#me? putting weirdly religious themes into my stuff?

[jekyllnahyena]

she’ll never rest

[I.D. It’s a digital drawing of a call of duty oc, Juliette Regard Dione. The pose is based of Rubens ‘Samson and Dalila’, specifically Samson’s, though it’s cut off mid back. Juliette is, just like Samson, naked, her dreads flowing down from her head and her body littered with scars. A red line is going directly through her back and drawing blood. Around her head is a dark red halo, though its crocked. Her expression looks pained, like she’s having a nightmare. The background is white. End I.D]

[trans-luis-serra-navarro]

I’M SO SORRY IT TOOK ME SO LONG TO SEE THIS TUMBLR HATES ME AGSNDHENDHNDJXNSUDNXUX BUT OH MY GOD!!! YES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! YESYESYESYESYES YOU GET IT (I’ll put my ramblings under the cut so this doesn’t get too long!!)

OK FOR THE PLAGAS LOCATION THING from meeeeemory that information came from the movie Damnation???? Which still followed the OG RE4 canon (if you’re being picky ofc) so there’s MAYBE a chance that that was retconned in the remakes??? But if not then H O W ON EARTH WOULD LUIS HAVE NOT PARALYSED HIMSELF?? I am NOT an expert on medical stuff in even the SLIGHTEST, let alone something as I depth as this, but if the plagas had connected to his spine how would he have gotten it out without nicking anything that’d take away any movement or feeling in his lower body?????

BUT YOU MENTIONING THAT HE WOULDVE HAD TO DEFLATE A LUNG GOT ME THINKING what if the plagas was more closer to the lungs??? Which would explain why Ashley started coughing- how careful did Luis have to be in order to not hit his heart or even puncture his lung??? How would he have kept his hands so steady??????? Sure he’s a biologist, but how well does he know his way around a human body?? ((Maybe he knows the BASICS of anatomy from hunting with his grandfather?? Which conjures up the mental image of him trying to picture better times with his Grandfather as he’s performing the procedure on himself oughhhhh,,,))

BUT GOD YES THE LORE QUESTIONS GET ME SHAKING LIKE A DOG did he KNOW him and his team were going to be infected with the plagas??? Or did he have to find out the hard way somehow?? Was he the last surviving member of his team or did he have other people there with him??? Did he even know if his suppressant had worked at all????? At what point was he injected with the plagas- before or after he’d hatched a proper plan to escape???? W H E R E did he cut the plagas out of himself?? Did he do it in the lab and THEN escape off the island or did he wait until he was home and away from anyone who could find him?? And if he WAS still in his lab, did he sit there for days waiting for the pain/shakiness to subside or was he on pure adrenaline and survival mode??

I’ve also been writing my own post about this but there’s a weirdly,,,, almost religious aspect to him carving the plagas out of himself???? His whole character has a very Catholic undertone beyond the obvious of him being born and raised Catholic- his whole themes of him being desperate for redemption and penance for his actions and pushing his body to such extremes feels very very sacrilegious, ESPECIALLY with the way he PHYSICALLY CARVES the plagas- a thing developed by man’s hands that was never supposed to exist- out of his chest in some sort of desperation for redemption again has some weirdly religious-trauma undertones that fucks severely in my humble opinion but idk that may just be me reading between the lines!!!

So we all know Luis has a scar from Las Plagas, which implies he needed surgery to get it out... but who did the surgery? Did he do it on himself? Did this man perform a major surgery on himself to remove the parasite pieces after he killed it (I assume that he needed to remove the parts that died, as Leon and Ashley seemed to only need the laser machine to do kill it in the game)? Or was his not at an advanced stage yet so he only needed to stun it/mostly kill it before going in a removing it? How long did it take him? Did he have to break because he was worried he was going to pass out/actually pass out from the freakiness of it all/his hands were shaking so bad/he got bloody and didn't want to drop his tools?

[totiredtowrite]

"Ｔｈｅ Ｒｅｖｅｒｅｎｄ"

Warnings - Religious themes

Note: Lowkey hate the minimalist pic for this one bc it's not how I think kita would look but whatever yk. This didn't feel very wild west-y, lowkey hate the fic too 🤨

FEM READERS (SHE/HER, SHE/THEY), DO NOT INTERACT

/̵͇̿̿/’̿’̿ ̿ ̿̿ ̿̿ ̿̿

There are two sides to every coin.

This town is no exception. Tourists, visiting family or friends, people who just stop through, they only get one side of it. They get the kind people with bright eyes and even brighter smiles. They get the easygoing townsfolk who have absolutely nothing weird going on under the surface.

The reverend, on the other hand, gets the other side of that coin.

The church was put together. Well taken care of, cleaned regularly, polished and bright. The townsfolk, (aside from a few stragglers), came in on Sundays for the regular sermon, then they'd leave. Occasionally a funeral would be held there.

Of course, that wasn't all that happened. In fact it was far from it. Kita, working in arguably the most energy filled place in the whole damn town, has witnessed multiple things he wouldn't begin to explain. Birds who looked a little too human, whispering in the steeple, oddly quiet older women and men during Sunday service who he never sees again. He'd considered finding someone to work alongside him, though nobody was very willing.

At this point, he's just gotten used to it. And he's gotten used to you.

Hearing your voice in his head, seeing you prowling around his dreams, watching you occasionally lurk in the halls. Hell, he'll even say something back to you if your constant comments in his head about his 'stupid cross' got too annoying.

Not to say that he knows what you are though. What your name is, where you came from, if you're good or evil. He's just settled on neutral, much like an anarchist who would come through to say something about the church.

When it all started, he almost thought he was being punished for something. That some wayfaring god had sent you to torment him for the multitude of sins he's gathered during his day. Though, the longer it went on, the clearer it became that you were no lackey.

Tonight though, he could tell something was different. He could tell the moment you didn't disappear as he approached. You just kept sitting in his chair, feet propped up on his desk.

"What're ya doing here." He'd asked coldly. Kita hardly ever saw you. Usually you only showed in his dreams, or just as a disembodied voice in his head. When he did see you it was only for a couple seconds.

Your head shot up from the paper in your hands. (One that you clearly plucked from his desk). "Oh-! Hi father," you said, dragging out both of the words. Kita could already tell that this interaction was going to be hard to get through.

You, on the other hand, were elated. The cute human who you may or may not have a crush on is standing less than fifteen feet away from you, and you weren't booted back into the veil! Maybe today you could actually stay here.

Kita watched you pull your legs off of his desk, leaning forward to grip the edge of the chair visible between your thighs. The only reason why he wasn't startled or frozen at the moment was how...non threatening you looked to him. Maybe others would say otherwise, but he's seen you enough in his dreams or out of the corner of his eyes to be fine.

The abnormally large bat shaped ears jutting out from the sides of your head shifted with every expression you made, reflecting whatever you said. Two small horns, one larger than the other, grew out of your forehead. Aside from that and your weirdly glowy (e/c) eyes, you looked more human than he thought you'd be. Still, he could just feel that you weren't.

"Well," he sighed and leaned against the doorway. "Is there something you needed, demon?"

You gasped in faux offense, chuckling shortly after. "I'm not a demon, father," you rolled your eyes. "I'm more...meta human." You gave him a toothy smile.

His look didn't falter.

"Right," you deflated at his lack of interest in your antics, dragging out the word. "I jus' wanted to see you."

That caught him off guard, his hand instinctively reaching to the cross strung around his neck. "For what reason," he started slowly.

"Mm I dunno," you gave him another insufferable smile, "Maybe I jus' really like cute humans with grey hair."

He still looked far from impressed. "Well, leave," he said.

You looked shocked for a moment. You knew he was blunt but you didn't think he would just straight up tell you to leave. You shuffled awkwardly in his chair. "You don' wanna learn about me? N'my kind n stuff," you nervously trailed off.

He sighed heavily, dragging his large, well worked hand through his cropped hair. "No, I do not. Unless you've got something important to tell me, or show me, I do not need you here."

Your ears drooped a bit. You don't know why you thought this would actually go anywhere. The longer you watched him, the more you built up this image of how it would be in your head. You'd meet, he'd fall head over heels for you, you'd be 'stuck' in this realm, an adventure would ensue, and eventually it'd end with you staying and getting married to him.

Childish, sure. Childish and rather stupid, but oh well right? As it turns out, you were far less charming to him than he was to you.

He turned to leave. He hadn't anything important to do in his office anyways, though now he just wanted to head home. "Wait!" You called.

Kita could make out the sound of his chair being pushed out as you stood up. He paused, giving you a brief invitation to say what you wanted to say. "Can you just give me a chance! Please? I'll be good, promise," you nervously tugged on your larger horn.

He looked down, eyes closing. "A chance for what."

You ignored how it sounded more like a demand than a question. "I dunno! Just hangin around? I'll even work at the church! Just let me stay with you, only for a week!"

He perked up at your offer to work at the church. Turning around, he finally looked you dead in the eye. "Only if you work."

A smile split your face, head nodding up and down feverishly.

No way in hell was this a good idea, but at least he could keep an eye on you.

~

Do not repost, translate, or copy my work on to other platforms.

[happymetalgirl]

Rating Christmas Songs

Yep, it’s that time of year we get inundated wherever we go with mostly shitty Christmas music, usually the same stuff as the years before and the many years before. There are some songs among the barren crop of overplayed tunes that I think are pretty enjoyable, but for the most part I feel pretty confident that most of us are just putting up with the vast majority of the holiday playlist (I mean no one is dying to play any of these songs any other time of year, so they can’t be that great), so it’s time to set the record straight.

Here’s a rating of a few of the season’s musical staples and some brief reasons behind them. I’m sure I’m missing a few classics, but do feel free to bring them up and I will offer my thoughts on them. Granted these songs all have dozens, of not hundreds or thousands of versions, so I’m kind of going by an average of what I generally hear, not the dubstep remix version or even my favorite version necessarily.

-

“Jingle Bells”

The classic, easy to sing, easy to play on whatever instrument, upbeat childhood Christmas song. It’s hard to mess this one up, and I’m just glad it’s not trying to get all overly serious about Christmas as many of the songs further down this list do. But I mean, it’s fucking “Jingle Bells”, who actually gives a shit about this plinky-ass song.

5/10

“O Holy Night”

This one’s cool the first several years you hear it because it sounds pretty grand and epic, but it does wear off after awhile. Still, I’d rather hear this song than most, and I’ve yet to hear it truly butchered. So cheers to that!

7/10

“Jingle Bell Rock”

The failed swaggering “update” or cousin of the classic children’s Christmas song, it’s one of those songs that sounds like a bunch of upper class white folks sipping wine and putting on the usual façade of in-person Facebook-style humble bragging and life-highlighting about their year for the family they’ve not flexed on all year or since Thanksgiving. The song though is so drab and seemingly intentional sucked of lol the fun the kid’s song had, and in its place is just overly drolly Sinatra-imitation with no spirit at all. It’s the definition of background music, and it’s for the worst kind of background. Dancing to it sure as hell sucks. If you’re hearing this song, you’re probably not having as much fun as you’re supposed to be for a song that’s supposedly more “rock”.

2/10

"O Tanenbaum"

While his semi-jazzed-up approach that characterizes the rest of the soundtrack still seeps into this song, I’ve always loved the more stripped back piano-centric approach that Vince Guaraldi takes with this song on the classic A Charlie Brown Christmas soundtrack. The simple and sweet lullaby-esque melody at the core of the song really works well with the instrumentally minimal approach (which I do hear most often) and it evokes a sense of very sweet nostalgia (for me at least), and I can’t not like it.

9/10

“Angels We Have Heard on High”

You know I’ve heard some pretty alright versions of this song when it’s pushed toward its more energetic side. That over the top run on “glOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoria” tends to be the make-or-make moment of the song, and when a singer or choir commits to it and goes all out, it can sound pretty rad; I’m sure some power metal band somewhere out there has put a decent spin on it. The rigid, traditional delivery I hear more often, though, sadly sounds more often like it’s had the life sucked out of it.

7/10

“Silent Night”

Probably my favorite of the soft Christmas songs, just soulful melodies abound here and written in a way that hasn’t encouraged too many stupid renditions.

9/10

“Santa Baby”

This song is just fuckin’ weird, and I get the place of romance it’s coming from lyrically: finally dropping the charade of Santa Claus and being romantic with the speaker’s husband after putting on the act for the children. It’s cute and endearing, but god is it always so weirdly sung, in a hyperseductive baby voice, not subtle at all, and kind of not fitting with the kind of sweet endearing romanctic tone you would think it’d be carrying if you just read the lyrics. There are definitely worse Christmas/holiday romance songs, and I can definitely imagine this song being performed more sweetly than it usually is.

6/10

“Hark! the Herald Angels Sing!”

This. Song. Is. A. Banger. Glorious and triumphant as shit! It sounds good slow and fast, but definitely best when it’s played bold and loud, as opposed to some contrived-ass attempt at a ballad. This song feels like finishing a marathon. I’d pay to hear Khemmis do this fuckin’ song.

10/10

“Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas”

Sinatra’s version of the song is probably the most famous at this point, and as a consequence, the very title I think tends to invoke his signature smooth delivery on its own. I used to hate this one, but these days I find its naturally soothing character much more welcoming, god, especially this year. I can see why some find it to droll and sloggy, but I think it’s a nice wind-down tune.

7/10

“Last Christmas”

You know, the original synth-pop version by Wham! isn’t too bad on its own; George Michael’s delivery is pretty heartfelt and I can see why it’s become such modern Christmas staple. However, in the context of Christmas background music, that repetitive chorus refrain that seems to be the only lyric anyone knows in the song, gets really grating when it’s the only thing that sticks out, the more scaled-back delivery of the verses aiding their being buried in the chatter with your eggnog-sipping relatives. Furthermore, I’ve yet to hear a cover of the song less dry than sandpaper. Positive points to the original only.

6/10

“Away in a Manger”

This song certainly gets points for its strong narrative consistency, but aside from the “the stars in the sky” line, the melody is really really lame, and infantile in a bad way, and I have yet to hear a version that doesn’t sound like it was done by or similar to an apathetic children’s choir. It’s that quintessential song that every church kindergarten choir gets forced to sing because it’s nice and slow and narrow-range that all the kids look absolutely braindead singing. Not that it’s ever the kids’ fault or anything, it’s just a boring-ass song whose weak-ass strategy hinges on a bunch of 5-year-olds getting into something they clearly don’t give a shit about.

4/10

“The Little Drummer Boy”

You know, I could envision a slow-building post-rock-esque version of this song being pretty cool, but to date, all I have heard is stiff corny solo vocal delivery a la Angela from The Office and haphazard attempts at injecting tons of energy into the song that don’t really fix the kooky melody at the core of it. I swear you can always hear whoever is singing it getting red in the face from the needless intensity.

3/10

"Christmas Time Is Here"

Another solid cut from the soundtrack to A Charlie Brown Christmas, its rather simple instrumental foundation serves as a pretty solid introductory piece for the season; it feels so much like welcoming in the winter. And then of course the jazz embellishments on the instrumental version are some of the best in the Christmas genre, though listening to the soundtrack these days makes me wonder what it would be like if a more bombastic and dynamic jazz band took these songs on a more wild ride. I would love to hear that.

8/10

“Joy to the World”

It’s a little bit cheesy, but I kinda appreciate how ridiculously celebratory this tune is. It’s another one that I think would be interesting to hear Khemmis do a quick cover of, despite the religious theme that doesn’t really fit into their style. At the very least, it always sounds fun or, indeed, joyous.

7/10

“We Three Kings”

I’m not convinced anyone cares about this song.

5/10

“The First Noel”

This is another one of those songs whose runny melody tends to lead to it being delivered so often way too seriously, never really all too fun or worthy of the seriousness either.

3/10

“O Come, O Come Emanuel”

This is another one of those songs that, on the surface, seems more genuine with its minor key and often stoic delivery, and that definitely makes it better than the vast majority of Christmas songs, but the melody and lyrics are a bit oddly mismatched, and the melody that serves as the key appeal in the song does wear thin as the years go on. Nevertheless, I always do seem to find a cool new version ever year or two.

7/10

“Do You Hear What I Hear?”

Goddamn this is such a goofy-ass song. Who the hell made this? I cannot take it seriously. One point for all the kids for the apt “do you smell what I smell?”

1/10

“Mary Did You Know?”

Again, who wrote these lyrics? Like, in the story Mary made up to explain her out-of-wedlock pregnancy, that was kind of the main thing, that this kid would do some crazy shit. I can’t take this song seriously either, especially when it gets the goofy overly operatic treatment.

3/10

“Santa Claus Is Coming to Town”

It’s another one of those songs that literally just says what Santa Claus does. Musically it’s catchy-ish, but I mean it’s about Santa Claus, and it’s so often sung in that overly serious, toned down Motown style that no kid likes. I never liked hearing it then, and I don’t now.

3/10

“12 Days of Christmas”

Structurally iconic, this song really doesn’t offer anything beyond that; have you ever tried listening to someone doing the whole thing? It gets old really fast, and the fact that the “halfway” point in the song, the six geese a-laying, isn’t actually the halfway point, because the verses get longer and longer... fuck! The only thing this song is good for is for structuring workouts around, nothing regarding listening to the song. It gets one point for its utility.

1/10

“It Came upon a Midnight Clear”

We really are in a stretch of trash Christmas songs right now. I don’t think this is anyone’s favorite Christmas song. It’s so lethargic and sleep-inducing, I’m falling asleep just thinking about it.

3/10

“We Wish You a Merry Christmas”

Eh, it’s kinda not a really important song. At least it wakes you up, but apart from throwing some energy into the Christmas playlist that many are often desperate for, it’s just a cheery addition of holiday-themed white noise.

4/10

“What Child Is This?”

Finally some good fucking food. I’ve heard some baller versions of this captivatingly grand song, whose accidentals and minor key really make it one of the more interesting listens during the holiday season. I would dig an Opeth cover or a Pallbearer cover, or... a Khemmis cover.

8/10

“Let It Snow! Let It Snow! Let It Snow!”

This is just one of those standard, old-timey, inoffensive season-themers. It’s alright, I’ve never heard any version of it that really blows my mind.

5/10

“Rockin’ Around the Christmas Tree”

This one is almost indistinguishable from, but significantly less annoying than, “Jingle Bell Rock” and is similarly stiff in a way that it’s clearly not meant to be.

3/10

“White Christmas”

This might take the cake for the sleepiest Christmas song out there. It is SLOW, like Bell Witch should ironically do a 20-minute-long cover of it just to see how it goes.

4/10

“It’s the Most Wonderful Time of the Year”

The shopping mall theme song. It’s always given that Sinatra treatment and it only barely fits well enough into that style.

4/10

“Feliz Navidad”

This one always feels like it needs to be sung with a big, cheerful group to capture the liveliness that its main appeal is based in, which puts it at a distinct disadvantage this year. Still, it’s always a fun, sometimes even bouncy song to play during the holiday season.

7/10

“Grandma Got Run over by a Reindeer”

I do actually welcome the absurd narrative that has somehow made itself one of the season’s ironic staples, and its slightly dark humor makes for a nice change of pace in the playlist with its upbeat, campy humor.

6/10

“Deck the Halls”

Fa la la la la, la la la no.

Annoying as fuck: 2/10

“Frosty the Snowman”

God, this song should be way more cheery and kid-friendly than it is. I mean, I’m sure kids don’t mind it, but it’s just yet ANOTHER one of those songs that can’t escape its old-timey suit-and-tie incarnation for the liveliness it desperately needs.

4/10

“God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen”

One of the more compositionally clunky of the well-known minor-key Christmas songs, this one unfortunately tends to show why minor-key songs are generally a weird fit for theme. I have heard a good few modern renditions though that make the song worth keeping around.

6/10

“Jingle in the Jungle”

This one’s for the real ones out there. “Jingle in the Jungle” is not a real Christmas song per se, but it pushes the boundaries; it’s courageous. The song comes from the television series, Bob’s Burgers, in a stressful Christmas-themed episode where the musically adventurous son of the titular character, Gene, burns out his dad’s cell phone battery waiting on hold for a radio station to request this song. The phone dies and he does not get the chance to request the song, but a Christmas miracle occurs, and the station decides to play the obscure, bongo-laden song anyway, and it sure is a fun minute-long diddy.

8/10

“Wonderful Christmastime”

Paul McCartney’s peppy Christmas tune that only kinda accomplishes its light-hearted goal is simply one of many throwaway inoffensive modern Christmas songs that seems to have only gained cultural traction due to it being repetitive and simplistic af, and being made by a Beatle.

5/10

“Happy Xmas (War Is Over)”

Well it would only make sense to have the battle of the Beatles here with John Lennon’s standout Christmas track, a far more soulful, bombastic, and triumphant song that echoed his idealistic spirit in a way that makes this song not all too different from his standout solo works and compositions with The Beatles. It’s a warm, hopeful song that draws from a grounding in the harshness of reality rather than some escapist fantasies about Santa or religion. Despite the acknowledgement of the ills of the world, Lennon’s vision of Christmas and his wish for the world is a day of recognition of love and unity, which is purer than 99% of the dogmatic or materialistic Christmas music above, and definitely the song right below this one.

9/10

“The Christmas Shoes”

Alright, rubbing the hands together, we’re coming to the end here, with this fucking song. It’s not the most famous Christmas song, thank God, but when I heard it for the first time, I was immediately repelled by the saccharine melody, uncannily blank-faced delivery, and sappy lyrics, but it’s one of those special songs that gradually reveals several layers of shit the more you fixate on it. For the uninitiated, the song came out in the year 2000, from the Christian band NewSong; it’s an aggressively sentimental holiday ballad with a bit of pop country vocal flair that only adds to the sinister hokey-ness of the lyrics. And that really is the ugliest facet of this song; as sickeningly cheesy as the music is, the simple lyrics here are more morbid and more disgusting than the grossest brutal death metal songs. The song is a simple narrative about a poor boy buying his sick mom some nice shoes on Christmas Eve so she can look nice for Jesus when she dies, tonight, on Christmas Eve. Yeah, it’s fucking sickening. The song is narrated from the perspective of a man in the store when the boy is buying the shoes and the narrator offers to buy the shoes for him, and he muses vaguely and confusingly on his generosity and Jesus being the “true” meaning of Christmas. Yes, there are so many questions being begged by this narrative. Why would Jesus give a shit about the shoes? Why is getting shoes this divine Christmas gesture? How do these shoes even come close to offsetting the pain and suffering and loss this family is suffering. This is like the opposite of John Lennon’s “Happy Xmas” in that it’s offering a pathetic consolation for the cruelty of a world where a loving God apparently offers only a stranger’s mild and momentary generous gesture for a poor family in the thralls of a mother’s illness. It’s grounded in the same reality that John Lennon presents, but it whitewashes it and minimizes the suffering in a manipulative way to shoehorn a rather cliche reminder to adhere to religious dogma and to keep your mind pure and holy and only on Jesus. A plain-faced telling of the narrative on its own makes it seem kind of benign, but the weirdly sappy tone of it all does a pretty poor job of hiding how contrived the emotion is and how unnatural it all is. Every facet of the lyrics is crafted to maximize the superficial primal tug at the heartstrings; it’s supposed to feel extremely tender and sweet, and aside from being completely transparently manufactured, the response it delivers to the story it sets up is creepily unhuman, the opposite of a natural response to the details of what the song presents, and its misplaced sense of justice makes the song a pretty apt representation of so much wrong with evangelicals’ attitudes surrounding Christmas.

0/10

“All I Want for Christmas Is You”

by Mariah Carrey. Ending on a positive note. Probably the best and most classic modern Christmas song to come out in my lifetime, it’s a sweet, romantic, upbeat love tune that really captures the best aspects of the holiday season. Never mind the relatives and their dumb political views and drama or the religious nonsense that people get so disingenuously up in arms about, or the consumerism. Christmas at its best is a time to appreciate love, and this song gets it.

9/10

And that is it, for me, I obviously know I will never be able to rate every Christmas/holiday song ever.

I had some time, so I had a little fun and charted the 38 semi-serious ratings of Christmas songs here, which I will also be doing with the 200-something metal albums I’ve been reviewing and now rating at the end of the year. Should be interesting. Now 38 isn’t a particularly huge sample of the huge swath of Christmas songs, nor was it random (I just listed a bunch of songs I was familiar with). It didn’t produce the normal curve I somewhat expect for the larger sample of metal albums later at the end of the year; rather, it shows a two-peak pattern, which could be due to the sample size, or maybe it just illustrates a somewhat unsurprising polarized sample of opinions on Christmas songs. The songs that I remember that are (mostly) pretty common, I either really like or really don’t like, most of the songs are not in the middle. These were songs I have heard for a long time and remembered pretty vividly, so I’ve developed some relatively strong opinions on them. Anyway, look at this graaaaaaphh.

[steve0discusses]

Yugioh S4 Ep7: Mai Gets a Day Job (Killing People For Sport)

So, I looked at the calendar and realized, if  I don’t get this post up this week then you’ll only have one update from me for the whole of November since I’m leaving for over a week again. :/ So I’m just gonna get right to the good stuff because it has taken just a crazy amount of time to get to episode 7.  How great would it be if I also got to episode 8. Real great, right?

So lets do this, I can do this, I can write a recap without getting insanely distracted, watch me do it: This episode starts with Tristan sticking to the fatal flaw of his character sheet and seeing listed at the very top “low key toilet obsession.”

Ah Tristan.

And when you think “well, OK, they’re stuck by some historic Mesas, this is fine,” suddenly they are beset by the world’s most random biker gang of like 20 full grown adults/biker assassins.

And it’s not super clear if their driver died out there in the Arizona desert, or if he just put on a different outfit and joined this gang, but it won’t matter because like...it’s a filler arc in Yugioh so there’s gonna be some deaths.

This season seems to change genre like every 10 minutes, and so for right now we are in a Mad Max post-apocalyptic territory and PS every one of these bikers uses a lead pipe?

I feel like this is way more violent than a gun???

(read more under the cut)

And so, out the horizon comes another biker, like a masked cowboy on horseback, except she shoots these things instead of bullets.

These are trained assassins, by the way, just completely incapacitated by paper.

I just love the marketing team working alongside of this show that’s like “and what else can Yugioh cards do? destroy biker gangs. That’s right, one single card will absolutely destroy a biker!” and the writing staff was like “yeah, we can work that in. That totally works in universe, you don't even know.”

It’s Mai! Back from murdering the hell out of Pegasus, I guess she decided to ninja these 20 bikers, and did it so devastatingly, that they somehow blew up a motorcycle next to a live fuel tank? Like we’re talking Oliver Queen precision throwing here and like...

...Mai’s only been gone like a year right???

And so, seeing that this card is a harpy, which I dunno...doesn’t seem like it’s all that rare in comparison to a Blue Eyes or a God Card or I dunno any of the other signature cards we’ve heard about, Joey immediately recognizes Mai. Despite the fact that everything she is doing right now is completely out of character, and despite the fact that they are in freakin California.

RIP to all 20 of the people in that gang of bikers, because no one followed this limo away from the scene--everyone was, I assume, hella dead.

Youknow, I never expected Mai to kill more people than Bakura. I would have predicted Joey before Mai. I would have predicted Rebecca before Mai. Literally anyone else on this show before Mai.

Seto, crawling out of this oversized castle that I guess...is back on the real estate market now...decides that the irresistible pull of dragons printed on paper cards is stronger than listening to his brother’s needs to put down the damn cards and make a contractually obligated theme park.

I mean Mokuba kept him off the cards for nearly a whole year. What a healthy year that was for Seto.

Back in Arizona, apparently they didn’t make it more than a mile before Tristan busted the car. Not really clear why or how this happened, but they’ve decided to argue with eachother about it despite the fact one of them is clearly magical and does not really need to eat or drink or even maybe sleep?

Like we’ve seen Bakura basically survive off of one plate of tacos and 2 pints of blood, so just make Pharaoh push the car all the way back to California. Or just make Pharaoh use his millennium AIM to call up His tomb keepers and be like “Marik, we need a lift.” or maybe summon a very real monster because that’s a thing now?

Course this would rely on Pharaoh remembering that he has superpowers, which, somehow after 4 seasons, he always forgets how to use the moment he uses them. It’s like reverse Sailor Moon--Usagi tends to level up her Super powers, Pharaoh kind of tosses them out of the window and goes “oops” and becomes more and more mortal every single season.

So instead of magic they will just use Tea.

Amazing how none of them are really willing to date Tea seriously but they will acknowledge, out of the four of them, Tea is the best looking. So their strategy, bear with me, wasn’t to use the fact they’re children to get help from adults driving by, instead, the boys hid behind a rock so they could really make sure they were getting a hella pervy truck driver that would only stop for a single teenage girl stuck in the desert.

Only this group of kids would be like “Hey lets make sure the guy who picks us up is statistically most likely to be a serial killer” and then, weirdly enough, this horndog pedo truck driver ended up being the only person who didn’t try to kill them this entire episode.

So, lets go back to SF but coming from the north side...which makes no sense...but then again, they put Mesas in Napa County.

So last episode I assumed Rex and Weevil were dropped off in Oakland, but Rex informs us this episode that they are in “the worst part of town”

Where they get robbed twice, only to be saved by Duke Devlin, who I guess just lives here now because maybe it’s the only place he can afford in this expensive as hell city? Maybe he isn’t bothered by the crime-rate after that week he spent on Kaiba’s blimp/Seaquest mmo adventure?

Anyway, for some reason Duke--who is a game shop owner/developer by day--is wandering around the Tenderloin as a vigilante and saving people by throwing dice at them as some sort of side hustle and this is never discussed at all.

I would watch that spinoff series. Religiously.

Fun fact, there is definitely sketchy and bad parts of the Tenderloin you will know not to go to (you can smell it actually), but like a third of it is part of the best shopping district in the city and we used to just shop there unsupervised when I was a kid. It has an Anthropologie.

Not saying the parts that are bad aren’t bad. Whenever I drive through the non-shopping parts, I see at least one super sketch thing making me thankful I’m in the car. But I just don't know how Rex and Weevil managed to get robbed twice in one day. Just go five blocks in literally any direction.

Bro and I were like...HOW did this shot happened from this angle on the freeway...and then I only just now realized it. Something I forgot about because it’s from my parent’s generation...maybe the animators weren’t aware that the Embarcadero fell down after Loma Prieta?

So this was the SF landscape before the quake of 89′ (Which I have no memory of since I was a baby when this happened)

and after 89.

Like maybe the animators they had on this team remembered an SF from their youth that had a huge iconic raised street wrapping all the way around one part of it and just...never got the memo that an Earthquake made the entire thing fall down?

Either way, Duke is either driving these two directly out of SF, or he is driving them into 1988 and is taking a lovely drive on the Old Embarcadero, an experience which does not exist anymore, and which makes a lot more sense since Duke has to be somewhat near downtown, going by the skyscrapers and the vicinity to the Tenderloin.

Man. In the Yugioh Universe, Loma Preita just never actually happened. How is that factoid alone not the weirdest part of this episode?

(I am so glad Serenity is not here now that Duke’s back)

Welcome back to the show Duke, glad you’re bringing...Rex and Weevil...

To be fair, Duke has absolutely no idea who is and isn’t Yugi’s friends. Duke just kind of shows up and pretends like he’s part of the gang, and the gang has lost so much brain matter from all the cards and all the dark magic, they just assume he’s been here the whole time.

So at first I was like “this has to be a pun on Industrial Light and Magic” since there’s virtually no other film studios in the city--but ILM moved to SF 3-4 years after this season came out. So it’s just a weird coincidence, I guess. Or maybe it’s just a really uninspired name?

And so Mai, who I guess has been just waiting on this ledge for 8 hours decides to drop in.

Mai has evolved a lot since S1.

But, although Mai is just...straight up evil now, at least we get to see it taken out on Pegasus who, as far as this show is concerned, is a pretty evil bastard.

A pretty evil bastard who took like 3-4 episodes to beat in S1 but Mai could just do it off-screen.

It’s just funny that the entire time on the island Pegasus was probably pretty sure everyone there was trying to kill him EXCEPT for Mai and then the moment his back is turned he’s like “oh whaaaat?”

Like Bandit Keith is already in America. But rather than use Bandit Keith for this, lets use Mai to give Joey something to angst about. We can’t put her in a coma again--so lets instead get her vaguely possessed. Although seriously, if someone I liked did this to me I think I’d be over that crush really fast.

And then, speaking of Bandit Keith, we get to have a Greek Chorus this duel from the minibosses. Valon and the other guy with the handlebar-muttonchops.

I looked up “where does Valon’s accent come from” and literally there is no consensus, as far as I know.

And that’s where this episode ends.

Now I’m gonna go out of town for a week and then will need another week to make more of these so I’ll be on another hiatus. Holding out if I’ll maybe bring a laptop or something to where I’m going so I can type out recaps when I’m bored.

The problem is having the uhhhhh photoshop to do the caps. I can’t bear to do this in MS Paint because hell will freeze over before I lose all of my actions and hotkeys I made specifically to reduce the time it takes to make these. But we shall see.

anyway, if you want to see these from the beginning, click here.

[maconnoheyjam]

So, I watched ‘Breaking the Waves’ (1996).

This was painful to watch in its entirety because every moment was so deeply embedded in this stilting silence juxtaposed w jerky bits of action. I think, and this is my pretentious high school media nerd coming out, the lack of non-diegetic audio really got to me. The camera was shaky throughout, which really inadvertently (or advertently?) added to the feeling of being a voyeur to the horrible stuff happening on screen. Kind of like, this feeling of invading a private scene, but then also feeling compelled to watch because someone has to witness what is going on, right, or what’s the point of having the story in the first place.

A thing that really struck out to me within the film was the way different chapters were introduced – that startling pop music combined with the burst of colour in the landscapes. It felt very very oxymoronic to the actual scenes but also kind of was a reminder that this wasn’t actually real? That this was a film? And you would sit during the 10-12 seconds while they transitioned between chapters thinking “my god this is fiction?” Especially that last GODDAMN SONG – my goodness, I was giggling hysterically at that bit; horrified & captivated & confused by the humourous and facile expression of what the story was.

I’m not sure what exactly Bess’s condition is – autism or – you know what, I’m not going to even attempt it because I don't want to misdiagnose, and I KNOW I’m going to be about as accurate as a kid putting on their parent’s makeup for the first time i.e. the end result is always a surprising simulacrum of The Joker. But the psychological aspect! The naivety and capacity for self-delusion, the intense combination of unconditional love and unconditional religious devotion (that ultimately ends up destroying her), the conviction in self and the continuous rejection & belittlement of that self from others; God, it’s heartbreaking. Bess is somehow simultaneously the most simple and complex character I have seen in a film. Reminds me weirdly enough of Lennie from Of Mice and Men. Characters so pure and simple that when faced with the realities of the world end up obliterated.

And Jan – my goodness, I was torn between hating and pitying him. On one hand, the sheer sadism of his actions and the callousness of the request he made of her, which was so cruelly foreshadowed with the repeated “she’d do anything for you if you asked” made me so. MAD. But on the other essentially ambidextrous hand, the loss he faced at a moment when his life should have been so bright! He’d lost his body – the basic foundation of his work and living – and the medication no doubt fogged his mind, so he’d become a shell of what he was…it was very hard to condemn him when he still had so much love for her. I mean, he tried to martyr himself for her. It was weird and touching and disturbing.

You know what I found really damn awesome about the acting? When Bess alternates between God and herself (i.e. the inner voice cultivated by having been rigorously taught by douchebag ‘religious’ men vs. her own desires) and the way Emily Watson portrayed the difference between the two. The eyes – my GOD, the way Bess looked so lost upwards, like a kid looking for answers. And then the harsh, dead gaze of ‘God’ – so reflective of the dead, judgmental stares of the men from the church and (at times) her mother. It was so well-crafted; those particular exchanges, and you could see a very clear procedure for how Bess’s inner conflict would play out. The meltdowns – oh wow. The literal explosion of her emotions against the world; pure, unfiltered injustice articulated perfectly. That one time she did it against the waves? Epic & gutting.

I can’t say I much liked the ending of the bells ringing; it felt a bit shallow in that there was a sense of things coming full circle, but also it came across as a vaguely relevant answer to the most pertinent question. Like, it made me feel like there was an answer of sorts there, but it was too poorly formed for me to really get it? Or maybe I’m just a ditherheaded idiot? Maybe both? Maybe neither? Maybe I should stop typing?

Okay BUT you know who I thought was the real tragedy of the film? DODO. That woman was the epitome of the impossible woman who somehow has to be the caretaker, sister, confidante, nurse, balancer-of-worlds, psychologist….it was just that in this version, she was taking care of a woman as opposed to the typical ‘husband/father’ trope in your usual literature. She spends the entire film trying to do what’s good for everyone and though she does miss the mark on a couple points, her intentions always come from a place of selflessness. In her speech during the wedding, she makes it clear that she has no one in her life except for Bess. Her husband’s dead (the history of which is never spoken about in the film because Dodo doesn’t get to have a narrative; she only exists to fill in the blanks) her mother-in-law is a figure present only in her emotional distance from anything outside religious matters, and her original home isn’t something she can return to. She has nothing but Bess, and her relationship with Bess is incredibly toxic. It isn’t a remark against Bess, but the relationship they have is one-sided at the least and emotionally draining & crippling (lol) at worst. Of course, Bess is the main character so it’s understandable that she be the center for most of the plot, but the continuous way in which we see Dodo picking up after Bess and handling her, and ensuring everything is fine is just exhausting. I mean, it’s exhausting to watch, imagine how exhausting it is to live like that day after day. And then in the end, when Bess dies, and Dodo breaks down – isn’t that the ultimate “I failed to do my duty” reaction? Dodo’s life isn’t built around devotion and imagination like Bess, or joie de vivre and love like Jan’s; it’s built entirely around duty and balance – and she’s failed. Completely and unequivocally, and the proof of that is in the funeral, when she breaks duty and custom to speak out, realising that in doing so she’s condemning herself but being unable to keep it in. It’s her equivalent of screaming at the waves. Also, you know how I spoke about feeling like a voyeur watching the film? About still having to act as witness? Dodo is that; the silent witness who does not get to act but is still left broken in the aftermath.  

I’m not sure if I can perfectly articulate what the film is about, or try and link it to a broader theme in literature, because in doing so, I feel like I’m erasing the personal and painful nature of Bess’s story. In the end, the audience is left trying to reconcile what they watched with the world they live in, and in doing so gaze directly into the worst horrors of life. I was left thinking a lot about the film Come and See (1985). Mostly because watching this film made me feel as if the director had been saying the same thing to us during all of Bess's private and public pain; come and see, come and see; both a warning and a dare. 

Obligatory TL;DR that my friends have instilled in me as a fixture as permanent as a closing salutation in an email because I’m always sending longass emails: the film was *mimes explosion within heart & brain & all 43 chakras* you should watch it if you like emily watson & enjoy pain.

[amandajoyce118]

The Punisher Season 2 Easter Eggs And References

Yes, I know. You don’t have to tell me that the second season of The Punisher dropped on Netflix a month ago. Surprisingly, this last month has been extremely busy for me. Birthdays, family stuff, changes in management at my day job, changes in editors (thrice!) at my freelance job, plus prepping my tax stuff has left me with very little free time. I finally managed to finish the second season this weekend (and I started Umbrella Academy, which is really interesting, but something I’m not familiar with, so no Easter Eggs on that one, sorry!) and finish writing up Easter eggs as well.

As usual, there are spoilers, but I went episode by episode with the Easter eggs. Anybody worried about spoilers has probably already watched the show at this point. I feel like I was probably the last one out there who hadn’t watched. Despite it taking me forever and a day to watch the show, there’s still a chance I didn’t catch everything, especially since the Punisher doesn’t seem like a show with a lot of in-universe Easter eggs.

Happy reading!

S2E01 “Roadhouse Blues”

The Van

Oh, look. Pete AKA Frank is using a van full time. In the comics, the van houses a wide variety of weapons and surveillance equipment, but Frank isn’t quite that high tech without the help of someone like Micro around. He also calls it the Battle Van.

Lola’s Roadhouse

It’s probably just a coincidence, because Lola is just one of those names that pop culture junkies seem to love, but… who else thinks it might be a nod to Coulson’s favorite car in Agents of SHIELD?

Fiona

Some people will try to find the Marvel character that is “Fiona,” but again, I think this one is a coincidence. Why? Fiona is a weirdly popular name in comics. There’s a Fiona who is an Inhuman who can fly. There’s a Fiona who founds the sisterhood and hates men. There are also Fionas who are artists/writers/pencilers/etc in real life. I think this is just a case of them picking a pretty name.

Michigan

It’s the last place anyone would look, you say? Kind of like how it’s the last place anyone seems to care about because Flint still doesn’t have clean water? Yep.

S2E02 “Fight Or Flight”

Pete and Rachel

I like that Frank is still using the name Pete, but can we all laugh for a second about how these two are Pete and Rachel? It makes me laugh because these are two characters in friends. Pete only asks Monica out because he overhears Monica and Rachel talking about their love lives (or lack of them). Pete, funnily enough is like a Tony Stark character here: wealthy, throwing money around to get what he wants, buying women buildings, etc. He’s also played by Jon Favreau AKA Happy Hogan in the Iron Man movies. It’s one of those things that’s not meant to be a connection, but proves you can find “Easter eggs” in anything.

Rachel AKA Amy

Amy is based on a comic book character, but she’s been completely changed for the show. In the comics, she was a little girl who saw Frank escape a crime scene and promised him she wouldn’t tell anyone. He helped her out a few times as well. But, like I said, completely different. (Of course, the use of the name Rachel, and some of her later story gives a nod to another comic book character as well. We’ll talk about that later.)

Larkville, Ohio

Clearly based on Clarkville, Ohio. They thought leaving off one letter would make it less obvious? Anyway, here are some fun facts about Ohio in the MCU. It’s where there was a secret wing of a prison for powered people (thanks, Agents of SHIELD). It’s also where Coulson and company went to get information about CENTIPEDE (again, thanks Agents of SHIELD). Lincoln Campbell tried to escape Inhuman life as a doctor there (again, Agents of SHIELD). It’s also where Bucky sarcastically remarked Steve Rogers was from for one of his many fake ID’s to get in the army (Captain America: The First Avenger). And, it’s also where Helmut Zemo tracked down a super soldier in hiding (Captain America: Civil War). So, what I’m saying is, if you’re interested in lying low in the MCU, you don’t go to Ohio. Someone will find you.

Billy’s Memory

Billy Russo’s memory being jumbled, or having gaps, provides a nice storytelling device, but it’s also a nice nod to the comics. His memory was manipulated, or he was brainwashed, a few times. The only thing that restored his memory those times? Fighting the Punisher, of course.

A Jigsaw Puzzle

Lots of puzzle references to Billy, and with good reason. In the comics, he’s Jigsaw. The guy gets thrown through a plate glass window and his face is put back together like a jigsaw by a surgeon. He takes on the name and vows revenge.

Billy’s Mask

His mask is more than just to build suspense by covering up his face. You’ll see there are red and blue colors on the sides? It’s meant to be a nod to an art therapy practice that’s become helpful in treating soldiers with PTSD as a result of their work. Soldiers are instructed to create a mask to show people what they’re feeling on the inside, even if they can’t say it. National Geographic did a whole piece on how the work has been helping people. I wrote about it in my Jigsaw list, briefly.

S2E03 “Trouble The Water”

129

The door number that is clearly visible when Billy breaks out of the hospital with his therapist’s help is 129. To be fair, most house numbers, door numbers, and phone numbers are completely random. This one might be a coincidence. But… Amazing Spider-Man issue 129 was the very first appearance of the Punisher. Jigsaw AKA Billy Russo appeared over 30 issues later in the same series. It seems purposeful.

Mahoney

Look at Mahoney, making the rounds still. He started as a character on Daredevil and has worked his way through the Netflix shows.

The Pilgrim

That’s the name given in press releases to the religious villain who has some, uh, questionable tattoos removed once upon a time. He’s not a specific comic book character, but a lot of people have compared him to the Mennonite from the old Punisher comics.

S2E04 “Scar Tissue”

WHiH

The world news station of choice in the MCU, this one gets more attention in the movies. It’s covering news from every corner of the globe. Recently, it’s made its way into the Netflix shows, Agents of SHIELD, and Runaways as well.

WJBP TV

Another station in the MCU, this one is local. It’s typically only seen in the Netflix corner of the universe, so it’s usually covering New York news.

The Kitten Hanging On The Branch

I’m sorry, but did anyone not see one of these posters if they grew up in the United States? Nice nod to the inspirational poster schtick the public school system has. I think I saw it in guidance counselor offices at every school I went to.

New York Bulletin

Yes, the Bulletin is still going strong despite losing a lot of its staff in the second season of Daredevil.

Amy AKA Rachel

Okay, so despite looking like a nod to the little kid who keeps Frank’s secret in the comics, this character also appears to be a nod to Rachel Cole. She ended up in the middle of a gang war and became a vigilante, falling in with Frank.

Baseball

So, Billy had a thing for baseball? You know who else had a thing for baseball? Dex AKA Bullseye in Daredevil season two. Nice job keeping your sociopaths on theme, Netflix MCU.

S2E05 “One-Eyed Jacks”

Three Card Monte

I have a hard time believing that Frank Castle, marine, killer, and all around street savvy dude, doesn’t understand how Three Card Monte works. Then again, maybe no one has tried to swindle him with cards because they value their life. Who knows? Anyway, I found this version interesting because most people who hustle with it want you to “find the lady” as the queen of hearts. Here, it’s the queen of diamonds. I’m not sure what that says, but it’s interesting. (Also, I feel like Amy AKA Rachel and Skye AKA Daisy would get along. It reminded me of the sugar packets and Mike’s ID in the Agents of SHIELD pilot).

Turk Barrett

At this point, if you don’t know who Turk is, I’m just going to assume you haven’t seen any of the Netflix shows before. In which case, why are you reading these Easter eggs? Go start watching from the beginning, and then come back.

Oh, sh1t!

I think it’s cute that for all her life as a hustler, she doesn’t use actual curse words, but instead, speaks the way teens might curse via text.

S2E06 “Nakazal”

“You could always burn the place down.”

I feel like this is a nod to how arson tends to be a last resort for Frank in the comics. He prefers to go in, guns blazing, and just take people out. There are a few stories where he’s torched whole buildings, but they usually are just a minor thing in a major story arc.

Anderson And Eliza Schultz

Not comic book characters, but they do share their surname with Herman Schultz AKA the Shocker. I think that’s probably not a big connection. Instead, it’s more likely that the writers liked the name, and as a bonus, it gives them a nod to comic creators Charles Schultz (Peanuts) and Mark Schultz (art for DC, but also really big in indie comics).

I’m not going to list all of the political commentary in this episode, but whew. They really went for it.

S2E07 “One Bad Day”

The Title

“All it takes is one bad day to reduce the sanest man to lunacy.” Or at least, that’s what the Joker believes in Batman’s The Killing Joke. It’s one of the biggest Batman stories ever, so I’m thinking the title is no coincidence. I also think a few staff members are Batman fans since the kid in the first episode also had a Batman backpack.

Fragmentation Grenade

An interesting choice for a weapon since in the comics, Jigsaw gets healed a few times, only to have his face ruined again by the Punisher. One of those times is the result of a fragmentation grenade.

S2E08 “My Brother’s Keeper”

The Fatal Shore By Robert Hughes

The book Amy reads when she’s bored in the trailer is actually about the founding of Australia. History teaches us it was a penal colony - the place where criminals were shipped to start over - but there were already Aboriginals there, which made for quite the conflict. Someone like Amy probably would have found the crime, the hustle of the whole thing, interesting, but she doesn’t strike me as someone who would be into history, so it’s no wonder she put it down.

“He did everything he could to you to make sure you suffered for the rest of your life.”

Yes. This is exactly why Frank leaves Billy alive in the comics. He kills everyone who had a hand in the deaths of his family - all but Billy, even though they weren’t as close as brothers in the comics. He leaves Billy alive so that the guy can suffer, but also to serve as a warning to anyone who comes after him. Billy spends a lot of his story arcs either trying to get revenge, or trying to get his “pretty boy” looks back.

S2E09 “Flustercluck”

Valhalla

Do we say this is a nod to the Thor franchise, or do we just accept that the world at large has the idea of Valhalla as paradise? Your call.

“I’m not the one that dies…”

I’ll confess Punisher is not my comic book cup of tea, but I feel like he said this line in a comic once. I could be wrong.

S2E10 “The Dark Hearts Of Men”

The Title

Pretty sure this is a nod to a Bible verse about humanity. But I’m not up on my Bible knowledge and a google search just gives me a bunch of reviews of this episode, so I’m sorry this isn’t more specific?

“Drunkards Prayer”

This is the song that plays when the Pilgrim is both fighting and recovering from his fight. It’s a song about wanting to be pious, but knowing you’re an addict. And it fits with his character pretty well. AJ McLean (of the Backstreet Boys) covered it once, if you’re interested. I think you could also apply it to just about any character in Castle’s world - people wanting to be better, but unable to leave the bad things in their life behind. And no, I won’t dissect every song choice for the season, but this one stuck with me.

Making Castle Believe The Worst

Making the Punisher believe he killed innocent people is straight out of the comics. It’s one trick a villain uses to bring him down, though ultimately, he figures out he wasn’t the one responsible. That looks like the same thing here with Castle believing he killed the women and the therapist’s “I know how to break Castle” thing.

S2E11 “The Abyss”

Queens

I find it interesting that the Punisher is frequenting Queens a lot in this season. (The warehouse where he gets arrested, as noted in the radio broadcast, is in Queens.) Why? Because he was introduced in a Spider-Man comic and frequently crossed paths with the web crawler. Where is Peter Parker from? Queens.

Karen Page

Karen’s appearance as Frank’s “lawyer” here muddles the timeline a bit. We’ve all been thinking this occurs after season three of Daredevil. That season ended with Matt and Foggy reforming Nelson and Murdock, but with making Karen a partner as well. Never mind that she doesn’t have a law degree or anything like that. But, Karen introduces herself as representing Nelson and Murdock. Maybe her name isn’t in the business because she’s not a lawyer? Or maybe this is actually set before that? Who knows? It’s all very ambiguous.

Sacred Saints Hospital

While this hospital didn’t appear in another episode, the Sacred Saints Cemetery did, and I wonder if they’re connected to one another? Sacred Saints is where Elektra was supposedly buried, which gives us a lot of Daredevil connections in this episode, huh?

Matt Murdock

Frank mentions the man himself while talking with Karen. I feel like this is more of a reminder that Frank knows Matt is Daredevil than it is a legit comment on the state of Matt and Karen’s relationship.

Karen’s Shoes

Not an Easter egg, but I like that the payment to the morgue tech/assistant medical examiner was her very expensive shoes, not something tropey like drinks with him. Thank you, writers. This was cute. Also, it gave Karen the means to run around the hotel easier and not be held back by her heels.

S2E12 “Collision Course”

Mr. Blue

The only thing I noticed in this episode was the nickname given to Billy by the florist. It’s actually the alias Betty Ross used in the comments when Bruce Banner was a fugitive and she tried to stay in contact with him. Probably not intentional, but you never know.

S2E13 “The Whirlwind”

“...pull your spine out of your throat…”

In the “Space” stories for the Punisher, he does something like this to Ultron, funnily enough. He reaches into Ultron’s mouth and pulls his core out, not his spine, through his throat.

Dive School In Florida

Okay, I couldn’t find any characters associated with the Punisher who spend a lot of time in Florida, but I can tell you Florida made its first appearance for Marve in Marvel Comics #1, that Man-Thing is from there, and that Captain Marvel spent time there working for NASA. Florida has also popped up in a few episodes of Agents of SHIELD. It’s where Joey (former SHIELD ally and Inhuman teammate) lives, where Elena has friends, and where May and Coulson pretended to be married to steal a painting.

The Final Shot

That final image of Castle in his Punisher vest opening fire has been in several comics. It’s clear it’s intentional.

Stan Lee

The final episode closes with an “in loving memory.” Not really an Easter egg, but worth a mention. While Stan Lee did not create the Punisher, he had a hand in his name. Originally, Frank Castle was going to be called the Assassin. Lee thought they should go for something a little less on the nose, and coined the Punisher.

A few notes for the season:

Castle never purposely uses lethal force against law enforcement. I guess that’s supposed to make us believe that his killing of all the bad guys is acceptable.

The support group that Curtis leads? One of my favorite things is that there are a lot of flyers on the bulletin boards behind them for things like free puppies. A lot of these guys would do better (not suddenly be whole again, but maybe do a little bit better) with an emotional support animal. It’s proven that having an animal to come home to can actually help you live longer. It’s one of the reasons there are groups that take animals into children’s hospitals and retirement homes for people to play with.

The season finale actually feels very final to me. I think this might have been the only one of the MCU Netflix shows where the writers thought they might not come back? Because it seems like they closed everything up nicely instead of teasing something else down the line.

That’s all I’ve got this time around. The next Easter egg list on the horizon for me is, I believe, Captain Marvel, which should be up the same weekend it releases since I’m seeing that one opening night.

[clockworksteel]

Scattered gendered stuff with no conclusions again.

Lately I've been thinking about how it could be nice to have a profile picture that was some sort of person, that could also be used in some sort of scene in my Youtube banner. But... I've never been sure at all what that character should look like. It occurs to me... it's probably related to me not knowing what I want to look like for real.

I bought myself some chapstick. I get that's not really gendered on its own, but when the motivation is less "My lips could get dry" and more "I can pretend it's like having lipstick without committing to the bit" it kinda is. Also it's pomegranate rather than some sort of neutral "classic". Chapstick is also not really something I've bothered with before now even when I needed it. Like, I wouldn't refuse if someone offered a use, but I didn't keep my own either. At any rate, trying things without committing to the bit does seem to be a theme for me, but it feels safe.

I had a dream this week about getting lectured by my parents because of knee-high socks. I've already been worried about my parents, thanks. Lately not a week goes by when I don't think about a certain religious anti-LGBT one page document they had a framed copy of in the living room for almost as long as I remember (although it’s actually in one of the guest bedrooms now). I mean, the document is plenty dogwhistled, and does cover a couple other things, but it had a definite undertone. It’s “The Family: A Proclamation to the World” from 1995 if anyone is wondering.

I've got 4 characters named Alice now. In addition to Splatoon, I named the character for a new Terraria playthrough "Alice", my R-Type Final 2 pilot "Alice Pierce" and my Cupid Parasite protagonist "Alice Mirror" (default last name). Weirdly, when I went looking for a website with some last names so I could find a cool one for my R-Type Final 2 pilot I found a website which broke last names into female and male ones. That's... not how last names work. They had Pierce as a male last name, even, but honestly the only Pierce I can think of is Tamora Pierce.

I got a bit of a questioning by someone on my Switch friends list about why I decided to play Cupid Parasite, but the conversation kinda started off on the wrong foot with reasons why they didn't expect me to play it so I never really explained properly. Maybe I shouldn't have responded to the initial "Why are you playing that?" with "Why not?" because they actually had an answer. I'll admit the dating men thing is a bit odd, but do I really seem that much like I don't care about stories in games? Like, sure, some of the time I don't. I get that I usually can't be bothered to talk to every NPC, I didn't read all my fates in Granblue Fantasy (big events throw too many pulls at you), and I didn't really do sidequests in Nier: Automata so I didn't put together as much as I could have nor did I find its story that memorable, but it's not like I skip every cutscene in stuff I play or anything. I even played every route of Hustle Cat before. Anyway, I mentioned I'm kinda tired of always getting a fragmented version of the story from watching my housemate play and just wanted to see one complete route for once. It could’ve been a good time to mention that I also specifically wanted to try playing something aimed at women, though.

...I wonder if a lot of stories I haven't appreciated a whole lot are because my emotions haven't been working right for a long time.

On the subject of emotions, for some reason I keep wondering about the question "How often does the (median) average adult cry for emotional reasons?" Less as an actual fact I'd want to know and more of an "I bet my best guess would be way off". Like, I'm thinking yearly, maybe?

I was going to say something here wondering about the last time I actually cried but I think I'd rather leave it out.

[tincansamurai]

my lack of exposure to christian people and organizations really killed my ability to recognize that shit. readmore for my exp yesterday that i can’t fucking stop thinking about

yesterday someone i know in my class introduced me to another guy, the three of us got lunch, seemed like a cool dude so since i had an hour to kill before class i accepted his invite to visit this club. he’s explaining what they are, which boils down to “an international student group where lots of people hang out and put together cool events”. guy legit didn’t seem to have any intentions besides being friendly and showing me a cool thing.

the club has their own building, with a little lounge area with a coffee machine and kettle, offices upstairs. ok, it’s international, they probably have funding, etc. everyone in there seems immediately friendly and excited, i’m like “wow it is a nice group! cool!” some jokes i make notably fall flat - ok, so i’m weird and not good at reading groups again, whatever.

anyway i’m invited to this open mic night they have going on. sure sounds fun, i loved going to my roommate’s poetry slams in college. guy is almost weirdly insistent on when we meet up, that i will definitely 100% show up, etc, but he has also seemed like a bit of an outcast nerd the whole time so maybe he is just excited to have a new friend. i am happy about that too!

so i invite adham to join me b/c it sounds fun, get a beer in a basement and hear music and shit. he asks me what club it is, and googles to find out they’re like super explicitly an evangelical organization on their website. like “you have a place here! together we search and enjoy the love and peace of the Lord in our day to day life” they have weekly bible studies, they have “everyone get together and sing about god” events, it’s all so obviously religious, and i’m just.... i’m fuckin pissed off

you see this shit in every goddamn cult documentary, someone gets involved with a group and then gets told what it’s really about later, the other aspects are all hidden until you’re invested enough in it... and i’m feelin fuckin stupid for distrusting all my feelings that something was weird. the website spells it out clear as day, no shame, but literally nobody said a word about that, these events weren’t mentioned to me, the guy i was talking to mentioned every aspect of the group but the god shit - it’s hard to not feel like that purposefully was hidden from me!! whether it was just to try and make it so i would be down to be friends and hang or to try and later get me involved in the religious aspect, it’s not fucking cool to just not mention that!!

i actually saw this group at the school’s club fair type event, too! and you know what, even there, with pamphlets to hand out with club and event info, with people asking what they do, etc, this group presented themselves like something secular. like they were just for hanging out and learning english and being a fun international group, having thanksgiving dinner american style, english trivia nights.... not a single mention of all the evangelical stuff!! that is fucking shady and misleading, when your website makes it clear as day, but all your other material makes no reference to it. when your website mentions a ton of evangelical christian themed events but you only pass out literature about the other ones.

i like this person! i think we get along and share some interests and could be friends! but now i am really fucking reluctant to talk to him again, because this feels like a huge breach of trust to me. i am so COMPLETELY uninterested in being involved with any christian organization in any way. i was really excited when he passed the “are you just trying to have a ‘girl’ friend to try and bone” test, only for some other ulterior motive to show itself. man, did you miss the 4 inch satan patch on my arm? or how i kept talking about queer leftist shit? talking about legitimately being ok with being called “pro-abortion” and making jokes about NiN sex lyrics? or was that all extra reason to try and get me involved with a wholesome god club??

anyway i’m fucking flaking on this open mic event even if it could be fun, because this has rubbed me the wrong fucking way. and if he asks me why i didn’t show up or why i don’t want to go back to the club, i’m coming straight out with the “hey well i’m trans and pansexual and i study demonology and i practice witchcraft and the only time i prayed the past 10 years was to a spirit from the lemegeton, and i am incredibly happy with all of those things so your evangelical organization really doesn’t want me there, despite all the ‘everyone has a place here’ shit on your website.”

i wonder if their zumba classes dance to religious pop

[actualbird]

(wc: 2.8k. michael is the Sawi Best Friend . pining + pining + pining = pining. part 1. part 2. part 3. or read everything here on ao3)

The English Project Christine Crisis begins with Jeremy wordlessly sitting next to Michael during lunch, back stiff, face pale, looking a little bit like a gargoyle that just saw another, uglier gargoyle, before grabbing his bag and raptor screeching right into it.

“I have no idea what you’re doing or why you’re doing it, but honestly? Hard same,” Michael says, patting Jeremy’s back as his screeching slowly dies down into pained warbling. “Let it all out, buddy.”

“Mmmmmmrrr,” Jeremy says into his bag. He turns his head to face Michael, face creased from the bag, “Dude, do you ever feel like sometimes the universe is trying to be nice to you but it’s spent so long being a dick to you that everything is still kinda awful?”

“Uh,” Michael says. “I’m going to need a little bit more context.”

“Like, are you ever given a really, really good thing, but it’s the worst thing ever at the same time?”

“Okay, I catch your drift now,” Michael’s got the worst crush on his incredible best friend, so yeah, he gets it. Michael pats Jeremy’s head. “Wanna tell me what’s up?”

“Christine,” Jeremy sighs dreamily.

“Was she, like, extra cute in the hallway today or something?”

“She’s always cute in the hallway,” Jeremy says. “But uh, in English today, there’s this paper we’ve gotta write.”

“Uh huh.”

“And it’s by pair.”

“Alright.”

“And Christine was assigned as my partner,” he says, voice getting more urgent with each word.

“Well, that’s great news, isn’t it?” Michael grins, but Jeremy just looks like somebody just killed a bunny in front of him.

“It isn’t! I’m going to have to talk to her and spend time with her and stuff and it’ll be great but I’ll mess everything up because I always do,” He groans, burying his face back into his bag. Michael has to lean in to hear the rest of his muffled words. “How are people even supposed to function around people they like?”

Michael, expert at functioning around a person he likes, decides to be sympathetic. “Okay, first off? You don’t always mess everything up. That’s my best friend you’re talking about, so don’t be too hard on him,” he ruffles Jeremy’s hair. “It’ll be fine, okay? Just act like you normally do.”

“Anxious, tense, and weird?”

“Funny, sincere, and interesting,” Michael says, fingers threading through Jeremy’s hair. “A little awkward sometimes, but hey, who isn’t?”

“You’re my best friend, you’re practically contractually obligated to think all that,” he grumbles, but then he looks at Michael. “Thanks, though. Also, if you keep touching my hair like that, I’m gonna fall asleep.”

“Whoops,” Michael jerks his traitorous hand away. “So, uh, what’s project about?”

“The Tempest,” Jeremy answers, smiling a little bit. “Christine and I talked about it a little before class ended, and she was so excited, god it was so cute. It’s dumb, but I wish she’d get excited about me too.”

“Geez, dude, this project sure is going to be wild ride, huh? You just switched from dreamy lovey dovey to mega sawi in under a second.”Jeremy makes a questioning noise, one that Michael’s come to understand as Jeremy’s shortcut for what did that mean now that lately, Michael’s been speaking a bit more Filipino around him.

“Sawi literally means ‘unlucky’, in English, but lately it’s been kind of specific to describe people who are down in the dumps and shit when your love life is kind of crummy,” Michael explains.

“Why the hell does your language have so many fitting words about love?” and Jeremy’s face is back in his bag again.

“No idea, dude,” Michael sighs, wondering the exact same thing.

-

Here’s the thing about Jeremy:

He’s a big ball of nerves who’s anxious ninety percent of his waking life. He second guesses his second guesses and doubts as if he’s being paid good money to. He tries to hide it, but he’s bitter and pissed off about a lot of things in life like his parents or his social standing. Sometimes, even if he doesn’t mean it, he’s a bit of an asshole. The state of Jeremy’s self-esteem, based on what Michael’s seen, is akin to an on fire screaming garbage can that keeps setting itself back on fire every time Michael tries to put it out.

But he also wears these dumb cardigans that are really soft and often are too long, covering his hands til only his fingers peek out. He’s got a weird, adorable, wheezy laugh that’s a remnant of the asthma he grew out of when he turned eleven. He keeps a paperclip or two in his pockets all the time to give to Michael just in case Michael feels like he needs to fidget with something. He always remembers Michael’s birthday. His Filipino is atrocious, but he tries to speak words and phrases of it anyway.

The thing about Jeremy is that he’s pretty much the best person Michael knows.

-

heerefarwhereveryouare is calling…

“Coolest guy on the planet speaking, how may I help you?” Michael wedges his phone between his head and shoulder so he can continue to rinse plates with his hands. On the line, Jeremy lets out a very emotional screech. “Uh, buddy?”

“Are you busy right now?” Jeremy asks.

“Just dishes,” Michael grabs another plate. “What’s up? I thought you went to Christine’s place for the project?”

“Exactly! I mean, I’m home now, but, oh my god! I went to Christine’s house!”

“Ohhhh, I get it, this is call is going to be gushing about the whole experience, am I right?” Michael says fondly.

“No—I mean, yeah, but, you know.”

“It’s alright, Jer, you don’t have to justify it,” Michael thinks that if he actually had any other friends, he’d love to gush about Jeremy to them. Alas, he wasn’t as lucky. “Go for it.”

“For real?”

“It would be a privilege to have your sonorous voice wax poetic while I get sudsy with plates,” Michael tells him sincerely. “Unleash the raving dude. I am ready.”

“Okay, well,” Jeremy says. “Okay. Okay. I’ll start from the top. So like, she lives pretty nearby so we walk and it’s kind of awkward for a bit? I’m like, agh, fuck it, so I just say whatever the hell is on my mind and it turns out what that was was dolphins.”

“You fucking furry.”

“Says the guy who followed Meerkat Manor religiously,” Jeremy fires back with no hesitation. Michael has never been prouder of his boy. “There was a documentary about them on Animal Planet a few days ago focusing on their sonar powers so I just kind of blurt that out weirdly. I wanted to like, dive into a gutter and die, but then she just keeps asking about it? She got really interested in it. At one point, she makes this adorable dolphin noise, it was—” Jeremy makes a noise which Michael understands fully. Michael also feels very random noise over cute shit Jeremy does all the time.

“See? Being sincere works! Even if it’s about dolphins,” Michael laughs. “How’d the rest go?”

“Uh, well, we we’re productive, for most of it. We drafted what parts of the drama we wanted to expound on,” Jeremy sighs. “She’s really, really, smart Michael. I’m okay in English, but she’s a genius. She’s so passionate and perceptive about the themes and ironies present in the text. She’s a huge theatre kid and she’s super excited for the school play which is gonna have their sign ups soon. Dude, if she signs up, I will too.”

“Nice!” He smiles. “I’m loving the confidence!”

“Yeah, I—She’s just really confident with herself so she makes me want to try to, if that makes sense?”

“Of course it does. I’m glad she’s bringing this out in you, man.”

“I am too,” Jeremy sighs, ridiculously fond. It’s a soft sound, but it echoes in Michael’s head, bouncing off the walls of his brain, clattering around, causing all kinds of shit like aches in his chest or a hunch to his back. Oh, how he wishes. He wishes, real bad.

“Michael? Michael, you still there?” Jeremy voice brings him back. Right. Rinsing a plate and on the phone with a boy who’s got no idea.

“Yeah, still here, dude,” Michael says. “Just zoned out a bit. You know how I get with the dishes. All the soap gets really existential.”

Jeremy snorts, “Whatever you say, man. Listen, I’ve gotta go. I promised Christine I’d message her the google doc link to what we made today. Thanks for listening, Michael! You’re the greatest.”

“And don’t you forget it,” Michael dries his hands. “Good night, dude.”

“Night!” and Jeremy hangs up.

Michael takes a deep breath. Then another. And another. He runs a hand down his face and thinks, fuck. Michael is happy. He’s gotta be happy. His best friend is actually interacting with the girl he’s crushing on, so Michael is over the moon. But the tight feeling in his throat stubbornly says otherwise.

Sawi doesn’t even begin to describe whatever this is now.

-

Here’s the thing about Michael:

His head is a cluttered mess that goes eighty eight miles per hour basically every second, but never in any useful direction. He likes obscure stuff that not many other people can relate to. He gets that sometimes he speaks too fast or is too loud or generally just is too much, but doesn’t know how to tone himself down. He’s weird and uncool but he’s also aware that there’s honestly nothing wrong with that as long as he’s having fun. He’s a loner, but he doesn’t care because he’s got Jeremy.

Michael’s also been Jeremy’s best friend ever since they met twelve years ago at some undisclosed sandbox where Jeremy talked to him out of nowhere holding a beetle in his hands. He’s seen Jeremy at his highest (first place at the sixth grade science fair with his experiment that tested out the slipperiness of certain fruit peels), and his lowest (“Michael? Can I come over? Uh, well, I’m fine, I swear. It’s just—mom left and. I’m fine, I’m—”). He slowly dug himself a hole of non platonic feelings for his best friend and only noticed he didn’t bring a ladder with him to get out once he was already in too deep.

The thing about Michael is that he’s had a lot of practice at this.

-

Somebody taps Michael’s shoulder in the hallway and he almost has a heart attack. He turns around slowly, apprehensive, because Jeremy never touches Michael out of nowhere without clear visual warning, so it’s either a bully, an axe murderer, or the heaviest fly in the world.

None of the above. Michael has to look down a little bit to see Christine Canigula waving at him sheepishly.

“Uh,” Michael pulls his headphones down. This is odd. People don’t talk to Michael. Christine is people. He should probably say something. “Hi?”

“Hi, uh, I don’t know if you know me,” Christine says, gesturing wildly already despite only having spoken for two seconds. “But you’re Jeremy Heere’s friend right? Michael?”

“Yep, that’s me,” Michael smiles. Nickname wise, Jeremy Heere’s Friend is a lot better than Anti-Social Headphones Kid. He hopes it catches on. “You’re Christine.”

“Yeah, how’d you know?”

“Jeremy talks about you a lot,” he says because he’s a goddamn good friend, damn it. “Like a lot. You’re a great English partner. The absolute best, if his words are to be believed.”

“He’s just overselling me,” she laughs. It’s a dorky, wheezy laugh, Jesus Christ, they’re made for each other. “Jeremy’s really sweet.”

“Yeah, he’s like, the softest boy in the world,” Michael tells her.

“I really like your patches,” she segues, pointing at the Rise Above Racism one in particular.

“Thanks. I really like your dress.” Michael says, for the lack of anything else to say. There was never a walkthrough on how to do smalltalk. It really is a nice dress, though.

“Thanks!”

“So, uh,” Michael fiddles with the wire of his headphones. “What’s up?”

“Oh! Right,” Christine blinks, slinging her backpack off her shoulders. “He forgot his cardigan back at my place, yesterday. I could’ve returned it tomorrow, when we have class, but he’s pretty thin so I was worried that he might get too cold. I really don’t want my English partner to die from, like, hypothermia, or something. Especially since he’s been a great partner. I’m really glad I got paired with him, because I’m pretty sure everybody else in the class doesn’t really care all that much about the text. It’s like, there’s a reason Shakespeare is timeless, y’know? But a lot of people nowadays don’t wanna give it a chance long enough to see just how incredible all his works were, and still are, even now!” She says, impressively, all in one breath.

“Yeah, dude, rock on Shakespeare,” Michael smiles, kind of taken aback, but charmed all the same. Michael’s about as straight as a circle, but he can see why Jeremy likes Christine. “Jeremy’s the raddest.”

“Rad!” Christine cheers, Jeremy’s cardigan in hand. It’s adorable. “Here, you go. Heh, Heere. Heere you go.”

“Oh geez, I’ll tell him you said that, he’ll lose his shit,” Michael laughs.

“Nice,” she rocks back and forth on her feet, then suddenly she jolts, as if remembering. “Whoa, wait, sorry I’ve gotta run. Thank you so much, Michael. See you around!”

And she whirls off, walking away with a happy skip in her step.

-

Here’s the thing about Christine:

Michael doesn’t know her. He knows the adoring stained glass image collage of her that Jeremy has created through dreamy anecdotes and forlorn sighs. He’s aware that there might be a lot different between that image and the real Christine Canigula, but just by going off of what he’s seen, Christine is a great girl

She’s nerdy and unapologetically passionate about her interests. She’s a little all over the place, but so is Jeremy. She smiles a lot and happiness trails after her like an devoted puppy. She layers clothes like a boss. Michael doesn’t know her all that well, but she makes Jeremy happy.

The thing about Christine is that she makes Jeremy happy. And that’s the most important fucking thing.

-

“Dude, are you wearing my cardigan?” Jeremy asks later when they meet for lunch.

“Sure am,” Michael says, picking up his juice carton. “I bumped into Christine earlier and she told me you forgot it and gave it to me instead of waiting to see you tomorrow because she was worried your skinny ass would die from the cold.”

“She was worried about me?” Jeremy smiles like a dweeb, before blinking and saying, “Wait, that doesn’t explain why you’re wearing my cardigan, though.”

“It’s soft as fuck,” Michael bites his straw to hell and back. “You can have it back after lunch.”

“Fair enough,” he says, starting to eat whatever mush it is the cafeteria served today. “So what’d you think?”

“Of what?”

“Christine,” Jeremy says. “That’s the first time you met her, right?”

Michael nods, deciding to pick on Jeremy a little bit. “She’s nice, I guess.”

“You guess,” he hisses. “That’s it, take off the cardigan. Only people who appreciate Christine for all her glory is allowed to wear it.”

“Agh! I’m kidding, I’m kidding, she’s incredible and perfect and she’ll wage an army of puppies to fight off people who don’t like Shakespeare,” Michael laughs, batting away Jeremy’s grabby hands.

Jeremy huffs, sitting back down, and he’s silent for a moment. Then he says, “I think I might tell her soon.”

Those seven words rattle in his head. Clang, clang, clang, motherfucker. But Michael’s been doing this long enough to expertly cram all of it into a box in the corner of his mind for later. Priority number one: Jeremy. Always.

“Dude! So proud! High five,” Michael raises his hand. Jeremy sheepishly swats at it. Close enough. “How are you going to do it?”

“I haven’t thought that far ahead yet,” he grumbles. “I always stutter and forget how to talk when I’m around her.”

“Maybe you can try writing a letter?” Michael suggests past the tight feeling in his throat. “She’ll love something like that.”

“You really think so?” Jeremy smiles, a little unsure, a little perfect.

“I know so,” Michael assures him. “And whatever happens, I’ll be here to help you through, ‘kay?”

“Thanks, Michael,” Jeremy leans his head against Michael’s shoulder. “What would I do without you?”

“Probably crash and burn,” he says, swallowing all the aches down.

-

His point is this. Christine, should she ever like Jeremy back—which is highly probable given that Jeremy is a fucking catch—would be really good for Jeremy. They’d be really good for each other. They’re both nerdy and cute and they’d be so good.

Michael might be the pining best friend, but really, he’s a best friend first. Best friends make best friends happy. Above all, Jeremy deserves that.

Even if it’s with somebody else.

(not as much filipino in this part :^(((. i’ll make it up in the later chapters [prayer hands emoji])

[hobbitsetal]

3:3-4

Likewise, wives, be subject to your own husbands, so that even if some do not obey the word, they may be won without a word by the conduct of their wives, 2 when they see your respectful and pure conduct. 3 Do not let your adorning be external—the braiding of hair and the putting on of gold jewelry, or the clothing you wear— 4 but let your adorning be the hidden person of the heart with the imperishable beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which in God’s sight is very precious. 5 For this is how the holy women who hoped in God used to adorn themselves, by submitting to their own husbands, 6 as Sarah obeyed Abraham, calling him lord. And you are her children, if you do good and do not fear anything that is frightening.

[a’ight, so, we’ve considered how influential we can without nagging or preaching constantly (not that i object to preaching, but one does like people to shut up once in a while…) so let’s carry on and see how far i can get…]

[well first things first, i got distracted by what Matthew Henry had to say about verses 1-2, and i’m skipping a whole bunch of stuff, but these lines seemed particularly applicable to tumblr: “1.] Evil men are strict observers of the conversation of the professors of religion; their curiosity, envy, and jealousy, make them watch narrowly the ways and lives of good people. [2.] A chaste conversation, attended with due and proper respect to every one, is an excellent means to win them to the faith of the gospel and obedience to the word.”

anyway, moving on:]

Do not let your adorning be external—the braiding of hair and the putting on of gold jewelry, or the clothing you wear— 4 but let your adorning be the hidden person of the heart with the imperishable beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which in God’s sight is very precious.

[so what’s “adorning” anyway? i know it means to decorate, to make beautiful, which overall makes sense for this, but i also kinda feel like there’s a little more to it than that.

i don’t think Paul is condemning looking good, or dressing well. song of solomon refers to the woman getting all fancied up for her husband; God made us to enjoy visual beauty, and i think there’s no shame in a cute outfit. but if we’re to prize the hidden person of the heart–our own character–that’s a different spin.

aaand back to good ol’ Matt Henry, because i want to get this somewhat more right than i’m likely to by myself.

“In preferring the ornaments of the mind to those of the body. [1.] He lays down a rule in regard to the dress of religious women, v. 3. Here are three sorts of ornaments forbidden: plaiting of hair, which was commonly used in those times by lewd women; wearing of gold, or ornaments made of gold, was practised by Rebecca, and Esther, and other religious women, but afterwards became the attire chiefly of harlots and wicked people; putting on of apparel, which is not absolutely forbidden, but only too much nicety and costliness in it.”

a’ight, that’s reasonable. as a Christian woman who upholds the sanctity of sex and the marriage bed (why must we phrase things weirdly), i would not like to mistaken for a whore. if my clothing ever conveys sexual availability, i am failing as a Christian. my clothing should convey modesty.

and what does that even look like? y’all, i’m not touching that topic with a ten-foot pole. you’ve got cultural differences, different body types, different attitudes…if anybody wants to explore that topic, i’d recommend the Harris brothers’ “rebelution” blog and the modesty survey they did. but we can definitely snag a few principles from this passage and the commentary: if it looks like something a prostitute would wear, you probably shouldn’t wear it. if it costs a terrifying amount of money, maybe consider buying something a little cheaper and still pretty?

that brings to mind something MacArthur said about charismatic preacher and heretic Benny Hinn, that Hinn is always flaunting his custom-made suits. there are certain things that you just don’t need to buy, y’know? forget social status.

but this eminently practical book, this beautiful Bible, as always does not stop with “don’t do that thing”, but substitutes “do this thing instead.” so we move on to verse 4.]

but let your adorning be the hidden person of the heart with the imperishable beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which in God’s sight is very precious.

[there’s no “LOOK AT ME” to this soul. there’s no brashness, no self-promotion, no clamoring here. there’s serenity, joy–i’m inclined to say this is a soul who knows her worth before God and therefore has no need of man’s approval.

and i’ve known friends who lamented not being more fierce, who wished they were bolder and more warrior-like. take heart, dear ones, there is great beauty in being gentle, and God calls you precious.

Henry says, of the adornments we are to choose, “It must, in general, be something not corruptible, that beautifies the soul, that is, the graces and virtues of God’s Holy Spirit. The ornaments of the body are destroyed by the moth, and perish in the using; but the grace of God, the longer we wear it, the brighter and better it is. More especially, the finest ornament of Christian women is a meek and quiet spirit, a tractable easy temper of mind, void of passion, pride, and immoderate anger, discovering itself in a quiet obliging behaviour towards their husbands and families.”

that fits well with the overall theme of these verses in 1 Peter 2 and 3, that we are to consider others more important than ourselves, that we are to be loving, gentle, peaceable souls.

and y’know, that’s not to say God has no room for more boisterous souls. you can be loud and hilarious and the center of attention and still possess a gentle, quiet spirit. my sister is like that. she fills up rooms, the house is 5 times louder when she’s home, she draws people like a magnet. but under the jokes and hilariousness and social butterfly aspects, she’s also a humble, compassionate soul with a lot of wisdom, and the more you get to know her, the more you see God in her.

it’s pretty cool how God can create us all completely unique, yet also give us the exact same gifts of the Holy Spirit–love, joy, compassion, gentleness, self-control…soli Deo Gloria, y’all. may He make us all more like Himself.]

[edales-drabbles]

Wish

2. Wish

Warning: Preslash, MxM, 

(Please note, I tried to write the MC as having a Sikh background though admittedly estranged and I did some research but if I have anything wrong, let me know so I can adjust it. Thank you for understanding.) 

Whoever made the bus schedule had a grudge against him, Gale was sure of it. He’d been able to run for the bus originally. Back when he’d first gotten the job after university, there was a chance he could get home. Now and basically since Gale’s second year of university, there was no chance of him getting home without taking an hour off work.

As a result, once he was allowed to clock out, Gale went to a coffee shop every day to wait the two or so hours for the bus to arrive again. He sat by himself in the corner, drank the same order and worked on his laptop. He liked the coffee shop. It was small, cosy and the people there were nice, even if they didn't really know him despite going every day practically. Like any good independent chain, it was run by hipster-esque people. Though these ones were more goth/emo in style than a hipster on most days.

They also had plenty of friends who came by and hang out at the shop. They were entertaining to listen too.  Gale enjoyed observing them. He knew many of their names. Especially the servers. Weirdly, it made it hurt made when they asked for his name when he put an order in.

They never remembered him, but not many people did. Gale exhaled, tapping idly on his computer as he watched Tory and Lesley bicker about what to do for the Winter Holidays. They didn’t want just do Christmas or any particular religious holiday. Tory didn’t think they should do anything at all while Lesley wanted to decorate the coffee shop in lights and do themed winter drinks. The others weren’t helping at all and it was only serving to make Gale felt more lonely than ever

There was a reason he lived out in the countryside. It was cheaper than living in the city. He couldn’t afford to live closer while also paying off his student debt and for his father’s care home bill.  Between his father being in the care home and his mother living back with her parents in Wolverhampton, he was looking at spending his week of holiday alone.

His mother’s family didn’t approve of him so going to see her was not really an option. He was half white, gay and didn’t follow the rituals of Sikhism. It was never fun going to see his grandparents. His grandmother would wail in mourning that her grandchild did not follow the old ways and the word of the Akal Takht. Some of his aunts and uncles were more liberal and thought that the ‘preachers in Akal Takht are tosser who was too blind by cultural ignorance to see the truth of what what the text says.’ His grandfather simply refused to talk or look at him.

Even his more accepting aunts and uncles would guilt him into going to pray at the Gurdwara. They would be kind and offer to help him put on a turban, his aunts would offer to go through the prayer again so he wouldn’t be embarrassed. He had not forgotten either.

Like how he hadn’t forgotten Guru Nanak Gurpurab was soon. His family would go to the Gurdwara early to help cook for the communal meal. Thousands of people attended and they would be making chapatis by the boatload, sweets too. His Grandfather and uncles would spend the two days prior to the festival day reading the holy text from beginning to end. That would start soon.

There was a strange kind of detachment when he thought too hard on it. He had lost a part of himself the day his Grandfather had declared he was dead to them.

Packing up, Gale headed for the bus. He said goodbye to Lesley who had been on the serving duty, his heart only felt a little heavier as she looked surprised by his existence. He went home, the bus as cold as always. His house was even colder with no one inside. There was a moment of delight as he realised there was a missed phone call. His mother had called to tell him she loved him and wished he’d come up for the holiday. The first half made his heart warm. The second made him want to weep.

Looking in the mirror in his bathroom, he couldn’t help but notice how grey his skin looked. It usually was a tawny beige with healthy yellow undertones under his brown skin. At the moment, it looked dull, like the yellow had been replaced with grey. His eyes weren’t sparkling either. He wasn’t sure how to fix it though.

The next day progressed as normal. He woke up looking up at the damp on his bedroom ceiling, had a shower in a barely dripping shower and went to work on the rickey bus. He sat at his desk and worked on whatever project he had been assigned to that day. It was about 11 before anyone said anything to him and that was to remind him to eat in the lunchroom and not at his desk for lunch. 

It was lunchtime when things changed. Tory appeared in front of him in the lunchroom of his company, holding a clipboard and looking bored with life. He was wearing a neon blue apron and his hair was up in a man bun, but that couldn’t hide the tattoos on his fingers, the fact his hair was dyed purple or the ring in this eyebrow.

“Are you free for a moment to answer one question?” he said dryly, not a lick of recognition in his eyes as he looked at him. A bit stunned to see Tory outside of the coffee shop, Gale nodded calmly, putting his sandwich.

“If you had one wish and one day to live, what would you wish for? Assuming, of course, you can not wish to live?” Tory droned like it was the most boring thing in the world.

“Interesting question,” Gale offered, not having expected that. He looked down at his lunch and mused about what he would wish for if he had that chance. The pang of loneliness thumped in his chest and the fact he was alone for one of the most important celebrations of the year for his mother’s side and would be alone for the winter holidays too stung at that moment.  “I guess. I guess I would wish to have a friend for that time,” he nodded to himself, speaking maybe a little too honestly at that moment.

“A friend? Anyone in particular?” Tory asked, marking something down on his clipboard.

“I don’t really have any. A friend would be nice,” Gale shrugged. “People don’t tend to remember me much,” he added. Maybe it was slightly masochist to do so but there was some flicker of hope inside him that if he jolted Tory maybe he would realise they knew each other? Even if it was only in passing. 

“I’m sure that’s not true,” Tory shrugged, eyes not looking at Gale. Gale’s heart sunk and he continued to eat his sandwich. Tory had no idea who he was. “Thank you for answering the question, enjoy the rest of your lunch.”

“You too, Tory,” Gale waved off tired.

Tory paused, and frowned, looking at him. It was at that moment Gale realised the nametag only had Tory’s surname, Huber, on it. “You know me?” he asked, this time looking at Gale a little more closely.

“Sure,” Gale shrugged. “As I said, people don’t remember me,” he shrugged. “You work parttime at a coffee shop. You are bad at maths so Lesley never lets you do the finances. You don’t like romance novels or strawberries and the fact Lesley wanted to have an Eton mess parfait on the menu started a prank war. One that ruined my old kindle when you set the sprinkles off. Oh, and your hair was green last month.”

The look on the man’s face was gobsmacked. “How? Why?” Tory pulled out a chair and sat down. “Who are you and the fuck do you know so much about me? Are you a stalker?”

Gale snorted. “I have a two-hour wait every day for my bus after work. Your coffee shop just so happens to be next to the stop. I’m there every day. I’d say ask Lesley but given he never remembers me either... I guess check the CTV?” he offered loosely.

“Every day?” Tory murmured. “Why don’t I recognise you?”

“That would be the question I ask myself every day,” Gale said miserably. He wasn’t worried that he’d freaked out Tory. Quite frankly he was fed up with all of this now. Tory likely would forget it like everyone else who ever had any interaction with him.

There was a weird moment as Tory looked at him strangely. “What is your name?” he asked, flipping out his phone.

“Gale Sethna,” 

“Number,” Tory demanded. Gale looked him with a raised eyebrow. “You fucking know the fruit I don’t like and some other creepy stuff. I think you are more at an advantage here somehow,” he pointed out. 

“Why not,” Gale exhaled and entered this number into the phone.

“See you later, Gale,” Tory settled with, standing up and taking the clipboard with him. “If you really do go to the shop every day,” he challenged.