How was your day?”

If he was going to break up with Steve, he wouldn’t have bothered with the pleasantries, right? 

“It was good, how was yours?” Steve asked, doing his best impression of a Chill Person™.

“Chrissy stopped by the shop today,” Eddie began. “And we just - I hadn’t talked to her in so long, and it was really nice.”

Steve let out a breath he didn’t know he’d been holding in.

“That does sound nice,” he replied. 

“Listen, Steve, I -” Eddie shifted his weight back and forth on his feet. “There’s a lot about my life I don’t talk about. Like, from before I moved here. I hadn’t told anybody about it until today, actually.”

“Dude, were you in the mob or something?” Steve asked, completely lost. “Just tell me what’s going on before I burst.”

“Wait, why are you nervous?” Eddie wondered.

“Uhh, because you sent me an ominous text message asking if you could ‘stop by’ and you’re taking for-goddamn-ever in telling me why,” Steve joked. Eddie literally facepalmed. 

“Oh, Jesus Christ. You’re right, my bad.” Steve chuckled in relief. “No, it’s not - that’s not why I came over, trust me.”

“Okay, cool.” Steve waited for Eddie to continue. “So?”

“I just - I feel like I have to tell you something.”

“Okay, now you’re doing the ominous thing again,” Steve said, rolling his eyes playfully. “Come on, talk to me.”

“I was arrested when I was eighteen for selling drugs to minors,” Eddie blurted out. His eyes went wide, as if he hadn’t expected the words to actually come out. “I mean, to high school students. And it was just weed, by the way.” Steve crossed his arms, waiting for more. 

“Okay,” he said, relatively unfazed. 

“You’re not - wait, why aren’t you judging me?”

“Because I bought weed all the time in high school. That’s not much different.”

“I mean, it’s a little different,” Eddie argued. “But okay. Well I - I never graduated high school, either. I don’t have a diploma.”

“Okay,” Steve repeated. “Do you need one?”

“I - well, no, but - what are you - how do - but - I -”

“Okay, woah,” Steve said, chuckling. He walked to Eddie and put a hand on each side of him. “You know I was a mess when I was a teenager too, right? I already told you about some of the shit I got into. I also started a lot of fights - and I lost all of them, by the way. I’m pretty sure if I get one more concussion I’ll die. And I have a diploma, but I didn’t get into any colleges -”

“You mean you don’t care about anything I just told you?” Eddie asked, confused. “You don’t think of me any differently?”

“What? No, why would I?” Steve answered casually. “I used to be a total asshole, and I should have gotten a lot worse than I did. I was just lucky and rich, that’s all.”

“You were rich?” Steve chuckled. 

“Yeah, past tense,” he clarified. “I was such an asshole that my parents disowned me the second I turned eighteen.” 

“Shit,” Eddie said, exhaling. Steve’s hands slid down Eddie’s arms to his hands, fingers interlocking. 

“I don’t care about that stuff,” Steve assured him. “You don’t still sell drugs, right?”

“No,” Eddie replied, shaking his head. 

“Just like I’m not an asshole anymore,” Steve continued. “Right?”

“You’re the nicest person I’ve ever met, I think,” Eddie responded quickly. Once again, he seemed alarmed at what he was saying. 

“That sounds…impossible,” Steve teased, leaning in to kiss Eddie gently on the cheek. “But I’ll take it.”

Eddie could literally feel his heart warming in his chest. He’d spent years holding all of this inside, and carrying so much shame within him. But he’d gotten forgiveness from Chrissy, and Steve was entirely unbothered. 

Steve - the Flower Boy who took Eddie completely by surprise in the best way. He’d never imagined falling so hard for a guy like him, yet here he was. It was like what Argyle apparently said - we all end up where we’re meant to go. 

Eddie fully intended on befriending Argyle next, by the way.

“Hey, Steve?” Eddie whispered, their foreheads pressed together. 

“Yeah?”

“You wanna be my boyfriend?”

He didn’t plan on asking this particular night. As he’d told Chrissy, they hadn’t been dating very long, and it was still early. But Eddie was on a roll, and the moment felt right.

Steve smiled, confirming that he felt it, too.

“Yeah, I’d love to be your boyfriend.”

(final part)

-------------------

@paintballkid711 @abraca-fxckyou @allbimyself26 @jellybabiesforall @allbymyselfexceptformycactus @justaloadofgarbage-blog @alliemunsonsstuff @undreamingnscatworld @hobbitnarwhal @calivanus @wreckmyplans-thatsmyman @antheia @goodolefashionedloverboi @lillemilly @missmagillicuddy @gamerdano @menamesniall @eyeslikewildflowers111 @callmesirkay @stringischeese @eds-trashmouth @mnl-enuh @redfreckledwolf @itsanarrum @soulsofstarsliveinyourveins @stevesbipanic @momotonescreaming @aryakanojiaa @wrenisflying @comicmadlover @lilacrobin @itch-my-b0nez @anonymousbandgirl @disastardly @dangdirtydemons @daisyellsong @val-from-lawrence @starryeyedpoet17 @taikawaiteatea @clumsiluni @hollysimone @swimmingbirdrunningrock @witchofhawkins @steddiegarbage @suddenlyinlove @ricekristytreaty @eddielives1986 @bunnyweasley23 @thefailcollection @ppunkpuppyy @bestwifehaver @httpsphynx @irregular-child @skjachukson @deadfromtheneckdown

[reviseleviathan]

So now that we’re super close to the end of Third Beat (and in particular have passed balcony which I was always going to have Thoughts about the adaptation of), I’m putting to text some thoughts I’ve had (positive and some a little negative) about Third Beat’s adaptation choices with both 28-29 and overall with Momo and a little bit with Yuki over the course of the season. There’s some stuff that had to be missed/skipped out on due to time constraints, which I do understand, but I do think some of it is really good to know so you could also consider this a bit of a shorthand crash course on stuff that’s a bit different for anime-onlies who are curious how things went down in the game. That said, I always rec reading the game story if you have time because a lot of Re:vale’s shenanigans have to get cut for time in the anime; Part 2 to Part 3 Chapter 10 and the rest of Part 3 were both done by translators on Tumblr. Dodge Part 3 Chapter 20 until next week if you don’t want spoilers and you’re all good. With that said, on to the ~meta~

Episode 28-29 -The anime has Yuki realise who Momo went to talk to exclusively because he overheard it on the phone. In the game, Yuki overhears the conversation and discusses with Momo that it might be a trap. This is actually where Yuki’s “Some people are irredeemable” speech initially happens - the anime intercut it with the slap scene, which I actually really enjoyed as a time-preserving choice, since it is relevant to that conversation as well, but also comes at the cost of some of the lines that were originally in the slap scene. Overall, the changes made sense but the cut elements do make it more obvious that Momo knows meeting Touma is risky even if Touma himself means him no harm. -This second point is probably the single biggest change from the game - there’s an entire cut interaction between Momo and Ryou before Ryou leaves Momo’s apartment, where Ryou has watched Momo have the first few drinks forced on him but decided it’s time to leave before he gets caught at the scene of the crime. Probably best known among the fandom for Momo basically telling Ryou to get fucked in a drunk candid moment before backtracking and fake sucking up to him instead, it makes one thing very clear that the anime doesn’t: that Momo ultimately stops Ryou from outing the twins by tricking him into thinking he and Yuki have a retaliation in place already. The anime does not touch on this at all, and while Ryuu’s intervention spares Momo and Yuki, there’s minimal explanation of why Ryou wouldn’t go after the twins regardless after that encounter, especially since he’s so pissed off with Ryuu. This is the explanation for it - that Momo manages to seamlessly lie to him that they’ve got insurance for if it happens despite him literally only finding out about it a few minutes before Ryou showed up to crash his and Touma’s meeting. Given time constraints I can see why they cut this scene, but it is a real shame considering it’s one last moment of Momo getting one over on Ryou even under threat of imminent death. -Another fairly major change but one I think was handled pretty well was that in the hostage scene after Yuki’s arrival, Yuki was the hostage, not Momo. The initial part proceeds similarly - Momo hits one of the suits and tells Yuki to run, but then is hit back - however, in the game what happens while Momo is incapacitated for those few seconds is that one of them grabs Yuki and then smashes the bottle to hold him hostage with. I can kind of understand why they changed this for visual reasons: there’s a certain level of comedy to Momo’s reactions to Yuki’s bluff, and I think the animators realised that if Momo was reacting That Obviously confused about Yuki’s claims of being strong enough to hospitalise 30 people within line of sight of the suits, it’d be rather easy to tell Yuki was bullshitting. Having him facing Yuki allows those reactions in a position where the suits can’t see his face and makes the comedy/tension interplay more effective. My one reservation here is that it’s made abundantly clear in just about every I7 media that Momo is extremely strong - the game implies that there’s a third suit involved in Momo’s capture and they’re still struggling with him when he’s at such a severe disadvantage, which Yuki even points out in the game as part of his bluff (implying that Yuki’s mention at the door that Momo wouldn’t dare hit him means he’s stronger than the already very strong Momo). Given the anime switched the alcohol used for this scene from cheap sake or at least cheap generic alcohol to spirits, I can buy that Momo’s lack of effective resistance as a hostage here is because the sheer amount of alcohol in his system is catching up to him, but it does kind of stand out when by all rights of what we’ve seen him do (particularly when Yuki is endangered), they should not be having such an easy time holding him back. -Due to the switch in hostage, the anime skips Yuki almost collapsing out of the fear he had to hide once he’s released and the suits leave, and Momo coming to fuss over and compliment him before Yuki slaps him. If anyone felt that Yuki slapping Momo a new one Literally Immediately felt a bit abrupt, that’s why. I assume Yuki did check on Momo prior to this because when Momo’s dropped in the anime he’s closer to the bookshelf, whereas the argument happens in front of his window, it was just another sacrifice to the accursed 24 minute episode length gods. There were also some extra comedic lines to this scene after Momo’s “Wow, you’re really pissing me off”, including Yuki explicitly suggesting they settle the argument with their fists and Momo saying he’ll still K.O. Yuki despite being so drunk he can barely stand up. why are u both like this yuki you know momo could win a fight against you just by sitting on you or picking you up Third Beat overall -There’s one factor in the adaptation in regards to Momo that I really have to talk about because I’ve seen it have bearing on how people interpreted certain events or Momo himself - the anime cut a lot of Momo’s more savage, dry, or biting lines to people during Third Beat. Momo’s actually quite wry and sharp-tongued, particularly when he’s losing patience with someone but also just when he’s poking fun - he joins in on a few of Banri’s roasts on Yuki during the game version of the bar scene (which was also several chapters earlier in the game). However, the bigger impact I’ve seen with this was with the framing of Ryou and  Momo’s interactions in the first cour. While the dynamic is still highly toxic and demonstrates Ryou having a massive level of entitlement towards Momo, who by that point is mainly appeasing him because he’s a useful contact with information he needs, Momo gives back as good as he gets in pretty much every one of their scenes in ways that the anime largely tones down or removes. One particular example that can definitely affect the reading of their dynamic is Momo’s departure after disclosing Re:vale’s backstory in an attempt to tap into what little empathy Ryou might have - in the anime, he mostly seems sad and resigned, which I’ve seen at least a few people read as Momo being some sort of naive uwu who never realised what kind of person Ryou was. In the game, Ryou suggests that Momo stay over because he’s had a few to drink, and Momo (cw: emeto reference) drops by far one of my favourite of his bitter, wry roasts in the game: “I’m gonna puke at the entrance and leave. Thanks for having me over.” Momo is much more jaded about the number of untrustworthy people in the industry and how he has to handle his industry interactions than the anime tends to get into, and by the end of things with Ryou, there is a bitterness and irritation with him that comes across abundantly clearly even before Momo lets it all out on him during balcony. While Momo is willing to give people a chance in many situations where it may not feel deserved, he is not naive and he is not unaware that Ryou is a dangerous, twisted person even when he reveals Re:vale’s story. It’s a last-ditch effort to demonstrate how flawed the image Ryou has of idols is and stop his behaviour from escalating, because he knows if he’s going to draw any emotion out of the man then he has to dig as deep as possible - and he has to make it something personal, because as twisted as it is, Ryou’s consideration of Momo as a “friend” provides that tiny, tiny chance that he might respond to his feelings. Unfortunately, at that point Momo is unaware that Ryou considers the Yamato incident Momo’s second betrayal of him, and a lesser one than the first “betrayal” that’s revealed during the balcony scene, so it comes to nothing. As you can probably tell, I have a lot of thoughts about this particular adaptation choice, but tl;dr I highly recommend you read the game if you’re a Momo fan, because he’s actually kind of a fuckin savage on the regular and the game tends to make it clearer that he’s quite possibly the most dangerous person in the main cast if he has reason to be. Even people who are prepared to make an enemy of Ryou hesitate at the idea of making an enemy of Momo. -This isn’t really just a Third Beat thing but public service announcement for yukimomo enjoyers: you think they act romantic in the anime? The anime cuts a substantial amount of their flirting for time, since it’s essentially characterisation fluff and that’s always first on the chopping block. Want to see Momo talk about spicing up the relationship by wearing underwear with Yuki’s face on it, grumble about how Yuki’s handsome even when he’s mouthing off, call him a high class gentleman and a sexy icon that no other man in the world could hold a candle to? Want to see Yuki talk about how Momo begging steered the course of his life and the general implication surrounding the Re:vale backstory drop that Yuki, in a sense, also considers Momo a god or at least a gift from the gods to keep him going with his love for his music? Read the game. Also read the rabbitchats if you have time - these are the stories/conversations that come with cards in the game and the Re:vale ones always have at least one moment of pure, concentrated homosexual agenda per chat, but usually more. The Silver Sky bonus chats in particular, which take place post-Part 2/Second Beat, are foundational yukimomo content where you can learn such magical secrets as how Momo used to just kinda kidnap Yuki places while he was sleeping (feat. Momo’s fantasies about capturing and brainwashing Yuki that are discussed in multiple rabbitchats because momo why are you broadcasting this in groupchats you degenerate /affectionate), the fact that Yuki actually pierced Momo’s and his own ears to help get over his fear of sharp objects enough to cook again, and Banri’s thoughts on current Re:vale feat. him describing them both as feral. anyway if you read this far i appreciate you i just had to get these words out somewhere

[mdhwrites]

How Did I Get into Analysis?

My brother and I talked a bit a couple days ago about the era of online review that we were first introduced to analysis with. We JUST missed AVGN but we were neck deep within the wave of criticism that came afterwards. To us, it wasn't the style pioneered by Cinemassacre (who unfortunately I never got into) but the style of Channel Awesome who back in college, almost a decade ago, I was HUGE into.

But that's not technically how I began. It's also definitely not what I prefer nowadays, nor for the past half decade at least. Before I actually get into the fun background of what caused me first to start using my critical eye, albeit by no means honing it, I just want to let you know some of the video essayists that I do listen to nowadays in case you want to see my inspirations. (This part is longer than I expected so if you want to skip to the silly story, just jump over to when I use bold text)

Linkara: Of the old Channel Awesome style, I think Linkara is potentially the best that style can be without morphing into something different. I admittedly am not a huge comics person but I've relistened to a lot of his coverage of the bigger events a lot of the time and he's just really good at what he does while being genuinely funny and unapologetic of the style he uses. He never got defensive unlike someone.

Todd in The Shadows: This is the ONLY person I listen to regularly still from back in those days. I drop everything when I see a new TiTS video. You might think that makes him beat Linkara in the style but it's not. He hasn't technically altered his format drastically since he began but I would rarely call him a reviewer. It's not even the majority of his content nowadays. I would put him more as a documentarian and as someone who loves himself some history, I genuinely love what he does. Speaking of documentarians though:

Defunctland: If you have watched any video analyzing theme parks, you've probably heard about this channel. He goes over the history of no longer running theme parks, television shows, etc. For the Disney fans in my audience, I highly recommend his video on the Disney Channel theme but honestly, all of his stuff is good.

Noah Caldwell Gervais: Before I move away from the historical essayists, I would be remiss to mention Noah. I don't watch his travelogues but he's expanded my knowledge on so many game series that I will never touch due to my own tastes. It's a little outdated now but a real highlight for me is his Call of Duty videos where he actually examines the stories and themes of the games and their single player modes and isn't uncritical of the franchise but also isn't blindly shitting on it either. He's a fan for a reason. Another akin to that is his more recent Gears of War series.

Folding Ideas: You can actually see on my blog when I got into this channel. The whole "Put a pin it it?" I did in a blog or two? Yeah, that's straight up just stolen from his 50 Shades of Gray reviews. He does a lot of stuff on scams, including crypto, and is very good.

HBomberguy: The newest addition to my theoretical playlist, I got into his stuff with the video about the Ooph sound and its origins. Just a solid essayist with good delivery and interesting topics.

New Frame Plus: I feel bad for almost forgetting about the ever delightful Dan Floyd. I followed him after he moved on from his previous channel and like 99% of what I know about animation comes from him. When I criticize how Amity adopts a silhouette that's a bit too close to Luz's in S2? Yeah, that's only possible for me because of his video about the subject. He also has great credentials for talking about this stuff as an ex-Pixar animator who has done lots of other work in television, movies and even does animation in games nowadays. He's also a delightful Let's Player who is one of the few of those I still follow.

That went on way too long.

So what actually started me on all of this if not Channel Awesome? What first dragged me into overthinking everything? Besides the fact that my brain already had a hard time ever just shutting up of course. Well that answer is shockingly simple if not extremely embarrassing:

The Bronalysis community. The Brony Analysts. That is not a joke. I actually have a bizarrely vivid memory of one of the first proper reviews of anything I ever watched being a review of the fan made episode of My Little Pony featuring a blind filly who's talent had to do with snow.

Which also highlights why it's embarrassing... But does make a sort of sense. My Little Pony was the first time I was ever part of a fandom. It was the first time I got that deeply invested in a work to even want to discuss it in depth with other people. Before then, I never really had an urge to go and seek out such content because Youtube for me was mostly for sillier things like silly videos about Naruto, AMVs and Dragonball Z abridged. Admittedly, part of this comes from being later to the internet than some of my peers. I was in middle school when I started understanding what the internet was and didn't have my own laptop until High School. A lot of it was just that I didn't use things like Youtube much, even while still being the same sort of nerd I've always been.

And what do I think looking back on those early days? I mean... They were ROUGH. And I by no means was immune to it. I've stated before that part of why I don't do individual episode reviews is because I eventually found them kind of tedious but more than that: Shallow. It's hard to have something deep to say about every episode of a work unless it's a genuine masterpiece. I've been watching Frieren with my brother and while I adore that show, I think it is genuinely incredible in almost every way, there are still episodes of it where I would go, "This is good. To say more would just be me repeating statements I've already made about the work."

Recap and snark was the name of the game back then though. It's why they were called reviews after all because that's always been easier than critique or a deep dive. A bad or lackluster review is just easy to make since you lay down what the plot of the work is, snark on a few elements and then give a recap of your thoughts at the end. It's probably part of why some people like Doug Walker used it as much as a vehicle for their own talents as comedians and writers rather than just how good of an analyst they were because, well, that's what they were more passionate about but they also did reviews.

This isn't to say that there isn't still snark or comedy or even some amount of personal validation to more recent essayists. The video I recommended for Defunctland is genuinely a documentary and also has him use his worries about if he'll be considered one or just some Youtube guy someday as the framing. One could mock him for that, he even fears it in the video, but the difference is that even if you ignore that component, ignore his personality, the information and depth of knowledge and research on the topic is good enough to still warrant watching the work. That wasn't always something you could always say about analysis a decade ago, not the big channels at least. A lot more of them were personality driven, not driven by how good the reviews were as reviews.

It's all just interesting to look back on for me, especially while I've stayed casual in my analysis. I may write full on essays at times for a blog but I am no video essayist. I do not do the sort of research that's required for such things which does make my stuff much more opinion based and what advice I personally feel is good without the depth of wisdom to be an authority on it. At least I don't plagiarize though? XD But I have always said that I analyze things second to me being a writer and I still hold firm to that so I'm fine with that being where I keep things, bare minimum for now. I care much more about being seen as a true storyteller, rather than simply a delusional fanfic writer, than I do of ever being seen as some grand critic.

Just felt like sharing tonight. Thank you for reading and see you next tale.

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I have a public Discord for any and all who want to join!

I also have an Amazon page for all of my original works in various forms of character focused romances from cute, teenage romance to erotica series of my past. I have an Ao3 for my fanfiction projects as well if that catches your fancy instead. If you want to hang out with me, I stream from time to time and love to chat with chat.

A Twitter you can follow too

And a Kofi if you like what I do and want to help out with the fact that disability doesn’t pay much.