#honestly just have some schadenfreude

[foldingfittedsheets]

Come with me now on another story adventure.

Some types of hardship do start to feel like curses if they happen often enough. One thing I’ve experienced a lot- or at least enough to posit a curse- is my apartments flooding.

I’ve had flooding in three separate apartments I’ve lived in.

The place I lived with Betty flooded due to a massive rainstorm and poor placement on a downhill slope. Betty’s room was more effected than mine, but due to poor handling by the management it resulted in some rampant black mold and my eventual falling out with Betty as we broke the lease to escape.

My first flooding though. Happened when I lived in a third floor apartment. How, you might ask, is that possible?

Oh, Reader. Prepare yourself.

Now, I need to set the stage. Because you see, I shared this apartment with the last boy I’d ever date, Brendan. We’d known going into the relationship that I had a predilection for pussy but it finally clicked that I was just not attracted to men.

This was particularly devastating because I still loved that boy with all my heart but neither of us were getting what we needed out of the relationship. Suffice it to say, the atmosphere in the apartment in which he was sleeping on the couch was A BUMMER.

We were both sick, probably from stress, and had bad coughs. It was the night before midterms.

I was tucked up into bed, with little kitten Leeloo, ready to get to sleep. It was about 10pm. Brendan knocked and poked his head into the room.

“It’s raining in the bathroom,” he said.

I got out of my comfy bed, and joined him in the bathroom. Raining was an exaggeration but there was definitely water dripping down the door jam and pooling up under the paint.

“That’s not good.”

We both stared at this problem together, sick and sad.

Finally, I suggested, “Go see if the upstairs neighbor left a faucet on. I’ll try to call maintenance.”

He left and I started making calls. At 10pm it was understandable that I was getting a lot of voicemails. Two maintenance lines deep, Brendan returned.

“The people above us are getting drops too, and the place above that won’t respond.”

Four defunct numbers later, I finally got ahold of an emergency maintenance guy who was on call. “It’s raining in our bathroom.”

He was befuddled and said he’d be in soon.

That was about when it really actually started raining. Drips began pouring out of light fixtures. Terrified, we turned off the lights we could, setting out bowls and towels to mitigate water damage. Water dripped from several lights and started pooling ominously in the long flat kitchen light.

The maintenance man arrived around midnight. There was bowls and buckets littering the ground as Brendan and I watched in abject misery as water filled them. The maintenance man was wildly out of his depth, having been left in sole charge while the entire rest of the staff was on vacation.

As we spoke to him, the water infiltrated our smoke alarm which began screaming in earnest at this wet invasion. The maintenance man promised to try to see what was causing the issue and fled. Brendan and I regarded each other. We coughed, sick and exhausted, then went to empty the water buckets.

An hour passed. The smoke alarm persisted, it’s three shrill screeches pounded relentlessly into our ear drums. We stopped existing as individuals and became vessels of suffering. The paint in the bathroom started sloughing off the wall in wet ripples.

Brendan tried to rouse the neighbor again and returned unsuccessful.

The maintenance man returned. It was 1am. He couldn’t get ahold of the apartment causing the flooding. He couldn’t get ahold of his bosses. After the update he made to leave and we begged him, please, just make the beeping stop, please. It can rain inside, and I can get no sleep the night before midterms, and I can cough miserably all night while I empty water bowls, but please, god, please, just make the beeping stop.

He promised to try and left. At some point around then, the flat kitchen light shattered under the pressure and gushed out a fall of water. Brendan and I gave a bleak half hearted startle and tried to scrounge up more towels.

I started slipping into madness. The unceasing blaring beeps. The rain. The misery of being in this wretched situation with someone I used to be able to reach toward for comfort who I couldn’t anymore. This was hell, I decided. This circumstance fits into how they torture people, and I live here in this torturescape now. The maintenance man was never coming back.

The maintenance man came back with a ladder eventually.

Brendan and I watched with blank hungry eyes as he fussed with the alarm and at 2am it finally ceased its shrieking klaxon of madness. I cried. The man left again. We emptied the bowls.

And finally, half an hour later, the rain began to abate. The maintenance man returned to inform us that he’d entered the upstairs unit.

Someone had become incapacitated and left their bath running. He was not at liberty to disclose what happened so presumably someone was sauced out of their gourd and fell into a deep stupor such that several hours of sustained door pounding couldn’t rouse them.

People all down the row flooded, and he looked near tears himself. We thanked him and went to collapse into bed. Neither of us took midterms the next day.

Brendan and I are still friends to this day, even after a night fit to drive someone mad.

My last event of apartment flooding was a sewer main getting blocked. It was when my betrothed and I had just started dating and they were hanging out at my place while I was at work. Due to this good fortune, they were able to move my couch, entertainment system, and electronics out of the path of the flood.

It took a week and some extremely pointed emails to get the landlord to comp me rent for the week I couldn’t live there and the entire time I was just thankful I wasn’t stuck with water dripping from my lights while a fire alarm drove me to the brink of madness.

[yourdandelionofthedeathknell]

The Theraprism: Good or bad?

Ya know, i've never been sure how to feel on the Theraprism, as shown in the Book of Bill. This is in large part because we get very little info on it, from any perspective other then BIll's own at least (and he is...Not a reliable narrator). Personally, I see three possible interpretations and I don't know which one is correct. To be clear, I think all of these are fairly valid: 1. Their methods seem insipid, but are actually quite effective. They seem to have been effective in the past (one of Bill's fellow patients is slated for release in the near-future apparently), and the Axolotl (who, while not exactly rich characterization himself, has, generally, been portrayed as wise and benevolent) referred to it as "what [Bill] needs the most", which would be weird if it doesn't have SOME merit. I, myself, honestly prefer this one, because I think it works better with the narrative of the Book of Bill (a book which, generally, does not encourage the reader to sympathize with Bill's plight. Pity, maybe, but the framing is very clearly that he kinda deserves this) and the schadenfreude the reader is encouraged to feel if Bill's hellish afterlife is, largely if not entirely, a self-inflicted one: That it wouldn't be particularly bad if not for his own combo of being unable to accept that he lost, that he shouldn't be allowed to do whatever he wants whenever he wants to anyone he wants, inability to form meaningful bonds with others, and, most of all, his total inability to admit to being wrong. He COULD leave at any time, if he would just actually repent, but...He's Bill, so...He won't. It just works best for me if his hell is largely self-inflicted. 2. They are harmful, possibly deliberately. This does have a fair bit of support textually. Mandatory therapy is already a pretty major ethical grey area at best (a major tenant of modern psychotherapy is that you can't make someone change unless they take the first step), they definitely engage in toxic positivity, and, of course, the "Solitary Wellness Void" is...Solitary confinement, which is a practice most modern medical institutions oppose and consider to be psychological torture. So, fair bit of support for this. 3. This is what I think was probably Alex's intent: They're a bunch of oblivious obnoxiously happy morons (as Bill himself would probably describe them) whose attempts to treat eons-old eldritch horror bad guys with puppet shows and arts and crafts is meant to be amusingly-inept rather then actively malicious, and whose effectiveness (such as it is) is down to having literally eternity to try. Kinda like what Mabel might do to rehabilitate someone. To use an analogy, think Charlie Morningstar from Hazbin, at least in the first couple episodes, where the fact that she's treating adult criminals like misbehaving children is the joke and is meant to indicate incompetence rather than malice. I get that isn't that much different from the proceeding (except in terms of "how seriously are we supposed to take this"), but still. I think all three of these have support, and, to be clear, I go with the first one not because I think it's the most supported (might be the least), but because it jives most with how I think about BIll's narrative IE as a character we're meant to, at best, pity, but not really sympathize with. I think the intent is "Bill is suffering a karmic self-inflicted punishment after all the pain and suffering he's caused", not "Bill is being medically abused and we should feel bad for him". The Book of Bill does invite readers to sympathize with Bill occasionally, but mostly past Bill, not current Bill. All viewpoints are valid, this is just trying to organized some thoughts on the subject. I sincerely hope I haven't said anything harmful here. Uh, cards on the table, I am neurodivergent, but i've never had therapy, forcefully or otherwise (although I did have an irrational fear of the possibility of institutionalization for a bit), so i'm sorta going off vibes here, sorry to say. If I said anything insensitive here, I apologize.

[orionhelluvaranting]

Debunking the Myth about Stolass' Lack of Awareness

Justifying Stolass' harassment by his ✨unawareness✨ is such a popular tactic of the stans. "He didn't know his behavior makes Blitzø uncomfortable!" they say. "He was sheltered all of his life!" they say. Some of them are bold enough to headcanon Stolass as autistic even.

However, what if I say there's the scene - the one single scene - that wrecks all those statements about Stolass' unawareness? And just the one shot expresses the whole essence of my point. Do you want to see it? Okay, here it is:

If you didn't comprehend it (maybe you forgot this moment from the series) that's fine. I was going to analyse this anyway 🔎

Here's the context: S2E4, "Western Energy". Stolass, Stella and Andre-blah-blah are sitting at the cafe for privileged jerks and discussing S&S' divorce. Then Striker breaks into the building and fires a series of shots at the prince (all missed the target). Right in the middle of the shooting Stolass turns to Stella, looks at her evil smirk... and he gets it all! Immediately! This is literally what's happening. Stolass understood that his wife has put a hit on him. And how did he come up with that conclusion?

He! Just! Read! Facial! Expression!

The line that's addressed from Stolass to Striker confirms this unambiguously:

So what is the unawereness we could talk about after all this? No, really! Stolass not only identified Stella's emotion (schadenfreude) correctly but also connected it to the current situation and his wife's general attitude towards him from which he deduced the reason for Stella's emotion (she craves his death, therefore she's the one who put a hit on him). And all this in a matter of seconds. To the whistle of angelic bullets!!! Like usually people become less analytical in moments of danger. But here's Stolass suddenly showing us miracles of emotional intelligence! Bravo!

So why can't he apply the same tactic to Blitzø or Octavia? Why is he able to grasp emotions of his abuser - who he hates and despises - very easily; but he stays unaware for so long when it comes to his loved ones? Why it took him almost a whole day to see that Via doesn't enjoy being in Loo Loo Land (although she openly said this from the very beginning)? Why it took him nearly a year (!!!) to see that Blitzø doesn't enjoy being his "impish plaything" (although he made it clear constantly)?

Isn't he able to understand them? Or maybe just doesn't want to?

Draw conclusions by yourself. And those of you who wants a few more thoughts of mine - I'm gladly inviting you under the cut!

You know what's the funniest part? This little detail doesn't have any impact on the story! At all!!! You literally could cut it off, change the dialog between Stolass and Striker a bit and TA-DA! Nothing would've changed. Because Stolass doesn't remember that his wife tried to kill him. He doesn't take any precautions even! Like, apparently, Via spends almost the entire second season with her mother.... and Stolass' totally OKAY with this?! Huh?!?

Why was that moment pushed into the series regardless? Well, I think Viv just wanted to praise her babyboy.* Like, "Oh, look how smart and cool he is, not like that stupid cow, Stella!" But ironically this decision has exactly the opposite effect.

I mean, it's a normal thing not being able to understand something in a few seconds in an emergency. Just a normal thing. Honestly, see no reason for judging. But if you, Stolass, have actually realised your abusive wife's desire for unaliving you and then you don't do shit preferring to chase your butty call while your precious daughter lives with that abusive wife of yours... Then I have a question:

Besides, as I just said, this all levels the whole "Stolass' unawareness" excuse to the ground. And you can't fix this by making excuses below your own video, Vivienne 🙄

If you want your audience to grasp something, then you should follow the "Show, Don't Tell" rule. Also it wouldn't hurt you to try and not contradict yourself. This time you had every chance to do so but you've just missed it... Congrats?

So what was the point?!

*By the way something similar was showed at "Oops" when Stolass stayed with Ozz (for some unclear reason) and explained to him - the Deadly Sin - how deals with the Deadly Sins are working! Yeah, what a nice fellow Stolass is, saved helpless dumb Ozzie from losing everything! Isn't that adorable everytime Stolass needs to look smart somebody must lose all of their braincells? Looks like somebody doesn't beat the Gary Stu allegations, huh?

[freakinator]

funny thing about how i view the conflict in todays stream is that i view flame and wemmbu in very separate ways despite them doing essentially the same thing

in flames case:

i view his betrayal as ultimately a tragedy, their history all thrown aside due to a combination of wounded pride and genuine upset

if yall didnt see his chat for this stream it was actually really, really bad, like his chat is genuinely so fucking annoying oh my god and is a really good demonstration of why i think streamers should be mean to their chatters sometimes to so i actually wasnt at all surprised that he was so upset but i thought hed log off instead of acting out like this

he wanted respect but literally ruined the months long work of one of the few ppl that were willing to trust him over something that couldve been resolved if he just waited until september, but at the same time i can kinda understand why he was being so impulsive considering again his chat is Really bad, but at the end of the day that really shouldnt have been something you took out on one of your few allies like???? bruh even mocked zams storytelling as if he didnt do thee same shit as well 😭

honestly one of the reasons i was sad about his betrayal is cause it kinda sounded to me like he was genuinely about to cry at first??? maybe im just making shit up tho and he def stopped sounding like he was gonna cry after blowing up the spacewaffles tower lol

in wemmbus case:

i feel no pity for this man, he wanted conflict wherever he can get it and he got it! i think hes a lot like zam in that he just wants some attention and most importantly something to do but whatever happens to him next is his own fault lmao, i respect his honesty tho like hey he sucks but he knows what hes about at least lol

the fact that he still kept trying to get a commission from zam (or at least guilttripping him about it for lack of a better word) like bro i know you wanted to do a capitalism morality dilemma arc with zam but read the room my guy 😭

maybe hes at least a little mad that zam kept turning him away despite the fact he accepted a commission from mapicc of all ppl but like. bro. theres a reason zam called him a nightmare customer lmao

that being said you can tell hes not used to going this overboard considering he offered to help repair the tree when zam got upset lmao

idk i just thought his evilness was kinda funny, still hope he gets his shit kicked in spectacularly tho!

its funny, despite being acting like the shitty no reading comprehension version of abyss he gives me the exact same feeling of schadenfreude i did for minute back in s5 and i believe part of it is his mockery of lore and weird complicated dismissal of moral conflict particularly regarding zam

by weird complicated dismissal of moral conflict i mean both he and minute both tried to convince zam to see ''their side'' and ''reason'' but coming at it from an angle that completely misunderstands zam and when zam points it out they dismiss it and act like it means nothing because of their ''objective'' view of reality, spoiler alert! its not objective at all and they refuse to understand things from zams perspective cause they think hes just being unreasonable or something

idk overall i think their motivations for doing things are just kinda... shit lol

like ik theres some pretty obvious parallels that can be made with s5 here but the difference between the og players and flamebu aside from the lack of style and drama is that the og players waited several months before they started acting out the way they did and when they did start acting out tgey always made sure evryone who wanted to get involved Actually got involved rather than doing it while everyone was away plus their opps werent their own allies (except maybe pangi depending on how you look at it)

[falazaria]

Hey, I just saw the AfD didn't win the elections! That seems good enough news for me, but I'm not really aware of the German political life. Do you wanna share your thoughts on the matter?

Well if I am being for real the results is really disheartening of course, while Afd didn't win they still got second place and the CDU under Friedrich Merz is honestly more right then center right imo. Really just worried they will try to do the same as in Austria and let coalition talks with the center left fail and then go "well guess we will have to make a coalition with the far-right" (although that didn't work out in Austria either), so I am probably not really gonna be happy because even if the cdu does a coalition with the center left (spd) the Spd has in the past never really fought back when in a goverment with the cdu (see the nearly last 16 years leading up to the last elections)

On the other hand there is some smaller things I am genuinely happy about. Like the left party going from 2,7% (european election) to 8,5-9% which is very nice exspecialy because I have voted for them because I wanted an genuinely left opposition party in parlament

Also of course the libertarian fdp failing at the 5% hurdle and two very prominent and very obnoxious party members announcing they are leaving politics is just giving me immense schadenfreude

lastly I actually feel kinda worried about the BSW (basically a bunch of politicians from the left party who went rouge and copied right wing talking points (anti-immigrantion, anti-social benefits for unemployed and terfism) and made a party around a single former "left" politicians. They could get in, it's kinda unsure as of yet, and I really hope they don't because it would make the coalition require three instead of two parties and also because I despise those opportunistic assholes

Not quite sure how I feel in general about it (might be because I am slightly tipsy) but I am gonna take a sick day tomorrow (to my dismay of not being able to feel schadenfreude over all my libertarian classmates) and wind down/collect myself because right now I am just a tipsy mess of schadenfreude and disappointment

[howlsofbloodhounds]

Thinking about young nightmare and his friendgroup...doing dumb shit....

I saw this a lot that nightmare would be the responsible and completely mature teenager that knows everything(though i havent seen it a lot now, but i also dont read a lot of nightmare centred fics because i get nit picky about it) which kinda gives me the ick i cant lie 😔

I've been thinking about them a lot recently, like nightmare probably got pulled into a bunch of dumb shit and stuff he would've never done if it weren't for his friends

I'm talking vandalism, and not the malicious kind like destroying buildings that 5 century old nightmare does, i'm talking grafitti and accidentally breaking a tree while breaking in a school because they were gonna prank the history teacher. OR when they're a little older drinking games

This man has definitely done some dumb shit, just because he is book smart and immortal doesnt mean he wasnt a teenager and young adult. He definitely both fucked up and has had some embarrassing moments.

I'm also just thinking about them having sleepovers and being in a giant cuddle pile because nightmare is cold, and him just accidentally hitting them with his tendril thingies

Sometimes its not an accident though, shouldn't have made a comment about an embarrassing moment for him 😋

Also just thinking about him and his lover when they were young, like they definitely had some fights and have said dumb stuff. They always made up, either by themselves or like that one time they got locked in a linen closet and forced to make up by the others.

Also thinking about how nightmare is an unknown creature to them, they have never seen a walking skeleton before let alone one covered in...something and tendrils out his back. Also just thinking about him and his lover exploring eachother because well, they're curious, and young so they do dumb shit and accidentally fuck up nightmares hand for a second while trying to figure out how his hands work

Whoops?

Or just nightmare being confused about humans, and why they are warm, why they have eyelashes and stuff. He knows they do, he has seen humans before in the village but he could never ask why they had that. So having someone explain it to him is probably nice and vice versa.

Also thinking about how nightmare is cold so in the summer all of them are frequently seen draping themselves over nightmare while eating icecream. And nightmare is still under a blanket.

Honestly just giving nightmare the teen experience because dream wont be able to because he was in the stone, and seeing almost everyone around you have had that experience, even your own brother must be..well something

Also yk how you make a dumb mistake in your teens and then discourage others not to do that?

Nightmare encourages dream to do the same embarrassing shit he did when young because he thinks it funny. Schadenfreude is something nightmare is very much familiar with

Also probably to make himself feel a little bit better that even his 'perfect' (according to the villagers) brother has embarrassing moments too

You and I are similar in not being able to read many favorite character-centric fics due to being nitpicky.

Although in my case there’s very rarely any Killer centric fics that isn’t just Killer sucking off Nightmare or Cross or simping over someone—usually Nightmare.

(Strange how this fandom used to hypersexulize killer by making him a horny lustful pervert 24/7 and infantilize him at the same time. And still kinda does. Though thankfully people are moving away from that, and i actually find much better fics for me by writers (and artists) over here on Tumblr.) (I had to prevent myself from ranting about killers potential in fics multiple times 🙏)

Anyway! I love that idea, especially the idea of him and his lover exploring eachother and just being really dumb teens. The idea of Nightmare having a teen experience and a life before all the King of Negativity, cult leader labor trafficker kidnapper torturer stuff.

It would be kinda funny and interesting if Nightmare’s lover actually had a red soul—and he kinda attaches to Killer for that reason and sees a lot of them in him (similar to how Chara saw only the “better” version of Asriel/Flowey in Killer, or how Papyrus and the whole multiverse only saw Sans, and keeps with the theme that no one but Color ever saw Killer for Killer.)

And like, Nightmare may or may not have any of those types of feelings for Killer—but he is possessive, because Killer reminds him of what he lost, and he is useful.

And also the idea of Dream having lost out on his childhood/teen hood and having to spend it just training and preparing to become the Guardian of Positivity and keeping the Balance, protecting the Multiverse, fighting/saving his brother, is all so sad. Nightmare got to live and mature naturally (without his family of course, and likely being hated and feared and isolated wherever he went), whereas Dream was forced to grow fast to basically be a child soldier.

{ @brokenramunebottle }

[queer-scots-geordie-dyke]

Hi, I am so relieved to see that you seem to have an open mind about this crazy case. Your are one of the most sane people on this website and honestly, I have seen many people in the last few weeks that I've considered pretty moderate on the left-right issues, now reblogging some horrific posts that basically celebrate senseless violence and crime.

It does remind me a bit of the way people treat the Middle East conflicts here, like some of them (for reasons only they know, but I bet that some are paid trolls) create these false choices where they act like you have to choose a side from two extremes and if you don't take one, you must by default support the other - if you condemn the murder, it apparently means that you approve of everything that insurance companies do to screw with people. Just like if you don't support the destruction of Israel you apparently support genocide. Basically it's phrased like you have only two options, both of them in favor of violence. When most normal people would just want for everyone to have their basic human rights and safety. But people in progressive spaces nowadays are so afraid to be labeled as the bad ones, so they choose who the violence should be inflicted on based on which groups are more popular and which are more hated.

Just my two cents on how these two trends here look similar to me.

Honestly, I don’t really know the complete details of the case but I do know that it’s deeply concerning to me just how many people are fully okay with an unarmed person being gunned down in the street. Yeah, from what I understand, he’d caused a lot of pain and suffering but open the door to condoning vigilante execution even once, who the hell knows where that would end? If you can justify anything, where do you stop? I do also realise that as a Brit, living in a country with universal health care (even if it is a system at breaking point because of years of government underfunding) that I can never fully understand the fear and trauma of navigating such a horrifying system as the US has so, to some extent, I can understand the schadenfreude some people feel, even if I can never condone the violence.

[ferronite]

Well, I'm about to go to sleep, so keep in mind that I'll only see your answer when I wake up—

Which LobCorp Abnos your 7 little beings match best?

And an extra question just to make you a little unhappy :]

Which of my characters do you think each of your 7 would get along with best? Considering what you've read from my posts and such.

good luck. two long questions. sorry.

Oo good questions! (Also why would the second make us unhappy?)

Anyway, for the first one:

Jean: mmm. Silent Orchestra, Queen of Hatred and Old Lady. SO mostly due to their desire for others to see their work (and also belief that others are simply "unable to handle it), QoH because of their desire to be better than others then leading to them breaking down when they lose faith in themselves and can't find anyone "lesser", and Old Lady... being essentially what they fear becoming. Someone who creates art for an uncaring, actively dismissive audience.

Maria: there's a lot that could work, but... Burrowing Heaven, Schadenfreude, Snow White's Apple. Heaven is pretty obvious - it's her desire for attention, to be seen by all, whilst Schadenfreude is her fear of being truly perceived. She doesn't want people to see the raw self beneath the image she's created. And then the Apple follows on from that - her jealousy for people who can be themselves with no consequence, her fears of abandonment, and her worry that people will find out that she's "rotten" (even though that's not true!!!)

Kaylen: hm. Singing Machine, Yin, and... Dimensional Refraction Variant. Singing Machine is just for the vibes honestly, I mean... music and mind control! It's what he do - and also kinda represents people's fears abt him. (...hi there S.) Yin is again mostly linked to people's views of them as being a "curse" really, and DRF is a similar thing; the fears of something that can't be seen, and also his worries abt being left alone due to these things.

Danny: Knight of Despair, Little Red Riding Hooded Mercenary, and Queen Bee. Most of his are linked to his feelings towards others - KoD is his desire to protect/defend those he cares about (even if they're capable of looking out for themselves), Little Red is mostly vibes ngl but also his more "vengeful" side; he can hold a grudge for a long time. Queen Bee... I'd link him more to the workers than anything considering his loyalty thing, but in a way it links to his past. It's the Vibes again really lol.

Sel: again, a lot that would fit them, but... Der Freischütz, Mountain of Smiling Bodies and Clouded Monk. Der Frei since they push people away (and did kill the people they cared for in the past) and try to avoid connections for fear of them getting in the way/getting people they care about hurt (the aberration lines up better with this but shhhh), and also ig their view of themselves as a weapon. MoSB is because of... well, their Creations mostly but also on some level their knowledge that eventually their actions will return to haunt them, and Clouded Monk is because they do wish to help/protect people and have their specific set of morals, but also view themselves as being "imperfect" or "corrupted" (note: not Corrupted with a capital lmao)

Basil: Meat Lantern, Big and Will be Bad Wolf, and Beauty and the Beast. Lantern is cuz he's normally the one to bring everyone together, which will generally end in tragedy, with Beauty being linked to how his death was what resulted in the "curse". Wolf is mostly because, whilst he fights against it, in many iterations he is assumed to be destined to be the "bad guy", even if he doesn't end up being the "villlain" in that life... he also, upon learning abt the cycle, considers it to be his fault.

Liv: All-Around Helper, Snow Queen, Big Bird. Helper is her desire to... well, help others, and how it ended up causing more problems. Snow Queen is more vague but it's about how she got everyone stuck in the cycles instead of allowing them to move on ("freezing" them together/in place in a way.) And Big Bird is, again, how her intent to help people with a "better" solution only resulted in this situation.

Note: I also associate both of the siblings with WhiteNight due to them drawing everyone together, only to end up causing their ruin.

As for the second question...

Jean: realistically probably none of them (or maybe mehi?), I reckon all of your guys would find them a bit annoying, but I do like the image of them helping Tracy with her drawings, so I'll say that :) they have a bit of a soft spot for kids anyway.

Maria: hmm. Probably Tracy again, she'd definitely want to help her with her confidence, but if we want different answers for everyone... Ada would probably hate her slightly less than they hate everyone else. Not because of any personality things, and they wouldn't like her, but cuz they can tell shes putting on a front and hiding some stuff so... they'd probably end up considering her some kind of puzzle to be solved.

Kaylen: Luna, probably. I can imagine them both teaming up to try convince Mehi to do Human Things lmao.

Danny: Avery. They just... they'd mesh quite well. Similar personalities (kinda!), similar things with protecting people/revenge, even similar favourite colours (I mean, magenta's pretty close to pink!) They'd be quite the force to be reckoned with.

Sel: considering their matching vibes I would say Mehi but honestly I don't think they'd like each other much (sel would remind him of his past, mehi would probably just piss them off) so... Noah perhaps? They'd get along well but dear God they'd be absolutely insufferable together for everyone else lmaooooo.

Basil: Mehiel. He might not share Mehi's "I am only my purpose" thing, but he can certainly understand the sentiment, as well as the desire to protect people. I reckon they'd be pretty chill.

Liv: Maple. Zero surprises on that one! They have such similar vibes, they'd get along brilliantly I reckon.

[zahri-melitor]

DC Power 2024: Finally sat down to read this because I’d been holding off on it due to the Far Sector epilogue.

I’m going to look at writers again too, as a casual comparison to the seasonal anthologies. My first impression is that there was more variation in story length than some of the other anthologies: on top of a 13 page epilogue, the anthology had a mix 8 page and 10 page stories, while it’s been standardising to 10 page pitches for the seasonals.

Enduring Farewells (N.K. Jemisin): In terms of the story, this was a lovely little cap on the run. Loved the surprise party, the baking discussion, and Jo and John getting to bond a bit.

Looks like they’re popping it into the deluxe trade, which makes sense – might as well keep all the parts together. (This is a thing I’m seeing DC collections do more often when a story is spread through various places, and they should be applauded for it and encouraged to continue: the Tim Drake: Robin trades have the entire Meghan Fitzwilliam storyline)

N.K. Jemisin is a multi-Hugo, Nebula and Locus winning novelist who was specifically recruited to do Far Sector. I think her translation between formats has been pretty solid.

The Spice of Life (Cheryl Lynn Eaton): this is part of Pierce family arc that’s been going on for a bit leading into the current Black Lightning run, where Anissa’s having issues with her powers. I haven’t actually clean read the storyline through, but it’s been ticking along in various anthologies since 2021 or so? Look, this is definitely one of those stories where I felt like a complete cultural outsider lacking a chunk of context, and the story is too slight to pick it up. Which is fine, this anthology is absolutely not aimed at me; I just wonder if the cohort for who it is aimed at find it compelling or heavy handed.

Cheryl Lynn Eaton has been getting more Marvel work than DC, but is largely getting published in Voices/Power stuff. She did get a Black Panther event tie-in mini last year that seems to have got solid reviews.

Pit Stop (Lamar Giles): I honestly can’t believe that we’re getting Bloodwynd stories in the 21st century, let alone LEGACY BLOODWYND stories, but then I’ve never actually got my head around and read the entire situation back in the 90s Justice League. My understanding of what was going on was limited to approximately “this is something involving Martian Manhunter identities, and I know it’s complicated”. I’m happy for all the Bloodwynd fans out there that they got new material.

Lamar Giles’ one other comics work is the Static teen graphic novel for DC. As is common for people on that pathway, he has a substantial bibliography of YA novels over the last decade.

Pure Blackness (John Ridley): Ridley’s annual contribution to this title was an Earth-2 Val-Zod story. It was a very ‘let’s tell the origin story’ tale. It felt very much exactly like how he likes to tell a story. I don’t have a lot to say about it, really? Feels a bit like a swipe at Absolute Superman, except it was written probably before the pitches for that were even delivered.

Ridley of course has extensive comics credits with DC and multiple ongoings, among his other achievements.

Lost at Sea (Deron Bennett): okay this was a fun piece of horror. I am meaning to get to more Aqua stuff, and I don’t fully understand the emotions between Black Manta and Jackson, but I will say, given Black Manta’s most famous moments, him being essentially framed for killing kids clearly has some schadenfreude to it, particularly when he got OUTRAGED that someone would to that to him. I WONDER WHY PEOPLE MIGHT TRY THAT, BLACK MANTA. I am completely unaware of how accepting Manta is towards Jackson’s sexuality but this was positing that he’s supportive? Ish? Hmmmm.

Deron Bennett is a DC letterer (he’s done a lot of work for the Bat office since Rebirth, particularly on Batman, Batwoman, Green Arrow and Batgirl) and this is his first work as a writer. I think it was a very respectable opening story. He got to team up with Denys Cowan, which certainly helped make the story look good.

The Session (Shawn Martinbrough): I was all set to add this to my collection of ‘DC psychologists you should be using in stories as superhero psychs’ except it rapidly entered the ‘DC psychologists are the enemy, again’ zone. That aside, love every time people have Crispus Allen and Renee Montoya in stories together. Obviously this sent in the past, probably pre-Flashpoint, as this is incredibly Allen’s first appearance since 2011. Which. WHAT?

Shawn Martinbrough has a three decade career in comics, however the majority of his work has been over in the art side. His other DC writing credits are on Red Hood and Red Hood: The Hill.

The Natural Order (Alitha Martinez): This was a cute Nubia story! Pity about Mxy being in it but I’m just generally not a fan of 5th dimension imps at any time.

This is Alitha’s first story as a writer with DC, however she’s worked as a penciller and inker on a number of projects, most notably on the earlier Nubia minis, so she’s certainly across the character.

Jump Shots & Loose Watts (Jarrett Williams):this was a promotional story for Speed Force, essentially. As such, it had the exact same sort of tone as Speed Force, and on top of that had the perky sort of ‘you, marginalised kid I am trying to relate to, you’re the REAL hero not superheroes!’ tone that feels somewhat off base in this anthology, as given the price point I suspect it’s unlikely to end up in the hands of many marginalised Black teens and kids.  

Jarrett Williams, on top of writing Speed Force, has an substantial set of credits writing cartoon tie-in comics (there’s a lot of Rick and Morty in particular). The similar tone is noticeable.

Fair Play (Greg Burnham): it was nice to see a title actually starring Michael Holt for a change, as he’s been very relegated to a ‘call in tech support’ character for a while now.

Greg Burnham has a couple of other anthology credits with DC (one Halloween, one with Milestone Initiative), and a handful of indie comics titles.

The Light That Shines (Brandon Thomas): Duke goes hopping in time and talks to his older self to get a perk up. It’s apparently related to an earlier story Thomas wrote in Batman Black & White.

Brandon Thomas, along with Bryan Hill, are DC’s two major Duke writers since Scott Snyder stepped back from writing mainline stories. His work for DC also includes a lot of Jackson Hyde’s stories and the current Black Lightning run.

On balance, looking at this list of ten writers, I would say there are legitimately two who qualify for the tagline of “all star cast” (Jemisin and Ridley), plus Thomas having substantial writing credits with DC and Williams having a current mini when this came out. I’m delighted to see that they gave writing opportunities to three of their long term artists (Bennett, Martinbrough and Martinez). A lot of this list looks more like ‘offered opportunities’ rather than open to brand new pitches. I’d say the experience level is on average slightly higher than comparable seasonal anthologies.

-

DC Power: Rise of the Power Company (2025): I think it’s worth noting that this is a substantially shorter anthology this year compared to 2023 or 2024. 2023 had 56 pages of story and 2024 had 95 pages. 2025’s entry only manages 40 pages, however the one particularly notable thing about those 40 is that 3 of the 4 stories feel prepped or related to current or solicited storylines. As such, it feels less like an annual celebration anthology and more like an event anthology.

The writing team is Brandon Thomas, Zipporah Smith, John Jennings and Vita Ayala. It’s Jennings’ first DC story, but Smith has been turning her hand to a diverse range of characters in shorts, and Thomas and Ayala have substantial credits.

Company Man (Brandon Thomas): This is just set up for future Black Lightning and Power Company storylines, surely? If you’re reading either of those, you should probably be dipping into this to check on the framing happening. It would probably be a better story if it wasn’t clearly doing a lot of heavy lifting to move pawns into place.

Ring of Power (Zipporah Smith): Mari gets to team up with EVERYONE, it feels like. Can’t escape being a supporting character, but wow do people like using her to showcase others. This is a nice check in on what’s happening with Malik White.

Unfinished Business (John Jennings): Jo Mullein and Vic doing stuff with the new Justice League satellite. Like all of the current Justice League-entangled stories, I’m sort of waiting to find out if we do have an overarching plot here or if it’s just setting vibes that everyone is being asked to use. It’s cute but fairly insubstantial.

Dynamic Duo (Vita Ayala): look, I’ll be honest; I haven’t been particularly impressed with Ayala’s voices and characterisation when writing various Bat characters. I don’t mind the Duke voice here too much (though it’s quite perky for Duke), but it felt Wow Are We Black Bat Characters, Have You Noticed We Are Both Black? Which, firstly, please have someone finally let Duke and Luke actually meet on page, both of them clearly want to get to know the other. Also it felt like a lot of heavy handed commentary on how partitioned off Ridley’s been keeping Jace Fox.

[yridenergyridenergy]

Welcome! This is a special invitation to take the whole Dir en grey community for an enthralling ride into the Schadenfreude universe! 

That song’s lyrics are highly poetic, and seeing as it is a long song, we have even more to feed our imagination. These lines suggest an imagery, but far from forcing a specific one onto us, they peel at the layers of our creativity. 

We would love to see your approach on what those lyrics evoke for you. Some of you are incredible talented and this contest is less of a competition than it is an opportunity to create a gallery of amazing art dedicated to Dir en grey’s Schadenfreude!

Prizes

Still, as an incentive, you can expect not just many kudos and my heartfelt appreciation, but a couple of prizes! 

Two guaranteed prizes are sets of VIP & exclusive goods from Tour23 Phalaris Vol.II, which contain: portrait set (photographed during Tour23 From Depression To____ 25th Anniversary), drawing book (Perfume of Sins artist photo outlines), colouring pencils, wristbands set, and a large pouch. 

What’s more random and undetermined is that, on top of that, honestly, there are probably things that I would be willing to do or to depart with from my own collection. Whether it’s something in Photoshop, or you’re a fan of x member who is missing something, we’ll work out an extra prize that I can include in your package!

(Voting method and presentation of the entries to be determined - probably dependent on how many entries there are, if artists prefer to be presented anonymously or something, etc. I definitely won’t be making the decision myself, but I also want it to be as fair as possible for all participants!)

Deadline

I don’t want to rush creativity at all, but please submit your entries no later than July 7th 2023 at 11:59PM EST. Let me know if you find this too restrictive!

Here is the Google form to register your artwork:

https://forms.gle/BeBSzvgTj9GDvUfF7

Entries

You can enter as many entries as you wish to share! There are so many inspiring lyrics in Schadenfreude that would be difficult to mix into a single piece of art. At the same time, there isn’t necessarily strength in number in this case, since there will be at least two winners anyway. This is meant to give you flexibility rather than to force you to make a difficult choice on just one segment of Schadenfreude to illustrate, but don’t spread your efforts thin on too many pieces!

What medium? As long as it’s a still image, go wild with digital, paper, paint, clay(?). 

Literally no other theme than just: “Bring to life a part of Schadenfreude’s poetry”. The lyrics mention scenery for the most, but you could include a person in your artwork too. 

Do keep in mind the tone and way those lyrics are sung, as well as the surrounding melody, of course!

Tips?

This may be more distracting than helpful as it could create bias, but below the break, I’ll include some descriptions of how Schadenfreude was portrayed live by the band. 

Before the hidden break though, good luck to all and thank you to anyone who participates! If you can, please spread the word about this contest!

The lighting for Schadenfreude is overall very much blue and red, but I think there were scenes of red and green too. 

In the background, the accompanying video shows 3D graphics of: gnats, a featureless person praying on their knees, a corridor of material resembling inner linings or organs that leads to a wide room where a faceless branch being sits on a throne, the Devil with its horns, scorched paper, a devastated forest but also a jungle with a giant skull-shaped rcck or monument. Other parts of the video showcase sketches like those of the artist behind the Agitated Screams of Maggots and Rinkaku PVs, displaying a mage or a ghost. 

[unofficial-book-of-quotes-tm]

My thoughts on series 10:

Yeah, all right, this series had me cry-laughing more times than I could count. Now, series 10 was the first series that had to deal with the Covid restrictions, which means no audience in the studio (I think the audience reactions were recorded on a different day altogether). Especially the first and second episode feel a bit disconcerting and plainly weird to me with the lack of an audience, and I think everyone there was feeling it as well. I honestly find the Covid era series quite endearing, they’re doing their best with what they’re allowed to do, and I don’t know if I’m the only one thinking this but the Covid series have this kind of charm to them, which I think is similar to how series 1 felt, even though they had an audience. It’s not the exact same, but a very similar vibe, though it could just be because they’re doing something different / for the first time. Yet the absence of an audience gave us multiple camera perspectives, which I think was neat, although it makes the studio look even more deserted. Well, the restrictions robbed us of any physical contact between Greg and Alex, but again, I think they did their best despite that.

So, that’s the main thing out of the way, now on to the competitors. I don’t have too much to say about Richard. I thought he was rather entertaining to watch. He did what was asked of him and seemed to have a good understanding of what the show was about, I mean he won half of the episodes. One thing about Richard that I immensely appreciated was that he stood up for other contestants a couple of times, arguing they should not be disqualified or receive more points than Greg was initially going to award them. Another moment that stood out to me was him learning all five parts for that drama / scene without making any major blunders. In short: I just liked him and I think he was a great contestant and genuinely impressive.

At first I didn’t quite know how to feel about Daisy but she was a tour de force and if the final live task would’ve gone a little differently, she might have won the entire series. Her being her very own cheerleader throughout — as Greg pointed out — and her annoyance at Alex getting gradually worse as the series progressed were so much fun to observe. Daisy could have and perhaps should have won because doing the tasks while being pregnant can’t have been easy and she did so well up until that last task. It was brutal but so much fun. She had so many great moments and hippo-gate will forever be one of my favourites.

Mawaan described himself best when he called himself ‘a sexy badass bitch’ and I have nothing more to add. Actually, I do have a couple of things to add, mainly he was just so upbeat, seemed to have a great time and he committed to every task. Some of his less great decisions I’ll jot down to spur-of-the-moment actions ‘cos I don’t know how else to explain the idea of trying to fill an egg with helium or stopping during a timed task to do a little cabaret. Also, Mawaan getting up and turning his chair upside-down during the whole ‘What is a spider?’ debate, shouting, ‘Look, a cat! It’s a cat!’ never fails to crack me up. Mawaan was simply great and I want to give a special mention to his studio outfits and the fact he colour-coordinated his nails with them.

I adore Johnny. I don’t know how much of this was his persona and I don’t care. He feels like this character in a comedy that bad things always happen to, regardless of how hard he tries (and I’m pretty sure I shouldn’t feel that much schadenfreude when observing him) but he seems to be a genuinely nice bloke. Thing is, Johnny felt out of place. When I look at him all I can see is him sitting in his local drinking a couple of pints or wandering around the countryside and I’m not sure whether that’s just because of his outfit.

Katherine Parkinson, you are my queen. I love her to bits. Whenever she opened her mouth to say something I never knew, let alone be prepared, for what she was about to unleash on us. Just like Joe Thomas reminded me of Simon Cooper throughout series 8, Katherine reminded me so much of Jen Barber from IT Crowd, it’s insane. I just unironically love Katherine referring to ‘we’ in almost every task. I think I know what she meant, but still, it’s hilarious, especially when Alex points it out. I don’t think I’ve ever seen Alex help a competitor as much as he’s helped Katherine. I’m not critiquing that, as ultimately, it didn’t matter and I loved their banter. During that ‘make the biggest object vanish’ task in episode 1 and Katherine going, ‘Is that me? Nope. That sofa is bigger than me.’ I couldn’t help but think of Simon Farnaby as Caligula in Horrible Histories saying, ‘Think you’re bigger than me?’ to a fish on a spear. Sometimes my brain truly astounds me with what it remembers, given that it’s been years since I watched Horrible Histories. But I really like to know what happened before episode 10 that made Greg rip so hard into Katherine. From the moment she revealed the clay masks during the prize task, Greg is on her and doesn’t relent up until the last VT or something. Maybe he was just jealous that she and Alex got on so well, I don’t know.

Once again I like the teams they put together. Richard and Daisy work well enough and have enough chemistry to pull it off despite being shit at a lot of the team tasks. Contrast that with Katherine, Mawaan and Johnny. I don’t even have words to describe them. Mawaan and Katherine were always all over the tasks with Johnny slightly trailing after them (and it didn’t help that they singled Johnny out on at least one occasion and basically removed him from a task). Their dynamic reminded me a little of Paul, Lou and Iain in series 8, minus the toxicity.

You know, if I had a nickel, every time Greg now refers to himself unironically as ‘Daddy’, I’d have almost enough to retire. So I think we should all thank Alex for getting this off the ground. The ‘get the exercise balls into the hoops’ task’s got to be my favourite of this series — or potentially the cocktail one. They’re both brilliant. Maybe I’m wrong about this one but this series had what felt like an exorbitant large amount of food or food-related items for the prize category. Once I started rewatching series 10, I kind of remembered a couple of things about it (even if in my last post on series 9 I said I didn’t even remember who was on), Greg standing up and chastising everyone in the studio for their poor attempt among them, but I thought it happened in, like, the first or second episode, but it was episode 8! And I’m really glad they saved the ‘Am I the spider?’ moment for the final episode. I don’t have much more to say. This series is genuinely one of my favourites, and I think it’s a prime example of a cast that’s so different on an individual level coming together incredibly well. And now that we’ve finished with series 10, it only makes sense to directly jump to Champion of Champions 2!

Noteworthy facts about series 10 (more can be found in my high scores post): This series contains the lowest scoring episode of a full series to date (pre series 19) in episode 1: ‘God’s haemorrhoid.’ with a cumulative of 47 points; Katherine Parkinson is the lowest scoring competitor since the show changed hands from Dave to Channel 4 with a total of 118 points; but it’s also the series in which a single contestant, Richard Herring, has also had the most wins since the change to Channel 4, winning 5 out of 10 episodes.

I wanna leave you with my favourite Greg gif of this series.

[llycaons]

reread ch22 - 25: about halfway through this I was like 'damn, this is the most horrifying thing to happen in this manga' and then I thought about it and realized it was one of like five other arguably equally horrifying things. anyway. good chapters

he's literally hungry don't hurt him...

her expression is so funny here like FUCKKKK

priest going from ready to annihilate this nephilm to negotiating with him as soon as he knows imuri wants to protect him...he's not cruel by nature obviously but he would have killed this creature with no second thought if not for her, when he is easily able to redirect him

this nephilm makes me cry I am so fucking serious

SHE!!!! imuri is a great example of a noncombatant (until way later) who nevertheless shapes the story and has has narrative weight. she's leaning on a bit of schadenfreude here, huh...I love her

IMURI 🥺🥺🥺

not sure if this is anything specific or just a general note on the church's attitudes towards demons

she blinds people by making them look at her face...?

the first panel being meat cooking....

another mystery - what's the deal with these cats and the man who abused and killed them?

also - hundefutter = dog food, aww

I didn't see the grooming parallel until other ppl pointed it out bc his manipulation and torment of leah never seemed specifically sexual to me but yeah this is creepy

:/

I have no idea to what this is referring, and googling came up empty...hm I hope someone figures it out!

the immediate sense of weightupon the page, the way you cal almost hear the buzzing start up, the dark flecks on his shirt, his bloodthirsty smile....really well done. really ominous

NAUR...the kids collaborated to lie about leah's whereabouts to her parents so that she could visit beelzebub? and they think she's in love? she was five years old...

SICKENING

the body horror in this section is rly nauseating...also his head is looking a little fly-like when it bulges out, ntm his cape looking like fly wings

I wonder who is singing....

props to her dad for quick-thinking - assigning blame where it was due, telling her to try to be happy, and assuring her they'll always love her. he processed it all fast and got a lot in, for such a crazy situation

some really sick body horror...

he's so good thematically. I like the emphasis on meat and murder and wasteful, unsupportable indulgence and violence rather than shame for eating too much or being fat. he's wealthy - he takes what he wants and enjoys it to the fullest

oh fuck I don't remember THIS panel. so the beautiful dish he presented her with was a hallucination? and this is what was really happening? he was still alive...twitching at least. jesus, this might be the darkest thing in this manga, and I'm including everything with asmodeus. oh hm the verge backstory tho. and priest's very early years of abuse and his suicide pact. oh and luca....there's a lot here honestly. but this is definitely up there.

rosa you are so fucking cool no wonder dante wanted to avenge you. oh god he looks so baby here. I saw someone call verge 30 in the present timeline and there's no way, assuming they're of similar ages (which they've gotta be, no reason they wouldn't be)

if this happened in 2011, maybe it's pre-verge becoming a witch...? but if beezlebub got defeated here and sent back to gehenna, how did he make verge his witch the year after? maybe it IS 12 years ago instead and verge left in 2010. he seems to have become a witch right before leaving - that's why he was talking about killing god, I imagine

THE HERO!!!!!! wonder what SHE thought about the corruption in the church. she seems very practical and no-nonsense and militant so I imagine she'd want them out and there seem to be enough exorcists to support the needs of the church....

[strideofpride]

Season 3 of Gossip Girl was so aggressively mediocre tbh, like people bitch a lot about season 5, but at least that had some interesting drama interspersed into the poorly written storylines! The Serenate romance arc and the Dan/Blair popular kid/loser role reversal plots were fun, and the parts of Jenny’s arc that didn’t feel like character assassination were compelling, but outside of that…

Honestly I think the biggest issue was shifting things from being a Serena-centered school drama to a Chuck-centered business drama. The Bass Industries plot ended up dominating the season, and it wasn’t even conceptually interesting. Like the writers were trying to do their own pseudo-pre-Succession thing with Chuck, but they just slapped it right in the middle of a CW teen drama without any of the scaffolding to support it. “Will Chuck live up to his dead father’s expectations? Can he build his own empire, or will he squander his legacy?? Who’s his real mom, and what does she want?!” I don’t care, I really don’t care, and I wish she had wanted an abortion so I didn’t have to sit through 22 episodes of this. What the fuck is going on with Serena and why is Nate dating a republican???

(Okay also, if I’m being completely fair, the S3 Thanksgiving episode really did deliver. And I genuinely enjoyed the Dan/Nate friendship moments sprinkled throughout, as well as the periodic Dan/Blair and Dan/Georgina hijinks whenever they popped up. But those parts of the season got way less screen time than the Chuck/Chair angst, Serena’s suddenly urgent and all-consuming daddy issues, the weirdly bad Dan/Vanessa plot, or all of the nothing they were doing with Nate. The writers consistently prioritized the least interesting storylines that season.)

Yes, exactly! S3 had pockets of interesting stuff, like S5, but it was largely so dull and yeah, it *is* cause of all the “Chuck the teenage businessman stuff” (technically his only business is The Empire in s3, he doesn’t actually take over Bass Industries until Lily tries to sell it in s4). Plus, I always find Chuck boring when he’s in romantic hero mode, so the one-two of that is soooo. Ugh.

Also like…do c/hair fans actually like where they took that relationship in season 3? Cause I feel like the whole season was just a good case study of why they’re a horrible couple. Like they start off the season already doing sex games to spice things up after three months, then Chuck gets all mad at Blair for meddling with The Empire (they even say at one point they only make a good team when they have an enemy to scheme against like??? That sounds unhealthy bro). Then there’s all of Chuck’s mommy & Uncle Jack drama, where he basically shuts Blair out. Then he trades her for a hotel and then he tries to control her dating life after they break up and then he can’t even wait an hour and has dubious consent sex with Jenny like. Their dating season is so Bad for them actually.

And I don’t even get some schadenfreude from it cause once again: it’s all so fucking boring.

[swanno-arts]

⚓for all of your sinners :3c

This isnt part of the ask game but also, what would their canto boss battle song be if they have one?

⚓ — What would be their season EGO?

(RATTLES IN MY BOOTS) HEHEHEHOHOHO. OKAY to preface, the names of the EGOs could be tentative but :]

In order of Canto, with reasoning -

Parker - Pride, Prejudice (Spider of Marriage) - Parker's wish to get out of her restraints of marriage

Yossarian - Barbed Wires (The 4th Front of the Smoke War) - Yossarian's trauma from death and the Smoke War

Quail - Enlightenment (Star Luminary) - Quail regaining her memories regarding her past as a Color Fixer. Alternative EGO would be Blind Obsession but I didn't want to have a season canon repeat

Winston - Gaze (Schadenfreude) - A contrast between Winston's occupation as a B Corp Beholder and him doing everything to avoid The Eye.

JS - Sacrifice (Hammer of Light (legacy abno)) - A direct influence and reference to Blank Slate's hammer weapon (and by extension: JS' base EGO), possibly being related or an abberation of it.

Time Traveller - Clockwork Divergence (Backward Clock) - points. He's literally an iteration of Backward Clock. It's a family reunion :] /j

Bonus: What would be their Canto boss battle song?

Hm!!! I hope this meant like the Mili songs that play in the final boss battles, if so, hrmmmmm!!! I haven't fully thought of everyone's but,

Again, in order of Canto-

Parker - Nnnno clue just yet! I'm really sorry Parker I'm still really at a blank with her Canto as a whole. She's got some shenanigans with The Ring and her husband being a Maestro. The Ever Wanting probably has him as a final boss. No idea what kind of vibe the song would be.

Yossarian - No real reference point yet for what kind of song his Canto's final boss would have. I feel like some kind of daunting song since The Questioning's final boss would be one of his higher ups from his time in the Smoke War (plus the bough manifesting the Smoke War front). Something something Yossarian feeling guilty and selfish that he fled the war/his responsibilty just because he didn't want to die.

Quail - Thought about something with the tone and vibe of both Compass and Hero. The Reliving's end boss is also tentative, I was thinking Quail having a "kind of like Sancho" moment with being somewhat violent as the Crimson Guardian again for a bit - but don't really know who'd she fight as a final boss.

Winston - Honestly? Salt, Pepper, Birds, and the Thought Police is already a perfect final boss song for The Beholding, with CENSORED-O'Brien and corroded CENSORED-Julia as the final bosses. Maybe with a different tone so it could be a fight theme. Though, something similar to Through Patches of Violet is also in mind hehe

JS - HEAD IN MY HANDS. My genuine idea for his canto's final boss song is LITERALLY My Way by Frank Sinatra, but some more epic version like this one. Basically about JS coming to terms that he's who he is and his life and fate is his own making. It'll be the final boss song against JS' manifested Mirror ID, The Blank Slate. (Imagine it like Erlking Heathcliff)

Time Traveller - This man got some CLOCKS in their fuckass song. TT's canto song has something to do about (not) being human, the passage of time, and the grim future of humankind. No reference songs I could think on top of my head just yet. Also haven't decided The Short Falling's ending yet - but I THINK TT himself with The Power of The Golden Bough will be the final boss. branch f is fucked.

[juneibyou]

yknow what, i'm getting tired of even trying to take the high ground in the Vagueposting Game. i've been beating around the bush with jokes to make my points but like man i'm tired i wanna say what i have to say at least once, even at expense of dumping a big open letter at somebody on my account. this absolutely will not end it but he's getting so uppity about it now that i wanna throw my thoughts out somewhere. here's a big message for That Boy (who i will identify to dispel the veil of vaguing and for confused mutuals who care as Jeffy aka catboybeebop) or whatever goon he has stalking my account for him (both options equally as pathetic). if he takes one random point from this as a gotcha to try and tear it all down i need yall to help me take $20 from his dresser as penalty money:

do you genuinely not see the fact that you've been the one keeping this up for months purely based on your own lack of restraint. the fact that my continued joking and posting has exclusively come from your inability to just let it go, to stop making the random dunks, to stop name-dropping me in the replies of random people i've never met because of vague associations. i bring this shit up in response to occasionally finding out you've been up to it way harder, and even that reaction-to-a-reaction is enough to reflect as if i'm bringing it up too much. think about that

do you not realize that you're slowly pushing away people and affecting your reputation by doing this, that so many of our shared mutuals have gradually become more and more grated by this constant passive-aggression and dunking every time we deign to interact for whatever reason. you keep taking the fact that i even dare to come near your posts as an indictment as if we don't still end up in the same circles with semi-regularity. like of course i'm gonna end up seeing it if you're vaguing me directly under fanart of my sona. come on boy

i've been laughing this whole time both because of how meaningless it's all been to me in my general life and out of schadenfreude but it's just tiring and sad at this point. make fun of me all you want for posting about it too, laugh it up all you want to distract yourself, the fact still remains that for every couple of vagueposts i make whenever we're in the vicinity enough for me to predict you're mad, there's like 10 occasions of you trying to force your personal beef upon every random mutual or friend you know because you can't stand to hold your tongue.

this isn't just about me, this is one of the main reasons i stopped being friends with you. you have literally no restraint when it comes to people or things you don't like. at any given opportunity you'll find a way to hamfistedly bring up your personal vendettas, couching it under some semblance of "but i won't say anymore" repeatedly until you've given the whole game away through context clues. everyone fucking knows you don't like changed or whatever tumblr microcelebrity blocked you this time already you can skip that cutscene we've already seen it. hell i've had the "That Boy" thing going on mostly as a bit, anyone that knows me is painfully aware of who i'm talking about at this point, i don't even pretend like i'm having restraint the way you do. naturally the fact that you've been continuing to do this about me is gonna scan as pathetic and hilarious to someone with the pattern recognition to notice it

honestly hell i probably would be leaving it be by now too if it weren't for how many times you've claimed you're done with it or it's pointless. like man if you're done why are we still here talking about this. if it's pointless why do all these random teenage mutuals i've never seen before in my life have to know about me. think about this for like one whole second

you're trying so desperately to turn this around to your win, to your injoke, to your entertainment to laugh about, right as you've reached the zenith where even for your standards it's just become repetitive and sad. you're trying to catch me out through what i post, missing the forest for the trees. taking the admission that i've guessed at exactly when you're posting about me as a win, missing the implication that it's so obvious that you'll be set off by any vague interaction that i can guess it down to literal minutes of certainty. trying to look for any example of me slipping up and telling an opinion harshly or being vaguely hypocritical to try and sink my entire position and stop taking your months-long L.

you're just missing the point man. you've been missing the point this whole time. don't take this as an ultimatum, i can't force you to do shit, same way you can't force me to stop making you into a punchline (no matter how hard all the random friends and partners you've sent to DM me have tried). but just. come on man. Come on man. this whole time i feel like i've been trying to act as the final boss of the deep-seated problem that broke us apart in the first place, and the whole time you've just been galivanting around bringing me up to any random schmuck that happens to mention umineko or something. i've been doing all this for two reasons, to have fun, and to make a point, and this has gone on so long i'm getting tired of the bit and you're no closer to getting the damn point

i've thought this shit was done like, five times now man. i'm not forcing some never-say-shit-again restriction on you like you tried to negotiate with me. this is for your own sake man. your beef can just be your beef, and trying to make it everybody's problem all the time is going to ruin your life

tl;dr: if you actually listened to yourself the first time you said you were done talking about me ever, literally none of this would have happened. i'm tired as hell man, so are the people i know, so are some people we both know, and as much as i've put my energy in to have fun with it at the end of the day you are doing this shit to yourself

if i had slightly more energy this is where i would catalogue every time you've said you're done talking about me or this doesn't matter or is stupid actually with a "guy who is still posting about it" counter

[firecrackerhh]

Yknow I don’t think Squid is nearly a good a person as they pretend to be and the :) isn’t helping.

The :) is so passive aggressive like bitch fuck off.

“Ha ha look at this person in clear emotional distress isn’t that funny???” Go fuck your self.

Like I get Stolas isn’t a real person but I think getting some sick sense of schadenfreude over his suffering when, let’s be real, if you were in his shoes you’d be a fucking wreck too, is kinda shitty.

It’s true that his privilege prevented him from truly understanding the lower class and whatnot, but he was never CRUEL, at worst he was like, condescending, but Christ, that’s fucking TAME in comparison to how the other upper crust treats imps.

Like listen, I get schadenfreude myself when I see people get their just desserts, but considering that Stolas isn’t a shitty person (no matter how much this POS claims otherwise) and all he’s ever done is sacrifice himself for others fucking constantly all of his life, I don’t know where such a feeling comes from in this situation.

The man literally lost everything he ever knew and you think seeing him in complete misery is fucking funny. Does it ever occur to people like this that if they were lucky enough to grow up in wealth they also would not be fucking coping well in his situation?

Stolas has never had to deal with shit cuz his privilege prevented him from having to. If you lose that cushion, and you don’t have proper coping strategies, of course you’re going to be a wreck!

This is just more proof to me that empathy is something that can be discarded at your discretion and just cuz you supposedly have it doesn’t mean Jack shit.

I don’t like sounding like I’m defending rich people here but I dunno, I think I’m being pretty fucking reasonable.

Honestly, considering it’s quite clear to me that Stolas is neurodivergent I think actively enjoying his misery to this extent is evidence of actual ableism on Squid’s part and they should know better./hj